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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:47:58 -0700 |
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diff --git a/29644-h/29644-h.htm b/29644-h/29644-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c95911f --- /dev/null +++ b/29644-h/29644-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8954 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Island Mystery, by G. A. Birmingham. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + td {vertical-align: top;} + + hr.large {width: 65%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + hr.medium {width: 45%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + + div.centered {text-align:center;} /*work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 1 */ + div.centered table {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; text-align:left;} /* work around for IE problem part 2 */ + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .right {text-align: right; margin-right: 10%;} + .bbox {border: none;} + .centerbox {width: 18em; /* heading box */ + margin: 0 auto; + text-align: center; + padding-left: 0.5em;} + .double {display: block; /* fake hr for double rules */ + width: 100%; + height: 3px; + line-height: 3px; + color: black; + margin: 10px auto 10px auto; + padding: 0; + border-top: 2px solid black; + border-bottom: 1px solid black; } + .double2 {display: block; /* fake hr for double rules */ + width: 100%; + height: 3px; + line-height: 3px; + color: black; + margin: 10px auto 10px auto; + padding: 0; + border-top: 1px solid black; + border-bottom: 2px solid black; } + + .full {border-top: 1px solid black; width: 100%;} + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .left {margin-left: 2.5em;} + .smallgap {margin-top: 2em;} + .gap {margin-top: 12em;} + .n {text-indent:0%;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Island Mystery, by George A. Birmingham + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Island Mystery + +Author: George A. Birmingham + +Release Date: August 9, 2009 [EBook #29644] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ISLAND MYSTERY *** + + + + +Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h1>THE<br /> +ISLAND MYSTERY</h1> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>G. A. BIRMINGHAM</h2> + +<p class="center"><i>Author of “Gossamer,” “General John Regan,”</i><br /> +<i>“Spanish Gold,” etc.</i></p> + +<p class="gap"> </p> + +<p class="center"> NEW YORK<br /> +GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY +</p> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<p class="center"><i>Copyright, 1918,</i><br /> +<i>By George H. Doran Company</i></p> + +<p class="center"><i>Copyright, 1918,</i><br /> +<i>By The Frank A. Munsey Company</i></p> + +<p class="center"><i>Printed in the United States of America</i></p> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<div class="centerbox bbox"> +<p class="double"> </p> + +<h3>BY G. A. BIRMINGHAM</h3> + +<p class="full"> </p> + +<p class="left"><span class="smcap">The Island Mystery</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Gossamer</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Minnie’s Bishop and Other Stories</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">General John Regan</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">The Lost Tribes</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Spanish Gold</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Lalage’s Lovers</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">The Search Party</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">The Simpkins Plot</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">The Major’s Niece</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Priscilla’s Spies</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">The Red Hand of Ulster</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">The Adventures of Dr. Whitty</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">The Seething Pot</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">The Bad Times</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Hyacinth</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">From Dublin To Chicago</span></p> + +<p><span style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"> </span></p> +<p class="full"> </p> + +<p class="center">NEW YORK<br /> +GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY</p> + +<p class="double2"> </p> +</div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2>TABLE OF CONTENTS</h2> +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="10" summary="CONTENTS"> + +<tr> +<td align="left">CHAPTER I.</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#THE_ISLAND_MYSTERY">9</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="left">CHAPTER II.</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">15</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">CHAPTER III.</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">25</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="left">CHAPTER IV.</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">34</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">CHAPTER V.</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">43</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="left">CHAPTER VI.</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">55</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">CHAPTER VII.</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">67</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="left">CHAPTER VIII.</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">77</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">CHAPTER IX.</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">87</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="left">CHAPTER X.</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">98</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">CHAPTER XI.</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">112</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="left">CHAPTER XII.</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">125</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">CHAPTER XIII.</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">141</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="left">CHAPTER XIV.</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">154</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">CHAPTER XV.</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">168</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="left">CHAPTER XVI.</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">182</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">CHAPTER XVII.</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">197</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="left">CHAPTER XVIII.</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">210</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">CHAPTER XIX.</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">224</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="left">CHAPTER XX.</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">234</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">CHAPTER XXI.</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">247</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="left">CHAPTER XXII.</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">260</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">CHAPTER XXIII.</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">269</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="left">CHAPTER XXIV.</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">281</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">CHAPTER XXV.</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">291</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="left">CHAPTER XXVI.</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">310</a></td></tr> +</table></div> +<hr class="large" /> + +<h4>TO</h4> + +<h3>THEODOSIA</h3> + +<h4>WHOSE DISLIKE OF SUBTLE BOOKS<br /> +AND “BRAINY” PEOPLE I SHARE</h4> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="THE_ISLAND_MYSTERY" id="THE_ISLAND_MYSTERY"></a>THE ISLAND MYSTERY</h2> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">I</span>n 1914 there were not twenty men in England who had ever heard of the +island of Salissa. Even now—I am writing in the spring of 1917—the +public is very badly informed about the events which gave the island a +certain importance in the history of the war. A couple of months ago I +asked a well-known press-cutting agency to supply me with a complete +collection of all references to Salissa which had appeared in our +newspapers. I received a single short paragraph from a second-rate +society weekly. It ran thus:</p> + +<p>“Is it true that our new Minister for Balkan Problems has a curious +story to tell about a certain island in the Mediterranean, and is +there a lady in the case?”</p> + +<p>The Minister referred to is, of course, Sir Bartholomew +Bland-Potterton. The island must be Salissa. It is a clear proof, if +proof is required, of the efficiency of our press censorship that this +should <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>be the only reference to the island in any newspaper in the +course of three years. We have blundered a good deal during the war; +but it cannot be said of us that we have allowed our press to supply +the enemy or any one else with information likely to be of value.</p> + +<p>Such knowledge as the public now possesses has come to it, not through +newspapers, but by way of gossip. Sir Bartholomew sometimes talks, and +the words of a man in his position are repeated in the smoking-rooms +of clubs, round tea tables and elsewhere. Unfortunately gossip of this +kind is most unreliable. The tendency is to exaggerate the picturesque +parts of the story and to misinterpret motives. It is slanderous, for +instance, to suggest that Sir Bartholomew was in any way attracted by +the lady who bore the title of Queen of Salissa. He never spoke to her +or even saw her. His interest in the Salissa affair was that of a +patriotic statesman. He told me this himself, yesterday after dinner.</p> + +<p>It was Sir Bartholomew who drew my attention to the exhaustive +monograph on the Island of Salissa written by Professor Homer Geldes, +of Pearmount University, Pa., U.S.A. The book was published ten years +ago, but has never been widely read. I am indebted to the professor +for the following information.</p> + +<p>Salissa is derived by Professor Geldes from a Greek word Psalis, which +means an arched viaduct. It is a doubtful piece of etymology, but if +it were <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>reliable the name seems appropriate enough. The island, +according to the maps published in the book, appears to be a kind of +roof supported by the walls of caverns. It is possible that the +professor has exaggerated this peculiarity. He was naturally anxious +to make good his derivation of the name. But there are certainly many +caves under the fields and vineyards of Salissa. There is one +excellent natural harbour, a bay, about a mile wide, in the south +coast of the island. It is protected from heavy seas by a reef of +rock, a natural breakwater, which stretches across and almost blocks +the entrance of the bay.</p> + +<p>In the chapter on Ethnography I find that the people are of a mixed +race. A Salissan, I gather, might boast with equal truth of being a +Greek, a Turk, a Slav, or an Italian. His skull is dolichocephalic. +His facial angle—but it is better for any one interested in these +points to read Professor Geldes’ book for himself. No regular census +has ever been made on the island; but in 1907 there were forty-three +inhabitants. The number has probably increased since then.</p> + +<p>The principal industries are set down, rather grandiloquently, as +agriculture and fishing. A small quantity of poor wine is made by the +inhabitants for their own use. The religion of these islanders, like +their race, is mixed. It seems to consist of some vague pagan beliefs +and the observance of a few Christian ceremonies. The people are not +in any way bigoted. Their priesthood—if it can be called <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>a +priesthood—is patriarchal. There are no taxes, no police, no courts +of justice, no regular laws, indeed no government, though the island +is, or was, part of the Kingdom of Megalia.</p> + +<p>My friend Gorman, who spent some time there, says that Salissa was a +delightful place to live on until the Great Powers discovered its +existence. But I do not quote Gorman as a reliable authority on a +question of this kind. He is an Irishman, Member of Parliament for +Upper Offaly, and therefore naturally at home on an island with no +government. There are people who prefer to live under settled +conditions, who like paying taxes, who appreciate policemen. It is not +likely that they would have been happy on Salissa three years ago. +They would certainly not like to live there now.</p> + +<p>It is scarcely necessary to add—any one who possesses an atlas can +find this out for himself—that Salissa lies 47 miles (nautical) +south-east of the nearest point of the Megalian coast, and thus +occupies a position of supreme strategic importance. Sir Bartholomew +kindly allows me to quote him on this subject. I took down the words +he used and read them over to him afterwards.</p> + +<p>“The Power,” he said, “which controls the Near East controls the +world. The Power which dominates the Cyrenian Sea holds the Near East +in its grasp. The Island of Salissa is the keystone of the Cyrenian +Sea. The German dream of world power depends, at the last analysis, on +the use of the Island of Salissa as a submarine base.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p><p>This reads like a quotation from a political speech. It is nothing of +the sort. Sir Bartholomew always talks in that way. He made this +statement to me yesterday evening after dinner, when I told him that I +had undertaken to write the story of recent events in the island. The +pronouncement, coming from a man like Sir Bartholomew, admittedly the +greatest living authority on all Near Eastern questions, justifies the +writing of this book.</p> + +<p>Whether I am the man to attempt the work is another question. Gorman, +Michael Gorman, M.P., would no doubt do it better. Though he has no +financial interests in the island, he was mixed up in its affairs and +knows a great deal about them. But Gorman will not do it. He says, +perhaps truly, that there is no money in histories of recent events. +William Peter Donovan paid heavily for his knowledge of Salissa and is +certainly entitled to such credit as may be won by writing a history +of the recent troubles. But Donovan has devoted his later years to the +cult of indolence, and he suffers from disordered action of the heart. +Miss Daisy Donovan—I prefer to use her original name—might have +given us a picturesque account of the events in which she played the +leading part. But she is now very fully occupied with more personal +affairs. Lieutenant-Commander Phillips, R.N.R., is barred by +professional regulations from writing the story, and in any case he +had no direct knowledge of the beginning of it. King Konrad Karl II of +Megalia knows most of the facts, but it is doubtful whether <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>the +British public would tolerate a book from the pen of a man who is +legally an alien enemy.</p> + +<p>I have, at all events, leisure to devote to the work, and I have heard +the story from the lips of those chiefly concerned. They have allowed +me to question them on various points, and placed all, or almost all, +they knew at my disposal.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">K</span>onrad Karl II began to reign over Megalia in 1908. He obtained the +throne through the good offices of his uncle, who wanted to get rid of +him. Konrad Karl, at that time prince, was the hero of several +first-rate scandals, and had the reputation of being the most +irrepressible blackguard of royal blood in all Europe. He was a +perpetual source of trouble in the Imperial Court. Gorman says that +the Emperor pushed him on to the vacant throne in the hopes that the +Megalians would assassinate him. They generally did assassinate their +kings, and would no doubt have cut the throat of Konrad Karl II if he +had not left the country hurriedly after reigning two years.</p> + +<p>As king in exile Konrad Karl made a tour of the central European +courts, staying as long as he could in each. He was never allowed to +stay very long because of Madame Corinne Ypsilante. This lady had +shared with him the palace, but not the throne, of Megalia. She +accompanied him in his flight and subsequent wanderings. In these +democratic days Grand Dukes, Kings, and even Emperors, must have some +regard for appearances if they wish to keep their positions. It is +painfully necessary to avoid <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>open and flagrant scandal. Madame +Corinne was a lady who showed wherever she was. It was impossible to +conceal her. Konrad Karl did not even try.</p> + +<p>Some time in 1912 or 1913 he arrived, still accompanied by Madame, in +London. His reputation, and hers, had preceded him. English society +did not receive him warmly. He occupied a suite of rooms at +Beaufort’s, the expensive and luxurious hotel which is the London home +of foreign royalties and American millionaires. Kings, I suppose, can +hold out longer than ordinary men without paying their bills. Konrad +Karl was in low water financially. His private fortune was small. +Madame Corinne had no money of her own, though she had jewels. Perhaps +Mr. Beaufort—if the proprietor of the hotel is indeed a Mr. +Beaufort—makes enough money out of the millionaires to enable him to +entertain impecunious kings.</p> + +<p>My friend Gorman made the acquaintance of Konrad Karl early in 1913. +Gorman is a man who lives comfortably, very much more comfortably than +he could if he had no resources except the beggarly £400 a year which +his country pays him as a reward for his popularity with the people of +Upper Offaly. He makes money in various ways. His journalistic work +brings him in a few hundreds a year. Enterprises of a commercial or +financial kind add very considerably to his income. In 1913 he was +interested in the Near Eastern Winegrowers’ Association, a limited +liability company which aimed <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>at making money by persuading the +British public to drink Greek wine. He heard of Konrad Karl, and at +once invited that monarch to become one of the directors of the +company. Konrad Karl was not a Greek, and his country did not produce +wine which any one except a Megalian could drink. His value to Gorman +lay in the fact that there was not another limited liability company +in all England which had a King on its Board of Directors.</p> + +<p>One of the least objectionable of the wines which Gorman’s company +sold was put on the market as Vino Regalis. The advertisements hinted +without actually stating that the King had succeeded in carrying off a +thousand dozen bottles of this wine out of the royal cellars when he +fled from his subjects in Megalia. The bottles in which Vino Regalis +was sold had yards of gold foil wrapped round their necks. They were +in their way quite as splendid and obtrusive as Madame Corinne was in +hers. I always think that Gorman must have had the lady before his +eyes when he arranged the get-up of that wine.</p> + +<p>The company prospered for a while, until the public became aware of +the quality of the wine sold. Then came a collapse. But Gorman did +pretty well out of it. The King also did pretty well. He drew fees as +a director, a special honorarium in recognition of the value of his +title, and his share of the profits. The profits were large, but he +spent all he got as he received it. Madame Corinne is an expensive +lady, and the King was just as badly off <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>after the collapse of the +company as he had been before he became a director. He consulted +Gorman about his future. This was a very wise thing to do. Gorman +probably knows more ways of making money than any man in London.</p> + +<p>The consultation—the true starting point of the story of the Island +of Salissa—took place in one of the King’s rooms in Beaufort’s. +Madame Corinne was not there. She had, I think, gone to the opera. +Gorman and the King dined well, as men do who can command the services +of the chef at Beaufort’s. The wine they drank was not Vino Regalis. +After dinner they sat in front of a fire. Brandy and coffee were on a +small table set between their chairs. They smoked large and excellent +cigars.</p> + +<p>“My friend,” said the King, “I find myself in a tight place. I am, as +the English say, broke like a stone.”</p> + +<p>The King prided himself on his mastery of that esoteric English by +which the members of various sets, smart, sporting and other, conceal +the meaning of what they say from outsiders, especially from +foreigners who have acquired their knowledge of our language by +painful study of dictionaries and grammars.</p> + +<p>“Since the wine company went on the burst,” said the King, “I have not +a stiver, not a red cent, not in all my pockets the price of one +damned drink.”</p> + +<p>“If I might venture to advise you, sir,” said Gorman.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p><p>“Advise? Certainly advise. But drop or, as you say in England, knock +up calling me ‘sir.’ I am no longer a king. I resign. I abdicate. I +chuck up the sponge of royalty. What the hell, my dear Gorman, is the +good of being a king when there are no shekels?”</p> + +<p>“I shouldn’t do that if I were you,” said Gorman. “After all, royalty +is an asset. A title like that—kings aren’t at all common, you +know—is worth money in the market.”</p> + +<p>The King drank a glass of brandy with an air of great dejection.</p> + +<p>“In what market? Who will buy?”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Gorman, “I suppose you might marry. There must be lots of +wealthy girls who would like to be called queen.”</p> + +<p>The King leaned forward and smacked Gorman heartily on the knee.</p> + +<p>“You have hit the business end of the nail,” he said. “I am ready. I +shall marry. Produce the lady, or, as you say in England, cough her +up.”</p> + +<p>Gorman had not expected this prompt and enthusiastic approval of his +suggestion. He had not a list of heiresses in his pocket.</p> + +<p>“But,” he said, “there’s Madame Ypsilante.”</p> + +<p>“Corinne is reasonable,” said the King. “I should not, of course, show +my cold shoulder to Corinne. She would share the loot. She and I +together.”</p> + +<p>Gorman knew that the King was a blackguard entirely without principle +or honour; but this proposal startled him.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p><p>“I have it,” said the King. “Something has happened—no, occurred to +me. There is in this hotel at this moment an American, an oof-bird, a +king of dollars.”</p> + +<p>“Donovan?”</p> + +<p>Gorman knew Donovan pretty well; as indeed he knew all wealthy +Irish-Americans. It was Gorman’s business to cross the Atlantic from +time to time to get money for the support of the Irish Party. Donovan +had been for many years a generous subscriber to these funds.</p> + +<p>“There is a daughter,” said the King. “I have not put eyes on her. She +may be—but it does not matter what she is, not a curse, not a damn +from the Continent. I shall still have Corinne. The American oof-girl +may have the eyes of a pig. I do not care.”</p> + +<p>It is not easy to shock Gorman. Indeed, I should have said beforehand +that it was impossible to shock him. But I have his assurance that +Konrad Karl did it. It is true that Gorman himself had suggested +marriage to the King as a way out of his difficulties. But marriage +with an unnamed and unknown heiress is one thing. The King’s plan, +frankly worked out, for insulting and robbing a girl whom Gorman knew +personally was quite a different matter. Miss Daisy Donovan is a +bright-faced, clear-eyed, romantic-souled girl. She had finished her +course of study in one of the universities of the Middle-west without +becoming a cultivated prig. In spite of the fact that history, +economics, emasculated philosophy <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>and a kind of intellectual +complexion cream called literature had been smeared all over her by +earnest professors, she had never learned to take herself, life or +society at all seriously. She had all the vitality which gives +American women their singular charm and none of the appalling +earnestness of high endeavour which sometimes leads even very charming +women into repulsive kinds of foolishness. The thought of a marriage +between Miss Daisy and King Konrad Karl—with Madame Ypsilante in the +near background—affected Gorman with a feeling of physical nausea.</p> + +<p>The King possessed a certain capacity for sympathy. He guessed +something of what was in Gorman’s mind.</p> + +<p>“After all,” he said, “she would be a queen. It is something. You have +said so yourself, my friend. You cannot have an omelette without the +sacrifice of an egg. But I see—I see very plainly that you do not +wish me to marry the Donovan oof-girl. You will not back me up. Good. +I back down. I bear no malice. I wish you success. I shall eat cake at +your wedding without envy. To you the American with pigs’ eyes—yes, I +am sure she has pigs’ eyes. To me Corinne. To which of us happiness? +eh, my friend?”</p> + +<p>Gorman felt that it would be perfectly impossible to convince the King +that he had no wish to marry Miss Daisy or her fortune.</p> + +<p>“All right,” he said. “Leave it at that if you like.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p><p>“I have left it,” said the King, “at that, precisely at that, though I +do not like it at all.”</p> + +<p>“And now,” said Gorman, “let’s get back to your own affairs. You say +that you’re in a tightish place just for the moment.”</p> + +<p>“I am in a hell hole,” said the King.</p> + +<p>“Why not go back to the Emperor? He must do something for you. After +all, he’s your uncle. He can’t let you go under altogether. Of course +you’ll have to eat humble pie, do the repentant prodigal and all that +sort of thing.”</p> + +<p>“I should with gladness eat any pie—even pie made of the fatted calf +of the prodigal; but—there is Corinne. The Emperor regards Corinne +very much, my dear Gorman, as you regard me. I do not complain. You +and the Emperor are no doubt right. You hit your nails on the head, +both of you, when you say of Corinne and me—they are blackguards. But +I prefer Corinne and no veal pie to veal pie and no Corinne. Yes, my +friend, I choose Corinne every time.”</p> + +<p>I have met King Konrad Karl once or twice, and I have, of course, +heard a good deal about him. He is, unquestionably, a scoundrel. But I +agree with Gorman that he is a frank and therefore an attractive +scoundrel. Besides, his fidelity to Corinne is a redeeming feature, +perhaps the only redeeming feature of his character.</p> + +<p>Gorman is, if not a blackguard, at all events an adventurer, and +therefore kin to the King. He saw the impossibility of leading Corinne +to the foot of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>the imperial throne; and he felt that, after all, the +King was right from his own point of view. Corinne was more desirable +than many fatted calves. He cast about for some other way out of the +difficult position.</p> + +<p>“We might,” he said, “make something out of Megalia.”</p> + +<p>“Nothing,” said the King. “I have been in Megalia and I know it. It is +a one-dog country. There is nothing in it. I have tried it, and I +know.”</p> + +<p>“We might start a Megalian Development Company,” said Gorman.</p> + +<p>“A company, perhaps,” said the King, “but development of Megalia, +never.”</p> + +<p>“I was not thinking of actually developing it. That would be the +company’s business afterwards. Not that it will be easy to start the +company. It won’t. Nobody knows anything about the damned place.”</p> + +<p>“That is our best chance,” said the King. “If any one did know +Megalia, the company would be—what is it you say—a scrub down—no—a +wash-up—ah, I have it—a wash-out.”</p> + +<p>“You’d grant concessions, I suppose,” said Gorman.</p> + +<p>“I do not know exactly what a concession means,” said the King, “but +if any one will pay for it I will give them permission to make the +people of Megalia into sausages and kidneys. Believe me, my friend, +that is the only development of which the Megalians are capable. They +are pigs—Gadarene pigs.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p><p>“We won’t suggest that in the prospectus,” said Gorman. “Our company, +if we ever get it started, must be humanitarian, altruistic; I’m not +sure that it ought not to be a little religious—mission of +civilization. That’s the note to strike.”</p> + +<p>“And you expect to make money out of—out of <i>that</i>? out of what you +teach in your schools for Sunday?”</p> + +<p>“It’s just exactly out of that that money is made.”</p> + +<p>“The English,” said the King, “are a great people, very wonderful. +You—even you, my friend, who are not English, but Irish—you will not +let me marry because of Corinne. You wish me to eat humble pie while +poor Corinne goes hungry, and yet you will make money out of a company +for reforming the people of Megalia, making them civilized, +Christian—a thing that is not at all possible—ever, in any way. Tell +me, my friend, could you not start a company to develop, reform, +improve Corinne and me. Believe me, it would be easier to do.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">G</span>orman realized that the development of Megalia was not an enterprise +likely to attract the British capitalist. Still all things are +possible in business, the business of company promoting. He set to +work to collect what information he could about the country. The +library of the House of Commons was useless to him. Megalia is the +only country in the world about which no Blue Book ever has been +published. A belief existed among certain city men interested in +mining speculation, that there was copper in the mountains of Megalia; +but no one had any exact information on the subject. Longwood, the +Balkan correspondent of the New York Press, was in London at this +time, and Gorman got hold of him. He had little to say about Megalia +except that all the inhabitants are brigands. Steinwitz, managing +director of the Cyrenian Sea Steam Navigation Company, professed to be +interested in Megalia. He was certainly interested in the fact that +Gorman was making inquiries about the country. He said that there were +no harbours or possible ports of call on the Megalian coast.</p> + +<p>“Nothing,” he said, “can be done with that country. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>Nothing at all. +There is no trade, no traffic of any kind. And there cannot be. If +there were anything to be done in Megalia, we should have had a +steamer going there. Our ships pass the coast. But they do not call. +Never.”</p> + +<p>This interview, curiously enough, was the one thing which gave Gorman +any hope. Steinwitz was plainly anxious to discourage inquiries about +Megalia. And Steinwitz had the reputation of being a very astute man.</p> + +<p>Gorman tabulated the information he had acquired. He produced, after +some thought, a few notes on Megalia which might be embodied in a +plausible prospectus.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>1. A Megalian Development Company would have a clear field +and no competition to face. Gorman felt that this was a fair +deduction from the fact that nobody knew anything definite +about the country.</p> + +<p>2. The mineral wealth of Megalia is untapped. Nobody had +ever taken any copper from the mountains and nobody denied +that it was there. It was therefore fair to say that the +mineral wealth of the country was untapped.</p> + +<p>3. The inhabitants are energetic and enterprising, a +vigorous and courageous race. Sluggards and decadents, so +Gorman felt, do not become brigands.</p></div> + +<p>That was all the material Gorman had to work with. Except the one +fact, which could not be published, that Steinwitz, the director of a +German Shipping Company with its headquarters in London, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>did not want +public attention turned to Megalia. The floating of a company, even if +the King offered every concession, did not seem to be a hopeful +enterprise.</p> + +<p>Gorman did not, in the end, attempt to form that company. A second +dinner at Beaufort’s showed him another way of saving the unfortunate +King Konrad Karl from ruin. This time the invitation came from Mr. +Donovan.</p> + +<p>The Donovans occupied one of the best suites of rooms in that +sumptuous hotel. The old gentleman had the satisfaction of stretching +himself in beautifully upholstered chairs and dropping cigar ashes on +highly gilt tables. He was suffering, so he believed, from disordered +action of the heart, induced by the toil and excitement of making a +large fortune. Several doctors agreed in recommending complete rest +and quiet. Mr. Donovan was convinced that rest and quiet would be +pleasant as well as beneficial. He left Chicago, where such things are +certainly not to be found, and sought them in London. For a time he +believed he had found them. He sat all day in his room at Beaufort’s, +waited on by footmen who wore gold-braided coats, crimson breeches and +silk stockings, looking like very dignified ambassadors. He signed +cheques payable to Miss Daisy. He exerted himself in no other way. But +rest and quiet are hard to come by. Letters pursued him from Chicago. +Thoughtless people even cabled to him. Secretaries of benevolent +societies discovered him. The London agents of American financiers +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>rang him up on telephones. Finally Miss Daisy, having drunk deep of +the delights of London, became restless.</p> + +<p>At first she had enjoyed life thoroughly. She had a marble-fitted +bathroom for her sole use. She slept in a beautiful bed under a +painted ceiling. She tried on dresses for hours every day in front of +huge gilt mirrors. She gathered in immense quantities the peculiar +treasures of Bond Street. Then she began to yearn for something more. +Her father considered her demands, thought of his own disordered heart +and asked Gorman to dinner.</p> + +<p>The conversation at first ran along natural lines. The sights of +London were discussed. The plays which Miss Daisy had seen and the +picture galleries she had visited were criticized. Then Gorman was +called on to give opinions about the books she had not found time to +read. London and its attractions were compared with Chicago and +Detroit; Miss Daisy preferred London. Her father said there were +points about Detroit, but that quiet was no more obtainable in one +than the other. Afterwards politics were touched on. Miss Daisy gave +it as her opinion that the Irish Party was rather slow about getting +Home Rule. She displayed a considerable knowledge of affairs, and told +Gorman frankly that he ought to have been able to buy up a substantial +majority of the British House of Commons with the money, many hundred +thousand dollars, which her father and other Americans had subscribed.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p><p>Gorman has always been of opinion that women are incapable of +understanding politics. Miss Daisy’s direct and simple way of +attacking great problems confirmed him in his belief that Woman +Suffrage would be a profound mistake.</p> + +<p>He was relieved when, after dinner, Donovan himself started a new +subject.</p> + +<p>“I hear,” he said, “that there is a king, a European monarch, resident +in this hotel. That so?”</p> + +<p>“King Konrad Karl II of Megalia,” said Gorman.</p> + +<p>“Friend of yours?”</p> + +<p>“Well, yes,” said Gorman. “I’ve had some business connection with +him.”</p> + +<p>“I’m interested in that monarch,” said Donovan. “It was Daisy drew my +attention to him first, and then I made inquiries. He’s not considered +a first-class king, I reckon. Doesn’t move in the best royal circles. +He could be approached, without diplomatic formalities, by a plain +American citizen.”</p> + +<p>“There’s not the least difficulty about approaching him,” said Gorman. +“I don’t believe you’d care for him much if you knew him, and——”</p> + +<p>Gorman cast about for the best way of saying that King Konrad Karl +would not be a desirable friend for Miss Daisy. Donovan saved him the +trouble of finding a suitable phrase.</p> + +<p>“He could be approached,” he said, “by a plain American citizen, if +that citizen came with a business proposition in his hand.”</p> + +<p>Gorman saw what he believed to be an opportunity. Donovan apparently +wanted to do business <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>with the King. Such business must necessarily +be connected with Megalia. A company for the development of that +country could be founded without difficulty if a man of Donovan’s +enormous wealth took up a substantial block of shares. Gorman poured +out all the information he had collected about Megalia. Donovan +listened to him in silence. It was Miss Daisy who spoke at last.</p> + +<p>“What you say about the enterprising nature of those inhabitants +interests me,” she said, “but I am not much taken with the notion of +copper mining. It seems to me that copper mines would be liable to +spoil the natural beauty of the landscape.”</p> + +<p>Gorman was, for the moment, too much surprised to speak. He had been +in America several times and knew a good many American women. He +realized their independence of character and mental vigour. But he did +not expect that a young girl, fresh from college, enjoying the first +taste of London, would take a leading part in discussing a matter of +business. Before he had made up his mind what line to take with Miss +Daisy, Donovan shot a question at him.</p> + +<p>“What size is that monarchy?” he said.</p> + +<p>“The actual boundaries are a little uncertain,” said Gorman, “but I +think we may say a hundred miles by about thirty.”</p> + +<p>“Inhabitants? Is it considerably settled?”</p> + +<p>“I should guess the population at about 10,000.”</p> + +<p>Gorman glanced at his daughter. Miss Daisy’s eyes gleamed with +pleasurable excitement.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p><p>“I’ll buy that monarchy,” said Donovan, “money down, and I expect the +King and I won’t fall out about the price. But if I buy, I buy the +section and all fixings, royal palace, throne, crown and title. I’m +particular about the title.”</p> + +<p>Miss Daisy jumped from her chair and ran round the table. She flung +her arms round her father’s neck and kissed him heartily, first on one +cheek, then on the other.</p> + +<p>“You darling!” she said.</p> + +<p>Donovan disengaged his head from her embrace and turned to Gorman.</p> + +<p>“My little girl has taken a notion,” he said, “that she’d like to be a +queen. The thing might be worked by marrying; but we don’t either of +us care for that notion. She’d be tied up if she married, and she +might tire. My idea—and hers—is that it’s better to buy what we want +right out. I don’t say that Megalia is precisely the kingdom I’d have +chosen for her. I’d have preferred a place with a bigger reputation, +one better advertised by historians. But I realize that the European +monarchy market has been cornered by a syndicate, and I can’t just +step down and buy what I like. Your leading families, so I understand, +have secured options on the best kingdoms and won’t part.”</p> + +<p>Miss Daisy was still standing with her arms round her father’s neck. +She hugged him as she spoke.</p> + +<p>“I shall just love Megalia,” she said. “I’d far rather have it than +one three times the size.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p><p>“Well,” said her father, “I guess there’s no reason why you shouldn’t +have it.”</p> + +<p>Gorman saw several reasons, excellent ones, why Daisy Donovan could +never be queen of Megalia. He began to explain them. Kingdoms cannot +be bought and sold like horses. There are emperors and other kings to +consider. There is the Balance of Power in Europe. There are +ambassadors, chancelleries, statesmen. He was not at all sure that the +Monroe Doctrine, in an inverted form, might not be an absolute bar to +the purchase of a European kingdom by an American. Donovan brushed the +difficulties aside.</p> + +<p>“Those points,” he said, “will be considered in settling the price. +I’m aware that Europe has its prejudices. I’m not out to trample on +them. Genuine vested interests owned by other monarchs will be paid +for. Ambassadors and chancellors will be taken on and employed at +their old salaries as part of a going concern.”</p> + +<p>Gorman is, like the Megalians, enterprising and full of courage. He +did not believe that the sale of the Crown of Megalia could possibly +be carried through; but something might be done which would satisfy +Donovan. An estate, carrying with it a title like that of Grand +Duchess, might be made over to Miss Daisy. All kings possess the power +of conferring titles. If such honours are freely sold in a country +like England, there could be no possible objection to the King of +Megalia taking a reasonable price for creating a Grand Duchess, even, +perhaps, a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>princess. Donovan’s next words made Gorman determine to +try what he could do.</p> + +<p>“There’ll be a rake-off from the purchase price,” said Donovan, “for +the man who arranges the sale. I don’t kick against a reasonable +percentage.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">I</span>t was Gorman’s misfortune that all through the Megalia negotiations +he had to deal with women as well as men, indeed sometimes with women +rather than men.</p> + +<p>Donovan held it as an article of faith that anything in the world can +be bought for money, if only there is money enough. But Donovan would +not have insisted on justifying his faith by putting it to the test. +No one does that. Not even a church, though firmly convinced of its +own infallibility, will bludgeon the world into an acceptance of its +claim by making decisions about matters which are susceptible of +proof. Donovan would have been quite content to believe that he could +purchase the Crown of Megalia without actually doing so. It was Miss +Daisy, who had no theories about the power of money, who insisted on +becoming a queen.</p> + +<p>King Konrad Karl knew perfectly well that he could not sell what +Donovan wanted to buy.</p> + +<p>“I would,” he said, “sell Megalia with damnable pleasure. Your +friend’s daughter might be Queen or Empress or Sultana. You, my dear +Gorman, might be king consort when you married her. But you know and I +know and Corinne knows—alas! <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>we all know—that if I attempted a +<i>coup d’état</i> of that kind the Emperor would at once put in my wheel a +spoke. It is a cursed pity; but what can we do? We must, as you once +said to me, Gorman, be content to leave it at that.”</p> + +<p>Madame Ypsilante was present when Gorman first suggested the sale of +Megalia. She cut into the conversation with a very pertinent remark.</p> + +<p>“The price,” she said, “would be enormous.”</p> + +<p>Madame is a lady of expensive tastes and appreciates the advantage of +possessing money. There was at that time in Goldsturmer’s Bond Street +establishment a rope of pearls which she very much wished to possess. +Miss Daisy Donovan had seen it and admired it greatly. This fact +rendered Madame’s desire almost overwhelming.</p> + +<p>“The price of a kingdom,” she said. “Consider.”</p> + +<p>Her fine eyes opened very wide as she considered the price which +Donovan might be induced to pay for Megalia. The King sighed deeply.</p> + +<p>“Alas!” he said. “The Emperor.”</p> + +<p>“Damn the Emperor,” said Madame.</p> + +<p>She had every reason to wish evil to the Emperor. His malignant +respect for conventional morality had driven her from the precincts of +his court, had been the prime cause of the misfortunes which had +nearly overwhelmed her and Konrad, and now the Emperor stood between +her and the possession of the most magnificent pearls in Europe. It +was no wonder that she cursed him. Konrad Karl did not rebuke her +disloyalty. He merely shrugged his <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>shoulders, feeling that it was no +use damning the Emperor. That potentate would not moult a feather +though Madame Ypsilante cursed him all day long. Madame herself felt +the uselessness of losing her temper with some one she could not hurt. +She asked the King to give her a glass of brandy. That stimulated her +imagination.</p> + +<p>“This American,” she said, “is no doubt a fool, and his daughter +imbecile. Do not contradict me. All young girls are imbecile. As for +the father, if he were not a fool would he wish to buy Megalia? +Megalia, my God! The world is full of things desirable to buy; and he +asks for that.”</p> + +<p>The King nodded. He knew Megalia. The man who wanted to buy it was +certainly a fool. Gorman was forced to admit that Donovan showed less +wisdom than might be expected in wishing to spend money on a kingdom +of that kind.</p> + +<p>“Then,” said Madame, “the affair is simple. He buys. You sell. He +pays. You take. We skip. I love London—yes, very well. But after all +there are other cities. We skip. The Emperor acts. The American +curses. What is that to us?”</p> + +<p>The King shook his head. The plan was simple. Unfortunately the world +is not big enough for the working out of really great conceptions.</p> + +<p>“We should be pursued. They would take us by the collar. We should be +compelled to disgorge the swag.”</p> + +<p>“We should not be so compelled,” said Madame. “I should at once buy +pearls and diamonds, and I <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>should conceal them. You, Konrad, would +have nothing to disgorge.”</p> + +<p>It is certain that the King had a real affection for Madame Corinne. +Gorman called it an infatuation. No doubt he even trusted her. It is +just conceivable that he would have allowed her to wander off by +herself with several hundred thousand pounds worth of jewels while he +argued with the Emperor and Donovan and the U. S. Ambassador. But +Gorman pointed out a fatal defect in the scheme.</p> + +<p>“I don’t deny,” he said, “that there’s a soft spot somewhere in +Donovan. But he’s not that particular kind of fool. You may take it +from me, Madame, that the price won’t be paid till you have delivered +the goods. You won’t get more than a few thousands in advance until +Miss Daisy is actually sitting on a throne with a gold crown on her +head.”</p> + +<p>“There is no crown in Megalia,” said the King. “There never was. If +there had been it would not be there now. I should have brought it +with me when I made my scoot.”</p> + +<p>“Donovan won’t bother about that point,” said Gorman. “In fact, I +expect he’d buy a new crown in any case. He wouldn’t like the idea of +his daughter appearing in anything second-hand. What he wants for her +is the right to wear a crown.”</p> + +<p>“That,” said the King, “is exactly the pinching shoe. That she cannot +have. We are at a dying—no, a dead lock.”</p> + +<p>“Somehow,” said Madame, “we must have the money. If that girl, that +miss, who is more imbecile <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>than all other <i>jeunes filles</i>—if she +obtains that rope of pearls from Goldsturmer, those pearls which ought +to be mine, I shall go mad and take poison, very terrible poison, and +die in front of your eyes, Konrad.”</p> + +<p>With a view to showing how mad she could go if she tried, she threw +her brandy glass on the floor and hacked at it with the heel of her +shoe. The carpets in Beaufort’s hotel have the softest and deepest +pile of any carpets in Europe. Madame’s first two or three hacks did +no more than snap the stem of the glass. To complete its destruction +she stood up and stamped on it.</p> + +<p>Gorman may have feared that she would trample on him next. He told me +that she really was a very alarming sight. Stimulated by terror, his +mind worked quickly.</p> + +<p>“Look here,” he said to the King, “I’ve got a suggestion to make. Get +Madame to sit down and keep quiet for a few minutes.”</p> + +<p>The King had an experience, gathered during six years of intimacy, of +Madame’s ways. He knew what to do with her. He got another glass of +brandy and a box of cigarettes. He set them on a table beside a deep +armchair. Madame suffered herself to be led to the chair.</p> + +<p>“Now, my friend Gorman,” said the King, “if you have a key which will +open the dead lock, make it trot out.”</p> + +<p>“What Donovan wants,” said Gorman, “is a kingdom for his daughter. Not +Megalia in particular, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>but some kind of right to wear a crown. Any +other kingdom would do as well.”</p> + +<p>“But there is no other,” said the King. “In all the courts of Europe +there is no other king in such a damned hole as I am, no other king +who would sell even if he could.”</p> + +<p>“I don’t know Megalia well,” said Gorman, “but there must surely be +some outlying corner of that interesting country—an island, for +instance—which you could make over, sporting, mineral and <i>royal</i> +rights, to Donovan; just as England gave Heligoland to the Germans and +somebody or other, probably the Turks, gave Cyprus to the English. The +thing is constantly done.”</p> + +<p>“But the Emperor,” said the King. “Again and always the Emperor. All +roads lead to Rome. All <i>Real Politik</i> brings us in the end back to +the Emperor.”</p> + +<p>“My idea,” said Gorman, “would be, to choose a small island, quite a +small one, so small that the Emperor wouldn’t notice it was gone. As a +matter of fact I expect a small island would suit Donovan better than +the whole country. He has a weak heart and has come over to Europe for +rest and quiet. He won’t want to be bothered with the politics and +revolutions and complications which will be sure to arise in a large +tract of land like Megalia.”</p> + +<p>“A revolution,” said the King, “arises there regularly. A revolution +is biennial in Megalia.”</p> + +<p>“In a really small island,” said Gorman, “that would not happen. A man +like Donovan would <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>feed the inhabitants until they got too fat for +revolutions. Now the question is, do you own an island of that kind?”</p> + +<p>“There is,” said the King, “Salissa. There is certainly Salissa. My +predecessor on the throne, my cousin Otto, resided in Salissa +until——. He thought it a safe place to reside because it was so far +from the land. He even built a house there. It is, I am told, a +charming house. Hot and cold. Billiard and No Basement. +Self-contained, Tudor and Bungalow, ten bed, two dressing, offices of +the usual, drainage, commanding views, all that is desirable. But, +alas for poor Otto! Salissa was not safe. He had forgotten that +Megalia has a navy, a navy of one ship only, but that was enough. It +cooked the goose of Otto, that Megalian Navy. The Prime Minister and +the Commander of the Forces and the Admiral arrived at Salissa one day +in the Navy. That was the end of Otto.”</p> + +<p>“I hope,” said Gorman, “that the inhabitants of Salissa aren’t a +bloodthirsty lot. I wouldn’t like to think of Miss Daisy being +murdered. Besides, there’d be complications. The assassination of an +odd prince doesn’t much matter to any one. But an American +millionaire! The sudden death of a man like Donovan would mean a panic +in Wall Street, and there’d have to be a fuss.”</p> + +<p>“The inhabitants!” said the King. “They would not kill a baby. They +are lambs, ducks, kids, doves. They bleat. They coo.”</p> + +<p>“The Prime Minister,” said Gorman, “the Commander <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>of the Forces and +the Admiral could be squared, I suppose?”</p> + +<p>“They would not want to kill her,” said the King. “She would not be +their queen.”</p> + +<p>“Sounds all right,” said Gorman, “if you can be sure of selling +the whole thing without reservation of any kind to him. The royal +rights are essential. Remember that. There must be no +‘subject-to-the-Crown-of-Megalia’ clause in the deed.”</p> + +<p>“The Emperor need not know,” said the King. “Salissa is very small, +and far, very far, from the land. If we keep the transaction +shady—that is to say, dark—the Emperor will not tumble into it.”</p> + +<p>Madame swallowed her last sip of brandy.</p> + +<p>“The price?” she said.</p> + +<p>“You cannot,” said Gorman, “expect as much for a small island like +that as if you were able to sell the whole kingdom; the revenue can’t +be anything much.”</p> + +<p>“There is no revenue in Megalia either,” said the King.</p> + +<p>“But Donovan is getting what he wants. His daughter will be a reigning +queen. I daresay we’ll be able to screw him up to——”</p> + +<p>“The price of that rope of pearls,” said Madame, “is ten thousand +pounds.”</p> + +<p>“Oh,” said Gorman, “we’ll get that and a bit over.”</p> + +<p>“At once,” said Madame, “cash down. For if we have to wait and wait +for months that imbecile girl will buy the pearls. Do not say no. I +know <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>it. I have a feeling. There is a presentiment. And if she gets +those pearls I shall——”</p> + +<p>Gorman did not want her to go mad again.</p> + +<p>“Couldn’t you see Goldsturmer,” he said, “and arrange with him to give +you the refusal of the pearls, say, three months from now?”</p> + +<p>“Goldsturmer,” said Madame, “is a devil. He will not trust me for one +day, although he knows Konrad well.”</p> + +<p>Goldsturmer would probably have said that he refused to trust Madame +<i>because</i> he knew Konrad well.</p> + +<p>Gorman promised to lay the Salissa proposal before Donovan, and to get +him, if possible, to pay at least ten thousand of the purchase money +in advance.</p> + +<p>“But above all,” said the King, “let him hold tight to his tongue, and +you, my friend Gorman. This is no affair about which a song can be +made in the market place. If the Emperor were to hear a +whisper—Gorman, you do not know the Emperor. His ears are long. If he +were to hear there would be an end. There would be no sale.”</p> + +<p>“Donovan,” said Gorman, “would probably offer the Emperor five per +cent. of the purchase money if there was any trouble.”</p> + +<p>“Five per cent.!” said the King. “The Emperor! God in heaven!”</p> + +<p>King Konrad Karl probably feared God in heaven very little. But there +is no doubt that he had a nervous dread of the Emperor.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">D</span>onovan was, I believe, relieved when he heard that he could not buy +the whole kingdom of Megalia. The price would have been enormous, but +he would not have hesitated to pay it if, by paying, he would have got +what he wanted. The more he looked into the business of kingship, the +less he liked it. The idea of Court etiquette worried him. Donovan +disliked dressing for dinner, a form of activity to which he was +unaccustomed. He got it into his head that the father of the reigning +monarch in a state like Megalia might be called on to wear uniforms, +troublesome things with unusual buttons and straps, and change them +two or three times a day. He feared that such a combination of +exertion and worry would still further disorder the action of his +heart. He saw no prospect of quiet indolence among a people which went +in for revolutions as a pastime. Salissa, on the other hand, seemed +almost an ideal spot. There were not likely to be any regular postal +arrangements. There was certainly no cable. Since there were less than +a hundred inhabitants a liberal pension could be given to each. +Pensioners are notoriously peaceful and unobtrusive people.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p><p>Miss Daisy was a little disappointed at first; but only at first. Once +she hit on the idea that her kingdom would be the “dinkiest” in +Europe, indeed in the world, she was pleased. The negotiations were +rushed through at a pace which struck even Gorman as indecent. But +everybody concerned was in a hurry. Konrad Karl was afraid that the +Emperor might hear of the sale through the Megalian ambassador in +London. But that gentleman—he was a Count, I think—was under the +influence, probably in the pay of the Emperor, and had been instructed +to ignore King Konrad Karl as much as possible. He heard nothing about +the matter. Madame Ypsilante was in a hurry for obvious reasons. Miss +Daisy Donovan had looked at the pearl necklace two or three times, and +there was a horrible possibility that she might regard it as a +suitable ornament for a queen. Miss Daisy was eager to see her island +kingdom as soon as possible. Donovan himself was finding London less +restful than ever. He wanted to get the Salissa business settled out +of hand.</p> + +<p>It was settled early in April. I never heard the exact date of the +signing of the papers, but April the 1st would have been appropriate. +An immense document was drawn up by a solicitor, a cousin of Gorman’s +who lived in a small west of Ireland town. Gorman said he gave the job +to this particular man because no London lawyer would have kept the +matter secret. My own impression is that no London solicitor would +have undertaken the job <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>at all. There cannot be any recognized legal +form for the sale of kingdoms. However, Gorman’s cousin did his work +excellently. The document looked well. He attached eight enormous +seals to it, and he had several of the most important clauses +translated into Latin. It must have been as good as it looked. +Later on nearly every ambassador in Europe had a look at the +“instrument”—Gorman called it an instrument sometimes, sometimes a +protocol—and they were all baffled. The American ambassador in +Megalia offered Gorman’s cousin a post in the U. S. A. diplomatic +service, a high testimonial to his abilities. Miss Daisy and her heirs +became the independent sovereigns of the Island of Salissa. Donovan +promised to pay down the purchase money as soon as he was satisfied +that the island really existed. The most Gorman could screw out of him +in the way of an advance was £5,000.</p> + +<p>The evening after the “instrument” was signed, Gorman had a visit from +Goldsturmer, the well-known jeweller. The man, a rather unctuous, but +very suave and polite German Jew, was shown into Gorman’s +sitting-room.</p> + +<p>“I think,” he said, “that you are a friend of his Majesty, King Konrad +Karl of Megalia?”</p> + +<p>Gorman was on his guard and determined to give away no information of +any kind. The King’s nervous fear of the Emperor’s displeasure had +impressed Gorman with the necessity of keeping the sale of Salissa as +secret as possible; but he could <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>hardly avoid admitting that he knew +King Konrad Karl. The affairs of the wine company had occupied some +space in the daily papers, and the names of the directors had been +published. His name and the King’s had appeared together very +frequently.</p> + +<p>“And perhaps,” said Goldsturmer, “you also know Madame Ypsilante?”</p> + +<p>“I have seen the lady,” said Gorman.</p> + +<p>Goldsturmer was not in the least discouraged by Gorman’s reticence.</p> + +<p>“I cannot,” he said, “expect you to answer more frankly unless I am +equally frank with you. I am at this time engaged in a business +transaction of some importance with Madame Ypsilante. The sum of money +involved is very large. It is”—Goldsturmer’s tone became +reverent—“£10,000.”</p> + +<p>“Can she pay?” said Gorman, “not that it’s any affair of mine whether +she can or not.”</p> + +<p>“The lady herself cannot pay; but the King—she tells me that his +Majesty has recently sold an estate situated in Megalia to a wealthy +American. Now if that is true——”</p> + +<p>“Perhaps in that case the King might pay,” said Gorman.</p> + +<p>“I wonder,” said Goldsturmer, “if the sale has taken place?”</p> + +<p>“Shouldn’t think it likely,” said Gorman.</p> + +<p>Goldsturmer paused. For quite a minute he sat looking at Gorman. Then +he said:</p> + +<p>“In a matter of this kind I am prepared to pay for information which +would be of use to me. I <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>shall speak frankly. It would be worth my +while to give one per cent. of the sum involved to any one who could +tell me whether the sale which Madame mentioned to me has really been +effected.”</p> + +<p>“Ah,” said Gorman, “one per cent. on, did you say, £10,000?”</p> + +<p>“It would amount to £100.”</p> + +<p>“I wish I could earn it,” said Gorman, “but unfortunately I know +nothing at all about the matter.”</p> + +<p>Political life, so Gorman has often told me, is the very best +education obtainable in one respect. The politician learns to lie +fluently and without discomfort. Even politicians are not, of course, +always believed, but they know how to lie in a way which makes it very +difficult for any one to give expression to unbelief. Goldsturmer may +actually have believed Gorman. He certainly pretended to. He did not +even offer a two per cent. bonus.</p> + +<p>“I must ask you to pardon me,” he said, “for occupying your time with +my inquiries. I thank you for the way in which you have received me. +Good-bye.”</p> + +<p>He bowed his way to the door. Then he turned to Gorman again.</p> + +<p>“You will understand, I am sure, that mine was a purely business +inquiry. I am not interested in any of the scandal which unfortunately +is connected with the name of his Majesty, or with that of the +charming lady of whom I spoke. Still less am I concerned <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>with the +state affairs of Megalia. I have no connection with Megalia.”</p> + +<p>Gorman sat thinking for a while after Goldsturmer left him. The +jeweller’s visit and his questions were natural enough. Such inquiries +are made every day. There was nothing surprising in the offer of one +per cent. on the money which was to change hands in return for +information. Gorman was a politician. It was not the first time he had +been offered a commission. He hoped it would not be the last. What +puzzled him was Goldsturmer’s final remark. Why should the man have +said he had no interest in the state affairs of Megalia unless indeed +he was interested, was on the track of a suspected secret?</p> + +<p>Once more Gorman lamented the fact that women were mixed up in a +business affair.</p> + +<p>“Damn Madame Ypsilante,” he said.</p> + +<p>Then, finding some relief for his feelings in expressing them aloud:</p> + +<p>“Damn that woman’s tongue.”</p> + +<p>Gorman was puzzled and therefore anxious. His commission on the sale +of Salissa—his rake-off, as Donovan called it—was large, a sum which +Gorman did not want to lose. He was most anxious that the transaction +should be successfully completed and the money actually paid. The +King’s evident nervousness about the Emperor impressed him +unpleasantly. Gorman was not a student of foreign politics. He did not +know precisely what the Emperor’s position was. Megalia was nominally +an <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>independent state. Its King could, he supposed, cede a portion of +territory to a foreign power without consulting any other monarch. Yet +the Emperor evidently had to be considered, might put a stop to the +whole business. Konrad Karl had no doubts about that, and he ought to +know.</p> + +<p>I am sure that I should be doing Gorman an injustice if I were to +represent him as anxious only about the commission. He had a queer +liking for the unfortunate Konrad Karl. He wanted—as everybody who +knew her did—to gratify Miss Daisy Donovan. And he took a sporting +interest in the sale of Salissa. There was a novelty about the +purchase of the position of reigning monarch which appealed to Gorman, +and there were all sorts of possibilities about the situation and its +future developments.</p> + +<p>A week later, just as he was beginning to forget Goldsturmer’s visit, +Gorman had fresh cause for anxiety. I remember the day very well. I +was lunching at my club, a club of which Gorman is also a member. As I +entered the room I saw him sitting at a table near the window. I +intended to join him, for Gorman is always good company. When I +reached his table I saw that he already had a companion—Steinwitz, +the director of the Cyrenian Sea Steam Navigation Company. I turned +away at once, for Steinwitz is a man whom I particularly dislike. +Gorman caught sight of me and called:</p> + +<p>“Come and sit here. There’s plenty of room. The waiter can lay another +place.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p><p>“Thanks,” I said, “but I’ve just caught sight of a man at the far end +of the room whom I particularly want to talk to.”</p> + +<p>“Talk to him later on,” said Gorman, “Come and sit here now.”</p> + +<p>There was something in Gorman’s tone which made me think he really +wanted me to sit at his table, that he had a motive in pressing me as +he did. But I was not going to lunch in the company of Steinwitz. I +have nothing definite against the man; but I do not like him. I shook +my head and found a seat at the far end of the room.</p> + +<p>Afterwards—months afterwards—Gorman told me that he wanted me very +badly that day, me or some one else. He wanted a third person at his +table. Steinwitz was asking inconvenient questions, talking about +matters Gorman did not want to discuss. The presence of a third person +might have saved Gorman some awkwardness.</p> + +<p>Steinwitz was insistent and determined. He laid hold on Gorman before +lunch and clung to him until they sat down together.</p> + +<p>“You remember asking me,” said Steinwitz—“let me see, it must have +been a couple of months ago—you remember asking me for information +about Megalia.”</p> + +<p>“Did I?” said Gorman.</p> + +<p>“And I told you it was a rotten country—no trade, no harbours, no +tourist traffic, no anything. Well—rather an odd thing happened +yesterday. A man came into my office—by the way, you know <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>him, I +think—Donovan, the American millionaire——”</p> + +<p>“Oh, yes, I know him. Owns a pretty daughter, doesn’t he?”</p> + +<p>“She was with him,” said Steinwitz—“a romantic sort of girl, I should +say, by the look of her. Head stuffed full of silly fancies.”</p> + +<p>Steinwitz’ eyes were on Gorman all the time he was speaking. Gorman +says he felt very uncomfortable, but I am sure he did not show it.</p> + +<p>“I scarcely know the girl,” said Gorman. “What did old Donovan want +with you?”</p> + +<p>“Wanted to charter a steamer, captain, crew and all, one of our boats. +Said he was going for a cruise off the coast of Megalia and wanted a +biggish ship and officers who know the Cyrenian Sea thoroughly.”</p> + +<p>“Odd fancies the Americans have,” said Gorman. “However, he can pay +for what he wants. If half what they say about him is true, he could +buy up your whole fleet without missing the money.”</p> + +<p>“He certainly did not boggle over the figure I named.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, you let him have the ship then?”</p> + +<p>“Certainly. Trade is dull in those parts now. As a matter of fact the +<i>Ida</i> was lying up.”</p> + +<p>Gorman pretended to yawn by way of showing how very little interest he +took in the matter.</p> + +<p>“Hope he’ll enjoy the trip,” he said. “Doesn’t sound an attractive +country by your account.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Steinwitz, “there are some interesting <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>things to see. +There’s the Island of Salissa, for instance.”</p> + +<p>Gorman was startled by the mention of Salissa. He may possibly have +shown his surprise. Steinwitz went on:</p> + +<p>“By the way, talking of Salissa, Goldsturmer told me a curious thing +the other day. You know Goldsturmer, don’t you?”</p> + +<p>“The jewel man?”</p> + +<p>“Yes. He says your friend Donovan has bought the island of Salissa +from that picturesque blackguard King Konrad Karl. I wonder if that +can be true. Goldsturmer says he has it on the best authority.”</p> + +<p>“Those ‘best authorities’,” said Gorman, “are invariably liars. I have +known scores of them.”</p> + +<p>“I daresay you’re right,” said Steinwitz; “anyhow, in this case the +authority wasn’t one that I should care to rely on. It was Madame +Ypsilante—a very charming lady, but——”</p> + +<p>He shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>“I wouldn’t care to bet my last shilling,” said Gorman, “on the truth +of a statement made by Madame Ypsilante.”</p> + +<p>“In this case,” said Steinwitz, “her story was a ridiculous one, +absurd on the face of it. She said that the American girl wants to set +up as a monarch and that Konrad Karl had sold her the right to call +herself Queen of Salissa.”</p> + +<p>“Either Goldsturmer was pulling your leg,” said <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>Gorman, “or Madame +was pulling his. Was she trying to get anything out of him?”</p> + +<p>“Pearls,” said Steinwitz. “There is a certain rope of pearls——”</p> + +<p>“That accounts for the whole thing,” said Gorman.</p> + +<p>Steinwitz seemed quite satisfied that it did. But he was not inclined +to drop the subject altogether.</p> + +<p>“A sale of that sort,” he said, “would be impossible. The Emperor +wouldn’t permit it.”</p> + +<p>Then Gorman made a mistake. For the first time he showed a real +interest in what Steinwitz said. There is every excuse for him. He +wanted very much to understand the Emperor’s position; and Steinwitz +had already heard—possibly believed—the story of the sale of +Salissa.</p> + +<p>“What on earth has the Emperor got to do with it?” said Gorman. +“Megalia is an independent state, isn’t it?”</p> + +<p>Steinwitz laughed.</p> + +<p>“Very few states,” he said, “are independent of the Emperor.”</p> + +<p>There was something in the way he spoke, a note of arrogance, a +suggestion of truculence, which nettled Gorman.</p> + +<p>“Donovan,” he said, “is a free citizen of the United States of +America. That’s what he says himself. I don’t expect he cares a damn +about any emperor.”</p> + +<p>“Ah well,” said Steinwitz, “it does not matter, does it? Since he has +not bought the Island of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>Salissa, no question is likely to arise. The +Emperor will not object to his wandering round the Cyrenian Sea in the +<i>Ida</i>.”</p> + +<p>Gorman was singularly dull when he joined me in the smoking-room after +luncheon. I do not recollect any other occasion on which I found him +disinclined to talk. I opened the most seductive subjects. I said I +was sure Ulster really meant to take up arms against Home Rule. I said +that the Sinn Féiners were getting stronger and stronger in Ireland, +and that neither Gorman nor any member of his party would be returned +at the next General Election. Gorman must have wanted to contradict +me; but he did not say a word. It was only when I got up to go away +that he spoke; and then he made a remark which had no bearing whatever +on anything which I had said.</p> + +<p>“Women,” he growled, “are hell. In business they’re red hell.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span>he Donovans started for Salissa within three weeks of the completion +of the sale of the island. This was a remarkable achievement, and the +whole credit is due to the amazing energy of Miss Daisy. She was all +eagerness to enter into the possession of her kingdom; but she had no +idea of going to an unknown island without proper supplies. She bought +furniture for her house. King Konrad Karl was of opinion that there +must be furniture in it. The Prime Minister, the Commander-in-Chief +and the Admiral had almost certainly carried off any jewellery or +plate there might have been, after the assassination of the late king. +Tables, chairs, carpets and beds, they must, he thought, have left +behind, because the Megalian Navy was not big enough to carry very +much cargo. But Miss Daisy took no risks. She bought everything +necessary for a house of moderate size, and had the packing cases put +into the hold of the <i>Ida</i>.</p> + +<p>She gave large orders for every kind of portable provisions. She +entrusted a wine merchant with the duty of stocking the royal cellars. +Certain dressmakers—eight, I believe—were kept busy. The new queen +did not actually purchase royal <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>robes; but she got every other kind +of clothes from the most fantastic teagowns to severe costumes +designed for mountaineering. There might be a mountain in Salissa. The +Queen liked to be prepared for it if it were there.</p> + +<p>She engaged a staff of servants, hitting on twenty as a suitable +number for the household of a queen of a small state. The chief of +this band was a dignified man who had once been butler to a duke. Miss +Daisy gave him the title of major domo, and provided him with a thick +gold chain to hang round his neck. There were alterations to be made +in the <i>Ida</i>, a steamer not originally intended to carry passengers. +These were left to Steinwitz; but Miss Daisy managed to run down every +day to see that the work was being done as quickly as possible. She +had interviews with Captain Wilson, who commanded the <i>Ida</i>, and Mr. +Maurice Phillips, the first officer. She asked them both to dinner. +Captain Wilson, a Scot, was taciturn and suspicious. He regarded the +job before him as an objectionable kind of practical joke, likely, +before it was over, to impair his natural dignity. Mr. Phillips was +filled with delight at the prospect. He was a young man with curly +fair hair and cheerful eyes.</p> + +<p>The start might have been made in even less than three weeks, if it +had not been for the Heralds’ Office. Miss Daisy wanted a banner to +hoist over the royal palace in Salissa. She consulted Gorman, and +gathered from what he told her that heralds are experts in designing +banners. She found her <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>way to the office and explained what she +wanted to a suave, but rather anæmic young gentleman who talked about +quarterings. Miss Daisy was not to be cowed by jargon.</p> + +<p>“Put in any quarterings you fancy,” she said. “I’m not particular. If +ghules, argents and ramparts are extra, I am prepared to pay. But +don’t you meditate too much on the unforgotten glories of the past. +Get a move on.”</p> + +<p>That it appeared was the one thing the Heralds’ Office could not do. +Miss Daisy stormed at its doors. She telephoned at short intervals all +day. She even tried to persuade her father to take part in the +persecution. But Mr. Donovan was too wise.</p> + +<p>“There are things,” he said, “which cannot be done. No man living, not +even a railway boss—can speed up a state department.”</p> + +<p>“Any firm in New York,” said Miss Daisy, “would have sent in designs +for a dozen banners in half the time that young man in the Heraldry +Office has been thinking about one.”</p> + +<p>“Heralds,” said Mr. Donovan, “are mediæval. If they laid hold on the +idea of an automobile and went in for speed, they’d lose grip on the +science of heraldry.”</p> + +<p>In the end, goaded and worried by Miss Daisy into a condition of +bewildered exasperation, the Heralds’ Office produced a large +pale-blue flag. In the middle of it was a white flower, said to be a +daisy. It arrived at Southampton by the hand of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>a special messenger +just before the sailing of the <i>Ida</i>. Later on—when that flag became +a subject for argument among diplomatists—the heralds disclaimed all +real responsibility for it. They said that they had no idea they were +making a royal standard. They said that they understood that they were +preparing a flag for a young lady’s house-boat. Miss Daisy asserts, on +the other hand, that her orders were quite distinct. She told the +anæmic young man at their first interview that she wanted a “Royal +Banner, done according to the best European specification.”</p> + +<p>Nine of the servants refused to sail at the last moment. They alleged +that the sleeping accommodation on board the <i>Ida</i> was not what they +were accustomed to. The major domo only agreed to go on board when he +was given the cabin originally intended for Miss Daisy. She occupied +that which had been allotted to a kitchen-maid, one of the deserters. +Steinwitz and Gorman, who saw the party off, induced the other ten +servants to go on board, apologizing humbly to them and explaining +that the cabins in the <i>Ida</i> had necessarily been very hurriedly made. +For all the use any of the servants were on the voyage, or afterwards, +they might as well have stayed at home. The major domo shut himself up +in his cabin and was resolutely seasick even in the calmest weather. +The others, though not as sick as he was, pretended to be incapable of +doing anything.</p> + +<p>The Donovans, Captain Wilson and Mr. Phillips <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>were waited on by a +steward, a man called Smith who had been brought from London and added +to the ship’s company at the last moment by Steinwitz. He proved to be +an excellent servant and a man of varied talents. He took a hand in +the cooking, mixed cocktails, and acted as valet to Mr. Donovan, +waited at table, made beds and kept the cabins beautifully clean. He +even found time to save the major domo from starvation by bringing him +soup and dry toast occasionally.</p> + +<p>Captain Wilson, who could not get over the idea that he was being made +to look ridiculous, remained rather aloof during the voyage. He +accepted the cigars which Donovan pressed on him, and was civil to +Miss Daisy, but he made no pretence of enjoying himself. Mr. Phillips +was in high spirits the whole time. He fell in love with Miss Daisy +the moment he saw her. But there was nothing mournful or despairing +about the way the great passion took him. He never brooded in silence +over the hopelessness of his prospects; though as a subordinate +officer in the merchant service, he had not much chance of marrying +one of the richest heiresses in Europe. His devotion was like that of +a frisky terrier which gambols round an adored mistress. Miss Daisy +found him a most agreeable young man.</p> + +<p>It was he, and not Captain Wilson, who came to her one evening with +the news that they might expect to sight Salissa next morning. Miss +Daisy scarcely slept. At five o’clock she was on the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>bridge. Captain +Wilson told her that she might safely go to bed again till seven or +eight. But she stayed where she was. Mr. Phillips fetched a cup of tea +for her at six and another at seven. She drank both and ate a good +deal of bread and butter. When at last the island appeared, a dim +speck on a clear horizon line, she danced with excitement, and sent +Mr. Phillips below to fetch her father. Mr. Donovan was at breakfast, +attended by Smith, and flatly refused to stir. Captain Wilson, +satisfied that the island lay just where he expected it, left the +bridge and joined Mr. Donovan. Miss Daisy and Mr. Phillips stood +together, their eyes fixed on the island.</p> + +<p>Salissa is a beautiful island and had the good fortune to look its +best when its new queen saw it. The sky was cloudless. The sea was +almost calm. The island rose, clear outlined, from the blue water. +There are some islands, as there are some complexions, which are best +looked at in a light which is not too clear, which require a dimness, +a little mist, to make them beautiful. Salissa—Phillips would have +said the same of Salissa’s mistress—was at its loveliest on a clear +May morning. The island appeared first as a flattened cone, intensely +green. Then, as the steamer drew nearer, the cliffs which embraced the +natural harbour shone out dazzlingly white. The sea rolled lazily, a +belt of foam across the reef which almost blocked the entrance to the +bay. Beneath the cliffs, right under them, the colour of the water +turned to the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>palest blue. On the south side of the bay was a sandy +beach, and above it a small village, seen to be a village afterwards, +at first no more than splashes of bright colour, blue and red. Behind +the village, sloping upwards, was a broad stretch of cultivated land.</p> + +<p>“Vineyards,” said Mr. Phillips, who had voyaged much about the +Cyrenian Sea.</p> + +<p>On the north side of the bay, opposite the cottages, a promontory ran +out into the water. On it, sometimes on its very edge, sometimes drawn +a little back with a space of smooth rocks in front of it, was the +house built by King Otto, Konrad Karl’s unfortunate predecessor on the +Megalian throne. Perhaps that king himself had a taste for the +fantastic. Perhaps he was only a commonplace man who had the luck to +employ an architect of airy genius. The house was the palace of a +dream of fairyland. It was built of the white stone of the island. +Long windows opened on balconies supported on white pillars which +stood in the water. There were little glistening spires which rose +from steep patches of red roof. There were broad shaded porches and +flights of shallow white steps which led down into the water. The +ground plan of the house followed the outline of the promontory on +which it stood. Only in the upper storey did the eye find rest in a +straight line. There nine great windows, green jalousied, gave upon a +wide balcony. At one place where the rock had been eaten into by the +sea, the architect had built over <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>water which sighed and gurgled +among mysterious green shades under vaulted roofs among the +foundations of the house.</p> + +<p>Miss Daisy, standing on the bridge, clapped her hands and then stood +silent and motionless in an ecstasy of delight. Mr. Phillips, his eyes +on the girl, rang the ship’s engines to “Dead Slow” and sent a man to +summon Captain Wilson.</p> + +<p>The steamer slid slowly through the water towards the opening at the +south end of the protecting reef. Captain Wilson came on deck. Mr. +Donovan followed him. He stood leaning over the bulwarks just forward +of the bridge. Miss Daisy ran to him and seized his arm.</p> + +<p>“Father,” she cried, “isn’t it all lovely? Isn’t it just a dream? Look +at the two cottages. Look at the cliffs and the blue water. Did you +ever see such blue——? and now——”</p> + +<p>The ship swung slowly round the south end of the reef. The house on +the promontory came full in view.</p> + +<p>“And now look at the castle. It’s too fairy for anything, isn’t it?”</p> + +<p>“Reminds me quite a bit,” said Donovan, “of the hotel at the south end +of the Marine Parade at Atlantic City. Kind of fanciful.”</p> + +<p>“It’s a dream come true,” said Miss Daisy.</p> + +<p>Mr. Donovan turned round. Behind him, in a respectful attitude, stood +the major domo. A little further back, grouped together, were his ten +fellow-servants, all in respectful attitudes.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p><p>“Beg pardon, sir,” said the major domo.</p> + +<p>The man, though engaged by Miss Daisy, had from the first refused to +recognize her as his mistress. The negotiations in Southampton about +the cabin had been carried on with Mr. Donovan. It was to Mr. Donovan +that he spoke now.</p> + +<p>“Beg pardon, sir,” he said, “but does the family propose to reside +here for any length of time?”</p> + +<p>Mr. Donovan waved his hand towards Miss Daisy. She realized that, as +queen of the island, it was her business to decide the movements of +the court.</p> + +<p>“Always,” she said. “For ever and ever and ever. I shall never live +anywhere else, and when I die I’ll be buried here.”</p> + +<p>“In that case, sir,” said the major domo, still ignoring the queen, “I +must request, in the name of self and the rest of the staff, to return +to England at once, sir, and if I may add a suggestion, sir, I’d say +by rail. This ship is not what we’ve been accustomed to in places +where we’ve lived before.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Mr. Donovan, “you can go back if you like. Salissa is a +free state, though not a republic; but there’s liable to be some delay +if you wait for a train.”</p> + +<p>“You nasty beasts!” said Miss Daisy. “You’ve spoiled the whole thing +now by being cats. Just when everything was beautiful and I was so +happy. I’d like to tell you what I think of you all. Oh, I do wish Mr. +Phillips was here. He’d——Oh, father, would you? I’m sure you could.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p><p>Mr. Donovan looked at her and waited. In time, such was his +experience, Miss Daisy usually explained what she wanted pretty +clearly.</p> + +<p>“I once heard Mr. Phillips talking to one of the sailors,” she said. +“He didn’t know I was listening, of course. The sailor had been +messing things about in a wrong way, and Mr. Phillips——”</p> + +<p>“Language?” said Mr. Donovan.</p> + +<p>“It was splendid. I never knew before that there were such words.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Mr. Donovan, “I haven’t cursed any for quite a bit; but +I’m willing to try. But you’d better run up the bridge, Daisy, right +now, before I start. I might be kind of held back from some +expressions if I knew you were listening.”</p> + +<p>Miss Daisy, who was sometimes quite an obedient girl, reached the +bridge in time to hear the order given, and to see the anchor splash +into the blue water.</p> + +<p>Mr. Donovan began to speak slowly and very quietly. It took the women +servants nearly two minutes to realize that he was using the most +atrocious language. Then they fled. The three footmen stood their +ground a little longer. Mr. Donovan raised his voice a little. He felt +old powers returning to him. He became fluent. One by one the footmen +slank away. Mr. Donovan went on, without passion or heat. He arrived +at a terrific malediction which he had found effective many years +before in dealing with Italian navvies. The <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>major domo cowered, his +hands held to his ears, and vanished into the cabin.</p> + +<p>Mr. Donovan took from his pocket a large purple handkerchief. He wiped +away the sweat which had gathered on his upper lip. Then he looked +round him with an air of satisfaction. There was no one left near him +except Smith, the ship’s steward, who stood in a respectful attitude +apparently waiting for an opportunity to speak.</p> + +<p>“I don’t know,” said Mr. Donovan, “that I can do any more real +high-class cursing, without preparation; but if you’re not satisfied +I’m willing to try.”</p> + +<p>“I was only going to suggest, sir,” said Smith, “that if it would be +any convenience to you, sir, and to her Majesty——” Mr. Donovan +started. It was the first time Miss Daisy had been given her new +title.</p> + +<p>“I’d be very glad, sir, to remain with you and do all I can, sir, to +make you comfortable—subject to Captain Wilson’s permission. Of +course you’ll understand, sir, that I signed on as ship’s steward. I +couldn’t leave my duty, sir, if Captain Wilson required me.”</p> + +<p>“Smith,” said Mr. Donovan, “you’re a white man. I’ll square things up +with Captain Wilson. He can have the use of that sausage skin of a +butler on the voyage home. I hope he’ll just set those able-bodied +wasters of footmen to shovel coal in the stokehole. I shan’t say a +word if he corrects the women with a rope’s end every time they’re +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>seasick. I’m a humanitarian, Smith, opposed to executions and +corporal punishment on principle, in a general way; but I’m not a +hide-bound doctrinnaire. There are circumstances—I kind of feel that +the British domestic servant is one of these circumstances.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, sir,” said Smith. “Quite so, sir.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">H</span>istory says little about them, but there doubtless have been queens +who lacked dignity, queens with high spirits and little sense of +decorum, queens who outraged pompous chamberlains and brought shame +into the lives of stately chancellors. The behaviour of the new queen +of Salissa caused no scandal; but that was only because there was no +one in her small court who had any sense of the dignity proper to +queens. The major domo’s feelings would certainly have been outraged +if he watched Queen Daisy make her first royal progress. But he was +shut up in his cabin. The other servants might have quivered with +shame and disgust if they had seen—but they saw nothing, having +turned away their eyes from beholding vanity.</p> + +<p>After the cable had ceased rattling through the hawse hole Miss Daisy +demanded a boat. Scarcely waiting for Captain Wilson’s word, Mr. +Phillips rushed to lower one. Lashings were cast loose, the boat was +swung outboard and manned with a speed which would have done credit to +a smart yacht’s crew. Miss Daisy ran to her cabin. The oarsmen sat +ready to push off. Mr. Phillips stood in the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>stern sheets, the tiller +between his feet. Miss Daisy appeared at the top of the accommodation +ladder. She held a large parcel in her hand.</p> + +<p>“Catch,” she said to Mr. Phillips, “it’s the flag.”</p> + +<p>She flung it. Mr. Phillips with a wild grab saved it from the sea. +Miss Daisy laughed joyously.</p> + +<p>“Catch again,” she said, “the palace keys.”</p> + +<p>A bunch of keys crashed on the floor boards of the boat between the +feet of the man who rowed stroke. Mr. Phillips picked them up. Miss +Daisy, disdaining a helping hand held out by Smith, skipped down the +steps; her skirt held tight in one hand she leaped into the boat.</p> + +<p>“Quickly,” she cried, “oh, quickly, quickly! Please don’t be long.”</p> + +<p>“Shove off,” said Mr. Phillips, “and pull like—pull like——”</p> + +<p>“Say it,” said Miss Daisy, “say it, if it will make them go quicker.”</p> + +<p>“Pull,” said Mr. Phillips, “pull like—billy-o.”</p> + +<p>The men pulled. Not even the expected invocation of bloody hell would +have stirred them to greater exertions. The boat sprang forward. She +sped towards the palace. The water bubbled round her bows, swished and +foamed in the wake astern of her. Mr. Phillips brought her up +alongside a broad flight of white steps. The men clawed at the smooth +stone with their fingers. The Queen stepped ashore.</p> + +<p>She stood on the lowest step, a figure poised for swift eager motion, +a flushed excited girl, a queen <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>with palpitating heart and eyes full +of dancing merriment. The steps, blazing white in the sunshine, led up +to a broad platform where a tall flagstaff stood. Behind was all the +fantastic wonder of the palace, the porticoes, slender carved columns, +stone lacework of flying buttresses, spires, hollowed spaces of dark +shade, points of sparkling light, broad surfaces of dazzling +whiteness. Mr. Phillips leaped ashore and passed the Queen, bounding +up the steps to the platform. He carried in his hand the parcel which +she had flung into the boat. He reached the flagstaff. He knotted a +light line round his waist. He swarmed up the bare pole. He rove the +line through the block at the top of the staff and slid to earth +again. He bent the halyard to the flag. It ran up, a neat ball. With a +sharp chuck at the line Mr. Phillips broke it out. The Royal Standard +of Salissa fluttered in the morning breeze, pale blue, glorious.</p> + +<p>Mr. Phillips shouted:</p> + +<p>“Long live the Queen! long live the Queen!”</p> + +<p>The Queen, still standing on the bottom step, gave a little cry of +delight. The men in the boat sat still, with puzzled grins on their +faces. Mr. Phillips bounded down to them, leaping the steps in threes +and fours.</p> + +<p>“Cheer, you blighters,” he said, “unless you want your silly skulls +smashed. Cheer like billy-o. Long live the Queen!”</p> + +<p>The men scrambled to their feet and responded. Their cheers rang out. +One of them, moved to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>enthusiasm, seized his oar and beat the water +with the flat of the blade. Like a man with a flail he raised the oar +high and brought it down with loud smacks on the water, splashing up +sparkling drops, rocking the boat in which he stood. He was not a +native of Salissa, not a subject of the Queen, but his action +expressed the enthusiasm of devoted loyalty.</p> + +<p>The Queen bowed, blushing, laughing, breathless with excitement.</p> + +<p>Across the bay came the sound of shouting from the men on board the +<i>Ida</i>, ragged cheers. The steamer’s syren shrieked. Mr. Donovan stood +on the bridge, the rope which controlled the syren in his hand. The +Queen waved to him. Five revolver shots rang out in quick succession.</p> + +<p>“Good old Wilson!” said Mr. Phillips. “I wouldn’t have thought he had +it in him to fire a royal salute.”</p> + +<p>He gave Captain Wilson credit which was not his due. It was Smith, the +steward, who fired the revolver. Afterwards that loyal servant excused +himself to Mr. Donovan.</p> + +<p>“Beg pardon, sir,” he said, “perhaps I oughtn’t to have fired without +orders; but it seemed the proper thing to do, sir.”</p> + +<p>“Do you always carry a gun in your pocket?” said Mr. Donovan.</p> + +<p>“Only when I’m among Eastern peoples, sir. It’s wiser then. Not in +England, sir.”</p> + +<p>The Queen, standing radiant in the sunshine before her palace, gave +her first royal command.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p><p>“Mr. Phillips,” she said, “take the keys and come along.”</p> + +<p>They ran up the steps together, past the flagstaff, crossed a space of +smooth white rock, and reached the great door which faced them. Mr. +Phillips fitted the key and flung the door wide. A gloomy cool space +lay before them. They were standing in bright sunshine and a glow of +reflected light. Their eyes failed to penetrate the darkness before +them. It was as if a thick black curtain hung inside the door. The +Queen hesitated on the threshold. Mr. Phillips entered the room. He +threw open the shutters and flung the great windows wide. Broad belts +of light crossed the room. The sunshine flooded it. The morning breeze +blew in, driving before it the heavy stagnant air.</p> + +<p>The Queen entered.</p> + +<p>She stood in a great hall. Round the walls hung pictures in tarnished +frames. Rich furniture, damp-stained and worm-eaten, stood stiffly +arranged as if for some great function. Only here and there was +evidence of some disorder. A table was upset near the fireplace. The +covering of a chair had been torn, and the hair stuffing of its +cushions bulged through the rent. The ashes of a wood fire and the +charred remains of half-burnt logs were on the hearth. Some papers lay +scattered on the floor near one of the windows.</p> + +<p>The Queen, subdued, quieter, went on tip-toe round the room. She +touched the furniture and the pictures softly, as she passed them. +There <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>was in her a feeling, half fear, half reverence, for the things +which had once belonged to the dead King Otto. Phillips, moved by an +impulse of curiosity, crossed the room to where the torn papers lay. +He stooped down and picked up some of the fragments. For the most part +they were blank. On one or two there were words in a language he did +not understand. Only one fragment interested him. It was the corner of +a torn envelope. It bore an English stamp and a London postmark.</p> + +<p>“Your Majesty,” he said.</p> + +<p>She did not hear or did not reply. Mr. Phillips was not used to +intimate association with royal persons. He tried another form of +address. “Your Serene Highness,” he said.</p> + +<p>The Queen looked round.</p> + +<p>“Do you mean me?” she said.</p> + +<p>“Yes, your Excellency,” said Phillips.</p> + +<p>The Queen laughed aloud. The sound of his voice and her own, the ready +merriment of her laughter, awoke her from the fear and reverence, +scattered the vague feeling of mystery which hung over her.</p> + +<p>“Don’t you do it,” she said. “I’m queen of this island right enough, +but I don’t mean to spend the rest of my life walking on stilts. I’m +not that kind of queen. I’m a genuine democrat all the time. Don’t you +forget that. Now call me Miss Daisy, same as you used to on board.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Phillips blushed.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p><p>“Miss Daisy,” he said, “how long is it since the last king lived +here?”</p> + +<p>“I don’t know,” she said, “and I don’t care. Centuries and centuries, +I expect. Come and explore, I want to see the whole of the palace and +let the light and air into every room.”</p> + +<p>She had shaken off entirely all vestiges of the sense of oppression +which had come on her when she first breathed the heavy stale air of +the hall and saw it with its decayed furniture, huge and dim before +her. It was full of sunlight now and she was merry again in the +sunlight and fresh air.</p> + +<p>She ran from room to room, pulling shutters back, flinging wide the +windows. Phillips followed her, listened to her while she planned +these for her father’s rooms, those for her own, how breakfast should +be laid on summer mornings on a balcony right over the water, how +midday meals should be eaten in a shaded portico.</p> + +<p>“And this,” she said, “shall be your room, for you’re to spend all +your holidays here. See, if you open the window you can take a header +right into the blue water—Oh, isn’t it a beautiful colour?—and have +a morning swim.”</p> + +<p>Phillips was ready to take a header from any window at the Queen’s +command. He would ask nothing better than to spend, not holidays only, +but all his days there on the island with her. If he could enter her +service—he wondered whether the Queen of Salissa would start a Royal +Navy of her own.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p><p>They passed from room to room. They ran up winding staircases and +emerged in tiny turret chambers, glass enclosed like the tops of +lighthouses. They found a roof garden set round with huge stone urns +full of dry caked earth. Once, no doubt, flowers had bloomed in them. +Flowers, so the Queen determined, should bloom in them again. They +descended to cool, spacious kitchens, to cellars where wine had been +stored. They passed through a narrow doorway and found suddenly that +the sea was lapping at their feet. They were underneath the centre of +the house. Around them were high walls. From the water itself arose +thick round pillars, supports of the vaulting on which the great hall +rested. The light, entering for the most part through the water, was +blue and faint. The stones beneath the water gleamed blue. The pillars +as they rose changed from blue to purple. The water sighed, murmured, +almost moaned. It seemed as if it tried to cling to the smooth stone +work, as if it sank back again disappointed, weary of for ever giving +kisses which were not returned. They stood in silence, looking, +listening. Then Phillips spoke. His voice sounded strangely hollow. He +sank it to a whisper.</p> + +<p>“Miss Daisy,” he said, “how long is it since the last king lived +here?”</p> + +<p>“Why do you ask me that again?” she said. “I don’t know. A hundred +years ago, perhaps. They killed him, you know. I wonder if they threw +his body into the sea there?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p><p>“Was it last December?”</p> + +<p>“Of course not. How can you be so silly? As if any one would kill a +king last December! They only did things like that centuries ago.”</p> + +<p>Phillips took from his pocket the torn envelope he had picked up in +the great hall.</p> + +<p>“Look,” he said, “I found that near the fireplace in the hall we went +into first.”</p> + +<p>“It’s an old envelope,” she said. “It must have belonged to the king +they killed. How interesting! Fancy their having had envelopes in +those days!”</p> + +<p>“The postmark on it,” he said, “is London, and the date is December +15, 1913. Some one was in the house since then, living in it.”</p> + +<p>The Queen clapped her hands.</p> + +<p>“Oh, splendid,” she said. “A mystery. It was the one thing I longed +for. A mystery, a ghost, a secret chamber and all those beautiful +things. I was quite afraid the house was too sunny for mystery until +we came down here. There might be anything here, in this blue light, +brigands or wandering spirits, or the old gods of the island. Now I +call it just perfect. Thank you so much, Mr. Phillips, for finding me +that paper. Now we can just brood on that brigand. It must have been a +brigand. Or do you think the assassins came back, driven by pangs of +conscience, to the scene of their crime, and just dropped that +envelope so as to give a clue? There always are clues, aren’t there? +Oh, I am glad you found it.”</p> + +<p>As she spoke there came a thin high sound, a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>ghostly wail. It echoed +back from the walls, repeating itself. The sound was broken among the +pillars, came confusedly to the listening ears. The waters stirred +uneasily, sucking at the walls and the pillars with a kind of fierce +intensity. Her hand sought his arm, caught it, held it tightly.</p> + +<p>“It’s the steamer’s syren,” said Phillips. “They must be signalling.”</p> + +<p>She loosed her hold of his arm and turned from him.</p> + +<p>“How can you say such a thing? Just when I thought it was the ghost of +the murdered king crying for vengeance.”</p> + +<p>“I am sure they’re signalling for us,” he said. “We’d better go.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span>he Queen, closely followed by Phillips, hurried through the cellars, +along narrow passages, up a dozen different flights of stairs. They +lost themselves several times. Twice they arrived by different routes +at the large central kitchen. Twice they left it by different doors. +They grew hot with laughter and bewilderment. Then they heard the +steamer’s syren and grew hotter still with impatience. At last, +breathless and flushed, they reached the steps at which they had +landed.</p> + +<p>Eight boats lay clustered round the steamer. One of them was her own, +a heavy white boat, carvel built, with high freeboard. Four men sat in +her, resting on their oars. The other seven were island boats, gaily +painted red and green, high prowed, high sterned. The biggest of them +had a mast stepped right forward, a mast which raked steeply aft, +across which lay the yard of a lateen sail. Six oarsmen sat in her. +The other island boats were smaller. There were only two rowers in +each. They had the same high bows and high sterns curving inwards, the +same low freeboard amidships where the rowers sat. In them were many +women and children.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p><p>On the deck of the <i>Ida</i> stood a little group of men. Captain Wilson’s +neat alert figure was easily recognizable. Mr. Donovan’s white Panama +hat was unmistakable. Phillips declared that the smaller man who stood +beside Mr. Donovan was Smith, the steward. A little apart from them +stood a tall bare-headed man. He had a long white beard. There seemed +to be some kind of consultation going on. When the Queen and Phillips +appeared on the steps below the castle the group on the steamer broke +up. Captain Wilson, Mr. Donovan and Smith took places in the <i>Ida’s</i> +lifeboat. The old man went into the largest of the island boats. He +stood in the stern, his hand on the carved end of her huge tiller. The +eight boats, tailing out in a long procession, rowed slowly towards +the castle steps.</p> + +<p>“They must be your subjects,” said Phillips. “They are coming to swear +allegiance.”</p> + +<p>“My!” said the Queen. “What shall I say? What shall I do? What will +they do? They can’t all kiss my hand. There must be forty of them.”</p> + +<p>“I think,” he said, “that you’d better stand beside the flagstaff. +It’s a commanding sort of position. They’ll have to climb up the steps +to get to you. I wish the breeze had not died away. The flag would +look ever so much better if it blew out.”</p> + +<p>The Queen climbed the steps and took her place beneath the limp royal +standard. Mr. Phillips bared his head and stood behind her.</p> + +<p>The boats reached the steps. Mr. Donovan landed. Smith stepped ashore +after him. Captain <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>Wilson bade his men push off. He remained, a +critical observer of the scene, some twenty or thirty yards from the +shore.</p> + +<p>“Daisy,” said Mr. Donovan, “there’s going to be a pageant. The +inhabitants of this island are going to demonstrate.”</p> + +<p>“How shall I talk to them?” said the Queen. “What language do they +speak?”</p> + +<p>“Don’t you fret any about that. I’ve brought Smith along. Smith is the +only living Englishman who speaks the Megalian language. He’s been +explaining the situation to the high priest of the island for the last +half-hour while we blew bugle calls on the syren to attract your +attention. Smith is a wonderful man, worth any salary to a firm with a +big foreign business.”</p> + +<p>Smith bowed.</p> + +<p>“It’s hardly a language, sir,” he said. “A dialect, a patois. Partly +Turkish, partly Slavonic, with a Greek base.”</p> + +<p>“Some language that,” said Mr. Donovan. “It would interest our college +professors. If you found a university on the island, Daisy, you must +institute a system of visiting lecturers from the colleges on our +side.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, here they are!” said the Queen. “How lovely! Look at all their +bright dresses. And the men are as gay as the women. Oh! there’s the +dinkiest little baby with a brown face. He’s smiling at me. I know I +shall just love them all, especially the brown babies.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p><p>The islanders were disembarking from their boats. They crowded +together on the lower steps of the staircase which led up to the +flagstaff. They talked rapidly in low voices and gazed with frank +curiosity at the little group above them. Women held babies high in +their arms. Men took up toddling children and set them on their +shoulders. Evidently all, even the youngest, were to have their chance +of gazing at the new queen.</p> + +<p>The old man who had stood at the tiller of the leading boat disengaged +himself from the crowd. He mounted the steps slowly, pausing now and +then to bow low. He was a picturesque figure. He wore a short black +jacket, heavily embroidered with gold thread. Underneath it was a blue +tunic reaching to his knees. Round his waist was a broad crimson sash. +He advanced with a grave dignity. Each bow—and he bowed often—was an +act of ceremonial courtesy. There was no trace of servility, nor of +any special desire to please or propitiate in his manner. He reached +the step below the terrace on which the flagstaff stood. He bowed once +more and then stood upright, looking straight at the Queen with calm, +untroubled eyes.</p> + +<p>He spoke a few words in a soft, low tone. Smith stepped forward to +explain and interpret.</p> + +<p>“This is Stephanos,” he said, “the Elder of Salissa.”</p> + +<p>“Minister of religion?” said Donovan.</p> + +<p>“He acts as such, sir,” said Smith, “at marriages and such-like among +his own people; but I don’t <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>know that the Church of England would +consider him as a regular clergyman. He appears to be more of the +nature of a Lord Mayor than an Archbishop.”</p> + +<p>“What does he say?” asked the Queen.</p> + +<p>“Does your Majesty wish me to translate literally?”</p> + +<p>The Queen nodded.</p> + +<p>“I Stephanos,” Smith began, “elder of Salissa and father of the +dwellers on the island.”</p> + +<p>“Does he mean that they’re all his children?” asked the Queen, “even +the babies?”</p> + +<p>“I think not, your Majesty,” said Smith, “though I expect he’s father +or grandfather of half of them.”</p> + +<p>“Go on,” said the Queen.</p> + +<p>“I Stephanos, elder of Salissa and father of the dwellers on the +island, bid the English lady welcome. All that we have is hers.”</p> + +<p>“Oh,” said the Queen, “how lovely! But of course I won’t take anything +from them—tell him that—though I would rather like a brown baby to +play with, just loaned to me for a few hours every day, and of course +I would pay the mother whatever she asked.”</p> + +<p>“And you might explain,” said Donovan, “that we’re American citizens, +not English.”</p> + +<p>“I’ll tell him, sir,” said Smith, “but I expect it’ll be the same +thing to him.”</p> + +<p>Smith made a long speech. Apparently he failed to make the difference +between an Englishman and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>an American clear to Stephanos, but he +conveyed the Queen’s request for a baby.</p> + +<p>Stephanos’ answer was translated thus:</p> + +<p>“Every baby from three years old and under shall be laid at the white +feet of the English lady and she shall take them all. There are five +such on the island. They are hers.”</p> + +<p>Stephanos turned while his speech was being translated, and addressed +his people. Apparently they were quite prepared to fulfil the promise +he had made on their behalf. Five smiling young women with babies in +their arms detached themselves from the crowd. They mounted two steps +and then stood, with bowed heads, waiting for the next command.</p> + +<p>“The darlings,” said the Queen. “But I don’t want them all laid at my +feet. They’d be sure to roll away and fall into the sea. Tell them +to-morrow will be time enough, and—and I’d like mothers to come too. +I’m not sure that I could manage a baby all by myself.”</p> + +<p>She did not wait for Smith to translate this speech. She ran down the +steps to where the five young women stood. She took one of the babies +in her arms. She kissed another. The women stood round her, smiling +shyly. The babies cooed and gurgled. She kissed them all, and took +them one after another in her arms. She sat down on the steps and laid +a crowing baby on her lap. The mothers smiled and drew nearer to her. +Other women from the crowd below gathered round her. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>Their shyness +disappeared completely, too completely. They stroked her hair. They +patted her face and hands. They were filled with curiosity about her +clothes. They felt the texture of her dress, fingered the brooch she +wore, knelt down and took her feet into their hands that they might +examine her shoes. They explored the clocks on her stockings. Miss +Daisy—no queen for the moment—was seriously embarrassed. She jumped +to her feet, thrust the baby she held into its mother’s arms.</p> + +<p>“You mustn’t pull my clothes off altogether,” she said.</p> + +<p>She smoothed her skirt down with her hands and brushed exploring +fingers from her blouse. But the island women were not easily +repulsed. They were ready to give their babies to her if she asked for +them. They would not forgo if they could help it the delight of +examining new and fascinating kinds of clothes. Miss Daisy—still Miss +Daisy, not a queen—burst from them and ran, with tossed hair and +ruffled garments, up the steps again.</p> + +<p>“Oh, Smith,” she said, “tell them that they mustn’t do it. I’m sure +they don’t mean any harm, but I can’t bear to be pulled about.”</p> + +<p>Smith translated; but it is doubtful if the women understood or even +heard. There was a babble of soft voices. They were discussing eagerly +the strange garments of the English lady.</p> + +<p>Stephanos spoke again, gravely, gently.</p> + +<p>“It is in my mind,” so Smith translated, “that <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>one of our daughters +should be the servant of the English lady; seeing that she has no +maidens of her own people round about her. Kalliope is the fairest and +the deftest. If it be the good pleasure of the English lady Kalliope +shall serve her day and night, doing in all things the bidding of the +Queen wherein if Kalliope fail by one hair’s breadth of perfect +service, I, Stephanos the elder, her grandsire, will beat her with +pliant rods fresh cut from the osier trees until the blood of full +atonement flows from her.”</p> + +<p>“My!” said the Queen. “After that I shan’t dare say a word to Kalliope +even if she steals the last hairpin I own.”</p> + +<p>“Tell that high priest,” said Donovan, “that I admire his loyalty. He +may trot out the young woman. You must have a maid of some sort, +Daisy, and I expect Kalliope will do her darnedest with that threat +hanging over her.”</p> + +<p>Stephanos the elder was an old gentleman of quick apprehension. He did +not wait for Smith to translate what Donovan said. He turned to the +women crowded below him. He raised one hand. Their babbling ceased at +once. Through the silence Stephanos the elder spoke.</p> + +<p>“Kalliope.”</p> + +<p>A young girl, perhaps eighteen or nineteen years of age, came forward. +Bowing low at each step she mounted, she climbed slowly towards the +flagstaff. Her bowing suggested profound humility, but her eyes, when +she raised them, sparkled, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>her lips were parted in a gay smile. +She was evidently in no fear of an immediate beating with fresh-cut +osier rods. Yet Kalliope had some cause to be afraid. It was she who +had endeavoured to explore to their source the clocks on the Queen’s +stockings.</p> + +<p>Stephanos the elder spoke to her briefly but very solemnly. Kalliope +remained unimpressed. She took quick glances at the Queen’s face and +her eyes were full of laughter and delight. Stephanos took her by the +hand, led her forward and formally presented her to the Queen. +Kalliope immediately fell on her knees and kissed the toes of the +Queen’s shoes.</p> + +<p>“Tell the high priest,” said Donovan, “that I’ll pay the girl the same +wages that I undertook to give to the pampered English maid who went +on strike this morning.”</p> + +<p>Kalliope completed her obeisance and realized almost at once that she +had won the position of lady’s maid to the Queen. She took her place +meekly behind her mistress. There she stood smiling at her sisters and +cousins who stood below. She was at the moment the most fortunate, the +most envied young woman on the island. Hers would be the inexpressible +joy of examining at her leisure all the wonderful clothes worn or +possessed by the Queen. She realized this; but neither she nor any +other woman on the island guessed, or, by the wildest flight, could +have imagined, how many and how various were the garments packed by +the English <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>maid into the trunks which lay in the steamer’s hold.</p> + +<p>Kalliope was never beaten by her grandfather with osier rods. She +devoted herself utterly to the service of the Queen. The only fault +that could be found with her was that her devotion was too complete, +her service too untiring. At meals she stood behind the Queen’s chair. +During the day she followed the Queen from room to room. She would +stand silent in a corner for an hour waiting while her mistress read +or talked. There was no escaping from the girl. At night she slept on +the floor at the end of the Queen’s bed, wrapped in a rug, her head +pillowed on her own arm. She was quick to learn what was wanted, and +acquired, after a while, an uncanny power of anticipating the Queen’s +wishes.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">N</span>ext morning the work of unloading the ship began. It went on at high +pressure for three days. On the fourth it slackened. Before the end of +the week everything was landed.</p> + +<p>The donkey engine on the <i>Ida’s</i> fore-deck clanked and snorted. Down +in the hold the sweating sailors toiled. Packing-cases, great and +small, huge bales and brass-studded trunks were hoisted high, swung +clear of the ship’s bulwarks and lowered, with much rattling of chains +and gear, into the waiting boats. The ship’s lifeboats and the five +largest of the island boats plied to and fro between the steamer and +the shore. On the palace steps, islanders—men, women and +children—waited to take charge of the cargoes which the boats +brought. Captain Wilson was in command on board the <i>Ida</i>. On shore +Mr. Phillips directed the unpacking. He had the cases and bales hauled +up the flagstaff terrace. There they were prised or cut open. Tables, +chairs, carpets, beds, bedding, every article of household furniture +were unpacked and carried into the rooms of the palace. The islanders +worked willingly. Only when they set down a load in its appointed +place, a tall mirror perhaps or a wardrobe, they stood in a group +around it, admiring, wondering. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>Often Mr. Phillips had to pursue +them, drag them, push them, to induce them to return for some new +burden.</p> + +<p>Smith, the steward, worked with amazing energy. Very early on the +first day of the unloading, Phillips found him in the large hall of +the palace. He was sweeping up the hearth. He had already gathered and +burnt the litter of torn papers which lay on the floor. It was a +natural act in a good servant; but it seemed to Phillips a waste of +energy. Smith apologized at once.</p> + +<p>“Yes, sir, as you say, sir, it’ll be time enough to clean up when we +get things a bit settled. Perhaps I oughtn’t to have done it, sir. But +it seemed to me as how I’d like to clear away the mess, sir, when her +Majesty would be passing through the room.”</p> + +<p>Phillips was annoyed. The torn papers had interested him. He intended +to have collected them all. But Smith, with ill-directed zeal, had +burnt them. Not a scrap was left, except the torn envelope which +Phillips had in his pocket.</p> + +<p>Afterwards Smith proved most useful. He acted as interpreter on shore +or aboard whenever an interpreter was wanted. He was active in the +opening of packing-cases, careful and skilful in handling glass and +china. He planned store-rooms for the provisions which came ashore, +arranged the wine in cool cellars, had linen packed away securely.</p> + +<p>The Queen ran eagerly from room to room. The arrival of each piece of +furniture was a fresh joy to her. She kidnapped small parties of women +from <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>among Phillips’ workers and set them to laying carpets or +hanging curtains, explaining what had to be done by means of vivid +gestures. She moved things which seemed comfortably settled from room +to room. Whenever she came across Smith or met Phillips she talked +excitedly about colour schemes. She spent a good deal of time in +rescuing the brown babies from peril. The mothers, determined to miss +no chance of handling strange and wonderful things, laid their infants +down in all sorts of odd places, behind doors or in corners at tops of +staircases. The Queen tripped over them occasionally, went all the +time in terror that one of them would be crushed by passing feet.</p> + +<p>Kalliope was deliriously happy. She was a quick-witted girl. Very +early in the day she grasped the fact that packing-cases never +contained clothes; that trunks might or might not, but generally +did. She learned almost at once four English words from the +sailors—“damned box” and “bloody trunk.” Armed with the full +authority of maid in waiting to the Queen, she stood beside the boats +when they arrived. With a gesture of contempt she committed each +“damned box” to the care of the men and the less favoured women. She +took possession of all personal luggage. Only her special friends were +allowed to handle the Queen’s trunks. She put herself in command of +four girls, and marched in front of them as they staggered under the +weight of great trunks. She had them carried up to the Queen’s rooms. +Then <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>with joyful cries of “Bloody trunk, bloody trunk,” she ran +through the palace seeking her mistress and the keys. Kalliope +unpacked all the clothes herself. Not even the most favoured of her +helpers was allowed to touch a garment. It was enough for the others +to gaze.</p> + +<p>Mr. Donovan took no part whatever in the unloading of the ship or the +unpacking on the island. He said frankly that he disliked fuss +intensely, and that the weather was far too hot for movement of any +kind. He added to Captain Wilson—it seemed necessary to excuse +himself to Captain Wilson—that the action of his heart always became +more disordered if he mixed himself up with people who suffered from +activity. The deck of the <i>Ida</i> was no place for him. The cabins were +stuffy and the clamour of the donkey engine made him restless. He went +ashore. Smith, who was a wonderfully sympathetic man, led him to a +high balcony, well shaded, pleasantly airy. There Mr. Donovan +established himself on a deck chair. He smoked a great deal and slept +a little. He drank the cocktails which Smith found time to prepare for +him. He ate the food Smith brought up to him. He found Salissa a +pleasant island and looked forward to great peace, when the <i>Ida</i>, her +cargo unloaded, should sail away. He had only one real trouble. Not +even Smith could find ice on Salissa. Mr. Donovan sighed over his own +want of foresight. The patent freezer had been packed in the very +bottom of the hold.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p><p>Early in the third day the Queen tired of unpacking and arranging +furniture. The excitement of running to and fro through the rooms of +the palace faded. The merriment which came of seeing kitchen chairs +placed in her bedroom palled. She began to feel that Mr. Phillips +would never fully understand the beauty and value of a colour scheme. +Her clothes were all safely gathered, unpacked and stored away in +fragrant heaps. She wanted rest from the ceaseless laughter of the +islanders and the noise of pattering bare feet.</p> + +<p>“Kalliope,” she said, “we’ll go for a row.”</p> + +<p>Kalliope smiled joyously. “Go row,” she repeated. She had not the +faintest idea what the thing meant, but life was for her a passing +from one rapturous experience to another. “Go row” was no doubt some +untried pleasure. She stood smiling, waiting further enlightenment.</p> + +<p>The Queen made the motions of a rower with her arms. Kalliope, +pathetically eager to understand, repeated, “Go row, go row.”</p> + +<p>The Queen led her to a window and pointed to one of the island boats +which had just left the steamer. She went through the pantomime of +rowing again. She touched her own breast with her forefinger, then +Kalliope’s. The girl understood. She ran from the room, through +passages, down steps. She reached the landing place.</p> + +<p>“Go row,” she cried.</p> + +<p>Then, condescending to the language of her people, she spoke to the +men who sat in one of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>smaller island boats. In obedience to her +command they stepped on shore. They gave their coats and their +coloured sashes to the girl. She piled them in the stern, a cushion +for her mistress. She took the oars. The Queen came down the steps, +carrying in her arms one of the brown babies. She had tripped over it +at the end of the passage leading from her room. She sat on the +cushion prepared for her with the baby on her knees. Kalliope rowed +out across the harbour.</p> + +<p>That night the Queen slept for the first time in her new palace. A bed +had been arranged for her, and she was eager to leave the small close +cabin on the ship. The great room she had chosen for herself attracted +her. She thought of the cool night air blowing in through the window, +of the wide balcony on which she could sit awhile till sleepiness came +over her. No other room in the palace was ready for use. Nor did Mr. +Donovan seem anxious to go ashore.</p> + +<p>Mr. Phillips was a lover. He was also a young man. He reverenced the +lady who was mistress of his heart and queen. He also, as is the way +of lovers very much in love, suffered from a conviction that she ought +to be guarded and protected. It seemed to him wrong that she, with no +other companion than Kalliope, should sleep in a great lonely house on +an island where strange people lived. Thus young men, the best of +them, show contempt for the courage and ability of the women they +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>admire. The Queen herself laughed at his fears. Mr. Donovan rebuked +him.</p> + +<p>“Your notions about girls,” he said, “are European. You take it from +me, young man, that an American girl knows how to take care of +herself. Daisy can go without a leading rein. She can take hold on any +situation likely to arise.”</p> + +<p>No situation was in the least likely to arise. It was impossible to +suspect the gentle islanders of wishing any harm to their new queen. +There were no wild animals, no animals at all, except a dog or two and +some small cattle.</p> + +<p>Phillips was a lover and therefore a prey to anxiety; but he was a +healthy young man and had worked hard all day. He turned into his +berth and went to sleep at once. Very early in the morning, about +three o’clock, he awoke. Nor, for all his twistings and turnings, +would sleep come to him again. His imagination, picturing a hundred +impossible dangers for the Queen, tormented him. Suddenly he +remembered the torn envelope which lay in his pocket. He puzzled +himself to find some explanation of its being on the island, in the +palace. Some one must have brought it there. Some one sitting in the +great hall had read the letter that envelope contained. Some one with +assuredly no right to be there, some one—the inference seemed +inevitable—with evil in his heart had entered the palace and dwelt +there.</p> + +<p>Phillips could stand his imaginings no more. He got up, dressed +himself and went on deck.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p><p>The man who kept—or was supposed to keep—the anchor watch lay fast +asleep, coiled up under the shadow of the bridge. The ship was silent +save for the lapping of the water against her sides. The island lay, a +grey mystery in the half light of earliest dawn. The light increased, +and Phillips, standing in the shadow of the deck-house, could fix his +eyes on the windows of the room where the Queen lay. He heard, +suddenly, the splash of oars, dipped very gently in the water. He +looked round and saw a boat, one of the island boats, moving from the +ship’s side. There was one man in her, Smith the steward. Phillips +reasoned quickly. Smith must have left his cabin stealthily, must have +come on deck, must have dropped on board the boat and cast her loose +without making a sound. What was he doing? What did he want?</p> + +<p>Phillips, deep in the shadow of the deck-house, stood and watched. The +boat moved more quickly as she drew further from the steamer. She +headed for the sandy beach below the village. A man stood on the shore +awaiting her. The light grew brighter every moment. Phillips +recognized the waiting man—Stephanos the elder. His long white beard +and stately figure were not easily mistaken. The boat grounded and +Stephanos stepped on board. Smith pushed off, and rowing rapidly now, +coasted the shore of the bay, keeping close inland. The boat was hard +to see, for she moved in the shadow of the cliffs. Suddenly she +disappeared altogether. Phillips waited and watched. In half an hour +the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>boat appeared again, plainly visible now. She came from the mouth +of a great cave, a darker space in the grey face of the cliff. Smith +pulled hard. In a few minutes he had landed Stephanos and was on his +way back to the steamer.</p> + +<p>Phillips met him as he climbed the side and came on board.</p> + +<p>“You’re out early this morning, Smith,” he said.</p> + +<p>“Yes, sir, pretty early, sir. There’s a lot to be done in the day. I +thought as how, if I went ashore, sir, I might get a couple of eggs +for Mr. Donovan’s breakfast. He likes a fresh egg.”</p> + +<p>“Seagulls’ eggs,” said Phillips.</p> + +<p>Smith looked up quickly. For an instant there was a sharp gleam of +suspicion in his eyes. Then he dropped them again.</p> + +<p>“No, sir; hens’ eggs. There’s hens on the island, sir.”</p> + +<p>“Got any?” said Phillips.</p> + +<p>“Two, sir, only two.”</p> + +<p>He took them from his pocket as he spoke and held them out for +inspection. He had certainly got two eggs. Phillips was puzzled. Men +seldom search for hens’ eggs—they never find them—in sea caves.</p> + +<p>“Just enough for Mr. Donovan’s breakfast, sir.”</p> + +<p>“Do you happen to know, Smith”—Phillips asked his question +abruptly—“whether any one has been living in the palace lately? Last +year, for instance, or at any time since the last king was murdered +there?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p><p>“Murdered, sir, how horrible! Was it long ago, sir?”</p> + +<p>The assassination of King Otto had been mentioned, even discussed, a +dozen times while Smith was waiting at table. Very good servants—and +Smith was one of the best—are able, it is believed, to abstract their +minds from the conversation of their masters, will actually hear +nothing of what is said in their presence. Yet it seemed to Phillips +as if Smith were overdoing his pose of ignorance.</p> + +<p>“It was years ago, I believe. What I want to know is whether any one +has been living in the palace since.”</p> + +<p>“Don’t know, sir, I’m sure. Never been here before till I arrived with +you, sir. Would you care for me to make inquiries? Some of the natives +would be sure to know.”</p> + +<p>“Ask that patriarch,” said Phillips, “Stephanos or whatever he’s +called. Ask him next time you take him out for a row at six o’clock in +the morning.”</p> + +<p>He knew that he had startled Smith once when he referred to the +seagulls’ eggs. He hoped to take him off his guard this time by +showing that he had watched the whole of the morning row. But this +time Smith was not to be caught. He made no sign whatever that +anything unexpected had been said. He was not looking at Phillips. His +eyes were fixed on the palace.</p> + +<p>“I beg pardon, sir,” he said after a slight pause, “but perhaps we +ought to leave the deck, to go <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>below. Seems to me, sir, that the +Queen is going to bathe. She mightn’t like it, sir, if she thought we +were here watching her.”</p> + +<p>The Queen was descending steps clad in a scarlet bathing dress. It is +not likely that she would have resented the presence of spectators on +the deck of a steamer nearly half a mile distant. Nor, indeed, is it +likely that Kalliope would have been seriously embarrassed, though she +saw no sense in wearing clothes of any kind when she intended to +bathe. But Mr. Phillips was a young man and modest. One fleeting +glimpse of Kalliope poised ready for her plunge was sufficient for +him. He turned and left the deck. Smith was already busy with his +cooking.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span>he peculiarity of Smith’s proceedings highly stimulated the curiosity +of Mr. Phillips. The envelope in his pocket helped him to the belief +that he held the clue of an exciting mystery. He pondered the matter +while he shaved. He was dull company at breakfast because he could not +get it out of his head. He made up his mind at last to confide his +vague suspicions to Mr. Donovan. This was a difficult decision to +arrive at. He would have much preferred to unravel his mystery +himself, to go to the Queen with evidence completely sufficient to +condemn a whole band of conspirators. But he saw no chance of getting +any further in his investigations. Smith’s morning expedition remained +obstinately unconnected with the torn envelope. A sense of loyalty to +his employers combined with devotion to the Queen decided him to tell +Mr. Donovan all he knew.</p> + +<p>The work of unloading the <i>Ida</i> went on briskly all the morning. Mr. +Donovan sat, remote from the turmoil, on his balcony. Mr. Phillips, +seeking a moment when Smith was busy elsewhere, climbed to the +balcony. Mr. Donovan welcomed him.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p><p>“Sit right down,” he said. “There’s another chair knocking about +somewhere. Take a cigar.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Phillips hauled a deck chair from the sunshine into the shade and +stood leaning over the back of it.</p> + +<p>“This island,” said Mr. Donovan, “seems likely to be restful. Once +we’re through with the job of landing our trunks we shall be able to +settle down and just stay put. I don’t say but it’s pleasant for a man +like me who’s worked some in his time to sit here and watch other +people sweating——”</p> + +<p>He waved his hand towards the islanders, who staggered up the steps +under their loads. He included with a sweeping gesture two boats which +had just left the ship’s side. The day was exceedingly hot. All these +men were certainly sweating. The clanking and rattling of the donkey +engines were plainly audible across the water. The engineman was +probably sweating too. Captain Wilson, standing erect in the full +blaze of the sun on the steamer’s fore-deck, cannot possibly have been +cool. Mr. Donovan sighed with satisfaction.</p> + +<p>“I don’t deny that it’s pleasant,” he said, “kind of aggravates the +sense of restfulness; but for real calm give me a country where nobody +works at all. That’s what I am looking forward to. That’s why I reckon +this island is going to suit me.”</p> + +<p>“Mr. Donovan,” said Phillips, “there’s a matter I want to speak to you +about. I daresay there’s nothing in it; but I can’t help feeling——”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p><p>Mr. Phillips’ hand went to his breast pocket. He clutched the torn +envelope.</p> + +<p>“Here’s something I picked up the day before yesterday,” he said.</p> + +<p>Smith stepped suddenly between him and Mr. Donovan. Smith was a hard +worker, and a loud shouter when shouting was desirable. He was also, +as Phillips knew, a quiet mover when he chose. He held a tray in his +hand with two glasses on it. He handed one to Mr. Donovan and the +other to Phillips.</p> + +<p>“Beg pardon, sir,” he said, “but there’s some cases of books come +ashore, sir. I thought you’d like to arrange about them yourself, sir, +seeing as how I don’t understand libraries.”</p> + +<p>He spoke to Phillips. He did not expect Mr. Donovan to arrange +anything.</p> + +<p>“You’re young, Phillips,” said Mr. Donovan. “According to the prophets +and other wise men it’s a good thing to be young. I’m getting on for +sixty, but there are compensations. I don’t feel called on to see +after things. I don’t have to toil any. Smith!”</p> + +<p>“Yes, sir.”</p> + +<p>“There exist in the U. S. A. more than two hundred formulæ for the +compounding of cocktails. They vary from the simple dry Martini to the +more poetic Angel’s Smile. How many of them do you know, Smith?”</p> + +<p>“About eight, sir, eight or ten.”</p> + +<p>“Few men, except professional bar-tenders, know <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>more,” said Mr. +Donovan. “But you can learn. I see before you, Smith, years of +artistic endeavour. Eight from two hundred leave a hundred and +ninety-two. I think I have a book containing the formulæ. It was +compiled by one of our leading citizens after a term of residence in a +dry State. I shall give you the book, Smith. My digestion remains +unimpaired up to date. I shall sample the results of your labours.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Phillips swallowed his cocktail and went away without saying any +more about the torn envelope. He had no intention of telling his story +in the presence of Smith.</p> + +<p>He tried again an hour later. He calculated on not being interrupted +this time. Smith had gone off to the steamer. From time to time he had +to go to the steamer to act as interpreter there. Captain Wilson +seemed curiously incapable of making himself understood by the +islanders.</p> + +<p>“That you again, Mr. Phillips,” said Donovan. “Sit down. Take a cigar +and sit down.”</p> + +<p>“There’s something I want to speak to you about, sir,” said Phillips.</p> + +<p>“If you must speak,” said Donovan, “I hope you’ll sort of murmur. That +engine has stopped clanking for a moment and Smith isn’t shouting any +at those poor devils of islanders. ‘Silence,’ says the poet, Oliver +Wendell Holmes, ‘like a poultice came to heal the wound of sound.’ +It’s a kind of advanced sample of what this island’s going to be.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p><p>This was not encouraging to Mr. Phillips. He hesitated. Far away, +under the shadow of the cliffs, a small boat moved slowly. In it was +the Queen, seated in the stern with a huge box of chocolates in her +lap. Kalliope rowed, her mouth full of chocolates. Phillips could not +see the box or Kalliope’s mouth. The boat was too far away for that. +But he knew the chocolates were there. Early in the day the Queen had +come to him and demanded candies. She had come at a fortunate moment. +He was in the act of opening a large case, sent out, so the label +declared, by Fuller, and Kalliope had carried down to the boat a huge +box of chocolates. It was the sight of that boat—perhaps, too, the +thought of the chocolates—which spurred Mr. Phillips to tell his tale +in spite of all discouragement. Is there anything which is more +eloquent of innocent helplessness, anything which makes a stronger +appeal to the protective instinct of a man, than the vision of two +girls eating chocolates?</p> + +<p>“The day I first landed, sir,” he said, “I found this.”</p> + +<p>He handed the torn envelope to Mr. Donovan.</p> + +<p>“The postmark, sir,” he said, “is London, December 15, 1913. Now how +do you think it got here?”</p> + +<p>Donovan looked at the envelope curiously. He turned it over, felt the +texture of it with his fingers. At last he spoke.</p> + +<p>“Mr. Phillips,” he said, “I may be wrong in my <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>interpretation of +facts. I don’t know that any recognized minister of religion would +support me; but it’s my belief that if Eve hadn’t stirred that serpent +up, kind of annoyed him by poking round, the creature would have lain +quiet enough and there’d have been no trouble about the apple. That’s +the nature of snakes. I’ve seen quite a few and I know. Now this +island is about the nearest thing to a real restful paradise that I’ve +bumped into since I first started my pilgrimage through this vale of +tears. I don’t say there’s no snakes in it. There may be. But my +notion is to let those snakes lie unless they start in molesting me.”</p> + +<p>“But,” said Mr. Phillips, “there must have been somebody in the house +here, somebody who had no right to be in it. Otherwise how would that +envelope with the London postmark——”</p> + +<p>“The British nation,” said Donovan, “is at the present moment exciting +itself quite a bit about the effect of the Movies—what you call +cinemas your side—on the minds of the young. What your leading +reformers say is that it upsets the budding intellect of the rising +generation to present life to it as life is not. As a general rule I’m +not much taken up with eminent reformers. They’re a class of citizens +I don’t admire, though I admit they have their uses in supplying +loftiness of view and generally keeping up the more serious kinds of +charm practised by the female sex. But in the matter of the effect of +movies on the young mind those reformers may be right. It seems to me +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>you’ve gathered in some foolish notions about life, Mr. Phillips. +Desperate villains dropping envelopes and generally scattering clues +along their tracks would be interesting things, a darned sight more +interesting than eminent reformers. Only there aren’t any. They don’t +exist outside of novels and picture houses.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Donovan held out the torn envelope. Phillips took it and stuffed +it into his pocket again. He was unconvinced. Cinema exhibitions are +responsible for many vain imaginings, no doubt; but his envelope was a +fact. He had found it. The postmark was plain and clear. He moved over +to the edge of the balcony and gazed out across the sunlit bay. It +seemed impossible then and there to tell the story of Smith’s morning +expedition. Mr. Donovan’s logical rationalism was invincible.</p> + +<p>“If you happen to come on that book about cocktails,” said Donovan, +“just give it to Smith. It’s somewhere. In giving the order for the +library for this island, I specially mentioned that book along with +complete illustrated editions of all standard American and European +authors.”</p> + +<p>Phillips turned and left the balcony. It was, after all, absurd to +worry and puzzle over his envelope. It could have no meaning. Some +stray tourist perhaps, sight-seeing far from all beaten tracks, had +made his way into the house. Tourists are notorious for leaving paper +behind them. As for Smith and his boating at dawn—could Smith +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>possibly have gone to search for breakfast eggs in a sea cave?</p> + +<p>He glanced once more at the bay before he returned to his work. The +Queen’s boat was no longer in sight. The girls had landed perhaps in +some quiet creek, or the Queen had taken a fancy to cross the bay and +explore the village where her subjects lived.</p> + +<p>Kalliope rowed easily and was well content to go on rowing all day. +She was almost perfectly happy. Fuller’s sweets were a revelation of +unimagined delight to her, and she could gaze without interruption at +the Queen. There was little in the world left for her heart to desire.</p> + +<p>The girls rowed round the shore of the bay. The shadow of the white +cliffs was grateful. The Queen delighted to drag her hands through the +cool water. The sound of its lapping against the steep rocks soothed +her. She liked to peer into the blue depths. When she looked up it was +pleasant to meet Kalliope’s soft brown eyes and to see the ready smile +broaden on the girl’s lips. Now and then, laughing, she leaned forward +and pressed a chocolate into Kalliope’s mouth. The Queen’s fingers +were often wet with salt water, but that did not spoil the flavour of +the sweets for Kalliope.</p> + +<p>The boat slipped past high sheer cliffs, past little coves, on whose +sand men’s feet had surely never trodden, past the mouths of great +caves, gloomy, mysterious, from the depths of which came a hollow +murmuring of water. The caves had a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>strange fascination for the +Queen. Her eyes followed their steep walls up to the arches of their +high dripping roofs, tried to pierce the dim and darkening shades +within, gazed down through the water at round boulders and flat +shelves of rock, seen magnified and strangely blue in the depths. At +first she was half fearful and would not allow the boat to be taken +near the mouths of the caves she passed. At the mouth of one cave +Kalliope shouted suddenly. Echoes answered her from within, repeating +her shout and repeating it till the cries seemed to come from far off, +from the very centre of the island. Opposite another cave Kalliope +shouted again and banged her oars against the gunwhale of the boat. A +flock of grey birds, some kind of rock pigeons, flew out, making a +sound of rushing with their wings. The Queen became, little by little, +less fearful and more curious.</p> + +<p>They came at last to a cavern with a wide entrance. The daylight shone +far inside. The water was blue far into the depths, not purple or +black as it seemed to be just inside the narrower caves. The Queen +signed to Kalliope. The boat turned, slipped into the wide entrance, +rose and fell upon the swelling water under the high roof. Kalliope +rowed on. For awhile she rowed with her oars full stretch on their +rowlocks. Then the walls narrowed more and more till she must ship her +oars. The boat glided on slowly from the impulse of her last stroke. +The walls narrowed still. Kalliope stood up. Pushing against one wall +and then the other with an <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>oar grasped midway in her hands she drove +the boat forward. Suddenly the space widened. The roof was higher, +almost out of sight. The boat passed into a huge cavern very dimly +lit. The Queen gasped, sat open-mouthed in breathless silence for a +moment; then looking round she saw that the cavern was lit by several +thin shafts of pale-blue light. More than one of the caves whose +entrance the boat had passed led into this great cavern. Kalliope, +laughing, plunged an oar into the waters. It shone silver like some +long fish. The Queen gazed at it. She plunged her own arm in and saw +it turn silver too.</p> + +<p>The water was still deep and seemed scarcely to shallow at all as the +boat moved forward into the depths of the cavern. Suddenly the Queen +saw before her a steep beach covered with large, round stones. The +boat grounded. Kalliope leaped on shore. She held her hand out to the +Queen. The two girls stood together on the beach. Kalliope, still +holding her Queen’s hand, led the way upwards, away from the boat and +the water. Her bare feet moved lightly over the stones which shifted +and rolled under the Queen’s shoes, making a hollow sound. Echoes +multiplied the sound until the air was full of hollow mutterings, like +the smothered reports of very distant guns. Kalliope led on. To her +the way was familiar. The dim light and hollow noises were +commonplace. At last she stopped and with a little cry pointed +forward.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p><p>The Queen looked. Her eyes were well accustomed now to the dim light. +She saw.</p> + +<p>There in the depths of the mysterious cavern, it would not have +surprised the girl to see strange things. She would scarcely have been +astonished if Kalliope had pointed to a group of mermaids combing damp +hair with long curved shells. Old Triton with his wreathed horn would +have been in place, almost an expected vision, if he had sat on a +throne of rock, sea carved, with panting dolphins at his feet. The +Queen saw no such beings. What she did see called from her a little +cry of surprise, made her cling suddenly to Kalliope’s arm.</p> + +<p>“Oh!” she said. “Oh, Kalliope, what are they?”</p> + +<p>“Damn boxes,” said Kalliope.</p> + +<p>Before the eyes of the Queen, stretching along the back of the cave, +was a long row of large galvanized iron tanks, strongly made, with +heavily studded seams, each with a great copper tap. They were ranged +in a most orderly line, like some grey monsters carefully drilled. +They were all exactly the same width, the same height, and the copper +spouts exactly matched each other.</p> + +<p>“Damned boxes,” said Kalliope cheerfully.</p> + +<p>Any one looking at them might almost have agreed with her. They were +not precisely boxes. They were cisterns, tanks, but they gave the +impression of being damnable and damned.</p> + +<p>“But,” said the Queen, “what are they for? <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>What’s the meaning of +them? How did they get here? Who brought them?”</p> + +<p>Kalliope did not understand the questions, but guessed at what her +mistress asked. She had been learning English for three days only. She +had been quick to pick up certain words from the Queen, words in +frequent use between them. But in face of questionings like these the +vocabulary of millinery and hair dressing failed her hopelessly. She +fell back on what she had picked up from the sailors’ lips and from +her brothers who were already enriching the island language with +English slang.</p> + +<p>“Blighters,” she said, “mucky ship—go row, go row—damn boxes.”</p> + +<p>In spite of the pale light and the sinister mystery of the tanks in +front of her the Queen laughed aloud. The pursuing echoes made +Kalliope’s English irresistibly absurd. Then she pondered. +Men—whether “blighters” in Kalliope’s mouth conveyed reproach or were +simply a synonym for men she did not know—men in a ship—“mucky” +described the ship as little probably as “damn boxes” described the +packing-cases of furniture or “bloody” her trunks of clothes. Men in a +ship had brought the tanks, had rowed them—“go row” was plain +enough—ashore in boats.</p> + +<p>“But who,” said the Queen, “and why?”</p> + +<p>Kalliope was beaten. Who and why were too much for her, as indeed they +have been for people far wiser than she. Are not all theology and all +philosophy attempts, and for the most part vain <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>attempts, to deal +with just those two words, who and why?</p> + +<p>“Blighters,” said Kalliope, and the echoes repeated her words with +emphasis, “blighters, blighters, blighters,” till the Queen came to +believe it.</p> + +<p>Then Kalliope, memory wakened in her, grew suddenly hopeful. She began +to hum a tune, very softly at first, making more than one false start; +but getting it nearly right at last. The Queen recognized it. She had +heard it a hundred times in old days at prayers in the chapel of her +college. It was a hymn tune. The words came back to her at once. +“Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion, city of our God.” She took +Kalliope by the arm and led her back to the boat.</p> + +<p>“Come away,” she said, “quick, quick. I’m going mad.”</p> + +<p>Kalliope entered into the spirit of a new game. She ran down across +the rolling pebbles.</p> + +<p>“Go row,” she said. “Quick, quick.”</p> + +<p>The boat, Kalliope pushing, dragging, rowing, burst from the cavern, +fled beyond the shadow of the cliffs, glided into the blaze of +sunshine and the sparkling water of the outer bay. The Queen lay back +in the stern and laughed. Kalliope, resting on her oars, laughed too. +The Queen’s laughter passed into an uncontrollable fit. Tears rolled +down her cheeks. Her sides were sore. She gasped for breath. The +thought of that row of portentously solemn grey tanks was irresistibly +comic. They looked like stranded codfish with their tongues out. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>They +looked like a series of caricatures of an American politician, a +square-headed ponderous man, who had once dined with her father. He +had the same appearance of imbecile gravity, the same enormous +pomposity. The copper spouts were so many exaggerated versions of his +nose.</p> + +<p>Her imagination flew to a vision of the men who had brought the tanks +and cisterns there in a “mucky ship.” She seemed to see them, thin +scarecrows of men, crawling over the rusty sides of some battered +tramp steamer; mournful men with brown faces and skinny arms, singing +their hymn with sharp cracked voices while they laboured at their +utterly preposterous task. Laughter conquered the Queen. She lay back +helpless in the merciless grip of uncontrollable merriment. Kalliope +could not laugh so much. The joke was beyond her. She sat with a +wavering half-smile on her lips watching the Queen. The box of +chocolates lay in the bottom of the boat. Kalliope stretched her foot +out, touched the box, pushed it gently towards the Queen. It seemed to +her waste of a golden opportunity to leave the box, no more than half +empty, at their feet. The movement broke the spell of the Queen’s +laughter. She picked up the box, pushed chocolates into Kalliope’s +mouth, filled her own with them.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">I</span> find it necessary to remind myself from time to time that the Queen +of Salissa is a young girl, in mind and experience little more than a +child. If I think of her as a woman or allow myself to credit her with +any common sense, that blight which falls on the middle-aged, her +actions become unintelligible.</p> + +<p>She ought, no doubt, to have gone straight to her father and told him +about the cisterns in the cave. That was the sane thing to do. Donovan +was a man of clear understanding and wide knowledge. He would have—I +do not know precisely what he would have done, but it would have been +something entirely sensible. The Queen dreaded nothing so much as +that. She found herself for the first time in her life in touch with a +mystery, surrounded by things fascinatingly incomprehensible. Her +island held a secret, was the scene—there could be no doubt about +it—of a deep, dark, perhaps dangerous plot. She was thrilled. The +more she thought of the cavern and the mysterious tanks, the more +delightful the thrills became.</p> + +<p>She made a confidant of Phillips, choosing instinctively the only +person on the island likely to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>be in full sympathy with her. Phillips +was older than she was. He was twenty-eight; but he was a simple, +straightforward young man with his boyish taste for adventure +unspoiled. He was also deeply in love with the Queen.</p> + +<p>I have found it very difficult to get either from the Queen or from +Phillips a complete and coherent account of what happened between the +discovery of the cisterns and the day when the <i>Ida</i> sailed, taking +Phillips away from the island. I gather that they were both the +victims of a bad attack of detective fever. They have talked to me +quite freely and cheerfully of the “Island Mystery.” That was the +Queen’s phrase. About a much more important matter the Queen will not +speak at all, and Phillips cannot be induced to dwell on details. I +have been obliged to depend mainly on Kalliope for information, and +even now Kalliope does not speak English well.</p> + +<p>“We have three clues,” said the Queen hopefully, “three really good +clues. We ought to be able to unearth the mystery. Detectives hardly +ever have so many.”</p> + +<p>Phillips named the three clues, ticking them off on his fingers.</p> + +<p>“First, the torn envelope; second, Smith’s expedition to the cave +before dawn——”</p> + +<p>“Before dawn,” said the Queen with rapture.</p> + +<p>“Third, the cisterns in the cave. Let’s go and see the cisterns.”</p> + +<p>“No,” said the Queen. “The great thing is not <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>to be carried away by +passion. We must be cold, purely intellectual. We must be thoroughly +systematic. We’ll begin with the torn envelope. It happened first.”</p> + +<p>They retired to a shady corner of the balcony outside the Queen’s +rooms and studied the torn envelope for two hours. They were +analytical, keenly and minutely observant, coldly cautious in forming +conclusions. They tried every method of detection known to detective +science. They held the envelope up to the light in order to discover a +watermark. They examined the texture of the paper, the ink and the +postage stamp, carefully through a powerful magnifying glass. They +scraped one corner of the envelope with the blade of a penknife. They +took four photographs, two of the front and two of the back, with the +Queen’s hand camera. They talked a good deal about fingerprints.</p> + +<p>Phillips had a logical mind and a capacity for synthetic induction. +The Queen was perhaps the more careful observer. She had certainly the +more brilliant imagination. After two hours’ work they summed up their +conclusions, making careful notes with the Queen’s fountain pen on the +blank pages at the end of a large diary.</p> + +<p>“A man or men——” said Phillips.</p> + +<p>The Queen wrote down “A man or men” in the diary.</p> + +<p>“Has,” said Phillips, “or have, been present on the island of Salissa +at some date between December <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>15, 1913, and April 30, 1914. The said +man or men was or were during part of that period in occupation of the +royal palace.”</p> + +<p>“Royal palace,” said the Queen, writing rapidly.</p> + +<p>“This man—or men, of course—was in correspondence with some person +at present unknown, resident in the city of London.”</p> + +<p>“That’s very important,” said the Queen. “Anything more?”</p> + +<p>“No,” he said, “that’s all I’ve got.”</p> + +<p>The Queen handed over the diary. It was Phillips’ turn to write.</p> + +<p>“I observed,” she said, “that the envelope is of the kind used by +business men, an office envelope; also that the stamp is put on +crooked.”</p> + +<p>Phillips looked at the stamp. It was put on crooked.</p> + +<p>“From this I infer,” said the Queen, “either that the man in +London——What did you call him?”</p> + +<p>“Person at present unknown,” said Phillips.</p> + +<p>“Either that the person at present unknown was (a) habitually careless +about details, or that (b) though usually careful he was in a hurry +when he despatched this letter.”</p> + +<p>“By Jove!” said Phillips, “but, I say, mightn’t somebody else, an +office boy or some one, have put on the stamp?”</p> + +<p>“Not on a letter of this kind,” said the Queen. “The writer wouldn’t +have trusted any one else.”</p> + +<p>“It’s frightfully clever of you,” said Phillips, “to have thought of +all that.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p><p>“It does not lead to anything very definite yet,” said the Queen. “But +you’ll find it will all fit together—like a jigsaw puzzle you +know—when we get to work on the other two clues. We can’t expect to +solve a mystery of this sort straight off. We’ve only been at it two +hours.”</p> + +<p>Kalliope stood all the time at the far end of the balcony watching the +Queen. She knew nothing about the investigation of the island mystery +which was going on under her eyes. But she was a young woman who had +lived a simple and natural life. In some things she was far wiser than +her mistress. She seems to have realized that the Queen and Phillips +were making, without knowing it, considerable progress into the heart +of another, much more enthralling, mystery. As a chaperone Kalliope +was negligible.</p> + +<p>“The next clue,” said the Queen, “is Smith. We must shadow him.”</p> + +<p>“Day and night,” said Phillips.</p> + +<p>“And Stephanos. Stephanos was with him when he went to the cavern that +morning.”</p> + +<p>“Stephanos is in it up to the neck,” said Phillips. They shadowed +Smith for the rest of that day. They stole on tip-toe about the house +and burst suddenly into rooms where Smith was at work, coming upon him +unexpectedly. They hid in cupboards and behind curtains in rooms which +Smith was likely to enter. They left letters, written in cipher, and +marked coins in prominent places where Smith could hardly fail to see +them. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>Kalliope conceived that an elaborate game of hide-and-seek was +being played. She joined in, enthusiastically but unintelligently, +concealing herself in various parts of the house without regard to +Smith’s habits. Once she remained obstinately hidden for more than an +hour under the Queen’s bed.</p> + +<p>The results were most unsatisfactory. Smith spent his day sweeping +floors, making beds, cooking food and compounding cocktails for Mr. +Donovan. His few leisure moments were spent in polishing silver. He +was totally uninterested in cipher documents and never looked at +marked coins.</p> + +<p>Smith still slept on the steamer, so it fell to Phillips to keep guard +over him at night. He adopted the ingenious, though not very novel +plan of pasting a strip of paper across the door of Smith’s cabin. In +the morning, very early, he went to look at the door. The paper was +intact.</p> + +<p>So far as could be discovered Smith led a dull, laborious but innocent +life, working hard all day and sleeping sound at night. But the time +spent in shadowing him was not wholly wasted. The Queen and Mr. +Phillips enjoyed themselves thoroughly. So did Kalliope. So, I have no +doubt, did Smith.</p> + +<p>“I do call this sleuth work jolly,” said the Queen. “Let’s try old +Stephanos.”</p> + +<p>They gave a whole day to Stephanos the Elder. During the early hours +he sat outside the door of his cottage, rolling cigarettes in thin +brown paper and smoking them. When the Queen came near <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>him he stood +up and bowed gravely. When she passed he sat down again. At noon he +went indoors and dined. The Queen sent Kalliope across the harbour to +the palace with a note to Smith. She returned with a large basket. The +Queen and Phillips picnicked on the beach.</p> + +<p>Early in the afternoon Stephanos walked through the vineyards which +lay behind the village and sat down under a mulberry tree. The Queen +stalked him. She made her approach in a most approved fashion, +creeping through some low bushes with the utmost caution. She was even +careful to advance against the wind in case Stephanos should have an +unusually acute sense of smell. Phillips and Kalliope watched her from +a hiding-place near the village. When she got within twenty yards of +the old man, he rose to his feet, laid his hand on his heart and bowed +to the Queen with dignified courtesy. If he felt any surprise at +seeing the Queen crawling along the ground on her stomach he did not +show it. His face expressed paternal but quite respectful benignity. +The Queen returned from this expedition very much heated, with her +hair dishevelled. Kalliope spent some time trying to rub the dirt off +the front of her frock.</p> + +<p>An hour later Stephanos climbed slowly to the high plateau of the +island and sat down on the edge of a cliff. This time Phillips stalked +him, making his way up the steep gully which led to a part of the +cliff behind the old man’s seat. Stephanos sat gazing at the sea, +apparently unconscious that any one <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>was near him. But when Phillips +emerged from his gully the old man was there waiting for him, bowing +with placid politeness just as he had bowed to the Queen.</p> + +<p>The complete failure of this sleuth work would have been a +disappointment to many people. The Queen and Phillips remained +perfectly cheerful and laughed happily at their own misfortunes.</p> + +<p>Kalliope regarded them with some wonder. The ways of highly civilized +people were strange to her. She became slightly contemptuous of +Phillips and wondered that the Queen tolerated him so long. Kalliope +had a lover of her own, a young man much more direct and rapid than +Phillips was. She was of opinion that a very diffident lover was +unsatisfactory. He wasted time. It seemed to her foolish to spend +hours talking and consulting in the corner of a balcony, playing +hide-and-seek about a house, and a whole day climbing over an island, +when it was quite easy to kiss and be happy at once. She longed to +express her sympathy, condole with the Queen over Phillips’ insulting +apathy. It was, perhaps, fortunate that Kalliope’s English was wholly +insufficient for such confidences.</p> + +<p>Before the next day was over Kalliope thought better of Phillips.</p> + +<p>The envelope yielded little useful information. The shadowing of Smith +and Stephanos was entirely useless. But neither the Queen nor Phillips +lost heart. They were as eager as ever to solve the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>mystery. There +remained the third clue, the cisterns in the cave.</p> + +<p>The Queen, Phillips and Kalliope started early next day. They went in +the small island boat which Kalliope rowed. Smith was on the palace +steps to see them off. He had with him a large basket packed with +food.</p> + +<p>“Thank you, Smith,” said the Queen. “I expect we’ll be back for +luncheon, but we may not. One never knows. We meant to be back +yesterday, but——”</p> + +<p>“Yes, your Majesty,” said Smith. “Not knowing where you thought of +going, I packed the basket.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, not far,” said the Queen. “Still, we may not be back.”</p> + +<p>Smith stood respectful as a footman who has closed his mistress’ +carriage door until the boat pushed off. Then he sat down on the steps +below the flagstaff and lit a pipe. It was, perhaps, an idle morning +with Smith. He seemed in no hurry to go back to his work. He sat +smoking and watched the boat as she crossed the harbour. He saw her +reach the mouth of the cave and disappear into its depths. Soon +afterwards another boat put off from the beach below the village. +Smith watched it too. There was one man on board. It also headed for +the mouth of the cave. Smith knocked the ashes out of his pipe, stood +up and went into the palace.</p> + +<p>Kalliope poled the boat through the narrow part <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>of the cave, rowed +her briskly across the lagoon within and beached her on the steep +slope beyond. Phillips leaped ashore and held out his hand to the +Queen. They stumbled a little on the round stones. It is very +difficult to walk steadily over stones which roll under the feet. The +Queen laid her hand on Phillips’ arm. She went more securely with this +support, so she held to it, leaning a good deal of her weight on it.</p> + +<p>“There!” she said. “Look at them. Aren’t they the most ridiculous +things you ever saw?”</p> + +<p>No doubt the tanks, with their grey fronts and great spouts sticking +out of them, had an absurd appearance. They reminded Phillips of the +prehistoric monsters which artists sometimes draw in our comic papers. +They had the same look of stupid largeness. There was the same +suggestion of gaping malevolence. In the cool blue light of the cave +they looked grotesquely inappropriate. Phillips’ first impulse was to +laugh aloud. But he was a young man with a conscience. It was his duty +to examine the cisterns, to find out if possible what they were, not +to make fun of them.</p> + +<p>He walked up to the nearest one and turned on the tap. Nothing came +out. He tried the next one with the same result. He walked along the +whole line of tanks and turned on every tap. The tanks were apparently +empty. Mr. Phillips picked up a stone and struck each tank several +times. The sound was hollow. If there had been any doubt about that +the echoes would have convinced <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>him. There was a fusillade of hollow +tappings.</p> + +<p>Phillips, placing his foot on the tap of one of the tanks, climbed up.</p> + +<p>“Well,” said the Queen from below. “What have you found?”</p> + +<p>“They’re very large,” said Phillips. “They go back a long way. They’d +hold gallons and gallons of whatever they’re supposed to hold, and +there are round lids with handles to lift them off by.”</p> + +<p>“Oh,” said the Queen. “I would like to see. I think I could get up.”</p> + +<p>Phillips thought so too. He stretched out a helping hand. The Queen +put her foot on a tap and grasped the hand. Phillips pulled. The Queen +sprang upwards, holding the hand tight. She reached the top of the +tank breathless and sat down. Phillips still held her hand.</p> + +<p>It is doubtful whether the Queen ever realized the full size of those +tanks, or even saw the lids which Mr. Phillips had mentioned. The +light was very dim. The situation, in spite of the grotesque +appearance of the tanks, was exceedingly romantic. Long stalactites +hung, faintly gleaming, from the roof. The water, strangely blue, +mourned against the stones of the beach, sighed through the deep +recesses of the cave. The world and all common things seemed very +remote.</p> + +<p>Ten minutes later the Queen suddenly started. She wriggled rapidly +along the edge of the tanks until she sat five or six yards away from +Phillips.</p> + +<p>“Oh,” she cried, “there’s Kalliope!”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p><p>They had left Kalliope at the boat, but she had not stayed there. She +was standing in front of the tanks looking up at the Queen and +Phillips. She stood quite still. It was impossible to know how long +she had been there.</p> + +<p>“Damn Kalliope!” said Mr. Phillips fiercely.</p> + +<p>Kalliope smiled quietly. She showed no signs of embarrassment. She did +not pretend to be looking in any other direction. She had been kissed +herself more than once by her own lover, and had found it pleasant. It +did not strike her as in any way odd that the Queen should like kisses +too.</p> + +<p>“Help me down, quick,” said the Queen.</p> + +<p>She did not wait for the help she asked. Disdaining even the foothold +of the tap she slid over the edge of the tank and came down with a +crash on the rolling stones at Kalliope’s feet. Phillips followed her +with a single bound.</p> + +<p>Kalliope pointed with her finger to a boat, another boat, which had +just grounded on the beach. Stephanos the Elder stepped from it and +bowed low to the Queen, bowed so low that his long beard almost +touched the ground.</p> + +<p>“Well, I’m blest!” said Phillips.</p> + +<p>“My!” said the Queen, “isn’t it lucky I saw Kalliope just when I did? +Fancy if that old fellow had caught us! I don’t so much mind about +Kalliope, though of course it was awful. But I never could have looked +the old man in the face if he had seen us.”</p> + +<p>Later on, while they sat at luncheon on the sand <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>of a little cove +near the entrance of the cave, the Queen suddenly burst into a peal of +merry laughter.</p> + +<p>“Say,” she said, “he stalked us rather better than we stalked him +yesterday, didn’t he?”</p> + +<p>Next day the <i>Ida</i>, with Phillips on board, set sail for England.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">“Grand Hotel des Champs d’Élysèes, Paris</span>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><i>June 4, 1914</i>.</span></p> + +<p style="float: left; font-size: 100%; line-height: 80%; margin-top: 0;">“</p><p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">M</span>y dear Gorman,—</p> + +<p>“I arrive at the excellent Beaufort’s Hotel the day after +to-morrow. I hope that you will dine with me that evening at +8 p.m. There are matters of importance. Corinne accompanies +me. She is adorable as ever, in good form and full of peas. +We have had a time of a life, rattling, since I saw you. +Now—alas and damn—there are matters of importance. The +Emperor—but I can write no more—Corinne awaits me. We go +to paint Paris blue, she and I, once again. Then—damn and +alas—London and the virtuous life of your English middling +class.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">“Konrad Karl.”</span></p> + +<p>Gorman did not hesitate for a moment. He made up his mind to accept +the invitation even if he had to miss the most important division +which Parliament enjoyed during its whole session. The prospect of +seeing Konrad Karl and Madame Ypsilante practising middle-class virtue +in Beaufort’s Hotel <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>was by itself sufficiently attractive. The +promise of important affairs for discussion was another lure. Gorman +loves important affairs, especially those of other people. But the +mention of the Emperor interested him most. The introduction of his +name made it certain that the important affairs were those of Salissa. +And Gorman had always been anxious to understand in what way the +Emperor was mixed up with Megalia and how he came to exercise an +influence over that independent state.</p> + +<p>Gorman was dressing for dinner—was, in fact, buttoning his +collar—when his landlord entered his room and handed him a card. +Gorman looked at it.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 10em;">“<span class="smcap">Friedrich Goldsturmer</span>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 12em;"><i>Dealer in Jewels and Precious Stones,</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 16em;"><i>Old Bond Street.</i>”</span></p> + +<p>Written across the corner of the card were the words: “Business +important and urgent.”</p> + +<p>Gorman glanced at his watch. He had no time to spare if he meant to be +at Beaufort’s at eight. Punctuality was no doubt one of the +middle-class virtues which the King and Madame Ypsilante were at that +moment practising. Gorman hesitated. The landlord, who had once been a +butler, stood waiting.</p> + +<p>“Tell him,” said Gorman, “to call to-morrow at eleven.”</p> + +<p>“Beg pardon, sir,” said the landlord, “but the gentleman says his +business is most pressing.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p><p>Gorman reflected. If Goldsturmer had given the landlord five +shillings—and this seemed likely—the business must be very pressing +indeed; and King Konrad Karl could not yet have become an absolute +slave to the virtue of punctuality.</p> + +<p>“Show him in here,” said Gorman; “that will save time.”</p> + +<p>Goldsturmer slipped into the room and stood meekly near the door.</p> + +<p>“Sit down,” said Gorman. “Sit on the bed if you can’t find a chair, +and tell me what you want with me, as quickly as you can.”</p> + +<p>“It’s very kind of you,” said Goldsturmer, “to receive me at this +hour. Nothing but the very pressing nature of my business—but I will +get to the point. You will doubtless remember a certain rope of +pearls. Let me see, it must have been in March——”</p> + +<p>“I don’t remember any rope of pearls,” said Gorman. “I take no +interest in pearls.”</p> + +<p>“No? Still I hoped you might recollect those pearls. They were the +finest I ever had in my hands.”</p> + +<p>Goldsturmer spoke in a tone of pained regret. It seemed to him a sad +thing that there should be any man in the world who took no interest +in pearls.</p> + +<p>“Madame Ypsilante bought them,” said Goldsturmer.</p> + +<p>“There’s no use coming to me,” said Gorman, “if you’ve failed to get +your money. I’ve nothing to do with the lady.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p><p>Goldsturmer smiled.</p> + +<p>“She paid,” he said. “Otherwise she would not have got the pearls. +There was another lady who might have bought them, an American, a Miss +Donovan.”</p> + +<p>“But Madame got them,” said Gorman.</p> + +<p>“Yes. But perhaps Miss Donovan might have them now, through me, at the +original price.”</p> + +<p>Gorman began to be interested.</p> + +<p>“Madame tired of them?” he asked. “Wants to sell?”</p> + +<p>“Tired of them!” said Goldsturmer. “No. For any one who loves pearls +that would be impossible. But desires to sell. Yes.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Gorman. “That’s her affair and yours. I don’t see that I +have anything to do with it.”</p> + +<p>“Before I agree to buy,” said Goldsturmer, “I should like to be sure +that the American lady, Miss Donovan, still wishes for the pearls. I +do not want to lock up my capital. I cannot afford to lock up so large +a sum. I must be assured of a purchaser before I buy from Madame +Ypsilante. It is not every one who can pay for such pearls. Ah! if you +had seen them! They are suited for the wearing of a queen. Only a +queen should have them.”</p> + +<p>Miss Donovan was, of course, a queen. Gorman wondered whether +Goldsturmer knew that. He looked at the little Jew sharply. +Goldsturmer’s face wore a far-away dreamy expression. He <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>seemed to be +thinking of his pearls draped round the neck of an Empress, a Czarina +or some other lady of very high estate who would wear them worthily.</p> + +<p>“Only a queen,” he murmured, “should wear those pearls.”</p> + +<p>“Madame Ypsilante is the next best thing to a queen,” said Gorman.</p> + +<p>A faint smile flickered across Goldsturmer’s mouth.</p> + +<p>“I would rather,” he said, “that a real queen, a queen by right of +law, wore them. Tell me, Mr. Gorman, is Miss Donovan still willing to +buy them?”</p> + +<p>“I’m sure I don’t know,” said Gorman. “I haven’t seen her for weeks. +She’s yachting in the Mediterranean with her father. If I were you I’d +give up Miss Donovan and look out for a queen.”</p> + +<p>“Thank you,” said Goldsturmer. “But if I give up Miss Donovan I think +I shall not buy the pearls from Madame Ypsilante. There are, alas, few +queens.”</p> + +<p>Gorman was not, after all, more than five minutes late for dinner. The +King was waiting for him, but without any sign of impatience. Madame +Ypsilante entered the room a minute or two later.</p> + +<p>She was wearing a purple velvet dress which struck Gorman as a very +regal garment. Round her neck was a magnificent rope of pearls. Gorman +had no doubt that they were those of which Goldsturmer had spoken. +They were finer than any he had ever seen. It was easy to believe that +there <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>was no other such necklace in the world and that only a queen +should wear them. But they suited Madame Ypsilante. She would, so far +as her appearance went, have made a very fine queen.</p> + +<p>During dinner the conversation was about Paris. The King spoke of +pleasant adventures there, of the life he and Madame had lived, of the +delight of having money to spend, really enough of it, in a city like +Paris. He told his stories well, his vehemently idiomatic English +emphasizing his points. He became lyrical in his appreciation of the +joys of life. When dessert was on the table and port took the place of +champagne he lapsed into a philosophic mood.</p> + +<p>“The damned gods of life,” he said, “are blind of one eye. They are +lame and they limp. They are left-handed. They give the oof, the +dollars, the shekels, and do not give the power to enjoy. The +Americans—your Donovan, for example. What does he know of pleasure? +The English of your middling classes. What is Paris to them? They have +money but no more. Those left-handed gods have given a useless gift. +On me and on Corinne they have bestowed the power, the knowledge, the +skill to enjoy; and we, damn it all, have no money.”</p> + +<p>The King sighed deeply. Madame Ypsilante had tears in her eyes. She +was in full sympathy with the King’s new mood. Gorman was astonished. +The price which Mr. Donovan had paid for the crown of Salissa was a +large one. Even after ten <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>thousand pounds had been spent on Madame +Ypsilante’s pearls there was a sum left which it would be difficult to +spend in a few weeks.</p> + +<p>“Surely,” he said, “you haven’t got rid of all the money yet? You +can’t have spent it in the time. I didn’t think you could be hard up +again so soon. Even when I heard that Madame wanted to sell her +pearls——”</p> + +<p>“Sell my pearls!” said Madame. “But never! Never, never!!”</p> + +<p>There were no tears in her eyes then. The mood of self-pity induced by +the King’s reflections on left-handed gods had passed away. She looked +fierce as a tigress when she shot out her next question to Gorman.</p> + +<p>“Who has said that I wish to sell my pearls? Who has said it? I +demand. I insist: Tell me his name and I will at once kill him. I +shall pluck out his heart and dogs shall eat it.”</p> + +<p>Gorman did not care whether Goldsturmer’s heart was eaten by dogs or +not. He did want to understand how it came that the astute Jew +expected to have the pearls offered to him. It was plain that Madame +Ypsilante did not want to sell them and that she had not suggested the +sale.</p> + +<p>“It was Goldsturmer,” said Gorman, “who told me. He seemed to think +that Miss Donovan might buy them.”</p> + +<p>Madame at once knocked down two wine-glasses and a vase of flowers.</p> + +<p>“That cursed offspring of the litter of filthy Jews <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>who make Hamburg +stink! Tell him that I will pull out his hair, his teeth, his eyes, +but that never, never will that American miss touch one of my pearls. +I will not sell, will not, will not.”</p> + +<p>The King looked round. He satisfied himself that the waiters had left +the room.</p> + +<p>“Alas,” he said, “alas, my poor Corinne! But consider. There is an +English proverb: the horse needs must trot along, trot smart, when it +is the devil who drives.”</p> + +<p>“He is the devil, that Emperor,” said Madame. “But not for any Emperor +will I part with one single pearl.”</p> + +<p>“Look here,” said Gorman. “There’s evidently been some mistake about +Goldsturmer and the pearls. I don’t profess to understand what’s +happening, but if I’m to help you in any way——”</p> + +<p>“You are to help damnably,” said the King. “Are you not our friend?”</p> + +<p>“In that case,” said Gorman, “before I go a step further into the +matter I must know what on earth the Emperor has got to do with +Madame’s pearls.”</p> + +<p>“The Emperor,” said Madame Ypsilante, “is a devil.”</p> + +<p>“Take another glass of port,” said the King. “No? Then light a cigar. +If you will light a cigar and fill for yourself a glass of +brandy—also for Corinne—I will tell you about the Emperor.”</p> + +<p>Gorman filled Madame’s glass and his own. He was particular about +Madame’s. Brandy had a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>soothing influence on her. He did not like her +habit of throwing things about in moments of excitement. He also lit a +cigar.</p> + +<p>“I will make my breast clean of the whole affair,” said the King. +“Then you will understand and help us. The Emperor has spilt cold +water all over Salissa—that is over the sale of the island to the +American.”</p> + +<p>“The Emperor must have very little to do,” said Gorman, “if he has +time to waste in fussing about a wretched little island like Salissa. +How did he hear about the sale?”</p> + +<p>“I think,” said the King, “that Steinwitz must have permitted the cat +to jump out of the bag. Steinwitz smelt rats, of that I am sure.”</p> + +<p>“I daresay you’re right,” said Gorman. “I rather thought Steinwitz was +nosing around. But why does the Emperor mind? That’s what I’m trying +to get at.”</p> + +<p>The King shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>“Who knows?” he said. “<i>Real Politik</i>, perhaps. What you call——How +do you call <i>Real Politik</i>?”</p> + +<p>“Haven’t got a word for it,” said Gorman. “For the matter of that we +haven’t got the thing. We manage along all right with sham politics, +Ireland and Insurance Acts and the rest of it. If real politics lead +to trouble over places like Salissa I prefer our home-made imitation. +But <i>Real Politik</i> or not, the thing’s done; so what’s the good of the +Emperor talking?”</p> + +<p>“The Emperor,” said the King, “says ‘Buy back. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>Take again your +island. Foot—no, it is foot of a horse—hoof, or boot away the +American. Give him his price and let him go.’ And I cannot. It is no +longer possible to give back the oof.”</p> + +<p>“I quite understand that,” said Gorman. “Your six weeks in Paris and +Madame’s pearls——”</p> + +<p>“The Emperor shall not touch my pearls,” said Madame Ypsilante. +“Rather would I swallow them.”</p> + +<p>“The American,” said the King, “will perhaps accept a reduced price. +The island is not an amusing place. Dull, my friend, dull as ditch +mud. By this time he has found out that Salissa is as respectable as +Sunday, as golf, as what you call a seasonable ticket. He will not +want to keep it. He will accept a price, perhaps, if I offer.”</p> + +<p>“I don’t expect he’ll accept a price at all,” said Gorman, “reduced or +increased. I don’t <i>know</i>, of course. He may be dead sick of the place +already; but I’ll be surprised if he is. You’ll find when you ask him +that he’ll simply refuse to part with the island.”</p> + +<p>“But,” said the King, “he must. As I have just said to Corinne, when +the devil drives the horse to water it needs must take a drink. The +Emperor has said that Salissa is once more to return to the Crown of +Megalia.”</p> + +<p>“The Emperor may say that,” said Gorman, “but it doesn’t at all follow +that Donovan will agree with him.”</p> + +<p>“But the Emperor——! It is not for Mr. Donovan <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>to agree or disagree +with the Emperor. When the Emperor commands it is a case of knuckles +down. But you do not know the Emperor.”</p> + +<p>“I do not,” said Gorman, “but I’m inclined to think that you take an +exaggerated view of him. After all, what can he do to Donovan or to +you for that matter? Come now, suppose you won’t or can’t buy back the +island, what happens? What’s the alternative? There must be an +alternative of some sort.”</p> + +<p>“There is—yes, there certainly is an alternative.”</p> + +<p>The King paused and looked apprehensively at Madame Ypsilante.</p> + +<p>“He can’t lay hands on you,” said Gorman, “if you stick to Paris or +even London. That Emperor isn’t particularly popular in either city.”</p> + +<p>The King, his eyes still fixed on Madame Ypsilante, nodded sideways +towards Gorman. The nod was a very slight one, barely perceptible. It +suggested the need of extreme caution. Gorman is a quick-witted man +and he saw the nod, but he failed altogether to guess what the +alternative was.</p> + +<p>Madame Ypsilante noticed the expression of the King’s face when he +looked at her. She also saw the nod that was meant for Gorman. She +became uneasy. Her eyes had a hard glitter in them. Gorman at once +refilled her glass. That soothed her a little. She did not break +anything. But she spoke:</p> + +<p>“Konrad, at once tell me all that the Emperor said.”</p> + +<p>“Corinne,” said the King, “my beloved Corinne, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>it will make no +difference to you. The future and the past will be as six to one and +half a dozen to the other. You will always be Corinne. Have no fear, +and—as my friend Gorman would say, do not take off your hair.”</p> + +<p>“Tell me,” said Madame.</p> + +<p>“The Emperor,” said the King, “has said to me, ‘Buy back the island or +else marry the American.’ In that way also Salissa would return to the +Crown of Megalia.”</p> + +<p>Gorman fully expected that Madame Ypsilante would at once have broken +every glass on the table. It would not have surprised him in the least +if she had torn handfuls of hair off the King’s head. To his amazement +she laughed. It was a most unpleasant laugh. But it was not the laugh +of a lunatic. It was not even hysterical.</p> + +<p>“That imbecile,” she said, “that miss!”</p> + +<p>Her contempt for the girl left no room for jealousy. Madame Ypsilante +did not seem to care whether the King married or did not.</p> + +<p>“I don’t think much of that plan,” said Gorman. “Your Emperor may be +the everlasting boss you seem to think——”</p> + +<p>“In the register of Lloyd’s,” said the King, “he takes place in the +class A 1st.”</p> + +<p>“But,” said Gorman, “he hasn’t much sense if he thinks that a girl +like Miss Donovan can be married off in that way to any one he chooses +to name. I’m not saying anything against your character, sir——”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p><p>“My Konrad,” said Madame Ypsilante, “is Konrad.”</p> + +<p>“Exactly,” said Gorman. “Those are my points put concisely in two +words. First he’s yours and next he’s himself. No. I don’t think that +you’ve much chance of buying back the island, but you’ve no chance at +all of marrying the girl.”</p> + +<p>“I do not want either the one or the other,” said the King. “I do not +care the cursing of a tinker, not a two-a-penny damn if I never put my +eye on the island or the girl. Arrange which you prefer. I place both +into your hands, my dear Gorman. I leave them there. I shall put my +foot on the bill if you buy and the price is moderate. I shall toe the +scratch if you arrange that I lead the American to the altar of Hymen. +Settle, arrange, fix down which you will.”</p> + +<p>Gorman gasped. He was always ready to give disinterested advice in the +King’s affairs. He was even willing to lend a helping hand in times of +difficulty; but he was startled at being asked to act as +plenipotentiary for the sale of a kingdom or the negotiation of a +royal marriage.</p> + +<p>“Do you mean to say,” he said, “that you expect me to arrange the +whole thing?”</p> + +<p>“You have tumbled to the idea with precision,” said the King. “You +have caught it on. You are wonderful, my friend. Thus everything +arranges. You go to Salissa and tell the American the wishes of the +Emperor. Corinne and I return to Paris. If a sale is arranged——”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p><p>“I will not part with my pearls,” said Madame. “Neither for the +Emperor nor for any one.”</p> + +<p>“Corinne!” said the King reproachfully. “Would I ask it of you? No. If +a sale is arranged I give a bill to the American, a bill of three +months, and for security I place at his disposal—I pledge the revenue +of Megalia for ten years; for a hundred years. If it seems more +desirable that I marry; good, I am ready. The American girl comes to +Paris. I meet her. We marry. The Emperor is satisfied. It is upon you, +my dear Gorman, to fix it down.”</p> + +<p>“I don’t see,” said Gorman, “how I can possibly undertake——It’s +asking a lot, you know. Besides——”</p> + +<p>“You are my friend,” said the King. “Can I ask more than too much from +my friend?”</p> + +<p>“Besides,” said Gorman, “it’s no kind of use. Donovan isn’t likely to +sell. He certainly wouldn’t accept your bill if he did sell. And +marrying the girl is out of the question. What’s the good of my +undertaking impossibilities?”</p> + +<p>The King stood up. With his cigar between his fingers he raised his +right hand above his head. He laid his left hand upon his shirt front. +It was an impressive and heroic attitude.</p> + +<p>“For Gorman, M.P.,” he said, “there are in the world no +impossibilities. For his talents all careers are open doors. When +Gorman, M.P., says ‘I do it,’ the damned thing at once is done. I +offer——But no. I do not offer where I trust——I confer <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>upon +Gorman, M.P., the Order of the Royal Pink Vulture of Megalia, First +Class. You are Knight Commander, my friend. You are also Count Gorman +if you wish.”</p> + +<p>Madame Ypsilante slipped from her chair and knelt down at Gorman’s +feet. She took his right hand and kissed it with every appearance of +fervour.</p> + +<p>“You will do it,” she said, “for the sake of Konrad Karl. Oh, Sir +Gorman, M.P., you would do it at once if you understood. Poor Konrad! +He is having so much delight with me in Paris. This time only in our +lives it has come to us to have enough money and to be in Paris. It is +cruel—so cruel that the Emperor should say: ‘No. Give back the money. +Go from Paris. Be starved. Have no pearls, no joy.’ But you will save +us. Say you will save us.”</p> + +<p>Gorman’s position was an exceedingly difficult one. Madame Ypsilante +had firm hold on his hand. She was kissing it at the moment. He was +not at all sure that she would not bite it if he refused her request.</p> + +<p>“I’ll think the whole thing over,” he said. “I don’t expect I can do +anything, but I’ll look into the matter and let you know.”</p> + +<p>Madame mouthed his hand in a frenzy of gratitude. She wept copiously. +Gorman could feel drops which he supposed to be tears trickling down +the inside of his sleeve. The King seized his other hand and shook it +heartily.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p><p>“It is now as good as done,” he said. “Let us drink to success. I ring +the bell. I order champagne, one bottle, two bottles, three, many +bottles in the honour of my friend Sir Gorman who has said: ‘Damn it, +I will.’”</p> + +<p>Under the influence of the second bottle of champagne the King escaped +from his heroic mood. Gorman began to realize that a certain cunning +lay behind the preposterous proposal he had listened to.</p> + +<p>“I shall inform the Emperor,” said the King, “that you go to Salissa +to arrange according to his wish. I shall say: ‘M.P. Count Sir Gorman +goes. He is a statesman, a financier, a diplomat, a man of uncommon +sense.’ The Emperor will then be satisfied.”</p> + +<p>“He’ll probably be very dissatisfied when I come back,” said Gorman.</p> + +<p>“That will be—let me consider—perhaps eight weeks. In eight weeks +many things may happen. And if not, still Corinne and I will have had +eight weeks in Paris with oof which we can burn. It is something.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">I</span>n the end Gorman made up his mind to go to Salissa. I do not suppose +that the King’s gift of the Order of the Pink Vulture had much to do +with his decision. Nor do I think that he went out of pure kindness of +heart, in order to give Konrad Karl and Madame Ypsilante eight weeks +of unalloyed delight in Paris. I know that he never had the slightest +intention of trying to persuade Donovan to part with the island, +and—Gorman has not much conscience, but he has some—nothing would +have induced him to suggest a marriage between Miss Daisy and the +disreputable King. He went to Salissa because that island seemed in a +fair way to become a very interesting place.</p> + +<p>On the very evening of Gorman’s dinner with the King I happened to +meet Sir Bartholomew Bland-Potterton at another, a much duller dinner +party. Sir Bartholomew was not yet Secretary of State for Balkan +Problems, but he was well known as an authority on the Near East, and +was in constant unofficial touch with the Foreign Office. He is a big +man in his way, and I was rather surprised when he buttonholed me +after the ladies had left the room. I am not a big man in any way.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p><p>“Do you happen to know a man called Gorman?” he asked.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” I said, “Michael Gorman. I’ve met him. In fact, I know him +pretty well.”</p> + +<p>“Nationalist M.P.?”</p> + +<p>“Sits for Upper Offaly,” I said. “Can’t blame him for that. Four +hundred a year is something these times.”</p> + +<p>“Bit of a blackguard, I suppose? All those fellows are.”</p> + +<p>Now, an Irishman can call another Irishman a blackguard without +offence. We know each other intimately and are fond of strong +language, but we do not like being called blackguards by Englishmen. +They do not understand us and never will. Sir Bartholomew’s +description of Gorman was in bad taste and I resented it. However, +there was no use trying to explain our point of view. You cannot +explain anything to that kind of Englishman.</p> + +<p>“He’s a Member of Parliament,” I said, “of your own English +Parliament. I believe that all members are honourable gentlemen.”</p> + +<p>Sir Bartholomew is a wonderful man. He actually took that remark of +mine as a testimonial to Gorman’s character. The thing is almost +incredible, but he evidently felt that the word honourable, as +officially used, had a meaning something like that of trustworthy.</p> + +<p>“I wonder,” said Sir Bartholomew, “if he’s a man to whom one could +talk safely on a rather confidential subject?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span></p><p>“There’s always supposed to be a kind of honour among thieves,” I +said.</p> + +<p>I was still rather nettled by the contemptuous assumption that Gorman +must be a blackguard simply because he is an Irish Nationalist. After +all, Sir Bartholomew’s own profession is not a very respectable one. +He is a diplomatist, and diplomacy is simply the name we have agreed +to give to lying about national affairs. I cannot see that Sir +Bartholomew has any right to take up a high moral tone when speaking +of Gorman or any other Member of Parliament, Irish or English.</p> + +<p>“I’ll look up the man to-morrow,” said Sir Bartholomew. “I daresay +I’ll find him in the House of Commons during the afternoon.”</p> + +<p>Sir Bartholomew gave me no hint about the nature of his confidential +business. I suppose he did not feel I could be trusted. However, +Gorman told me all about it next day.</p> + +<p>Sir Bartholomew came on Gorman in the smoking-room of the House of +Commons. He was wearing, so Gorman assures me, the very best kind of +official manner, that interesting mixture of suavity and pomposity +with which our mandarins approach the public. They hope, in this way, +to induce us to believe that they have benevolent dispositions and +immense ability. I do not know whether any one is ever deceived by +this manner or thinks of a mandarin otherwise than as a fortunate +person who earns a large salary by being stupid. Certainly Gorman was +not in the very <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>least impressed. Being an Irishman, Gorman knows the +official class thoroughly. Ireland is a kind of laboratory for the +culture of the mandarin bacillus.</p> + +<p>“May I,” said Sir Bartholomew, “intrude on your time, and ask you one +or two questions on a matter of some little importance?”</p> + +<p>Gorman had no objection to being asked questions. Whether he would +answer them or not was another matter.</p> + +<p>“I think,” said Sir Bartholomew, “that you know King Konrad Karl of +Megalia.”</p> + +<p>That was not a question, so Gorman gave no answer. He merely puffed at +his pipe which was not drawing well and looked at Sir Bartholomew’s +round plump face.</p> + +<p>“A rather wild young man,” said Sir Bartholomew. “Dissipated would +perhaps be too strong a word. What do you think?”</p> + +<p>“It is a strongish word,” said Gorman.</p> + +<p>Sir Bartholomew tried another cast.</p> + +<p>“Mr. Donovan is a friend of yours, I think,” he said, “and his +daughter?”</p> + +<p>“I’ve met them,” said Gorman.</p> + +<p>Sir Bartholomew realized that he was not getting on very fast with +Gorman. He relapsed a little from his high official manner and adopted +a confidential tone.</p> + +<p>“There has been a certain amount of talk in diplomatic, or shall we +say semi-diplomatic circles, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>about King Konrad Karl, mere gossip, of +course, but——”</p> + +<p>“I never listen to gossip,” said Gorman.</p> + +<p>This was untrue. Gorman listens to all the gossip he can and enjoys it +thoroughly.</p> + +<p>Sir Bartholomew found it necessary to unbend a little more. He +unbuttoned, so to speak, the two bottom buttons of the waistcoat of +pomposity which he wore.</p> + +<p>“I was told a story the other day,” he said. “Perhaps I’d better not +mention the name of my informant; but there can be no harm in saying +that he is one of the attachés of the Embassy of a great Power, a +friendly Power.”</p> + +<p>I expect Sir Bartholomew thought this way of talking would impress +Gorman. It impresses most people. Your story has a much better chance +of being believed and repeated if you tell it on the authority of some +one unnamed and vaguely described than it has if you merely say “young +Smith, the cashier in my bank, told me to-day, that....”</p> + +<p>“I am alluding,” said Sir Bartholomew, “to a report that has reached +us of an escapade of Miss Donovan’s. That young lady—very charming +I’m sure—and her father’s immensely rich, but—well, you know what +young girls are.”</p> + +<p>“Got engaged to a Royal Duke?” said Gorman, “or run away with the +chauffeur?”</p> + +<p>“Oh no, nothing of that sort. Not at all. The statement with which I’m +concerned is that her father has bought an island and some kind of +title <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>for her from that unfortunate young King of Megalia.”</p> + +<p>“So long as he paid for it,” said Gorman, “I don’t see that it’s +anybody else’s business.”</p> + +<p>“You don’t understand,” said Sir Bartholomew. “I haven’t made myself +clear. The fact is——” He sank his voice to an awed whisper. “The +young lady is understood to claim sovereign rights over the Island of +Salissa. She calls herself—it’s almost incredible, but she calls +herself a queen.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Gorman, “why shouldn’t she?”</p> + +<p>“But, my dear sir! To set up a new independent kingdom! In the +existing state of Balkan affairs, when the Great Powers——But of +course it can be nothing but a girlish joke, a piece of light-hearted +playfulness. She can’t mean——”</p> + +<p>“Then why worry?” said Gorman. “Why should you and that attaché of the +Embassy of a Friendly Power, the fellow you’ve been talking about—why +should you and he start fussing?”</p> + +<p>“My dear sir! my dear sir! Nothing, I assure you, is further from our +wishes than fuss of any kind. But unfortunately, the Emperor—the +Emperor—I respect and admire him, of course. We all do. But if the +Emperor has a fault it is that he’s slightly deficient in humour. He +does not easily see a joke. He’s a little—well——”</p> + +<p>“Elephantine?” said Gorman.</p> + +<p>Sir Bartholomew looked round hurriedly. The Division bell had just +rung. The smoking-room was almost empty. This was fortunate. It would +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>have been very awkward for a man in Sir Bartholomew’s position to be +caught in the act of hearing an Emperor called elephantine.</p> + +<p>“The Emperor,” said Sir Bartholomew, “has approached the United States +Ambassador on the subject, indirectly, I need scarcely say. He +requests, indeed insists that Salissa shall at once be restored to the +Crown of Megalia. Now our idea is—and I think I know the views of the +Foreign Office on the subject—our idea is that this little matter +ought to be settled unofficially. A word to Mr. Donovan from a friend. +A hint about the present critical condition of European politics. He +might——”</p> + +<p>“I don’t suppose,” said Gorman, “that Donovan cares a damn about +European politics.”</p> + +<p>Sir Bartholomew’s eyebrows went up in shocked surprise.</p> + +<p>“It is of the first importance,” he said, “of absolutely vital +importance that at the present moment, standing as we do, as all +Europe stands to-day, on the verge of the smouldering crater of a +volcano——”</p> + +<p>“This is the House of Commons, of course,” said Gorman, “so I suppose +you can talk that kind of language if you like. But we don’t usually +do it in the smoking-room.”</p> + +<p>Sir Bartholomew had not attained to the eminent position he occupied +without learning a few lessons in tact. He changed his tone at once.</p> + +<p>“The fact is,” he said, “that just at present we all want to avoid +friction with the Emperor.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p><p>“Ah,” said Gorman, “and your idea is——?”</p> + +<p>“Mr. Donovan must be persuaded to give up that island. Pressure could +be put on him, of course, by his own Government and by ours. His +position is preposterous. He can’t set his daughter up as a European +sovereign simply by writing a cheque. But we don’t want—nobody wants +any publicity or scandal. If Mr. Donovan would agree, privately, to +resign all claim on Salissa——”</p> + +<p>“Why not ask him?”</p> + +<p>Sir Bartholomew’s manner became most ingratiating.</p> + +<p>“We feel that the good offices of a mutual friend, some one who +occupies no official position, some one unconnected with the Foreign +Office——In short, Mr. Gorman, would you undertake this rather +delicate mission?”</p> + +<p>“Why the devil do you hit on me for the job?”</p> + +<p>“Ah,” said Sir Bartholomew, smiling, “you see we all know something +about you, Mr. Gorman. Your business ability, your unfailing tact, +your——”</p> + +<p>“Taken as read,” said Gorman.</p> + +<p>Sir Bartholomew cannot possibly have liked Gorman’s manner. No public +men discuss serious and confidential matters with this kind of +flippancy. But he had been obliged to meet even more disconcerting +people in the Balkans. He prided himself on being able to negotiate +with men of any manners or none.</p> + +<p>“Knowing the work you have done for your <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>party in America,” he went +on, “knowing your friendship with the Donovans and your acquaintance +with the King of Megalia, it seemed to us—not to me, you know. I +don’t really matter. It seemed to us that you were the best possible +person.”</p> + +<p>“I see. Well, supposing I undertake the job, what am I to say to +Donovan? He’s paid a big price for that island. Is he to get his money +back?”</p> + +<p>“Of course, of course. No one expects Mr. Donovan to make any +financial sacrifice.”</p> + +<p>“Who’s going to pay?”</p> + +<p>“The King. King Konrad Karl.”</p> + +<p>“That King,” said Gorman, “isn’t very good at paying.”</p> + +<p>“In this case he will have no choice. The Emperor will insist on his +paying.”</p> + +<p>“The Emperor is a powerful man,” said Gorman, “but even he would +hardly be able to make King Konrad Karl fork out what he hasn’t got. +You may safely bet your last shilling that most of what Donovan paid +for that island is spent, chucked away, gone scat.”</p> + +<p>“The Emperor,” said Sir Bartholomew, “will be responsible for the +return in full of the purchase price.”</p> + +<p>“Very well,” said Gorman, “and now suppose Donovan won’t sell. Suppose +he simply says ‘No.’”</p> + +<p>“There is an alternative policy,” said Sir Bartholomew.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> “It has +occurred to some of us who are interested in the matter—I am not now +speaking with the authority of any ambassador, certainly not with the +formal approval of our Foreign Office. It has occurred to <i>me</i>—I will +put it that way. It has occurred to me that the matter might be +settled quite satisfactorily to all parties, to the Emperor certainly +if——The King of Megalia is, I think, unmarried.”</p> + +<p>“There’s Madame Ypsilante,” said Gorman, “a lady——”</p> + +<p>“A lady! Pooh! In these cases there is always a lady. But the King is +unmarried. Miss Donovan, so we understand, wishes to be a queen. You +catch my meaning?”</p> + +<p>“Perfectly. You want me to arrange a marriage between——”</p> + +<p>“My dear Mr. Gorman! I want nothing of the sort. I do not ask you to +arrange anything. I merely say that if such a marriage were to take +place the Emperor would probably be satisfied. I am aware that the +personal character of King Konrad Karl is not such——But he is a +young man. There are possibilities of improvement.”</p> + +<p>“There’s certainly room for it.”</p> + +<p>“Exactly. And the influence of a good woman is just what is needed. A +young, sweet, innocent girl has a marvellous influence. She appeals to +that best which is present even in the worst of us.” Sir Bartholomew +liked this phrase. He repeated it. “That best, that astonishing best, +which <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>is always present even in the worst of us. She might call it +out. She might make a new man of King Konrad Karl.”</p> + +<p>Gorman looked at Sir Bartholomew with an expression of grave and +interested inquiry.</p> + +<p>“You think that if Miss Donovan married the King she would save him +from the clutches of Madame Ypsilante.”</p> + +<p>“Not a doubt of it. And what a splendid thing that would be! It’s just +the sort of an idea which would make a strong appeal to a girl. Women +like the idea of reforming their husbands. Besides, the prospect for +her is in other respects most brilliant. She would be recognized by +the Emperor. She would be received in the most exclusive Courts of +Europe. But I need not expatiate. You understand the position.”</p> + +<p>“I don’t remember any case of an American heiress marrying a king,” +said Gorman.</p> + +<p>“Just so. This would be unique, splendid. And I need not say, Mr. +Gorman, that if you see your way to oblige us in this matter your +services will not go unrecognized. If there is any particular way in +which you would like us to show our appreciation you have only to +mention it. The next Honours List——”</p> + +<p>“All right,” said Gorman, “I’ll go. Where is Salissa?”</p> + +<p>“In the Cyrenian Sea. It’s an island. Quite charming, I believe. I am +sure you will enjoy the trip. Your best plan will be to see Steinwitz +about <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>the matter. Steinwitz is managing director——”</p> + +<p>“Quite so. I know him. Cyrenian Sea Steam Navigation Company.”</p> + +<p>“His ships go there,” said Sir Bartholomew. “I have no doubt that he +will arrange for you to make the voyage comfortably. I may mention, +between ourselves, that Steinwitz is interested in the success of the +negotiations.”</p> + +<p>“Acting for the Emperor?”</p> + +<p>“Well, yes. Unofficially. He is in a certain sense the agent of the +Emperor.”</p> + +<p>“All right,” said Gorman. “I’ll see him. And if I pull the thing off I +may count on——?”</p> + +<p>“You may ask for what you like,” said Sir Bartholomew. “You’ve only +got to drop me a hint. Anything in reason. A knighthood? Or a +baronetcy? I think we could manage a baronetcy. A post in the +Government? A Civil List pension? Your services to literature fully +entitle you——”</p> + +<p>“On the whole,” said Gorman, “I think I’ll ask for Home Rule for +Ireland.”</p> + +<p>“Ah,” said Sir Bartholomew, “you Irish! Always witty! Always +sparkling, paradoxical, brilliant! I shall tell the Prime Minister +what you say. He’ll enjoy it. What should we do without you Irish? +Life would be dull indeed. What is it the poet says? Wordsworth, I +think. ‘Turning to mirth, All things of earth, As only boyhood can.’ +You are all boys. That is why we love you. Your freshness. Your +delightful capacity for the absurd. I feel that in choosing you for +this delicate mission <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>we have chosen the right man. Only an Irishman +could hope to succeed in an affair of this kind. Good-bye, Mr. Gorman, +and be sure to let me know in good time what we are to do for you. +I’ll charge myself with seeing that your claim is not overlooked.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<p style="float: left; font-size: 100%; line-height: 80%; margin-top: 0;">“</p><p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">I</span>’m going, of course,” said Gorman. “The whole thing is interesting, +quite exciting.”</p> + +<p>He had just given me a detailed account of his interview with Sir +Bartholomew Bland-Potterton, and a rather picturesque version of the +way King Konrad Karl presented his case.</p> + +<p>“Do you expect,” I said, “to be able to persuade Donovan to sell?”</p> + +<p>“Of course not,” said Gorman. “I don’t even mean to try.”</p> + +<p>“Gorman,” I said, “I’m accustomed more or less to political morality, +I mean the morality of politicians. I recognize—everybody must +recognize—that you can’t be expected to tie yourselves down to the +ordinary standards. But——”</p> + +<p>“What <i>are</i> you talking about?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, nothing much. Only you’ve accepted a Pink Vulture from Megalia +and a baronetcy from England as a reward for services you don’t mean +to render. Now is that quite—quite——?”</p> + +<p>Gorman looked at me for a minute without speaking. There was a +peculiar twinkle in his eyes.</p> + +<p>“If I were you,” he said at last, “I’d go back to Ireland for a while. +Try Dublin. You have been <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>too long over here. You wouldn’t say things +like that if you weren’t becoming English.”</p> + +<p>I accepted the rebuke. Gorman was perfectly right. In English public +life it is necessary to profess a respect for decency, to make aprons +of fig leaves. In Ireland we do without these coverings.</p> + +<p>“I shouldn’t wonder,” said Gorman, “if I got some sort of decoration +out of the Emperor too before I’m through with this business. Once +these ribbons and stars begin to drop on a man, they come thick and +fast, kind of attract each other, I suppose. I wonder,” he added with +sudden irrelevancy, “what the Emperor’s game is. That’s what I’ve been +trying to make out all along. Why is he in it?”</p> + +<p>“He wants the Island of Salissa restored to the Crown of Megalia,” I +said. “You’ve been told that often enough.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, but why? Why? The island isn’t worth having. As well as I can +make out it’s simply a rock with a little clay sprinkled on top of it. +What can it matter to the Emperor who owns the place? It isn’t as if +it were his originally or as if it would become his. It belongs to +Megalia. With all the fuss that’s being made you’d think there was a +gold mine there.”</p> + +<p>The puzzle became more complicated and Gorman’s curiosity was further +whetted before he started for Salissa. After leaving my rooms he went +to Cockspur Street and called at the office of the Cyrenian Sea Steam +Navigation Company. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>Steinwitz was expecting him and received him in +the most friendly manner.</p> + +<p>“Sir Bartholomew Bland-Potterton,” said Steinwitz, “rang me up this +morning, and told me that you’d undertaken our little negotiation. I +need scarcely say that we’re quite satisfied. We feel——”</p> + +<p>“By we,” said Gorman, “you mean yourself and the Emperor, I suppose. +Now what I want to know is this: Why is the Emperor so keen on——?”</p> + +<p>Steinwitz waved that question away with a motion of his hand.</p> + +<p>“I do not discuss the policy of the Emperor,” he said.</p> + +<p>“You must be the only man in Europe who doesn’t,” said Gorman. +“However, I don’t mind. I suppose the Emperor must have some pretty +strong reasons for wanting to get Donovan out of Salissa, or he +wouldn’t offer to pay a fancy price—it was a fancy price, you know.”</p> + +<p>“King Konrad Karl will pay,” said Steinwitz.</p> + +<p>“No, he won’t. He can’t. He hasn’t got it. There’s a cool ten thousand +gone on a pearl necklace, as well as——”</p> + +<p>“Goldsturmer is prepared to buy back the necklace,” said Steinwitz. “I +have arranged that.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Gorman, “it’s your affair, of course. But I wouldn’t be +too sure. I don’t think Madame Ypsilante will sell at any price.”</p> + +<p>“Madame Ypsilante will do what she must,” said Steinwitz. “The +Emperor——”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p><p>“I don’t envy the Emperor the job of tackling her,” said Gorman. “He +won’t find it a bit pleasant. I daresay he doesn’t know Madame +Ypsilante. He wouldn’t be so cocksure of himself if he did. She’s the +kind of woman who throws things about if she’s the least irritated. If +the Emperor suggests her selling those jewels there’ll be a riot. But +it’s no business of mine. If that Emperor of yours really enjoys a rag +with a woman like Madame Ypsilante—I should have thought a man in his +position wouldn’t care to be mixed up in the sort of scene there will +certainly be.”</p> + +<p>Steinwitz stiffened visibly. His hair always stands upright on his +head. It actually bristled while Gorman was speaking.</p> + +<p>“I do not,” he said, “discuss the Emperor in that way. It is enough +for you to know this. Madame Ypsilante will sell. Goldsturmer will +buy. I myself will settle these matters.”</p> + +<p>Gorman was enjoying himself greatly. Nothing in the world gives him +more pleasure than intercourse with a man who takes himself seriously. +Steinwitz was a real delight. He was solemnly and ponderously serious +about himself. He was pontifical about the Emperor.</p> + +<p>“Goldsturmer,” said Gorman, “is a Jew, and the Jews are a cautious +race. However, if you go to him and say ‘The Emperor’ in an <i>Open +Sesame</i> tone of voice he’ll no doubt give in at once.”</p> + +<p>“Exactly,” said Steinwitz gravely.</p> + +<p>Gorman collapsed then. Steinwitz’ portentous <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>solemnity was too much +for him. Sticking pins into a man or an ape is a pleasant sport. They +have skins of reasonable density. It is dull work pricking a +rhinoceros, even with a rapier.</p> + +<p>“About going to Salissa,” he said meekly. “Can you manage to send me +there?”</p> + +<p>“Certainly,” said Steinwitz. “How soon can you start?”</p> + +<p>“At once,” said Gorman. “I’ll buy a tooth-brush on my way to the +steamer. I realize that I must waste no time when conducting business +for the Emperor.”</p> + +<p>“That is so,” said Steinwitz, “but you cannot start before to-morrow. +To-morrow at 9 a.m. the <i>Ida</i> leaves Tilbury. She is the steamer which +Mr. Donovan chartered from us. She returns to the island according to +his orders. If you care to sail on her——”</p> + +<p>Steinwitz took up the receiver of the telephone which stood on his +desk.</p> + +<p>“Is Captain Wilson in the office?” he called. “Captain Wilson of the +<i>Ida</i>. Oh, he’s not, but Mr. Phillips is. Very well. Ask Mr. Phillips +to come up and speak to me here. Mr. Phillips,” he explained to +Gorman, “is first officer on the <i>Ida</i>. I shall give him orders to be +ready for you to-morrow.”</p> + +<p>There was a brisk tap at the door. Phillips walked in.</p> + +<p>“Mr. Phillips,” said Steinwitz, “Mr. Gorman will sail with you +to-morrow on the <i>Ida</i>. You will <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>see that a cabin is prepared for +him, and tell Captain Wilson, with my compliments, that Mr. Gorman is +to be made as comfortable as possible. If there are any particular +directions you’d like to give, Mr. Gorman——”</p> + +<p>“I prefer Irish to Scotch,” said Gorman, “but I don’t insist on it.”</p> + +<p>“Irish? Scotch?” said Steinwitz. “Ah, yes, whisky, of course. Make a +note of that, if you please, Mr. Phillips.”</p> + +<p>“And I detest tinned salmon,” said Gorman.</p> + +<p>“You need not be uneasy,” said Steinwitz. “On our ships no passenger +is ever asked to eat tinned salmon. As the guest of the company——”</p> + +<p>“Of the Emperor,” said Gorman.</p> + +<p>He deliberately winked at Phillips when he mentioned the Emperor. +Phillips has a nice, round, sun-burned face, clear eyes and curly +hair. Gorman felt that it would be easy to make friends with him. +Phillips laughed and then checked himself abruptly. He saw no joke in +a reference to the Emperor, but Gorman’s wink appealed to him +strongly. Steinwitz frowned.</p> + +<p>“That will do, Mr. Phillips,” he said.</p> + +<p>He turned to Gorman when the young man left the room.</p> + +<p>“You will let me hear from you,” he said. “I shall expect a letter. +The <i>Ida</i> will, no doubt, return after she is unloaded. You can give +your letters to Captain Wilson.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p><p>“I suppose there’s no other way of sending letters?”</p> + +<p>“A coasting steamer, perhaps,” said Steinwitz, “or a fishing boat +might put in at the island; but the <i>Ida</i> will be your best means of +communicating with me.”</p> + +<p>“All right,” said Gorman. “I’ll let you know how things go on. But +don’t be too sanguine. Donovan may refuse to sell.”</p> + +<p>He rose to go as he spoke. Steinwitz made one more remark before the +interview closed.</p> + +<p>“One way or other,” he said, “I hear very often from the island.”</p> + +<p>The words were spoken in a colourless tone; but Gorman felt vaguely +that they were a kind of threat. Steinwitz said that he heard +frequently from the island. Gorman thought the statement over. +Evidently Steinwitz had a correspondent there, some one who made use +of the <i>Ida</i>, of any coasting steamer which turned up, of the fishing +boats which put in. Steinwitz would not be entirely dependent on +Gorman’s account of his mission. He would hear about it from some one +else, would know whether the sale had been pressed on Donovan.</p> + +<p>Gorman left the office a little puzzled. The threat suggested by +Steinwitz’ last words was veiled but hardly to be mistaken. It +certainly seemed to Gorman that he was to be watched by some one on +the island, his life spied on, his actions reported to this perfectly +absurd German shipowner; by him, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>no doubt, again reported to the +Emperor. The thing seemed almost too good to be true. Gorman, himself +a clever man, found it difficult to believe that another clever +man—Steinwitz certainly had brains of a sort—could possibly be such +an idiot as to practise melodrama, spies, secret reports and all the +rest of it, quite seriously.</p> + +<p>Gorman found himself wondering what on earth Steinwitz expected to +learn from his correspondent in Salissa and what use the information +would be to him when he got it. Would Donovan be threatened with the +implacable wrath of the Emperor? Would he himself, Michael Gorman, +M.P. for Upper Offaly, incur some awful penalty if he did not persuade +Donovan to sell, if he did his best—he certainly meant to do his +best—to prevent a marriage between Miss Donovan and King Konrad Karl? +He chuckled with delight at the prospect and was more than ever glad +that he had promised to go to Salissa.</p> + +<p>The voyage turned out to be a very agreeable one. Captain Wilson was +not, indeed, a cheerful companion. He maintained the attitude of stiff +disapproval with which he had all along regarded Salissa and +everything connected with that island. He gave Gorman to understand +that he meant to do his duty to his employers, to obey orders +faithfully, to carry ridiculous things and foolish people to and fro +between Salissa and England; but that he in no way approved of the +waste of a good ship, quantities of coal and the energies of officers +like <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>himself over the silly fad of a wealthy young woman.</p> + +<p>Phillips, on the other hand, was friendly from the start. He and +Gorman spent many hours together on the bridge or in the cabin. The +weather was fine and warm. The <i>Ida</i> slipped quietly across the Bay, +found calm days and velvety nights off the coast of Portugal, carried +her good luck with her through the Straits of Gibraltar.</p> + +<p>A much duller man than Gorman would not have failed to discover that +Phillips was deeply in love with the young Queen of Salissa. All talk +worked back to her sooner or later. And Phillips became eloquent about +her. With naïve enthusiasm he praised her beauty. He raved about the +sweetness of her disposition. He struggled hard for words which would +describe her incomparable charm.</p> + +<p>Gorman says he liked listening to the boy. He himself has never +married, so far as I know has never been in love. I suppose there was +a certain freshness about Phillips’ raptures. He must have been an +attentive listener and he must have shown some sort of sympathy, for +in the end Phillips became very confidential. I daresay, too, that +Gorman found the whole thing highly amusing when he recollected the +Emperor’s plan of marrying Miss Donovan to King Konrad Karl. Phillips +was just the sort of obstacle which would wreck the plan, and the +Emperor would never condescend to consider that a subordinate officer +in the British Merchant Service could be of any importance. There <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>was +a flavour about the situation which delighted Gorman.</p> + +<p>“When do you mean to marry her?” he asked, one evening.</p> + +<p>“Marry her!” said Phillips. “I never thought—I mean I never dared to +hope——It would be such beastly cheek, wouldn’t it? to expect——”</p> + +<p>He looked at Gorman, pathetically anxious for some crumb of +encouragement.</p> + +<p>“She’s a queen, you know,” said Phillips, “and an heiress, and all +that. I’m only——I haven’t a penny in the world except what I earn.”</p> + +<p>The boy sighed.</p> + +<p>“I don’t see why that should stop you,” said Gorman.</p> + +<p>“Do you really think—I mean wouldn’t it be frightful cheek? It’s not +only her being a queen and all that; but other things. She’s far too +good for me in every way. I’m not clever or anything of that kind. And +then there’s her father.”</p> + +<p>“I shouldn’t worry about him, if I were you,” said Gorman. “What +you’ve got to consider is not the father but the girl. If she’s as +much in love with you as you are with her——”</p> + +<p>“She couldn’t possibly be,” said Phillips.</p> + +<p>“I don’t suppose she could,” said Gorman. “Let’s say half. If she’s +half as much in love as you are she’ll manage the old man.”</p> + +<p>“I think——” said Phillips, “I really think she does like me a +little.”</p> + +<p>Then he told Gorman something, not very much, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>about the scene in the +cave. He spoke in broken sentences. He never quite completed any +confidence, but Gorman got at something like the facts.</p> + +<p>“If you’ve gone as far as that,” he said. “If, as I understand, you’ve +kissed her, then——I don’t profess to give an expert opinion in +matters of this kind, but I think you ought to ask her to marry you. +In fact, it will be rather insulting if you don’t.”</p> + +<p>“And you really think I have a chance? But you don’t know. She might +marry any one in the world. She’s the most beautiful girl that any one +has ever seen. Her eyes——”</p> + +<p>Gorman knew that Miss Daisy Donovan was a nice, fresh-looking, plump +young woman with no particular claim to be called beautiful. He +stopped listening. His mind had suddenly fixed on a curious point in +Phillips’ story of the scene in the cave. He waited until the boy, +like Rosalind’s “very good lover,” was “gravelled for lack of matter.” +Then he said:</p> + +<p>“Where did you say that you were when that happened—the kissing, I +mean?”</p> + +<p>“In a cave,” said Phillips. “In a huge cave. I had helped her to climb +up on to the cisterns, and——”</p> + +<p>“Cisterns!” said Gorman. “What the devil did you put cisterns into a +cave for?”</p> + +<p>“We didn’t put them. They were there. Galvanized iron cisterns. Huge +things. Oh, I promised I wouldn’t tell any one about those cisterns. +They’re <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>part of the secret of the island. The Queen made me promise. +I wish I hadn’t told you.”</p> + +<p>“You’ve broken your promise now,” said Gorman. “You may just as well +go on.”</p> + +<p>It took some time to persuade Phillips to go on; and all Gorman’s +sophistries would not induce the boy to say another word about the +cisterns in the cave. They were the Queen’s part of the mystery of the +island and he would not speak of them. But he did at last confide in +Gorman to some extent.</p> + +<p>“I think,” he said, “I may tell you about this. I found this out +myself.”</p> + +<p>He took a letter-case from his pocket and produced from it a corner +torn off an envelope.</p> + +<p>“Look at that,” he said. “Look at it carefully.”</p> + +<p>Gorman stared at the scrap of paper.</p> + +<p>“Bit of an envelope,” he said. “Penny stamp, London postmark.”</p> + +<p>“Now look at this,” said Phillips.</p> + +<p>He handed Gorman part of another envelope, torn in exactly the same +way. Gorman looked at it.</p> + +<p>“Same sort of envelope,” he said. “Same postmark, different dates.”</p> + +<p>“That last one,” said Phillips, “is a corner of an envelope which I +got through the post ten days ago. It came from the office, Mr. +Steinwitz’ office. The first one I found in the hall of the Queen’s +palace the day we landed on Salissa.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Gorman, “that’s not much to go on. Lots of firms use +envelopes like that, and I suppose <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>there are thousands of letters +every day with that postmark. Still it’s possible that Steinwitz wrote +a letter to some one who was on the island last September. Were there +any other bits of paper on that floor?”</p> + +<p>“There were,” said Phillips, “but I didn’t pick them up. I intended to +next day. But they were gone. The floor had been swept.”</p> + +<p>“Oh! Who swept the floor?”</p> + +<p>“Smith. I saw him doing it.”</p> + +<p>“Now who,” said Gorman, “is Smith?”</p> + +<p>“Smith! He was steward on the <i>Ida</i>. Mr. Steinwitz sent him on board +just before we sailed. He stayed on the island as servant to the +Donovans. Oh, by the way, talking of Smith, perhaps I ought to tell +you——”</p> + +<p>He told Gorman the story of Smith’s early morning visit to the cave in +company with Stephanos the Elder.</p> + +<p>“Does Smith ever write letters?” asked Gorman.</p> + +<p>“I don’t know. Oh, yes. I remember. The day we docked at Tilbury, +after our return voyage, Captain Wilson sent me up to the office with +some letters of Mr. Donovan’s. Just as I was starting he called me +back and said I might as well take Smith’s letters too. There were +three of them, all addressed to Mr. Steinwitz.”</p> + +<p>“I think,” said Gorman, “that when I get to the island I’ll have a +look at those cisterns of yours.”</p> + +<p>“I’ll ask the Queen if I may take you,” said Phillips.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p><p>“You and the Queen,” said Gorman, “seem to have formed yourselves into +a kind of detective brotherhood for the discovery of the mystery of +the island.”</p> + +<p>“We thought it would be rather fun.”</p> + +<p>“You don’t appear to have found out very much. Suppose you take me +into partnership. We could all three work together, except when it is +necessary to climb cisterns. Then I’d stay round the nearest corner. +What do you think?”</p> + +<p>“I’d like to; but I must ask the Queen first.”</p> + +<p>“I might be some help.”</p> + +<p>“You would,” said Phillips. “I’m not clever, you know. I wish I was. +And, of course, the Queen is very young.”</p> + +<p>“I’m quite old,” said Gorman, “and amazingly clever.”</p> + +<p>“I can see that. I saw it directly I met you.”</p> + +<p>“Then you’d better let me help. We’ll see if we can’t catch Smith at +some little game.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span>here is no doubt that the Donovans owed their comfort on Salissa very +largely to Smith, the ship’s steward, who had entered their service at +the last moment, and, as it seemed, accidentally.</p> + +<p>Donovan would never have achieved the rest and quiet he desired +without Smith. Advocates of the simple life may say what they like; +but a man like Donovan would have lived in a condition of perpetual +worry and annoyance if he had been obliged to go foraging for such +things as milk and eggs; if it had been his business to chop up wood +and light the kitchen fire. He would not have liked cleaning his own +boots or sweeping up the cigar ends and tobacco ash with which he +strewed the floors of the palace. He would not have slept well at +night in a bed that he made himself. He would have gone without +shaving most days—thereby becoming uncomfortable and most +unsightly—if he had been dependent on his own exertions for a supply +of hot water and a properly stropped razor.</p> + +<p>His daughter would have made a poor queen if it had fallen to her lot +to cook meals for herself and her father, if she had spent a morning +every week <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>at a wash-tub and another morning with an iron in her +hand. There were no labour-saving devices in the palace. King Otto had +a remarkable taste for fantastic architecture; but it had not occurred +to him to run hot and cold water through his house or to have a lift +between the kitchen and the upper storeys. There was not even in the +whole palace a single sink in which a plate could conveniently be +washed. It is impossible to be a queen in any real and proper sense if +you have to spend hours every day doing the work of a kitchen-maid. +Queens, and indeed all members of aristocracies, ought to be occupied +with thoughts of great and splendid things, wide schemes of +philanthropy, sage counsels for the elevating of the masses. But the +human mind will not work at social and political philosophy if it is +continually worried with problems of scouring pans and emptying slops. +That is why there must be a class of menials, perhaps slaves, in +society, if any advance is to be made towards the finer civilization.</p> + +<p>It was Smith who saved the Queen from becoming a drudge and Donovan +from unfamiliar kinds of toil which would probably have still further +injured his heart, would certainly have broken his temper.</p> + +<p>Salissa was not by any means a desert island. It was inhabited by +intelligent, kindly people, who kept milk-giving cows and hens which +laid eggs. It was well cultivated. Grapes and wheat grew there. There +were fish in the surrounding sea, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>the islanders possessed boats +and nets. Nor were the Donovans castaways of the ordinary kind. They +had a large house, luxuriously furnished. They had ample stores of +every kind. Nevertheless they could scarcely have lived on +Salissa—they would certainly not have tried to live there long—if +they had not had Smith with them. Picnicking is delightful for a short +time. A picnic unduly prolonged degenerates rapidly through all the +stages of discomfort, and ends in actual hardship.</p> + +<p>Smith organized the life of the palace. Every morning an island boat +crossed the harbour bringing eggs, milk and fish. Every evening just +at sunset it came again with more milk and if necessary more eggs. +Four island girls were brought from the village by Stephanos the +Elder, and—this was the impression left on the Queen’s mind—solemnly +dedicated to domestic service. Smith taught them the elements of +housework. Two boys were taken from the fields and handed over to +Smith. He taught them to polish boots, clean knives, and make all +kinds of metal—silver, brass and copper—shine splendidly. Smith’s +work was made easier for him by Stephanos the Elder. That old man +spent two hours every day in the palace. He did not bring osier rods +with him, but the girls knew, and the boys knew still better, that his +arm was strong and that pliant rods hurt horribly. There were no +corners left unswept in the rooms of the palace, no plates unwashed, +no failure in the supply of cans of hot water for Donovan’s bedroom or +the Queen’s. At <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>first Smith did all the cooking himself. Later, when +one of the girls showed some intelligence, he attended only to the +more difficult and complex dishes. He never allowed any one else to +wait on Donovan. The organization was not accomplished at once. For a +few days life in the palace was exciting, full of surprises and +occasions for laughter. For a few days more it was a very +well-arranged picnic, rather less exciting than it had been, with +meals which could be confidently reckoned on and many minor comforts. +At the end of a fortnight it had settled down into something like the +smooth routine of a well-managed English country house.</p> + +<p>But the Queen, even when things in the palace were well ordered, did +not find the island dull. She explored it all. With Kalliope as guide +she climbed rocks, descended into lonely coves, walked through fields +and vineyards, wandered over the pasture land of the upper plateau. +She rowed, taking turns at the oars with Kalliope, into many caves and +found fascinating landing-places among the rocks. One fine day she +sailed all round her kingdom in the largest of the island boats, +manned and steered by Kalliope’s lover.</p> + +<p>She did not forget that she was a queen. She learnt the names of all +her subjects. She made plans for many improvements. Roads should be +built, houses rebuilt, water should run about in pipes and women turn +taps instead of carrying great pitchers on their heads. Motor +tractors, instead of small bullocks, should drag the island ploughs. +Motor <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>engines should drive the fishing boats. Every evening, Kalliope +sitting by her, the Queen drew maps, designed cottages, and made long +lists of things which the <i>Ida</i> should, in due time, fetch from +England.</p> + +<p>She started a school in the great hall of the palace. Smith explained +to Stephanos the Elder what was wanted and he undertook the duties of +attendance officer. The Queen’s idea was to encourage the children +with gifts of chocolates. Stephanos, who must have had the mind of a +Progressive, established a system of compulsory education. The Queen +spoke very few words of the children’s language, and Kalliope, who +acted as assistant mistress, did not know much English. But the laws +of arithmetic, so the Queen felt, must be of universal application, +two and two making four, by whatever names you called them. And the +Alphabet must be a useful thing to learn whatever words you spell with +it afterwards. So the Queen drew Arabic numerals on large sheets of +paper and tried to impress on a giggling group of children that the +figures corresponded in some way to little piles of pebbles which she +arranged on the floor. She succeeded in teaching them that K, written +very large, and held up for inspection, was in some way connected with +Kalliope. She failed to persuade them that S could have anything to do +with Stephanos the Elder. S, perhaps because it is so curly, always +made the children laugh uproariously. The mention of the name of +Stephanos made them suddenly grave again. He <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>was no subject for +merriment, and it seemed impossible that a sign so plainly comic as S +could possibly be associated with him.</p> + +<p>The mystery of the island was the Queen’s only disappointment. It +remained obstinately undeveloped. No more suspicious scraps of paper +were to be found anywhere. Smith hardly ever stirred outside the +palace. The cisterns were, indeed, still in the cavern, but no change +took place in them. They stood there, great, foolish, empty tanks of +galvanized iron, entirely meaningless things. The Queen came to regard +them without wonder. They were just there, that was all. Little by +little the mystery ceased to interest her, ceased even to be a +disappointment.</p> + +<p>Then one day, just as she was beginning to forget it, the mystery +suddenly became exciting again.</p> + +<p>It was still Kalliope’s habit to sleep, wrapped in a rug, on the floor +at the foot of the Queen’s bed. Smith commanded and the Queen +entreated, but the girl refused to occupy a room of her own or to +sleep on a bed. Every morning about seven she woke, unrolled herself +from her rug, tiptoed across the room and pulled back the curtains. +The flood of sunlight wakened the Queen and the two girls went +together to bathe from the steps below the Queen’s balcony.</p> + +<p>One morning Kalliope gave a sudden shout of excitement when she pulled +back the curtains.</p> + +<p>“Mucky ship!” she cried.</p> + +<p>She ran from the window. The Queen, blinking <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>and no more than half +awake, was seized by the arms and pulled out of bed. Kalliope was the +least conventional of lady’s-maids. She loved, even worshipped and +adored, her mistress, but she had no idea whatever of propriety of +behaviour. Bedclothes were scattered on the floor. The Queen, +staggering to her feet, was dragged across the room to the window. +Kalliope pointed to the harbour with a finger which trembled with +excitement.</p> + +<p>“Mucky ship,” she said.</p> + +<p>Kalliope’s English was improving in quality. The Queen had forbidden +her to say “damn” or “bloody” but about “mucky” she had received no +instructions. It still seemed to her a proper epithet for any ship. In +this case it was unsuitable. The ship, a small steamer, which lay at +anchor in the harbour, looked more like a yacht than a cargo boat. Her +paint was fresh. Her hull had fine lines. Her two masts and high +yellow funnel raked sharply aft. The brasswork on her bridge glittered +in the sunlight. But Kalliope stuck to her epithet.</p> + +<p>“Mucky ship,” she said, “once more.”</p> + +<p>“Once more” was a recent addition to her English. She had picked the +phrase up in the Queen’s school, where indeed it was in constant use. +She knew what it meant; but it was not clear why she used it about the +steamer.</p> + +<p>The Queen was excited, almost as much excited as Kalliope. Even to +dwellers in seaport towns there must, I think, always come a certain +thrill when a ship arrives from the sea. In Salissa, where ships +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>rarely come, where no steamer had been seen since the <i>Ida</i> sailed, +the sudden coming of a strange craft was a moving event. And the +manner of her coming stirred the imagination. A ship which sails in by +day is sighted far off. Her shape is seen, her flag is read, perhaps, +long before she reaches the harbour. Half the interest of her coming +disappears as she slips slowly in, gazed at by all eyes, speculated +on, discussed by every tongue. But a ship which arrives by night is +full of wonder. At sunset she is not there. In the darkness she steals +in. No one sees her approach. She is there, rich in possibilities of +romance, to greet eyes opening on a new day.</p> + +<p>The Queen and Kalliope had no morning swim that day. They were eager +to dress, to go out, to row across to the strange ship. They had no +time to waste in bathing. As they dressed they ran to and fro about +the room, never willing to take their eyes off the steamer for very +long. It was interesting to watch her. Men were busy about her decks +and a tall officer could be seen on her bridge. A boat was swung out +and lowered from the davits. She was manned by four rowers. The anchor +cable of the steamer was hove short. A warp was passed down to the +boat and made fast in her stern. Then the anchor was weighed and hung +dripping just clear of the water. The rowers pulled at their oars. The +boat shot ahead of the steamer. The warp was paid out for awhile and +then made fast on board the steamer. The work of towing began. The +boat, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>moving slowly in short jerks, headed for the shore. The officer +on the steamer’s bridge directed the rowers, shouting. They made for +the entrance of the great cave. Close under the cliffs the steamer’s +anchor was dropped again. Another anchor was run out by the attendant +boat, then another, and a fourth. At last the steamer lay, moored bow +and stern, broadside on to the cliff, a few yards from the mouth of +the cave.</p> + +<p>The Queen, fully dressed at last, ran to her father’s room. Kalliope +was at her heels. Donovan was in bed and still asleep. At that hour +Smith had not even brought him his cup of coffee or his shaving water. +The Queen was less ruthless than Kalliope had been. She did not pull +her father out of bed; but she wakened him without pity.</p> + +<p>“Father,” she said, “a steamer has arrived. She came during the night. +She looks like a yacht. Do you think she can be a yacht? I wonder +who’s on board of her.”</p> + +<p>Donovan sat up and yawned.</p> + +<p>“Is she going off again right now?” he asked.</p> + +<p>“Oh no,” said the Queen, “she has gone in quite close to the shore. +She has put out four anchors. She looks as if she meant to stay for +weeks.”</p> + +<p>“Then there’s no darned hurry,” said Donovan, “and no need for me to +strain my heart by getting out of bed at this hour. Just you run away, +Daisy, and take that girl of yours with you.”</p> + +<p>“But, father, don’t you want to see the yacht? Don’t you want to know +who’s in her?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span></p><p>“We’ll send Smith after breakfast,” said Donovan, “and ask the +proprietor to dine.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Donovan lay down again and put his head on the pillow.</p> + +<p>“But I can’t possibly wait till dinner-time,” said the Queen.</p> + +<p>“Well, luncheon,” said Donovan.</p> + +<p>His voice was a little muffled. After lying down he had taken a pull +at the bedclothes and had arranged the corner of the sheet over his +mouth and ear.</p> + +<p>The Queen gave him up; but she was not willing to wait even till +luncheon-time or to trust Smith to deliver the invitation. Kalliope +shared her impatience.</p> + +<p>“Go row,” she said, “quick—quick—slick.”</p> + +<p>“Slick” was a word which she had recently learned from Smith. He often +used it in urging on his staff of housemaids. He was forced to use an +English word now and then when he could not express his meaning in the +Megalian language. There is no equivalent to “slick” in Megalian.</p> + +<p>What the Queen wanted most at the moment was to be quick and slick in +getting off. She and Kalliope ran down to the steps where their boat +lay moored. Smith was there, looking at the strange steamer.</p> + +<p>“Oh, Smith,” said the Queen, “is it a yacht?”</p> + +<p>“Don’t know, your Majesty,” said Smith. “Never saw her before. She +looks to me like a foreigner, your Majesty, not an English boat.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span></p><p>“Well, I’ll soon find out,” said the Queen. “We’re going off to her.”</p> + +<p>Kalliope had already cast off the boat’s mooring rope and sat ready at +the oars.</p> + +<p>“Beg pardon, your Majesty,” said Smith, “but it might be as well for +me to go off first. Foreign sailors are not always as polite as they +might be. Not knowing that your Majesty is Queen of the island they +might say things which were disrespectful.”</p> + +<p>The Queen would not listen to this suggestion.</p> + +<p>“Come along with us if you like,” she said, “but I’m not going to wait +till you come back.”</p> + +<p>Smith stepped into the boat and took his seat in the bow. Kalliope had +the oars. The Queen sat in the stern.</p> + +<p>The men on the deck of the steamer were very busy. They were +overhauling and coiling down what looked like a long rubber hose. An +officer, a young man in a smart uniform, was directing the work. When +the boat was near the steamer, the officer hailed and asked in German +what boat it was. Kalliope was rowing vigorously. Before any answer +could be made to the hail the boat ran alongside the steamer.</p> + +<p>The Queen had learned German at school, carefully and laboriously, +paying much attention to the vagaries of irregular verbs. She began to +think out a sentence in which to describe her boat, herself and her +servants. But Smith took it for granted that she knew no German. +Before her sentence <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>had taken shape he answered the officer. The +young man leaned over the bulwark of the steamer and stared at the +Queen while Smith spoke. Then he went away. Smith explained to the +Queen what had happened.</p> + +<p>“I asked him to call the captain, your Majesty. I told him that you +are the Queen of the island. I was speaking to him in German, your +Majesty.”</p> + +<p>The Queen knew that. She might be slow in framing a German sentence +when an unexpected demand for such a thing was made on her, but thanks +to the patience and diligence of a certain fat German governess, she +could understand the language fairly well. She had understood every +word that Smith said. He had not told the young officer that she was +Queen of the island. He had described her as the daughter of the rich +American who had bought Salissa from King Konrad Karl. She made no +attempt at the moment to understand why Smith said one thing in German +and offered her something slightly different as a translation; and she +did not question him on the point. She was content to leave him to +suppose that she knew no German at all.</p> + +<p>The boat, which had run quickly alongside of the steamer near her bow, +now lay beside the accommodation ladder which hung amidships. A tall +officer stood on the platform outside the bulwarks and looked down at +the Queen. He was a heavily built blonde man with neatly trimmed beard +and moustache. He wore a naval uniform and stood stiffly <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>erect, his +heels together, while he raised his hand to the formal salute. The +Queen spoke to Smith.</p> + +<p>“Ask him,” she said, “if he will come ashore and breakfast with us.”</p> + +<p>Before Smith could translate, the officer replied to her.</p> + +<p>“I speak English,” he said, “it is not necessary that he translate. I +have the honour to present myself—Captain von Moll.”</p> + +<p>“Very pleased to meet you, Captain von Moll. Won’t you come ashore and +breakfast with us?”</p> + +<p>“I regret that is impossible,” said von Moll. “I am much occupied.”</p> + +<p>He spoke slowly, pronouncing each word carefully. He looked steadily +at the Queen, not taking his eyes from her face for a moment. His +words were civil. His attitude was strictly correct. But there was +something in his stare which the Queen did not like, a suggestion of +insolence. She felt that this man regarded her as an inferior, a +member of an inferior sex perhaps, or one of an inferior race. +American women, especially American girls, are not accustomed to think +of themselves as men’s inferiors. American citizens find it impossible +to believe that any one in the world can look down on them. The Queen +was not annoyed. She was piqued and interested.</p> + +<p>“Perhaps,” she said, “you will come for luncheon or dinner. We dine at +half-past seven.”</p> + +<p>Von Moll saluted again with formal politeness.</p> + +<p>“I will dine with you,” he said, “at half-past <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>seven. Meanwhile I am +sorry that I cannot ask you to come on board and see my ship. My men +are much occupied.”</p> + +<p>The Queen signed to Kalliope and the boat left the steamer’s side.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">D</span>onovan was no more than moderately interested in what his daughter +told him about the strange steamer. She mentioned the fact that the +Captain spoke English with precise correctness.</p> + +<p>“They’re an educated people, the Germans,” said Donovan. “I reckon +there’s ten of them know English for one American knows German. +Couldn’t do business with us if they didn’t learn to talk so as we can +understand them. That’s the reason. It isn’t fancy trimmings they’re +out for, but business; and they’re getting it. I wouldn’t call them a +smart people. They haven’t got the punch of our business men; but +they’re darned persevering.”</p> + +<p>“It can’t be business that brings him here,” said the Queen.</p> + +<p>“No,” said Donovan. “Salissa is not a business centre. It’s my opinion +that steamer is having trouble with her engines and has come in here +to tinker a bit; or maybe she’s short of water; or the captain’s taken +a notion that he’d like some fresh fish and a few dozen eggs. It +doesn’t seem to me that we need fret any about what brings him here.”</p> + +<p>The Queen was not satisfied. She sat for some <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>time on her balcony +looking at the steamer. With the help of a pair of glasses she could +watch what was going on. The long hose which she had seen in the +morning was got on deck and coiled in three great heaps. Then the men +knocked off work for breakfast. After that they became active again. +One end of the hose was lowered into a boat. It seemed to the Queen to +be a rubber hose like those used by firemen. The boat rowed towards +the cave. Another boat lay close to the steamer’s bow and received a +loop of the hose, taking some of the strain and drag off the first +boat. She too rowed towards the cave. A third boat followed in the +same way. The Queen saw that the hose was being carried into the +depths of the cave, drooping into the water between the boats, but +sufficiently supported to be dragged on. The work was very slow, but +it was carried on steadily, methodically.</p> + +<p>The Queen was much interested in what she saw. After awhile she became +very curious. The proceedings of the men on the steamer were difficult +to understand. There seemed no reason why they should tug a large +quantity of rubber hose into the cave. It was a senseless thing to do. +Then it occurred to her that the cave was hers, part of an island of +which she was Queen, which her father had bought for her from its +legal owner. Any householder would feel himself entitled to +investigate the doings of a party of strangers who appeared suddenly +and pushed a rubber hose through his drawing-room window. They might +be the servants <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>of the gas company or officials sent by the water +board, or sanitary inspectors, but the owner of the house would want +to satisfy himself about them. The Queen felt that she had every right +to find out what von Moll’s men were doing.</p> + +<p>She called Kalliope and they went off together in their boat, rowing +across the bay towards the steamer.</p> + +<p>Kalliope was excited. She talked rapidly in her own language, turning +round now and then and pointing towards the steamer. It was plain that +she had something which she very much wanted to say, something about +the strange steamer. The Queen’s curiosity increased. She thought for +a moment of turning back to the palace. There she would find Smith and +he would interpret for her. Then she remembered Smith’s odd mistake in +translating his own German in the morning. She determined not to ask +his help. Kalliope, hopeless of explaining herself in Megalian, fell +back on her small store of English words. She kept on saying “Mucky +ship,” which conveyed nothing at all to the Queen, except the obvious +fact that the steamer was there. She also repeated the words “Once +more.”</p> + +<p>At last, when the boat was getting near the steamer, Kalliope made a +great effort.</p> + +<p>“It—is—once more,” she said.</p> + +<p>The Queen jumped to a possible meaning of her words. The steamer, that +steamer had been in the harbour of Salissa before, had been perhaps +about <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>some business similar to that which occupied her now. Kalliope, +her eyes on the Queen’s face, saw that she was making herself +understood. She nodded delightedly, turned round on her seat and +pointed to the steamer.</p> + +<p>“It—is—once more.”</p> + +<p>Then she began to sing, softly at first, louder as she became sure of +herself, until her voice rang clear across the water. Her song had no +words, but the tune was that which she had sung to the Queen in the +cave on the day when she first saw the cisterns. It was the tune of +the hymn “Glorious things of thee are spoken.”</p> + +<p>Three or four men were leaning over the ship’s bulwarks, looking at +the Queen’s boat. They heard Kalliope’s voice, and they joined in the +hymn. A boat lay in the mouth of the cave, supporting part of the long +hose. There were four men in her. They also joined in the hymn. They +sang words, German words. The Queen listened intently, trying to hear +what the words were.</p> + +<p>Captain von Moll, standing on the bridge of the steamer, shouted an +order. The men stopped singing abruptly. Kalliope finished the tune by +herself and then laughed.</p> + +<p>“It—is—once more,” she said.</p> + +<p>The Queen understood. The ship had been in the harbour before. The +crew had gone about some work, like that which she saw them doing. +While they worked they had sung that hymn tune. The Queen frowned with +perplexity. Then suddenly <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>she recollected. She had been in the choir +at school. She had sung hymns every morning at prayers. The fat German +governess, an exile from the Fatherland and deeply sentimental, used +to play the piano and teach the choir. There were always tears in her +eyes when she played that particular tune. The girls understood that +in some way it meant a great deal to her, was perhaps the tune of some +national song, captured by an English musician and set to the words of +a popular hymn. The Queen had never thought much about the matter. Now +it occurred to her that the sailors were singing the song which the +German governess had in mind, a song so popular that they often sang +it at their work. Kalliope had learned it from them when they first +visited the island. They recognized it and joined in it when they +heard her singing it.</p> + +<p>Kalliope rowed slowly round the steamer. An engine on deck began to +work. The Queen could hear it snorting and clanking. The boat crossed +the ship’s bows, passing under the length of hose which drooped in a +long curve into the water. Suddenly the hose swelled, writhed, +twisted. It seemed to be alive. It looked like some huge sea snake, +wriggling from the ship into the water, swimming through the water +towards the gloomy mouth of the cave. Kalliope stopped rowing and +stared open-mouthed. The Queen realized almost at once what was +happening. The engine on the steamer’s deck was pumping some liquid +through the hose.</p> + +<p>Kalliope held her dripping oars above the water <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>and stared at the +writhing hose. The boat lay still. The Queen remembered what her +father had said at breakfast. The steamer might have come to the +island for water. It was possible that the engine was sucking water in +through the hose, not driving some other liquid out through it. But +the Queen could not remember any spring or well of fresh water in the +cave. She signed to Kalliope. The girl dipped her oars again. The boat +moved towards the entrance of the cave.</p> + +<p>One of the ship’s boats, with four men in her, lay right under the +high archway of the entrance. A man stood up and signed to the Queen, +shaking his head.</p> + +<p>“<i>Es ist verboten</i>,” he said.</p> + +<p>Then, with gestures which could not be mistaken he repeated gruffly, +“<i>Verboten.</i>”</p> + +<p>To the Queen it seemed absurd that a strange sailor should try to +prevent her from rowing into a cave in her own island whenever she +chose. She took no notice of the man. Kalliope rowed on. Two of the +men in the ship’s boat leaned over her side and caught Kalliope’s +oars.</p> + +<p>Kalliope was a young woman of imperturbably good temper. She smiled +amiably at the men and then turned to the Queen.</p> + +<p>“Blighters,” she said. “Bloody blighters.”</p> + +<p>She was also a young woman of spirit and ready presence of mind. With +a swift jerk she dragged the slippery blade from the man’s hands. She +pulled it towards her beyond the man’s reach. Then with <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>a sudden +vigorous thrust she drove the blade into the face of the nearest +sailor. It took him full in the mouth and knocked him backwards. He +picked himself up and spat out the broken fragments of some teeth. +Kalliope laughed joyously.</p> + +<p>“Bloody blighters,” she said, and for once the epithet was appropriate +enough.</p> + +<p>The Queen felt that the situation was neither agreeable nor dignified. +It is very well, no doubt, for wild, half-barbarous girls like +Kalliope to engage in fights with German sailors; but for a civilized +American, a graduate of a university, such things are impossible. And +for a Queen! Can a queen brawl without hopeless loss of dignity? Her +immediate impulse was to appeal to the captain of the steamer, to +assert her right to enter the cave, to demand the immediate punishment +of the men who had stopped her.</p> + +<p>She looked around. The captain was not on the bridge. He had been +there a few moments before. He had been there when the engine began to +work. He had disappeared. The Queen rowed back to the steamer. She +asked for the captain. The young officer whom she had seen in the +morning came to the side of the ship and told her that no one was +allowed to enter the cave. She asked to see the captain, refusing to +argue about her rights with a subordinate officer. She was told that +the captain was very much occupied and could not be disturbed. The +Queen, puzzled and angry, rowed back to the palace.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p><p>It was nearly luncheon-time when she landed. Smith met her with the +news that Mr. Donovan had been suffering severely with his heart all +the morning, that he would not join the Queen at luncheon, that, +further, he felt the need of absolute quiet and rest during the +afternoon, but hoped to be able to meet the German captain at dinner.</p> + +<p>Donovan’s balcony commanded a full view of the harbour. He had seen +Kalliope’s struggle with the German sailor. He felt sure that his +daughter would tell him the whole story. He feared that she would want +him to take some vigorous action. Donovan made a point of encouraging +his heart in disordered action whenever demands of that kind were +likely to be made upon him. He argued that the trouble of the morning +would in all probability have died away before dinner. If it showed +signs of reviving or increasing in intensity he intended to dine in +his room and go to bed early.</p> + +<p>The Queen felt it her duty to lecture Kalliope severely. No +well-conducted lady’s-maid ought to attack strange sailors with oars +and knock out their front teeth. Kalliope must be made to understand +that such conduct was not only undesirable in a maid but was actually +unwomanly. The lecture was, necessarily, delivered for the most part +in pantomime, by means of frowns, nods, and shakings of the head. Up +to a certain point the Queen succeeded very well. Kalliope easily +understood that her assault on the sailor was the subject of +discussion. After that the Queen’s sign language <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>began to fail her. +Kalliope continued to be greatly pleased with herself and proud of her +performance. After a long struggle the Queen made her understand that +she had behaved not well, but very badly. Kalliope grovelled in abject +apology. The impression finally left on her mind was that she was to +blame for anticipating her mistress’ action. The Queen, so she +thought, would have liked to fell the German sailor herself, would +indeed have brained the man instead of merely breaking his front +teeth.</p> + +<p>The Queen, aware that she was failing badly, gave the business up and +sent Kalliope away to make tea. It was easy enough to communicate with +Kalliope about tea, clothes, and such ordinary subjects. The girl had +picked up the English names for most things which her mistress +commonly used.</p> + +<p>The Queen took advantage of this. After tea she made an inspection of +her evening frocks. She wished to appear to the very best advantage +before Captain von Moll when he came to dinner. The man had stared +insolently at her in the morning; but then she had been wearing a +simple cotton frock and a boating hat crammed hastily on the back of +her head. In the evening she meant to be splendid, regal. Captain von +Moll should look at her with respect. She determined that her manner +should correspond with her attire. She would be gracious indeed, as a +good hostess should be, but very dignified, a little remote, with more +than a hint of condescending patronage in her tone when she spoke.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p><p>Kalliope, greatly delighted, brought out frock after frock. She spread +the garments on the backs of sofas and chairs, handling delicate lace +and fine fabrics with tender affection. Sometimes, at the bidding of +the Queen, she put on one of the frocks and paraded up and down the +room in it, her brown face and strong, sunburnt arms making an odd +contrast with pale-blue silk and fluffy chiffon. The occupation was +fascinating. There were some frocks which the Queen had scarcely seen. +She had, she supposed, chosen the material and the shape, had, it was +likely, tried them on during the hurried days before sailing for +Salissa. But she had forgotten what they were like, forgotten that she +possessed them. It was a joy to see them spread out before her eyes or +actually draped on Kalliope’s slender figure.</p> + +<p>Neither girl noticed that shortly after six o’clock the <i>Ida</i> slipped +round the corner of the reef and dropped anchor in the harbour. +Phillips, standing with Captain Wilson and Gorman on the bridge, +scanned the palace steps, the balconies, the windows, and then, with +eager eyes, the shores of the bay, for a sight of the Queen. Captain +Wilson and Gorman stared with surprise and curiosity at the German +steamer. Gorman had no special knowledge of ships, but he recognized +that the vessel before his eyes was not an ordinary tramp. He was +startled and interested to see any such vessel in the harbour of +Salissa. Captain Wilson, a puzzled frown on his face, wondered at the +odd way the steamer was <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>moored and her nearness to the cliffs. +Phillips, who had no eyes at all for the strange steamer, seized the +line attached to the <i>Ida’s</i> whistle, and blew three long blasts. He +hoped to announce his arrival to the Queen, wherever she might be.</p> + +<p>Captain Wilson, perplexed by the look and position of the German +steamer, was irritable. He ordered Phillips off the bridge. But the +whistle had done its work. The Queen and Kalliope ran to the balcony. +They waved joyful greetings to the <i>Ida</i>, Kalliope an odd figure in a +pale-grey evening dress. Phillips, standing on the deck below the +bridge, waved back. It was a joyful moment. A few minutes later his +joy was turned to sorrow of an almost unbearable kind. Captain Wilson +forbade him to go ashore. A boat was lowered and Gorman was rowed off +to the palace—to the gates of paradise. Phillips bitterly regretted +that he had blown his blasts of greeting on the syren. But, in fact, +it was not for that he was punished. Captain Wilson was simply in a +very bad temper. The sight of Salissa always annoyed him. The position +of the German steamer irritated him vehemently. She lay dangerously +near the cliffs in a position in which no seaman would willingly put +his ship. She was absurdly moored with four anchors. She was occupied +in a perfectly incomprehensible manner. No man likes to be puzzled by +things which it is his business to understand. Doctors have been known +to deny the existence of symptoms which do not accord with those +proper <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>to the patient’s taste. Politicians are baffled and infuriated +by men who, indifferent to the sacred etiquette of the profession, +speak the truth in public. Engineers are angry when water persists in +oozing out of the top of a hill—as it sometimes does to the confusion +of all known laws—instead of trickling into the drains dug for it in +the valley underneath. So Captain Wilson’s temper gave way because the +German steamer lay as no steamer in the charge of sane men ought to +lie; and Phillips was punished. Kings fly into a rage, said an ancient +poet, and the common people suffer for it.</p> + +<p>Perhaps Phillips would have been consoled, he would have certainly +been less sulky during the evening, if he had seen what happened in +the palace. The Queen stood on the balcony all eagerness, her lips +parted, her eyes sparkling, a flush coming and going on her cheeks. +She watched the boat lowered, saw the men take their places, saw +Gorman climb cautiously down and seat himself in the stern. She +waited. Phillips was on deck. She could see him. The boat pushed off. +Phillips was not in her. He still stood on the steamer’s lower deck +leaning over the bulwarks. The Queen turned and went into her room. +She flung herself down on a chair. She had much ado to hold back most +unqueenly tears of disappointment. Kalliope slipped off the grey and +silver dress she wore. Very silently she folded and put away the +clothes which lay scattered about the room. Then she sat down at the +Queen’s feet and cried softly. She had a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>sympathetic soul. She +understood the Queen’s feelings.</p> + +<p>Gorman was received by Smith. After a few minutes he was led up to the +balcony where Donovan lay stretched on a deck chair with a box of +cigars at his elbow.</p> + +<p>“I am very, very pleased to see you, Gorman,” he said.</p> + +<p>“I’m afraid,” said Gorman, “that I’ve come to bother you. There’s been +a lot of fuss in London about your purchase of this island. The +Emperor——”</p> + +<p>Donovan waved his hand feebly and lay back in his chair with every +appearance of extreme exhaustion.</p> + +<p>“Ill?” said Gorman.</p> + +<p>“Two years ago,” said Donovan, “after I had realized my little pile, +before I came over to Europe I sent for a doctor—leading man in his +own line in America—heart specialist. ‘Doc,’ I said to him, ‘here’s +200 dollars. You take a good look at my heart.’ Well, he tapped me +some and fooled around in the usual way. ‘Sir,’ he said, ‘your heart +is as sound as a bell.’ ‘Doc,’ I said, ‘you’re mistaken, and the fee I +offered was unworthy of your acceptance. I’ll write out a cheque for +500 dollars, and you take another look at my heart. I’ve a feeling,’ I +said, ‘that what I want is rest and quiet now that my pile’s made.’ +Well, he tapped me again and kind of listened to the throbbing of the +darned machine. ‘Sir,’ he said, ‘you’re suffering <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>from disordered +action of your heart, and I recommend rest and quiet. No excitement +and no worry.’ ‘Doc,’ I said, ‘I’m a business man—or I was before you +passed that sentence on me. I’d be obliged if you’d put that on paper +with your signature underneath.’ Well, he did that, and I paid him +another 200 dollars. But I reckon the money was well spent. That paper +is a protection to me.”</p> + +<p>“I see,” said Gorman, “I’ll let the Emperor know——”</p> + +<p>“The Emperor be damned,” said Donovan, “and, say, Gorman, there’s a +kind of German naval officer wandering around this island. I gather +that some trouble arose this morning between his men and my daughter’s +maid. Seems to me that there may be explanations, especially as that +German captain is to dine here to-night. Now my idea is to stay where +I am—on account of the condition of my heart. Smith will bring me up +a bit of chicken and a half-bottle of Heidsieck. That’s all I feel +inclined for. But I don’t care to leave Daisy alone with that man. I’m +not scared of anything happening to the girl. She’s pretty well able +to look after herself. But there might be more trouble for the +officer.”</p> + +<p>“There will be,” said Gorman, “if he’s come here with any kind of +message from the Emperor.”</p> + +<p>“Daisy,” said Donovan, “is liable to speak out at times. And that girl +of hers is handy in the use of weapons. I don’t want to have to +officiate at the funeral of a German naval officer.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p><p>“It might very well come to that,” said Gorman.</p> + +<p>He was thinking at the moment of the Emperor’s suggestion that Miss +Donovan should be married out of hand to King Konrad Karl. It seemed +to him likely that there would be very serious trouble if the German +officer made that proposal, especially if he made it with the manner +of a man who is conferring a favour.</p> + +<p>“You see,” he went on, “that Emperor—silly old fool he is—has got it +into his head——”</p> + +<p>Donovan lay back and closed his eyes.</p> + +<p>“My heart isn’t up to the strain,” he said. “I’d rather leave the +affair in your hands.”</p> + +<p>“All right,” said Gorman. “I’ll see it through.”</p> + +<p>“Thank you. It’s asking a good deal, I know.”</p> + +<p>“Not at all,” said Gorman cheerfully. “I shall probably enjoy it.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">C</span>aptain von Moll thought that a certain assertion of dignity was due +to his position as a naval officer. He was to dine with two Americans, +no doubt vulgar representatives of a nation which did not understand +class distinctions and the value of a von before a surname. He had no +idea of being friendly. The dinner was an official affair. He was for +the moment the representative of the Emperor. He dressed himself with +great care in a uniform resplendent with gold braid. He combed and +brushed his beard into a state of glossiness. He twisted the ends of +his moustache into fine points. He reflected that if the American girl +were really enormously wealthy and if, which he doubted, her manners +were tolerable, it might be worth while to marry her. He would, no +doubt, lose caste to some extent if he did so; but her money would be +very useful to him and it would be unnecessary afterwards to see much +of the girl herself. He rubbed on his head a strongly scented +preparation guaranteed to give a shine to the dullest hair. He went +ashore in a boat rowed by six men. A flag drooped from the staff at +the stern, just touching the water with its lowest corner.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span></p><p>Gorman received him in the large hall of the palace.</p> + +<p>“Mr. Donovan, I presume,” said Captain von Moll. “It gives me pleasure +to meet you.”</p> + +<p>Gorman explained who he was and said that Donovan was unable to be +present at dinner owing to the condition of his heart. Von Moll said +that he derived equal pleasure from meeting Mr. Gorman. Then the Queen +swept into the hall, followed by Kalliope. She was dressed in a +pale-blue gown which glittered with sequins. She wore a diamond star +in her hair. She walked slowly and held herself very erect. Kalliope, +walking behind her, added to the dignity of her entrance.</p> + +<p>Von Moll stepped forward, stood in the middle of the floor, clicked +his heels together and bowed low. The Queen, ignoring him for the +moment, shook hands warmly with Gorman and welcomed him to Salissa. +Then she held out her hand to von Moll. He bent over it and touched it +with his lips.</p> + +<p>“I have to tender an apology,” he said. “This morning, much to my +regret, some of my men stopped your boat. They have been placed under +arrest.”</p> + +<p>Gorman is of opinion that von Moll was genuinely anxious to make +himself agreeable to the Queen. He probably could not help looking her +over from head to foot as a man might look over a horse he thought of +buying. That was simply his nature. He regarded women as useful and +desirable cattle. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>It would not have occurred to him that any woman +would think of herself as his equal.</p> + +<p>The Queen flushed a little under his gaze; but she accepted the +apology at its face value.</p> + +<p>“Oh, it’s all right,” she said. “But I hope you have not punished the +men. I wouldn’t like to think of their getting into trouble through +me.”</p> + +<p>“You are kind,” said von Moll, “but it is necessary to maintain +discipline. The men exceeded their orders.”</p> + +<p>Then Smith announced that dinner was served. The Queen led the way +into the dining-room. She took her place at the head of the table. +Gorman and von Moll sat one on each side of her. Von Moll’s eyes +wandered over the appointments of the meal, the tall silver +candlesticks, the exquisite linen, the fine glass. They rested with +particular pleasure on the menu card which stood in front of him. It +promised a luxurious dinner. He tucked his napkin under his chin with +an air of satisfaction.</p> + +<p>Kalliope stood behind the Queen’s chair and waited on her. Smith +served the two men. At the vacant end of the table stood the three +island girls whom Smith had in training. They were no particular use, +but they were pretty girls and they added something to the dignity of +the scene. They were elaborately dressed in a glorified form of the +bright costume of the island women. Gorman noticed that von Moll eyed +them with appreciation.</p> + +<p>“I do wish you’d tell me,” said the Queen, “why you didn’t want me to +go to the cave this morning.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span></p><p>“My orders,” said von Moll, “were not meant to apply to you. I merely +wished to prevent the islanders from interfering with my men at their +work. That is all.”</p> + +<p>“It sounds very interesting,” said Gorman, “but I don’t know what +happened. Do tell me.”</p> + +<p>“It was rather exciting,” said the Queen. “Two of Captain von Moll’s +men stopped our boat and Kalliope hit one of them with an oar. Did he +lose many teeth?”</p> + +<p>Von Moll drew himself up stiffly. He would have been better pleased if +the Queen had tendered some apology to him and promised that the +over-daring Kalliope should be punished. It is a serious thing to +strike a seaman of the Imperial navy, a man wearing the Emperor’s +uniform. In von Moll’s opinion such conduct could not, without grave +impropriety, be described as “rather fun.” He was not at all sure that +the German navy would not suffer in prestige among the islanders.</p> + +<p>“The man,” he said stiffly, “had three teeth broken.”</p> + +<p>“Oh,” said the Queen, “I’m so sorry, and I’m afraid there’s no dentist +on the island. Still it was his own fault, wasn’t it?”</p> + +<p>“I am sure,” said von Moll, “that you will punish the girl suitably.”</p> + +<p>The Queen looked at him with astonishment. She had not the slightest +intention of punishing Kalliope. It seemed to her extraordinary that +von Moll should suggest such a thing. She was a little <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span>inclined to be +angry. Then she thought that von Moll must be making a joke. He looked +rather grim and solemn; but perhaps that was the way all Germans +looked when they made jokes. She laughed in polite appreciation of von +Moll’s attempt at humour.</p> + +<p>Gorman, watching with twinkling eyes, was greatly pleased. Von Moll +was evidently another Steinwitz in seriousness and pompous dignity. It +was a delightfully amusing trait in the German character.</p> + +<p>“I’m still rather in the dark,” he said. “Who’s Kalliope?”</p> + +<p>“My maid,” said the Queen. “There she is.”</p> + +<p>Gorman glanced at Kalliope who was at the moment placing a plate +before her mistress. The girl grinned at him in a friendly way. She +was quite aware that she was the subject of conversation.</p> + +<p>“It strikes me, von Moll,” said Gorman, “that your navy hasn’t come +very well out of its first regular sea battle.”</p> + +<p>Von Moll’s face hardened disagreeably. It was an outrageous thing that +an Irishman, a mere civilian, who apparently had no right to wear a +uniform of any kind, should poke fun at the Imperial navy. He wished +very much to make some reply which would crush Gorman and leave him +writhing like a worm. Unfortunately it is very difficult to make that +kind of reply to a man who insists on laughing when serious subjects +are under <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>discussion. Gorman, still watching von Moll closely, felt +pleased.</p> + +<p>“I hope the Press won’t get hold of the story,” he said. “Just imagine +the headlines. ‘Grave International Crisis.’ ‘Naval Encounter in the +Cyrenian Sea.’ ‘Imperial Gunboat’—they’d be sure to say gunboat, you +know—‘attacked by a girl.’ If it had been a man! But a girl! However, +I won’t mention the matter. If you fix that fellow up with a set of +false teeth I daresay nobody will ever hear about the business.”</p> + +<p>Von Moll was angry; but he was no more ready than he had been at first +with a suitable answer for Gorman. He was dimly aware that if he gave +way to his feelings, if he even allowed his anger to appear, this +grey-haired, bantering Irishman would be gratified. He had just sense +enough to realize that he must make some pretence at laughing. It was, +of course, impossible for him to regard disrespectful remarks about +the German navy as a joke, but he succeeded in giving a kind of hoarse +cackle.</p> + +<p>Smith was conscious of a want of harmony in the party. He became most +vigilantly attentive to the two men on whom he waited. Von Moll drank +sherry with his soup and two glasses of hock while he ate his fish. +Smith poured him out a glass of champagne. For Gorman he opened a +bottle of Irish whisky. Then he handed round an entrée, a fine example +of his powers as a cook.</p> + +<p>The Queen, too, was aware that von Moll’s temper had been ruffled. She +turned to him with a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>smile and made a banal, but quite harmless +remark.</p> + +<p>“I think Salissa is a perfectly sweet island,” she said, “don’t you?”</p> + +<p>Von Moll thought it an exceedingly dull hole and wished to say so +plainly. Perhaps it was the sight of the champagne foaming pleasantly +in his glass which made him restrain himself.</p> + +<p>“No doubt it is pleasant as a holiday resort,” he said. “For a few +weeks one might find life agreeable enough; but after that——”</p> + +<p>He shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>“Oh,” said the Queen, “I’ve been here for more than two months already +and I like it better every day.”</p> + +<p>“Really?” said von Moll. “What a pity that you are leaving so soon.”</p> + +<p>“But I’m not leaving. What makes you think I am?”</p> + +<p>“I understand,” said von Moll, “that Mr. Donovan has resold the island +to King Konrad Karl.”</p> + +<p>“Whatever put that into your head?” said the Queen.</p> + +<p>“I am perhaps mistaken,” said von Moll, “in saying that the island has +already been resold; but very soon it will be.”</p> + +<p>“Oh no, it won’t,” said the Queen. “It’s my island, you know, my very +own, and I wouldn’t part with it for anything you could offer me.”</p> + +<p>“I understand,” said von Moll, “that it is the Emperor’s wish that the +island should revert to the Crown of Megalia.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span></p><p>He spoke with a certain ponderous assurance. There was evidently no +doubt whatever in his mind that the Emperor’s wish settled the matter. +The Queen’s next remark must have startled him.</p> + +<p>“What on earth has the Emperor got to do with it?” she said. “Who is +the Emperor, anyway?”</p> + +<p>“Now that,” said Gorman, “is what I’m always asking. Where does the +Emperor come in? I asked Steinwitz. I asked King Konrad Karl. I asked +that footling ass Bland-Potterton. They don’t any of them seem to be +able to do more than just gasp and say ‘The Emperor’ over and over +again.”</p> + +<p>“The Emperor’s wish——” said von Moll.</p> + +<p>“There you go,” said Gorman. “That’s exactly what I’m complaining +about. I ask what the Emperor has got to do with it and all the answer +I get is ‘The Emperor.’”</p> + +<p>“Anyway,” said the Queen decisively, “the Emperor has nothing to do +with me and I’m not going to sell Salissa to him or any one else.”</p> + +<p>Von Moll was master of himself this time. No doubt it appeared to him +that this defiance of the Emperor’s wish was childish, unworthy of the +attention of a serious man. The silly girl who sat at the end of the +table playing at being a queen would pack up her boxes and leave the +island on the day fixed by the Emperor. Meanwhile she looked quite +pretty, prettier than he thought she could look, with her heightened +colour, sparkling <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>eyes, and slightly parted lips. He began to think +that it might be worth his while to marry her in spite of her +bourgeoise blood. He looked at her with cool, appraising eyes. The +slight smile on his lips was the only evidence of the contempt he felt +for a girl who thought she could resist the Emperor.</p> + +<p>After that, conversation at the dinner table became rather difficult. +Smith did the best he could with the champagne bottle, but the wine +seemed only to increase von Moll’s conviction of his own superior +wisdom. The Queen drank nothing but water, so her temper preserved its +raw edge. It fell to Gorman to keep things going. He told a series of +stories about Ireland, all of them good stories, some of them partly +true. No one laughed, except Kalliope, who did not understand the +stories but liked the twinkle in Gorman’s eyes. At the end of each +story he asked von Moll how he thought the Emperor would deal with a +country like Ireland. Von Moll twisted his moustaches fiercely and +told Gorman that if Ireland had been a German dependency she would +have ceased to trouble the world early in the eighteenth century. +Gorman listened with every appearance of deference and docility, while +von Moll explained the Prussian way of dealing with people like the +Irish.</p> + +<p>The Queen could not cut the dinner short. Smith had provided many +courses and it was impossible to skip any of them. But at the earliest +possible moment she got up and left the room. Gorman closed the door +behind her and then drew <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>his chair close to that on which von Moll +was sitting. Smith brought in coffee and liqueurs. Gorman took the +brandy bottle off the tray and set it on the table at von Moll’s +elbow. Smith made an effort to recover the bottle and carry it away. +He seemed to think that von Moll had had enough to drink. Gorman was +of the same opinion, but he did not allow Smith to carry off the +brandy bottle. He thought that von Moll might be very interesting if +he took rather more than enough to drink. When Smith, after hovering +about for some time, left the room, Gorman refilled von Moll’s glass.</p> + +<p>“Silly little thing, Miss Donovan,” he said, in a confidential tone.</p> + +<p>“That is so,” said von Moll.</p> + +<p>“In Germany,” said Gorman, “you put that sort of young person into her +place at once, I suppose.”</p> + +<p>“In Germany,” said von Moll, “she would not exist.”</p> + +<p>He spoke with ponderous gravity. Gorman was pleased to see that he was +becoming more ponderous as he drank glass after glass of brandy.</p> + +<p>“That cave incident, for instance,” said Gorman. “I call it cheek her +trying to get into the cave when you had sentries posted outside to +stop her. By the way, what had you in the cave that you didn’t want +her to see? A girl?”</p> + +<p>Von Moll leered in a most disgusting manner. Gorman poured him out +another glass of brandy.</p> + +<p>“You naval men,” he said, “you’re always the same. No girl can resist +you. But, I say, you’d <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>really better keep it dark about that man of +yours getting his teeth knocked out. If there were any kind of inquiry +and it came out about your being in the cave with one of the island +girls——”</p> + +<p>“There was no girl in the cave,” said von Moll.</p> + +<p>“Come now! I won’t give you away. Between ourselves. We are both men +of the world.”</p> + +<p>“I have said. There was no girl.”</p> + +<p>“Oh well,” said Gorman, “I suppose you were writing poetry and didn’t +want to be disturbed. What was it? An ode to the Fatherland, ‘Oh, +Deutschland, Deutschland!’—that kind of thing.”</p> + +<p>Von Moll strongly suspected that Gorman was laughing at him again. It +seemed almost incredible that any one would dare to do such a thing, +but Gorman was plainly an irresponsible person.</p> + +<p>“I was,” said von Moll, “carrying out the orders of the Emperor.”</p> + +<p>“The Emperor again,” said Gorman. “But this time it won’t do. It +really won’t. You can’t expect me to believe that the Emperor sent you +all the way to Salissa to write poetry in a cave.”</p> + +<p>“There was no poetry. The Emperor’s orders were not about poetry. They +were about——”</p> + +<p>Von Moll stopped abruptly and winked at Gorman with drunken solemnity.</p> + +<p>“I don’t give your Emperor credit for much intelligence,” said Gorman, +“but he must surely have more sense than to give orders of any kind +about a cave in an out-of-the-way potty little island <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>like this. Why +can’t you tell the truth, von Moll?”</p> + +<p>Von Moll straightened himself in his chair and glared at Gorman. His +eyes were wide open, so wide that a rim of white showed all round the +pupils. His forehead was deeply wrinkled. His nostrils were distended.</p> + +<p>“<i>Gott in Himmel!</i>” he said, “you doubt my word.”</p> + +<p>Gorman chuckled. Von Moll was decidedly amusing when partially drunk. +His glare—he continued to glare in the most ferocious manner—was a +most exciting thing to see.</p> + +<p>“There is no use looking at me like that,” said Gorman. “I shan’t +fight. I never do. I’m not that kind of man. The fact is I don’t like +fighting.”</p> + +<p>“I believe it,” said von Moll.</p> + +<p>He spoke with a sneer, a heavily accentuated sneer. It was more like +the sneer of the villain of old-fashioned melodrama than anything +Gorman had ever seen.</p> + +<p>“If you want a scrap,” said Gorman, “really want it, you know, you +ought to knock up Phillips on your way back to your boat. He’s the +first officer of the <i>Ida</i>. He’ll take you on. He’s six foot one and +weighs about fourteen stone. He’ll simply wipe the floor with you; so +unless you’re really keen on fighting some one you’d perhaps better +leave him alone.”</p> + +<p>“I stay here no longer,” said von Moll.</p> + +<p>He rose and crossed the room quite steadily, but <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>putting his feet +down with extreme care. He reached the door and bowed to Gorman.</p> + +<p>Gorman leaned back in his chair and lit a cigar. He had enjoyed the +evening. He had also found out something that he wanted to know. The +Emperor really did intend to make use of the island of Salissa in some +way. He wondered whether the cave which the Queen had been forbidden +to enter was the same cave which contained the iron cisterns.</p> + +<p>The Queen, sitting at her window, heard von Moll leave the house and +go down the steps towards the landing place. Smith was with him, +seeing him safely to the boat which waited for him.</p> + +<p>“So,” said von Moll, “I telegraph to Berlin and I forward your +letters.”</p> + +<p>He spoke in German, but he spoke very deliberately, pronouncing each +word carefully. The Queen had no difficulty in understanding what he +said. Smith replied in a much lower tone. She could not hear him.</p> + +<p>“<i>Ach</i>,” said von Moll, “the old man is a fool, good. And the girl—do +you know, Fritz, I think I shall marry the girl!”</p> + +<p>The Queen shut her window. She had no wish to hear more of von Moll’s +plans. She was insulted and very angry. It was not until she thought +the matter over coolly next day that it occurred to her as strange +that von Moll should have addressed Smith as Fritz. The man’s +Christian name was Edward.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">I</span> am uncomfortably aware that this history of recent events in Salissa +is sadly deficient in the matter of dates. I am not to blame. If I +could I should date each chapter accurately. Unfortunately, not one of +the people chiefly concerned kept a diary. They all remember events +very well and are most willing to describe them for me, but they +cannot remember exactly when things happened. I am therefore +particularly pleased to be able at this point to give two definite +dates. The <i>Ida</i> arrived at Salissa with Gorman on board on July 8. +She left again on July 11. I dragged this information out of Captain +Wilson. He no longer has access to the <i>Ida’s</i> log-books. They passed +into Steinwitz’ hands and disappeared when his office was closed at +the outbreak of war. But Captain Wilson kept a private notebook. He +referred to it, with considerable reluctance, when I pressed him.</p> + +<p>Taking these two dates as fixed, we are able to say for certain that +von Moll reached the island during the night of July 7 and 8, ten days +after the Serajevo assassinations. He was occupied with his business +in the cave all day of July 8. He left Salissa early on July 9. He +might easily have made <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>any one of three or four ports on the mainland +before evening that day. A telegram sent to Berlin might have been in +the hands of some responsible person that night. Smith’s letters would +follow at once by a special messenger. We may take it that the +Emperor’s secret service agents, perhaps the Emperor himself, knew on +July 10 that the island would not be resold to King Konrad Karl.</p> + +<p>The sailing of the <i>Ida</i> so soon as three days after her arrival +puzzled me at first. Captain Wilson would say nothing except that he +obeyed orders. As a matter of fact he seems to have worried everybody +until he got the order he wanted. The <i>Ida</i> carried very little cargo +to the island on her second voyage and was unloaded in a few hours. +Captain Wilson received from the Queen the lists she had prepared of +tools, engines and material for carrying out her schemes of +improvement. He was given a few letters by Donovan and by Smith. Then +there was no reason why he should not start.</p> + +<p>Nor was there any reason why Gorman should not have gone with him. It +was, indeed, plainly Gorman’s duty to get back to England as quickly +as possible. His mission had completely failed. The Queen would not +sell the island. She would certainly not marry Konrad Karl. Ireland +was at the moment passing through a crisis, and Gorman, as one of her +statesmen, ought to have been at hand with advice. But Gorman—he owes +a good deal of his attractiveness to this—never allows himself to be +hampered by words like “ought” and “duty.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span></p><p>An Irish crisis is an interesting thing; but it is by no means +uncommon, and the details are always more or less the same. The +affairs of Salissa had certain novel features which were exceedingly +attractive and Gorman had never before had an opportunity of mixing +himself up in foreign politics. English statesmen, especially +Liberals, who regard Ireland with serious intensity of feeling, offer +great opportunities to men of Gorman’s temperament. But he thought +that still more amusement might be obtained by playing politics with +people like Steinwitz, von Moll, and the immensely pompous Emperor.</p> + +<p>Donovan was anxious that Gorman should stay on the island. He +listened, reluctantly, to all the Queen had to tell him. He heard +about the cisterns in the cave. He was told of von Moll’s mysterious +activities, of Smith’s suspicious conduct, of the Emperor’s fixed +determination to get the island back for Konrad Karl. He professed to +regard the whole business as a bore.</p> + +<p>“Buried treasure, pirate hoards and other mysteries,” he said, “have +no kind of attraction for me. I feel sort of discouraged when they +bubble up round me. You’re young, Daisy, and naturally inclined to +romantic joys. Just you butt in and worry round according to your own +fancy. There’s only one thing I’d rather you didn’t do. Don’t get +interfering in any serious way with Smith. Smith’s a valuable man.”</p> + +<p>Later on he spoke to Gorman.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span></p><p>“As a public man,” he said, “your time has got value. You’re wanted, +Gorman, and that’s a fact. The cause of Ireland is a sacred trust and +I’m not speaking against it; but if a subscription to the party funds +would set you free for a month——Now can another patriot be hired at +a reasonable salary to take your place? If he can, you name the figure +and I’ll write the cheque. The fact is, it’ll be a mighty convenient +thing to me if you’ll take hold of things here. Daisy’s dead set on +unearthing mysteries. I don’t say there aren’t any mysteries. There +may be. But it doesn’t suit me to be wrapped up in them. Then I +understand that one of your European monarchs is fidgeting round, +wanting to take this island off my hands. Daisy says he’s an Emperor. +Now I won’t have emperors worrying me. I’ve never gone in for emperors +to any extent, and I’m not inclined to begin now. I’m a plain American +citizen with democratic principles and a disordered heart. I’d be +obliged to you, Gorman, if you’d stay here and kind of elbow off that +Emperor when he intrudes. There’s only one point about which I’d like +you to be careful. I mentioned it to Daisy. She tells me that Smith +answers to the name of Fritz and she regards that as a suspicious +circumstance. Now, it doesn’t matter a cent to me whether Smith calls +himself Fritz or Leonardo da Vinci or Ivanovitch Ivanokoff. So long as +he isn’t signing cheques one name is as good as another. And if Smith +writes letters to the Emperor—that’s what Daisy says—I don’t see +that <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>it hurts me any. Every man has his own little pleasures, and in +a free country he oughtn’t to be hindered in the pursuit. I’ve known +men who collected stamps. It seemed foolish to me, but it didn’t +interfere with me. Same thing with Smith. I don’t happen to care about +writing letters to emperors, but Smith does. See?”</p> + +<p>Gorman did not want to worry or annoy Smith in any way. He recognized +the man’s value. His mind was more actively curious than Donovan’s. He +wanted to know what was going on, what von Moll had been doing, what +the Emperor aimed at, what Smith’s real business was, but he also +appreciated, no less than Donovan, good food, comfort and smooth +service. He liked to be sure that his wants would be supplied, his +wishes anticipated, his habits intelligently studied. Without Smith +life on Salissa would be robbed of a great deal which made it +attractive.</p> + +<p>When Gorman made up his mind to stay on Salissa he wrote three +letters. One of them was to King Konrad Karl and was addressed to an +hotel in Paris. He said briefly that the Donovans would not sell the +island and that it was not the least use trying to arrange a marriage +with the Queen. He advised the King to enjoy himself as much as he +could in Paris and to spend his money before it was taken from him. He +added a postscript.</p> + +<p>“If the Emperor sends a man called von Moll to negotiate with you—a +sort of naval officer who <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>likes giving orders—ask him whether he had +many casualties in his last sea battle.”</p> + +<p>His next letter was to Steinwitz. In it, too, he announced the +complete failure of his mission.</p> + +<p>“The fact is,” he added, by way of explanation, “that these Americans +don’t know enough about your Emperor to be properly impressed. Could +you send along a good-sized photo of him, in uniform if possible? I am +sure it would have a great effect.”</p> + +<p>Then he wrote to Sir Bartholomew Bland-Potterton. Knowing how all +members of our governing classes delight in official fussiness he +threw his letter into a telegraphic form.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Things more complicated than anticipated,” he wrote. “Will +Government recognize Salissa as independent state? Query +attitude President U. S. A. Urgent.—<span class="smcap">Gorman.</span>”</p></div> + +<p>He read over what he had written with extreme satisfaction. It pleased +him to think that Steinwitz would immediately go out and buy an +enormous photograph of the Emperor; that he would send it out to +Salissa with perfect confidence in the effect it would produce. It was +also pleasant to think of Konrad Karl and Madame Ypsilante making +efforts to get rid of the remains of Donovan’s money by scattering it +about the streets of Paris. But his despatch to Bland-Potterton +pleased him most of all. He imagined that gentleman, swollen with the +consciousness of important news, dashing <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>off to the Foreign Office in +a taxi-cab, posing Ministers of State with unanswerable conundrums, +very probably ruffling the calm waters of Washington with cablegrams +of inordinate length and fierce urgency.</p> + +<p>He rang the bell for Smith.</p> + +<p>“I’ve just written some letters,” he said; “will you send them off to +the <i>Ida</i> and ask Captain Wilson to have them posted when he arrives +in London or earlier if he calls at any intermediate port.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, sir. Certainly, sir. Beg pardon, sir, but will you be staying on +in the palace?”</p> + +<p>“For a week or two, Smith.”</p> + +<p>“Thank you, sir. I’ll make all arrangements. Your luggage will be +fetched from the steamer. If you leave your keys with me I’ll see to +the unpacking.”</p> + +<p>Gorman had no keys.</p> + +<p>“By the way, Smith, what’s your Christian name?”</p> + +<p>“Edward, sir.”</p> + +<p>“I asked,” said Gorman, “because I’d a sort of idea that Captain von +Moll called you Fritz last night.”</p> + +<p>“Very likely, sir. I didn’t notice. It struck me, sir—I don’t know +whether you noticed it—that the German gentleman wasn’t quite himself +after dinner. He might have called me Fritz, mistaking me for some one +else. I understand, sir, that Fritz is a common name in Germany.”</p> + +<p>“Very likely,” said Gorman.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span></p><p>Smith left the room. In ten minutes he was back again.</p> + +<p>“Luncheon is served, sir. In the small verandah at the south end of +the palace. Shall I show you the way?”</p> + +<p>He guided Gorman to the small verandah, a pleasant, shady place, +opening off the room in which they had dined the night before.</p> + +<p>“Is the Queen coming?” asked Gorman.</p> + +<p>“I’ve sent a maid to inform her Majesty the luncheon is served, sir.”</p> + +<p>Smith stood ready for his duties at the end of the table. Gorman +noticed that three places had been laid.</p> + +<p>“Mr. Donovan coming?” he asked.</p> + +<p>“No, sir. Mr. Donovan scarcely feels well enough. I’m expecting Mr. +Phillips, sir. He’s with her Majesty.”</p> + +<p>“Ah,” said Gorman. “They may be late.”</p> + +<p>They were late. A quarter of an hour late. Gorman guessed the reason +at once. No formal announcement was made, but he felt certain that in +the course of the morning they had arrived at a satisfactory +understanding and were engaged to be married. Gorman felt satisfied +that the Emperor’s plan for the Queen’s future was not quite hopeless.</p> + +<p>Luncheon was a difficult meal for him. He did his best to keep up a +conversation, but neither the Queen nor Phillips seemed capable of +understanding what he said. If they answered him at all they said +things which were totally irrelevant. For the most <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>part they did not +answer. They gazed at each other a good deal and Gorman detected +Phillips trying to hold the Queen’s hand under the table. Philips +dropped his fork three times. The Queen looked very pretty, much +prettier than she had the night before when she was angry with von +Moll.</p> + +<p>Gorman, in spite of his cynicism, is a kind-hearted man. It gave him a +great deal of pleasure to see a girl and a boy in a condition of +almost delirious happiness. But he felt that they ought not to be +entirely selfish. They intended, apparently, to go off after luncheon, +to a distant part of the island, accompanied by Kalliope, whom they +could not well shake off. Gorman did not want to be left alone all the +afternoon.</p> + +<p>“What about going to that cave?” he said. “I’d rather like to find out +what von Moll was doing there yesterday.”</p> + +<p>The Queen and Phillips looked at each other. They had done little less +except look at each other since they came in to luncheon. But this +time they looked with a new expression. Instead of fatuous felicity, +their faces suggested disappointment.</p> + +<p>“I think we ought to do it,” Gorman went on. “That fellow may have +been up to any kind of mischief. By the way, is his cave the one the +cisterns are in?”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said the Queen.</p> + +<p>“That seems to me to settle it,” said Gorman. “We certainly ought to +take the matter up vigorously and at once.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span></p><p>“I suppose so,” said Phillips.</p> + +<p>Gorman was really anxious to find out what had been going on in the +cave. The fact that von Moll had been acting under the Emperor’s +orders stimulated curiosity. It had been puzzling enough to discover, +in England, that the Emperor was very anxious to remove the Donovans +from the island, and was prepared to adopt all sorts of tortuous ways +to get rid of them. It was much more puzzling to find a German naval +officer engaged in storing large quantities of rubber tubing in a +cave. Gorman confesses that he was utterly unable to make any sort of +guess at the meaning of the affair. He was all the more anxious to +begin his investigation.</p> + +<p>The Queen and Phillips cheered up a little when the party started for +the cave. Kalliope rowed, as usual. Gorman—all successful politicians +are men of tact—settled himself in the bow of the boat. The Queen and +Phillips were together in the stern and held each other’s hands. +Gorman pretended to look at the scenery. Kalliope made no pretence at +all. She watched the lovers with a sympathetic smile. She was in no +way embarrassed by them.</p> + +<p>No one—I judge by Gorman’s description—was ever more helplessly in +love than Phillips. But even he was roused to other feelings when the +boat grounded on the stony beach in the cave. He slipped his hand from +the Queen’s and sprang ashore. Even from the boat, before crossing the +steep stretch of stones, there were some interesting things to be +seen. Von Moll had left his rubber <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>tubing in three great coils in +front of the cisterns. Gorman and the Queen followed Phillips. The +three stood together and stared at the hose. Phillips estimated that +there must have been three or four hundred yards of it. The ends of +each coil were fitted with brass caps intended to screw together. Any +one of them might have been screwed to the cocks of the cisterns.</p> + +<p>There were also many large packing-cases, stacked at the end of the +row of cisterns. These were strong, well-made cases and carefully +nailed up. The only tool possessed by the party was Phillips’ clasp +knife, a serviceable instrument for many purposes, but no use for +opening well-secured packing-cases. Gorman fetched one of the iron +rowlocks from the boat, but nothing could be done with it. The cases +were very heavy. Gorman and Phillips together could not lift one. It +seemed likely that they contained metal of some sort.</p> + +<p>The cisterns stood exactly where the Queen and Phillips had seen them +before. But now they were full instead of being empty. Phillips and +then Gorman tapped them one after another. They were all full, up to +the very tops. Phillips wasted no time in speculating about what they +contained. The rubber hose was unintelligible. The packing-cases could +not be opened. It was at all events possible to find out what the +cisterns contained. Phillips turned on one of the taps. A thin, +strongly smelling liquid streamed out.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span></p><p>“I know that smell,” said the Queen. “It’s—it’s——”</p> + +<p>It is extraordinarily difficult to recognize a smell in such a way as +to say definitely what it belongs to. Phillips and Gorman sniffed. +Like the Queen they knew the smell but could not name it. It was +Gorman who fixed it first.</p> + +<p>“Petrol,” he said.</p> + +<p>“Of course,” said the Queen. “I knew I recognized it.”</p> + +<p>“That’s it,” said Phillips. “I was thinking of Elliman’s Embrocation; +but it’s petrol, of course.”</p> + +<p>“There must be gallons of it here,” said Gorman. “Thousands of +gallons.”</p> + +<p>Phillips, stretching his arms wide, began to make rough measurements +of the cisterns.</p> + +<p>“Now why on earth,” said Gorman, “should the Emperor want to store up +huge quantities of petrol in this cave?”</p> + +<p>It seems odd now that any one could possibly have failed to guess what +the petrol was for and why it was there. But early in 1914 very few +people were thinking about a war with Germany. Gorman, as a +politician, must have heard some talk of such a possibility; but no +doubt he regarded all he heard as part of the game that politicians +play. Gorman is a man with the instincts of a sportsman. He thought, +without any bitterness, of the war threat as a move, not a very astute +move, on the part of an imperialist party anxious for office. It was +comparable to those which his own party played. The <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span>Queen and +Phillips had never thought about European politics at all.</p> + +<p>And nobody, at that time, had guessed at the part which submarines +were to play in war. Civilians, even well-informed men like Gorman, +regarded submarines as toys, chiefly dangerous to the crews who manned +them. Phillips probably knew how they were propelled. Gorman did not. +He had never given a thought to the subject. Like most of the rest of +us he associated petrol only with motor-cars or possibly with flying +machines. It did not connect itself in his mind with submarines.</p> + +<p>“That Emperor!” said Gorman. “I’m hanged if I understand.”</p> + +<p>“The Emperor?” said the Queen. “Why should the Emperor be mixed up +with it?”</p> + +<p>“Why should the Emperor be mixed up with the island?” said Gorman. +“Why should the Emperor be mixed up with you? Why should the Emperor +be mixed up with anything? I don’t know. I can’t guess. But it was the +Emperor who sent the stuff here.”</p> + +<p>Phillips was a young man of practical mind, very little given to +inquiring into causes and reasons. But he had a thoroughly British +respect for the rights of property and the privileges of ownership.</p> + +<p>“Anyhow,” he said, “he’s no earthly right to dump his stuff here +without asking leave. Salissa isn’t his island.”</p> + +<p>From the tap which he had already turned on the petrol was flowing +freely. It trickled down among <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>the stones, and some of it had already +reached the sea. It was spreading, a smooth, thin film across the +water of the cave.</p> + +<p>“I vote we run it all off,” he said.</p> + +<p>He looked at the Queen and then at Gorman.</p> + +<p>“If a man puts his cow on my lawn,” said Gorman, “I suppose I’ve a +right to turn it out again.”</p> + +<p>That was approval enough for Phillips. He walked deliberately along +the line of cisterns, turning on the taps as he went.</p> + +<p>“Hold on a minute,” said Gorman. “We don’t want the stuff flowing over +the Queen’s shoes. She must get into the boat.”</p> + +<p>A few minutes later the water of the cave was entirely covered with +petrol. The air was acrid with the smell of it. The Queen held her +handkerchief to her nose.</p> + +<p>“Let’s get out of this as quick as we can,” she said.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span>he next fortnight was something of a disappointment to Gorman. He +admits that. He had made his choice between Ireland and Salissa. It +certainly seemed as if he had chosen wrongly. I remember—everybody +remembers—how exciting Irish affairs were during the latter half of +July, 1914. The country was like a pot, full of water on the verge of +boiling. Every day an event of some sort formed like a bubble far down +in the depths of Irish life, rose rapidly, and burst on the surface +with a little splash. The bubbles were large or small, sometimes no +more than pinheads in size, but they were evidences that the boiling +point was very near. The surface of the water, that region where +governing persons and leaders of public opinion air themselves, was +already agitated with odd-looking swirls, sudden swayings, +unaccountable swellings, all very ominous of imminent turmoil.</p> + +<p>There were landings of arms here and there, furiously denounced by the +people who had run their own cargoes the week before or intended to +run them the next week. There were hurried gatherings of committees +which sat in private conclaves and then issued manifestos which nobody +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>read. Minor officials were goaded into orgies of fussiness. Major +officials, statesmen, escaped when they could, to the comparative calm +of suffragette-haunted public meetings in England. A Buckingham Palace +Conference set all sorts of people arguing about constitutional +precedents. It was recognized on all sides that a settlement of the +Irish question must somehow be reached. Gorman, if he had stayed at +home, would have been in the thick of it all. It is perhaps wrong to +say that he would have enjoyed himself thoroughly; but life would have +been an interesting and exciting thing. Salissa remained provokingly +dull and uneventful.</p> + +<p>Gorman went to the cave again, on the day after he had first seen the +tanks and run von Moll’s petrol to waste. He went by himself. The +Queen and Phillips took no further interest in the mystery for the +moment. They went off together early in the day and did not return +until evening. Even Gorman could not blame them. It was their last day +together. It was gloriously fine. The island, with its white cliffs, +its golden-sanded coves, its vineyards, its pleasant, shaded groves, +was a paradise for lovers. And the <i>Ida</i>—Captain Wilson insisted on +that—sailed the next day, carrying Phillips away with her.</p> + +<p>Gorman achieved very little by his second visit to the cave. He took +with him several tools, a short axe, a screw-driver and a hammer. He +forced open some of the packing-cases which were piled near the +cistern. They were filled with steel bars of various <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>sizes, steel +wrought into various shapes and odd-looking coils of copper wire. +Gorman knew little of engineering or mechanics. He was merely puzzled +by what he saw. It seemed to him that von Moll had used the cave as a +storehouse for uncompleted machines of a complicated kind. What the +machines were he did not know. Why von Moll, acting no doubt by the +Emperor’s orders, should have dumped them there was beyond guessing.</p> + +<p>Though Gorman was disappointed he found life on Salissa pleasant +enough. He was exceedingly comfortable, thanks to Smith’s devotion to +duty. He had many long talks with Donovan, which he enjoyed, for +Donovan was always amusing and stimulating. He saw a great deal of the +Queen, helped her to make plans for the future of the island, listened +when she talked about Phillips. There was a mixture of shyness with +frank simplicity in the way she spoke about her lover which Gorman +found very attractive. Sometimes he went out with Kalliope’s lover in +the largest island boat and watched the casting of nets. Once or twice +he tried to get into intimate conversation with Smith, hoping that the +man, caught off his guard, might drop a hint that would give some clue +to the meaning of the cisterns, the petrol, the machinery and the +Emperor’s curious interest in the island. But Smith took shelter +behind the manner of a good servant, the most impenetrable of all +defences. Gorman never got anything out of him except a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>deferential +“Yes, sir,” or, in reply to some leading question, “Don’t know, sir, +I’m sure.” Or perhaps, “Indeed, sir!” in a tone of respectful +surprise.</p> + +<p>Gorman was at that time inclined to think that he had made a mistake +in not going home on the <i>Ida</i>. Apart from the exciting movements of +Irish affairs about which he could only speculate, he felt sure that +it was in London, not on the island, that the most important +developments of the Salissa mystery would take place. He wanted to +know what Steinwitz was doing, and whether Konrad Karl was still +enjoying his spendthrift holiday in Paris. He would have liked to be +in a position to watch the fussy activities of Sir Bartholomew +Bland-Potterton. Later on I was able to tell him something, not of +Steinwitz or Konrad Karl, but about Sir Bartholomew. It was impossible +to live in London during the latter part of July without perpetually +bumping against Bland-Potterton. He was like the ball on a rapidly +spun roulette board. He seemed to be flung about from place to place +with extreme rapidity in an utterly irregular manner. It was +impossible to guess where he would be or in what direction he would +move. I came across him one day in Cockspur Street. He was signalling +wildly for a taxi-cab. He grasped my arm with his left hand and shook +it with frenzied vehemence.</p> + +<p>“Just off to the Foreign Office,” he said. “Can’t wait to talk now. +Haven’t a minute. See you later.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span></p><p>There was no reason why he should have stopped to talk to me even if +he had not been going to the Foreign Office. I should certainly not +have tried to detain him. Bland-Potterton bores me. I did indeed see +him later, though I certainly did not want to. It was at a reception, +a gorgeous but uncomfortable affair in Ellesmere House. +Bland-Potterton was in a corner with a highly decorated foreigner who +looked like a stage brigand. I found out afterwards that he was the +Megalian ambassador. Bland-Potterton was talking to him with intense +earnestness.</p> + +<p>Another day he dashed at me in the smoking-room of the club. I was +half asleep at the moment and desired nothing in the world so much as +to be let alone. But Bland-Potterton woke me by whispering in my ear. +He might just as well have spoken in the ordinary way. There was only +one other man in the room and he was quite asleep. Besides, +Bland-Potterton’s whisper carries further than most men’s +conversational voices.</p> + +<p>“Have you,” he hissed, “any news from Gorman? A letter? A message? +Anything?”</p> + +<p>“No,” I said, “I haven’t. Why the deuce should I? Is he gun-running, +or threatening to vote against the Government, or likely to be +arrested?”</p> + +<p>“No, no, no. Nothing of that sort. Nothing to do with Ireland. It’s +this unfortunate business with the Emperor. But I mustn’t say any +more. The Embassies are nervous, you know.”</p> + +<p>“I don’t know,” I said. “Which Embassies?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span></p><p>“The—the—the—well, practically all except the Chinese.”</p> + +<p>“Wonderful people the Chinese,” I said. “So calm. We ought to imitate +them more than we do.”</p> + +<p>Bland-Potterton did not think so. He went on fussing. He rushed about +London, creating small whirlpools behind him as if he had been a +motor-boat. I had the greatest difficulty at times in not being sucked +into his wake.</p> + +<p>All this Gorman would have enjoyed hugely. I felt sorry that he was +missing it. However, in the end he had his compensation.</p> + +<p>One day during the last week in July—Gorman is no more to be relied +on for an exact date than Donovan or the Queen—a steamer arrived in +Salissa. She was a remarkable looking steamer and flew a flag which +neither Gorman nor Donovan had ever seen before. She had two small +guns, mounted one on the fore-deck and one right aft. She had a smart, +well-cared-for look, as if she were a yacht, or belonged to some navy. +But she was very old. Gorman says that she reminded him of the +pictures of the royal yacht in which Queen Victoria came to Ireland to +open Kingstown harbour at the very beginning of her reign. She was a +paddle steamer. She had an exaggerated form of fiddle bow, a long +bowsprit and two tall masts on which sails might easily have been set.</p> + +<p>Gorman is nothing of a sailor and is almost totally uninterested in +ships. This steamer must <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>have been very old-fashioned indeed to have +struck him as being odd. She arrived in the harbour at midday and +splashed about a good deal with her paddles as if she were rather +pleased with herself and thought she had a right to the admiration of +the islanders. There was only one modern thing about her. The +splayed-out wires of a Marconi installation stretched between her +masts.</p> + +<p>Gorman was sitting with Donovan when the steamer arrived. They had +spent a pleasant hour discussing, in a desultory manner, whether a +nation gains or loses by having a titled aristocracy. Donovan +preferred the British to the American system. Statesmen, he pointed +out, must make some return to the rich for the money which they +provide to keep politics going. It is on the whole better to give +titles than to alter tariffs in return for subscriptions to party +funds. The subject was not a very interesting one and both men were +pleased when the arrival of the steamer gave them a new topic.</p> + +<p>“Seems to me,” said Donovan, “that Daisy might gather in some revenue +by charging harbour dues. This is the second ship, not reckoning the +<i>Ida</i>, which has put in here since I arrived.”</p> + +<p>“I don’t know that flag,” said Gorman. “Not that that means anything. +I don’t suppose there are half a dozen flags that I do know.”</p> + +<p>“There was some mention made of an Emperor,” said Donovan. “Daisy +seemed to think that one <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>might come nosing round, thinking to buy the +island. Perhaps that’s him.”</p> + +<p>“Hardly in that steamer,” said Gorman. “She looks as if she’d been +built a hundred years ago. One of the first ever launched, I should +think.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Donovan, “I’m not an expert in the habits of European +Emperors; but I’ve always been told that the state coach in which the +King of England goes to open Parliament dates back quite a bit in the +matter of shape. An Emperor might feel that he owed it to his historic +past to sail the ocean in the nearest thing he could get to the ark of +the patriarch Noah.”</p> + +<p>The argument was sound; but Gorman was not inclined to think that the +Emperor was paying a visit to Salissa in person. He was just going to +say so when Smith came on to the balcony. He carried a pair of field +glasses in his hand, which he laid on the table beside Donovan’s +chair.</p> + +<p>“Beg pardon, sir,” he said. “I brought up the glasses thinking you +might want to look at the strange steamer.”</p> + +<p>“Do you know the flag, Smith?” asked Gorman.</p> + +<p>“No, sir, can’t say I do. But she looks like a foreigner. Not English. +Shall you want anything more, sir?”</p> + +<p>Gorman did not at the moment want anything which Smith would supply. +He wanted information, but it was useless to ask for that. Smith, who +seemed uninterested in the steamer, left the balcony.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span></p><p>Donovan gazed at the steamer through the glasses.</p> + +<p>“Well,” he said, “if it’s not an Emperor, it’s the next thing. That’s +our little friend Konrad Karl standing on the deck.”</p> + +<p>He handed the glasses to Gorman.</p> + +<p>King Konrad Karl stood beside the gun on the after-deck of the +steamer. He looked neat and cool. He was dressed with care in +well-fitting light grey clothes, a soft grey hat and white shoes. The +glasses were powerful. Gorman could even see that he wore a pale mauve +tie.</p> + +<p>“I’m pleased to see that monarch,” said Donovan. “He seemed to me less +starched than most members of your aristocracies when I met him in +London. Where’s Daisy? She’ll be sorry if she misses the opportunity +of welcoming a fellow monarch to her shores.”</p> + +<p>“I’m afraid,” said Gorman, “that she’s off at the far side of the +island. She told me this morning that she was going over there to plan +out an electric power station. There’s a waterfall somewhere. I +haven’t seen it myself. The Queen’s idea is to make use of it to light +the island.”</p> + +<p>Donovan took up the glasses when Gorman laid them down. He watched the +steamer.</p> + +<p>“The King is wasting no time,” he said. “He’s coming ashore right now. +They’re lowering a boat. I wonder what brings him here.”</p> + +<p>“He’s probably come to persuade you to give the island back to him, +re-sell it.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span></p><p>“That deal,” said Donovan, “is closed. I’ll be obliged to you, Gorman, +if you’ll make that plain to him.”</p> + +<p>“I expect the Emperor has sent him.”</p> + +<p>“I’d expect some pretty lively bidding,” said Donovan, “with the +Emperor and a king in the ring, if the island was up for auction. But +it’s not. I’m not going back on my bargain. I’m very well satisfied +with Salissa as a place of residence. I feel I might live a long time +on Salissa. Come to think of it, there’s no reason why any one should +ever die here. It’s worry and annoyance preying on the human heart, +which kill men.”</p> + +<p>A boat put off from the steamer’s side as Donovan spoke. It rowed +towards the palace steps. King Konrad Karl sat in the stern.</p> + +<p>“Gorman,” said Donovan, “it will prolong my days if you go down and +meet that king. Make it plain to him that it’s no kind of use his +trying to talk me round, because I’m not going to listen to him. He’s +welcome to stay in the palace as long as he likes. But he’s not to +worry me. If he seems any way determined on talking business, you +quote the certificate of that doc.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">K</span>ing Konrad Karl took Gorman’s hand and wrung it heartily.</p> + +<p>“My friend Gorman,” he said. “How are you? But I need not ask. I see. +You are top-tipping.”</p> + +<p>“Thanks,” said Gorman. “Salissa agrees with me. And Paris does not +seem to have done you any harm.”</p> + +<p>“Paris! Ah, in Paris one lives, and I am in the pink. But, alas and +damn, I leave Paris. I take trains. I travel fast. I embark.” He waved +his hand towards the steamer. “Finally, I arrive.”</p> + +<p>“How did you come to embark in that curious-looking ship? I never saw +a steamer like her before.”</p> + +<p>“That,” said the King, “is the navy of Megalia. I come as a King, in a +state.”</p> + +<p>“I rather wonder that you trusted yourself to that navy,” said Gorman. +“After what you told me about the fate of the late king. It was that +same steamer, I suppose, which brought the Prime Minister and the rest +of them out here to cut your predecessor’s throat.”</p> + +<p>“Otto? Yes. It was the navy. You are right. They killed poor Otto. No +doubt they would jump up to the chance to kill me too. But just now +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>they cannot, and I am safe as a bank in England. The Emperor——”</p> + +<p>“Ah,” said Gorman, “I thought we’d get to the Emperor soon.”</p> + +<p>“The Emperor said, ‘Carry the King to Salissa in the navy of Megalia.’ +That is all, but that is enough. No, my friend, they will not kill me +now. Afterwards perhaps. But afterwards I shall not be here. I shall +return to Paris.”</p> + +<p>“I wonder you ever left Paris,” said Gorman, “but I suppose that was +the Emperor too.”</p> + +<p>“You are right. You hit it the first time you shoot. The Emperor sends +to me Steinwitz—a cursed pig—a cur dog with mange on him—an +outsider from the ranks, that is, I think you say a rank outsider—a +bounder, my friend Gorman—a sweeper of chimneys—a swine——”</p> + +<p>“I’m sure he’s all that. I don’t care for the man myself, but tell me +what he said to you.”</p> + +<p>“Steinwitz came into my hotel. He said, ‘The American will not sell +Salissa. It is necessary that you marry the girl.’ I said ‘Good. Where +is she? To-morrow I will do it.’ But he said, ‘The girl is not here. +It is for you to go to Salissa at once. She is there.’ Conceive it, my +friend. I did not want to leave Paris. We were happy there, Corinne +and I. But at once, in a jiffy, I am off to this place and without +Corinne. It is a hard line, for me the hardest line.”</p> + +<p>“But why the deuce did you do it? Oh, I needn’t ask that. The Emperor, +of course. Well, I don’t <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>know whether you’ll be pleased to hear it or +not, but you can’t marry the girl.”</p> + +<p>“But—you do not quite understand. For me there is no choice. It is: +Damn it, I must. The Emperor——”</p> + +<p>“Even the Emperor can’t make the same girl marry two men. I happen to +know that Miss Donovan is engaged to a young fellow called Phillips, +and fifty Emperors yelling at her at once wouldn’t make her give him +up.”</p> + +<p>The King seized Gorman’s hand and shook it heartily. His face +expressed great delight.</p> + +<p>“Where,” he said, “is the young fellow called Phillips? I wish to see +him at once, to embrace him. I shall bestow on him the Order of the +Pink Vulture of Megalia, First Class. I shall make him a Count. Do you +think, my friend, that he would wish to be a Count? His action is most +noble. He is a good sporter. I will now go back to Paris. The Emperor +can say no more to me. The young fellow Phillips has married the +girl.”</p> + +<p>“Not quite married her,” said Gorman, “but it’s nearly the same +thing.”</p> + +<p>The King waved his hand airily.</p> + +<p>“It is quite the same thing. No man of honour—the young fellow +Phillips is above all a man of honour—would go backwards from his +word. Besides there is your English court of broken promises of +marriage. He would not face that. I write at once to the Emperor. I +tell him that I regret, that I am desolate, but I can do no more. The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>young fellow Phillips has cut me up—no, has cut out—that is, he has +cut me in. Then I return to Paris. To-day I shall start. The navy of +Megalia will get up steam and——”</p> + +<p>The King stopped abruptly. The smile died on his face. He had all the +appearance of extreme dejection.</p> + +<p>“My friend,” he said, “it will not work. I forgot one thing. I am up +in a tree. What am I to do?”</p> + +<p>“What’s the matter?” said Gorman. “You were just saying you’d go back +to Paris. That strikes me as an excellent plan. What’s the matter with +it?”</p> + +<p>“I had forgotten one thing,” said the King. “If I cannot marry the +girl, I am no longer any use. The Emperor will not care a damn what +happens to me. The Admiral of Megalia is there, Gorman, on the navy. +The Emperor’s command no longer protects. The admiral will say, ‘Hell +and Hurrah! Now is my chance.’”</p> + +<p>“Do you mean to say you think the admiral will assassinate you?”</p> + +<p>“It is as certain as two and two and four. If I return to my navy I +follow poor Otto at once. The admiral will know that if I cannot marry +the girl the Emperor will not care about me. Perhaps it is better +after all that I marry her.”</p> + +<p>“I’ve told you already that you can’t.”</p> + +<p>“Pooh! You are thinking of the young fellow Phillips. A word to the +admiral and Phillips will no longer blockade the way.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p><p>“Look here,” said Gorman, “there’s no use talking that kind of +nonsense. Your admiral appears to be a man with a taste for murder, +but he can’t be allowed to run amok in that way. And Miss Donovan +would not marry you even if Phillips was out of the way. Get that into +your head once for all.”</p> + +<p>“Great Scott and damn!” said the King. “Do you think I want to marry +her. No, my friend, there is nothing I desire less except to follow +poor Otto. I do not want to marry the girl. To be married to her would +make me bored, but it would make me much more bored to die.”</p> + +<p>“The thing for you to do,” said Gorman, “is to stay where you are. +Don’t go on board your navy. Donovan has asked you to stay at the +palace. You’ll be safe here. We won’t even ask the admiral to dinner +if you’d rather we didn’t.”</p> + +<p>“It will be dull, dull as the water of a ditch,” said the King +mournfully.</p> + +<p>“You needn’t stay here for ever,” said Gorman. “There’ll be an English +ship back in a short time and you can go home in her. Madame will be +waiting for you all right.”</p> + +<p>“Poor Corinne!” said the King. “I left her in Paris. Steinwitz said +so, and he spoke for the Emperor. ‘You go to marry,’ he said, +‘therefore Madame must stay.’”</p> + +<p>“From his point of view he was right there,” said Gorman, “and it’s +just as well that Madame did not come with you. Donovan is a +broad-minded <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>man; but you couldn’t expect him to put up you and +Madame in the palace. It would be trying him rather high.”</p> + +<p>“Ah,” said the King. “Poor Corinne! She will be desolate.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Gorman, “you’d better come along now and see Donovan. He +ought to be down here to receive you, of course. But these +Americans—I’m sure you’ll understand—they’re not accustomed to +kings.”</p> + +<p>“Say no more,” said the King, “not a word. I go to pay my respects. I +bow. I abase myself. I am a king. It is true. But I have no money, +only a little, a very little left. He is not a king, but he has money. +Gorman, I am not a Bourbon. I am able to learn and forget. He who can +write a cheque is a greater man than he who can confer the Order of +the Pink Vulture of Megalia. I have learned that. Also I can forget, +forget that I am a king.”</p> + +<p>We must do Konrad Karl justice. No king was ever more willing to +forget his rank than he was. The real trouble with him was that he +seldom remembered it.</p> + +<p>“Come along then,” said Gorman, “but don’t get talking business to +Donovan.”</p> + +<p>“Business! Why do you so often misunderstand me, you who ought to know +me well? First you think that I desire to marry that girl—as if it +were possible that I should. Then you fear that I will <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>talk business. +Am I one that talks business ever, to any one, if I can help it?”</p> + +<p>“I mean,” said Gorman, “don’t say anything about buying the island or +marrying the girl. Donovan’s heart is dicky, or he thinks it is, which +comes to the same thing—and any sort of worry upsets him.”</p> + +<p>“I see it,” said the King. “I understand. Trust me. Mumm will be the +word. Mumm extra sec. Mumm at 190 shillings a dozen. You can trust +me.”</p> + +<p>King Konrad Karl made himself most agreeable to Donovan. He did not +once mention the sale of the island or hint at a marriage with the +Queen. He talked about the scenery. He discussed the character, +manners and customs of the inhabitants. He inquired whether Donovan +were satisfied with the palace, admitted frankly that the +accommodation was not all that could be desired. In just such a way an +English gentleman might converse with a satisfactory tenant to whom he +had let his country house for the hunting season. Donovan repeated the +invitation which Gorman had given in his name, and pressed the King to +treat the palace as his own during his stay in Salissa. The King +accepted the invitation with profuse thanks. Donovan rang a bell which +lay on the table beside him.</p> + +<p>“I’ll tell Smith,” he said, “to get your luggage ashore right now and +fix up a room for you.”</p> + +<p>I have always admired Smith. He is not only competent in practical +affairs. He has nerve and coolness of a very high order. He found +himself in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>a difficult position when Donovan’s bell sounded. He knew +that the King had landed, knew that he was with Donovan and Gorman on +the balcony. In Smith’s position I think I should have sent some one +else to take Donovan’s orders, one of the island girls, or one of the +boys who were by that time presentable footmen. I should, I feel sure, +have concealed myself, feigned sickness, made any excuse, rather than +face the King in the presence of Donovan and Gorman. But Smith is +greatly my superior. He appeared at once in answer to the summons of +the bell. He stood half-way between Donovan’s chair and the door which +opened on the balcony. He did not even glance at the King. But the +King recognized him at once.</p> + +<p>“Ah,” he said. “It is, yes. Hell’s delight! It is the excellent Fritz. +It is so long since I have seen you, Fritz, I began to think you were +dead.”</p> + +<p>“No, your Majesty, not yet,” said Smith. “I hope your Majesty is quite +well, and Mr. Steinwitz, if you’ll excuse my asking. I hope Mr. +Steinwitz is quite well.”</p> + +<p>“That swine,” said the King, “is, as always, swallowing in the mire.”</p> + +<p>“You’ll excuse my asking, your Majesty,” said Smith, “but I like to +hear about Mr. Steinwitz. It was Mr. Steinwitz who got me my present +situation—a very good situation, your Majesty.”</p> + +<p>“Smith,” said Donovan, “get the King’s luggage ashore. He’s going to +stay here for a bit. You must make him as comfortable as you can.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span></p><p>“Yes, sir,” said Smith. “I’ll see to that, sir, at once. Anything +else, sir?”</p> + +<p>“Not now,” said Donovan.</p> + +<p>“Thank you, sir,” said Smith.</p> + +<p>Then he left the balcony. Many men, perhaps most men, would not have +gone far away, would have lingered near one of the open windows which +gave on the balcony, nervously anxious to hear what was said about +them. Smith was not in the least nervous. He went straight to the +landing steps and was to be seen a few moments later rowing out to the +steamer. He probably guessed pretty accurately what questions Donovan +and Gorman would ask. He must have known what King Konrad Karl would +tell them. He would discover in due time what they decided to do. +There was no real need for eavesdropping. Yet I think most men would +have tried to listen.</p> + +<p>“Seems to me,” said Donovan to the King, “that you’re acquainted with +Smith. I’m not asking questions. It’s no affair of mine, anyway. Don’t +say a word unless you like. I’m not curious.”</p> + +<p>“I am,” said Gorman, “infernally curious. Who is Smith?”</p> + +<p>“For five years,” said the King, “perhaps for more—who knows—he has +walked on my shadow. He has been a beagle hound, nose down, on my +smell, pursuing it. Never until last April has he run off the tracks.”</p> + +<p>“Blackmail?” said Donovan.</p> + +<p>The King looked puzzled, though “blackmail” is <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>a word he might have +been expected to know. Gorman explained.</p> + +<p>“Getting money out of you,” he said, “for hushing up any inconvenient +little episodes, undertaking not to tell stories he happened to have +heard. You know the sort of thing I mean.”</p> + +<p>“No man,” said the King sadly, “can get money out of me. It is +like—how do you say?—the riding breeches of the Scottish soldiers, +not there. Nor do I say hush about my little episodes. Pooh! my friend +Gorman. These episodes, what are they? The English middling classes +like to pretend that there are no episodes. But there are, always, and +we others—we do not say hush.”</p> + +<p>“If it wasn’t blackmail,” said Donovan, “what kept him tracking you?”</p> + +<p>“Ask my friend Gorman,” said the King. “He knows.”</p> + +<p>“I do not,” said Gorman, “unless——”</p> + +<p>King Konrad Karl smiled pleasantly.</p> + +<p>“Unless——” said Gorman. “Oh, damn it all. I suppose it was the +Emperor.”</p> + +<p>“You have it,” said the King. “He is of the Emperor’s secret service. +He and Steinwitz. Steinwitz I do not like. He is an arrogant. He +assumes always the attitude of the dog on top. But of Fritz I make no +complaint. He is always civilian.”</p> + +<p>“I’d gather that,” said Gorman, “from the little I’ve seen of him. If +we must have a spy here—and of course there’s no help for that since +the Emperor says so—it’s better to have an agreeable <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>one. His job at +present, I suppose, is to keep an eye on Donovan and the island +generally.”</p> + +<p>“That Emperor,” said Donovan, “seems to me to butt in unnecessarily. +But I’m obliged to him. Smith is the best servant I’ve struck since I +first took to employing a hired help.”</p> + +<p>“It will be sad,” said the King, “when you kill him. A great loss.”</p> + +<p>“I don’t know,” said Donovan, “that I mean to kill him. He’s a +valuable man.”</p> + +<p>“The proper thing to do,” said Gorman, “is to put him on board the +Megalian navy and leave him to the admiral.”</p> + +<p>“Seems a pity,” said Donovan. “I don’t see how I could make my way +along the rugged path of life without Smith. He hasn’t done me any +kind of harm so far. I think I’ll wait a bit. It would worry me to +have to step down and take hold now. My heart——”</p> + +<p>“What I can’t get at even yet,” said Gorman, “is the idea in the +Emperor’s mind. He piles up scrap iron and ridiculous-looking cisterns +in a cave. He deluges the place with petrol. He sets a spy on Donovan. +Now what the devil does he do it for?”</p> + +<p>The King shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>“<i>Real Politik</i>, perhaps,” he said. “But how do I know? I am a king, +certainly. But I am not a whale on the sea of <i>Real Politik</i>. Your +whale is a fish that bores, always. Perhaps if you ask Fritz he will +know.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span></p><p>“By the way,” said Donovan, “what’s the man’s real name?”</p> + +<p>“Once,” said the King, “he was Calmet, M. de Calmet. At that time he +was French. Later he was Heyduk, a Captain in the army of Megalia. +Also he was Freidwig, and he came from Stockholm. He was for some time +the Count Pozzaro. I have also heard——”</p> + +<p>“That’s enough for me,” said Donovan. “I’ll stick to Smith as long as +he’ll answer to it. Seems simpler.”</p> + +<p>Gorman rose from his chair and crossed the balcony. He stood for a +minute or two looking out at the bay. Smith’s boat, rowed steadily, +reached the side of the steamer. Smith climbed on board.</p> + +<p>“I shouldn’t wonder,” said Gorman, “if we’ve seen the last of our +friend Smith.”</p> + +<p>“I hope not,” said Donovan. “Why do you think so?”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Gorman, “if I were in his shoes I think I should stay in +the Megalian navy. It’ll be rather awkward for him now we’ve found him +out.”</p> + +<p>“He will return,” said the King.</p> + +<p>“I shouldn’t,” said Gorman. “Of course that admiral, being the kind of +man he is, it’s risky to stay with him; but then Smith has got to take +risks whatever he does. And he may have some sort of safe conduct from +the Emperor which will make the admiral nervous about cutting his +throat.”</p> + +<p>“He will return,” said the King. “It is plain that <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>the Emperor has +said to him: ‘Follow the smell of the American.’ He will not leave +it.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, of course,” said Gorman. “I’m always forgetting the Emperor. If +he has given definite orders of that kind they’ll be obeyed. I daresay +Smith is telegraphing for definite instructions at this moment. They +have a wireless installation, so I suppose he can.”</p> + +<p>“Behold,” said the King. “My luggage descends to the boat. Smith will +follow. Did I not tell you?”</p> + +<p>Two sailors were lowering various suit-cases and bags into the boat. A +few minutes later Smith dropped from the steamer’s side and took the +oars.</p> + +<p>“Donovan,” said Gorman, “the Emperor is evidently really anxious about +your smell.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">I</span> do not think that the Emperor’s plan for restoring Salissa to the +Crown of Megalia by means of a marriage would have worked, even if +there had been no such person as Maurice Phillips. The Queen did not +like Konrad Karl. She was not, of course, openly disagreeable or +uncivil to him. She was too sweet-tempered and good-hearted to be +disagreeable to any one, and she had a strong sense of what was due to +a guest in her house. But it was plain enough not only to Gorman, but +to the King himself, that she did not like him. This does not appear +to have been the King’s fault. Konrad Karl had many of the instincts +of a gentleman. It is an odd fact, but I think undeniable, that a man +may be a blackguard and remain a gentleman. There was, for instance, +no fault to be found with Konrad Karl’s behaviour towards the Queen, +though he had come to the island intending to insult her by marrying +her. He did his best to talk pleasantly to her, and he could be very +pleasant when he chose. He never attempted to flirt with her. His +manner was always respectful and he tried to help her in various ways, +even going to her school in the mornings and giving the children +drawing lessons. She could not <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>herself have told why she disliked +him. She certainly had no idea that there was any question of his +marrying her. But she slipped into the habit of spending most of her +time in the boat with Kalliope. Konrad Karl used to go down to the +palace steps and see her off. He never ventured into a boat himself. +He had an uneasy feeling that the Megalian admiral was watching him +and would kidnap him at once if he left the security of the land.</p> + +<p>The Queen’s unfriendliness did not trouble him much.</p> + +<p>“The American girl,” he said to Gorman, “would not have done for me, +or do I say she would have done for me? Which is it?”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Gorman, “either expresses your meaning and I quite agree +with you. She would not have done for you, and in the long run if you +didn’t do for her she would certainly have done for you.”</p> + +<p>“The English language is wonderful,” said the King. “She would not, +and she would. It is the same in English. But my meaning is true. It +is well I did not marry her. I must give many thanks to Phillips. If +Phillips had not done for her I should have been done for.”</p> + +<p>“As it is,” said Gorman, “it’s the Emperor who’s done.”</p> + +<p>“Ah,” said the King. “I give in. I give up. I give out. That word +‘done’—it is too much for me.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span></p><p>It was not like the King to give in to an English idiom. As a rule he +rushed at one the minute he heard it with reckless confidence. But he +was depressed and lonely on Salissa. He chatted cheerily enough to +Donovan. He was always bright and talkative at meals. But he confessed +to Gorman several times that he missed Madame Ypsilante very much.</p> + +<p>It was Gorman’s curious fortune at this time to receive the love +confidences of three different people. Phillips had poured raptures +into his ear during the voyage to the island. The Queen, having no one +else to treat as a confidant, often talked to him about Phillips. The +King was expansive about Madame Ypsilante. One evening he became very +sentimental, almost lachrymose. He and Gorman were sitting together +near the flagstaff, smoking and looking out towards the harbour where +the Megalian navy still lay at anchor.</p> + +<p>“Ah,” said the King, “my poor Corinne! She will languish. I think of +Corinne and I see that her eyes are full of mourning, like the eyes of +a wood dove. Gorman, I cannot bear the weight. It will be better that +I take the risk, that I go on the navy. The admiral will make me walk +a plank. That is certain. But it might be that I should survive. And +then I should rejoin Corinne, poor Corinne who mourns.”</p> + +<p>“I don’t expect she’s mourning as much as all that,” said Gorman. +“She’s got those pearls, you know.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span></p><p>“I,” said the King, “I alone am her pearl. But, alas, I cannot even +write to her. She will think that I am dead and her heart will fall to +pieces.”</p> + +<p>“She’s much more likely to think that you’ve married Miss Donovan,” +said Gorman.</p> + +<p>“Of course she will think that. It was what I came to do. That she +will not mind. But if she thinks that I am dead, that the admiral has +cooked a goose for me; then she will indeed be sad. Gorman, my friend, +what shall I do to reassure her?”</p> + +<p>“I can’t possibly advise you,” said Gorman. “I don’t understand women. +I should have thought she’d much rather you were dead than married to +Miss Donovan.”</p> + +<p>“Ah no,” said the King. “Believe me, my friend, you know much; but you +do not know the heart of Corinne.”</p> + +<p>The King’s faith was very touching. But Gorman still maintains that he +was not far wrong about Madame Ypsilante’s feelings. She might not +actually have preferred the King’s death; but she certainly did not +want to see him married to Miss Donovan.</p> + +<p>The King drew a last mouthful of smoke from his cigar and then flung +the end of it into the sea.</p> + +<p>“Gorman,” he said, “what is it that your great English poet had so +beautifully said? ‘If you were the only girl in the world and I were +the only boy.’ That is Corinne and me. ‘A garden of Eden just made for +two.’ That is Paris. I have always admired <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>the English poets. It is +so true, what they say.”</p> + +<p>He gazed out across the bay as he spoke. The sun was setting. The +water was exquisitely calm. It was a moment for the most luscious +sentiment. Even Gorman, to whom sentiment is an abhorrent kind of +indecency, felt uncomfortable.</p> + +<p>A small boat slipped round the southern headland of the bay. She was +rowing fast. The King jumped to his feet suddenly. He pointed to the +boat. He waved his arms wildly.</p> + +<p>“Buck up,” he shouted, “it is—I will eat my hat—it is Corinne! She +comes to me!”</p> + +<p>“Nonsense,” said Gorman. “That’s Miss Donovan’s boat. She’s coming +home for dinner. Sit down and don’t get excited.”</p> + +<p>“I am sorry,” said the King, “but I cannot. It is impossible for me to +keep on my hair when Corinne is coming.”</p> + +<p>“Corinne isn’t coming,” said Gorman. “How could she?”</p> + +<p>“I see her. I see her. The dickens, and Great Jupiter, my eyes see +her.”</p> + +<p>“You can’t tell one woman from another at that distance. What you see +is either Miss Donovan or Kalliope.”</p> + +<p>The boat drew rapidly nearer. Gorman stared at her.</p> + +<p>“There <i>are</i> three women,” he said. “I wonder who the other is.”</p> + +<p>“Corinne. Corinne,” said the King.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span></p><p>To Gorman’s amazement the King was right. The boat reached the +landing steps. In her were the Queen, Kalliope and a very dishevelled +Madame Ypsilante. That lady was never, at any time of her life, an +outdoor woman. When she travelled it was in the wagons-lits of +trains-de-luxes, and in specially reserved cabins of steamers. Her +journey to Salissa had been performed in far less luxurious ways and +her appearance had suffered. Her complexion was streaky. Her hair +straggled about a good deal, and several damp-looking locks hung like +thick bootlaces around her face. Her dress was crumpled and had two +large patches of dirt on it. But all this made no difference to the +King. He folded her in his arms and kissed her directly she got out of +the boat.</p> + +<p>“Corinne,” he said, “now I shall be no longer sad.”</p> + +<p>Madame returned his kisses with vigour.</p> + +<p>“My Konrad,” she said, “and you are not married after all.”</p> + +<p>It was that remark, her greeting to the King, which made Gorman feel +sure that he had been right about her feeling, that she really did not +like the idea of the marriage.</p> + +<p>Konrad Karl took her by the hand and led her into the palace.</p> + +<p>The Queen was still sitting in the stern of the boat. Since Madame +Ypsilante fell into Konrad Karl’s arms the Queen had turned her back +on the landing slip and gazed steadily out to sea. Only <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>when the +sound of their footsteps made her sure that her guests were going into +the palace did she venture to look round cautiously.</p> + +<p>“It’s all right,” said Gorman. “You can come on shore.”</p> + +<p>He held out his hand to her.</p> + +<p>“And do tell me,” he said, “where you found her. She looked to me +rather as if she had been washed up some time yesterday and had spent +last night in a cave.”</p> + +<p>“Who is she?” said the Queen.</p> + +<p>“Her name,” said Gorman, “is Ypsilante, Madame Corinne Ypsilante.”</p> + +<p>“She told me that much. But I want to know what is she?”</p> + +<p>The question was an awkward one to answer. Gorman did the best he +could.</p> + +<p>“A friend of the King’s,” he said.</p> + +<p>“Well,” said the Queen. “He’ll be able to marry her now. The poor +thing was in dreadful distress. She thought he was going to marry me. +And she’s engaged to him. She told me so herself.”</p> + +<p>I am sure that Gorman did not smile; but there must have been a +twinkle in his eyes which betrayed him. The Queen is extremely quick +at reading such signs. She turned on him sharply.</p> + +<p>“Aren’t they engaged to be married?” she asked.</p> + +<p>“Kings,” said Gorman, “are in a peculiar position with regard to these +matters. Their matrimonial arrangements are not made in what we regard +as <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>the normal way. To speak of a king as being ‘engaged’ is——”</p> + +<p>“I’m a queen.”</p> + +<p>“Of course. Of course.”</p> + +<p>“And I’m engaged to be married; so why can’t he be? Anyhow he is, for +she told me so. I asked her and she said yes!”</p> + +<p>Gorman did not feel equal to arguing about the precise nature of +Madame Ypsilante’s claims on the King.</p> + +<p>“You haven’t told me yet where you found her,” he said.</p> + +<p>“Kalliope and I,” said the Queen, “were picnicking in a little bay a +long way from this, quite the other side of the island. There was a +fishing boat standing in towards the shore. It came to our beach and +she got out. That’s all.”</p> + +<p>“Quite simple after all,” said Gorman. “I suppose you were scarcely +even surprised.”</p> + +<p>“Well, I was rather,” said the Queen, “just at first until she told +me.”</p> + +<p>“Told you what?” said Gorman. “You’re skipping all the interesting +part.”</p> + +<p>“Don’t be stupid,” said the Queen. “She told me about being engaged to +the King and thinking that he was going to marry me. Of course, when +she thought that she came here as quick as ever she could to see him. +Any one would. Not that I’d ever think such a thing about Maurice. But +then he wouldn’t. Still, I quite understand her coming here in a boat. +But I do wonder what made her <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>think he was going to marry me. He +never even tried. Who could have told her such a thing?”</p> + +<p>“Probably the Emperor,” said Gorman.</p> + +<p>The Queen burst out laughing.</p> + +<p>“I believe,” she said, “that if the house fell down and Kalliope +eloped with Smith and father took to rowing races with old Stephanos +you’d put it all down to the Emperor.”</p> + +<p>“I would,” said Gorman.</p> + +<p>“Anyhow, I’m going to dress now. Come along, Kalliope.”</p> + +<p>Madame Ypsilante, very much to Gorman’s relief, did not appear at +dinner. She went straight to bed, intending, so the King said, to stay +there for twenty-four hours at least.</p> + +<p>Later in the evening, after the Queen had left them, Konrad Karl, +Donovan and Gorman sat together smoking. For a while no one spoke. At +last Konrad Karl, who had no gift of silence, began:</p> + +<p>“My poor Corinne! She was desolate. I told you, Gorman, that she would +be desolate, but you would not believe. Yet it was so. Steinwitz said, +‘No. You cannot go with the King.’ But she was more than too much, she +was the equal of Steinwitz. She told him all she thought of him. It +was much.”</p> + +<p>“I don’t like Steinwitz,” said Gorman, “but what I know of Madame’s +conduct in moments of strong emotion I’m inclined to pity the man.”</p> + +<p>“Then,” said the King, “she was like a bee, making lines for Salissa.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span></p><p>“She did pretty well,” said Gorman, “considering that she could only +get a fishing boat for the last part of the journey. I wonder she got +here so soon. But look here, you know—it seems a beastly thing to +say, but——”</p> + +<p>Here Donovan roused himself.</p> + +<p>“I’m not a narrow-minded man,” he said, “and I hope I’m not the victim +of prejudice; but I’m afraid——”</p> + +<p>King Konrad Karl waved his hand. Then he stood up, swallowed half a +glass of brandy and laid down his cigar.</p> + +<p>“I am Konrad Karl of Megalia,” he said. “I am a black sheep, very +black. I am a blackguard. You say it, Donovan. You say it, Gorman, my +friend.”</p> + +<p>“I didn’t,” said Gorman.</p> + +<p>“Cut that part,” said Donovan. “Nobody wants to start in abusing you.”</p> + +<p>“I am,” said the King with an air of simple pride, “I am a blackguard, +the blackest guard of all. Good. But I am a King and I am a gentleman. +Good. I know that poor Corinne must go. She cannot stay here. That is +what you would say, and you are right. I know it. There are <i>les +convenances</i>. There is the charming Miss Donovan.”</p> + +<p>“That’s it,” said Donovan. “If it were simply a matter of Gorman and +me——I don’t like saying these things—but——”</p> + +<p>“But you are right,” said the King. “Right as nails. Corinne must go. +But I go with her. To-morrow we depart, she and I. We take a boat. I +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span>row with oars. We fly. The navy of Megalia pursues. It overtakes. +Good. We die. Perhaps the navy mistakes. It pursues by another route, +a way we have not gone. Good. We live. Either way you shut us. No. We +shut you. No. I have it. We are shut of us.”</p> + +<p>“That’s rather a hopeless programme,” said Gorman. “I don’t suppose +you can row much.”</p> + +<p>“I cannot row at all,” said the King.</p> + +<p>“The navy is a pretty rotten-looking tub,” said Gorman. “But it can +hardly help catching you. You won’t even be out of sight before it has +steam up.”</p> + +<p>The King sat down, looking very miserable. He made no pretence of +liking the prospect before him.</p> + +<p>“And Corinne,” he murmured, “will be sick, as a dog is sick. She is +sick always at sea.”</p> + +<p>Gorman and Donovan felt sorry for him. Donovan was particularly +irritated at the situation in which he found himself.</p> + +<p>“If it wasn’t for my daughter——” he said. “But, damn it all, what +can I do?”</p> + +<p>“I wonder,” said Gorman, “if it would be possible to—well, shall we +say regularize the situation?”</p> + +<p>He looked inquiringly at Donovan and then at the King. Donovan grasped +the idea first.</p> + +<p>“That’s it,” he said. “Look here,” he turned to the King. “Why the +hell don’t you marry her at once? Then everything would be all right.”</p> + +<p>“Marry her!” said the King. “But that——Oh, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span>damn! Oh Great Scott! +That is impossible. You do not understand.”</p> + +<p>“It’s the right thing to do,” said Donovan, “besides being the only +possible way out of the hole we are in. And I don’t see the +impossibility. If you’re holding back on account of any mediæval +European notions about monarchs being a different kind of flesh and +blood from other people——”</p> + +<p>“It is not that,” said the King.</p> + +<p>“If it is,” said Donovan, “you may just go off in a boat and be +drowned. I shan’t pity you.”</p> + +<p>“But it is not that.” The King jumped about with excitement. “I am a +king, it is true. But I am a man of liberated soul. I say ‘Kings, what +are kings?’ Democracy is the card to play, the trump. I play it now +and always. I have no prejudices. But when you say to me: ‘There is no +impossibility, marry Corinne,’ I reply: ‘You do not understand. There +is one thing more to reckon with.’ Donovan, you have forgotten——”</p> + +<p>“I haven’t forgotten,” said Gorman. “I never get a chance of +forgetting. It’s the Emperor, as usual.”</p> + +<p>“You have shot the bull in his eye,” said the King. “Donovan, it is +that. Gorman knows. There is the Emperor. Therefore I cannot marry +Corinne.”</p> + +<p>“I’d see that Emperor a long way,” said Donovan, “before I’d allow him +to dictate to me.”</p> + +<p>“Ah,” said the King, “but you do not understand the Emperor.”</p> + +<p>“I don’t believe any one does,” said Gorman.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span></p><p>“Well,” said Donovan, “I do <i>not</i> understand your Emperor. I own up to +that. But you think over my suggestion, and you’ll find, Emperor or no +Emperor, there isn’t any genuine obstacle.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">K</span>ing Konrad Karl slept badly that night. Donovan’s plan seemed to him +quite hopeless. He went to bed fully persuaded that he and his beloved +Corinne would have to embark next day and make a considerable voyage +in an open boat. I do not blame him for being disturbed at the +prospect. I am fond of boats myself and can enjoy a ten-tonner very +well; but nothing would induce me to go to sea with Madame Ypsilante +in anything less comfortable than a well-equipped steam yacht of 1,000 +tons. Besides there was the pursuit of the Megalian navy to be +considered.</p> + +<p>The King was not the only person who missed his proper sleep. Gorman +lay awake for two hours. He was tormented by the feeling that it was +barbarous to turn Konrad Karl and Madame Ypsilante adrift in a boat. +Donovan was more fortunate. He slept untroubled by any worry about his +guests. It seemed to him the simplest thing in the world that the King +should marry Madame next day. Stephanos should perform the ceremony. +Stephanos officiated at all the islanders’ marriages.</p> + +<p>There was, as it turned out, neither a flight nor a wedding next day. +Madame Ypsilante developed <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span>a feverish chill. She was plainly quite +unfit for a boat voyage and in no condition to be married. The Queen +and Kalliope took up the work of nursing her with enthusiasm. The +Queen would not listen to a word Gorman said to her. Her view was that +Madame Ypsilante was the heroine of a splendid romance, that she had +fled to her fiancé across land and sea, braving awful dangers, +enduring incredible hardships for dear love’s sake. She felt that she +would have done the same thing herself if Phillips, by any trick of +fate, had been marooned on a South Pacific island. There was plainly +no use trying to hint at delicate proprieties to a girl in such a +mood. Gorman, after one or two attempts, gave it up.</p> + +<p>He had, indeed, quite early in the day, other things to attend to. At +about ten o’clock there were signs of great activity on board the +Megalian navy. The crew—there appeared to be about fifteen men +altogether—was paraded on deck and addressed from the bridge by the +admiral. The speech must have been an exciting and important one, for +the admiral gesticulated violently. When he stopped, the crew cheered. +Gorman watched the proceedings. He was interested—as an expert—in +the effects of oratory.</p> + +<p>When the cheering was over, the admiral gave two or three orders. The +crew immediately began to run about the deck in a confused and +tumultuous manner. After a while they settled down to the work of +getting the covers off the steamer’s two <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span>guns. Some shells—Gorman +supposed they must be shells—were carried on deck. The guns were +swung round and pointed at the palace. Then they were loaded. A solemn +business, very carefully carried out under the immediate eye of the +admiral.</p> + +<p>King Konrad Karl came running to Gorman. He was in a state of +considerable excitement.</p> + +<p>“That admiral,” he said, “has it in mind to stone the palace. He has +stones for those guns. I know it.”</p> + +<p>“If it was a matter of stones,” said Gorman, “but they look to me more +like shells.”</p> + +<p>“Shells, stones, it is the same. He will batter, destroy, slay. +Gorman, my friend, it must not be.”</p> + +<p>“Why the devil does he want to do it?” said Gorman. “Now don’t say +<i>Real Politik</i> or the Emperor. I simply can’t believe that either one +or the other would set that pirate shooting at us.”</p> + +<p>“It is <i>Real Politik</i>, without doubt,” said the King. “And it is the +Emperor. But it is also me, me, Konrad Karl of Megalia. I am—what is +it you say in English?—I am wanted. And I go. I offer myself. I +become a ewe lamb of sacrifice. I say good-bye. I leave Corinne. I go. +Then the admiral will not stone the palace.”</p> + +<p>“Don’t start for a minute or two yet,” said Gorman. “The pirate is +sending a boat ashore. We may as well hear what he has to say.”</p> + +<p>It was the admiral himself who landed. He was in full dress. His +uniform was almost entirely covered with gold braid. Gold cords with +tassels at <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>their ends hung in festoons across his chest and down his +back. He carried a large sword in a highly gilt sheath. On his head +was a cocked hat with a tall pink feather in it, perhaps a plume from +the tail of the Megalian vulture.</p> + +<p>Gorman received him with great respect and led him up to Donovan’s +room.</p> + +<p>The admiral saluted Donovan gravely, and held out a large paper +carefully folded and sealed. Donovan offered him a cigar and a drink, +in a perfectly friendly way. The admiral replied by pushing his paper +forward towards Donovan. He knew no English. That was the only +possible way of explaining the fact that he ignored the offer of a +drink. Donovan nodded towards Gorman, who took the document from the +admiral and opened it.</p> + +<p>“Seems to me to be a kind of state paper,” he said. “Rather like an +Act of Parliament to look at; but it’s written in a language I don’t +know. Suppose we send for the King and get him to translate.”</p> + +<p>“If it’s an Act of Parliament,” said Donovan, “we’d better have Daisy +up too. She’s responsible for the government of this island.”</p> + +<p>The admiral guessed that his document was under discussion. He did not +know English, but he knew one word which was, at that time, common in +all languages.</p> + +<p>“Ultimatum,” he said solemnly.</p> + +<p>“That so?” said Donovan. “Then we must have Daisy.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span></p><p>I am inclined to think that Miss Donovan will never be a first-rate +queen. She is constitutionally incapable of that particular kind of +stupidity which is called dignity. In that hour of her country’s +destiny, her chief feeling was amusement at the appearance of the +admiral. She did not know, perhaps, that the guns of the Megalian navy +were trained on her palace. But she ought to have understood that +dignified conduct is desirable in dealing with admirals. She sat on +the corner of the table beside her father’s chair and swung her legs. +She smiled at the admiral. Now and then she choked down little fits of +laughter.</p> + +<p>King Konrad Karl took the matter much more seriously.</p> + +<p>He unfolded the paper which Gorman handed to him. He frowned fiercely +and then became suddenly explosive.</p> + +<p>“Deuce and Jove and damn!” he said. “This is the limitation of all. +Listen, my friends, to the cursed jaw—no, the infernal cheek, of +this: ‘The Megalian Government requires——’”</p> + +<p>He stopped, gasped, struck at the paper with his hand.</p> + +<p>“Go on,” said Gorman. “There’s nothing very bad so far. There is a +Megalian Government, I suppose?”</p> + +<p>“But I—I am the Megalian Government,” said the King.</p> + +<p>“It will be time enough to take up those points <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span>of constitutional law +afterwards. Let’s hear what’s in the paper first.”</p> + +<p>The King read on. His anger gave way by degrees to anxiety and +perplexity.</p> + +<p>“I cannot translate,” he said. “The English language does not contain +words in which to express the damned cheek of these flounders. They +say that you,” he pointed to the Queen, “and you, Donovan, and you, my +friend Gorman, must go at once on the Megalian navy. It will carry you +to Sicily. It will put you there in a dump, and you must embark before +noon. Great Scott!”</p> + +<p>“Oh, but that’s just silly,” said the Queen. “We shan’t take any +notice of it.”</p> + +<p>“In that case the admiral shoots,” said the King. “At noon, sharp up +to time, precise.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Donovan, “I guess I don’t mean to move.”</p> + +<p>“But,” said the King, “he can shoot. The navy of Megalia has shells +for its guns. It has six. I know it, for I bought them myself when I +sat on that cursed throne. Six, my friends.”</p> + +<p>“That’s a comfort, anyway,” said Donovan. “According to my notion of +the efficiency of that navy it will miss the island altogether with +the first five and be darned lucky if it knocks a chip off a cliff +with the sixth.”</p> + +<p>The Queen stopped swinging her feet and laughing at the admiral. She +was much more serious now. There was a gleam in her eyes which caught +Gorman’s attention.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span></p><p>“Father,” she said, “I’m going to hoist the American flag. I have one +in my room.”</p> + +<p>“Seems a pity,” said Donovan. “Your blue banner is nice enough.”</p> + +<p>“No one,” said the Queen, “would dare to fire on the Stars and +Stripes.”</p> + +<p>Miss Donovan, though an independent queen, was a patriotic American +citizen. In those days there were a good many patriotic American +citizens who believed that no one would dare to fire on the Stars and +Stripes. King Konrad Karl knew better.</p> + +<p>“Alas,” he said, “your Stars! your Stripes! if it were the Megalian +Government it would not dare. But this is not the ultimatum outrage of +the Megalian Government. Behind it, in the rear of its elbow, +stands——”</p> + +<p>“Of course he does,” said Gorman.</p> + +<p>“That darned Emperor?” said Donovan.</p> + +<p>Gorman nodded.</p> + +<p>“Daisy,” said Donovan, “I just hate to shatter your ideals, but I +reckon that Emperor would as soon fire on one flag as another; and +what’s more, I’m not inclined to think that Old Glory is liable to do +much in the way of putting up a battle afterwards. It’s painful to +you, Daisy, as a patriotic citizen; but what I say is the fact. In the +Middle West where I was raised we don’t think guns and shooting +constitute the proper way of settling international differences. We’ve +advanced some from those ideas. We’re a civilized people, specially in +the dry States where university education is rife <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span>and the influence +of women permeates elections. We’ve attained a nobler outlook upon +life.”</p> + +<p>The Queen was on her feet. Her eyes were flashing. Her lips trembled +with indignation.</p> + +<p>“Father,” she said, “are you going to let yourself be bullied by—by +that thing?” She pointed to the admiral with a gesture of contempt. +“Are you going to sneak on to his ship? Oh, if I were a man I’d hoist +the Stars and Stripes and fight. If they killed us America would +avenge us.”</p> + +<p>“You take me up wrong, Daisy,” said Donovan. “I don’t say I wouldn’t +fight if I had a gun. I might, and that’s a fact. But the way I’m +fixed at present, not having a gun, I intend to experiment with the +methods of peaceful settlement. I’m not above admitting that I share +the lofty notions of the cultivated disciples of peace. I’m a +humanitarian, and opposed on principle to the sacrifice of human life. +I just hate butting in and taking hold. The disordered nature of my +heart makes it dangerous for me to exert myself. But it seems to me +that this is a case in which I just have to. But if I do, I want to +handle things my own way. So you run away now, Daisy. Get that blue +banner of yours fluttering in the breeze, defying death and destiny.” +He turned to Konrad Karl. “I’d be obliged to you,” he said, “if you’d +tell that highly coloured ocean warrior that I count on him not to +start shooting till the time mentioned in his ultimatum. That leaves +me an hour and a quarter to work with the nobler weapons of civilized +pacifist conviction. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span>Tell him to go back to his ship and see that his +men don’t get monkeying with those six shells. Gorman,” he went on, +“you get hold of Smith and send him up here to me.”</p> + +<p>I think it was then that Gorman first realized the strength of +Donovan’s personality. The Queen, though she was in a high passion of +patriotism and defiance, left the room without a word. Konrad Karl +spluttered a little, uttering a series of ill-assorted oaths, but he +walked off the Megalian admiral and put him into a boat. Gorman +himself did what he was told without asking for a word of explanation.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">G</span>orman led Smith to Donovan’s room. The man must have known all about +the Megalian admiral’s threat. He probably understood, better than any +one else on the island, the meaning and purpose of the ultimatum +presented to Donovan. But he showed no signs of embarrassment or +excitement. When Gorman summoned him—he was brushing a pair of Konrad +Karl’s trousers at the moment—he apologized for having put Gorman to +the trouble of looking for him. When he entered the room where Donovan +waited he stood quietly near the door in his usual attitude of +respectful attention.</p> + +<p>Donovan greeted him as if he had been a friend and not a servant.</p> + +<p>“Take a chair, Smith, and sit down. I want to talk to you.”</p> + +<p>Smith refused to accept this new position.</p> + +<p>“Beg pardon, sir,” he said, “but if it’s all the same to you, I’d +rather stand. Seems more natural, sir.”</p> + +<p>Gorman, who had followed Smith into the room, hovered uncertainly near +the door. He very much wanted to hear what Donovan had to say; but he +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span>was not quite sure whether he was meant to be present.</p> + +<p>“Any objection to my staying?” he asked. “I’m interested in +international peace movements and Hague Conferences. I’d like to hear +how you mean to work this affair.”</p> + +<p>“Sit down,” said Donovan, “but don’t get interrupting. Now that I’ve +taken hold I mean to handle this damned business my own way.”</p> + +<p>Gorman sat down and lit his pipe. Donovan turned to Smith.</p> + +<p>“You’re a valuable man, Smith,” he said, “and I’d like to retain your +services.”</p> + +<p>“Thank you, sir,” said Smith. “I’ve done my best to give +satisfaction.”</p> + +<p>“But if you’re to stay on with me,” said Donovan, “we’ve got to have +some straight talk. I’d like it to be clearly understood that your +engagement with me is to be a whole-time job for the future.”</p> + +<p>“More satisfactory, sir, certainly.”</p> + +<p>“At present,” said Donovan, “you’re also engaged by Mr. Steinwitz.”</p> + +<p>“Not by Mr. Steinwitz, sir, if you’ll excuse my correcting you. By the +Emperor.”</p> + +<p>Gorman groaned deeply. Smith turned to him, solicitous, anxious to be +of use.</p> + +<p>“Beg pardon, sir, can I do anything for you, sir? Anything wrong, +sir?”</p> + +<p>“No,” said Gorman, “no. The mention of the Emperor upsets me a little. +That’s all. Don’t do <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span>it again, if you can help it, Smith. I’m sorry, +Donovan. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”</p> + +<p>Smith turned to Donovan again.</p> + +<p>“Perhaps I should say, sir, the Imperial Secret Service.”</p> + +<p>“Salary?” said Donovan.</p> + +<p>He showed no surprise, anger or disgust. Smith was equally cool. He +answered the question snapped at him as if it had been the most +natural in the world.</p> + +<p>“Well, sir, that depends. The salary varies according to +circumstances. And there are allowances, travelling, sir, and +subsistence, sometimes.”</p> + +<p>“Average?” said Donovan, “average net profit?”</p> + +<p>Smith thought for a minute before answering. He was apparently anxious +to be accurate and honest.</p> + +<p>“I think, sir, I may say £200 a year, taking one thing with another.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Donovan, “I’ll double that, in addition to what I’m +paying you at present; on condition that you’re in my service only. As +I said before, Smith, you’re a valuable man.”</p> + +<p>“Thank you, sir,” said Smith. “Very generous of you. I appreciate the +offer, but——”</p> + +<p>He paused. He had some objection to make, but he hesitated to put it +into words.</p> + +<p>“I treble the Emperor’s two hundred pounds,” said Donovan.</p> + +<p>“I beg pardon, sir. I wasn’t meaning to stand <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span>out for a larger +salary. That’s not my point, sir. What I was going to say, sir, +was——”</p> + +<p>Again he hesitated.</p> + +<p>“Patriotic scruples?” said Donovan. “Loyal to the Emperor? Feel kind +of mean deserting the service of your country?”</p> + +<p>“Oh no, sir, not at all. Scruples aren’t in my line, sir, and I am +Swiss by birth. No particular feeling of loyalty to anybody. The fact +is, sir, a man must keep his self-respect. I daresay you’ll +understand. I had no objection to taking on a valet’s job, sir, in the +way of business, as an agent of the Intelligence Department. But it’s +rather a different thing, sir—if you catch my point—to enter +domestic service as a profession. A man doesn’t like to lose caste, +sir.”</p> + +<p>“That’s a real difficulty,” said Donovan. “As an American citizen I +understand your feeling and respect it. See any way out?”</p> + +<p>“It occurs to me, sir—it’s for you to decide, of course. But it +occurs to me that if I might enter the Intelligence Department of +Salissa, there’d be no interference with my work in the palace. +Anything I could do to make you comfortable. But as agent of the +Queen’s Secret Service I should be——I hope you catch my point, sir. +You see I held a commission at one time in the Megalian Army.”</p> + +<p>“You may consider yourself engaged, Smith,” said Donovan, “or perhaps +I ought to say nominated, as head of the Intelligence Department of +the Kingdom of Salissa.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span></p><p>“Thank you, sir. When would you like me to take over my new duties?”</p> + +<p>“You can begin right now,” said Donovan.</p> + +<p>“Very good, sir. I beg to report that England declared war on Germany +this morning. The news came by wireless to the admiral.”</p> + +<p>Gorman dropped his pipe and sat upright suddenly.</p> + +<p>“Good Lord!” he said. “England. Germany. I say, Donovan, if this is +true——”</p> + +<p>Donovan motioned him to silence with a wave of his hand.</p> + +<p>“Salissa,” he said, “is a neutral State.”</p> + +<p>“But,” said Gorman, “if there’s a European war——”</p> + +<p>Donovan ignored him.</p> + +<p>“Smith,” he said, “that admiral informs me that he has orders to +deport us from this island and dump us down somewhere in Sicily. That +so?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, sir,” said Smith. “Those are the Emperor’s orders. Very urgent +orders. In the case of your refusal to obey, the admiral is to fire on +the palace.”</p> + +<p>“So I understand,” said Donovan. “Now what I want you to do is to go +off to the steamer and negotiate with the admiral.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, sir.”</p> + +<p>“Shall we say £500? or ought I to go higher?”</p> + +<p>“I don’t think,” said Smith, “that it will be necessary to give so +much. If you will allow me to suggest, I’d say an offer of £10.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span></p><p>For the first time since the interview began Donovan was startled.</p> + +<p>“Ten pounds!” he said. “Do you mean ten?”</p> + +<p>“Giving me permission to rise to twenty pounds if necessary,” said +Smith.</p> + +<p>“But an admiral!” said Donovan. “Remember he’s an admiral.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, sir. But admirals aren’t quite the same thing here as in +England. Don’t belong to the same class. Don’t draw the same salary.”</p> + +<p>“Make it twenty-five pounds,” said Donovan. “I’d be ashamed to offer +less to a Tammany boss.”</p> + +<p>“Very good, sir, just as you please, sir.”</p> + +<p>“Right,” said Donovan. “And now we’ve got that settled, and we’ve +three-quarters of an hour to spare, before the bombardment is timed to +begin. There are one or two points I’d like to have cleared up. But I +wish you’d sit down, Smith, and take a cigar. As head of the +Intelligence Department of this kingdom——”</p> + +<p>“If you’re quite sure, sir, that there isn’t anything you want me to +fetch. A drink, sir?”</p> + +<p>“Not for me,” said Donovan. “I want to talk.”</p> + +<p>Smith sat down, stretched himself comfortably in a deep chair and lit +a cigar.</p> + +<p>“What’s the Emperor’s game?” said Donovan. “What’s he after? What the +hell does he mean by monkeying round this island ever since I bought +it?”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Smith, “I haven’t got what you could call official +knowledge of the Emperor’s plans. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span>My orders came to me through +Steinwitz, and Steinwitz doesn’t talk unnecessarily.”</p> + +<p>The servant manner and the cockney accent disappeared when Smith sat +down. He talked to Donovan as one man of the world to another.</p> + +<p>“Still,” said Donovan, “you’ve got some sort of idea.”</p> + +<p>“Last December,” said Smith, “I was in London keeping an eye on King +Konrad Karl. The Emperor liked to know what he was doing. One day I +got orders to take delivery of some large cisterns from a firm in +Germany, paying for them by cheque drawn on my own account. They were +consigned to me as water cisterns. My business was to ship them to +Hamburg and hand them over to Captain von Moll. That’s all I was told. +But I happened to find out what von Moll’s orders were. He was to land +those cisterns in Salissa. I satisfied myself that they were here as +soon as I arrived with you on the <i>Ida</i>. Von Moll concealed them very +well; but he was a bit careless in other ways. He seems to have lived +in the palace while he was here and he left some papers lying about, +torn up but not burnt. One of them was a letter from Steinwitz. +Phillips, the officer of the <i>Ida</i>, had his eye on those papers. I +swept them up and destroyed them.”</p> + +<p>“And the cisterns?” said Donovan. “What are they for?”</p> + +<p>“If you consider the geographical position of Salissa, you’ll see in a +moment. The island lies a bit off the main steamer route between +Marseilles <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span>and the Suez Canal; but not too far off. Now I happen to +know that the Emperor places great reliance on submarines. In the +event of a war with England he depends on submarines to cut the trade +routes and sink transports. But submarines operating in the +Mediterranean require bases of supply.”</p> + +<p>“Petrol?” said Gorman.</p> + +<p>“And spare parts,” said Smith. “That was the idea, I think. So long as +the island was under the Crown of Megalia there was no difficulty. +Megalia wasn’t in a position to interfere with the Emperor’s plans.”</p> + +<p>“The Megalian navy certainly isn’t first-rate,” said Donovan.</p> + +<p>“But when you purchased the island,” Smith went on, “things were +different. You might object to the use the Emperor proposed to make of +it. Your Government might have backed you up. How far do you think +your Government will back you?”</p> + +<p>“Darned little,” said Donovan.</p> + +<p>“So Steinwitz seemed to think. But the Emperor wasn’t taking any +unnecessary risks. He preferred that the island should return to the +Crown of Megalia. I think that’s the whole story so far as I know it. +Perhaps now I ought to be getting off to see that admiral.”</p> + +<p>“You can make sure of managing him, I suppose,” said Donovan.</p> + +<p>“Oh, yes. But it may take a little time. He’ll want to talk and I must +consider his self-respect.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span></p><p>“Quite so,” said Donovan. “We all like to keep our self-respect, even +admirals.”</p> + +<p>Smith stood up.</p> + +<p>“Very well, sir,” he said, “and if there’s nothing you want, sir——”</p> + +<p>“Nothing,” said Donovan.</p> + +<p>“I shall be back in time to serve luncheon, sir.”</p> + +<p>The Smith who left the room was Donovan’s valet, not the head of the +Intelligence Department of Salissa.</p> + +<p>“Now that,” said Donovan, “is an example of the pacifist method of +settling disputes, without appealing to force or sacrificing human +life.”</p> + +<p>“I admire it,” said Gorman. “I have a higher opinion of pacifism this +minute than I ever had before.”</p> + +<p>“It’s civilized,” said Donovan, “and it’s cheap. I don’t say it can +always be worked as cheap as this; but it’s cheaper than war every +time.”</p> + +<p>“I wonder,” said Gorman, “if it would work out on a large scale. Take +the case of the Emperor now.”</p> + +<p>“There are difficulties,” said Donovan. “I don’t deny that there are +difficulties. It isn’t always easy to get hold of the right man to +pay, and it’s no use paying the wrong one. You must find the real +boss, and he has a trick of hiding behind. I remember a case of an +elevated street car franchise in a town in the Middle West. We paid +three times and didn’t get it in the end owing to not striking the man +who mattered. Still, the thing can be done, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span>and according to my +notion it’s the best way out, better than fighting. You mentioned this +darned Emperor. Well, I don’t know. He’d have to be paid, of course; +but the big grafter, the man who’d take the six-figure cheque, is +likely not the Emperor. I don’t know. You’d have to find that out. But +the principle’s sound. That’s why I call myself a pacifist. There’s +tosh talked about pacifism, of course. There always must be tosh +talked—and texts. I don’t undervalue texts as a means of influencing +public opinion. But the principle is the thing. It’s business. Pay a +big price to the man who can deliver the goods. If you pay a big +enough price he’ll hand over.”</p> + +<p>“That’s all right,” said Gorman, “when you’re dealing with business +men. But there are other men, men who aren’t out for money, who +want——”</p> + +<p>Donovan yawned.</p> + +<p>“There are lunatics,” he said, “but lunatics don’t run the world. They +get shut up. Most men aren’t lunatics, and you’ll find that the +pacifist idea works out. It’s the everlasting principle of all +commerce.”</p> + +<p>It is impossible to say whether Donovan’s pacifist principles would +have been of any use in Europe in 1914. They were not tried, and he +admitted that they would not work with lunatics. But the everlasting +principle of all commerce proved its value in the case of the Megalian +admiral. He did not even bargain at any length. Smith returned in +rather less than half an hour, with the news that <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span>the admiral had +accepted £26 10s. He made only one stipulation. It may have been a +desire to preserve his self-respect or a determination to observe his +orders in the letter which made him insist on firing one shot before +he left Salissa.</p> + +<p>“He won’t aim at the palace, sir,” said Smith.</p> + +<p>“There’d be a better chance of his missing it, if he did,” said +Donovan. “It makes me nervous to see men like those sailors playing +about with guns.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, sir. That’s so, sir. But in this case I don’t think you need +have any anxiety. The shot will go right over the palace. I laid the +gun myself before I left the ship. I don’t know if I mentioned it to +you, sir, but I was in the artillery when I held a commission in the +Megalian Army.”</p> + +<p>The admiral fired his shot at noon precisely. The shell soared high +above the palace, passed over the cliff behind and dropped harmlessly +somewhere in the sea.</p> + +<p>The Queen and Kalliope stood behind the flagstaff from which the blue +banner of Salissa flew. At the sound of the shot, while the shell’s +shriek was still in her ears, the Queen gave her order. Kalliope, +hauling hand over hand on the halyard, ran up the Stars and Stripes. +It flew out on the breeze. The Queen, flushed with pride and +patriotism, defied the might of the Megalian navy.</p> + +<p>“Fire on that if you dare,” she said.</p> + +<p>The admiral weighed his anchor, fussily, with much shouting and +swearing, and steamed slowly <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span>out of the harbour. As he went he dipped +his ensign, saluting the Queen’s flags.</p> + +<p>Konrad Karl, standing at the window of Madame Ypsilante’s room, saved +that lady from hysterics by announcing that the bombardment was over.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span>heologians are fond of speculative subjects; but I do not remember +that any of them have discussed the feelings of Noah and his family +when shut up in the ark. What did they talk about when they came +together in the evening after feeding the various animals? No doubt +they congratulated each other on their escape. No doubt they grumbled +occasionally at the limited accommodation of the ark. But were they +interested in what was going on outside? Did they guess at the depth +of the flood, calculate whether this or that town were submerged, +discuss the fate of neighbours and friends, wonder what steps the +Government was taking to meet the crisis? They had very little chance +of getting accurate information. The ark had only one window, and, if +we can trust the artists who illustrate our Bibles, it was a kind of +skylight.</p> + +<p>The refugees on Salissa—if refugees is the proper word—were in one +respect worse off than Noah’s family. They had no skylight. The +wireless message sent to the Megalian admiral told them that the Great +Powers were at war. After that they got no news at all for more than +two months. The <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span>windows, not this time of heaven, but of hell, were +opened. The fountains of the great deep of human ambition, greed and +passion were broken up. Lands where men, unguessing, had bought and +sold, married and been given in marriage, were submerged, swamped, +desolated. Salissa was a good ark, roomier than Noah’s, and with this +advantage, that it stayed still instead of tossing about. But not even +Noah was so utterly cut off from all news of the catastrophe outside.</p> + +<p>During August and September almost anything might have happened. +Germans might have ridden through the streets of Paris and London. +Russians might have placed their Czar on the throne of the Hapsburgs +in Vienna. The English Fleet might have laid Hamburg in ruins and +anchored in the Kiel Canal. Men might have died in millions. +Civilization itself might have been swept away. But the face of the +sun, rising on Salissa day by day, was in no way darkened by horror, +or crimsoned with shame. The sea whispered round the island shores, +but brought no news of the rushings to and fro of hostile fleets. The +winds blew over battle-fields, but they reached Salissa fresh and +salt-laden, untainted by the odour of carnage or the choking fumes of +cannon firing.</p> + +<p>Donovan was probably the only one of the party in the palace who was +entirely satisfied with this position. With the help of Smith he had +demonstrated the efficacy of pacifist methods, and saved the island +from bombardment. In less than a week <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span>he removed, to his own +satisfaction, the scandal of Konrad Karl’s relations with Madame +Ypsilante. Then he handed the reins of government to the Queen again +and settled down to the business of avoiding exertion and soothing the +disorder of his heart.</p> + +<p>To Donovan it always seemed a perfectly natural and simple thing that +Konrad Karl should marry Madame Ypsilante. But it turned out to be +rather difficult to arrange the matter. Madame herself had no +particular objection to being married. She was lukewarm and +indifferent until she found out that the Queen was looking forward to +the wedding as a beautiful finish to a great romance. Madame had a +grateful soul and was willing to do much to please the Queen who +nursed her and was kind to her while she lay in bed exhausted by her +journey. Her contempt for the American miss vanished, as soon as she +understood that neither her pearls nor Konrad Karl were to be taken +from her. Besides, there is always pleasure to be got out of preparing +for a wedding. It was impossible, indeed, to buy clothes on Salissa. +But it was not impossible to accept presents from the Queen’s ample +wardrobe. A great deal of interesting fitting and altering was done, +and in the end Madame had an ample trousseau. The Queen, with the help +of Smith, made an immense and splendid wedding cake.</p> + +<p>It was Konrad Karl who created difficulties. He said—and Donovan +believed him—that he was personally quite willing to marry Madame +Ypsilante. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span>He desired to marry her. She was the only woman in the +world whom he would marry of his own free will. But he remained +incurably terrified of the Emperor. Donovan talked to him about the +rights of free citizens. He said that the humblest man had power to +choose his wife. Nothing he said had the slightest influence on Konrad +Karl.</p> + +<p>“But,” the King used to reply, “you do not understand. I am a king.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Donovan, “according to my notions that’s the same thing, +only more so.”</p> + +<p>“Ah, no,” said the King. “Ah, damn it, no. A king is not bourgeois, +what you call citizen. That is the point. It is because I am a king +that the Emperor interferes. If I were a citizen, but——”</p> + +<p>He shrugged his shoulders helplessly.</p> + +<p>Gorman tried him along a different line.</p> + +<p>“Look here,” he said, “the Emperor has got himself into a nasty mess. +He’s in for a big war. He can’t possibly have any time to spare to +worry over who you marry.”</p> + +<p>“To-day, no,” said the King, “but to-morrow the Emperor wins the war, +and then——”</p> + +<p>“I wouldn’t be too cocksure of his winning,” said Gorman.</p> + +<p>“It is surer than any cock,” said the King. “It was settled long ago. +I do not understand <i>Real Politik</i>, but I know that much. The Emperor +wins the war. Then he says to me: ‘Konrad, you married her. Good. You +are in a fortress for life.’ <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span>And I am. You do not understand the +Emperor, my friend.”</p> + +<p>“I’m beginning to,” said Gorman.</p> + +<p>It was Smith who talked over Konrad Karl in the end. I am sure that +Donovan would not have approved of his argument. I doubt whether +Gorman would have cared to use it. Smith said frankly that a marriage +performed by Stephanos the Elder would be no marriage at all outside +the Island of Salissa and could be repudiated at any time without the +slightest inconvenience.</p> + +<p>“You think,” said the King, “that I wish to desert Corinne. But +never.”</p> + +<p>“Beg pardon, your Majesty,” said Smith. “That wasn’t the idea in my +mind. What I was thinking of, your Majesty, was the way the matter +might be represented to the Emperor.”</p> + +<p>The King saw the point. On the whole he seems to have been pleased +when his last difficulty was removed and he was actually able to marry +his beloved Corinne.</p> + +<p>I do not think they were very happy afterwards. They were, no doubt, +well enough suited to each other. But neither of them was suited to a +life on Salissa. Monotony preyed on them. They both suffered from a +kind of homesickness, an aching hunger for streets, theatres, shops, +the rattle of traffic, the glitter of city life at night. They would +have been good friends if they had been able to live their proper +lives. Even on Salissa King Konrad Karl remained a lover. But they +bickered a great deal <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span>and sometimes openly quarrelled. Then Madame +would retire to her room and sulk for hours or whole days, while the +King wandered about the palace and bewailed the cruelty of Corinne.</p> + +<p>Gorman too, in his own way, suffered from homesickness and had fits of +irritation. He had lived his life in the centre of events, not great +events, but such things as intrigues at Westminster, changes of +Governments, and amendments, in committees, of Acts of Parliament. He +had always known what was going on in the world. He found himself +hopelessly shut off from all news of the greatest happenings of his +time. He wanted desperately to know what England was doing, whether +the French had risen to the occasion. He wanted, above all, to know +about Ireland. Was Ireland in the throes of a civil war, or were her +children taking their places in the ranks of the Allied Armies? Gorman +was unreasonably annoyed by King Konrad Karl’s certainty that the +Emperor would win the war and by Donovan’s passive neutrality of +sentiment. For Gorman neutrality in any quarrel was no doubt +inconceivable. As a younger man he might have been a rebel and given +his life in some wild struggle against the power of England; or he +might have held the King’s commission and led other Irishmen against a +foreign foe. He could never, if a great fight were going on, have been +content to stand aside as Donovan did; neither praising nor blaming, +neither hoping for victory nor fearing defeat.</p> + +<p>Even more difficult to bear was Konrad Karl’s <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span>conviction that the +Emperor was invincible. It does not appear that the King had any +particular wish for a German victory. He would perhaps have preferred +to see the Emperor beaten and humiliated. But that seemed to him +outside all possibility. The Emperor’s triumph was as inevitable as +the changing of the seasons. A man may not wish for winter or the east +winds of spring; but he does not soothe himself with hopes that the +long days of summer will continue. It seemed to Konrad Karl merely +foolish that Gorman should speak as if the issue of the war were in +any doubt.</p> + +<p>Gorman has often spoken to me about his feelings at this time.</p> + +<p>“I could have broken Konrad Karl’s head with pleasure,” he said once. +“I had to hold myself tight if I did not mean to fall on him. He was +so infernally certain that the Emperor would wipe the floor with us. +Us! Isn’t it a queer thing now? Here I am, a man who has been abusing +the English all my life, and hating them—I give you my word that I’ve +always hated the self-sufficiency and nauseating hypocrisy of the +English. There’s nothing I’ve wanted more than to see them damned well +thrashed by somebody. And yet the minute anybody comes along to thrash +them I’m up on my hind legs, furious, talking about ‘Us’ and ‘We’ and +‘Our’ army just as if I were an Englishman myself.”</p> + +<p>Gorman made every effort in his power to get news of some sort. He +tried to bribe the island <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span>fishermen to sail over to the mainland in +their largest boat. He offered to go with them. It was a voyage which +they sometimes made. In fine weather there was no great difficulty +about it. But Gorman’s bribes were offered in vain. A curious fear +possessed the islanders; the same fear which laid hold of the souls of +simple people all over Europe at that time. They were afraid of some +vast evil, undefined, unrealized, and their terror kept them close to +the shadows of their homes. The most that Gorman could persuade them +to do was to take him a few miles out to sea in one of their boats. +There he used to stay for an hour or so, for so long as the men with +him would consent to remain, going out as often as they would go with +him. His hope was that he might see some ship, hail her, and get news +from her crew. But no steamer, no fishing boat even, came in sight.</p> + +<p>Of all the people on the island, Gorman was the most to be pitied +except perhaps the Queen.</p> + +<p>For awhile she was happy enough. The wedding interested and excited +her. The presence of guests in the palace gave her much to think about +and do. She was busy with her school. She still found pleasure in +roaming over the island with Kalliope, but there came a time when she +began to expect the arrival of the <i>Ida</i>. She knew how long the voyage +to England took. She made calculations of the time required for +loading the steamer with her new cargo. She fixed a day, the earliest +possible, on which the <i>Ida</i> might reach Salissa again. That <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span>day +passed, and many after it. The <i>Ida</i> was overdue, long overdue.</p> + +<p>The Queen used to ask questions of every one, seeking comfort and +assurance. She got little. Konrad Karl’s conviction that the Emperor +must be victorious was not cheering. Gorman supposed that the <i>Ida</i> +might have been taken over by the Admiralty, or might have been +forbidden to sail, or that Captain Wilson might be unwilling to take +risks if enemy cruisers were at large on the high seas. Smith coolly +discussed the possibility of a blockade of the English coasts by +German submarines. Kalliope was the Queen’s only comforter. She had no +theories about war or politics, but she had a profound conviction of +the certainty of lovers meeting.</p> + +<p>“He will come once more,” she said, “sure thing.”</p> + +<p>That was the Queen’s conviction too. But it was weary work waiting.</p> + +<p>There is a nook, a little hollow, high up on one of the western cliffs +of the island where it is possible to sit, sheltered among tall ferns, +and gaze out across the sea. There came a time towards the end of +September, when the Queen used to climb up there every morning and sit +for hours watching for the <i>Ida</i>. Kalliope went with her. They erected +a little flagstaff. They carried up the blue banner of Salissa. It was +the Queen’s plan to signal a welcome to her lover when she saw his +ship. Above the nook in which they sat the two girls laid a beacon +fire, a great pile of dry wood, dragged up <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span>the cliff with immense +toil. The Queen thought of leaping flames and a tall column of smoke +which should catch her lover’s eyes and tell him that she was waiting +for him. But day after day the calm sea lay shining, vacant. Evening +after evening the Queen came sadly home again, a cold fear in her +heart, bitter disappointment choking her. Then Kalliope would do her +best for her mistress, repeating over and over her comforting phrases.</p> + +<p>“He will come once more. Sure thing. Damned sure.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span>he strain on the nerves of the party in the palace became more and +more severe. During the second week in October it almost reached the +breaking point. For four days the sirocco blew across the island. The +sky was grey and seemed to press down on sea and land, heavy, +unbroken, intolerably near. The wind blew strongly, but with none of +the fresh boisterous fierceness of a northern gale. There was a sullen +malignity about its force. Out at sea grey-topped waves wrangled and +strove together confusedly. They broke in a welter of soiled foam +across the reef which lay opposite the mouth of the bay. Within the +harbour little waves, like jagged steel blades, rose, hissed at each +other spitefully, and perpetually stabbed at the rocky shore.</p> + +<p>The close, suffocating heat oppressed men and beasts. The islanders +retreated into their cottages and lay, patiently enduring, till the +vile wind should pass away. Cattle cowered for shelter under the lee +of walls or among the bent, swaying trees. Donovan sat alone in his +room in the palace. He sweated continuously though he wore little +clothing. He was the victim of many kinds of physical uneasiness, +pains which would not quite declare themselves, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span>restless fidgetings +of his limbs, vague depression of spirit. Konrad Karl and Madame +quarrelled openly and bitterly. His revilings stung her. Her own +ill-temper left her raw. She fled to her room and locked herself into +it. The King, perversely persistent, went after her. He could be heard +scolding her through the closed door at one moment, begging +pathetically for admittance at another. Gorman wandered restlessly +from room to room. He opened windows, panting for air, and closed them +with a curse when the hot blast of the sirocco smote him in the face. +Smith, alone of all the party, preserved his self-control. The sweat +trickled down his face; but he was alert, attentive, busy, as if the +sun shone and the breeze blew fresh across sparkling water.</p> + +<p>The Queen found the palace intolerable, worse than the wind outside. +Very soon after breakfast she went out. Kalliope, faithful even amid +the torment of the sirocco, followed her. They struggled together +towards their watch place on the cliff. The wind buffeted them, set +their hair floating wildly, struck their eyelids painfully. Their legs +were caught and held by tangling petticoats. Sometimes as the path +twisted they headed right against the storm. Then bent almost double, +they bored their way through dense resisting air. Sometimes, moving +slantwise, they were caught by a side blast, and then they walked +leaning at a sharp angle against the wind. Or, for a little while, +they scudded before it, driven against their wills to swift motion +which <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span>was unbearably exhausting. More than once Kalliope flung +herself down and lay flat, panting on the shelterless grass. If she +had taken her own way she would have given the struggle up. But the +Queen, though she too gasped for breath, would not turn back or rest +for more than a few minutes. She was determined to reach the look-out +post on the cliff. In the end she got there.</p> + +<p>Kalliope lay at full length, face downwards, in the little hollow. The +Queen sat beside her and looked out to sea. Her hair was blown +backwards. Her blouse, its fastenings torn, was blown open at her +neck. Her face was flecked with tiny crystals of salt. She breathed in +quick short pants. She kept her eyelids open with an effort against +the blast.</p> + +<p>The welter of grey water, broken everywhere with splashes of lighter +grey foam, merged into the misty grey of the low enveloping clouds. +The half circle of the horizon seemed very near. She watched the waves +rise, rush forward, curl their crests over and break in foam. In one +place the foam was whiter, thicker than elsewhere. The waves broke +more frequently there. It was as if a patch of very fiercely breaking +water moved towards the island. Behind it, before it, and on either +side of it the waves tossed and broke. On this one patch they broke +more constantly and more wildly. In a little while the Queen got +glimpses of a dark mass which rose from the middle of this breaking +water. Then she saw, clear above the foam, a short thick <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span>mast. She +guessed that in the middle of the breaking water, half submerged, +washed constantly from stem to stern, there was a boat which made for +the shore.</p> + +<p>The Queen watched, fascinated. The boat held her course for the +island. She reached the corner of the reef outside the bay. She swung +round it and was to be seen plainly at last in the sheltered water of +the harbour. She was a long low boat, narrow, sharply pointed bow and +stern. A turret rose amidships. The smooth rounded slope of her deck +was broken only by a hand rail which stretched fore and aft from the +turret. The Queen had seen no craft like her, but she knew what she +was, a submarine.</p> + +<p>The Queen seized Kalliope by the arm and pointed to the boat. It was +impossible to talk up there on the cliff in the storm. The two girls +struggled to their feet. They started on their way back to the palace. +Hand in hand, running, tripping, buffeted, breathless, they reached +the bottom of the cliff.</p> + +<p>The Queen and Kalliope were the first to see the submarine; but when +she rounded the corner of the reef and entered the harbour every one +on the island was aware of her arrival. From the houses of the village +men came out and stood on the beach staring at the strange craft which +moved across their bay. In the palace King Konrad Karl saw her and +knew at once what she was. The effect her arrival produced on him was +curious. Better than any one else on the island except perhaps <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span>Smith, +he understood the German war spirit and guessed what the coming of the +submarine might mean. Yet he seemed actually pleased to see her. He +hurried to find Gorman. All the nervous agitation which had set him +quarrelling with his Corinne disappeared. The effects of the horrible +dullness and intolerable boredom of the past three months dropped away +in an instant. The sirocco no longer afflicted him. He greeted Gorman +with smiles. He was once more the irrepressible, cheery, street arab +among kings, who had swindled the British public with his Vino +Regalis, who defied all conventional decencies in his relations with +Madame Ypsilante, who had failed to pay his bills in London and tried +to outwit the Emperor over the sale of Salissa.</p> + +<p>“Gorman,” he said, “my friend Gorman. Once more we are alive. Many +things happen. It is a hand of no trumps doubled and redoubled. +Gorman, I palpitate, I thrill. We arrive at the moment of destiny. +Behold destiny!”</p> + +<p>Gorman, who was looking out of the window, saw the submarine, but did +not for the moment recognize destiny. He agreed with the King that her +arrival made a desirable break in the monotony that oppressed them. +But the situation did not strike him as equal in emotional value to a +redoubled hand at bridge. The best he hoped for was some fresh +company, a little news from the outside world and possibly a bundle of +newspapers.</p> + +<p>“Submarine?” he said. “English or German, do <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span>you think? and what do +you suppose she wants here?”</p> + +<p>“English, pooh! By this time no English ships are left on the sea. It +is an under-water boat of the Emperor, and she comes to seek the +petrol stored in the cave.”</p> + +<p>“Liable to disappointment then,” said Gorman. “That petrol’s gone.”</p> + +<p>“I know it,” said the King, “therefore I say ‘Behold destiny.’ But I, +Gorman, I laugh at destiny. I mock. I snap the finger and thumb of my +hand. So.” He snapped the fingers of both hands with airy defiance. “I +am a king. I play a game until the end. I die game-playing. And +Corinne will not grieve too much. On Salissa I think Corinne loves +less than in Paris. Hurrah, Gorman. Hip, and hip, and hurrah, three +times.”</p> + +<p>Gorman was not impressed by this rhapsody. He was not yet sufficiently +roused from the bad temper and depression induced by the sirocco to +appreciate the King’s exalted mood.</p> + +<p>“I suppose,” he said, “that Donovan will ask the captain to dinner. I +hope to goodness he can talk English. There’s a lot of news I want to +hear.”</p> + +<p>Donovan, sitting alone in his room, did not see the arrival of the +submarine. It was Smith who reported the matter to him.</p> + +<p>“Warship of a belligerent nation?” said Donovan.</p> + +<p>“Yes, sir; German, sir.”</p> + +<p>“German or English,” said Donovan, “it’s the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span>same thing. This is a +neutral State and we haven’t got any quarrel with either party.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, sir,” said Smith. “Quite so, sir. But, I beg your pardon. She’s +German.”</p> + +<p>Donovan thought this over for a minute.</p> + +<p>“I appreciate your feelings, Smith,” he said, “and I don’t deny that +your situation might be an awkward one if this wasn’t a neutral State. +But you’re in the service of the Crown of Salissa now, and I reckon +that any attempt to inflict punishment on you would be contrary to +international law.”</p> + +<p>“I’m sure you know best, sir.”</p> + +<p>“That’s as good as to say that your interpretation of international +law is superior to mine. It may be. But the matter will have to come +before the superior courts before anything’s settled.”</p> + +<p>“It’s not that, sir,” said Smith. “I’m not afraid of the law.”</p> + +<p>“Oh,” said Donovan, “you’re inclined to think that the German captain +may trample on the law?”</p> + +<p>“Seeing as how you’ve no guns, sir, he might.”</p> + +<p>“Smith,” said Donovan, “just look out of that window and tell me what +banner the Queen has flying from the flagpost. Old Glory, isn’t it?”</p> + +<p>“The American flag, sir. Yes, sir.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Donovan, “I guess that’s good.”</p> + +<p>Smith appears to have been remarkably cool. Both Donovan and Gorman +agree that he showed no sign of fear or excitement. Yet he must have +known that he was in serious danger. He had been a member of the +German Secret Service. He had <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span>deserted it, revealed its secrets and +acted against his employers. He had very good reason to expect to be +hanged or shot within the next couple of hours. He cannot, I imagine, +have placed much confidence in the protection afforded by the American +flag. But he seems to have had a profound belief in Donovan.</p> + +<p>When the Queen and Kalliope, wind torn and dishevelled, reached the +palace, it was Smith who met them and in answer to her eager questions +told the Queen that the submarine was German. He added that the +captain would probably come ashore. He asked where the Queen would +like to receive him.</p> + +<p>“I’m afraid, your Majesty,” he said, “that there may be some trouble. +I mean to say that it won’t be quite a friendly visit to your Majesty. +He’ll be expecting a supply of petrol, and——”</p> + +<p>The Queen gave a little gasp of surprise. Then she burst into a peal +of laughter.</p> + +<p>“There’s not a drop left,” she said. “He’ll be just mad. I wonder what +he’ll say. Do you think he’ll be rude?”</p> + +<p>“Quite possibly, your Majesty,” said Smith. “The Germans haven’t got +very good manners.”</p> + +<p>“We’ll have him in the big hall, Smith. And we’ll all be there. If +he’s nice about the petrol and takes it as a joke we’ll ask him to +dinner. If he’s rude he can just go back to his old submarine and sulk +by himself.”</p> + +<p>Smith was quick in making preparations for the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span>reception in the great +hall. But the captain of the submarine reached the landing steps +before the party in the palace was ready for him. The Queen hurried +into the hall and took her seat on a chair which Smith placed for her. +Konrad Karl ran to warn his Corinne to stay in her room and keep the +door locked. Smith went to summon Donovan. Gorman, eager now and full +of curiosity, stood at the door of the hall to watch the landing of +the German officer. As the Queen took her seat he turned to her.</p> + +<p>“Hullo,” he said, “it’s our old friend von Moll.”</p> + +<p>“<i>That</i> man!” said the Queen.</p> + +<p>“Funny to think of his turning up here again,” said Gorman. “Hope +he’ll keep sober this time.”</p> + +<p>Von Moll was sober enough at the moment. He stood very erect, very +stern, most awe-inspiring while his men landed, six of them, all +armed. Then he tramped up the steps. He halted for a minute on the +terrace where the flagstaff was. He gave an order. One of his men drew +a knife from a sheath and cut the flag halyard. The Stars and Stripes +crumpled up and fluttered down the wind.</p> + +<p>Gorman turned to the Queen again.</p> + +<p>“Your flag’s gone,” he said. “Von Moll appears to be in a bit of a +temper.”</p> + +<p>Then he stepped out of the hall and went forward down the path. He +held out his hand to von Moll.</p> + +<p>“How are you?” he said. “Perfectly beastly day, isn’t it? Any news?”</p> + +<p>Von Moll marched on, taking no notice whatever <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span>of his friendly +greeting. Gorman, smiling pleasantly, followed him towards the hall.</p> + +<p>“Been in any more naval battles since we last met?” said Gorman. “By +the way, was there any fuss when you got home about that man’s teeth?”</p> + +<p>Von Moll stalked into the hall. Gorman followed him.</p> + +<p>“It’s no use your pretending not to understand English,” he said. “You +talked it splendidly last time you were here.”</p> + +<p>Von Moll made no pretence at politeness. He did not even salute the +Queen. He looked round him with an insolent glare. Konrad Karl hurried +through the door at the far end of the hall and took his place at the +Queen’s side. He had a lighted cigarette in his hand. It could not be +said of him that he was frightened; but he was certainly excited. He +fidgeted nervously with his moustache and his eyes were unusually +bright. Von Moll watched him for a minute and then spoke.</p> + +<p>“King Konrad Karl,” he said, “you will consider yourself under arrest +and be prepared to follow me on board.”</p> + +<p>The King gave a little twist to his moustache.</p> + +<p>“By whose authority do you give these orders?” he said.</p> + +<p>“The Emperor’s.”</p> + +<p>Von Moll clicked his heels together and saluted as he spoke. King +Konrad Karl shrugged his shoulders. Gorman, determined not to be +ignored this time, took von Moll by the arm.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span></p><p>“I say, von Moll,” he said. “After the frightfully impressive way you +said that, we ought to have some sort of demonstration. Let’s drink +the old boy’s health and say ‘Hoch!’ or whatever the proper thing is. +I’m sure you must want a drink, and those swashbucklers of yours”—he +looked round at von Moll’s six men—“could hold hands and sing +‘<i>Deutschland über Alles</i>.’ It would cheer us all up.”</p> + +<p>The Queen looked at von Moll in amazement. Then she glanced at Konrad +Karl. While Gorman was speaking she made up her mind to assert +herself.</p> + +<p>“You forget,” she said, “that King Konrad Karl is my guest, and so are +you while you are in my house.”</p> + +<p>Donovan, still in his shirt sleeves, looking very tired and hot, +slouched into the hall while the Queen spoke. Smith followed him. The +Queen, nervous and half frightened in spite of her brave words, turned +to him.</p> + +<p>“Oh, father,” she said, “I am glad you’ve come.”</p> + +<p>Donovan nodded to von Moll.</p> + +<p>“Sit right down,” he said, “there’s a chair behind you. You’ll stay +for luncheon, won’t you?”</p> + +<p>He sat down himself as he spoke and took a cigar out of his case.</p> + +<p>“Smith,” he said, “cocktails.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, sir,” said Smith.</p> + +<p>Von Moll turned to the men behind him and pointed to Smith.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span></p><p>“Arrest that man,” he said.</p> + +<p>Two of the sailors stepped forward and crossed the hall towards Smith.</p> + +<p>“Say,” said Donovan, “is this a rehearsal for a cinema? and when do +you reckon to have the camera operating?”</p> + +<p>“That man,” said von Moll, pointing to Smith, “is a deserter from the +service of the Emperor and a spy. He pays the penalty.”</p> + +<p>Donovan deliberately cut the end off his cigar and struck a match. +Then he looked up at von Moll.</p> + +<p>“Seems to me,” he said, “that there’s some kind of misunderstanding. +I’m not blaming you, Captain, not at all. But this is a neutral State, +and according to international law you can’t butt in and arrest +citizens without applying for an extradition order in the regular +way.”</p> + +<p>“You talk like a fool,” said von Moll. “This is war.”</p> + +<p>He gave a fresh order to his men.</p> + +<p>“Take him,” he said. “Shoot him on the steps outside.”</p> + +<p>Donovan struck a fresh match and lit his cigar. He puffed at it +slowly.</p> + +<p>“It pains me some,” he said, “to go contrary to my life-long +principles. I’m a humanitarian by conviction and I’m opposed to +capital punishment. It seems to me that the taking of human life is +not justified, and that the advance of civilization, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span>especially in +the great republic of which I am a citizen——”</p> + +<p>“He is a spy,” said von Moll, “and he dies.”</p> + +<p>“You’re hasty, Captain,” said Donovan. “I don’t blame you, but you’re +hasty and you haven’t quite tumbled to my meaning. When I spoke of my +humanitarian principles I wasn’t thinking of what would happen to +Smith. You may shoot him, Captain, and I shall deplore it. But that +won’t outrage my convictions any. For I shan’t be responsible, that +execution being your affair and not mine. What I was thinking of was +how I’d feel when I saw you and every damned one of your pirates +hanging at the end of ropes over the edges of the various fancy +balconies and other trimmings which adorn this palace. It will be +going clean against my principles to arrange that kind of obituary +dangle for you, Captain. I may have some trouble soothing my +conscience afterwards. But I expect that can be managed. You may call +me inconsistent and you may be right. But I’m not a hide-bound +doctrinnaire. There are circumstances under which the loftier +emanations of humanitarian principle kind of flicker out. The shooting +of Smith is a circumstance of that sort. Your treatment of the +American flag is another.”</p> + +<p>Gorman tells me that he suspected Donovan of attempting a gigantic +bluff. He admired the way he did it, but he did not think he could +possibly succeed. Donovan did not, so far as Gorman could see, hold in +his hand a single card worth putting <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span>down on the table. Smith stood, +cool and apparently uninterested, between the two sailors who had +arrested him. Konrad Karl was lighting and throwing away cigarette +after cigarette. The Queen had grown pale at the mention of the +shooting of Smith; but she kept her eyes fixed on her father. She did +not understand what he was doing, but she had great confidence in him. +Von Moll stared at Donovan with an insolent sneer.</p> + +<p>“You threaten,” he said, “you think that your American +Republic——Pah! what is America? You have no army. Your navy is no +good. What can you do?”</p> + +<p>“You’re taking me up wrong again,” said Donovan. “I’m not reckoning on +America just now. The hanging will be done by the crew of the English +ship that I’m expecting to see in this harbour. Not to-day, maybe, or +to-morrow, but some time before the end of this darned war.”</p> + +<p>King Konrad Karl threw away another cigarette.</p> + +<p>“Alas and damn!” he said, “by this time there are no longer any +English ships.”</p> + +<p>Gorman was watching von Moll closely. At the mention of an English +ship the man’s eyes flickered suddenly. For an instant his face +changed. A shadow of uneasiness appeared on it. But this passed at +once, and the look of insolence took its place. Donovan was also +watching.</p> + +<p>“There may be one or two left,” he said. “I don’t say the one that +turns up here will be a first-class battle cruiser; but I guess the +men on her will <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span>be up to the little job of hanging you, Captain. And +they’ll come. Sure. And you’ll be here, just waiting for them.”</p> + +<p>“I shall be gone,” said von Moll. “Not that I fear your English ship. +But to-morrow I go, and before I go, to-day—I shoot the spy.”</p> + +<p>“You misapprehend the situation,” said Donovan. “As a warship of a +belligerent Power entering a neutral harbour you are liable——”</p> + +<p>Von Moll laughed aloud.</p> + +<p>“You intern me,” he said.</p> + +<p>“Well,” drawled Donovan, “I do. Say, Captain, you didn’t drop in here +just for the pleasure of shooting Smith and carrying off the King. +Those weren’t your main purposes. I’m not an observant man, but I did +happen to notice as I left my room that your ship was shifting her +anchorage a bit. Now I wouldn’t say that it’s particularly healthy, +with a wind like this blowing, for a ship to lie right under those +cliffs, slap up against the mouth of a cave. I give you credit, +Captain, for knowing your trade as a sailor, and I don’t think that +you’d put your ship there unless you wanted something out of that +cave, and wanted it pretty bad. What’s more, Captain, you want it in a +hurry. Now I may be wrong, but it’s my opinion that what you expect to +find there is petrol. That so?”</p> + +<p>It was plain—so plain that even King Konrad Karl saw it—that von +Moll was disturbed. His confidence was not what it had been earlier in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span>the interview. Donovan went on, speaking with irritating +deliberation.</p> + +<p>“Now when I said that you were interned in the harbour of this neutral +State, Captain, I wasn’t counting on your respect for international +law. I wouldn’t risk a dollar on that. What I meant was this. The +petrol’s not there. Your darned tanks are empty. I’m not defending the +action on economic grounds. It was waste. But that petrol is gone. We +ran it off.”</p> + +<p>“You have not dared,” said von Moll. “You could not dare——No one but +a madman would touch the Emperor’s war stores.”</p> + +<p>“I hope,” said Gorman, “that the poor old Emperor won’t have a fit +when he hears about it.”</p> + +<p>“You may be able to run that ship a mile or two,” said Donovan. “But I +reckon you’ll not go far. You were dependent on that petrol? Come now, +Captain, own up.”</p> + +<p>What von Moll intended to do next I do not know. Gorman is of opinion +that he might very well have shot the whole party. He was white with +passion.</p> + +<p>Donovan rose from his chair, stuck his cigar in a corner of his mouth, +and crossed the hall towards the door.</p> + +<p>“While you’re sizing up the situation,” he said to von Moll, “I’ll +just see if I can’t find that flag that you cut down. It would gratify +me to have it flying again. You’d better come with me, Smith. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span>I’m not +inclined for climbing poles in this storm. I have to consider my +heart.”</p> + +<p>Smith stepped forward and followed him. It is interesting to notice +that the sailors who guarded him made no attempt to stop him. It is +unlikely that they understood English well enough to know what Donovan +said to von Moll. But they were somehow aware that their captain’s +authority was failing.</p> + +<p>At the door of the hall Donovan stopped and turned to von Moll.</p> + +<p>“Things seem to be happening,” he said, “right up to expectation, only +more so. I own I didn’t look for that British ship quite so soon.”</p> + +<p>He stood in the doorway and pointed out to sea. Gorman hurried across +the hall, passed Donovan and went out. The Queen left her chair and +ran to her father’s side. Konrad Karl followed her. Von Moll looked +round him, astonished, slightly dazed. Then he, too, went out, pushing +his way past Donovan.</p> + +<p>Outside the reef, plunging and rolling heavily, was a small steamer. +She was stumpy, high bowed, low waisted, with a short black funnel. +Her bridge and single deck-house were disproportionately high. She was +shabby and rusty. She looked insignificant. She was swept frequently +with showers of white spray. On her bow and on her funnel could be +seen the white letters and numbers which proclaimed her proper +business. She was a trawler. In peace <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span>times she cast nets for fish in +the North Sea. Now she flew the white ensign and on her fore-deck, +above the high blunt bows, she carried a gun.</p> + +<p>There were men handling the gun amid a smother of spray and the swirl +of water round their legs. The deck on which they stood was the worst +of all possible gun platforms. In the course of each few minutes it +was set at a dozen angles as the little steamer plunged and rolled. +But the men fired. Their shot went wide of the submarine which lay in +the harbour, and spluttered against the side of the cliff. The trawler +staggered on towards the end of the reef. Out of the welter of grey +water to windward came another trawler, then a third appeared and a +fourth.</p> + +<p>Gorman edged up close to von Moll and caught him by the elbow.</p> + +<p>“I say, von Moll,” he said, “it’s jolly lucky for you that you didn’t +have time to shoot Smith. That ship of yours is a goner, you know. +It’ll be a jolly sight pleasanter for you to be a prisoner of war than +to be dangling about on the end of a rope in this beastly wind. And +Donovan would have seen to it that you did swing if you’d shot Smith. +There’s nobody so vindictive as your humanitarian pacifist, once you +get him roused.”</p> + +<p>The first of the little fleet of trawlers swung round the end of the +reef into the sheltered water of the bay. She fired again. Her deck +was steady. The target was an easy one. One shell and then <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span>another +hit the submarine, ripped her thin hull, burst in her vitals.</p> + +<p>Half an hour later Maurice Phillips landed on the palace steps.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">V</span>on Moll, though courteously invited, refused to dine with the Queen +that night. Gorman, I think, was sorry for this. He was curious to see +how a German naval officer behaves as a prisoner of war. The rest of +the party felt that, for once, von Moll had shown good taste. His +presence would have interfered with the general cheerfulness.</p> + +<p>Donovan tried hard to induce Smith to sit at table, taking his proper +position as Head of the Intelligence Department of the State. But the +party was a large one. Besides Phillips, who sat next the Queen, the +commanders of the three other trawlers dined in the palace. King +Konrad Karl appeared decorated with all the stars, badges and ribbons +which had fallen to him while he sat on the throne of Megalia. Madame +Corinne wore the finest of the dresses she had acquired from the +Queen, and was in high good humour, though a little vexed that her +pearls were in the keeping of a banker in Paris. Smith felt that on +such an occasion the dinner should be properly served, and he dared +not leave it to the native servants. After dinner he consented to sit +at the foot of the table with a glass of wine in front of him.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span></p><p>Konrad Karl, bubbling with excitement, proposed the Queen’s health in +a speech full of mangled English idioms. Then he presented the Star of +the Megalian Order of the Pink Vulture to Phillips. He took it from +his own breast and pinned it on to Phillips’ coat with a perfect +shower of complimentary phrases. It was not quite clear whether the +decoration was meant as a reward for sinking the submarine or for +winning the affection of the Queen. Donovan made a speech, a long +speech, in which he explained exactly why it was impossible to remain +a consistent pacifist in a world which contained Germans. Phillips was +dragged to his feet by Gorman. Goaded by the derisive shouts of his +three fellow officers he gave a short account of himself.</p> + +<p>“There’s nothing much to tell,” he said. “The whole thing was rather a +fluke. I was called up at the beginning of the war. R.N.R., you know. +They gave me command of a trawler, a perfectly beastly kind of boat. +Been hunting the submarines ever since. Infernal dull job. Heard this +fellow was mouching around but couldn’t find him. Guessed he’d want +supplies sooner or later. Remembered that cave and made a bee line for +Salissa. Never so pleased in my life as when I caught sight of +him. But there was such a sea running that we couldn’t shoot for nuts. +Had to wait till we got inside. Sunk him then. That’s all there is to +tell.”</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span></p><p>That, of course, is not all. There is a lot more to tell. What flag +flies over Salissa now? Who governs the island? The Emperor knows. +Bland-Potterton knows and often tells his friends in confidence. I +know. Donovan knows. So does Smith. But we cannot make our knowledge +public. Gorman tried, by means of a carefully worded question, to +induce the Prime Minister to make a statement in the House of Commons +about Salissa. He was told that it was contrary to the public interest +that any information should be given. In the face of that it is, of +course, impossible for me to write anything. What happened to King +Konrad Karl and Madame? Again, I must not give an answer. The censors +have decided, quite rightly, that the movements of royal personages +are not to be published. Does Smith still act as Donovan’s valet, and +if so where? It is plain that nothing should be said on this subject. +Smith was and may still be the head of the Intelligence Department of +Salissa. Information about his doings would be particularly valuable +to the enemy.</p> + +<p>But I may say that a marriage took place between Lieutenant-Commander +Maurice Phillips, R.N.R., and a lady described as “Daisy, daughter of +William Peter Donovan, Esq.” A bishop officiated. No mention was made +in the announcement of the rank and title she held, and perhaps still +holds.</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h3><span class="smcap">Transcriber’s Note:</span></h3> + +<p>1. Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters’ errors; otherwise, +every effort has been made to remain true to the author’s words and +intent.</p> + +<p>2. The original of this e-text did not have a Table of Contents; one has been +added for the reader’s convenience.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Island Mystery, by George A. 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