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diff --git a/old/7tmpr10.txt b/old/7tmpr10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..14fb749 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/7tmpr10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,22254 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Temporal Power, by Marie Corelli +(#11 in our series by Marie Corelli) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Temporal Power + +Author: Marie Corelli + +Release Date: November, 2004 [EBook #6921] +[This file was first posted on February 11, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, TEMPORAL POWER *** + + + + +Charles Adarondo and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +TEMPORAL POWER + + + + +A STUDY IN SUPREMACY + +BY MARIE CORELLI + + + + +CONTENTS + +I. THE KING'S PLEASAUNCE + +II. MAJESTY CONSIDERS AND RESOLVES + +III. A NATION OR A CHURCH? + +IV. SEALED ORDERS + +V. "IF I LOVED YOU!" + +VI. SERGIUS THORD + +VII. THE IDEALISTS + +VIII. THE KING'S DOUBLE + +IX. THE PREMIER'S SIGNET + +X. THE ISLANDS + +XI. "GLORIA--IN EXCELSIS!" + +XII. A SEA PRINCESS + +XIII. SECRET SERVICE + +XIV. THE KING'S VETO + +XV. "MORGANATIC" OR--? + +XVI. THE PROFESSOR ADVISES + +XVII. AN "HONOURABLE" STATESMAN + +XVIII. ROYAL LOVERS + +XIX. OF THE CORRUPTION OF THE STATE + +XX. THE SCORN OF KINGS + +XXI. AN INVITATION TO COURT + +XXII. A FAIR DEBUTANTE + +XXIII. THE KING'S DEFENDER + +XXIV. A WOMAN'S REASON + +XXV. "I SAY--'ROME'!" + +XXVI. "ONE WAY--ONE WOMAN!" + +XXVII. THE SONG OF FREEDOM + +XXVIII. "FATE GIVES--THE KING!" + +XXIX. THE COMRADE OF HIS FOES + +XXX. KING AND SOCIALIST + +XXXI. A VOTE FOR LOVE + +XXXII. BETWEEN TWO PASSIONS + +XXXIII. SAILING TO THE INFINITE + +XXXIV. ABDICATION + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE KING'S PLEASAUNCE + + +"In the beginning," so we are told, "God made the heavens and the +earth." + +The statement is simple and terse; it is evidently intended to be +wholly comprehensive. Its decisive, almost abrupt tone would seem to +forbid either question or argument. The old-world narrator of the +sublime event thus briefly chronicled was a poet of no mean quality, +though moved by the natural conceit of man to give undue importance to +the earth as his own particular habitation. The perfect confidence with +which he explains 'God' as making 'two great lights, the greater light +to rule the day, the lesser light to rule the night,' is touching to +the verge of pathos; and the additional remark which he throws in, as +it were casually,--'He made the stars also,' cannot but move us to +admiration. How childlike the simplicity of the soul which could so +venture to deal with the inexplicable and tremendous problem of the +Universe! How self-centred and sure the faith which could so arrange +the work of Infinite and Eternal forces to suit its own limited +intelligence! It is easy and natural to believe that 'God,' or an +everlasting Power of Goodness and Beauty called by that name, 'created +the heavens and the earth,' but one is often tempted to think that an +altogether different and rival element must have been concerned in the +making of Man. For the heavens and the earth are harmonious; man is a +discord. And not only is he a discord in himself, but he takes pleasure +in producing and multiplying discords. Often, with the least possible +amount of education, and on the slightest provocation, he mentally sets +Himself, and his trivial personal opinion on religion, morals, and +government, in direct opposition to the immutable laws of the Universe, +and the attitude he assumes towards the mysterious Cause and Original +Source of Life is nearly always one of three things; contradiction, +negation, or defiance. From the first to the last he torments himself +with inventions to outwit or subdue Nature, and in the end dies, +utterly defeated. His civilizations, his dynasties, his laws, his +manners, his customs, are all doomed to destruction and oblivion as +completely as an ant-hill which exists one night and is trodden down +the next. Forever and forever he works and plans in vain; forever and +forever Nature, the visible and active Spirit of God, rises up and +crushes her puny rebel. + +There must be good reason for this ceaseless waste of human life,--this +constant and steady obliteration of man's attempts, since there can be +no Effect without Cause. It is, as if like children at a school, we +were set a certain sum to do, and because we blunder foolishly over it +and add it up to a wrong total, it is again and again wiped off the +blackboard, and again and again rewritten for our more careful +consideration. Possibly the secret of our failure to conquer Nature +lies in ourselves, and our own obstinate tendency to work in only one +groove of what we term 'advancement,'--namely our material self- +interest. Possibly we might be victors if we would, even to the very +vanquishment of Death! + +So many of us think,--and so thought one man of sovereign influence in +this world's affairs as, seated on the terrace of a Royal palace +fronting seaward, he pondered his own life's problem for perhaps the +thousandth time. + +"What is the use of thinking?" asked a wit at the court of Louis XVI. +"It only intensifies the bad opinion you have of others,--or of +yourself!" + +He found this saying true. Thinking is a pernicious habit in which very +great personages are not supposed to indulge; and in his younger days +he had avoided it. He had allowed the time to take him as it found him, +and had gone with it unresistingly wherever it had led. It was the best +way; the wisest way; the way Solomon found most congenial, despite its +end in 'vanity and vexation of spirit.' But with the passing of the +years a veil had been dropped over that path of roses, hiding it +altogether from his sight; and another veil rose inch by inch before +him, disclosing a new and less joyous prospect on which he was not +too-well-pleased to look. + +The sea, stretching out in a broad shining expanse opposite to him, +sparkled dancingly in the warm sunshine, and the snowy sails of many +yachts and pleasure-boats dipped now and again into the glittering +waves like white birds skimming over the tiny flashing foam-crests. +Dazzling and well-nigh blinding to his eyes were the burning glow and +exquisite radiance of colour which seemed melted like gold and sapphire +into that bright half-circle of water and sky,--beautiful, and full of +a dream-like evanescent quality, such as marks all the loveliest +scenes and impressions of our life on earth. There was a subtle scent +of violets in the air,--and a gardener, cutting sheafs of narcissi from +the edges of the velvety green banks which rolled away in smooth +undulations upward from the terrace to the wider extent of the palace +pleasaunce beyond, scattered such perfume with his snipping shears as +might have lured another Proserpine from Hell. Cluster after cluster of +white blooms, carefully selected for the adornment of the Royal +apartments, he laid beside him on the grass, not presuming to look in +the direction where that other Workman in the ways of life sat silent +and absorbed in thought. That other, in his own long-practised manner, +feigned not to be aware of his dependant's proximity,--and in this +fashion they twain--human beings made of the same clay and relegated, +to the same dust--gave sport to the Fates by playing at Sham with +Heaven and themselves. Custom, law, and all the paraphernalia of +civilization, had set the division and marked the boundary between +them,--had forbidden the lesser in world's rank to speak to the +greater, unless the greater began conversation,--had equally forbidden +the greater to speak to the lesser lest such condescension should +inflate the lesser's vanity so much as to make him obnoxious to his +fellows. Thus,--of two men, who, if left to nature would have been +merely--men, and sincere enough at that,--man himself had made two +pretenders,--the one as gardener, the other as--King! The white +narcissi lying on the grass, and preparing to die sweetly, like +sacrificed maiden-victims of the flower-world, could turn true faces +to the God who made them,--but the men at that particular moment of +time had no real features ready for God's inspection,--only masks. + +"C'est mon metier d'etre Roi!" So said one of the many dead and gone +martyrs on the rack of sovereignty. Alas, poor soul, thou would'st have +been happier in any other 'metier' I warrant! For kingship is a +profession which cannot be abandoned for a change of humour, or cast +aside in light indifference and independence because a man is bored by +it and would have something new. It is a routine and drudgery to which +some few are born, for which they are prepared, to which they must +devote their span of life, and in which they must die. "How shall we +pass the day?" asked a weary Roman emperor, "I am even tired of killing +my enemies!" + +'Even' that! And the strangest part of it is, that there are people who +would give all their freedom and peace of mind to occupy for a few +years an uneasy throne, and who actually live under the delusion that a +monarch is happy! + +The gardener soon finished his task of cutting the narcissi, and though +he might not, without audacity, look at his Sovereign-master, his +Sovereign-master looked at him, furtively, from under half-closed +eyelids, watching him as he bound the blossoms together carefully, with +the view of giving as little trouble as possible to those whose duty it +would be to arrange them for the Royal pleasure. His work done, he +walked quickly, yet with a certain humble stealthiness,--thus +admitting his consciousness of that greater presence than his own,-- +down a broad garden walk beyond the terrace towards a private entrance +to the palace, and there disappeared. + +The King was left alone,--or apparently so, for to speak truly, he was +never alone. An equerry, a page-in-waiting,--or what was still more +commonplace as well as ominous, a detective,--lurked about him, ever +near, ever ready to spring on any unknown intruder, or to answer his +slightest call. + +But to the limited extent of the solitude allowed to kings, this man +was alone,--alone for a brief space to consider, as he had informed his +secretary, certain documents awaiting his particular and private +perusal. + +The marble pavilion in which he sat had been built by his father, the +late King, for his own pleasure, when pleasure was more possible than +it is now. Its slender Ionic columns, its sculptured friezes, its +painted ceilings, all expressed a gaiety, grace and beauty gone from +the world, perchance for ever. Open on three sides to the living +picture of the ocean, crimson and white roses clambered about it, and +tall plume-like mimosa shook fragrance from its golden blossoms down +every breath of wind. The costly table on which this particular Majesty +of a nation occasionally wrote his letters, would, if sold, have kept a +little town in food for a year,--the rich furs at his feet would have +bought bread for hundreds of starving families,--and every delicious +rose that nodded its dainty head towards him with the breeze would have +given an hour's joy to a sick child. Socialists say this kind of thing +with wildly eloquent fervour, and blame all kings in passionate +rhodomontade for the tables, the furs and the roses,--but they forget-- +it is not the sad and weary kings who care for these or any luxuries,-- +they would be far happier without them. It is the People who insist on +having kings that should be blamed,--not the monarchs themselves. A +king is merely the people's Prisoner of State,--they chain him to a +throne,--they make him clothe himself in sundry fantastic forms of +attire and exhibit his person thus decked out, for their pleasure,-- +they calculate, often with greed and grudging, how much it will cost to +feed him and keep him in proper state on the national premises, that +they may use him at their will,--but they seldom or never seem to +remember the fact that there is a Man behind the King! + +It is not easy to govern nowadays, since there is no real autocracy, +and no strong soul likely to create one. But the original idea of +sovereignty was grand and wise;--the strongest man and bravest, raised +aloft on shields and bucklers with warrior cries of approval from the +people who voluntarily chose him as their leader in battle,--their +utmost Head of affairs. Progress has demolished this ideal, with many +others equally fine and inspiring; and now all kings are so, by right +of descent merely. Whether they be infirm or palsied, weak or wise, +sane or crazed, still are they as of old elected; only no more as the +Strongest, but simply as the Sign-posts of a traditional bygone +authority. This King however, here written of, was not deficient in +either mental or physical attributes. His outward look and bearing +betokened him as far more fit to be lifted in triumph on the shoulders +of his battle-heroes, a real and visible Man, than to play a more or +less cautiously inactive part in the modern dumb-show of Royalty. Well- +built and muscular, with a compact head regally poised on broad +shoulders, and finely formed features which indicated in their firm +modelling strong characteristics of pride, indomitable resolution and +courage, he had an air of rare and reposeful dignity which made him +much more impressive as a personality than many of his fellow- +sovereigns. His expression was neither foolish nor sensual,--his clear +dark grey eyes were sane and steady in their regard and had no tricks +of shiftiness. As an ordinary man of the people his appearance would +have been distinctive,--as a King, it was remarkable. + +He had of course been called handsome in his childhood,--what heir to +a Throne ever lived that was not beautiful, to his nurse at least?--and +in his early youth he had been grossly flattered for his cleverness as +well as his good looks. Every small attempt at witticism,--every poor +joke he could invent, adapt or repeat, was laughed at approvingly in a +chorus of admiration by smirking human creatures, male and female, who +bowed and bobbed up and down before the lad like strange dolphins +disporting themselves on dry land. Whereat he grew to despise the +dolphins, and no wonder. When he was about seventeen or eighteen he +began to ask odd questions of one of his preceptors, a learned and +ceremonious personage who, considering the extent of his certificated +wisdom, was yet so singularly servile of habit and disposition that he +might have won a success on the stage as Chief Toady in a burlesque of +Court life. He was a pale, thin old man, with a wizened face set well +back amid wisps of white hair, and a scraggy throat which asserted its +working muscles visibly whenever he spoke, laughed or took food. His +way of shaking hands expressed his moral flabbiness in the general +dampness, looseness and limpness of the act,--not that he often shook +hands with his pupil, for though that pupil was only a boy made of +ordinary flesh and blood like other boys, he was nevertheless heir to a +Throne, and in strict etiquette even friendly liberties were not to be +too frequently taken with such an Exalted little bit of humanity. The +lad himself, however, had a certain mischievous delight in making him +perform this courtesy, and being young and vigorous, would often +squeeze the old gentleman's hesitating fingers in his strong clasp so +energetically as to cause him the severest pain. Student of many +philosophies as he was, the worthy pedagogue would have cried out, or +sworn profane oaths in his agony, had it been any other than the 'Heir- +Apparent' who thus made him wince with torture,--but as matters stood, +he merely smiled--and bore it. The young rascal of a prince smiled +too,--taking note of his obsequious hypocrisy, which served an +inquiring mind with quite as good a field for logical speculation as +any problem in Euclid. And he went on with his questions,--questions, +which if not puzzling, were at least irritating enough to have secured +him a rap on the knuckles from his tutor's cane, had he been a grocer's +lad instead of the eldest son of a Royal house. + +"Professor," he said on one occasion, "What is man?" + +"Man," replied the professor sedately, "is an intelligent and reasoning +being, evolved by natural processes of creation into his present +condition of supremacy." + +"What is Supremacy?" + +"The state of being above, or superior to, the rest of the animal +creation." + +"And is he so superior?" + +"He is generally so admitted." + +"Is my father a man?" + +"Assuredly! The question is superfluous." + +"What makes him a King?" + +"Royal birth and the hereditary right to his great position." + +"Then if man is in a condition of supremacy over the rest of creation, +a king is more than a man if he is allowed to rule men?" + +"Sir, pardon me!--a king is not more than a man, but men choose him as +their ruler because he is worthy." + +"In what way is he worthy? Simply because he is born as I am, heir to a +throne?" + +"Precisely." + +"He might be an idiot or a cripple, a fool or a coward,--he would still +be King?" + +"Most indubitably." + +"So that if he were a madman, he would continue to hold supremacy over +a nation, though his groom might be sane?" + +"Your Royal Highness pursues the question with an unwise flippancy;"-- +remonstrated the professor with a pained, forced smile. "If an idiot or +a madman were unfortunately born to a throne, a regency would be +appointed to control state affairs, but the heir would, in spite of +natural incapability, remain the lawful king." + +"A strange sovereignty!" said the young prince carelessly. "And a still +stranger patience in the people who would tolerate it! Yet over all +men,--kings, madmen, and idiots alike,--there is another ruling force, +called God?" + +"There is a force," admitted the professor dubiously--"But in the +present forward state of things it would not be safe to attempt to +explain the nature of that force, and for the benefit of the illiterate +masses we call it God. A national worship of something superior to +themselves has always been proved politic and necessary for the people. +I have not at any time resolved myself as to why it should be so; but +so it is." + +"Then man, despite his 'supremacy' must have something more supreme +than himself to keep him in order, if it be only a fetish wherewith to +tickle his imagination?" suggested the prince with a touch of satire,-- +"Even kings must bow, or pretend to bow, to the King of kings?" + +"Sir, you have expressed the fact with felicity;" replied the professor +gravely--"His Majesty, your august father, attends public worship with +punctilious regularity, and you are accustomed to accompany him. It is +a rule which you will find necessary to keep in practice, as an example +to your subjects when you are called upon to reign." + +The young man raised his eyebrows deprecatingly, with a slight ironical +smile, and dropped the subject. But the learned professor as in duty +bound, reported the conversation to his pupil's father; with the +additional observation that he feared, he very humbly and respectfully +feared, that the developing mind of the prince appeared undesirably +disposed towards discursive philosophies, which were wholly unnecessary +for the position he was destined to occupy. Whereupon the King took his +son to task on the subject with a mingling of kindness and humour. + +"Do not turn philosopher!" he said--"For philosophy will not so much +content you with life, as with death! Philosophy will chill your best +impulses and most generous enthusiasms,--it will make you over-cautious +and doubtful of your friends,--it will cause you to be indifferent to +women in the plural, but it will hand you over, a weak and helpless +victim to the _one_ woman,--when she comes,--as she is bound to +come. There is no one so hopelessly insane as a philosopher in love! +Love women, but not _a_ woman!" + +"In so doing I should follow the wisest of examples,--yours, Sir!" +replied the prince with a familiarity more tender than audacious, for +his father was a man of fine presence and fascinating manner, and knew +well the extent of his power to charm and subjugate the fairer sex,-- +"But I have a fancy that love,--if it exists anywhere outside the +dreams of the poets,--is unknown to kings." + +The monarch bent his brows frowningly, and his eyes were full of a deep +and bitter melancholy. + +"You mistake!" he said slowly--"Love,--and by that name I mean a wholly +different thing from Passion,--comes to kings as to commoners,--but +whereas the commoner may win it if he can, the king must reject it. But +it comes,--and leaves a blank in the proudest life when it goes!" + +He turned away abruptly, and the conversation was not again resumed. +But when he died, those who prepared his body for burial, found a gold +chain round his neck, holding the small medallion portrait of a woman, +and a curl of soft fair hair. Needless to say the portrait was not that +of the late Queen-Consort, who had died some years before her Royal +spouse, nor was the hair hers,--but when they brought the relic to the +new King, he laid it back with his own hands on his father's lifeless +breast, and let it go into the grave with him. For, being no longer the +crowned Servant of the State, he had the right as a mere dead man, to +the possession of his love-secret. + +So at least thought his son and successor, who at times was given to +wondering whether if, like his father, he had such a secret he would be +able to keep it as closely and as well. He thought not. It would be +scarcely worth while. It can only be the greatest love that is always +silent,--and in the greatest,--that is, the ideal and self-renouncing +love,--he did not believe; though in his own life's experience he had +been given a proof that such love is possible to women, if not to men. +When he was about twenty, he had loved, or had imagined he loved, a +girl,--a pretty creature, who did not know him as a prince at all, but +simply as a college student. He used to walk with her hand in hand +through the fields by the river, and gather wild flowers for her to +wear in her little white bodice. She had shy soft eyes, and a timid, +yet trusting look, full of tenderness and pathos. Moved by a romantic +sense of honour and chivalry, he promised to marry her, and thereupon +wrote an impulsive letter to his father informing him of his intention. +Of course he was summoned home from college at once,--he was reminded +of his high destiny--of the Throne that would be his if he lived to +occupy it,--of the great and serious responsibilities awaiting him,-- +and of how impossible it was that the Heir-Apparent to the Crown should +marry a commoner. + +"Why not?" he cried passionately--"If she be good and true she is as +fit to be a queen as any woman royally born! She is a queen already in +her own right!" + +But while he was being argued with and controlled by all the +authorities concerned in king's business, his little sweetheart herself +put an end to the matter. Her parents told her all unpreparedly, and +with no doubt unnecessary harshness, the real position of the college +lad with whom she had wandered in the fields so confidingly; and in the +bewilderment of her poor little broken heart and puzzled brain, she +gave herself to the river by whose flowering banks she had sworn her +maiden vows,--though she knew it not,--to her future King; and so, +drowning her life and love together, made a piteous exit from all +difficulty. Before she went forth to die, she wrote a farewell to her +Royal lover, posting the letter herself on her way to the river, and, +by the merest chance he received it without a spy's intervention. It +was but one line, scrawled in a round youthful hand, and blotted with +many tears. + +"Sir--my love!--forgive me!" + +It would be unwise to say what that little scrap of ill-formed writing +cost the heir to a throne when he heard how she had died,--or how he +raged and swore and wept. It was the first Wrong forced on him as +Right, by the laws of the realm; and he was young and generous and +honest, and not hardened to those laws then. Their iniquity and +godlessness appeared to him in plain ugly colours undisguised. Since +that time he had perforce fallen into the habit and routine of his +predecessors, though he was not altogether so 'constitutional' a +sovereign as his father had been. He had something of the spirit of one +who had occupied his throne five hundred years before him; when +strength and valour and wit and boldness, gave more kings to the world +than came by heritage. He did unconventional things now and then; to +the grief of flunkeys, and the alarm of Court parasites. But his +kingdom was of the South, where hot blood is recognized and excused, +and fiery temper more admired than censured, and where,--so far as +social matters went,--his word, whether kind, cold, or capricious, was +sufficient to lead in any direction that large flock of the silly sheep +of fashion who only exist to eat, and to be eaten. Sometimes he longed +to throw himself back into bygone centuries and stand as his earliest +ancestor stood, sword in hand, on a height overlooking the battle- +field, watching the swaying rush of combat,--the glitter of spears and +axes--the sharp flight of arrows--the tossing banners, the grinding +chariots, the flying dust and carnage of men! There was something to +fight for in those days,--there was no careful binding up of wounds,-- +no provision for the sick or the mutilated,--nothing, nothing, but +'Victory or Death!' How much grander, how much finer the old fierce +ways of war than now, when any soldier wounded, may write the details +of his bayonet-scratch or bullet-hole to the cheap press, and the +surgeon prys about with Rontgen-ray paraphernalia and scalpel, to +discover how much or how little escape from dissolution a man's soul +has had in the shock of contest with his foe! Of a truth these are +paltry days!--and paltry days breed paltry men. Afraid of sickness, +afraid of death, afraid of poverty, afraid of offences, afraid to +think, afraid to speak, Man in the present era of his boasted +'progress' resembles nothing so much as a whipped child,--cowering +under the outstretched arm of Heaven and waiting in whimpering terror +for the next fall of the scourge. And it is on this point especially, +that the monarch who takes part in this unhesitating chronicle of +certain thoughts and movements hidden out of sight,--yet deeply felt in +the under-silences of the time,--may claim to be unconventional;--he +was afraid of nothing,--not even of himself as King! + + + + +CHAPTER II + +MAJESTY CONSIDERS AND RESOLVES + + +The little episode of his first love, combined with his ungovernable +fury and despair at its tragic conclusion, had of course the natural +result common in such a case, to the fate of all who are destined to +occupy thrones. A marriage was 'arranged' for him; and pressing reasons +of state were urged for the quick enforcement and carrying out of the +'arrangement.' The daughter of a neighbouring potentate was elected to +the honour of his alliance,--a beautiful girl with a pale, cold clear- +cut face and brilliant eyes, whose smile penetrated the soul with an +icy chill, and whose very movement, noiseless and graceful as it was, +reminded one irresistibly of slowly drifting snow. She was attended to +the altar, as he was, by all the ministers and plenipotentiaries of +state that could possibly be gathered together from the four quarters +of the globe as witnesses to the immolation of two young human lives on +the grim sacrificial stone of a Dynasty; and both prince and princess +accepted their fate with mutually silent and civil resignation. Their +portraits, set facing each other with a silly smile, or taken in a +linked arm-in-arm attitude against a palatial canvas background, +appeared in every paper published throughout the world, and every +scribbler on the Press took special pains to inform the easily deluded +public that the Royal union thus consummated was 'a romantic love- +match.' For the People still have heart and conscience,--the People, +taken in the rough lump of humanity, still believe in love, in faith, +in the dear sweetness of home affections. The politicians who make +capital out of popular emotion, know this well enough,--and are careful +to play the tune of their own personal interest upon the gamut of +National Sentiment in every stump oration. For how terrible it would be +if the People of any land learned to judge their preachers and teachers +by the lines of fact alone! Inasmuch as fact would convincingly prove +to them that their leaders prospered and grew rich, while they stayed +poor; and they might take to puzzling out reasons for this inadequacy +which would inevitably cause trouble. For this, and divers other +motives politic, the rosy veil of sentiment is always delicately flung +more or less over every new move on the national debating-ground,--and +whether marriageable princes and princesses love or loathe each other, +still, when they come to wed, the words 'romantic love-match' must be +thrown in by an obliging Press in order to satisfy the tender scruples +of a people who would certainly not abide the thought of a Royal +marriage contracted in mutual aversion. Thus much soundness and right +principle there is at least, in what some superfine persons call the +'common' folk,--the folk whose innermost sense of truth and +straightforwardness, not even the proudest statesman dare outrage. + +But with what unuttered and unutterable scorn the youthful victims of +the Royal pairing accepted the newspaper-assurances of the devoted +tenderness they entertained for each other! With what wearied +impatience both prince and princess received the 'Wedding Odes' and +'Epithalamiums,' written by first-class and no-class versifiers for the +occasion! What shoals of these were cast aside unread, to occupy the +darkest dingiest corner of one of the Royal 'refuse' libraries! The +writers of such things expected great honours, no doubt, each and every +man-jack of them,--but apart from the fact that the greatest literature +has always lived without any official recognition or endowment from +kings,--being in itself the supremest sovereignty,--poets and +rhymesters alike never seem to realize that no one is, or can be, so +sickened by an 'Ode' as the man or woman to whom it is written! + +The brilliant marriage ceremony concluded, the august bride and +bridegroom took their departure, amid frantically cheering crowds, for +a stately castle standing high among the mountains, a truly magnificent +pile, which had been placed at their disposal for the 'honeymoon' by +one of the wealthiest of the King's subjects,--and there, as soon as +equerries, grooms-in-waiting, flunkeys, and every other sort of indoor +and outdoor retainer would consent to leave them alone together, the +Royal wife came to her Royal husband, and asked to be allowed to speak +a few words on the subject of their marriage, 'for the first and last +time,' said she, with a straight glance from the cold moonlight mystery +of her eyes. Beautiful at all times, her beauty was doubly enhanced by +the regal attitude and expression she unconsciously assumed as she made +the request, and the prince, critically studying her form and features, +could not but regard himself as in some respects rather particularly +favoured by the political and social machinery which had succeeded in +persuading so fair a creature to resign herself to the doubtful destiny +of a throne. She had laid aside her magnificent bridal-robes of ivory +satin and cloth-of-gold,--and appeared before him in loose draperies of +floating white, with her rich hair unbound and rippling to her knees. + +"May I speak?" she murmured, and her voice trembled. + +"Most assuredly!"--he replied, half smiling--"You do me too much honour +by requesting the permission!" + +As he spoke, he bowed profoundly, but she, raising her eyes, fixed them +full upon him with a strange look of mingled pride and pain. + +"Do not," she said, "let us play at formalities! Let us be honest with +each other for to-night at least! All our life together must from +henceforth be more or less of a masquerade, but let us for to-night be +as true man and true woman, and frankly face the position into which we +have been thrust, not by ourselves, but by others." + +Profoundly astonished, the prince was silent. He had not thought this +girl of nineteen possessed any force of character or any intellectual +power of reasoning. He had judged her as no doubt glad to become a +great princess and a possible future queen, and he had not given her +credit for any finer or higher feeling. + +"You know,"--she continued--"you must surely know--" here, despite the +strong restraint she put upon herself, her voice broke, and her slight +figure swayed in its white draperies as if about to fall. She looked at +him with a sense of rising tears in her throat,--tears of which she was +ashamed,--for she was full of a passionate emotion too strong for +weeping--a contempt of herself and of him, too great for mere clamour. +Was he so much of a man in the slow thick density of his brain she +thought, as to have no instinctive perception of her utter misery? He +hastened to her and tried to take her hands, but she drew herself away +from him and sank down in a chair as if exhausted. + +"You are tired!" he said kindly--"The tedious ceremonial--the still +more tedious congratulations,--and the fatiguing journey from the +capital to this place have been too much for your strength. You must +rest!" + +"It is not that!"--she answered--"not that! I am not tired,--but--but-- +I cannot say my prayers tonight till you know my whole heart!" + +A curious reverence and pity moved him. All day long he had been in a +state of resentful irritation,--he had loathed himself for having +consented to marry this girl without loving her,--he had branded +himself inwardly as a liar and hypocrite when he had sworn his marriage +vows 'before God,' whereas if he truly believed in God, such vows taken +untruthfully were mere blasphemy;--and now she herself, a young thing +tenderly brought up like a tropical flower in the enervating hot-house +atmosphere of Court life, yet had such a pure, deep consciousness of +God in her, that she actually could not pray with the slightest blur of +a secret on her soul! He waited wonderingly. + +"I have plighted my faith to you before God's altar to-day," she said, +speaking more steadily,--"because after long and earnest thought, I saw +that there was no other way of satisfying the two nations to which we +belong, and cementing the friendly relations between them. There is no +woman of Royal birth,--so it has been pointed out to me--who is so +suitable, from a political point of view, to be your wife as I. It is +for the sake of your Throne and country that you must marry--and I ask +God to forgive me if I have done wrong in His sight by wedding you +simply for duty's sake. My father, your father, and all who are +connected with our two families desire our union, and have assured me +that, it is right and good for me to give up my life to yours. All +women's lives must be martyred to the laws made by men,--or so it seems +to me,--I cannot expect to escape from the general doom apportioned to +my sex. I therefore accept the destiny which transfers me to you as a +piece of human property for possession and command,--I accept it +freely, but I will not say gladly, because that would not be true. For +I do not love you,--I cannot love you! I want you to know that, and to +feel it, that you may not ask from me what I cannot give." + +There were no tears in her eyes; she looked at him straightly and +steadfastly. He, in his turn, met her gaze fully,--his face had paled a +little, and a shadow of pained regret and commiseration darkened his +handsome features. + +"You love someone else?" he asked, softly. + +She rose from her chair and confronted him, a glow of passionate pride +flushing her cheeks and brow. + +"No!" she said--"I would not be a traitor to you in so much as a +thought! Had I loved anyone else I would never have married you,--no!-- +though you had been ten times a prince and king! No! You do not +understand. I come to you heartwhole and passionless, without a single +love-word chronicled in my girlhood's history, or a single incident you +may not know. I have never loved any man, because from my very +childhood I have hated and feared all men! I loathe their presence-- +their looks--their voices--their manners,--if one should touch my hand +in ordinary courtesy, my instincts are offended and revolted, and the +sense of outrage remains with me for days. My mother knows of this, and +says I am 'unnatural,'--it may be so. But unnatural or not, it is the +truth; judge therefore the extent of the sacrifice I make to God and +our two countries in giving myself to you!" + +The prince stood amazed and confounded. Did she rave? Was she mad? He +studied her with a curious, half-doubting scrutiny, and noted the +composure of her attitude, the cold serenity of her expression,--there +was evidently no hysteria, no sur-excitation of nerves about this calm +statuesque beauty which in every line and curve of loveliness silently +mutinied against him, and despised him. Puzzled, yet fascinated, he +sought in his mind for some clue to her meaning. + +"There are women" she went on--"to whom love, or what is called love, +is necessary,--for whom marriage is the utmost good of existence. I am +not one of these. Had I my own choice I would live my life away from +all men,--I would let nothing of myself be theirs to claim,--I would +give all I am and all I have to God, who made me what I am. For truly +and honestly, without any affectation at all, I look upon marriage, not +as an honour, but a degradation!" + +Had she been less in earnest, he might have smiled at this, but her +beauty, intensified as it was by the fervour of her feeling, seemed +transfigured into something quite supernatural which for the moment +dazzled him. + +"Am I to understand--" he began. + +She interrupted him by a swift gesture, while the rich colour swept +over her face in a warm wave. + +"Understand nothing"--she said,--"but this--that I do not love you, +because I can love no man! For the rest I am your wife; and as your +wife I give myself to you and your nation wholly and in all things-- +save love!" + +He advanced and took her hands in his. + +"This is a strange bargain!" he said, and gently kissed her. + +She answered nothing,--only a faint shiver trembled through her as she +endured the caress. For a moment or two he surveyed her in silence,--it +was a singular and novel experience for him, as a future king, to be +the lawful possessor of a woman's beauty, and yet with all his +sovereignty to be unable to waken one thrill of tenderness in the +frozen soul imprisoned in such exquisite flesh and blood. He was +inclined to disbelieve her assertions,--surely he thought, there must +be emotion, feeling, passion in this fair creature, who, though she +seemed a goddess newly descended from inaccessible heights of heaven +was still _only_ a woman? And upon the whole he was not ill- +pleased with the curious revelation she had made of herself. He +preferred the coldness of women to their volcanic eruptions, and would +take more pains to melt the snow of reserve than to add fuel to the +flame of ardour. + +"You have been very frank with me," he said at last, after a pause, as +he loosened her hands and moved a little apart from her--"And whether +your physical and mental hatred of my sex is a defect in your nature, +or an exceptional virtue, I shall not quarrel with it. I am myself not +without faults; and the chiefest of these is one most common to all +men. I desire what I may not have, and covet what I do not possess. So! +We understand each other!" + +She raised her eyes--those beautiful deep eyes with the moonlight +glamour in them,--and for an instant the shining Soul of her, pure and +fearless, seemed to spring up and challenge to spiritual combat him who +was now her body's master. Then, bending her head with a graceful yet +proud submission, she retired. + +From that time forth she never again spoke on this, or any other +subject of an intimate or personal nature, with her Royal spouse. Cold +as an iceberg, pure as a diamond, she accepted both wifehood and +motherhood as martyrdom, with an evident contempt for its humiliation, +and without one touch of love for either husband or children. She bore +three sons, of whom the eldest, and heir to the throne was, at the time +this history begins, just twenty. The passing of the years had left +scarcely a trace upon her beauty, save to increase it from the +sparkling luminance of a star to the glory of a full-orbed moon of +loveliness,--and she had easily won a triumph over all the other women +around her, in the power she possessed to command and retain the +admiration of men. She was one of those brilliant creatures who, like +the Egyptian Cleopatra, never grow old,--for she was utterly exempt +from the wasting of the nerves through emotion. Her eyes were always +bright and clear; her skin dazzling in its whiteness, save where the +equably flowing blood flushed it with tenderest rose,--her figure +remained svelte, lithe and graceful in all its outlines. Finely strung, +yet strong as steel in her temperament, all thoughts, feelings and +events seemed to sweep over her without affecting or disturbing her +mind's calm equipoise. She lived her life with extreme simplicity, +regularity, and directness, thus driving to despair all would-be +scandal-mongers; and though many gifted and famous men fell madly in +love with their great princess, and often, in the extremity of a +passion which amounted to disloyalty, slew themselves for her sake, she +remained unmoved and pitiless. + +Her husband occasionally felt some compassion for the desperate fellows +who thus immolated themselves on the High Altar of her perfections, +though it must be admitted that he received the news of their deaths +with tolerable equanimity, knowing them to have been fools, and as +such, better out of the world than in it. During the first two or three +years of his marriage he had himself been somewhat of their +disposition, and as mere man, had tried by every means in his power to +win the affection of his beautiful spouse, and to melt the icy barrier +which she, despite their relations with each other, had resolutely kept +up between herself and him. He had made the attempt, not because he +actually loved her, but simply because he desired the satisfaction of +conquest. Finding the task hopeless, he resigned himself to his fate, +and accepted her at the costly valuation she set upon herself; though +for pastime he would often pay court to certain ladies of easy virtue, +with the vague idea that perhaps the spirit of jealousy might enter +that cold shrine of womanhood where no other demon could force +admission, and wake up the passions slumbering within. But she appeared +not to be at all aware of his many and open gallantries; and only at +stray moments, when her frosty flashing glance fell upon him engaged in +some casual flirtation, would a sudden smarting sense of injury make +him conscious of her contempt. + +But he could reasonably find no fault with her, save the fault of being +faultless. She was a perfect hostess, and fulfilled all the duties of +her exalted position with admirable tact and foresight,--she was ever +busy in the performance of good and charitable deeds,--she was an +excellent mother, and took the utmost personal care that her sons +should be healthily nurtured and well brought up,--she never interfered +in any matter of state or ceremony,--she simply seemed to move as a +star moves, shining over the earth but having no part in it. +Irresponsive as she was, she nevertheless compelled admiration,--her +husband himself admired her, but only as he would have admired a statue +or a painting. For his was an impulsive and generous nature, and his +marriage had kept his heart empty of the warmth of love, and his home +devoid of the light of sympathy. Even his children had been born more +as the sons of the nation than his own,--he was not conscious of any +very great affection for them, or interest in their lives. And he had +sought to kindle at many strange fires the heavenly love-beacon which +should have flamed its living glory into his days; so it had naturally +chanced that he had spent by far the larger portion of his time on the +persuasion of mere Whim,--and as vastly inferior women to his wife had +made him spend it. + +But at this particular juncture, when the curtain is drawn up on +certain scenes and incidents in his life-drama, a change had been +effected in his opinions and surroundings. For eighteen years after his +marriage, he had lived on the first step of the Throne as its next +heir; and when he passed that step and ascended the Throne itself, he +seemed to have crossed a vast abyss of distance between the Old and the +New. Behind him the Past rolled away like a cloud vanishing, to be seen +no more,--before him arose the dim vista of wavering and uncertain +shadows, which no matter how they shifted and changed,--no matter how +many flashes of sunshine flickered through them,--were bound to close +in the thick gloom of the inevitable end,--Death. This is what he was +chiefly thinking of, seated alone in his garden-pavilion facing the sea +on that brilliant southern summer morning,--this,--and with the +thought came many others no less sad and dubious,--such as whether for +example, his eldest son might not already be eager for the crown?-- +whether even now, though he had only reigned three years, his people +were not more or less dissatisfied under his rule? + +His father, the late King, had died suddenly,--so suddenly that there +was neither help nor hope for him among the hastily summoned +physicians. Stricken numb and speechless, he kept his anguished eyes +fixed to the last upon his son, as one who should say--"Alas, and to +thee also, falls this curse of a Crown!" Once dead, he was soon +forgotten,--the pomp of the Royal obsequies merely made a gala-day for +the light-hearted Southern populace, who hailed the accession of their +new King with as much gladness as a child, who, having broken one doll, +straightway secures another as good, if not better. As Heir-Apparent +the succeeding sovereign had won great popularity, and was much more +generally beloved than his father had been,--so that it was on an extra +high wave of jubilation and acclamation that he and his beautiful +consort were borne to the Throne. + +Three years had passed since then; and so far his reign had been +untroubled by much difficulty. Difficulty there was, but he was kept in +ignorance of it,--troubles were brooding, but he was not informed of +them. Things likely to be disagreeable were not conveyed to his ears,-- +and matters which, had he been allowed to examine into them, might have +aroused his indignation and interference, were diplomatically hushed +up. He was known to possess much more than the limited intelligence +usually apportioned to kings; and certainly, as his tutor had said of +him in his youth, he was dangerously "disposed towards discursive +philosophies." He was likewise accredited with a conscience, which many +diplomats consider to be a wholly undesirable ingredient in the moral +composition of a reigning monarch. Therefore, those who move a king, as +in the game of chess, one square at a time and no more,--were +particularly cautious as to the 'way' in which they moved him. He had +shown himself difficult to manage once or twice; and interested persons +could not pursue their usual course of self-aggrandisement with him, as +he was not susceptible to flattery. He had a way of asking straight +questions, and what was still worse, expecting straight answers, such +as politicians never give. + +Nevertheless he had, up to the present, ruled his conduct very much on +the lines laid down by his predecessors, and during his brief reign had +been more or less content to passively act in all things as his +ministers advised. He had bestowed honours on fools because his +ministers considered it politic,--he had given his formal consent to +the imposition of certain taxes on his people, because his ministers +had judged such taxes necessary,--in fact he had done everything he +was expected to do, and nothing that he was not expected to do. He had +not taken any close personal thought as to whether such and such a +political movement was, or was not, welcome to the spirit of the +nation, nor had he weighed intimately in his own mind the various +private interests of the members of his Government, in passing, or +moving the rejection of, any important measure affecting the well-being +of the community at large. And he had lately,--perhaps through the +objectionable 'discursive philosophies' before mentioned,--come to +consider himself somewhat of a stuffed Dummy or figure-head; and to +wonder what would be the result, if with caution and prudence, he were +to act more on his own initiative, and speak as he often thought it +would be wise and well to speak? He was but forty-five years old,--in +the prime of life, in the plenitude of health and mental vigour,--was +he to pass the rest of his days guarded by detectives, flunkeys and +physicians, with never an independent word or action throughout his +whole career to mark him Man as well as Monarch? Nay, surely that would +be an insult to the God who made him! But the question which arose in +his mind and perplexed him was, How to begin? How, after passive +obedience, to commence resistance? How to break through the miserable +conventionalism, the sordid commonplace of a king's surroundings? For +it is only in medieval fairy-tales that kings are permitted to be +kingly. + +Yet, despite custom and usage, he was determined to make a new +departure in the annals of modern sovereignty. Three years of +continuous slavery on the treadmill of the Throne had been sufficient +to make him thirst for freedom,--freedom of speech,--freedom of action. +He had tacitly submitted to a certain ministry because he had been +assured that the said ministry was popular,--but latterly, rumours of +discontent and grievance had reached him,--albeit indistinctly and +incoherently,--and he began to be doubtful as to whether it might not +be the Press which supported the existing state of policy, rather than +the People. The Press! He began to consider of what material this great +power in his country was composed. Originally, the Press in all +countries, was intended to be the most magnificent institution of the +civilized world,--the voice of truth, of liberty, of justice--a voice +which in its clamant utterances could neither be bribed nor biassed to +cry out false news. Originally, such was meant to be its mission;--but +nowadays, what, in all honesty and frankness, is the Press? What was +it, for example, to this king, who from personal knowledge, was able to +practically estimate and enumerate the forces which controlled it +thus:--Six, or at the most a dozen men, the proprietors and editors of +different newspapers sold in cheap millions to the people. Most of +these newspapers were formed into 'companies'; and the managers issued +'shares' in the fashion of tea merchants and grocers. False news, if of +a duly sensational character, would sometimes send up the shares in the +market,--true information would equally, on occasion, send them down. +These premises granted, might it not follow that for newspaper +speculators, the False would often prove more lucrative than the True? +And, concerning the persons who wrote for these newspapers,--of what +calling and election were they? Male and female, young and old, they +were generally of a semi-educated class lacking all distinctive +ability,--men and women who were, on an average, desperately poor, and +desperately dissatisfied. To earn daily bread they naturally had to +please the editors set in authority over them; hence their expressed +views and opinions on any subject could only be counted as _nil_, +being written, not independently, but under the absolute control of +their employers. Thus meditating, the King summed up the total of his +own mental argument, and found that the vast sounding 'power of the +Press' so far as his own dominion was concerned, resolved itself into +the mere trade monopoly of the aforesaid leading dozen men. What he now +proposed to himself to discover among other things, was,--how far and +how truly these dozen tradesmen voiced the mind of the People over whom +he was elected to reign? Here was a problem, and one not easy to solve. +But what was very plain and paramount to his mind was this,--that he +was thoroughly sick and tired of being no more than a 'social' figure +in the world's affairs. It was an effeminate part to play. It was time, +he considered, that he should intelligently try his own strength, and +test the nation's quality. + +"If there is corruption in the state," he said to himself, "I will find +its centre! If I am fooled by my advisers then I will be fooled no +longer. With whatsoever brain and heart and reason and understanding +the Fates have endowed me, I will study the ways, the movements, the +desires of my people, and prove myself their friend, as well as their +king. Suppose they misunderstand me?--What matter!--Let the nation +rise against me an' it will, so that I may, before I die, prove myself +worthy of the mere gift of manhood! To-day"--and, rising from his +chair, he advanced a step or two and faced the sea and sky with an +unconscious gesture of invocation; "To-day shall be the first day of my +real monarchy! To-day I begin to reign! The past is past,--for eighteen +long years as prince and heir to the throne I trifled away my time +among the follies of the hour, and laughed at the easy purchase I could +make of the assumed 'honour' of men and women; and I enjoyed the +liberty and license of my position. Since then, for three years I have +been the prisoner of my Parliament,--but now--now, and for the rest of +the time granted to me on earth, I will live my life in the belief that +its riddle must surely meet with God's own explanation. To me it has +become evident that the laws of Nature make for Truth and Justice; +while the laws of man are framed on deception and injustice. The two +sets of laws contend one against the other, and the finite, after +foolish and vain struggle, succumbs to the infinite,--better therefore, +to begin with the infinite Order than strive with the finite Chaos! I, +a mere earthly sovereign, rank myself on the side of the Infinite,-- +and will work for Truth and Justice with the revolving of Its giant +wheel! My people have seen me crowned,--but my real Coronation is to- +day--when I crown myself with my own resolve!" + +His eyes flashed in the sunshine;--a rose shook its pink petals on the +ground at his feet. In one of the many pleasure-boats skimming across +the sea, a man was singing; and the words he sang floated distinctly +along on the landward wind. + + "Let me be thine, O love, + But for an hour! I yield my heart and soul + Into thy power,--Let me be thine, O Love of mine, + But for an hour!" + +The King listened, and a faint shadow darkened the proud light on his +face. + +"'But for an hour!'" he said half aloud--"Yes,--it would be enough! +No woman's love lasts longer!" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A NATION OR A CHURCH? + + +An approaching step echoing on the marble terrace warned him that he +was no longer alone. He reseated himself at his writing-table, and +feigned to be deeply engrossed in perusing various documents, but a +ready smile greeted the intruder as soon as he perceived who it was,-- +one Sir Roger de Launay, his favourite equerry and intimate personal +friend. + +"Time's up, is it, Roger?" he queried lightly,--then as the equerry +bowed in respectful silence--"And yet I have scarcely glanced at these +papers! All the same, I have not been idle--I have been thinking." + +Sir Roger de Launay, a tall handsome man, with an indefinable air of +mingled good-nature and lassitude about him which suggested the +possibility of his politely urging even Death itself not to be so much +of a bore about its business, smiled doubtfully. "Is it a wise +procedure, Sir?" he enquired--"Conducive to comfort I mean?" + +The King laughed. + +"No--I cannot say that it is! But thought is a tonic which sometimes +restores a man's enfeebled self-respect. I was beginning to lose that +particular condition of health and sanity, Roger!--my self-respect was +becoming a flaccid muscle--a withering nerve;--but a little thought- +exercise has convinced me that my mental sinews are yet on the whole +strong!" + +Sir Roger offered no reply. His eyes expressed a certain languid +wonderment; but duty being paramount with him, and his immediate errand +being to remind his sovereign of an appointment then about due, he +began to collect the writing materials scattered about on the table and +put them together for convenient removal. The smile on the King's face +deepened as he watched him. + +"You do not answer me, De Launay,"--he resumed, "You think perhaps that +I am talking in parables, and that my mind has been persuaded into a +metaphysical and rambling condition by an hour's contemplation of the +sunlight on the sea! But come now!--have you not yourself felt a +longing to break loose from the trammels of conventional routine,--to +be set free from the slavery of answering another's beck and call,--to +be something more than my attendant and friend----" + +"Sir, more than your friend I have never desired to be!" said Sir +Roger, simply. + +The King extended his hand with impulsive quickness, and Sir Roger as +he clasped it, bent low and touched it with his lips. There was no +parasitical homage in the act, for De Launay loved his sovereign with a +love little known at courts; loyally, faithfully, and without a +particle of self-seeking. He had long recognized the nobility, truth +and courage which graced and tempered the disposition of the master he +served, and knew him to be one, if not the only, monarch in the world +likely to confer some lasting benefit on his people by his reign. + +"I tell you," pursued the King, "that there is something in the mortal +composition of every man which is beyond mortality, something which +clamours to be heard, and seen, and proved. We may call it conscience, +intellect, spirit or soul, and attribute its existence, to God, as a +spark of the Divine Essence, but whatever it is, it is in every one of +us; and there comes a moment in life when it must flame out, or be +quenched forever. That moment has come to me, Roger,--that something in +me must have its way!" + +"Your Majesty no doubt desires the impossible!"--said Sir Roger with a +smile, "All men do,--even kings!" + +"'Even kings!'" echoed the monarch--"You may well say 'even' kings! +What are kings? Simply the most wronged and miserable men on earth! I +do not myself put in a special claim for pity. My realm is small, and +my people are, for aught I can learn or am told of them, contented. But +other sovereigns who are my friends and neighbours, live, as it were, +under the dagger's point,--with dynamite at their feet and pistols at +their heads,--all for no fault of their own, but for the faults of a +system which they did not formulate. Conspirators on the threshold-- +poison in the air,--as in Russia, for example!--where is the joy or the +pride of being a King nowadays?" + +"Talking of poison," said Sir Roger blandly, as he placed the last +document of those he had collected, neatly in a leather case and +strapped it--"Your Majesty may perhaps feel inclined to defer giving +the promised audience to Monsignor Del Fords of the Society of Jesus?" + +"By Heaven, I had forgotten him!" and the King rose. "This is what you +came to remind me of, Roger? He is here?" + +De Launay bowed an assent. + +"Well! We have kept a messenger of Mother Church waiting our pleasure, +--and not for the first time in the annals of history! But why do you +associate his name with poison?" + +"Really, Sir, the connection is inexplicable,--unless it be the memory +of a religious lesson-book given to me in my childhood. It was an +illustrated treasure, and one picture showed me the Almighty in the +character of an old gentleman seated placidly on a cloud, smiling;-- +while on the earth below, a priest, exactly resembling this Del Fortis, +poured a spoonful of something,--poison--or it might have been boiling +lead--down the throat of a heretic. I remember it impressed me very +much with the goodness of God." + +He maintained a whimsical gravity as he spoke, and the King laughed. + +"De Launay, you are incorrigible! Come!--we will go within and see this +Del Fortis, and you shall remain present during the audience. That will +give you a chance to improve your present impression of him. I +understand he is a very brilliant and leading member of his Order,-- +likely to be the next Vicar-General. I know his errand,--the papers +concerning his business are there--," and he waved his hand towards the +leather case Sir Roger had just fastened--"Bring them with you!" + +Sir Roger obeyed, and the King, stepping forth from the pavilion, +walked slowly along the terrace, watching the sparkling sea, the +flowering orange-trees lifting their slender tufts of exquisitely +scented bloom against the clear blue of the sky, the birds skimming +lightly from point to point of foliage, and the white-sailed yachts +dipping gracefully as the ocean rose and fell with every wild sweet +breath of the scented wind. Pausing a moment, he presently took out a +field-glass and looked through it at one of the finest and fairest of +these pleasure-vessels, which, as he surveyed it, suddenly swung round, +and began to scud away westward. + +"The Prince is on board?" he asked. + +"Yes, Sir," replied De Launay--"His Royal Highness intends sailing as +far as The Islands, and remaining there till sunset." + +"Alone, as usual?" + +"As usual, Sir, alone, save for his captain and crew." + +The King walked on in silence for a minute. Then he paused abruptly. + +"I do not like it, De Launay!"--he said decisively--"I do not like his +abnormal love of solitude. Books are all very well--poetry is in its +way excellent,--music, as we are told 'hath charms'--but the boy broods +too much, and stays away too much from Court. What woman attracts him?" + +Sir Roger's eyes opened wide as the King turned suddenly round upon him +with this question. + +"Woman, Sir? I know of none. The Prince is but twenty----" + +"At twenty," said the King,--"boys love--the wrong girl. At thirty they +marry--the wrong woman. At forty they meet the only true and fitting +soul's companion,--and cry for the moon till the end! My son is in the +first stage, or I am much mistaken,--he loves--the wrong girl!" + +He walked on,--and De Launay followed, with a vague sense of amusement +and disquietude in his mind. What had come to his Royal master, he +wondered? His ordinary manner had changed somewhat,--he spoke with less +than the customary formality, and there was an expression of freedom +and authority, combined with a touch of defiance in his face, that was +altogether new to the observation of the faithful equerry. + +Arrived at the palace, and passing through one of the long and spacious +painted corridors, lit by richly coloured mullioned windows from end to +end, the King came face to face with a lady-in-waiting carrying a large +cluster of Madonna lilies. She drew aside, with a deep reverence, to +allow him to pass; but he stopped a moment, looking at the great +gorgeous white flowers faint with fragrance, and at the slight retiring +figure of the woman who held them. + +"Are these for the chapel, Madame?" he asked. + +"No, Sir! For the Queen." + +'For the Queen!' A quick sigh escaped him. He still stood, caught by a +sudden abstraction, looking at the dazzling whiteness of the snowy +blooms, and thinking how fittingly they would companion his beautiful, +cold, pure Queen Consort, who had never from her marriage day uttered a +word of love to him, or given him a glance of tenderness. Their rich +odours crept into his warm blood, and the bitter old sense of +unfulfilled longing, longing for affection, for comprehension, for all +that he had not possessed in his otherwise brilliant life, vexed and +sickened him. He turned away abruptly, and the lady-in-waiting, having +curtsied once more profoundly, passed on with her glistening sheaf of +bloom and disappeared vision-like in a gleam of azure light falling +through one of the further and higher casements. The King watched her +disappear, the meditative line of sadness still puckering his brow, +then, followed by his equerry, he entered a small private audience +chamber, where Sir Roger de Launay notified an attendant gentleman +usher that his Majesty was ready to receive Monsignor Del Fortis. + +During the brief interval occupied in waiting for his visitor's +approach, the King selected certain papers from those which Sir Roger +had brought from the garden pavilion and placed them in order on the +table. + +"For the past six months," he said "I have had this Jesuit's name +before me, and have been in twenty minds a month about granting or +refusing what his Society demands. The matter has been discussed in the +Press, too, with the usual pros and cons of hesitation, but it is the +People I am thinking of, the People! and I am just now in the humour to +satisfy a Nation rather than a Church!" + +De Launay said nothing. His opinion was not asked. + +"It is a case in which the temporal overbalances the spiritual," +continued the King--"Which plainly proves that the spiritual must be +lacking in some essential point somewhere. For if the spiritual were +always truly of God, then would it always be the strongest. The +question which brings Monsignor Del Fortis here as special emissary of +the Vicar-General of the Society of Jesus, is simply this: Whether or +no a certain site in a particularly fertile tract of land belonging +chiefly to the Crown, shall be granted to the Jesuits for the purpose +of building thereon a church and monastery with schools attached. It +seems a reasonable request, set forth with an apparently religious +intention. Yet more than forty petitions have been sent in to me from +the inhabitants of the towns and villages adjacent to the lands, +imploring me to refuse the concession. By my faith, they plead as +eloquently as though asking deliverance from the plague! It is a +curious dilemma. If I grant the people's request I anger the priests; +if I satisfy the priests I anger the people." + +"You mentioned a discussion in the Press, Sir--" hinted Sir Roger. + +"Oh, the Press is like a weathercock--it turns whichever way the wind +of speculation blows. One day it is 'for,' another 'against.' In this +particular case it is diplomatically indifferent, except in one or two +cases where papal money has found its way into the newspaper offices." + +At that moment the door was flung open, and Monsignor Del Fortis was +ceremoniously ushered into the presence of his Majesty. At the first +glance it was evident that De Launay had reasonable cause for +associating the mediaeval priestly torturer pictured in his early +lesson-book with the unprepossessing personage now introduced. Del +Fortis was a dark, resentful-looking man of about sixty, tall and thin, +with a long cadaverous face, very strongly pronounced features and +small sinister eyes, over which the level brows almost met across the +sharp bridge of nose. His close black garb buttoned to the chin, +outlined his wiry angular limbs with an almost painful distinctness, +and the lean right hand which he placed across his breast as he bowed +profoundly to the King, looked more like the shrunken hand of a corpse +than that of a living man. The King observed him attentively, but not +with favour; while thoughts, strange, and for him as a constitutional +monarch audacious, began to move in the undercurrents of his mind, +stirring him to unusual speech and action. Sir Roger, retiring to the +furthest end of the room stood with his back against the door, a fine +upright soldierly figure, as motionless as though cast in bronze, +though his eyes showed keen and sparkling life as they rested on his +Royal master, watching his every gesture, as well as every slightest +movement on the part of his priestly visitor. + +"You are welcome, Monsignor Del Fortis,"--said the King, at last +breaking silence.--"To save time and trouble, I may tell you that I +need no explanation of the nature of your business." + +The Jesuit bowed with an excessive humility. + +"You wish me to grant to your Society," continued the monarch--"that +portion of the Crown lands named in your petition, to be held in your +undisputed possession for a long term of years,--and in order to +facilitate my consent to this arrangement, your Vicar-General has sent +you here to furnish the full details of your building scheme. Am I so +far correct?" + +The priest's dark secretive eyes glittered craftily a moment as he +raised them to the open and tranquil countenance of the sovereign,-- +then once again he bowed profoundly. + +"Your Majesty has, with your customary care and patience, fully studied +the object of my errand"--he replied in a clear thin, somewhat rasping +voice, which he endeavoured to make smooth and conciliatory--"But it is +impossible that your Majesty, immersed every day in the affairs of +state, should have found time to personally go through the various +papers formally submitted to your consideration. Therefore, the Vicar- +General of our Order considered that if the present interview with your +Majesty could be obtained, I, as secretary and treasurer for the +proposed new monastery, might be able to explain the spiritual, as well +as the material advantages to be gained by the use of the lands for the +purpose mentioned." + +He spoke slowly, enunciating each word with careful distinctness. + +"The spiritual part of the scheme is of course the most important to +you!"--said the King with a slight smile,--"But material advantages +are never entirely overlooked, even by holy men! Now I am merely a +'temporal' sovereign; and as such, I wish to know how your plan will +affect the people of the neighbouring town and district. What are your +intentions towards them? Their welfare is my chief concern; and what I +have to learn from you is,--How do you propose to benefit them by +maintaining a monastery, church and schools in their vicinity?" + +Again Del Fortis gave a furtive glance upward. Seeing that the King's +eyes were steadily fixed upon him, he quickly lowered his own, and gave +answer in an evidently prepared manner. + +"Sir, the people of the district in question are untaught barbarians. +It is more for their sakes,--more for the love of gathering the lost +sheep into the fold, than for our own satisfaction, that we seek to +pitch our tents in the desert of their ignorance. They, and their +children, are the prey of heathenish modern doctrines, which alas!-- +are too prevalent throughout the whole world at this particular time,-- +and, as they are at present situated, no restraint is exercised upon +them for the better controlling of their natural and inherited vices. +Unless the gentle hand of Mother Church is allowed to rescue these, her +hapless and neglected ones; unless she has an opportunity afforded her +of leading them out of the darkness of error into the light of eternal +day--" + +He broke off, his eloquence being interrupted by a gesture from the +King. + +"There is a Government school in the town,"--said the monarch, +referring to one or two documents on the table before him.--"There is +also a Free Public Library, and a Free School of Art. Thus it does not +seem that education is quite neglected." + +"Alas, Sir, such education is merely disastrous!" said Del Fortis, with +a deep sigh,--"Like the fruit on the tree of knowledge in the Garden of +Eden, it brings death to the soul!" + +"You condemn the Government methods?" asked the King coldly. + +The Jesuit moved uneasily, and a dull flush reddened his pale skin. + +"Far be it from me, Sir, as a poor servant of the Church, to condemn +lawful authorities,--yet we should not forget that the Government is +temporal and changeable,--the Church is spiritual and changeless. We +cannot look for entire success in a scheme of popular education which +is not formulated under the guidance or the blessing of God!" + +The King leaned forward a little in his chair, and surveyed him +fixedly. + +"How do you know that it is not formulated under the guidance and +blessing of God?" he asked suddenly--"Has the Almighty given you His +special opinion and confidence on the matter?" + +Monsignor Del Fortis started indignantly. + +"Sir! Your Majesty----" + +De Launay made a step forward, but the King motioned him back. +Accordingly he resumed his former position, but his equable temperament +was for once seriously disturbed. He saw that his Royal master was +evidently bent on speaking his mind; and he knew well what a dangerous +indulgence that is for all men who desire peace and quietness in their +lives. + +"I am aware of what you would say," pursued the King--"You would say +that the Church--your Church--is the only establishment of the kind +which receives direct inspiration from the Creator of Universes. But I +do not feel justified in limiting the control of the Almighty to one +special orbit of Creed. You tell me that a government system of +education for the people is a purely temporal movement, and that, as +such, it is not blessed by the guidance of God. Yet the Pope seeks +'temporal' power! It is explained to us of course that he seeks it in +order that he may unite it to the spiritual in his own person,-- +theoretically for the good of mankind, if practically for the +advancement of his own particular policy. But have you never thought, +Monsignor, that the marked severance of what you call 'temporal' power, +from what you equally call 'spiritual' power, is God's work? Inasmuch +as nothing can be done without God's will; for even if there is a devil +(which I am inclined to doubt) he owes his unhappy existence to God as +much as I do!" + +He smiled; but Del Fortis stood rigidly silent, his head bent, and one +hand folded tight across his breast, an attitude Sir Roger de Launay +always viewed in every man with suspicion, as it suggested the +concealment of a weapon. + +"You will admit" pursued the King, "that the action of human thought is +always progressive. Unfortunately your Creed lags behind human thought +in its onward march, thus causing the intelligent world to infer that +there must be something wrong with its teaching. For if the Church had +always been in all respects faithful to the teaching of her Divine +Master, she would be at this present time the supreme Conqueror of +Nations. Yet she is doing no more nowadays than she did in the middle +ages,--she threatens, she intimidates, she persecutes all who dare to +use for a reasonable purpose the brain God gave them,--but she does not +help on or sympathize with the growing fraternity and civilization of +the world. It is impossible not to recognize this. Yet I have a +profound respect for each and every minister of religion who honestly +endeavours to follow the counsels of Christ,"--here he paused,--then +added with slow and marked emphasis--"in whose Holy Name I devoutly +believe for the redemption of whatever there is in me worth redeeming; +--nevertheless my first duty, even in Christ, is plainly to the people +of the country over which I am elected to rule." + +The flickering shadow of a smile passed over the Jesuit's dark +features, but he still kept silence. + +"Therefore," went on the King--"it is my unpleasant task to be +compelled to inform you, Monsignor, that the inhabitants of the +district your Order seeks to take under its influence, have the +strongest objection to your presence among them. So strong indeed is +their aversion towards your Society, that they have petitioned me in +numerous ways, (and with considerable eloquence, too, for 'untaught +barbarians') to defend them from your visitation. Now, to speak truly, +I find they have all the advantages which modern advancement and social +improvement can give them,--they attend their places of public worship +in considerable numbers, and are on the whole decent, God-fearing, +order-loving subjects to the Throne,--and more I do not desire for them +or for myself. Criminal cases are very rare in the district,--and the +poor are more inclined to help than to defraud each other. All this is +so far good,--and, I should imagine,--not displeasing to God. In any +case, as their merely temporal sovereign, I must decline to give your +Order any control over them." + +"You refuse the concession of land, Sir?" said Del Fortis, in a voice +that trembled with restrained passion. + +"To satisfy those of my subjects who have appealed to me, I am +compelled to do so," replied the King. + +"I pray your Majesty's pardon, but a portion of the land is held by +private persons who are prepared to sell to us----" + +A quick anger flashed in the King's eyes. + +"They shall sell to me if they sell at all,"--he said,--"I repeat, +Monsignor, the fact that the law-abiding people of the place have +sought their King's protection from priestly interference;--and,--by +Heaven!--they shall have it!" + +There was a sudden silence. Sir Roger de Launay drew a sharp breath,-- +his habitual languor of mind was completely dissipated, and he studied +the inscrutable face of Del Fortis with deepening suspicion and +disfavour. Not that there was the slightest sign of wrath or dismay on +the priest's well-disciplined countenance;--on the contrary, a chill +smile illumined it as he spoke his next words with a serious, if +somewhat forced composure. + +"Your Majesty is, without doubt, all powerful in your own particular +domain of society and politics," he said--"But there is another Majesty +higher than yours,--that of the Church, before which dread and +infallible Tribunal even kings are brought to naught----" + +"Monsignor Del Fortis," interrupted the King, "We have not met this +morning, I presume, to indulge in a religious polemic! My power is, as +you very truly suggest, merely temporal--yours is spiritual. Yours +should be the strongest! Go your way now to your Vicar-General with the +straight answer I have given you,--but if by your 'spiritual' power you +can persuade the people who now hate your Society, to love it,--to +demand it,--to beg that you may be permitted to found a colony among +them,--why, in that case, come to me again, and I will grant you the +land. I am not prejudiced one way or the other, but I will not hand +over any of my subjects to the influence of priestcraft, so long as +they desire me to defend them from it." + +Del Fortis still smiled. + +"Pardon me, Sir, but we of the Society of Jesus are your subjects also, +and we judge you to be a Christian and Catholic monarch----" + +"As I am, most assuredly!" replied the King--"Christian and Catholic +are words which, if I understand their meaning, please me well! +'Christian' expresses a believer in and follower of Christ,--'Catholic' +means universal, by which, I take it, is intended wide, universal love +and tolerance without sect, party, or prejudice. In this sense the +Church is not Catholic--it is merely the Roman sect. Nor are you truly +my subjects, since you have only one ruler, the Supreme Pontiff,--with +whom I am somewhat at variance. But, as I have said, we are not here to +indulge in argument. You came to proffer a request; I have given you the +only answer I conceive fitting with my duty;--the matter is concluded." + +Del Fortis hesitated a moment,--then bowed low to the ground;--anon, +lifting himself, raised one hand with an invocative gesture of profound +solemnity. + +"I commend your Majesty to the mercy of God, that He may in His wisdom, +guard your life and soften your heart towards the ministers of His Holy +Religion, and bring you into the ways of righteousness and peace! For +the rest, I will report your Majesty's decision to the Vicar-General." + +"Do so!"--rejoined the King--"And assure him that the decision is +unalterable,--unless the inhabitants of the place concerned desire to +have it revoked." + +Again Del Fortis bowed. + +"I humbly take my leave of your Majesty!" + +The monarch looked at him steadfastly as he made another salutation, +and backed out of the presence-chamber. Sir Roger de Launay opened the +door for him with alacrity, handing him over into the charge of an +usher with the whispered caution to see him well off the Royal +premises; and then returning to his sovereign, stood "at attention." +The King noted his somewhat troubled aspect, and laughed. + +"What ails you, De Launay?" he asked--"You seem astonished that for +once I have spoken my mind?" + +"Sir, to speak one's mind is always dangerous!" + +"Dangerous--danger!--What idle words to make cowards of men! Danger--of +what? There is only one danger--death; and that is sure to come to +every man, whether he be a hero or a poltroon." + +"True,--but----" + +"But--what? De Launay, if you love me, do not look at me with so +expostulatory an air! It does not become your inches! Now listen!--when +the next press reporter comes nosing round for palace news, let him be +told that the King has refused permission to the Jesuits to build on +any portion of the Crown lands demanded for the purpose. Let this be +made known to Press and People--the sooner the better!" + +"Sir," murmured De Launay--"We live in strange times----" + +"Why, there you speak most truly!" said the King, with emphasis--"We do +live in strange times--the very strangest perhaps, since Aeneas Sylvius +wrote concerning Christendom. Do you remember the words he set down so +long ago?--'It is a body without a head,--a republic without laws or +magistrates. The pope or the emperor may shine as lofty titles, as +splendid images,--but they are unable to command, and no one is +willing to obey!' History thus repeats itself, De Launay;--and yet with +all its past experience, the Roman Church does not seem to realize that +it is powerless against the attacks of intellectual common sense. Faith +in God,--a high, perfect, pure faith in God, and a simple following of +the Divine Teacher of God's command, Christ;--these things are wise and +necessary for all nations; but, to allow human beings to be coerced by +superstition for political motives, under the disguise of religion, is +an un-Christian business, and I for one will have no part in it!" + +"You will lay yourself open to much serious misconstruction, Sir," said +De Launay. + +"Let us hope so, Roger!" rejoined the King with a smile--"For if I am +never misunderstood, I shall know myself to be a fool! Come,--do not +look so glum!--I want you to help me." + +"To help you, Sir?" exclaimed De Launay eagerly,--"With my life, if +you demand it!" + +The King rested one hand familiarly on his shoulder. + +"I would rather take my own life than yours, De Launay!" he said--"No, +--whatever difficulties I get myself into, you shall not suffer! But--as +I told you a while ago,--there is something in me that must have its +way. I am sick to death of conventionalities,--you must help me to +break through them! You are right in saying that we live in strange +times;--they are strange times!--and they may perchance be all the +better for a strange King!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +SEALED ORDERS + + +Some hours later on, Sir Roger de Launay, having left his Sovereign's +presence, and being off duty for a time, betook himself to certain +apartments in the west wing of the palace, where the next most trusted +personage to himself in the confidence of the King, had his domicile,-- +Professor von Glauben, resident physician to the Royal Household. +Heinrich von Glauben was a man of somewhat extraordinary character and +individuality. In his youth he had made a sudden meteoric fame for his +marvellous skill and success in surgery, as also for his equally +surprising quickness and correctness in diagnosing obscure diseases and +tracing them to their source. But, after creating a vast amount of +discussion and opposition among his confreres, and almost reaching that +brilliant point of triumph when his originality and cleverness were +proved great enough to win him a host of enemies, he all at once threw +up the game as it were, and, resigning the favourable opportunities of +increasing distinction offered him in his native Germany, accepted the +comparatively retired and private position he now occupied. Some said +it was a disappointment in love which had caused his abrupt departure +from the Fatherland,--others declared it was irritation at the severe +manner in which his surgical successes had been handled by the medical +critics,--but whatever the cause, it soon became evident that he had +turned his back on the country of his birth for ever, and that he was +apparently entirely satisfied with the lot he had chosen. His post was +certainly an easy and pleasant one,--the members of the Royal family to +which his services were attached were exceptionally healthy, as Royal +families go; and he was seldom in more than merely formal attendance, +so that he had ample time and opportunity to pursue those deeper forms +of physiological study which had excited the wrath and ridicule of his +contemporaries, as well as to continue the writing of a book which he +intended should make a stir in the world, and which he had entitled +"The Moral and Political History of Hunger." + +"For," said he--"Hunger is the primal civilizer,--the very keystone +and foundation of all progress. From the plain, prosy, earthy fact that +man is a hungry animal, and must eat, has sprung all the civilization +of the world! I shall demonstrate this in my book, beginning with the +scriptural legend of Adam's greed for an apple. Adam was evidently +hungry at the moment Eve tempted him. As soon as he had satisfied his +inner man, he thought of his outer,--and his next idea was, naturally, +tailoring. From this simple conjunction of suggestions, combined with +what 'God' would have to say to him concerning his food-experiment and +fig-leaf apron, man has drawn all his religions, manners, customs and +morals. The proposition is self-evident,--but I intend to point it out +with somewhat emphasised clearness for the benefit of those persons who +are inclined to arrogate to themselves the possession of superior +wisdom. Neither brain nor soul has placed man in a position of +Supremacy,--merely Hunger and Nakedness!" + +The Professor was now about fifty-five, but his exceptionally powerful +build and robust constitution gave him the grace in appearance of many +years younger, though perhaps the extreme composure of his temperament, +and the philosophic manner in which he viewed all circumstances, +whether pleasing or disastrous, may have exercised the greatest +influence in keeping his eyes clear and clean, and his countenance free +of unhandsome wrinkles. He was more like a soldier than a doctor, and +was proud of his resemblance to the earlier portraits of Bismarck. To +see him in his own particular 'sanctum' surrounded by weird-looking +diagrams of sundry parts of the human frame, mysterious phials and +stoppered flasks containing various liquids and crystals, and all the +modern appliances for closely examining the fearful yet beautiful +secrets of the living organism, was as if one should look upon a rough +and burly giant engaged in some delicate manipulation of mosaics. Yet +Von Glauben's large hand was gentler than a woman's in its touch and +gift of healing,--no surgeon alive could probe a wound more tenderly, +or with less pain to the sufferer,--and the skill of that large hand +was accompanied by the penetrative quality of the large benevolent +brain which guided it,--a brain that could encompass the whole circle +of the world in its observant and affectionate compassion. + +"Ach!--who is there that can be angry with anyone?--impatient with +anyone,--offended with anyone!" he was wont to say--"Everybody suffers +so much and so undeservedly, that as far as my short life goes I have +only time for pity--not condemnation!" + +To this individual, as a kind of human calmative and tonic combined, +Sir Roger de Launay was in the habit of going whenever he felt his own +customary tranquillity at all disturbed. The two were great friends;-- +friends in their mutual love and service of the King,--friends in their +equally mutual but discreetly silent worship of the Queen,--and friends +in their very differences of opinion on men and matters in general. De +Launay, being younger, was more hasty of judgment and quick in action; +but Von Glauben too had been known to draw his sword with unexpected +rapidity on occasion, to the discomfiture of those who deemed him only +at home with the scalpel. Just now, however, he was in a particularly +non-combative and philosophic mood; he was watching certain animalculae +wriggling in a glass tube, the while he sat in a large easy-chair with +slippered feet resting on another chair opposite, puffing clouds of +smoke from a big meerschaum,--and he did not stir from his indolent +attitude when De Launay entered, but merely looked up and smiled +placidly. + +"Sit down, Roger!" he said,--then, as De Launay obeyed the invitation, +he pushed over a box of cigars, and added--"You look exceedingly tired, +my friend! Something has bored you more than usual? Take a lesson from +those interesting creatures!" and he pointed with the stem of his pipe +to the bottled animalculae--"They are never bored,--never weary of doing +mischief! They are just now living under the pleasing delusion that the +glass tube they are in is a man, and that they are eating him up alive. +Little devils! Nothing will exhaust their vitality till they have +gorged themselves to death! Just like a great many human beings!" + +"I am not in the mood for studying animalculae," said De Launay +irritably, as he lit a cigar. + +"No? But why not? They are really quite as interesting as ourselves!" + +"Look here, Von Glauben, I want you to be serious--" + +"My friend, I am always serious," declared the Professor--"Even when I +laugh, I laugh seriously. My laughter is as real as myself." + +"What would you think,"--pursued De Launay--"of a king who freely +expressed his own opinions?" + +"I should say he was a brave man," answered the Professor; "He would +certainly deserve my respect, and he should have it. Even if the laws +of etiquette were not existent, I should feel justified in taking off +my hat to him." + +"Never from henceforth wear a hat at all then," said De Launay--"It +will save you the trouble of continually doffing it at every glimpse of +his Majesty!" + +Von Glauben drew his pipe from his mouth and gazed blankly at the +ceiling for a few moments in silence. "His Majesty?" he presently +murmured--"Our Majesty?" + +"Yes; our Majesty--our King"--replied De Launay--"For some inscrutable +reason or other he has suddenly adopted the dangerous policy of +speaking his mind. What now?" + +"What now? Why nothing particular just now,--unless you have something +to tell me. Which, judging from your entangled expression of eye, I +presume you have." + +De Launay hesitated a moment. The Professor saw his hesitation. + +"Do not speak, my friend, if you think you are committing a breach of +confidence," he said composedly--"In the brief affairs of this life, it +is better to keep trouble on your own mind than impart it to others." + +"Oh, there is no breach of confidence;" said De Launay, "The thing is +as public as the day, or if it is not public already, it soon will be +made so. That is where the mischief comes in,--or so I think. Judge for +yourself!" And in a few words he gave the gist of the interview which +had taken place between the King and the emissary of the Jesuits that +morning. + +"Nothing surprises me as a rule,"--said the Professor, when he had +heard all--"But if anything could prick the sense of astonishment anew +in me, it would be to think that anyone, king or commoner, should take +the trouble to speak truth to a Jesuit. Why, the very essence of their +carefully composed and diplomatic creed, is to so disguise truth that +it shall be no more recognisable. Myself, I believe the Jesuits to be +the lineal descendants of those priests who served Bel and the Dragon. +The art of conjuring and deception is in their very blood. It is for +the Jesuits that I have invented a beautiful new verb,--'To +hypocrise.' It sounds well. Here is the present tense,--'I hypocrise, +Thou hypocrisest, He hypocrises:--We hypocrise, You hypocrise, They +hypocrise.' Now hear the future. 'I shall hypocrise, Thou shalt +hypocrise, He shall hypocrise; We shall hypocrise, You shall hypocrise, +They shall hypocrise.' There is the whole art of Jesuitry for you, made +grammatically perfect!" + +De Launay gave a gesture of impatience, and flung away the end of his +half-smoked cigar. + +"Ach! That is a sign of temper, Roger!" said Von Glauben, shaking his +head--"To lift one's shoulders to the lobes of one's ears, and waste +nearly the half of an exceedingly expensive and choice Havana, shows +nervous irritation! You are angry, my friend--and with me!" + +"No I am not," replied De Launay, rising from his chair and beginning +to pace the room--"But I do not profess to have your phlegmatic +disposition. I feel what I thought you would feel also,--that the King +is exposing himself to unnecessary danger. And I know what you do not +yet know, but what this letter will no doubt inform you,"--and he drew +an envelope bearing the Royal seal from his pocket and handed it to the +Professor--"Namely,--that his Majesty is bent on rushing voluntarily +into various other perils, unless perhaps, your warning or advice may +hinder him. Mine has no effect,--moreover I am bound to serve him as +he bids." + +"Equally am I also bound to serve him;"--said Von Glauben, "And gladly +and faithfully do I intend to perform my service wherever it may lead +me!" Whereupon, shaking himself out of his recumbent position, like a +great lion rolling out of his lair, he stood upright, and breaking the +seal of the envelope he held, read its contents through in silence. Sir +Roger stood opposite to him, watching his face in vain for any sign of +astonishment, regret or dismay. + +"We must do as he commands,"--he said simply as he finished reading the +letter and folded it up for safe keeping--"There is no other way; not +for me at least. I shall most assuredly be at the appointed place, at +the appointed hour, and in the appointed manner. It will be a change; +certainly lively, and possibly beneficial!" + +"But the King's life--" + +"Is in God's keeping!" said Von Glauben,--"Believe me, Roger, no harm +comes undeservedly to a brave man with a good conscience! It is a bad +conscience which invites mischief. I am a great believer in the law of +attraction. The good attracts the good,--the bad, the bad. That is why +truthful persons are generally lonely--because nearly all the world's +inhabitants are liars!" + +"But the King--" again began Sir Roger. + +"The King is a man!" said Von Glauben, with a flash of pride in his +eyes--"Which is more than I will say for most kings! Who shall blame +him for asserting his manhood? Not I! Not you! Who shall blame him for +seeking to know the real position of things in the country he governs? +Not I! Not you! Our business is to guard and defend him--with our own +lives, if necessary,--we shall do that with a will, Roger, shall we +not?" And with an impulsive quickness of action, he took a sword from a +stand of weapons near him, drew it from its scabbard and kissing the +hilt, held it out to De Launay who did the same--"That is understood! +And for the rest, Roger my friend, take it all lightly and easily--as a +farce!--as a bit of human comedy, with a great actor cast for the chief +role. We are only supers, you and I, but we shall do well to stand near +the wings in case of fire!" + +He drew himself up to his great height and squared his shoulders,--then +smiled benevolently. + +"I believe it will be all very amusing, Roger; and that your fears for +the safety of his Majesty will be proved groundless. Remember, Court +life is excessively dull,--truly the dullest form of existence on +earth,--it is quite natural that he who is the most bored by it should +desire some break in the terrible monotony!" + +"The monotony will certainly be broken with a vengeance, if the King +continues in his present humour!"--said De Launay grimly. + +"Possibly! And let us hope the comfortable self-assurance and +complacency of a certain successful Minister may be somewhat seriously +disturbed!" rejoined Von Glauben,--"For myself, I assure you I see +sport!" + +"And I scent danger,"--said De Launay--"For if any mischance happen to +the King, the Prince is not ripe enough to rule." + +A slight shadow darkened the Professor's open countenance. He looked +fixedly at Sir Roger, who met his gaze with equal fixity. + +"The Prince,"--he said slowly--"is young--" + +"And rash--" interposed De Launay. + +"No. Pardon me, my friend! Not rash. Merely honest. That is all! He is +a very honest young man indeed. It is unfortunate that he is so; a +ploughman may be honest if he likes, but a prince--never!" + +De Launay was silent. + +"I will now destroy a world"--continued Von Glauben, "Kings, emperors, +popes, councillors and common folk, can all perish incontinently,--as-- +being myself for the present the free agent of the Deity concerned in +the matter,--I have something else to do than to look after them,"--and +he took up the glass vessel containing the animalculae he had been +watching, and cast it with its contents into a small stove burning +dimly at one end of the apartment,--"Gone are their ambitions and +confabulations for ever! How easy for the Creator to do the same thing +with us, Roger! Let us not talk of any special danger for the King or +for any man, seeing that we are all on the edge of an eternal volcano!" + +De Launay stood absorbed for a moment, as if in deep thought. Then +rousing himself abruptly he said:-- + +"You will not see the King, and speak with him before to-morrow night?" + +"Why should I?" queried the Professor. "His wish is a command which I +must obey. Besides, my good Roger, all the arguments in the world will +not turn a man from having his own way if he has once made up his own +mind. Advice from me on the present matter would be merely taken as an +impertinence. Moreover I have no advice to give,--I rather approve of +the plan!" + +Sir Roger looked at him; and noting the humorous twinkle in his eyes +smiled, though somewhat gravely. + +"I hope, with you, that the experiment may only prove an amusing one," +he said--"But life is not always a farce!" + +"Not always, but often! When it is not a farce it is a tragedy. And +such a tragedy! My God! Horrible--monstrous--cruel beyond conception, +and enough to make one believe in Hell and doubt Heaven!" + +He spoke passionately, in a voice vibrating with strong emotion. De +Launay glanced at him wonderingly, but did not speak. + +"When you see tender young children tortured by disease," he went on,-- +"Fair and gentle women made the victims of outrage and brutality-- +strong men killed in their thousands to gain a little additional gold, +an extra slice of empire,--then you see the tragic, the inexplicable, +the crazy cruelty of putting into us this little pulse called Life. But +I try not to think of this--it is no use thinking!" + +He paused,--then in his usual quiet tone said: + +"To-morrow night, then, my friend?" + +"To-morrow night," rejoined De Launay,--"Unless you receive further +instructions from the King." + +At that moment the clear call of a trumpet echoing across the +battlements of the palace denoted the hour for changing the sentry. +"Sunset already!" said Von Glauben, walking to the window and throwing +back the heavy curtain which partially shaded it, "And yonder is Prince +Humphry's yacht on its homeward way." + +De Launay came and stood beside him, looking out. Before them the sea +glistened with a thousand tints of lustrous opal in the light of the +sinking sun, which, surrounded by mountainous heights of orange and +purple cloud, began to touch the water-line with a thousand arrowy +darts of flame. The white-sailed vessel on which their eyes were fixed, +came curtseying over the waves through a perfect arch of splendid +colour, like a fairy or phantom ship evoked from a poet's dream. + +"Absent all day, as he has been," said De Launay, "his Royal Highness +is punctual to the promised hour of his return." + +"He is, as I told you, honest;" said Von Glauben, "and it is possible +his honesty will be his misfortune." + +De Launay muttered something inaudible in answer, and turned to leave +the apartment. + +Von Glauben looked at him with an affectionate solicitude. + +"What a lucky thing it is you never married, Roger! Otherwise you would +now be going to tell your wife all about the King's plans! Then she, +sweet creature, would go to confession,--and her confessor would tell a +bishop,--and a bishop would tell a cardinal,--and a cardinal would +tell a confidential monsignor,--and the confidential monsignor would +tell the Supreme Pontiff,--and so all the world would be ringing with +the news started by one little pretty wagging tongue of a woman!" + +A faint flush coloured De Launay's bronzed cheek, but he laughed. + +"True! I am glad I have never married. I am still more glad--of +circumstances"--he paused,--then went on, "which have so chanced to me +that I shall never marry." He paused again--then added--"I must be +gone, Von Glauben! I have to meet Prince Humphry at the quay with a +message from his Majesty." + +"Surely," said the Professor, opening his eyes very wide, "The Prince +is not to be included in our adventure?" + +"By no means!" replied De Launay,--"But the King is not pleased with +his son's frequent absences from Court, and desires to speak with him +on the matter." + +Von Glauben looked grave. + +"There will be some little trouble there," he said, with a half sigh-- +"Ach! Who knows! Perhaps some great trouble!" + +"Heaven forbid!" ejaculated Sir Roger,--"We live in times of peace. We +want no dissension with either the King or the people. Till to-morrow +night then?" + +"Till to-morrow night!" responded Von Glauben, whereupon Sir Roger with +a brief word of farewell, strode away. + +Left to himself, the Professor still stood at his window watching the +approach of the Prince's yacht, which came towards the shore with such +swift and stately motion through the portals of the sunset, over the +sparkling water. + +"Unfortunate Humphry!" he muttered,--"What a secret he has entrusted me +with! And yet why do I call him unfortunate? There should be nothing to +regret--and yet--! Well! The mischief was done before poor Heinrich +von Glauben was consulted; and if poor Heinrich were God and the Devil +rolled into one strange Eternal Monster, he could not have prevented +it! What is done, can never be undone!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +"IF I LOVED YOU!" + + +A singular pomp is sometimes associated with the announcement that my +Lord Pedigree, or Mister Nobody has 'had the honour of dining' with +their Majesties the King and Queen. Outsiders read the thrilling line +with awe and envy,--and many of them are foolish enough to wish that +they also were Lords Pedigree or Misters Nobody. As a matter of sad and +sober fact, however, a dinner with royal personages is an extremely +dull affair. 'Do not speak unless you are spoken to,' is a rule which, +however excellent and necessary in Court etiquette, is apt to utterly +quench conversation, and render the brightest spirits dull and inert. +The silent and solemn movements of the Court flunkeys,--the painful +attitudes of those who are _not_ 'spoken to'; the eager yet +laboured smiles of those who _are_ 'spoken to ';--the melancholy +efforts at gaiety--the dread of trespassing on tabooed subjects--these +things tend to make all but the most independent and unfettered minds +shrink from such an ordeal as the 'honour' of dining with kings. It +must, however, be conceded that the kings themselves are fully aware of +the tediousness of their dinner parties, and would lighten the boredom +if they could; but etiquette forbids. The particular monarch whose +humours are the subject of this 'plain unvarnished' history would have +liked nothing better than to be allowed to dine in simplicity and peace +without his conversation being noted, and without having a flunkey at +hand to watch every morsel of food go into his mouth. He would have +liked to eat freely, talk freely, and conduct himself generally with +the ease of a private gentleman. + +All this being denied to him, he hated the dinner-hour as ardently as +he hated receiving illuminated addresses, and the freedom of cities. +Yet all things costly and beautiful were combined to make his royal +table a picture which would have pleased the eyes and taste of a +Marguerite de Valois. On the evening of the day on which he had +determined, as he had said to himself, to 'begin to reign,' it looked +more than usually attractive. Some trifling chance had made the floral +decorations more tasteful--some amiable humour of the providence which +rules daily events, had ordained that two or three of the prettiest +Court ladies should be present;--Prince Humphry and his two brothers, +Rupert and Cyprian, were at table,--and though conversation was slow +and scant, the picturesqueness of the scene was not destroyed by +silence. The apartment which was used as a private dining-room when +their Majesties had no guests save the members of their own household, +was in itself a gem of art and architecture,--it had been designed and +painted from floor to ceiling by one of the most famous of the dead and +gone masters, and its broad windows opened out on a white marble loggia +fronting the ocean, where festoons of flowers clambered and hung, in +natural tufts and trails of foliage and blossom, mingling their sweet +odours with the fresh scent of the sea. Amid all the glow and delicacy +of colour, the crowning perfection of the perfect environment was the +Queen-Consort, lovelier in her middle-age than most women in their +teens. An exquisite figure of stateliness and dignity, robed in such +hues and adorned with such jewels as best suited her statuesque beauty, +and attended by ladies of whose more youthful charms she was never +envious, having indeed no cause for envy, she was a living defiance to +the ravages of time, and graced her royal husband's dinner-table with +the same indifferent ease as she graced his throne, unchanging in the +dazzling light of her physical faultlessness. He, looking at her with +mingled impatience and sadness, almost wished she would grow older in +appearance with her years, and lose that perfect skin, white as +alabaster,--that glittering but cold luminance of eye. For experience +had taught him the worthlessness of beauty unaccompanied by tenderness, +and fair faces had no longer the first attraction for him. His eldest +son, Prince Humphry, bore a strong resemblance to himself,--he was tall +and slim, with a fine face, and a well-built muscular figure; the other +two younger princes, Rupert and Cyprian, aged respectively eighteen and +sixteen, were like their mother,--beautiful in form and feature, but as +indifferent to all tenderness of thought and sentiment as they were +full of splendid health and vigour. And, despite the fact that the +composition and surroundings of his household were, to all outward +appearances, as satisfactory as a man in his position could expect them +to be, the King was intellectually and spiritually aware of the +emptiness of the shell he called 'home.' + +Love was lacking; his beautiful wife was the ice-wall against which all +waves of feeling froze as they fell into the stillness of death. His +sons had been born as the foals of a racing stud might be born,--merely +to continue the line of blood and succession. They were not the dear +offspring of passion or of tenderness. The coldness of their mother's +nature was strongly engendered in them, and so far they had never shown +any particular affection for their parents. The princes Rupert and +Cyprian thought of nothing all day but sports and games of skill; they +studied serious tasks unwillingly, and found their position as sons of +the reigning monarch, irksome, and even ridiculous. They had caught the +infection of that diseased idea which in various exaggerated forms is +tending to become more or less universal, and to work great mischief to +nations,--namely, that 'sport' is more important than policy, and that +all matters relating to 'sport,' are more worth attention than wisdom +in government. Of patriotism, or love of country they had none; and +laughed to scorn the grand old traditions and sentiments of national +glory and honour, which had formerly inspired the poets of their land +to many a wild and beautiful chant of battle or of victory. How to pass +the day--how best to amuse themselves--this was their first thought on +waking every morning,--football, cricket, tennis and wrestling formed +their chief subjects of conversation; and though they had professors +and tutors of the most qualified and certificated ability, they made no +secret of their utter contempt for all learning and literature. They +were fine young animals; but did less with the brains bestowed upon +them than the working bee who makes provision of honey for the winter, +or the swallow that builds its nest under warmly sheltered eaves. + +Prince Humphry, however, was of a different nature. From a shy, +somewhat unmanageable boy, he had developed into a quiet, dreamy youth, +fond of books, music, and romantic surroundings. He avoided the company +of his brothers whenever it was possible; their loud voices, boisterous +spirits and perpetual chatter concerning the champions of this or that +race or match, bored him infinitely, and he was at no pains to disguise +his boredom. During the last year he seemed to have grown up suddenly +into full manhood,--he had begun to assert his privileges as Heir- +Apparent, and to enjoy the freedom his position allowed him. Yet the +manner of his enjoyment was somewhat singular for a young man who +formed a central figure in the circle of the land's Royalty,--he cared +nothing at all for the amusements and dissipations of the time; he +merely showed an abnormal love of solitude, which was highly +unflattering to fashionable society. It was on this subject that the +King had decided to speak with him,--and he watched him with closer +attention than usual on this particular evening when his habit of +absenting himself all day in his yacht had again excited comment. It +was easy to see that the Prince had been annoyed by the message Sir +Roger de Launay had conveyed to him on his arrival home,--a message to +the effect that, as soon as dinner was concluded, he was required to +attend his Majesty in private; and all through the stately and formal +repast, his evident irritation and impatience cast a shadow of vague +embarrassment over the royal party,--with the exception of the princes +Rupert and Cyprian, who were never embarrassed by anything, and who +were more apt to be amused than disquieted by the vexation of others. +Welcome relief was at last given by the serving of coffee,--and the +Queen and all her ladies adjourned to their own apartments. With their +departure the rest of the circle soon dispersed, there being no special +guests present; and at a sign from De Launay, Prince Humphry +reluctantly followed his father into a small private smoking-room +adjacent to the open loggia, where the equerry, bowing low, left the +two together. + +For a moment the King kept silence, while he chose a cigar from the +silver box on the table. Then, lighting it, he handed the box +courteously to his son. + +"Will you smoke, Humphry?" + +"Thanks, Sir,--no." + +The King seated himself; Prince Humphry remained standing. + +"You had a favourable wind for your expedition today;" said the monarch +at last, beginning to smoke placidly--"I observe that The Islands +appear to have won special notice from you. What is the attraction? The +climate or the scenery?" + +The Prince was silent. + +"I like fine scenery myself,--" continued the King--"I also like a +change of air. But variation in both is always desirable,--and for +this, it is unwise to go to the same place every day!" + +Still the Prince said nothing. His father looked up and studied his +face attentively, but could guess nothing from its enigmatical +expression. + +"You seem tongue-tied, Humphry!" he said--"Come, sit down! Let us talk +this out. Can you not trust me, your father, as a friend?" + +"I wish I could!" answered the young man, half inaudibly. + +"And can you not?" + +"No. You have never loved me!" + +The King drew his cigar from his mouth, and flicking off a morsel of +ash, looked at its end meditatively. + +"Well--no!--I cannot say honestly that I have. Love,--it is a +ridiculous word, Humphry, but it has a meaning on certain occasions!-- +love for the children of your mother is an impossibility!" + +"Sir, I am not to blame for my mother's disposition." + +"True--very true. You are not to blame. But you exist. And that you do +exist is a fact of national importance. Will you not sit down?" + +"At your command, Sir!" and the Prince seated himself opposite his +father, who having studied his cigar sufficiently, replaced it between +his lips and went on smoking for a few minutes before he spoke again. +Then he resumed:-- + +"Your existence, I repeat, Humphry, is a fact of national importance. +To you falls the Throne when I have done with it, and life has done +with me. Therefore, your conduct,--your mode of life--your example in +manners--concern, not me, so much as the nation. You say that you +cannot trust me as a friend, because I have never loved you. Is not +this a somewhat childish remark on your part? We live in a very +practical age--love is not a necessary tie between human beings as +things go nowadays;--the closest bond of friendship rests on the basis +of cash accounts." + +"I am perfectly aware of that!" said the Prince, fixing his fine dark +eyes full on his father's face--"And yet, after all, love is such a +vital necessity, that I have only to look at you, in order to realize +the failure and mistake of trying to do without it!" + +The King gave him a glance of whimsical surprise. + +"So!--you have begun to notice what I have known for years!" he said +lightly--"Clever young man! What fine fairy finger is pointing out to +you my deficiencies, while supplying your own? Do you learn to estimate +the priceless value of love while contemplating the romantic groves and +woodlands of The Islands? Do you read poetry there?--or write it? Or +talk it?" + +Prince Humphry coloured,--then grew very pale. + +"When I misuse my time, Sir," he said--"Surely it will then be needful +to catechise me on the manner in which I spend it,--but not till then!" + +"Fairly put!" answered the King--"But I have an idea--it may be a +mistaken idea,--still I have it--that you _are_ misusing your +time, Humphry! And this is the cause of our present little discussion. +If I knew that you occupied yourself with the pleasures befitting your +age and rank, I should be more at ease." + +"What do you consider to be the pleasures befitting my age and rank?" +asked the Prince with a touch of satire; "Making a fool of myself +generally?" + +The King smiled. + +"Well!--it would be better to make a fool of yourself generally than +particularly! Folly is not so harmful when spread like jam over a whole +slice of bread,--but it may cause a life-long sickness, if swallowed in +one secret gulp of sweetness!" + +The Prince moved uneasily. + +"You think I am catechising you,--and you resent it--but, my dear boy, +let me again remind you that you are in a manner answerable to the +nation for your actions; and especially to that particular section of +the nation called Society. Society is the least and worst part of the +whole community--but it has to be considered by such servants of the +public as ourselves. You know what James the First of England wrote +concerning the 'domestic regulations' on the conduct of a prince and +future king? 'A king is set as one on a stage, whose smallest, actions +and gestures all the people gazinglie do behold; and, however just in +the discharge of his office, yet if his behaviour be light or +dissolute, in indifferent actions, the people, who see but the outward +part, conceive preoccupied conceits of the king's inward intention, +which although with time, the trier of all truth, will evanish by the +evidence of the contrarie effect, yet, _interim patitur justus_, +and prejudged conceits will, in the meantime, breed contempt, the +mother of rebellion and disorder.' Poor James of the 'goggle eyes and +large hysterical heart' as Carlyle describes him! Do you not agree with +his estimate of a royal position?" + +"I am not aware, Sir, that my behaviour can as yet be called light or +dissolute;" replied the Prince coldly, with a touch of hauteur. + +"I do not call it so, Humphry"--said the King--"To the best of my +knowledge, your conduct has always been most exemplary. But with all +your excessive decorum, you are mysterious. That is bad! Society will +not endure being kept in the dark, or outside the door of things, like +a bad child! It wants to be in the room, and know everything and +everybody. And this reminds me of another point on which the good +English James offers sound advice. 'Remember to be plaine and sensible +in your language; for besides, it is the tongue's office to be the +messenger of the mind, it may be thought a point of imbecilitie of +spirit, in a king to speak obscurely, much more untrewly, as if he +stood in awe of any in uttering his thoughts.' That is precisely your +mood at the present moment, Humphry,--you stand 'in awe'--of me or of +someone else,--in 'uttering your thoughts.'" + +"Pardon me, Sir,--I do not stand in awe of you or of anyone;" said the +Prince composedly--"I simply do not choose to 'utter my thoughts' just +now." + +The King looked at him in surprise, and with a touch of admiration. The +defiant air he had unconsciously assumed became him,--his handsome face +was pale, and his dark eyes coldly brilliant, like those of his +beautiful mother, with the steel light of an inflexible resolve. + +"You do not choose?" said the King, after a pause--"You decline to give +any explanation of your long hours of absence?--your constant visits to +The Islands, and your neglect of those social duties which should keep +you at Court?" + +"I decline to do so for the present," replied the young man decisively; +"I can see no harm in my preference for quietness rather than noise,-- +for scenes of nature rather than those of artificial folly. The Islands +are but two hours sail from this port,--little tufts of land set in the +sea, where the coral-fishers dwell. They are beautiful in their natural +adornment of foliage and flower;--I go there to read--to dream--to +think of life as a better, purer thing than what you call 'society' +would make it for me; you cannot blame me for this?" + +The King was silent. + +"If it is your wish,"--went on the Prince--"that I should stay in the +palace more, I will obey you. If you desire me to be seen oftener in +the capital, I will endeavour to fulfil your command, though the +streets stifle me. But, for God's sake, do not make me a puppet on show +before my time,--or marry me to a woman I hate, merely for the sake of +heirs to a wretched Throne!" + +The King rose from his chair, and, walking towards the garden, threw +the rest of his cigar out among the foliage, where the burning morsel +shone like a stray glowworm in the green. Then he turned towards his +son;--his face was grave, almost stern. + +"You can go, Humphry!" he said;--"I have no more to say to you at +present. You talk wildly and at random, as if you were, by some means +or other, voluntarily bent upon unfitting yourself for the position you +are destined to occupy. You will do well, I think, to remain more in +evidence at Court. You will also do well to be seen at some of the +different great social functions of the day. But I shall not coerce +you. Only--consider well what I have said!--and if you have a secret"-- +he paused, and then repeated with emphasis--"I say, if you have a +secret of any kind, be advised, and confide in me before it is too +late! Otherwise you may find yourself betrayed unawares! Good-night!" + +He walked away without throwing so much as a backward glance at the +Prince, who stood amazed at the suddenness and decision with which he +had brought the conversation to a close; and it was not till his tall +figure had disappeared that the young man began to realize the doubtful +awkwardness of the attitude he had assumed towards one who, both as +parent and king, had the most urgent claim in the world upon his +respect and obedience. Impatient and angry with himself, he crossed the +loggia and went out into the garden beyond. A young moon, slender as a +bent willow wand, gleamed in the clear heavens among hosts of stars +more brilliantly visible than itself, and the soft air, laden with the +perfume of thousands of flowers, cooled his brain and calmed his +nerves. The musical low murmur of the sea, lapping against the shore +below the palace walls, suggested a whole train of pleasing and +poetical fancies, and he strolled along the dewy grass paths, under +tangles of scented shrubs and arching boughs of pine, giving himself up +to such idyllic dreams of life and life's fairest possibilities, as +only youthful and imaginative souls can indulge in. He was troubled and +vexed by his father's warning, but not sufficiently to pay serious heed +to it. His 'secret' was safe so far;--and all he had to do, so he +considered, was to exercise a little extra precaution. + +"There is only Von Glauben,"--he thought, "and he would never betray +me. Besides it is a mere question of another year--and then I can make +all the truth known." + +The lovely long-drawn warble of a nightingale broke the stillness +around him with a divine persistence of passion. He listened, standing +motionless, his eyes lifted towards the dark boughs above him, from +whence the golden notes dropped liquidly; and his heart beat quickly as +he thought of a voice sweeter than that of any heavenly-gifted bird, a +face fairer than that of the fabled goddess who on such a night as this +descended from her silver moon-car to enchant Endymion;--and he +murmured half aloud-- + +"Who would not risk a kingdom--ay! a thousand kingdoms!--for such +happiness as I possess! It is a foolish, blind world nowadays, that +forgets the glory of its youth,--the glow, the breath, the tenderness +of love!--all for amassing gold and power! I will not be of such a +world, nor with it;--I will not be like my father, the slave of pomp +and circumstance;--I will live an unfettered life--yes!--even if I have +to resign the throne for the sake of freedom, still I will be free!" + +He strolled on, absorbed in romantic reverie, and the nightingale's +song followed him through the winding woods down to the shore, where +the waves made other music of their own, which harmonised with the +dreamy fancies of his mind. + +Meanwhile, the King had sought his consort in her own apartments. +Walking down the great corridor which led to these, the most beautiful +rooms in the palace, he became aware of the silvery sound of stringed +instruments mingling with harmonious voices,--though he scarcely heeded +the soft rush of melody which came thus wafted to his ears. He was full +of thoughts and schemes,--his son's refusal to confide in him had not +seriously troubled him, because he knew he should, with patience, find +out in good time all that the young Prince had declined to explain,-- +and his immediate interest was centred in his own immediate plans. + +On reaching the ante-room leading to the Queen's presence-chamber, he +was informed that her Majesty was listening to a concert in the rosery. +Thither he went unattended,--and passing through a long suite of +splendid rooms, each one more sumptuously adorned than the last, he +presently stepped out on the velvet greensward of one of the most +perfect rose gardens in the world--a garden walled entirely round with +tall hedges of the clambering flowers which gave it its name, and which +were trailed up on all sides, so as to form a ceiling or hanging canopy +above. In the centre of this floral hall, now in full blossom, a +fountain tossed up one tall column of silver spray; and at its upper +end, against a background of the dainty white roses called "Felicite +perpetuelle" sat the Queen, in a high chair of carved ivory, surrounded +by her ladies. Delicious music, performed by players and singers who +were hidden behind the trees, floated in voluptuous strains upon the +air, and the King, looking at the exquisite grouping of fair women and +flowers, lit by the coloured lamps which gleamed here and there among +the thick foliage, wondered to himself how it chanced, that amid +surroundings which were calculated to move the senses to the most +refined and delicate rapture, he himself could feel no quickening +pulse, no touch of admiration. These open-air renderings of music and +song were the Queen's favourite form of recreation;--at such times +alone would her proud face soften and her eyes grow languid with an +unrevealed weight of dreams. But should her husband, or any one of his +sex break in upon the charmed circle, her pleasure was at once +clouded,--and the cold hauteur of her beautiful features became again +inflexibly frozen. Such was the case now, when perceiving the King, she +waved her hand as a sign for the music to cease; and with a glance of +something like wonderment at his intrusion, saluted him profoundly as +he entered the precincts of her garden Court. But for once he did not +pause as usual, on his way to where she sat,--but lightly acknowledging +the deep curtseys of the ladies in attendance, he advanced towards her +and raising her hand in courtly homage to his lips, seated himself +carelessly in a low chair at her feet. + +"Let the music go on!" he said; "I am here to listen." + +The Queen looked at him,--he met her eyes with an expression that she +had never seen on his face before. + +"Suffer me to have my way!" he said to her in a low tone--"Let your +singers finish their programme; afterwards do me the favour to dismiss +your women, for I must speak with you alone." + +She bent her head in acquiescence; and re-seated herself on her ivory +throne. The sign was given for the continuance of the music, and the +King, leaning back in his chair, half closed his eyes as he listened +dreamily to the harmonious throbbing of harps and violins around him, +in the stillness of the languid southern night. His hand almost brushed +against his wife's jewelled robes--the scent of the great lilies on her +breast was wafted to him with every breath of air, and he thought--"All +this would be Paradise,--with any other woman!" And while he so +thought, the clear tenor voice of one of the unseen singers rang out in +half gay, half tender tones: + + If I loved you, and you loved me, + How happy this little world would be-- + The light of the day, the dancing hours, + The skies, the trees, the birds and flowers, + Would all be part of our perfect gladness;-- + And never a note of pain or sadness + Would jar life's beautiful melody + If I loved you, and you loved me! + + 'If I loved you!' Why, I scarcely know + How if I did, the time would go!-- + I should forget my dreary cares, + My sordid toil, my long despairs, + I should watch your smile, and kneel at your feet, + And live my life in the love of you, Sweet!-- + So mad, so glad, so proud I should be, + If I loved you, and you loved me! + + 'If you loved me!' Ah, nothing so strange + As that could chance in this world of change!-- + As well expect a planet to fall, + Or a Queen to dwell in a beggar's hall-- + But if you did,--romance and glory + Might spring from our lives' united story, + And angels might be less happy than we-- + If I loved you and you loved me! + + 'If I loved you and you loved me!' + Alas, 't is a joy we shall never see! + You are too fair--I am too cold;-- + We shall drift along till we both grow old, + Till we reach the grave, and gasping, die, + Looking back on the days that have passed us by, + When 'what might have been,' can no longer be,-- + When I lost you, and you lost me! + +The song concluded abruptly, and with passion;--and the King, turning +on his elbow, glanced with a touch of curiosity at the face of his +Queen. There was not a flicker of emotion on its fair cold calmness,-- +not a quiver on the beautiful lips, or a sigh to stir the quiet breast +on which the lilies rested, white and waxen, and heavily odorous. He +withdrew his gaze with a half smile at his own folly for imagining that +she could be moved by a mere song to any expression of feeling,--even +for a moment,--and allowed his glance to wander unreservedly over the +forms and features of the other ladies in attendance who, conscious of +his regard, dropped their eyelids and blushed softly, after the fashion +approved by the heroines of the melodramatic stage. Whereat he began to +think of the tiresome sameness of women generally; and their irritating +habit of living always at two extremes,--either all ardour, or all +coldness. + +"Both are equally fatiguing to a man's mind," he thought impatiently-- +"The only woman that is truly fascinating is the one who is never in +the same mind two days together. Fair on Monday, plain on Tuesday, +sweet on Wednesday, sour on Thursday, tender on Friday, cold on +Saturday, and in all moods at once on Sunday,--that being a day of +rest! I should adore such a woman as that if I ever met her, because I +should never know her mind towards me!" + +A soft serenade rendered by violins, with a harp accompaniment, was +followed by a gay mazurka, played by all the instruments together,--and +this finished the musical programme. + +The Queen rose, accepting the hand which the King extended to her, and +moved with him slowly across the rose-garden, her long snowy train +glistering with jewels, and held up from the greensward by a pretty +page, who, in his picturesque costume of rose and gold, demurely +followed his Royal lady's footsteps,--and so amid the curtseying +ladies-in-waiting and other attendants, they passed together into a +private boudoir, at the threshold of which the Queen's train-bearer +dropped his rich burden of perfumed velvet and gems, and bowing low, +left their Majesties together. + +Shutting the door upon him with his own hand, the King drew a heavy +portiere across it,--and then walking round the room saw that every +window was closed,--every nook secure. The Queen's boudoir was one of +the most sacred corners in the whole palace,--no one, not even the most +intimate lady of the Court in personal attendance on her Majesty, dared +enter it without special permission; and this being the case, the Queen +herself was faintly moved to surprise at the extra precaution her +husband appeared to be taking to ensure privacy. She stood silently +watching his movements till he came up to her, and bowing courteously, +said:-- + +"I pray you, be seated, Madam! I will not detain you long." + +She obeyed his gesture, and sank down in a chair with that inimitable +noiseless grace which made every attitude of hers a study for an +artist, and waited for his next words; while he, standing opposite to +her, bent his eyes upon her face with a certain wistfulness and appeal. + +"I have never asked you a favour," he began--"and--since the day we +married,--I have never sought your sympathy. The years have come and +gone, leaving no visible trace on either you or me, so far as outward +looks go,--and if they have scarred and wrinkled us inwardly, only God +can see those scars! But as time moves on with a man,--I know not how +it is with a woman,--if he be not altogether a fool, he begins to +consider the way in which he has spent, or is spending his life,-- +whether he has been, or is yet likely to be of any use to the world he +lives in,--or if he is of less account than the blown froth of the sea, +or the sand on the shore. Myriads and myriads of men and women are no +more than this--no more than midges or ants or worms;--but every now +and then in the course of centuries, one man does stand forth from the +million,--one heart does beat courageously enough to send the firm echo +of its pulsations through a long vista of time,--one soul does so exalt +and inspire the rest of the world by its great example that we are, +through its force reminded of something divine,--something high and +true in a low wilderness of shams!" + +He paused; the Queen raised her beautiful eyes, and smiled strangely. + +"Have you only just now thought of this?" she said. + +He flushed, and bit his lip. + +"To be perfectly honest with you, Madam, I have thought of nothing +worth thinking about for many years! Most men in my position would +probably make the same confession. Perhaps had you given me any great +work to do for your sake I should have done it! Had _you_ inspired +me to achieve some great conquest, either for myself or others, I +should no doubt have conquered! But I have lived for twenty-one years +in your admirable company without being commanded by you to do anything +worthy of a king;--I am now about to command Myself!--in order to leave +some notable trace of my name in history." + +While he thus spoke, a faint flush coloured the Queen's cheeks, but it +quickly died away, leaving her very pale. Her fingers strayed among the +great jewels she wore, and toyed unconsciously with a ruby talisman cut +in the shape of a heart, and encircled with diamonds. The King noted +the flash of the gems against the whiteness of her hand, and said: + +"Your heart, Madam, is like the jewel you hold!--clear crimson, and +full of fire,--but it is not the fire of Heaven, though you may +perchance judge it to be so. Rather is it of hell!--(I pray you to +pardon me for the roughness of this suggestion!)--for one of the chief +crimes of the devil is unconquerable hatred of the human race. You +share Satan's aversion to man!--and strange indeed it is that even the +most sympathetic companionship with your own sex cannot soften that +aversion! However, we will not go into this;--the years have proved you +true to your own temperament, and there is nothing to be said on the +matter, either of blame or of praise. As I said, I have never asked a +favour of you, nor have I sought the sympathy which it is not in your +nature to give. I have not even claimed your obedience in any +particular strictness of form; but that is my errand to you to-night,-- +indeed it is the sole object of this private interview,--to claim your +entire, your unfaltering, your implicit obedience!" + +She raised her head haughtily. + +"To what commands, Sir?" she asked. + +"To those I have here written,--" and he handed her a paper folded in +two, which she took wonderingly, as he extended it. "Read this +carefully!--and if you have any objections to urge, I am willing to +listen to you with patience, though scarcely to alter the conditions +laid down." + +He turned away, and walked slowly through the room, pausing a moment to +whistle to a tiny bird swinging in a gilded cage, that perked up its +pretty head at his call and twittered with pleasure. + +"So you respond to kindness, little one!" he said softly,--"You are +more Christ-like in that one grace than many a Christian!" + +He started, as a light touch fell on his shoulder, and he saw the Queen +standing beside him. She held the paper he had given her in one hand, +and as he looked at her enquiringly she touched it with her lips, and +placed it in her bosom. + +"I swear my obedience to your instructions, Sir!" she said,--"Do not +fear to trust me!" + +Gently he took her hands and kissed them. + +"I thank you!" he said simply. + +For a moment they confronted each other. The beautiful cold woman's +eyes drooped under the somewhat sad and searching gaze of the man. + +"But--your life!--" she murmured. + +"My life!" He laughed and dropped her hands. "Would you care, Madam, if +I were dead? Would you shed any tears? Not you! Why should you? At this +late hour of time, when after twenty-one years passed in each other's +close company we are no nearer to each other in heart and soul than if +the sea murmuring yonder at the foot of these walls were stretching its +whole width between us! Besides--we are both past our youth! And, +according to certain highly instructed scientists and philosophers, the +senses and affections grow numb with age. I do not believe this theory +myself--for the jejune love of youth is as a taper's flame to the great +and passionate tenderness of maturity, when the soul, and not the body, +claims its due; when love is not dragged down to the vulgar level of +mere cohabitation, after the fashion of the animals in a farmyard, but +rises to the best height of human sympathy and intelligent +comprehension. Who knows!--I may experience such a love as that yet,-- +and so may you!" + +She was silent. + +"Talking of love,"--he went on--"May I ask whether our son,--or rather +the nation's son, Humphry,--ever makes you his confidante?" + +"Never!" she replied. + +"I thought not! We do not seem to be the kind of parents admired in +moral story-books, Madam! We are not the revered darlings of our +children. In fact, our children have the happy disposition of animal +cubs,--once out of the nursing stage, they forget they ever had +parents. It is quite the natural and proper thing, born as they were +born,--it would never do for them to have any over-filial regard for +us. Imagine Humphry weeping for my death, or yours! What a grotesque +idea! And as for Rupert and Cyprian,--it is devoutly to be hoped that +when we die, our funerals may be well over before the great cricket +matches of the year come on, as otherwise they will curse us for having +left the world at an inconvenient season!" He laughed. "How sentiment +has gone out nowadays, or how it seems to have gone out! Yet it +slumbers in the heart of the nation,--and if it should ever awaken,-- +well!--it will be dangerous! I asked you about Humphry, because I +imagine he is entangled in some love-affair. If it should be agreeable +to your humour to go with me across to The Islands one day this week, +we may perhaps by chance discover the reason of his passion for that +particular kind of scenery!" + +The Queen's eyes opened wonderingly. + +"The Islands!" she repeated,--"The Islands? Why, only the coral-fishers +live there,--they have a community of their own, and are jealous of all +strangers. What should Humphry do there?" + +"That is more than I can tell you," answered the King,--"And it is more +than he will himself explain. Nevertheless, he is there nearly every +day,--some attraction draws him, but what, I cannot discover. If +Humphry were of the soul of me, as he is of the body of me, I should +not even try to fathom his secret,--but he is the nation's child--heir +to its throne--and as such, it is necessary that we, for the nation's +sake, should guard him in the nation's interests. If you chance to +learn anything of the object of his constant sea-wanderings, I trust +you will find it coincident with your pleasure to inform me?" + +"I shall most certainly obey you in this, Sir, as in all other things!" +she replied. + +He moved a step or two towards her. + +"Good-night!" he said very gently, and detaching one of the lilies from +her corsage, took it in his own hand. "Good-night! This flower will +remind me of you;--white and beautiful, with all the central gold deep +hidden!" + +He looked at her intently, with a lingering look, half of tenderness, +half of regret, and bowing in the courtliest fashion of homage, left +her presence. + +She remained alone, the velvet folds of her train flowing about her +feet, and the jewels on her breast flashing like faint sparks of flame +in the subdued glow of the shaded lamplight. She was touched for the +first time in her life by the consciousness of something infinitely +noble, and altogether above her in her husband's nature. Slowly she +drew out the paper he had given her from her bosom and read it through +again--and yet once again. Almost unconsciously to herself a mist +gathered in her eyes and softened into two bright tears, which dropped +down her fair cheeks, and lost themselves among her diamonds. + +"He is brave!" she murmured--"Braver than I thought he could ever be--" + +She roused herself sharply from her abstraction. Emotions which were +beyond her own control had strangely affected her, and the humiliating +idea that her moods had for a moment escaped beyond her guidance made +her angry with herself for what she considered mere weakness. And +passing quickly out of the boudoir, in the vague fear that solitude +might deepen the sense of impotence and failure which insinuated itself +slowly upon her, like a dull blight creeping through her heart and +soul, she rejoined her ladies, the same great Queen as ever, with the +same look of indifference on her face, the same chill smile, the same +perfection of loveliness, unwithered by any visible trace of sorrow or +of passion. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +SERGIUS THORD + + +The next day the heavens were clouded; and occasional volleys of heavy +thunder were mingled with the gusts of wind and rain which swept over +the city, and which lashed the fair southern sea into a dark semblance +of such angry waves as wear away northern coasts into bleak and rocky +barrenness. It was disappointing weather to multitudes, for it was the +feast-day of one of the numerous saints whose names fill the calendar +of the Roman Church,--and a great religious procession had been +organized to march from the market-place to the Cathedral, in which two +or three hundred children and girls had been chosen to take part. The +fickle bursts of sunshine which every now and again broke through the +lowering sky, decided the priests to carry out their programme in spite +of the threatening storm, in the hope that it would clear off +completely with the afternoon. Accordingly, groups of little maidens, +in white robes and veils, began to assemble with their flags and +banners at the appointed hour round the old market cross, which,--grey +and crumbling at the summit,--bent over the streets like a withered +finger, crook'd as it were, in feeble remonstrance at the passing of +time,--while glimpses of young faces beneath the snowy veils, and +chatter of young voices, made brightness and music around its frowning +and iron-bound base. Shortly before three o'clock the Cathedral bells +began to chime, and crowds of people made their way towards the sacred +edifice in the laughing, pushing, gesticulating fashion of southerners, +to whom a special service at the Church is like a new comedy at the +theatre,--women with coloured kerchiefs knotted over their hair or +across their bosoms--men, more or less roughly clad, yet all paying +compliment to the Saint's feast-day by some extra smart touch in their +attire, if it were only a pomegranate flower or orange-blossom stuck in +their hats, or behind their ears. It was a mixed crowd, all of the +working classes, who are proverbially called 'the common,' as if those +who work, are not a hundred times more noble than those who do nothing! +A few carriages, containing some wealthy ladies of the nobility, who, +to atone for their social sins, were in the habit of contributing +largely to the Church, passed every now and again through the crowd, +but taken as a spectacle it was simply a 'popular' show, in which the +children of the people took part, and where the people themselves were +evidently more amused than edified. + +While the bells were ringing the procession gradually formed;--a dozen +or more priests leading,--incense-bearers and acolytes walking next,-- +and then the long train of little children and girls carrying their +symbolic banners, following after. The way they had to walk was a +steep, winding ascent, through tortuous streets, to the Cathedral, +which stood in the centre of a great square on an eminence which +overlooked the whole city, and as soon as they started they began to +sing,--softly at first, then more clearly and sweetly, till gradually +the air grew full of melody, rising and falling on the capricious gusts +of wind which tore at the gilded and emblazoned banners, and tossed the +white veils of the maidens about like wreaths of drifting snow. Two men +standing on the Cathedral hill, watched the procession gradually +ascending--one tall and heavily-built, with a dark leonine head made +more massive-looking by its profusion of thick and unmanageable hair-- +the other lean and narrow-shouldered, with a peaked reddish-auburn +beard, which he continually pulled and twitched at nervously as though +its growth on his chin was more a matter of vexation than convenience. +He was apparently not so much interested in the Church festival as he +was in his companion's face, for he was perpetually glancing up at that +brooding countenance, which, half hidden as it was in wild hair and +further concealed by thick moustache and beard, showed no expression at +all, unless an occasional glimpse of full flashing eyes under the bushy +brows, gave a sudden magnetic hint of something dangerous and not to be +trifled with. + +"You do not believe anything you hear or read, Sergius Thord!" he said +--"Will you twist your whole life into a crooked attitude of suspicion +against all mankind?" He who was named Sergius Thord, lifted himself +slowly from the shoulders upwards, the action making his great height +and broad chest even more apparent than before. A gleam of white teeth +shone under his black moustache. + +"I do not twist my life into a crooked attitude, Johan Zegota," he +replied. "If it is crooked, others have twisted it for me! Why should I +believe what I hear, since it is the fashion to lie? Why should I +accept what I read, since it is the business of the press to deceive +the public? And why do you ask me foolish questions? You should be +better instructed, seeing that your creed is the same as mine!" + +"Have I ever denied it?" exclaimed Zegota warmly--"But I have said, and +I say again that I believe the news is true,--and that these howling +hypocrites,--" this with an angry gesture of his hand towards the open +square where the chanting priests who headed the procession were coming +into view--"have truly received an unlooked-for check from the King!" + +Sergius Thord laid one hand heavily on his shoulder. + +"When the King--when any king--does anything useful in the world, then +you may hang me with your own hands, Zegota! When did you ever hear, +except in myths of the past, of a monarch who cared for his people more +than his crown? Tell me that! Tell me of any king who so truly loved +the people he was called upon to govern, that he sacrificed his own +money, as well as his own time, to remedy their wrongs?--to save them +from unjust government, to defend them from cruel taxation?--to see +that their bread was not taken from their mouths by foreign +competition?--and to make it possible for them to live in the country +of their birth in peace and prosperity? Bah! There never was such a +king! And that this man,--who has for three years left us to the mercy +of the most accursed cheat and scoundrel minister that ever was in +power,--has now declared his opposition to the Jesuits', is more than I +will or can believe." + +"If it were true?"--suggested Zegota, with a more than usually vicious +tug at his beard. + +"If it were true, it would not alter my opinion, or set aside my +intention," replied Thord,--"I would admit that the King had done one +good deed before going to hell! Look! Here come the future traitresses +of men--girls trained by priests to deceive their nearest and dearest! +Poor children! They know nothing as yet of the uses to which their +lives are destined! If they could but die now, in their innocent faith +and stupidity, how much better for all the world!" + +As he spoke, the wind, swooping into the square, and accompanied by a +pattering gust of rain, fell like a fury upon the leaders of the +religious procession and tore one of the great banners out of the hands +of the priest who held it, beating it against his head and face with so +much force that he fell backward to the ground under its weight, while +from a black cloud above, a flash of lightning gleamed, followed almost +instantaneously by a loud clap of thunder, which shook the square with +a mighty reverberation like that of a bursting bomb. The children +screamed,--and ran towards the Cathedral pellmell; and for a few +moments there ensued indescribable confusion, the priests, the people, +and the white-veiled girls getting mixed together in a wild hurly- +burly. Sergius Thord suddenly left his companion's side, and springing +on a small handcart that stood empty near the centre of the square, his +tall figure rose up all at once like a dark apparition above the heads +of the assembled crowd, and his voice, strong, clear, and vibrating +with passion, rang out like a deep alarm bell, through all the noise of +the storm. + +"Whither are you going, O foolish people? To pray to God? Pray to Him +here, then, under the flash of His lightning!--in the roll of His +thunder!--beneath His cathedral-canopy of clouds! Pray to Him with all +your hearts, your brains, your reason, your intelligence, and leave +mere lip-service and mockery to priests; and to these poor children, +who, as yet, know no better than to obey tyrants! Would you find out +God? He is here--with me,--with you!--in the earth, in the sky, in the +sun and storm! Whenever Truth declares a living fact, God speaks,-- +whenever we respond to that Truth, God hears! No church, no cathedral +contains His presence more than we shall find it here--with us--where +we stand!" + +The people heard, and a great silence fell upon them. All faces were +turned toward the speaker, and none appeared to heed the great drops of +fast-falling rain. One of the priests who was trying to marshal the +scattered children into their former order, so that they might enter +the Cathedral in the manner arranged for the religious service, looked +up to see the cause of the sudden stillness, and muttered a curse under +his breath. But even while the oath escaped his lips, he gave the +signal for the sacred chanting to be resumed, and in another moment the +'Litany of the Virgin' was started in stentorian tones by the leaders +of the procession. Intimidated by the looks, as well as by the commands +of the priests, the girls and children joined in the chanting with +tremulous voices, as they began to file through the Cathedral doors and +enter the great nave. But a magnetic spell, stronger than any +invocation of the Church, had fallen upon the crowd, and they all stood +as though caught in the invisible web of some enchanter, their faces +turned upwards to where Thord's tall figure towered above them. His +eyes glittered as he noted the sudden hush of attention which +prevailed, and lifting his rough cap from his head, he waved it towards +the open door of the Cathedral, through which the grand strains of the +organ rolling out from within gave forth solemn invitation:-- + +"Sancta Dei Genitrix, Ora pro nobis!" + +sang the children, as they passed in line under the ancient porch, +carved with the figures of forgotten saints and bishops, whose stone +countenances had stared at similar scenes through the course of long +centuries. + +"Sancta Dei Genitrix, ora pro nobis!" echoed Sergius Thord--"Do you +hear it, O men? Do you hear it, O women? What does it teach you? 'Holy +Mother of God!' Who was she? Was she not merely a woman to whom God +descended? And what is the lesson she gives you? Plainly this--that men +should be as gods, and women as the mothers of gods! For every true and +brave man born into the world has God within him,--is made of God, and +must return to God! And every woman who gives birth to one such, true, +brave man, has given a God-incarnated being to the world! 'Sancta Dei +Genitrix!' Be all as mothers of gods, O women! Be as gods, O men! Be as +gods in courage, in truth, in wisdom, in freedom! Suffer not devils to +have command of you! For devils there are, as there are gods;--evil +there is, as there is good. Fiends are born of women as gods are--and +yet evil itself is of God, inasmuch as without God there can be neither +evil nor good. Let us help God, we His children, to conquer evil by +conquering it in ourselves--and by refusing to give it power over us! +So shall God show us all goodness,--all pity! So shall He cease to +afflict His children; so will He cease to torture us with undeserved +sorrows and devilish agonies, for which we are not to blame!" + +He paused. The singing had ceased; the children's procession had +entered the Cathedral, and the doors still stood wide open. But the +people remained outside, crowded in the square, and gathering +momentarily in greater numbers. + +"Look you!" cried Sergius Thord--"The building which is called the +Sanctuary of God, stands open--why do you not all enter there? Within +are precious marbles, priceless pictures, jewels and relics--and a +great altar raised up by the gifts of wicked dead kings, who by money +sought to atone for their sins to the people. There are priests who +fast and pray in public, and gratify all the lusts of appetite in +private. There are poor and ignorant women who believe whatsoever these +priests tell them--all this you can see if you go inside yonder. Why do +you not go? Why do you remain with me?" + +A faint murmur, like the rising ripple of an angry sea, rose from the +crowd, but quickly died away again into silence. + +"Shall I tell you why you stay?" went on Thord,--"Because you know I +am your friend--and because you also know that the priests are your +enemies! Because you know that I tell you the truth, and that the +priests tell you lies! Because you feel that all the promises made to +you of happiness in Heaven cannot explain away to your satisfaction the +causes of your bitter suffering and poverty on earth! Because you are +gradually learning that the chief business of priestcraft is to deceive +the people and keep them down,--down, always down in a state of +wretched ignorance. Learn, learn all you can, my brothers--take the +only good thing modern government gives you--Education! Education is +thrown at us like a bone thrown to a dog, half picked by others and +barely nourishing--but take it, take it, friends, for in it you shall +find the marrow of vengeance on your tyrants and oppressors! The +education of the masses means the downfall of false creeds,--the ruin +of all false priests! For it is only through the ignorance of the many +that tyrannical dominion is given into the hands of the few! Slavish +submission to a corrupt government would be impossible if we all +refused to be slaves. O friends, O brothers, throw off your chains! +Break down your prison doors! Some good you have done already--be brave +and strong to do more! Press forward fearlessly and strive for liberty +and justice! To-day we are told that the King has refused crown-lands +to the Jesuits. Shall we be told to-morrow that the King has dismissed +Carl Perousse from office?" + +A long wild shout told how this suggestion had gone straight home to +the throng. + +"Shall we be told this, I ask? No! Ten thousand times no! The refusal +of the King to grant the priests any wider dominion over us is merely +an act of policy inspired by terror. The King is afraid! He fears the +people will revolt against the Church, and so takes part with them lest +there should be trouble in the land, but he never seems to think there +may be another kind of revolt against himself! His refusal to concede +more place for the accursed practice of Jesuitry is so far good; but +his dismissal of Perousse would be still better!" + +A perfect hurricane of applause from the people gave emphatic testimony +to the truth of these words. + +"What is this man, Carl Perousse?" he went on--"A man of the people-- +whose oaths were sworn to the people,--whom the people themselves +brought into power because he promised to remain faithful to them! He +is false,--a traitor and political coward! A mere manufacturer of +kitchen goods, who through our folly was returned to this country's +senate;--and through our still further credulity is now set in almost +complete dominion over us. Well! We have suffered and are suffering for +our misplaced belief in him;--the question is, how long shall we +continue to suffer? How long are we to be governed by the schemes of +Carl Perousse, the country's turncoat,--the trafficker in secret with +Jew speculators? It is for you to decide! It is for you to work out +your own salvation! It is for you to throw off tyranny, and show +yourselves free men of reason and capacity! Just as the priests chant +long prayers to cover their own iniquity, so do the men of government +make long speeches to disguise their own corruption. You know you +cannot believe their promises. Neither can you believe the press, for +if this is not actually bought by Perousse, it is bribed. And you +cannot trust the King; for he is as a house divided against itself +which must fall! Slave of his own passions, and duped by women, what is +he but a burden to the State? Justice and power should be on the side +of kings,--but the days are come when self-interest and money can even +buy a throne! O men, O women, rouse up your hearts and minds to work +for yourselves, to redress wrongs,--to save your country! Rouse up in +your thousands, and with your toil-worn hands pull down the pillars of +iniquity and vice that overshadow and darken the land! Fight against +the insolent pride of wealth which strives to crush the poor; rouse, +rouse your hearts!--open your eyes and see the evils which are +gathering thick upon us!--and like the lightnings pent up in yonder +clouds, leap forth in flame and thunder, and clear the air!" + +A burst of frantic acclamation from the crowd followed this wild +harangue, and while the loud roar of voices yet echoed aloft, a band of +armed police came into view, marching steadily up from the lower +streets of the city. Sergius Thord smiled as he saw them approach. + +"Yonder comes the Law!" he said--"A few poor constables, badly paid, +who if they could find anything better to do than to interfere with +their fellow-men would be glad of other occupation! Before they come +any nearer, disperse yourselves, my friends, and so save them trouble! +Go all to your homes and think on my words;--or enter the Cathedral +and pray, those who will--but let this place be as empty of you in five +minutes as though you never had been here! Disperse,--and farewell! We +shall meet again!" + +He leaped down from his position and disappeared, and in obedience to +his command the crowd began to melt away with almost miraculous speed. +Before the police could reach the centre of the square, there were only +some thirty or forty people left, and these were quietly entering the +Cathedral where the service for the saint whose feast day was being +celebrated was now in full and solemn progress. + +For one instant, on the first step of the great porch, Sergius Thord +and his companion, Johan Zegota, met,--but making a rapid sign to each +other with the left hand, they as quickly separated,--Zegota to enter +the Cathedral, Thord to walk rapidly down one of the narrowest and most +unfrequented streets to the lower precincts of the city. + +The afternoon grew darker, and the weather more depressing, and by the +time evening closed in, the rain was pouring persistently. The wind had +ceased, and the thunder had long since died away, its force drenched +out by the weight of water in the clouds. The saint's day had ended +badly for all concerned;--many of the children who had taken part in +the procession had been carried home by their parents wet through, all +the pretty white frocks and veils of the little girls having been +completely soaked and spoilt by the unkind elements. A drearier night +had seldom gloomed over this fair city of the southern sea, and down in +the quarters of the poor, where men and women dwelt all huddled +miserably in overcrowded tenements, and sin and starvation kept hideous +company together, the streets presented as dark and forbidding an +aspect as the heavy skies blackly brooding above. Here and there a gas- +lamp flared its light upon the drawn little face of some child +crouching asleep in a doorway, or on the pinched and painted features +of some wretched outcast wending her way to the den she called 'home.' +The loud brutal laughter of drunken men was mingled with the wailing of +half-starved and fretful infants, and the mean, squalid houses swarmed +with the living spawn of every vice and lust in the calendar of crime. +Deep in the heart of the so-called civilized, beautiful and luxurious +city, this 'quarter of the poor,' the cancer of the social body, +throbbed and ate its destructive way slowly but surely on, and Sergius +Thord, who longed to lay a sharp knife against it and cut it out, for +the health of the whole community, was as powerless as Dante in hell to +cure the evils he witnessed. Yet it was not too much to say that he +would have given his life to ease another's pain,--as swiftly and as +readily as he would have taken life without mercy, in the pursuit of +what he imagined to be a just vengeance. + +"How vain, after all, is my labour!" he thought--"How helpless I am to +move the self-centred powers of the Government and the Throne! Even +were all these wretched multitudes to rise with me, and make havoc of +the whole city, should we move so much as one step higher out of the +Gehenna of poverty and crime? Almost I doubt it!" + +He walked on past dark open doorways, where some of the miserable +inhabitants of the dens within, stood to inhale the fresh wet air of +the rainy night. His tall form was familiar to most of them,--if they +were considered as wolves of humanity in the sight of the law, they +were all faithful dogs to him; doing as he bade, running where he +commanded, ready at any moment to assemble at any given point and burn +and pillage, or rob and slay. There were no leaders in the political +government,--but this one leader of the massed poor could, had he +chosen, have burned down the city. But he did not choose. He had a far- +sighted, clear brain,--and though he had sworn to destroy abuses +wherever he could find them, he moved always with caution; and his +plans were guided, not by impulse alone, but by earnest consideration +for the future. He was marked out by the police as a dangerous +Socialist; and his movements were constantly tracked and dodged, but so +far, he had done nothing which could empower his arrest. He was a free +subject in a free country; and provided he created no open disturbance +he had as much liberty as a mission preacher to speak in the streets to +those who would stop to listen. He paused now in his walk at the door +of one house more than commonly dingy and tumble-down in appearance, +where a man lounged outside in his shirt-sleeves, smoking. + +"Is all well with you, Matsin?" he asked gently. + +"All is well!" answered the man called Matsin,--"better than last +night. The child is dead." + +"Dead!" echoed Thord,--"And the mother----" + +"Asleep!" answered Matsin. "I gave her opium to save her from madness. +She was hungry, too--the opium fed her and made her forget!" + +Thord pushed him gently aside, and went into the house. There on the +floor lay the naked body of a dead child, so emaciated as to be almost +a skeleton; and across it, holding it close with one arm, was stretched +a woman, half clothed, her face hidden in her unbound dark hair, +breathing heavily in a drugged sleep. Great tears filled Thord's eyes. + +"God exists!" he said,--"And He can bear to look upon a sight like +this! If I were God, I should hate myself for letting such things be!" + +"Perhaps He does hate Himself!" said the man Matsin, who had also come +in, and now looked at the scene with sullen apathy--"That may be the +cause of all our troubles! I don't understand the ways of God; or the +ways of man either. I have done no harm. I married the woman--and we +had that one child. I worked hard for both. I could not get sufficient +money to keep us going; I did metal work--very well, so I was told. But +they make it all abroad now by machinery--I cannot compete. They don't +want new designs they say--the old will serve. I do anything now that I +can--but it is difficult. You, too,--you starve with us!" + +"I am poor, if that is what you mean," said Thord,--"but take all I +have to-night, Matsin--" and he emptied a small purse of silver coins +into the man's hand. "Bury the poor little innocent one;--and comfort +the mother when she wakes. Comfort her!--love her!--she needs love! I +will be back again to-morrow." + +He strode away quickly, and Matsin remained at his door turning over +the money in his hand. + +"He will sacrifice something he needs himself, for this," he muttered. +"Yet that is the man they say the King would hang if ever he got hold +of him! By Heaven!--the King himself should hang first!" + +Meanwhile Sergius Thord went on, slackening his pace a little as he +came near his own destination, a tall and narrow house at the end of +the street, with a single light shining in one of the upper windows. +There was a gas-lamp some few paces off, and under this stood a man +reading, or trying to read, a newspaper by its flickering glare. Thord +glanced at him with some suspicion--the stranger was too near his own +lodging for his pleasure, for he was always on his guard against spies. +Approaching more closely, he saw that though the man was shabbily +attired in a rough pilot suit, much the worse for wear, he nevertheless +had the indefinable look and bearing of a gentleman. Acting on impulse, +as he often did, Thord spoke to him. + +"A rough night for reading by lamplight, my friend!" he said. + +The man looked up, and smiled. + +"Yes, it is, rather! But I have only just got the evening paper." + +"Any special news?" + +"No--only this--" and he pointed to a bold headline--"The King +_versus_ The Jesuits." + +"Ah!" said Thord, and he studied the looks and bearing of the stranger +with increasing curiosity. "What do you think of it?" + +"What do I think? May I ask, without offence, what _you_ think?" + +"I think," said Thord slowly, "that the King has for once in his life +done a wise thing." + +"'For once in his life!'" repeated the stranger dubiously--"Then I +presume your King is, generally speaking, a fool?" + +"If you are a subject of his--" began Thord slowly---- + +"Thank Heaven, I am not! I am a mere wanderer--a literary loafer--a +student of men and manners. I read books, and I write them too,--this +will perhaps explain the eccentricity of my behaviour in trying to read +under the lamplight in the rain!" + +He smiled again, and the smile was irresistibly pleasant. Something +about him attracted Thord, and after a pause he asked: + +"If you are, as you say, a wanderer and a stranger in this town, can I +be of service to you?" + +"You are very kind!" said the other, turning a pair of deep, dark, grey +meditative eyes upon him,--"And I am infinitely obliged to you for the +suggestion. But I really want nothing. As a matter of fact, I am +waiting for two friends of mine who have just gone into one of the foul +and filthy habitations here, to see what they can do for a suddenly +bereaved family. The husband and father fell dead in the street before +our eyes,--and those who picked him up said he was drunk, but it turned +out that he was merely starved,--_merely_!--you understand? Merely +starved! We found his home,--and the poor widow is wailing and weeping, +and the children are crying for food. I confess myself quite unable to +bear the sight, and so I have sent all the money I had about me to help +them for to-night at least. By my faith, they are most hopelessly, +incurably miserable!" + +"Their lot is exceedingly common in these quarters," said Thord, +sorrowfully. "Day after day, night after night, men, women and children +toil, suffer and die here without ever knowing what it is to have one +hour of free fresh air, one day of rest and joy! Yet this is a great +city,--and we live in a civilized country!" He smiled bitterly, then +added--"You have done a good action; and you need no thanks, or I would +thank you; for my life's work lies among these wretched poor, and I am +familiar with their tragic histories. Good-night!" + +"Pray do not go!" said the stranger suddenly--"I should like to talk to +you a little longer, if you have no objection. Is there not some place +near, where we can go out of this rain and have a glass of wine +together?" + +Sergius Thord stood irresolute,--gazing at him, half in liking, half in +distrust. + +"Sir," he said at last, "I do not know you--and you do not know me. If +I told you my name, you would probably not seek my company!" + +"Will you tell it?" suggested the stranger cheerfully--"Mine is at +your service--Pasquin Leroy. I fear my fame as an author has not +reached your ears!" + +Thord shook his head. + +"No. I have never heard of you. And probably you have never heard of +me. My name is Sergius Thord." + +"Sergius Thord!" echoed the stranger; "Now that is truly remarkable! It +is a happy coincidence that we should have met to-night. I have just +seen your name in this very paper which you caught me reading--see!-- +the next heading under that concerning the King and the Jesuits-- +'Thord's Rabble.' Are not you that same Thord?" + +"I am!" said Thord proudly, his eyes shining as he took the paper and +perused quickly the few flashy lines which described the crowd outside +the Cathedral that afternoon, and set him down as a crazy Socialist, +and disturber of the peace, "And the 'rabble' as this scribbling fool +calls it, is the greater part of this city's population. The King may +intimidate his Court; but I, Sergius Thord, with my 'rabble' can +intimidate both Court and King!" + +He drew himself up to his full majestic height--a noble figure of a man +with his fine heroic head and eagle-like glance of eye,--and he who had +called himself Pasquin Leroy, suddenly held out his hand. + +"Let me see more of you, Sergius Thord!" he said,--"You are the very +man for me! They say in this paper that you spoke to a great multitude +outside the Cathedral this afternoon, and interfered with the religious +procession; they also say you are the head of a Society called the +Revolutionary Committee;--now let me work for you in some department of +_that_ business!" + +"Let you work for me?" echoed Thord astonished--"But how?" + +"In this way--" replied the other--"I write Socialistic works,--and for +this cause have been expelled from my native home and surroundings. I +have a little money--and some influence,--and I will devote both to +your Cause. Will you take me, and trust me?" + +Thord caught his extended hand, and looked at him with a kind of fierce +intentness. + +"You mean it?" he said in thrilling tones--"You mean it positively and +truly?" + +"Positively and truly!" said Leroy--"If you are working to remedy the +frightful evils abounding in this wretched quarter of the poor, I will +help you! If you are striving to destroy rank abuses, I ask nothing +better than to employ my pen in your service. I will get work on the +press here--I will do all I can to aid your purposes and carry out your +intentions. I have no master, so am free to do as I like; and I will +devote myself to your service so long as you think I can be of any use +to you." + +"Wait!" said Thord--"You must not be carried away by a sudden generous +impulse, simply because you have witnessed one scene of the continual +misery that is going on here daily. To belong to our Committee means +much more than you at present realize, and involves an oath which you +may not be willing to take! And what of the friends you spoke of?" + +"They will do what I do," replied Leroy--"They share my fortunes-- +likewise my opinions;--and here they come,--so they can speak for +themselves," this, as two men emerged from a dark street on the left, +and came full into the lamplight's flare--"Axel Regor, Max Graub--come +hither! Fortune has singularly favoured us to-night! Let me present to +you my friend--" and he emphasized the word, "Sergius Thord!" + +Both men started ever so slightly as the introduction was performed, +and Thord looked at them with fresh touches of suspicion here and there +lurking in his mind. But he was brave; and having once proceeded in a +given direction was not in the habit of turning back. He therefore +saluted both the new-comers with grave courtesy. + +"I trust you!" he then said curtly to Leroy, "and I think you will not +betray my trust. If you do, it will be the worse for you!" + +His lips parted in a slight sinister smile, and the two who were +respectively called Axel Regor and Max Graub, exchanged anxious +glances. But Leroy showed no sign of hesitation or alarm. + +"Your warning is quite unnecessary, Sergius Thord," he said,--"I pledge +you my word with my friendship--and my word is my bond! I will also +hold myself responsible for my companions." + +Thord bent his head in silent recognition of this assurance. + +"Then follow me, if such is your desire," he said--"Remember, there is +yet time to go in another direction, and to see me no more; but if you +once do cast in your lot with mine the tie between us is indissoluble!" + +He paused, as though expecting some recoil or hesitation on the part of +those to whom he made this statement, but none came. He therefore +strode on, and they followed, till arriving at the door of the tall, +narrow house, where the light in the highest window gleamed like a +signal, he opened it with a small key and entered, holding it back +courteously for his three new companions to enter with him. They did +so, and he closed the door. At the same moment the light was +extinguished in the upper window, and the outside of the house became a +mere wall of dense blackness in the driving rain. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE IDEALISTS + + +Up a long uncarpeted flight of stairs, and into a large lofty room on +the second storey, Thord led the way for his newly-found disciples to +follow. It was very dark, and they had to feel the steps as they went, +their guide offering neither explanation nor apology for the Cimmerian +shades of gloom. Stumbling on hands and knees they spoke not a word; +though once Max Graub uttered something like an oath in rough German; +but a whisper from Leroy rebuked and silenced him, and they pursued +their difficult ascent until, arriving at the room mentioned, they +found themselves in the company of about fifteen to twenty men, all +sitting round a table under two flaring billiard lamps, suspended +crookedly from the ceiling. As Thord entered, these men all rose, and +gave him an expressive sign of greeting with the left hand, the same +kind of gesture which had passed between him and Zegota on the +Cathedral steps in the morning. Zegota himself was one of their number. +There was also another personage in the room who did not rise, and who +gave no sign whatever. This was a woman, who sat in the embrasure of a +closed and shuttered window with her back to the whole company. It was +impossible to say whether she was young or old, plain or handsome, for +she was enveloped in a long black cloak which draped her from shoulder +to heel. All that could be distinguished of her was the white nape of +her neck, and a great twist of dead gold hair. Her presence awakened +the liveliest interest in Pasquin Leroy, who found it impossible to +avoid nudging his companions, and whispering-- + +"A woman! By Heaven, this drama becomes interesting!" + +But Axel Regor and Max Graub were seemingly not disposed to levity, and +they offered no response to their lighter minded comrade beyond vague +hasty side-looks of alarm, which appeared to amuse him to an extent +that threatened to go beyond the limits of caution. Sergius Thord, +however, saw nothing of their interchange of glances for the moment,-- +he had other business to settle. Addressing himself at once to the men +assembled, he said.-- + +"Friends and brothers! I bring you three new associates! I have not +sought them; they have sought me. On their own heads be their +destinies! They offer their names to the Revolutionary Committee, and +their services to our Cause!" + +A low murmur of approbation from the company greeted this announcement. +Johan Zegota advanced a little in front of all the rest. + +"Every man is welcome to serve us who will serve us faithfully," he +said. "But who are these new comrades, Sergius Thord? What are they?" + +"That they must declare for themselves," said Thord, taking a chair at +the head of the table which was evidently his accustomed place--"Put +them through their examination!" + +He seated himself with the air of a king, his whole aspect betokening +an authority that would not be trifled with or gainsaid. + +"Gott in Himmel!" + +This exclamation burst suddenly from the lips of the man called Max +Graub. + +"What ails you?" said Thord, turning full upon him his glittering eyes +that flashed ferocity from under their shaggy brows--"Are you afraid?" + +"Afraid? Not I!" protested Graub--"But, gentlemen, think a moment! You +speak of putting us--myself and my friends--through an examination! Why +should you examine us? We are three poor adventurers--what can we have +to tell?" + +"Much, I should imagine!" retorted Zegota--"Adventurers are not such +without adventures! Your white hairs testify to some experience of +life." + +"My white hairs--_my_ white hairs!" exclaimed Graub, when a touch +from Axel Regor apparently recalled something to his mind for he began +to laugh--"True, gentlemen! Very true! I had forgotten! I have had some +adventures and some experiences! My good friend there, Pasquin Leroy, +has also had adventures and experiences,--so have we all! Myself, I am +a poor German, grown old in the service of a bad king! I have been +kicked out of that service--Ach!--just for telling the truth; which is +very much the end of all truth telling, is it not? Tell lies,--and +kings will reward you and make you rich and great!--but tell truth, +and see what the kings will give you for it! Kicks, and no halfpence! +Pardon! I interrupt this so pleasant meeting!" + +All the men present looked at him curiously, but said nothing in +response to his outburst. Johan Zegota, seating himself next to Sergius +Thord, opened a large parchment volume that lay on the table, and +taking up a pen addressed himself to Thord, saying-- + +"Will you ask the questions, or shall I?" + +"You, by all means! Proceed in the usual manner." + +Whereupon Zegota began.-- + +"Stand forth, comrades!" + +The three strangers advanced. + +"Your names? Each one answer separately, please!" + +"Pasquin Leroy!" + +"Axel Regor!" + +"Max Graub!" + +"Of what nationality, Pasquin Leroy?" + +Leroy smiled. "Truly I claim none!" he said; "I was born a slave." + +"A slave!" + +The words were repeated in tones of astonishment round the room. + +"Why, yes, a slave!" repeated Leroy quietly. "You have heard of black +slaves,--have you not heard of white ones too? There are countries +still, where men purchase other men of their own blood and colour;-- +tyrannous governments, which force such men to work for them, chained +to one particular place till they die. I am one of those,--though +escaped for the present. You can ask me more of my country if you will; +but a slave has no country save that of his master. If you care at all +for my services, you will spare me further examination on this +subject!" + +Zegota looked enquiringly at Thord. + +"We will pass that question," said the latter, in a low tone. + +Zegota resumed-- + +"You, Axel Regor--are you a slave too?" + +Axel Regor smiled languidly. + +"No! I am what is called a free-born subject of the realm. I do what I +like, though not always how I like, or when I like!" + +"And you, Max Graub?" + +"German!" said that individual firmly; "German to the backbone-- +Socialist to the soul!--and an enemy of all ruling sovereigns,-- +particularly the one that rules _me_!" + +Thord smiled darkly. + +"If you feel inclined to jest, Max Graub, I must warn you that jesting +is not suited to the immediate moment." + +"Jesting! I never was more in earnest in my life!" declared Graub,-- +"Why have I left my native country? Merely because it is governed by +Kaiser Wilhelm!" + +Thord smiled again. + +"The subject of nationality seems to excite all three of you," he said, +"and though we ask you the question _pro forma_, it is not +absolutely necessary that we should know from whence you come. We +require your names, and your oath of fealty; but before binding +yourselves, I will read you our laws, and the rules of membership for +this society; rules to which, if you join us, you are expected to +conform." + +"Suppose, for the sake of argument," said Pasquin Leroy,--"that after +hearing the rules we found it wisest to draw back? Suppose my friends, +--if not myself,--were disinclined to join your Society;--what would +happen?" + +As he asked the question a curious silence fell upon the company, and +all eyes were turned upon the speaker. There was a dead pause for a +moment, and then Thord replied slowly and with emphasis:-- + +"Nothing would happen save this,--that you would be bound by a solemn +oath never to reveal what you had heard or seen here to-night, and that +you would from henceforth be tracked every day and hour of your life by +those who would take care that you kept your oath!" + +"You see!" exclaimed Axel Regor excitedly, "There is danger----" + +"Danger? Of what?" asked Pasquin Leroy coldly;--"Of death? Each one of +us, and all three of us would fully merit it, if we broke our word! +Gentlemen both!"--and he addressed his two companions, "If you fear +any harm may come to yourselves through joining this society, pray +withdraw while there is yet time! My own mind is made up; I intend to +become familiar with the work of the Revolutionary Committee, and to +aid its cause by my personal service!" + +A loud murmur of applause came from the company. Axel Regor and Max +Graub glanced at Leroy, and saw in his face that his decision was +unalterable. + +"Then we will work for the Cause, also," said Max Graub resignedly. +"What you determine upon, we shall do, shall we not, Axel?" + +Axel Regor gave a brief assent. + +Sergius Thord looked at them all straightly and keenly. + +"You have finally decided?" + +"We have!" replied Leroy. "We will enrol ourselves as your associates +at once." + +Whereupon Johan Zegota rose from his place, and unlocking an iron safe +which stood in one corner of the room, took out a roll of parchment and +handed it to Thord, who, unfolding it, read in a clear though low voice +the following:-- + +"We, the Revolutionary Committee, are organized as a Brotherhood, bound +by all the ties of life, death, and our common humanity, to destroy the +abuses, and redress the evils, which self-seeking and tyrannous +Governments impose upon the suffering poor. + +"_Firstly:_ We bind ourselves to resist all such laws as may in +any degree interfere with the reasonable, intellectual, and spiritual +freedom of man or woman. + +"_Secondly:_ We swear to agitate against all forms of undue and +excessive taxation, which, while scarcely affecting the rich, make life +more difficult and unendurable to the poor. + +"_Thirdly:_ We protest against the domination of priestcraft, and +the secret methods which are employed by the Church to obtain undue +influence in Governmental matters. + +"_Fourthly:_ We are determined to stand firmly against the +entrance of foreign competitors in the country's trade and business. +All heads and ruling companies of firms employing foreigners instead of +native workmen, are marked out by us as traitors, and are reserved for +traitors' punishment. + +"_Fifthly:_ We are sworn to exterminate the existing worthless +Government, and to replace it by a working body of capable and +intelligent men, elected by the universal vote of the entire country. +Such elections must take place freely and openly, and no secret +influence shall be used to return any one person or party to power. +Those attempting to sway opinion by bribery and corruption, will be +named to the public, and exposed to disgrace and possible death. + +"_Sixthly:_ We are resolved to unmask to the public the duplicity, +treachery, and self-interested motives of the Secretary of State, Carl +Perousse. + +"_Seventhly:_ We are sworn to bring about such changes as shall +elevate a Republic to supreme power, and for this purpose are solemnly +pledged to destroy the present Monarchy." + +"These," said Sergius Thord, "are the principal objects of our +Society's work. There are other points to be considered, but these are +sufficient for the present. I will now read the rules, which each +member of our Brotherhood must follow if he would serve us faithfully." + +He turned over another leaf of the parchment scroll he held, and +continued, reading very slowly and distinctly: + +"_Rule 1_.--Each member of the Revolutionary Committee shall swear +fidelity to the Cause, and pledge himself to maintain inviolable +secrecy on all matters connected with his membership and his work for +the Society. + +"_Rule 2_.--No member shall track, follow, or enquire into the +movements of any other member. + +"_Rule 3_.--Once in every month all members are expected to meet +together at a given place, decided upon by the Chief of the Committee +at the previous meeting, when business will be discussed, and lots +drawn, to determine the choice of such members as may be fitted to +perform such business. + +"_Rule_ 4.--No member shall be bound to give his address, or to +state where he travels, or when or how he goes, as in all respects save +that of his membership he is a free man. + +"_Rule_ 5.--In this same respect of his membership, he is bound +to appear, or to otherwise report himself once a month at the meeting +of the Committee. Should he fail to do so either by person, or by +letter satisfactorily explaining his absence, he will be judged as a +traitor, and dealt with accordingly. + +"_Rule_6.--In the event of any member being selected to perform +any deed involving personal danger or loss to himself, the rest of the +members are pledged to shelter him from the consequences of his act, +and to provide him with all the necessaries of life, till his escape +from harm is ensured and his safety guaranteed." + +"You have heard all now," said Thord, as he laid aside the parchment +scroll; "Are you still willing to take the oath?" + +"Entirely so!" rejoined Pasquin Leroy cheerfully; "You have but to +administer it." + +Here a man, who had been sitting in a dark corner apart from the table, +with his head buried in his hands, suddenly looked up, showing a thin, +fine, eager face, a pair of wild eyes, and a tumbled mass of dark curly +hair, plentifully sprinkled with grey. + +"Ah!" he cried,--"Now comes the tragic moment, when the spectators hold +their breath, and the blue flame is turned on, and the man manages the +lime-light so that its radiance shall fall on the face of the chief +actor--or Actress! And the bassoons and 'cellos grumble inaudible +nothings to the big drum! Administer the oath, Sergius Thord!" + +A smile went the round of the company. + +"Have you only just wakened up from sleep, Paul Zouche?" asked Zegota. + +"I never sleep," answered Zouche, pushing his hair back from his +forehead;--"Unless sleep compels me, by force, to yield to its coarse +and commonplace persuasion. To lie down in a shirt and snore the hours +away! Faugh! Can anything be more gross or vulgar! Time flies so +quickly, and life is so short, that I cannot afford to waste any moment +in such stupid unconsciousness. I can drink wine, make love, and kill +rascals--all these occupations are much more interesting than sleeping. +Come, Sergius! Play the great trick of the evening! Administer the +oath!" + +A frowning line puckered Thord's brows, but the expression of vexation +was but momentary. Turning to Leroy again he said: + +"You are quite ready?" + +"Quite," replied Leroy. + +"And your friends----?" + +Leroy smiled. "They are ready also!" + +There followed a pause. Then Thord called in a clear low tone-- + +"Lotys!" + +The woman sitting in the embrasure of the window rose, and turning +round fully confronted all the men. Her black cloak falling back on +either side, disclosed her figure robed in dead white, with a scarlet +sash binding her waist. Her face, pale and serene, was not beautiful; +yet beauty was suggested in every feature. Her eyes seemed to be half +closed in a drooping indifference under the white lids, which were +fringed heavily with dark gold lashes. A sculptor might have said, that +whatever claim to beauty she had was contained in the proud poise of +her throat, and the bounteous curve of her bosom, but though in a +manner startled by her appearance, the three men who had chanced upon +this night's adventure were singularly disappointed in it. They had +somehow expected that when that mysterious cloaked feminine figure +turned round, a vision of dazzling beauty would be disclosed; and at +the first glance there was nothing whatever about this woman that +seemed particularly worthy of note. She was not young or old--possibly +between twenty-eight or thirty. She was not tall or short; she was +merely of the usual medium height,--so that altogether she was one of +those provoking individuals, who not seldom deceive the eye at first +sight by those ordinary looks which veil an extraordinary personality. + +She stood like an automatic figure, rigid and silent,--till Sergius +Thord signed to his three new associates to advance. Then with a +movement, rapid as a flash of lightning, she suddenly drew a dagger +from her scarlet girdle, and held it out to them. Nerved as he was to +meet danger, Pasquin Leroy recoiled slightly, while his two companions +started as if to defend him. As she saw this, the woman raised her +drooping eyelids, and a pair of wonderful eyes shone forth, dark blue +as iris-flowers, while a faint scornful smile lifted the corners of her +mouth. But she said nothing. + +"There is no cause to fear!" said Sergius Thord, glancing with a touch +of derision in his looks from one to the other, "Lotys is the witness +of all our vows! Swear now after me upon this drawn dagger which she +holds,--lay your right hands here upon the blade!" + +Thus adjured, Pasquin Leroy approached, and placed his right hand upon +the shining steel. + +"I swear in the name of God, and in the presence of Lotys, that I will +faithfully work for the Cause of the Revolutionary Committee,--and that +I will adhere to its rules and obey its commands, till all shall be +done that is destined to be done! And may the death I deserve come +suddenly upon me if ever I break my vow!" + +Slowly and emphatically Pasquin Leroy repeated this formula after +Sergius Thord, and his two companions did the same, though perhaps less +audibly. This ceremony performed, the woman called Lotys looked at them +steadfastly, and the smile that played on her lips changed from scorn +to sweetness. The dark blue iris-coloured eyes deepened in lustre, and +flashed brilliantly from under their drowsy lids,--a rosy flush tinted +the clear paleness of her skin, and like a statue warming to life she +became suddenly beautiful. + +"You have sworn bravely!" she said, in a low thrilling voice. "Now sign +and seal!" + +As she spoke she lifted her bare left arm, and pricked it with the +point of the dagger. A round, full drop of blood like a great ruby +welled up on the white skin. All the men had risen from their places, +and were gathered about her;--this 'taking of the oath' was evidently +the dramatic event of their existence as a community. + +"The pen, Sergius!" she said. + +Thord approached with a white unused quill, and a vellum scroll on +which the names of all the members of the Society were written in +ominous red. He handed these writing implements to Leroy. + +"Dip your pen here," said Lotys, pointing to the crimson drop on her +arm, and eyeing him still with the same half-sweet, half-doubting +smile--"But when the quill is full, beware that you write no +treachery!" + +For one second Leroy appeared to hesitate. He was singularly unnerved +by the glances of those dark blue eyes, which like searchlights seemed +to penetrate into every nook and cranny of his soul. But his +recklessness and love of adventure having led him so far, it was now +too late to retract or to reconsider the risks he might possibly be +running. He therefore took the quill and dipped it into the crimson +drop that welled from that soft white flesh. + +"This is the strangest ink I have ever used!" he said lightly,--"but-- +at your command, Madame----!" + +"At my command," rejoined Lotys, "your use of it shall make your oath +indelible!" + +He smiled, and wrote his name boldly 'Pasquin Leroy' and held out the +pen for his companions to follow his example. + +"Ach Gott!" exclaimed Max Graub, as he dipped the pen anew into the +vital fluid from a woman's veins--"I write my name, Madame, in words of +life, thanks to your condescension!" + +"True!" she answered,--"And only by your own falsehood can you change +them into words of death!" + +Signing his name 'Max Graub,' he looked up and met her searching gaze. +Something there was in the magnetic depth of her eyes that strangely +embarrassed him, for he stepped back hastily as though intimidated. +Axel Regor took the pen from his hand, and wrote his name, or rather +scrawled it carelessly, almost impatiently,--showing neither hesitation +nor repugnance to this unusual method of subscribing a document. + +"You are acting on compulsion!" said Lotys, addressing him in a low +tone; "Your compliance is in obedience to some other command than ours! +And--you will do well to remain obedient!" + +Axel Regor gave her an amazed glance,--but she paid no heed to it, and +binding her arm with her kerchief, let her long white sleeve fall over +it. + +"So, you are enrolled among the sons of my blood!" she said, "So are +you bound to me and mine!" She moved to the further end of the table +and stood there looking round upon them all. Again the slow, sweet, +half-disdainful smile irradiated her features. "Well, children!--what +else remains to do? What next? What next can there be but drink--smoke +--talk! Man's three most cherished amusements!" + +She sat down, throwing back her heavy cloak on either side of her. Her +hair had come partly unbound, and noticing a tress of it falling on her +shoulder, she drew out the comb and let it fall altogether in a mass of +gold-brown, like the tint of a dull autumn leaf, flecked here and there +with amber. Catching it dexterously in one hand, she twisted it up +again in a loose knot, thrusting the comb carelessly through. + +"Drink--smoke--talk, Sergius!" she repeated, still smiling; "Shall I +ring?" + +Sergius Thord stood looking at her irresolutely, with the half-angry, +half-pleading expression of a chidden child. + +"As you please, Lotys!" he answered. Whereupon she pressed an invisible +spring under the table, which set a bell ringing in some lower quarter +of the house. + +"Pasquin Leroy, Axel Regor, Max Graub!" she said--"Take your places +for to-night beside me--newcomers are always thus distinguished! And +all of you sit down! You are grouped at present like hungry wolves +waiting to spring. But you are not really hungry, except for something +which is not food! And you are not waiting for anything except for +permission to talk! I give it to you--talk, children! Talk yourselves +hoarse! It will do you good! And I will personate supreme wisdom by +listening to you in silence!" + +A kind of shamed laugh went round the company,--then followed the +scuffling of feet, and grating of chairs against the floor, and +presently the table was completely surrounded, the men sitting close up +together, and Sergius Thord occupying his place at their head. + +When they were all seated, they formed a striking assembly of +distinctly marked personalities. There were very few mean types among +them, and the stupid, half-vague and languid expression of the modern +loafer or 'do nothing' creature, who just for lack of useful work plots +mischief, was not to be seen on any of their countenances. A certain +moroseness and melancholy seemed to brood like a delayed storm among +them, and to cloud the very atmosphere they breathed, but apart from +this, intellectuality was the dominant spirit suggested by their +outward looks and bearing. Plebeian faces and vulgar manners are, +unfortunately, not rare in representative gatherings of men whose +opinions are allowed to sway the destinies of nations, and it was +strange to see a group of individuals who were sworn to upset existing +law and government so distinguished by refined and even noble +appearance. Their clothes were shabby,--their aspect certainly +betokened long suffering and contention with want and poverty, but they +were, taken all together, a set of men who, if they had been members of +a recognized parliament or senate, would have presented a fine +collection of capable heads to an observant painter. As soon as they +were gathered round the table under the presidency of Sergius Thord at +one end, and the tranquil tolerance of the mysterious Lotys at the +other, they broke through the silence and reserve which they had +carefully maintained till their three new comrades had been +irrecoverably enrolled among them, and conversation went on briskly. +The topic of 'The King _versus_ the Jesuits' was one of the first +they touched upon, Sergius Thord relating for the benefit of all his +associates, how he had found Pasquin Leroy reading by lamplight the +newspaper which reported his Majesty's refusal to grant any portion of +Crown lands to the priests, and which also spoke of 'Thord's Rabble.' + +"Here is the paper!" said Leroy, as he heard the narration; "Whoever +likes to keep it can do so, as a memento of my introduction to this +Society!" + +And he tossed it lightly on the table. + +"Good!" exclaimed Paul Zouche; "Give it to me, and I will cherish it as +a kind of birthday card! What a rag it is! 'Thord's Rabble' eh! +Sergius, what have you been doing that this little flea of an editor +should jump out of his ink-pot and bite you? Does he hurt much?" + +"Hurt!" Thord laughed aloud. "If I had money enough to pay the man ten +golden coins a week where his present employer gives him five, he would +dance to any tune I whistled!" + +"Is that so?" asked Leroy, with interest. + +"Do you not know that it is so?" rejoined Thord. "You tell me you write +Socialistic works--you should know something concerning the press." + +"Ah!" said Max Graub, nodding his head sagely, "He does know much, but +not all! It would need more penetration than even _he_ possesses, +to know all! Alas!--my friend was never a popular writer!" + +"Like myself!" exclaimed Zouche, "I am not popular, and I never shall +be. But I know how to make myself reputed as a great genius, and all +the very respectable literary men are beginning to recognize me as +such. Do you know why?" + +"Because you drink more than is good for you, my poor Zouche!" said +Lotys tranquilly; "That is one reason!" + +"Hear her!" cried Zouche,--"Does she not always, like the Sphinx, +propound enigmas! Lotys,--little, domineering Lotys, why in the name of +Heaven should I secure recognition as a poet, through drunkenness?" + +"Because your vice kills your genius," said Lotys; "Therefore you are +quite safe! If you were less of a scamp you would be a great man,-- +perhaps the greatest in the country! That would never do! Your rivals +would never forgive you! But you are a hopeless rascal, incapable of +winning much honour; and so you are compassionately recognized as +somebody who might do something if he only would--that is all, my +Zouche! You are an excellent after-dinner topic with those who are more +successful than yourself; and that is the only fame you will ever win, +believe me!" + +"Now by all the gods and goddesses!" cried Paul--"I do protest----" + +"After supper, Zouche!" interrupted Lotys, as the door of the room +opened, and a man entered, bearing a tray loaded with various eatables, +jugs of beer, and bottles of spirituous liquors,--"Protest as much as +you like then,--but not just now!" + +And with quick, deft hands she helped to set the board. None of the men +offered to assist her, and Leroy watching her, felt a sudden sense of +annoyance that this woman should seem, even for a moment, to be in the +position of a servant to them all. + +"Can I do nothing for you?" he said, in a low tone--"Why should you +wait upon us?" + +"Why indeed!" she answered--"Except that you are all by nature awkward, +and do not know how to wait properly upon yourselves!" + +Her eyes had a gleam of mischievous mockery in them; and Leroy was +conscious of an irritation which he could scarcely explain to himself. +Decidedly, he thought, this Lotys was an unpleasant woman. She was +'extremely plain,' so he mentally declared, in a kind of inward huff,-- +though he was bound to concede that now and then she had a very +beautiful, almost inspired expression. After all, why should she not +set out jugs and bottles, and loaves of bread, and hunks of ham and +cheese before these men? She was probably in their pay! Scarcely had +this idea flashed across his mind than he was ashamed of it. This +Lotys, whoever she might actually be, was no paid hireling; there was +something in her every look and action that set her high above any +suspicion that she would accept the part of a salaried _comedienne_ +in the Socialist farce. Annoyed with himself, though he knew not why, +he turned his gaze from her to the man who had brought in the supper, +--a hunchback, who, notwithstanding his deformity, was powerfully built, +and of a countenance which, marked as it was with the drawn pathetic +look of long-continued physical suffering, was undeniably handsome. +His large brown eyes, like those of a faithful dog, followed every +movement of Lotys with anxious and wistful affection, and Leroy, +noticing this, began to wonder whether she was his wife or daughter? +Or was she related in either of these ways to Sergius Thord? His +reflections were interrupted by a slight touch from Max Graub who was +seated next to him. + +"Will you drink with these fellows?" said Graub, in a cautious whisper +--"Expect to be ill, if you do!" + +"You shall prescribe for me!" answered Leroy in the same low tone--"I +faithfully promise to call in your assistance! But drink with them I +must, and will!" + +Graub gave a short sigh and a shrug, and said no more. The hunchback +was going the round of the table, filling tall glasses with light +Bavarian beer. + +"Where is the little Pequita?" asked Zouche, addressing him--"Have you +sent her to bed already, Sholto?" + +Sholto looked timorously round till he met the bright reassuring glance +of Lotys, and then he replied hesitatingly-- + +"Yes!--no--I have not sent the little one to bed;--she returned from +her work at the theatre, tired out--quite tired out, poor child! She +is asleep now." + +"Ha ha! A few years more, and she will not sleep!" said Zouche--"Once +in her teens--" + +"Once in her teens, she leaves the theatre and comes to me," said +Lotys, "And you will see very little of her, Zouche, and you will know +less! That will do, Sholto! Good-night!" + +"Good-night!" returned the hunchback--"I thank you, Madame!--I thank +you, gentlemen!" + +And with a slight salutation, not devoid of grace, he left the room. + +Zouche was sulky, and pushing aside his glass of beer, poured out for +himself some strong spirit from a bottle instead. + +"You do not favour me to-night, Lotys," he said irritably--"You +interrupt and cross me in everything I say!" + +"Is it not a woman's business to interrupt and cross a man?" queried +Lotys, with a laugh,--"As I have told you before, Zouche, I will not +have Sholto worried!" + +"Who worries him?" grumbled Zouche--"Not I!" + +"Yes, you!--you worry him on his most sensitive point--his daughter," +said Lotys;--"Why can you not leave the child alone? Sholto is an +Englishman," she explained, turning to Pasquin Leroy and his companions +--"His history is a strange one enough. He is the rightful heir to a +large estate in England, but he was born deformed. His father hated +him, and preferred the second son, who was straight and handsome. So +Sholto disappeared." + +"Disappeared!" echoed Leroy--"You mean----" + +"I mean that he left his father's house one morning, and never +returned. The clothes he wore were found floating in the river near by, +and it was concluded that he had been drowned while bathing. The second +son, therefore, inherited the property; and poor Sholto was scarcely +missed; certainly not mourned. Meanwhile he went away, and got on board +a Spanish trading boat bound for Cadiz. At Cadiz he found work, and +also something that sweetened work--love! He married a pretty Spanish +girl who adored him, and--as often happens when lovers rejoice too much +in their love--she died after a year's happiness. Sholto is all alone +in the world with the little child his Spanish wife left him, Pequita. +She is only eleven years old, but her gift of dancing is marvellous, +and she gets employment at one of the cheap theatres here. If an +influential manager could see her performance, she might coin money." + +"The influential manager would probably cheat her," said Zouche,-- +"Things are best left alone. Sholto is content!" + +"Are you content?" asked Johan Zegota, helping himself from the bottle +that stood near him. + +"I? Why, no! I should not be here if I were!" + +"Discontent, then, is your chief bond of union?" said Axel Regor, +beginning to take part in the conversation. + +"It is the very knot that ties us all together!" said Zouche with +enthusiasm.--"Discontent is the mother of progress! Adam was +discontented with the garden of Eden,--and found a whole world outside +its gates!" + +"He took Eve with him to keep up the sickness of dissatisfaction," said +Zegota; "There would certainly have been no progress without +_her_!" + +"Pardon,--Cain was the true Progressivist and Reformer," put in Graub; +"Some fine sentiment of the garden of Eden was in his blood, which +impelled him to offer up a vegetable sacrifice to the Deity, whereas +Abel had already committed murder by slaying lambs. According to the +legend, God preferred the 'savour' of the lambs, so perhaps,--who +knows!--the idea that the savour of Abel might be equally agreeable to +Divine senses induced Cain to kill him as a special 'youngling.' This +was a Progressive act,--a step beyond mere lambs!" + +Everyone laughed, except Sergius Thord. He had fallen into a heavy, +brooding silence, his head sunk on his breast, his wild hair falling +forward like a mane, and his right hand clenched and resting on the +table. + +"Sergius!" called Lotys. + +He did not answer. + +"He is in one of his far-away moods,"--said one of the men next to Axel +Regor,--"It is best not to disturb him." + +Paul Zouche, however, had no such scruples. "Sergius!" he cried,--"Come +out of your cloud of meditation! Drink to the health of our three new +comrades!" + +All the members of the company filled their glasses, and Thord, hearing +the noise and clatter, looked up with a wild stare. + +"What are you doing?" he asked slowly;--"I thought some one spoke of +Cain killing Abel!" + +"It was I," said Graub--"I spoke of it--irreverently, I fear,--but the +story itself is irreverent. The notion that 'God,' should like roast +meat is the height of blasphemy!" + +Zouche burst into a violent fit of laughter. But Thord went on talking +in a low tone, as though to himself. + +"Cain killing Abel!" he repeated--"Always the same horrible story is +repeated through history--brother against brother,--blood crying out +for blood--life torn from the weak and helpless body--all for what? For +a little gold,--a passing trifle of power! Cain killing Abel! My God, +art Thou not yet weary of the old eternal crime!" + +He spoke in a semi-whisper which thrilled through the room. A momentary +hush prevailed, and then Lotys called again, her voice softened to a +caressing sweetness. + +"Sergius!" + +He started, and shook himself out of his reverie this time. Raising his +hand, he passed it in a vague mechanical way across his brow as though +suddenly wakened from a dream. + +"Yes, yes! Let us drink to our three new comrades," he said, and rose +to his feet. "To your health, friends! And may you all stand firm in +the hour of trial!" + +All the company sprang up and drained their glasses, and when the toast +was drunk and they were again seated, Pasquin Leroy asked if he might +be allowed to return thanks. + +"I do not know," he said with a courteous air, "whether it is +permissible for a newly-enrolled associate of this Brotherhood to make +a speech on the first night of his membership,--but after the cordial +welcome I and my comrades, strangers as we are, have received at your +hands, I should like to say a few words--if, without breaking any rules +of the Order, I may do so." + +"Hear, hear!" shouted Zouche, who had been steadily drinking for the +last few moments,--"Speak on, man! Whoever heard of a dumb Socialist! +Rant--rant! Rant and rave!--as I do, when the fit is on me! Do I not, +Thord? Do I not move you even to tears?" + +"And laughter!" put in Zegota. "Hold your tongue, Zouche! No other man +can talk at all, if you once begin!" + +Zouche laughed, and drained his glass. + +"True!--my genius is of an absorbing quality! Silence, gentlemen! +Silence for our new comrade! 'Pasquin' stands for the beginning of a +jest--so we may hope he will be amusing,--'Leroy' stands for the king, +and so we may expect him to be non-political!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE KING'S DOUBLE + + +As Leroy rose to speak, there was a little commotion. Max Graub upset +his glass, and seemed to be having a struggle under the table with Axel +Regor. + +"What ails you?" said Leroy, glancing at his friends with an amazed +air--"Are you quarrelling?" + +"Quarrelling!" echoed Max Graub, "Why, no--but what man will have his +beer upset without complaint? Tell me that!" + +"You upset it!" said Regor angrily--"I did not." + +"You did!" retorted Graub, "and because I pushed you for it, you showed +me a pistol in your pocket! I object to be shown a pistol. So I have +taken it away. Here it is!" and he laid the weapon on the table in +front of him. + +A look of anger darkened Leroy's brows. + +"I was not aware you carried arms," he said coldly. + +Sergius Thord noticed his annoyance. + +"There is nothing remarkable in that, my friend!" he interposed--"We +all carry arms,--there is not one of us at this table who has not a +loaded pistol,--even Lotys is no exception to this rule." + +"Now by my word!" said Graub, "_I_ have no loaded pistol,--and I +will swear Leroy is equally unarmed!" + +"Entirely so!" said Leroy quietly--"I never suspect any man of evil +intentions towards me." + +As he said this, Lotys leaned forward impulsively and stretched out her +hand,--a beautiful hand, well-shaped and white as a white rose petal. + +"I like you for that!"--she said--"It is the natural attitude of a +brave man!" + +A slight colour warmed his bronzed skin as he took her hand, pressed it +gently, and let it go again. Axel Regor looked up defiantly. + +"Well, I _do_ suspect every man of evil intentions!" he said, "So +you may all just as well know the worst of me at once! My experience of +life has perhaps been exceptionally unpleasant; but it has taught me +that as a rule no man is your friend till you have made it worth his +while!" + +"By favours bestowed, or favours to come?" queried Thord, smiling,-- +"However, without any argument, Axel Regor, I am inclined to think you +are right!" + +"Then a weapon is permissible here?" asked Graub. + +"Not only permissible, but necessary," replied Thord. "As members of +this Brotherhood we live always prepared for some disaster,--always on +our guard against treachery. Comrades!" and raising his voice he +addressed the whole party. "Lay down your arms, all at once and +together!" + +In one instant, as if in obedience to a military order, the table was +lined on either side with pistols. Beside these weapons, there was a +goodly number of daggers, chiefly of the small kind such as are used in +Corsica, encased in leather sheaths. Pasquin Leroy smiled as he saw +Lotys lay down one of those tiny but deadly weapons, together with a +small silver-mounted pistol. + +"Forewarned is forearmed!" he said gaily;--"Madame, if I ever offend, I +shall look to you for a happy dispatch! Gentlemen, I have still to make +my speech, and if you permit it, I will speak now,--unarmed as I am,-- +with all these little metal mouths ready to deal death upon me if I +happen to make any observation which may displease you!" + +"By Heaven! A brave man!" cried Zouche; "Thord, you have picked up a +trump card! Speak, Pasquin Leroy! We will forgive you, even if you +praise the King!" + +Leroy stood silent for a moment, as if thinking. His two companions +looked up at him once or twice in unquestionable alarm and wonderment, +but he did not appear to be conscious of their observation. On the +contrary, some very deeply seated feeling seemed to be absorbing his +soul,--and it was perhaps this suppressed emotion which gave such a +rich vibrating force to his accents when he at last spoke. + +"Friends and Brothers!" he said;--"It is difficult for one who has +never experienced the three-fold sense of Liberty, Equality and +Fraternity until to-night, to express in the right manner the sense of +gratitude which I, a complete stranger to you, feel for the readiness +and cordiality of the welcome you have extended to me and my +companions, accepting us without hesitation, as members of your +Committee, and as associates in the work of the Cause you have +determined to maintain. It is an Ideal Cause,--I need not tell you +that! To rescue and protect the poor from the tyranny of the rich and +strong, was the mission of Christ when He visited this earth; and it +would perhaps be unwise on my part, and discouraging to yourselves, to +remind you that even He has failed! The strong, the selfish, and the +cruel, still delight in oppressing their more helpless fellows, despite +the theories of Christianity. And it is perfectly natural that it +should be so, seeing that the Christian Church itself has become a mere +system of money-making and self-advancement." + +A burst of applause interrupted him. Eyes lightened with eager +enthusiasm, and every face was turned towards him. He went on:-- + +"To think of the great Founder of a great Creed, and then to consider +what his pretended followers have made of Him and His teaching, is +sufficient to fill the soul with the sickness of despair and +humiliation! To remember that Christ came to teach all men the Gospel +of love,--and to find them after eighteen hundred years still +preferring the Gospel of hate,--is enough to make one doubt the truth +of religion altogether! The Divine Socialist preached a creed too good +and pure for this world; and when we try to follow it, we are beaten +back on all sides by the false conventionalities and customs of a +sacerdotal system grown old in self-seeking, not in self-sacrifice. +Were Christ to come again, the first thing He would probably do would +be to destroy all the churches, saying: 'I never knew you: depart from +me ye that work iniquity!' But till He does come again, it rests with +the thinkers of the time to protest against wrongs and abuses, even if +they cannot destroy them,--to expose falsehood, even if they cannot +utterly undo its vicious work. Seeing, however, that the greater +majority of men are banded on the side of wealth and material self- +interest, it is unfortunately only a few who remain to work for the +cause of the poor, and for such equal rights of justice as you--as we-- +in our present Association claim to be most worthy of man's best +efforts. It may be asked by those outside such a Fraternity as ours,-- +'What do they want? What would they have that they cannot obtain?' I +would answer that we want to see the end of a political system full of +bribery and corruption,--that we desire the disgrace and exposure of +such men as those, who, under the pretence of serving the country, +merely line their own coffers out of the taxes they inflict upon the +people;--and that if we see a king inclined to favour the overbearing +dominance of a political party governed by financial considerations +alone,--a party which has no consideration for the wider needs of the +whole nation, we from our very hearts and souls desire the downfall of +that king!" + +A low, deep murmur responded to his words,--a sound like the snarl of +wolves, deep, fierce, and passionate. A close observer might perhaps +have detected a sudden pallor on Leroy's face as he heard this ominous +growl, and an involuntary clenching of the hand on the part of Axel +Regor. Max Graub looked up. + +"Ah so, my friends! You hate the King?" + +No answer was vouchsafed to this query. The interruption was evidently +unwelcome, all eyes being still fixed on Leroy. He went on tranquilly: + +"I repeat--that wherever and whenever a king--any king--voluntarily and +knowingly, supports iniquity and false dealing in his ministers, he +lays himself open to suspicion, attack, and dethronement! I speak with +particular feeling on this point, because, apart from whatever may be +the thoughts and opinions of these who are assembled here to-night, I +have a special reason of my own for hating the King! That reason is +marked on my countenance! I bear an extraordinary resemblance to him, +--so great indeed, that I might be taken for his twin brother if he had +one! And I beg of you, my friends, to look at me long and well, that +you make no error concerning me, for, being now your comrade, I do not +wish to be mistaken for your enemy!" + +He drew himself up, lifting his head with an air of indomitable pride +and grace which well became him. An exclamation of surprise broke from +all present, and Sergius Thord bent forward to examine his features +with close attention. Every man at the table did the same, but none +regarded him more earnestly or more searchingly than Lotys. Her +wonderful eyes seemed to glow and burn with strange interior fires, as +she kept them steadily fixed upon his face. + +"Yes--you are strangely like the King!" she said--"That is,--so far as +I am able to judge by his portraits and coins. I have never seen him." + +"I _have_ seen him,"--said Sergius Thord, "though only at a +distance. And I wonder I did not notice the strange resemblance you +bear to him before you called my attention to it. Are you in any way +related to him?" + +"Related to him!" Leroy laughed aloud. "No! If the late King had any +bastard sons, I am not one of them! But I pray you again all to +carefully note this hateful resemblance,--a resemblance I would fain +rid me of--for it makes me seem a living copy of the man I most +despise!" + +There was a pause,--during which he stood quietly, submitting himself +to the fire of a hundred wondering, questioning, and inquisitorial eyes +without flinching. + +"You are all satisfied?" he then asked; "You, Sergius Thord,--my chief +and commander,--you, and all here present are satisfied?" + +"Satisfied?--Yes!" replied Thord; "But sorry that your personality +resembles that of a fool and a knave!" + +A strange grimace distorted the countenance of Max Graub, but he +quickly buried his nose and his expression together in a foaming glass +of beer. + +"You cannot be so sorry for me as I am for myself!" said Leroy, "And +now to finish the few words I have been trying to say. I thank you from +my heart for your welcome, and for the trust you have reposed in me and +my companions. I am proud to be one of you; and I promise that you +shall all have reason to be glad that I am associated with your Cause! +And to prove my good faith, I undertake to set about working for you +without a day's delay; and towards this object, I give you my word that +before our next meeting something shall be done to shake the political +stronghold of Carl Perousse!" + +Sergius Thord sprang up excitedly. + +"Do that," he said, "and were you a thousand times more like the King +than you are, you shall be the first to command our service and +honour!" + +Loud acclamation followed his words, and all the men gathered close up +about Leroy. He looked round upon them, half-smiling, half-serious. + +"But you must tell me what to do!" he said. "You must explain to me why +you consider Perousse a traitor, and how you think it best his +treachery should be proved. For, remember, I am a stranger to this part +of the country, and my accidental resemblance to the King does not make +me his subject!" + +"True!" said Paul Zouche,--his eyes were feverishly bright and his +cheeks flushed--"To be personally like a liar does not oblige one to +tell lies! To call oneself a poet does not enable one to write poetry! +And to build a cathedral does not make one a saint! To know all the +highways and byways of the Perousse policy, you must penetrate into the +depths and gutter-slushes of the great newspaper which is subsidised by +the party to that policy! And this is difficult--exceedingly difficult, +let me assure you, my bold Pasquin! And if you can perform such a +'pasquinade' as shall take you into these Holy of Holy purlieus of +mischief and money-making, you will deserve to be chief of the +Committee, instead of Sergius! Sergius talks--he will talk your head +off!--but he does nothing!" + +"I do what I can,"--said Thord, patiently. "It is true I have no access +to the centres of diplomacy or journalism. But I hold the People in the +hollow of my hand!" + +He spoke with deep and concentrated feeling, and the power of his soul +looked out eloquently from the darkening flash of his eyes. Leroy +studied his features with undisguised interest. + +"If you thus hold the People," he said,--"Why not bid them rise against +the evil and tyranny of which they have cause to complain?" + +Thord shook his head. + +"To rouse the People," he replied, "would be worse than to rouse a herd +of starving lions from their forest dens, and give them freedom to slay +and devour! Nay!--the time is not yet! All gentle means must be tried; +and if these fail--why then--!" + +He broke off, but his clenched hand and expressive glance said the +rest. + +"Why do you not use the most powerful of all the weapons ever invented +for the destruction of one's enemies--the Pen?" asked Max Graub. "Start +a newspaper, for example, and gibbet your particular favourite Carl +Perousse therein!" + +"Bah! He would get up a libel case, and advertise himself a little more +by that method!" said Zegota contemptuously; "And besides, a newspaper +needs unlimited capital behind it. We have no rich friends." + +"Rich friends!" exclaimed Lotys suddenly; "Who speaks of them--who +needs them? Rich friends expect you to toady to them; to lick the +ground under their feet; to fawn and flatter and lie, and be anything +but honest men! The rich are the vulgar of this world;--no one who has +heart, or soul, or sense, would condescend to seek friendships among +those whose only claim to precedence is the possession of a little more +yellow metal than their neighbours." + +"Nevertheless, they and their yellow metal are the raw material, which +Genius may as well use to pave its way through life," said Zegota. +"Lotys, you are too much of an idealist!" + +"Idealist! And you call yourself a realist, poor child!" said Lotys +with a laugh; "I tell you I would sooner starve than accept favour or +assistance from the merely rich!" + +"Of course you would!" said Zouche, "And is not that precisely the +reason why you are set in dominion over us all? We men are not sure of +ourselves--but--Heaven knows why!--we are sure of You! I suppose it is +because you are sure of yourself! For example, we men are such wretched +creatures that we cannot go long without our food,--but you, woman, can +fast all day, and scorn the very idea of hunger. We men cannot bear +much pain,--but you,--woman,--can endure suffering of your own without +complaint, while attending to our various lesser hurts and scratches. +Wherefore, just because we feel you are above us in this and many other +things, we have set you amongst us as a warning Figurehead, which cries +shame upon us if we falter, and reminds us that you, a woman, can do, +and probably will do, what we men cannot. Imagine it! You would bear +all things for love's sake!--and, frankly speaking, we would bear +nothing at all, except for our own immediate and particular pleasure. +For that, of course, we would endure everything till we got it, and +then--pouf!--we would let it go again in sheer weariness and desire for +something else! Is it not so, Sergius?" + +"I am glad you know yourself so well!" said Thord gloomily. +"Personally, I am not prepared to accept your theory." + +"Men are children!" said Lotys, still smiling; "And should be treated +as children always, by women! Come, little ones! To bed, all of you! It +is growing late, and the rain has ceased." + +She went to the window, and unbarring the shutters, opened it. The +streets were wet and glistening below, but the clouds had cleared, and +a pale watery moon shone out fitfully from the misty sky. + +"Say good-night, and part;" she continued. "It is time! This day month +we will meet here again,--and our new comrades will then report what +progress they have made in the matter of Carl Perousse." + +"Tell me," said Leroy, approaching her, "What would you do, Madame, if +you had determined, on proving the corruption and falsehood of this at +present highly-honoured servant of the State?" + +"I should gain access to his chief tool, David Jost, by means of the +Prime Minister's signet," said Lotys,--"If I could get the signet!-- +which I cannot! Nor can you! But if I could, I should persuade Jost to +talk freely, and so betray himself. He and Carl Perousse move the +Premier and the King whichever way they please." + +"Is that so--?" began Leroy, when he was answered by a dozen voices at +once:-- + +"The King is a fool!" + +"The King is a slave!" + +"The King accepts everything that is set before him as being rightly +and wisely ordained,--and never enquires into the justice of what is +done!" + +"The King assumes to be the friend of the People, but if you ask him to +do anything for the People, you only get the secretary's usual answer-- +'His Majesty regrets that it is impossible to take any action in the +matter'!" + +"Wait!--wait!--" said Leroy, with a gesture which called for a moment's +silence; "The question is,--_Could_ the King do anything if he +would?" + +"I will answer that!" said Lotys, her eyes flashing, her bosom heaving, +and her whole figure instinct with pride and passion; "The King could +do everything! The King could be a man if he chose, instead of a dummy! +The King could cease to waste his time on fools and light women!--and +though he is, and must be a constitutional Monarch, he could so rule +all social matters as to make them the better,--not the worse for his +influence! There is nothing to prevent the King from doing his most +kingly duty!" + +Leroy looked at her for a moment in silence. + +"Madame, if the King heard your words he might perhaps regret his many +follies!" he said courteously;--"But where Society is proved worse, +instead of better for a king's influence, is it not somewhat too late +to remedy the evil? What of the Queen?" + +"The Queen is queen from necessity, not from choice!" said Lotys;--"She +has never loved her husband. If she had loved him, perhaps he might,-- +through her,--have loved his people more!" + +There was a note of pathos in her voice that was singularly tender and +touching. Anon, as if impatient with herself, she turned to Sergius +Thord. + +"We must disperse!" she said abruptly; "Daybreak will be upon us before +we know it, and we have done no business at all this evening. To enrol +three new associates is a matter of fifteen minutes; the rest of our +time has been wasted!" + +"Do not say so, Madame!" interposed Max Graub, "You have three new +friends--three new 'sons of your blood,' as you so poetically call +them,--though, truly, I for one am more fit to be your grandfather! And +do you consider the time wasted that has been spent in improving and +instructing your newly-born children?" + +Lotys turned upon him with a look of disdain. + +"You are a would-be jester;" she said coldly; "Old men love a jest, I +know, but they should take care to make it at the right time, and in +the right place. They should not play with edge-tools such as I am, +though I suppose, being a German, you think little or nothing of +women?" + +"Madame!" protested Graub, "I think so much of women that I have never +married! Behold me, an unhappy bachelor! I have spared any one of your +beautiful sex from the cruel martyrdom of having to endure my life-long +company!" + +She laughed--a pretty low laugh, and extended her hand with an air of +queenly condescension. + +"You are amusing!" she said,--"And so I will not quarrel with you! +Good-night!" + +"Auf wiedersehn!" and Graub kissed the white hand he held. "I shall +hope you will command me to be of service to you and yours, ere long!" + +"In what way, I wonder," she asked dubiously; "What can you do best? +Write? Speak? Or organize meetings?" + +"I think," said Graub, speaking very deliberately, "that of all my +various accomplishments, which are many--as I shall one day prove to +you--I can poison best!" + +"Poison!" + +The exclamation broke simultaneously from all the company. Graub looked +about him with a triumphant air. + +"Ah so,--I know I shall be useful," he said; "I can poison so very +beautifully and well! One little drop--one, little microbe of +mischief--and I can make all your enemies die of cholera, typhoid, +bubonic plague, or what you please! I am what is called a Christian +scientific poisoner--that is a doctor! You will find me a most +invaluable member of this Brotherhood!" + +He nodded his head wisely, and smiled. Sergius Thord laid one hand +heavily on his shoulder. + +"We shall find you useful, no doubt!" he said, "But mark me well, +friend! Our mission is not to kill, but to save!--not to poison, but to +heal! If we find that by the death of one traitor we can save the lives +of thousands, why then that traitor must die. If we know that by +killing a king we destroy a country's abuses, that king is sent to his +account. But never without warning!--never without earnest pleading +that he whom the laws of Truth condemn, may turn from the error of his +ways and repent before it is too late. We are not murderers;--we are +merely the servants of justice." + +"Exactly!" put in Paul Zouche; "You understand? We try to be what God +is not,--just!" + +"Blaspheme not, Zouche!" said Thord; "Justice is the very eye of God!-- +the very centre and foundation of the universe." + +Zouche laughed discordantly. + +"Excellent Sergius! Impulsive Sergius!--with big heart, big head and no +logic! Prove to me this eternal justice! Where does it begin? In the +creation of worlds without end, all doomed to destruction, and +therefore perfectly futile in their existence? In the making of man, +who lives his little day with the utmost difficulty, pain and struggle, +and is then extinguished, to be heard of no more? The use of it, my +Sergius!--point out the use of it! No,--there is no man can answer me +that! If I could see the Creator, I would ask Him the question +personally--but He hides Himself behind the great big pendulum He has +set swinging--tick--tock!--tick--tock! Life--Death!--Life--Death!--and +never a reason why the clock is set going! And so we shall never have +justice,--simply because there is none! It is not just or reasonable to +propound a question to which there is no answer; it is not just or +reasonable to endow man with all the thinking powers of brain, and all +the imaginative movements of mind, merely to turn him into a pinch of +dust afterwards. Every generation, every country strives to get justice +done, but cannot,--merely for the fact that God Himself has no idea of +it, and therefore it is naturally lacking in His creature, man. Our +governing-forces are plainly the elements. No Divine finger stops the +earthquake from engulfing a village full of harmless inhabitants, +simply because of the injustice of such utter destruction! See now!-- +look at the eyes of Lotys reproaching me! You would think they were the +eyes of an angel, gazing at a devil in the sweet hope of plucking him +out of hell!" + +"Such a hope would be vain in your case, Zouche," said Lotys +tranquilly; "You make your own hell, and you must live in it! +Nevertheless, in some of the wild things you say, there is a grain of +truth. If I were God, I should be the most miserable of all beings, to +look upon all the misery I had myself created! I should be so sorry for +the world, that I should put an end to all hope of immortality by my +own death." + +She made this strange remark with a simplicity and wistfulness which +were in striking contrast to the awful profundity of the suggestion, +and all her auditors, including the half-tipsy Zouche, were silent. + +"I should be so sorry!" she repeated; "For even as a mortal woman my +pity for the suffering world almost breaks my heart;--but if I were +God, I should have all the griefs of all the worlds I had made to +answer for,--and such an agony would surely kill me. Oh,--the pain, +the tears, the mistakes, the sins, the anguish of humanity! All these +are frightful to me! I do not understand why such misery should exist! +I think it must be that we have not enough love in the world; if we +only loved each other faithfully, God might love us more!" + +Her eyes were wet; she caught her breath hard, and smiled a little +difficult smile. Something in her soul transfigured her face, and made +it for the moment exquisitely lovely, and the men around her gazed at +her in evidently reverential silence. Suddenly she stretched out both +her hands: + +"Good-night, children!" + +One by one the would-be-fierce associates of the Revolutionary +Committee bent low over those fair hands; and then quietly saluting +Sergius Thord, as quietly left the room, like schoolboys retiring from +a class where the lessons had been more or less badly done. Paul Zouche +was not very steady on his feet, and two of his comrades assisted him +to walk as he stumbled off, singing somewhat of a ribald rhyme in +_mezza-voce_. Pasquin Leroy and his two friends were the last to +go. Lotys looked at them all three meditatively. + +"You will be faithful?" she said. + +"Unto death!" answered Leroy. + +She came close up to him, placing one hand on his arm, and glanced +meaningly towards Sergius Thord, who was standing at the threshold +watching Zouche stumbling down the dark stairs. + +"Sergius is a good man!" she said; "One of the mistaken geniuses of +this world,--savage as a lion, yet simple as a child! Whoever, and +whatever you are, be true to him!" + +"He is dear to you?" said Leroy on a sudden impulse, catching her hand; +"He is more to you than most men?" + +She snatched away her hand, and her eyes lightened first with wrath, +then with laughter. + +"Dear to me!" she echoed,--"to Me? No one man on earth is dearer to me +than another! All are alike in my estimation,--all the same barbaric, +foolish babes and children--all to be loved and pitied alike! But +Sergius Thord picked me out of the streets when I was no better than a +stray and starving dog,--and like a dog I serve him--faithfully! Now +go!" + +She stretched out her hand in an attitude of command, and there was +nothing for it but to obey. They therefore repeated their farewells, +and in their turn, went out, one by one, down the tortuous staircase. +Sholto, the hunchback, was below, and he let them out without a word, +closing and barring the door carefully behind them. Once in the street +and under the misty moonlight, Pasquin Leroy nodded a careless +dismissal to his companions. + +"You will return alone?" enquired Max Graub. + +"Quite alone!" was the reply. + +"May I not follow you at a distance?" asked Axel Regor. + +Leroy smiled. "You forget! One of the rules we have just sworn to +conform to, is--'No member shall track, follow or enquire into the +movements of any other member.' Go your ways! I will thank you both for +your services to-morrow." + +He turned away rapidly and disappeared. His two friends remained gazing +somewhat disconsolately after him. + +"Shall we go?" at last said Max Graub. + +"When you please," replied Axel Regor irritably,--"The sooner the +better for me! Here we are probably watched,--we had best go down to +the quay, and from thence----" + +He did not finish his sentence, but Graub evidently understood its +conclusion--and they walked quickly away together in quite an opposite +direction to that in which Leroy had gone. + +Meanwhile, up in the now closed and darkened house they had left behind +them, Lotys stood looking at Sergius Thord, who had thrown himself into +a chair and sat with his elbows resting on the table, and his head +buried in his hands. + +"You make no way, poor Sergius!" she said gently. "You work, you write, +you speak to the people, but you make no way!" + +He looked up fiercely. + +"I do make way!" he said; "How can you doubt it? A word from me, and +the massed millions would rise as one man!" + +"And of what use would that be?" enquired Lotys. "The soldiers would +fire on the people, and there would be riot and bloodshed, but no +actual redress for wrong. You work vainly, Sergius!" + +"If I could but kill the King!" he muttered. + +"Another king would succeed him," she said. "And after all, if you only +knew it, the King may be a miserable man enough--far more miserable, +perhaps, than any of us imagine ourselves to be. No, Sergius!--I repeat +it, you work vainly! You have made me the soul of an Ideal which you +will never realise? Tell me, what is it you yourself would have, out of +all your work and striving?" + +He looked at her with great, earnest, burning eyes. + +"Power!" he said. "Power to change the mode of government; power to put +down the tyranny of priestcraft--power to relieve the oppressed, and +reward the deserving--power to make of you, Lotys, a queen among +women!" + +She smiled. + +"I am a queen among men, Sergius, and that suffices me! How often must +I tell you to do nothing for my sake, if it is for my sake only? I am a +very simple, plain woman, past my youth, and without beauty--I deserve +and demand nothing!" + +He raised himself, and stretched out his arms towards her with a +gesture of entreaty. + +"You deserve all that a man can give you!" he said passionately. "I +love you, Lotys! I have always loved you ever since I found you a +little forsaken child, shivering and weeping on the cold marble steps +of the Temesvar place in Buda. I love you!--you know I have always +loved you!--I have told you so a hundred times,--I love you as few men +love women!" + +She regarded him compassionately, and with a touch of wistful sorrow in +her eyes. Her black cloak fell away on either side of her in two +shadowy folds, disclosing her white-robed form and full bosom, like a +pearl in a dark shell. + +"Good-night, Sergius!" she said simply, and turned to go. + +He gave an exclamation of anger and pain. + +"That is all you say--'Good-night'!" he muttered. "A man gives you his +heart, and you set it aside with a cold word of farewell! And yet--and +yet--you hold all my life!" + +"I am sorry, Sergius," she said, in a gentle voice; "very sorry that it +is so. You have told me all this before; and I have answered you often, +and always in the same way. I have no love to give you, save that which +is the result of duty and gratitude. I do not forget!--I know that you +rescued me from starvation and death--though sometimes I question +whether it would not have been better to have let me die. Life is worth +very little at its utmost best; nevertheless, I admit I have had a +certain natural joy in living, and for that I have to thank you. I have +tried to repay you by my service--" + +"Do not speak of that," he said hurriedly; "I have done nothing! You +are a genius in yourself, and would have made your way anywhere,-- +perhaps better without me." + +She smiled doubtfully. + +"I am not sure! The trick of oratory does not carry one very far,--not +when one is a woman! Good-night again, Sergius! Try to rest,--you look +worn out. And do not think of winning power for my sake; what power I +need I will win for myself!" + +He made no answer, but watched her with jealous eyes, as she moved +towards the door. On the threshold she turned. + +"Those three new associates of yours--are they trustworthy, think you?" + +He gave a gesture of indifference. + +"I do not know! Who is there we can absolutely trust save ourselves? +That man, Leroy, is honest,--of that I am confident,--and he has +promised to be responsible for his friends." + +"Ah!" She paused a moment, then with another low breathed 'good-night' +she left the room. + +He looked at the door as it closed behind her--at the chair she had +left vacant. + +"Lotys!" he whispered. + +His whisper came hissing softly back to him in a fine echo on the empty +space, and with a great sigh he rose, and began to turn out the flaring +lamps above his head. + +"Power!--Power!" he muttered--"She could not resist it! She would never +be swayed by gold,--but power! Her genius would rise to it--her beauty +would grow to it like a rose unfolding in the sun! 'Past youth, and +without beauty' as she says of herself! My God! Compare the tame pink- +and-white prettiness of youth with the face of Lotys,--and that +prettiness becomes like a cheap advertisement on a hoarding or a match- +box! Contrast the perfect features, eyes and hair of the newest social +'beauty,'--with the magical expression, the glamour in the eyes of +Lotys,--and perfection of feature becomes the rankest ugliness! Once in +a hundred centuries a woman is born like Lotys, to drive men mad with +desire for the unattainable--to fire them with such ambition as should +make them emperors of the world, if they had but sufficient courage to +snatch their thrones--and yet,--to fill them with such sick despair at +their own incompetency and failure, as to turn them into mere children +crying for love--for love!--only love! No matter whether worlds are +lost, kings killed, and dynasties concluded, love!--only love!--and +then death!--as all sufficient for the life of a man! And only just so +long as love is denied--just so long we can go on climbing towards the +unreachable height of greatness,--then--once we touch love, down we +fall, broken-hearted; but--we have had our day!" + +The room was now in darkness, save for the glimmer of the pale moon +through the window panes, and he opened the casement and looked out. +There was a faint scent of the sea on the air, and he inhaled its salty +odour with a sense of refreshment. + +"All for Lotys!" he murmured. "Working for Lotys, plotting, planning, +scheming for Lotys! The government intimidated,--the ministry cast +out,--the throne in peril,--the people in arms,--the city in a blaze,-- +Revolution and Anarchy doing their wild work broad-cast together,-- +all for Lotys! Always a woman in it! Search to the very depth of every +political imbroglio,--dig out the secret reason of every war that ever +was begun or ended in the world,--and there we shall find the love or +the hate of a woman at the very core of the business! Some such secrets +history knows, and has chronicled,--and some will never be known,--but +up to the present there is not even a religion in the world where a +Woman is not made the beginning of a God!" + +He smiled somewhat grimly at his own fanciful musings, and then, +shutting the window, retired. The house was soon buried in profound +silence and darkness, and over the city tuneful bells rang the half- +hour after midnight. Four miles distant from the 'quarter of the poor,' +and high above the clustering houses of the whole magnificent +metropolis, the Royal palace towered whitely on its proud eminence in +the glimmer of the moon, a stately pile of turrets and pinnacles; and +on the battlements the sentries walked, pacing to and fro in regular +march, with regular changes, all through the night hours. Half after +midnight! 'All's well!' Three-quarters, and still 'All's well' sounded +with the clash of steel and a tinkle of silvery chimes. One o'clock +struck,--and the drifting clouds in heaven cleared fully, showing many +brilliant stars in the western horizon,--and a sentry passing, as +noiselessly as his armour and accoutrements would permit, along the +walled battlement which protected and overshadowed the windows of the +Queen's apartments, paused in his walk to look with an approving eye at +the clearing promise of the weather. As he did so, a tall figure, +wrapped in a thick rain-cloak, suddenly made its unexpected appearance +through a side door in the wall, and moved rapidly towards a turret +which contained a secret passage leading to the Queen's boudoir,--a +private stairway which was never used save by the Royal family. The +sentry gave a sharp warning cry. + +"Halt! Who goes there?" + +The figure paused and turned, dropping its cloak. The pale moonlight +fell slantwise on the features, disclosing them fully. + +"T is I! The King!" + +The soldier recoiled amazed,--and quickly saluted. Before he could +recover from his astonishment he was alone again. The battlement was +empty, and the door to the turret-stairs,--of which only the King +possessed the key,--was fast locked; and for the next hour or more the +startled sentry remained staring at the skies in a sort of meditative +stupefaction, with the words still ringing like the shock of an alarm- +bell in his ears: + +"'T is I! The King!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE PREMIER'S SIGNET + + +The next day the sun rose with joyous brightness in a sky clear as +crystal. Storm, wind, and rain had vanished like the flying phantoms of +an evil dream, and all the beautiful land sparkled with light and life +in its enlacing girdle of turquoise blue sea. The gardens of the Royal +palace, freshened by the downpour of the past night, wore their most +enchanting aspect,--roses, with leaves still wet, dropped their scented +petals on the grass,--great lilies, with their snowy cups brimming with +rain, hung heavily on their slim green stalks, and the air was full of +the deliciously penetrating odour of the mimosa and sweetbriar. Down +one special alley, where the white philadelphus, or 'mock orange' grew +in thick bushes on either side, intermingled with ferns and spruce +firs, whose young green tips exhaled a pungent, healthy scent that +entered into the blood like wine and invigorated it, Sir Roger de +Launay was pacing to and fro with a swinging step which, +notwithstanding its ease and soldierly regularity, suggested something +of impatience, and on a rustic seat, above which great clusters of the +philadelphus-flowers hung like a canopy, sat Professor von Glauben, +spectacles on nose, sorting a few letters which he had just taken from +his pocket for the purpose of reading them over again carefully one by +one. He was a very particular man as regarded his correspondence. All +letters that required answering he answered at once,--the others, as he +himself declared, 'answered themselves' in silence. + +"There is no end to the crop of fools in this world," he was fond of +saying;--"Glorious, precious fools! I love them all! They make life +worth living--but sometimes I am disposed to draw the line at letter- +writing fools. These persons chance to read a book--my book for +example,--that particularly clever one I wrote on the possibilities of +eternal life in this world. They at once snatch their pens and write to +say that they are specially deserving of this boon, and wish to live +for ever--will I tell them how? And these are the very creatures I +will not tell how--because their perpetual existence would be a mistake +and a nuisance! The individuals whose lives are really valuable never +ask anyone how to make them so." + +He looked over his letters now with a leisurely indifference. The +morning's post had brought him nothing of special importance. He +glanced from his reading now and again at De Launay marching up and +down, but said nothing till he had quite finished with his own +immediate concerns. Then he removed his spectacles from his nose and +put them by. + +"Left--Right--Left--Right--Left--Right! Roger, you remind me of my +drilling days on a certain flat and dusty ground at Coblentz! The +Rhine!--the Rhine! Ah, the beautiful Rhine! So dirty--so dull--with its +toy castles, and its big, ugly factory chimneys, and its atrociously +bad wine! Roger, I beseech you to have mercy upon me, and leave off +that marching up and down,--it gets on my nerves!" + +"I thought nothing ever got on your nerves," answered Sir Roger, +stopping abruptly--"You seem to take serious matters coolly enough!" + +"Serious matters demand coolness," replied Von Glauben. "We should only +let steam out over trifles. Have you seen his Majesty this morning?" + +"Yes. I am to see him again at noon." + +"When do you go off duty?" + +"Not for a month, at least." + +"Much may happen in that month," said the Professor sententiously; +"_Your_ hair may grow white with the strangeness of your experiences!" + +Sir Roger met his eyes, and they both laughed. + +"Though it is no laughing matter," resumed Von Glauben. "Upon my soul +as a German,--if I have any soul of that nationality,--I think it may +be a serious business!" + +"You have come round to my opinion then," said De Launay. "I told you +from the first that it was serious!" + +"The King does not think it so," rejoined Von Glauben. "I was summoned +to his presence early this morning, and found him in the fullest health +and highest spirits." + +"Why did he send for you then?" enquired De Launay. + +"To feel his pulse and look at his tongue! To make a little game of me +before he stepped out of his dressing-gown! And I enjoyed it, of +course,--one must always enjoy Royal pleasantries! I think, Roger, his +Majesty wishes this entire affair treated as a pleasantry,--by us at +any rate, however seriously he may regard it himself." + +De Launay was silent for a minute or two, then he said abruptly: + +"The Premier is summoned to a private audience of the King at noon." + +"Ah!" And Von Glauben drew a cluster of the overhanging philadelphus +flowers down to his nose and smelt them approvingly. + +"And"--went on De Launay, speaking more deliberately, "this afternoon +their Majesties sail to The Islands----" + +Von Glauben jumped excitedly to his feet. + +"Not possible!" + +Sir Roger looked at him with a dawning amusement beginning to twinkle +in his clear blue eyes. + +"Quite possible! So possible, that the Royal yacht is ordered to be in +readiness at three o'clock. Their Majesties and suite will dine on +board, in order to enjoy the return sail by moonlight." + +The Professor's countenance was a study. Anxiety and vexation struggled +with the shrewd kindness and humour of his natural expression, and his +suppressed feelings found vent in a smothered exclamation, which +sounded very much like the worst of blasphemous oaths used in dire +extremity by the soldiers of the Fatherland. + +"What ails you?" demanded De Launay; "You seem strangely upset for a +man of cool nerve!" + +"Upset? Who--what can upset me? Nothing! Roger, if I did not respect +you so much, I should call you an ass!" + +Sir Roger laughed. + +"Call me an ass, by all means," he said, "if it will relieve your +feelings;--but in justice to me, let me know why you do so! What is my +offence? I give you a piece of commonplace information concerning the +movements of the Court this afternoon, and you jump off your seat as if +an adder had bitten you. Why?" + +"I have the gout," said Von Glauben curtly. + +"Oh!" And again Sir Roger laughed. "That last must have been a sharp +twinge!" + +"It was--it was! Believe me, my excellent Roger, it was exceedingly +severe!" His brow smoothed, and he smiled. "See here, my dear friend!-- +you know, do you not, that boys will be boys, and men will be men?" + +"Both are recognised platitudes," replied Sir Roger, his eyes still +twinkling merrily; "And both are frequently quoted to cover our various +follies!" + +"True, true! But I wish to weigh more particularly on the fact that men +will be men! I am a man, Roger,--not a boy!" + +"Really! Well, upon my word, I should at this moment take you for a raw +lad of about eighteen,--for you are blushing, Von Glauben!--actually +blushing!" + +The Professor drew out a handkerchief, and wiped his brow. + +"It is a warm morning, Roger," he said, with a mildly reproachful air; +"I suppose I am permitted to feel the heat?" He paused--then with a +sudden burst of impatience he exclaimed: "By the Emperor's head! It is +of no use denying it--I am very much put out, Roger! I must get a boat, +and slip off to The Islands at once!" + +Sir Roger stared at him in complete amazement. + +"You? You want to slip off to The Islands? Why, Von Glauben----!" + +"Yes--yes,--I know! You cannot possibly imagine what I want to go there +for! You wouldn't suppose, would you, that I had any special secrets-- +an old man like me;--for instance, you would not suspect me of any love +secrets, eh?" And he made a ludicrous attempt to appear sentimental. +"The fact is, Roger,--I have got into a little scrape over at The +Islands--" here he looked warmer and redder than ever;--"and I want to +take precautions! You understand--I want to take care that the King +does not hear of it--Gott in Himmel! What a block of a man you are to +stand there staring open-mouthed at me! Were you never in love +yourself? + +"In love? In love!--you,--Professor? Pray pardon me--but--in love? Am I +to understand that there is a lady in your case?" + +"Yes!--that is it," said Von Glauben, with an air of profound relief; +"There is a lady in my case;--or my case, speaking professionally, is +that of a lady. And I shall get any sort of a sea-tub that is +available, and go over to those accursed Islands without any delay!" + +"If the King should send for you while you are absent--" began De +Launay doubtfully. + +"He will not send. But if he should, what of it? I am known to be +somewhat eccentric--particularly so in my love of hard work, fresh air +and exercise--besides, he has not commanded my attendance. He will not, +therefore, be surprised at my absence. I tell you, Roger,--I +_must_ go! Who would have expected the King to take it into his +head to visit The Islands without a moment's warning! What a freak!" + +"And here comes the reason of the freak, if I am not very much +mistaken," said De Launay, lowering his voice as an approaching figure +flung its lengthy shadow on the path,--"Prince Humphry!" + +Von Glauben hastily drew back, De Launay also, to allow the Prince to +pass. He was walking slowly, and reading as he came. Looking up from +his book he saw, them, and as they saluted him profoundly, bade them +good-day. + +"You are up betimes, Professor," he said lightly; "I suppose your +scientific wisdom teaches you the advantage of the morning air." + +"Truly, Sir, it is more healthful than that of the evening," answered +Von Glauben in somewhat doleful accents.--"For example, a sail across +the sea with the morning breeze, is better than the same sort of +excursion in the glamour of the moon!" + +Prince Humphry looked steadfastly at him, and evidently read something +of a warning, or a suggestion, in his face, for he coloured slightly +and bit his lip. + +"Do you agree with that theory, Sir Roger," he said, turning to De +Launay. + +"I have not tested it, Sir," replied the equerry, "But I imagine that +whatever Professor von Glauben asserts must be true!" + +The young man glanced quickly from one to the other, and then with a +careless air turned over the pages of the book he held. + +"In the earlier ages of the world," he said,--"men and women, I think, +must have been happier than they are now, if this book may be believed. +I find here written down--What is it, Professor? You have something to +say?" + +"Pardon me, Sir," said Von Glauben,--"But you said--'If this book may +be believed.' I humbly venture to declare that no book may be +believed!" + +"Not even your own, when it is written?" queried the Prince with a +smile; "You would not like the world to say so! Nay, but listen, +Professor,--here is a thought very beautifully expressed--and it was +written in an ancient language of the East, thousands of years before +we, in our quarter of the world, ever dreamt of civilization.--'Of all +the sentiments, passions or virtues which in their divers turns affect +the life of a man, the influence and emotion of Love is surely the +greatest and highest. We do not here speak of the base and villainous +craving of bodily appetite; but of that pure desire of the unfettered +soul which beholding perfection, straightway and naturally flies to the +same. This love doth so elevate and instruct a man, that he seeketh +nothing better than to be worthy of it, to attempt great deeds and +valiantly perform them, to confront foul abuses, and most potently +destroy them,--and to esteem the powers and riches of this world as +dross, weighed against this rare and fiery talisman. For it is a jewel +which doth light up the heart, and make it strong to support all sorrow +and ill fortune with cheerfulness, knowing that it is in itself of so +lasting a quality as to subjugate all things and events unto its +compelling sway.' What think you of this? Sir Roger, there is a whole +volume of comprehension in your face! Give some word of it utterance!" + +Sir Roger looked up. + +"There is nothing to say, Sir," he replied; "Your ancient writer merely +expresses a truth we are all conscious of. All poets, worthy the name, +and all authors, save and except the coldest logicians, deem the world +well lost for love." + +"More fools they!" said Von Glauben gruffly; "Love is a mere illusion, +which is generally destroyed by one simple ceremony--Marriage!" + +Prince Humphry smiled. + +"You have never tried the cure, Professor," he said, "But I daresay you +have suffered from the disease! Will you walk with me?" + +Von Glauben bowed a respectful assent; and the Prince, with a kindly +nod of dismissal to De Launay, went on his way, the Professor by his +side. Sir Roger watched them as they disappeared, and saw, that at the +furthest end of the alley, when they were well out of ear-shot, they +appeared to engage in very close and confidential conversation. + +"I wonder," he mused, "I wonder what it all means? Von Glauben is +evidently mixed up in some affair that he wishes to keep secret from +the King. Can it concern Prince Humphry? And The Islands! What can Von +Glauben want over there?" + +His brief meditation was interrupted by a soft voice calling. + +"Roger!" + +He started, and at once advanced to meet the approaching intruder, his +sister, Teresa de Launay, a pretty brunette, with dark sparkling eyes, +one of the favourite ladies of honour in attendance on the Queen. + +"What were you dreaming about?" she asked, as he came near, "And what +is the Prince doing with old Von Glauben?" + +"Two questions at once, Teresa!" he said, stooping his tall head to +kiss her; "I cannot possibly answer both in a breath! But answer me +just one--What are you here for?" + +"To summon _you_!" she answered. "The Queen desires you to wait +upon her immediately." + +She fixed her bright eyes upon him as she spoke, and an involuntary +sigh escaped her, as she noted the touch of pallor that came on his +face at her words. + +"Where is her Majesty?" he asked. + +"Here--close at hand--in the arbour. She spied you at a distance +through the trees, and sent me to fetch you." + +"You had best return to her at once, and say that I am coming." + +His sister looked at him again, and hesitated--he gave a slight, vexed +gesture of impatience, whereupon she hurried away, with flying +footsteps as light as those of a fabled sylph of the woodlands. He +watched her go, and for a moment an expression came into his eyes of +intense suffering--the look of a noble dog who is suddenly struck +undeservedly by an unkind master. + +"She sends for me!" he muttered; "What for? To amuse herself by reading +every thought of my life with her cold eyes? Why can she not leave me +alone?" + +He walked on then, with a quiet, even pace, and presently reaching the +end of the alley, came out on a soft stretch of greensward facing a +small ornamental lake and fountain. Here grew tall rushes, bamboos and +flag-flowers--here, too, on the quiet lake floated water-lilies, white +and pink, opening their starry hearts to the glory of the morning sun. +A quaintly shaped, rustic arbour covered with jasmine, faced the pool, +and here sat the Queen alone and unattended, save by Teresa de Launay, +who drew a little apart as her brother, Sir Roger, approached, and +respectfully bent his head in the Royal presence. For quite a minute he +stood thus in dumb attention, his eyes lowered, while the Queen glanced +at him with a curious expression, half of doubt, half of commiseration. +Suddenly, as if moved by a quick impulse, she rose--a stately, +exquisite figure, looking even more beautiful in her simple morning +robe of white cashmere and lace, than in all the glory of her Court +attire,--and extended her hand. Humbly and reverentially he bent over +it, and kissed the great jewel sparkling like a star on the central +finger. As he then raised his eyes to her face she smiled;--that smile +of hers, so dazzling, so sweet, and yet so cold, had sent many men to +their deaths, though she knew it not. + +"I see very little of you, Sir Roger," she said slowly, +"notwithstanding your close attendance on my lord the King. Yet I know +I can command your service!" + +"Madam," murmured De Launay, "my life----" + +"Oh, no," she rejoined quickly, "not your life! Your life, like mine, +belongs to the King and the country. You must give all, or not at all!" + +"Madam, I do give all!" he answered, with a look in his eyes of mingled +pain and passion; "No man can give more!" + +She surveyed him with a little meditative, almost amused air. + +"You have strong feelings, Sir Roger," she said; "I wonder what it is +like--to _feel_?" + +"If I may dare to say so, Madam, I should wish you to experience the +sensation," he returned somewhat bitterly; "Sometimes we awaken to +emotions too late--sometimes we never awaken. But I think it is wisest +to experience the nature of a storm, in order to appreciate the value +of a calm!" + +"You think so?" She smiled indulgently. "Storm and calm are to me +alike! I am affected by neither. Life is so exceedingly trivial an +affair, and is so soon over, that I have never been able to understand +why people should ever trouble themselves about anything in it." + +"You may not always be lacking in this comprehension, Madam," said Sir +Roger, with a certain harshness in his tone, yet with the deepest +respect in his manner; "I take it that life and the world are but a +preparation for something greater, and that we shall be forced to learn +our lessons in this preparatory school before we leave it, whether we +like it or no!" + +The slight smile still lingered on her beautiful mouth,--she pulled a +spray of jasmine down from the trailing clusters around her, and set it +carelessly among the folds of her lace. Sir Roger watched her with +moody eyes. Could he have followed his own inclination, he would have +snatched the flower from her dress and kissed it, in a kind of fierce +defiance before her very eyes. But what would be the result of such an +act? Merely a little contemptuous lifting of the delicate brows--a +slight frown on the fair forehead, and a calm gesture of dismissal. No +more--no more than this; for just as she could not be moved to love, +neither could she be moved to anger. The words of an old song rang in +his ears:-- + + She laughs at the thought of love-- + Pain she scorns, and sorrow she sets aside-- + My heart she values less than her broidered glove, + She would smile if I died! + +"You are a man, Sir Roger de Launay," she said after a pause, "And man- +like, you propound any theory which at the moment happens to fit your +own particular humour. I am, however, entirely of your opinion that +this life is only a term of preparation, and with this conviction I +desire to have as little to do with its vile and ugly side as I can. It +is possible to accept with gratitude the beautiful things of Nature, +and reject the rest, is it not?" + +"As you ask me the question point-blank, Madam, I say it is possible,-- +it can be done,--and you do it. But it is wrong!" + +She raised her languid eyelids, showing no offence. + +"Wrong?" + +"Wrong, Madam!" repeated Sir Roger bluntly; "It is wrong to shut from +your sight, from your heart, from your soul the ugly side of Nature;-- +to shut your ears to the wants--the pains--the tortures--the screams-- +the tears, and groans of humanity! Oh, Madam, the ugly side has a +strange beauty of its own that you dream not of! God makes ugliness as +he makes beauty; God created the volcano belching forth fire and molten +lava, as He created the simple stream bordered with meadow flowers! Why +should you reject the ugly, the fierce, the rebellious side of things? +Rather take it into your gracious thoughts and prayers, Madam, and help +to make it beautiful!" + +He spoke with a force which surprised himself--he was carried away by a +passion that seemed almost outside his own identity. She looked at him +curiously. + +"Does the King teach you to speak thus to me?" she asked. + +De Launay started,--the hot colour mounting to his cheeks and brow. + +"Madam!" + +"Nay, no excuse! I understand! It is your own thought; but a thought +which is no doubt suddenly inspired by the King's actions," she went on +tranquilly; "You are in his confidence. He is adopting new measures of +domestic policy, in which, perchance, I may or may not be included--as +it suits my pleasure! Who knows!" Again the little musing smile crossed +her countenance. "It is of the King I wish to speak to you." + +She glanced around her, and saw that her lady-in-waiting, Teresa de +Launay, had discreetly wandered by herself to the edge of the water- +lily pool, and was bending over it, a graceful, pensive figure in the +near distance, within call, but certainly not within hearing. + +"You are in his confidence," she repeated, drawing a step nearer to +him, "and--so am I! You will not disclose his movements--nor shall I! +But you are his close attendant and friend,--I am merely--his wife! I +make you responsible for his safety!" + +"Madam, I pray you pardon me!" exclaimed De Launay; "His Majesty has a +will of his own,--and his sacred life is not in my hands. I will defend +him to the utmost limit of human possibility,--but if he voluntarily +runs into danger, and disregards all warning, I, as his poor servant, +am not to blame!" + +Her eyes, brilliant and full of a compelling magnetism, dwelt upon him +steadfastly. + +"I repeat my command," she said deliberately, "I make you responsible! +You are a strong man and a brave one. If the King is rash, it is the +duty of his servants to defend him from the consequences of his +rashness; particularly if that rashness leads him into danger for a +noble purpose. Should any mischance befall him, let me never see your +face again! Die yourself, rather than let your King die!" + +As she spoke these words she motioned him away with a grand gesture of +dismissal, and he retired back from her presence in a kind of stunned +amazement. Never before in all the days of her social sway as Crown- +Princess, had she ever condescended to speak to him on any matter of +confidence,--never during her three years of sovereignty as Queen- +Consort had she apparently taken note, or cared to know any of the +affairs connected with the King, her husband. The mere fact that now +her interest was roused, moved De Launay to speechless wonderment. He +hardly dared raise his eyes to look at her, as she turned from him and +went slowly, with her usual noiseless, floating grace of movement, +towards the water-lily pool, there to rejoin her attendant, Teresa de +Launay, who at the same time advanced to meet her Royal mistress. A +moment more, and Queen and lady of honour had disappeared together, and +De Launay was left alone. A little bird, swinging on a branch above his +head, piped a few tender notes to the green leaves and the sunlit sky, +but beyond this, and the measured plash of the fountain, no sound +disturbed the stillness of the garden. + +"Upon my word, Roger de Launay," he said bitterly to himself, "you are +an ass sufficiently weighted with burdens! The love of a Queen, and the +life of a King are enough for one man's mind to carry with any degree +of safety! If it were not for the King, I think I should leave this +country and seek some other service--but I owe him much,--if only by +reason of my own heart's folly!" + +Impatient with himself, he strode away, straight across the lawn and +back to the palace. Here he noticed just the slightest atmosphere of +uneasiness among some of the retainers of the Royal household,--a vague +impression of flurry and confusion. Through various passages and +corridors, attendants and pages were either running about with extra +haste, or else strolling to and fro with extra slowness. As he turned +into one of the ante-chambers, he suddenly confronted a tall, military- +looking personage in plain civilian attire, whom he at once recognized +as the Chief of the Police. + +"Ah, Bernhoff!" he said lightly, "any storms brewing?" + +"None that call for particular attention, Sir Roger," replied the +individual addressed; "But I have been sent for by the King, and am +here awaiting his pleasure." + +Sir Roger showed no sign of surprise, and with a friendly nod passed +on. He began to find the situation rather interesting. + +"After all," he argued inwardly, "there is nothing to hinder the King +from being a social autocrat, even if he cannot by the rules of the +Constitution be a political one. And we should do well to remember that +politics are governed entirely by social influence. It is the same +thing all over the world--a deluded populace--a social movement which +elects a parliament and ministry--and then the result,--which is, that +this or that party hold the reins of government, on whichever side +happens to be most advantageous to the immediate social and financial +whim. The people are the grapes crushed into wine for their rulers' +drinking; and the King is merely the wine-cup on the festal board. If +he once begins to be something more than that cup, there will be an end +of revelry!" + +His ideas were not without good foundation in fact. Throughout all +history, where a strong man has ruled a nation, whether for good or +ill, he has left his mark; and where there has been no strong man, the +annals of the time are vapid and uninteresting. Governments emanate +from social influences. The social rule of the Roman Emperors bred +athletes, heroes, and poets, merely because physical strength and +courage, combined with heroism and poetic perception were encouraged by +Roman society. The social rule of England's Elizabeth had its result in +the brilliant attainments of the many great men who crowded her Court-- +the social rule of Victoria, until the death of the Prince Consort, +bred gentle women and chivalrous men. In all these cases, the reigning +monarchs governed society, and society governed politics. Politics, +indeed, can scarcely be considered apart from society, because on the +nature and character of society depend the nature and character of +politics. If society is made up of corrupt women and unprincipled men, +the spirit of political government will be as corrupt and unprincipled +as they. If any King, beholding such a state of things, were to +suddenly cut himself clear of the corruption, and to make a straight +road for his own progress--clean and open--and elect to walk in it, +society would follow his lead, and as a logical consequence politics +would become honourable. But no monarchs have the courage of their +opinions nowadays,--if only one sovereign of them all possessed such +courage, he could move the world! + +The long bright day unwound its sunny hours, crowned with blue skies +and fragrant winds, and the life and movement of the fair city by the +sea was gay, incessant and ever-changing. There was some popular +interest and excitement going on down at the quay, for the usual idle +crowd had collected to see the Royal yacht being prepared for her +afternoon's cruise. Though she was always kept ready for sailing, the +King's orders this time had been sudden and peremptory, and, +consequently, all the men on board were exceptionally hard at work +getting things in immediate readiness. The fact that the Queen was to +accompany the King in the afternoon's trip to The Islands, where up to +the present she had never been, was a matter of lively comment,--her +extraordinary beauty never failing to attract a large number of sight- +seers. + +In the general excitement, no one saw Professor von Glauben quietly +enter a small and common sailing skiff, manned by two ordinary +fishermen of the shore, and scud away with the wind over the sea +towards the west, where, in the distance on this clear day, a gleaming +line of light showed where The Islands lay, glistening like emerald and +pearl in the midst of the dark blue waste of water. His departure was +unnoticed, though as a rule the King's private physician commanded some +attention, not only by reason of his confidential post in the Royal +household, but also on account of certain rumours which were circulated +through the country concerning his wonderful skill in effecting +complete cures where all hope of recovery had been abandoned. It was +whispered, indeed, that he had discovered the 'Elixir of Life,' but +that he would not allow its properties to be made known, lest as the +Scripture saith, man should 'take and eat and live for ever.' It was +not advisable--so the Professor was reported to have said--that all men +should live for ever,--but only a chosen few; and he, at present, was +apparently the privileged person who alone was fitted to make the +selection of those few. For this and various other reasons, he was +generally looked at with considerable interest, but this morning, owing +to the hurried preparations for the embarking of their Majesties on +board the Royal yacht, he managed to escape from even chance +recognition,--and he was well over the sea, and more than half-way to +his destination before the bells of the city struck noon. + +Punctual to that hour, a close carriage drove up to the palace. It +contained no less a personage than the Prime Minister, the Marquis de +Lutera,--a dark, heavy man, with small furtive eyes, a ponderous jaw, +and a curious air of seeming for ever on an irritable watch for +offences. His aspect was intellectual, yet always threatening; and his +frigid manner was profoundly discouraging to all who sought to win his +attention or sympathy. He entered the palace now with an easy, not to +say assertive deportment, and as he ascended the broad staircase which +led to the King's private apartments, he met the Chief of the Police +coming down. This latter saluted him, but he barely acknowledged the +courtesy, so taken by surprise was he at the sight of this +administrative functionary in the palace at so early an hour. However, +it was impossible to ask any questions of him on the grand staircase, +within hearing of the Royal lackeys; so he continued on his way +upstairs, with as much dignity as his heavily-moulded figure would +permit him to display, till he reached the upper landing known as the +'King's Corridor,' where Sir Roger de Launay was in waiting to conduct +him to his sovereign's presence. To him the Marquis addressed the +question: + +"Bernhoff has been with the King?" + +"Yes. For more than an hour." + +"Any robbery in the palace?" + +De Launay smiled. + +"I think not! So far as I am permitted to be cognisant of events, there +is nothing wrong!" + +The Marquis looked slightly perplexed. + +"The King is well?" + +"Remarkably well--and in excellent humour! He is awaiting you, +Marquis,--permit me to escort you to him!" + +The carved and gilded doors of the Royal audience-chamber were +thereupon flung back, and the Marquis entered, ushered in by De Launay. +The doors closed again upon them both; and for some time there was +profound silence in the King's corridor, no intruder venturing to +approach save two gentlemen-at-arms, who paced slowly up and down at +either end on guard. At the expiration of about an hour, Sir Roger came +out alone, and, glancing carelessly around him, strolled to the head of +the grand staircase, and waited patiently there for quite another +thirty minutes. At last the doors were flung open widely again, and the +King himself appeared, clad in easy yachting attire, and walking with +one hand resting on the arm of the Marquis de Lutera, who, from his +expression, seemed curiously perturbed. + +"Then you will not come with us, Marquis?" said the King, with an air +of gaiety; "You are too much engrossed in the affairs of Government to +break loose for an afternoon from politics for the sake of pleasure? +Ah, well! You are a matchless worker! Renowned as you are for your +studious observation of all that may tend to the advancement of the +nation's interests--admired as you are for the complete sacrifice of +all your own advantages to the better welfare of the country, I will +not (though I might as your sovereign), command your attendance on this +occasion! I know the affairs you have in hand are pressing and +serious!" + +"They will be more than usually so, Sir," said the Marquis in a low +voice; "for if you persist in maintaining your present attitude, the +foreign controversy in which we are engaged can scarcely go on. But +your action will be questioned by the Government!" + +The King laughed. + +"Good! By all means question it, my dear Marquis! Prove me an +unconstitutional monarch, if you like, and put Humphry on the throne in +my place,--but ask the People first! If they condemn me, I am satisfied +to be condemned! But the present political difference between ourselves +and a friendly nation must be arranged without offence. There does not +exist at the moment any reasonable cause for fanning the dispute into a +flame of war."--He paused, then resumed--"You will not come with us?" + +"Sir, if you will permit me to refuse the honour on this occasion----" + +"The permission is granted!" replied the King, still smiling; +"Farewell, Marquis! We are not in the habit of absenting ourselves from +our own country, after the fashion of certain of our Royal neighbours, +who shall be nameless; and we conceive it our duty to make ourselves +acquainted with the habits and customs of all our subjects in all +quarters of our realm. Hence our resolve to visit The Islands, which, +to our shame be it said, we have neglected until now. We expect to +derive both pleasure and instruction from the brief voyage!" + +"Are the islanders aware of your intention, Sir?" enquired the Marquis. + +"Nay--to prepare them would have spoilt our pleasure!" replied the +King. "We will take them by surprise! We have heard of certain +countries, whose villages and towns have never seen the reigning +sovereign,--and though we have been but three years on the throne, we +have resolved that no corner of our kingdom shall lack the sunlight of +our presence!" He gave a mirthful side-glance at De Launay. Then, +extending his hand cordially, he added: "May all success attend your +efforts, Marquis, to smooth over this looming quarrel between ourselves +and our friendly trade-rivals! I, for one, would not have it go +further. I shall see you again at the Council during the week." + +As the premier's hand met that of his Sovereign, the latter exclaimed +suddenly: + +"Ah!--I thought I missed a customary friend from my finger; I have +forgotten my signet-ring! Will you lend me yours for to-day, Marquis?" + +"Sir, if you will deign to wear it!" replied the Marquis readily, and +at once slipping off the ring in question, he handed it to the King, +who smilingly accepted it and put it on. + +"A fine sapphire!" he said approvingly; "Better, I think, than my +ruby!" + +"Sir, your praise enhances its value," said De Lutera bowing +profoundly; "I shall from henceforth esteem it priceless!" + +"Well said!" returned the King, "And rightly too!--for diplomacy is +wise in flattering a king to the last, even while meditating on his +possible downfall! Adieu, Marquis! When we next meet, I shall expect +good news!" + +He descended the staircase, closely attended by De Launay, and passed +at once into a larger room of audience, where some notable persons of +foreign distinction were waiting to be received. On the way thither, +however, he turned to Sir Roger for a moment, and held up the hand on +which the Marquis de Lutera's signet flashed like a blue point of +flame. + +"Behold the Premier's signet!" he said with a smile; "Methinks, for +once, it suits the King!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE ISLANDS + + +Surrounded by a boundless width of dark blue sea at all visible points +of view, The Islands, lovely tufts of wooded rock, trees, and full- +flowering meadowlands, were situated in such a happy position as to be +well out of all possibility of modern innovation or improvement. They +were too small to contain much attraction for the curious tourist; and +though they were only a two-hours' sail from the mainland, the distance +was just sufficiently inconvenient to keep mere sight-seers away. For +more than a hundred years they had been almost exclusively left to the +coral-fishers, who had made their habitation there; and the quaint, +small houses, and flowering vineyards and gardens, dotted about in the +more fertile portions of the soil, had all been built and planned by a +former race of these hardy folk, who had handed their properties down +from father to son. They were on the whole, a peaceable community. +Coral-fishing was one of the chief industries of the country, and the +islanders passed all their days in obtaining the precious product, +cleansing, and preparing it for the market. They were understood to be +extremely jealous of strangers and intruders, and to hold certain +social traditions which had never been questioned or interfered with by +any form of existing government, because in themselves they gave no +cause for interference, being counted among the most orderly and law- +abiding subjects of the realm. Very little interest was taken in their +doings by the people of the mainland,--scarcely as much interest, +perhaps, as is taken by Londoners in the inhabitants of Orkney or +Shetland. One or two scholars, a stray botanist here and there, or a +few students fond of adventure, had visited the place now and again, +and some of these had brought back enthusiastic accounts of the +loveliness of the natural scenery, but where a whole country is +beautiful, little heed is given to one small corner of it, particularly +if that corner is difficult of access, necessitating a two hours' sail +across a not always calm sea. Vague reports were current that there was +a strange house on The Islands, built very curiously out of the timbers +and spars of wrecked vessels. The owner of this abode was said to be a +man of advanced age, whose history was unknown, but who many years ago +had been cast ashore from a great shipwreck, and had been rescued and +revived by the coral-fishers, since when, he had lived among them, and +worked with them. No one knew anything about him beyond that since his +advent The Islands had been more cultivated, and their inhabitants more +prosperous; and that he was understood to be, in the language or +dialect of the country, a 'life-philosopher.' Whereat, hearing these +things by chance now and then, or seeing a scrappy line or two in the +daily press when active reporters had no murders or suicides to enlarge +upon, and wanted to 'fill up space,' the gay aristocrats or 'smart set' +of the metropolis laughed at their dinner-parties and balls, and asked +one another inanely, "What is a 'life-philosopher'?" + +In the same way, when a small volume of poetry, burning as lava, wild +as a storm-wind, came floating out on the top of the seething soup of +current literature, bearing the name of Paul Zouche, and it was said +that this person was a poet, they questioned smilingly, "Is he dead?" +for, naturally, they could not imagine these modern days were capable +of giving birth to a living specimen of the _genus_ bard. For +they, too, had their motor-cars from France and England;--they, too, +had their gambling-dens secreted in private houses of high repute,-- +they, too, had their country-seats specially indicated as free to such +house-parties as wished to indulge in low intrigue and unbridled +licentiousness; they, too, weary of simple Christianity, had their own +special 'religions' of palmistry, crystal-gazing, fortune-telling by +cards, and Esoteric 'faith-healing.' The days were passing with them-- +as it passes with many of their 'set' in other countries,--in complete +forgetfulness of all the nobler ambitions and emotions which lift Man +above the level of his companion Beast. For the time is now upon us +when what has formerly been known as 'high' is of its own accord +sinking to the low, and what has been called the 'low' is rising to the +high. Strange times!--strange days!--when the tradesman can scorn the +duchess on account of her 'dirty mind'--when a certain nobleman can get +no honest labourers to work on his estate, because they suspect him of +'rooking' young college lads;--and when a church in a seaport town +stands empty every Sunday, with its bells ringing in vain, because the +congregation which should fill it, know that their so-called 'holy man' +is a rascal! All over the world this rebellion against Falsehood,--this +movement towards Truth is felt,--all over the world the people are +growing strong on their legs, and clear in their brains;--no longer +cramped and stunted starvelings, they are gradually developing into +full growth, and awaking to intelligent action. And wherever the +dominion of priestcraft has been destroyed, there they are found at +their best and bravest, with a glimmering dawn of the true Christian +spirit beginning to lighten their darkness,--a spirit which has no race +or sect, but is all-embracing, all-loving, and all-benevolent;--which +'thinketh no evil,' but is so nobly sufficing in its tenderness and +patience, as to persuade the obstinate, govern the unruly, and recover +the lost, by the patient influence of its own example. On the reverse +side of the medal, wherever we see priestcraft dominant, there we see +ignorance and corruption, vice and hypocrisy, and such a low standard +of morals and education as is calculated to keep the soul a slave in +irons, with no possibility of any intellectual escape into the +'glorious liberty of the free.' + +The afternoon was one of exceptional brilliance and freshness, when, +punctually at three o'clock, the Royal yacht hoisted sail, and dipped +gracefully away from the quay with their Majesties on board, amid the +cheers of an enthusiastic crowd. A poet might have sung of the scene in +fervid rhyme, so pretty and gay were all the surroundings,--the bright +skies, the dancing sea, the flying flags and streamers, and the soft +music of the Court orchestra, a band of eight players on stringed +instruments, which accompanied the Royal party on their voyage of +pleasure. The Queen stood on deck, leaning against the mast, her eyes +fixed on the shore, as the vessel swung round, and bore away towards +the west;--the people, elbowing each other, and climbing up on each +other's shoulders and on the posts of the quay, merely to get a passing +glimpse of her beauty, all loyally cheering and waving their hats and +handkerchiefs, were as indifferent to her sight and soul as an ant-heap +in a garden walk. She had accustomed her mind to dwell on things beyond +life, and life itself had little interest for her. This was because she +had been set among the shams of worldly state and ceremonial from her +earliest years, and being of a profound and thoughtful nature, had +grown up to utterly despise the hollowness and hypocrisy of her +surroundings. In extenuation of the coldness of her temperament, it may +be said that her rooted aversion to men arose from having studied them +too closely and accurately. In her marriage she had fulfilled, or +thought she had fulfilled, a mere duty to the State--no more; and the +easy conduct of her husband during his apprenticeship to the throne as +Heir-Apparent, had not tended in any way to show her anything +particularly worthy of admiration or respect in his character. And so +she had gone on her chosen way, removed and apart from his,--and the +years had flown by, and now she was,--as she said to herself with a +little touch of contempt,--'old--for a woman!'--while the King +remained 'young,--for a man! 'This was a mortifying reflection. True, +her beauty was more perfect than in her youth, and there were no signs +as yet of its decay. She knew well enough the extent of her charm,--she +knew how easily she could command homage wherever she went,--and +knowing, she did not care. Or rather--she had not cared. Was it +possible she would ever care, and perhaps at a time when it was no use +caring? A certain irritability, quite foreign to her usual composure, +fevered her blood, and it arose from one simple admission which she had +been forced to make to herself within the last few days, and this was, +that her husband was as much her kingly superior in heart and mind as +he was in rank and power. She had never till now imagined him capable +of performing a brave deed, or pursuing an independently noble course +of action. Throughout all the days of his married life he had followed +the ordinary routine of his business or pleasure with scarce a break,-- +in winter to his country seat on the most southern coast of his +southern land,--in spring to the capital,--in full summer to some +fashionable 'bath' or 'cure,'--in autumn to different great houses for +the purpose of shooting other people's game by their obsequious +invitation,--and in the entire round he had never shown himself capable +of much more than a flirtation with the prettiest or the most pushing +new beauty, or a daring ride on the latest invention for travelling at +lightning speed. She had noticed a certain change in him since he had +ascended the throne, but she had attributed this to the excessive +boredom of having to attend to State affairs. + +Now, however, all at once and without warning, this change had +developed into what was evidently likely to prove a complete +transformation--and he had surprised her into an involuntary, and more +or less reluctant admiration of qualities which she had never hitherto +suspected in him. She had consented to join him on this occasion in his +trip to The Islands, in order to try and fathom the actual drift of his +intentions,--for his idea that their son, Prince Humphry, had yielded +to some particular feminine attraction there, piqued her curiosity even +more than her interest. She turned away now from her observation of the +shore, as it receded on the horizon and became a mere thin line of +light which vanished in its turn as the vessel curtsied onward; and she +moved to the place prepared for her accommodation--a sheltered corner +of the deck, covered by silken awnings, and supplied with luxurious +deck chairs and footstools. Here two of her ladies were waiting to +attend upon her, but none of the rougher sex she so heartily abhorred. +As she seated herself among her cushions with her usual indolent grace, +she raised her eyes and saw, standing at a respectful distance from +her, a distinguished personage who had but lately arrived at the Court, +from England,--Sir Walter Langton, a daring traveller and explorer in +far countries,--one who had earned high distinction at the point of +the sword. He had been presented to her some evenings since, among a +crowd of other notabilities, and she had, as was her usual custom with +all men, scarcely given him a passing glance. Now as she regarded him, +she suddenly decided, out of the merest whim, to call him to her side. +She sent one of her ladies to him, charged with her invitation to +approach and take his seat near her. He hastened to obey, with some +surprise, and no little pleasure. He was a handsome man of about forty, +sun-browned and keen of eye, with a grave intellectual face after the +style of a Vandyk portrait, and a kindly smile; and he was happily +devoid of all that unbecoming officiousness and obsequiousness which +some persons affect when in the presence of Royalty. He bowed +profoundly as the Queen received him, saying to him with a smile:-- + +"You are a stranger here, Sir Walter Langton!--I cannot allow you to +feel solitary in our company!" + +"Is it possible for anyone to feel solitary when you are near, Madam?" +returned Sir Walter gallantly, as he obeyed the gesture with which she +motioned him to be seated;--"You must be weary of hearing that even +your silent presence is sufficient to fill space with melody and charm! +And I am not altogether a stranger; I know this country well, though I +have never till now had the honour of visiting its ruling sovereign." + +"It is very unlike England," said the Queen, slowly unfurling her fan +of soft white plumage and waving it to and fro. + +"Very unlike, indeed!" he agreed, and a musing tenderness darkened his +fine hazel eyes as he gazed out on the sparkling sea. + +"You like England best?" resumed the Queen. + +"Madam, I am an Englishman! To me there is no land so fair, or so much +worth living and dying for, as England!" + +"Yet--I suppose, like all your countrymen, you are fond of change?" + +"Yes--and no, Madam!" replied Langton.--"In truth, if I am to speak +frankly, it is only during the last thirty or forty years that my +countrymen have blotted their historical scutcheons by this fondness +for change. Where travelling is necessary for the attainment of some +worthy object, then it is wise and excellent,--but where it is only for +the purpose of distracting a self-satiated mind, it is of no avail, and +indeed frequently does more harm than good." + +"Self-satiated!" repeated the Queen,--"Is not that a strange word?" + +"It is the only compound expression I can use to describe the +discontented humour in which the upper classes of English society exist +to-day," replied Sir Walter. "For many years the soul of England has +been held in chains by men whose thoughts are all of Self,--the honour +of England has been attainted by women whose lives are moulded from +first to last on Self. To me, personally, England is everything,--I +have no thought outside it--no wish beyond it. Yet I am as ashamed of +some of its leaders of opinion to-day, as if I saw my own mother +dragged in the dust and branded with infamy!" + +"You speak of your Government?" began the Queen. + +"No, Madam,--I have no more quarrel with my country's present +Government than I could have with a child who is led into a ditch by +its nurse. It is a weak and corrupted Government; and its actual rulers +are vile and abandoned women." + +The Queen's eyes opened in a beautiful, startled wonderment;--this +man's clear, incisive manner of speech interested her. + +"Women!" she echoed, then smiled; "You speak strongly, Sir Walter! I +have certainly heard of the 'advanced' women who push themselves so +much forward in your country, but I had no idea they were so +mischievous! Are they to be admired? Or pitied?" + +"Pitied, Madam,--most sincerely pitied!" returned Sir Walter;--"But +such misguided simpletons as these are not the creatures who rule, or +play with, or poison the minds of the various members who compose our +Government. The 'advanced' women, poor souls, do nothing but talk +platitudes. They are perfectly harmless. They have no power to persuade +men, because in nine cases out of ten, they have neither wit nor +beauty. And without either of these two charms, Madam, it is difficult +to put even a clever cobbler, much less a Prime Minister, into leading +strings! No,--it is the spendthrift women of a corrupt society that I +mean,--the women who possess beauty, and are conscious of it,--the +women who have a mordant wit and use it for dangerous purposes--the +women who give up their homes, their husbands, their children and their +reputations for the sake of villainous intrigue, and the feverish +excitement of speculative money-making;--with these--and with the +stealthy spread of Romanism,--will come the ruin of my country!" + +"So grave as all that!" said the Queen lightly;--"But, surely, Sir +Walter, if you see ruin and disaster threatening so great an Empire in +the far distance, you and other wise men of your land are able to stave +it off?" + +"Madam, I have no power!" he returned bitterly. "Those who have thought +and worked,--those who are able to see what is coming by the light of +past experience, are seldom listened to, or if they get a hearing, they +are not seldom ridiculed and 'laughed down.' Till a strong man speaks, +we must all remain dumb. There is no real Government in England at +present, just as there is no real Church. The Government is made up of +directly self-interested speculators and financiers rather than +diplomatists,--the Church, for which our forefathers fought, is +yielding to the bribery of Rome. It is a time of Sham,--sham politics, +and sham religion! We have fallen upon evil days,--and unless the +people rise, as it is to be hoped to God they will, serious danger +threatens the glory and the honour of England!" + +"Would you desire revolution and bloodshed, then?" enquired the Queen, +becoming more and more interested as she saw that this Englishman did +not, like most of his sex, pass the moments in gazing at her in +speechless admiration,--"Surely not!" + +"I would have revolution, Madam, but not bloodshed," he replied;--"I +think my countrymen are too well grounded in common-sense to care for +any movement which could bring about internal dissension or riot,-- +but, at the same time, I believe their native sense of justice is great +enough to resist tyranny and wrong and falsehood, even to the death. I +would have a revolution--yes--but a silent and bloodless one!" + +"And how would you begin?" asked the Queen. + +"The People must begin, Madam!" he answered;--"All reforms must begin +and end with the People only! For example, if the People would decline +to attend any church where the incumbent is known to encourage +practices which are disloyal to the faith of the land, such disloyalty +would soon cease. If the majority of women would refuse to know, or to +receive, any woman of high position who had voluntarily disgraced +herself, they would soon put a stop to the lax morality of the upper +classes. If our builders, artisans and mechanics would club together, +and refuse to make guns or ships for our enemies in foreign countries, +we should not run the risk of being one day hoisted with our own +petard. In any case, the work of Revolution rests with the people, +though it is quite true they need teachers to show them how to begin." + +"And are these teachers forthcoming?" + +"I think so!" said Sir Walter meditatively. "Throughout all history, as +far back as we can trace it, whenever a serious reform has been needed +in either society or government, there has always been found a leader +to head the movement." + +The Queen's beautiful eyes rested upon him with a certain curiosity. + +"What of your King?" she said. + +"Madam, he is my King!" he replied,--"And I serve him faithfully!" + +She was silent. She began to wonder whether he had any private motive +to gain, any place he sought to fill, that he should assume such a +touch-me-not air at this stray allusion to his Sovereign. + +"Lese-majeste is so common nowadays!" she mused;--"It is such an +ordinary thing to hear vulgar _parvenus_ talk of their king as if +he were a public-house companion of theirs, that it is somewhat +remarkable to find one who speaks of his monarch with loyalty and +respect. I suppose, however, like everyone else, he has his own ends to +serve!--Kings are the last persons in the world who can command +absolute fidelity!" + +She glanced dreamily over the sea, and perceiving a slight shade of +weariness on her face, Sir Walter discreetly rose, craving her +permission to retire to the saloon, where he had promised to join the +King. When he had left her, she turned to one of her ladies, the +Countess Amabil, and remarked: + +"A very personable gentleman, is he not?" + +"Madam," rejoined the Countess, who was very lovely in herself, and of +a bright and sociable disposition;--"I have often thought it would be +more pleasant and profitable for all of us if we had many such +personable gentlemen with us oftener!" + +A slight frown of annoyance crossed the Queen's face. The Countess was +a very charming lady; very fascinating in her own way, but her decided +predilection for the sterner sex often led her to touch on dangerous +ground with her Royal mistress. This time, however, she escaped the +chilling retort her remark might possibly, on another occasion, have +called down upon her. The Queen said nothing. She sat watching the +sea,--and now and again took up her field-glass to study the +picturesque coast of The Islands, which was rapidly coming into view. +Teresa de Launay, the second lady in attendance on her, was reading, +and, seeing her quite absorbed in her book, the Queen presently asked +her what it contained. + +"You have smiled twice over that book, Teresa," she said kindly;--"What +is it about?" + +"Madam, it speaks of love!" replied Teresa, still smiling. + +"And love makes you smile?" + +"I would rather smile than weep over it, Madam!" replied Teresa, with a +slight colour warming her fair face;--"But as concerns this book, I +smile, because it is full of such foolish verses,--as light and sweet-- +and almost as cloying,--as French _fondants_!" + +"Let me hear!" said the Queen; "Read me a few lines." + +"This one, called 'A Canzonet' is brief enough for your Majesty's +immediate consideration," replied Teresa;--"It is just such a thing as +a man might scribble in his note-book after a bout of champagne, when +he is in love for ten minutes! He would not mean a word of it,--but it +might sound pretty by moonlight!" Whereupon she read aloud:-- + + My Lady is pleased to smile, + And the world is glad and gay; + My Lady is pleased to weep;-- + And it rains the livelong day! + + My Lady is pleased to hate, + And I lose my life and my breath; + My Lady is pleased to love,-- + And I am the master of Death! + + I know that my Lady is Love, + By the magical light about her; + I know that my Lady is Life, + For I cannot live without her! + +"And you do not think any man would truly mean as much love as this?" +queried the Queen. + +"Oh, Madam, you know he would not! If he had written such lines about +the joys of dining, or the flavour of an excellent cigar, they might +then indeed be taken as an expression of his truest and deepest +feeling! But his 'Lady'! Bah! She is a mere myth,--a temporary peg to +hang a stray emotion on!" + +She laughed, and her laughter rippled merrily on the air. + +"I do not think the men who write so easily about love can ever truly +feel it," she went on;--"Those who really love must surely be quite +unable to express themselves. This man who sings about his 'Lady' being +pleased to do this or do that, was probably trying to obtain the good +graces of some pretty housemaid or chorus girl!" + +A slight contemptuous smile crossed the Queen's face; from her +expression it was evident that she agreed in the main with the opinion +of her vivacious lady-in-waiting. Just at that moment the King and his +suite, with Sir Walter Langton and one or two other gentlemen, who had +been invited to join the party, came up from the saloon, and the +conversation became general. + +"Have you seen Humphry at all to-day?" enquired the King aside of De +Launay. "I sent him an early message asking him to join us, and was +told he had gone out riding. Is that true?" + +"I have not seen his Royal Highness since the morning, Sir," replied +the equerry; "He then met me,--and Professor von Glauben also--in the +gardens. He gave me no hint as to whether he knew of your intention to +sail to The Islands this afternoon or not; he was reading, and with +some slight discussion on the subject of the book he was interested in, +he and the Professor strolled away together." + +"But where is Von Glauben?" pursued the King; "I sent for him likewise, +but he was absent." + +"I understood him to say that you had not commanded his attendance +again to-day, Sir," replied Sir Roger;--"He told me he had already +waited upon you." + +"Certainly I did not command his attendance when I saw him the first +thing this morning," replied the King; "I summoned him then merely to +satisfy his scruples concerning my health and safety, as he seemed last +night to have doubts of both!" He smiled, and his eyes twinkled +humourously. "Later on, I requested him to join us in this excursion, +but his servant said he had gone out, leaving no word as to when he +would return. An eccentricity! I suppose he must be humoured!" + +Sir Roger was silent. The King looked at him narrowly, and saw that +there was something in his thoughts which he was not inclined to utter, +and with wise tact and discretion forbore to press any more questions +upon him. It was not a suitable time for cross-examination, even of the +most friendly kind; there were too many persons near at hand who might +be disposed to listen and to form conjectures; moreover the favouring +wind had so aided the Royal yacht in her swift course that The Islands +were now close at hand, and the harbour visible, the run across from +the mainland having been accomplished under the usual two hours. + +The King scanned the coast through his glass with some interest. + +"We shall obtain amusement from this unprepared trip," he said, +addressing the friends who were gathered round him; "We have forbidden +any announcement of our visit here, and, therefore, we shall receive no +recognition, or welcome. We shall have to take the people as we find +them!" + +"Let us hope they will prove themselves agreeable, Sir," said one of +the suite, the Marquis Montala, a somewhat effeminate elegant-looking +man, with small delicate features and lazily amorous eyes,--"And that +the women of the place will not be too alarmingly hideous." + +"Women are always women." said the King gaily; "And you, Montala, if +you cannot find a pretty one, will put up with an ugly one for the +moment rather than have none at all! But beauty exists everywhere, and +I daresay we shall find it in as good evidence here as in other parts +of the kingdom. Our land is famous for its lovely women,"--and turning +to Sir Walter Langton he added--"I think, Sir Walter, we can almost +beat your England in that one particular!" + +"Some years ago, Sir, I should have accepted that challenge," returned +Sir Walter, "And with the deepest respect for your Majesty, I should +have ventured to deny the assertion that any country in the world could +surpass England for the beauty of its women. But since the rage for +masculine sports and masculine manners has taken hold of English girls, +I am not at all disposed to defend them. They have, unhappily, lost all +the soft grace and modesty for which their grandmothers were renowned, +and one begins to remark that their very shapes are no longer feminine. +The beautiful full bosoms, admired by Gainsborough and Romney, are +replaced by an unbecoming flatness--the feet and hands are growing +large and awkward, instead of being well-shaped, white and delicate-- +the skin is becoming coarse and rough of texture, and there is very +little complexion to boast of, if we except the artificial make-up of +the women of the town. Some few pretty and natural women remain in the +heart of the forest and the country, but the contamination is +spreading, and English women are no longer the models of womanhood for +all the world." + +"Are you married, Sir Walter?" asked the King with a smile. + +"To no woman, Sir! I have married England--I love her and work for her +only!" + +"You find that love sufficient to fill your heart?" + +"Perhaps," returned Sir Walter musingly--"perhaps if I speak personally +and selfishly--no! But when I argue the point logically, I find this-- +that if I had a wife she might probably occupy too much of my time,-- +certes, if I had children, I should be working for them and their +future welfare;--as it is, I give all my life and all my work to my +country, and my King!" + +"I hope you will meet with the reward you merit," said the Queen +gently; "Kings are not always well served!" + +"I seek no reward," said Sir Walter simply; "The joy of work is always +its own guerdon." + +As he spoke the yacht ran into harbour, and with a loud warning cry the +sailors flung out the first rope to a man on the pier, who stood gazing +in open-mouthed wonder at their arrival. He seemed too stricken with +amazement to move, for he failed to seize the rope, whereat, with an +angry exclamation as the rope slipped back into the water, and the +yacht bumped against the pier, a sailor sprang to land, and as it was +thrown a second time, seized it and made it fast to the capstan. A few +more moments and the yacht was safely alongside, the native islander +remaining still motionless and staring. The captain of the Royal vessel +stepped on shore and spoke to him. + +"Are there any men about here?" + +The individual thus addressed shook his head in the negative. + +"Are you alone to keep the pier?" + +The head nodded in the affirmative. A voice, emanating from a thickly +bearded mouth was understood to growl forth something about 'no strange +boats being permitted to harbour there.' Whereupon the Captain walked +up to the uncouth-looking figure, and said briefly. + +"We are here by the King's order! That vessel is the Royal yacht, and +their Majesties are on board." + +For one instant the islander stared more wildly than ever, then with a +cry of amazement and evident alarm, ran away as fast as his legs could +carry him and disappeared. The captain returned to the yacht and +related his experience to Sir Roger de Launay. The King heard and was +amused. + +"It seems, Madam," he said, turning to the Queen, "That we shall have +The Islands to ourselves; but as our visit will be but brief, we shall +no doubt find enough to interest us in the mere contemplation of the +scenery without other human company than our own. Will you come?" + +He extended his hand courteously to assist her across the gangway of +the vessel, and in a few minutes the Royal party were landed, and the +yacht was left to the stewards and servants, who soon had all hands at +work preparing the dinner which was to be served during the return +sail. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +"GLORIA--IN EXCELSIS!" + + +The King and Queen, followed by their suite and their guests, walked +leisurely off the pier, and down a well-made road, sparkling with +crushed sea-shells and powdered coral, towards a group of tall trees +and green grass which they perceived a little way ahead of them. There +was a soothing quietness everywhere,--save for the singing of birds and +the soft ripple of the waves on the sandy shore, it was a silent land: + + "In which it seemed always afternoon-- + All round the coast the languid air did swoon-- + Breathing like one that hath a weary dream." + +The Queen paused once or twice to look around her; she was vaguely +touched and charmed by the still beauty of the scene. + +"It is very lovely!" she said, more to herself than to any of her +companions; "The world must have looked something like this in the +first days of creation,--so unspoilt and fresh and simple!" + +The Countess Amabil, walking with Sir Walter Langton, glanced +coquettishly at her cavalier and smiled. + +"It is idyllic!" she said;--"A sort of Arcadia without Corydon or +Phyllis! Do all the inhabitants go to sleep or disappear in the +daytime, I wonder?" + +"Not all, I imagine," replied Sir Walter; "For here comes one, though, +judging from the slowness of his walk, he is in no haste to welcome his +King!" + +The personage he spoke of was indeed approaching, and all the members +of the Royal party watched his advance with considerable curiosity. He +was tall and upright in bearing, but as he came nearer he was seen to +be a man of great age, with a countenance on which sorrow and suffering +had left their indelible traces. There were furrows on that face which +tears had hollowed out for their swifter flowing, and the high +intellectual brow bore lines and wrinkles of anxiety and pain, which +were the soul's pen-marks of a tragic history. He was attired in simple +fisherman's garb of rough blue homespun, and when he was within a few +paces of the King, he raised his cap from his curly silver hair with an +old-world grace and deferential courtesy. Sir Roger de Launay went +forward to meet him and to explain the situation. + +"His Majesty the King," he said, "has wished to make a surprise visit +to his people of The Islands,--and he is here in person with the Queen. +Can you oblige him with an escort to the principal places of interest?" + +The old man looked at him with a touch of amusement and derision. + +"There are no places here of interest to a King," he said; "Unless a +poor man's house may serve for his curious comment! I am not his +Majesty's subject--but I live under his protection and his laws,--and I +am willing to offer him a welcome, since there is no one else to do +so!" + +He spoke with a refined and cultured accent, and in his look and +bearing evinced the breeding of a gentleman. + +"And your name?" asked Sir Roger courteously. + +"My name is Rene Ronsard," he replied. "I was shipwrecked on this coast +years ago. Finding myself cast here by the will of God, here I have +remained!" + +As he said this, Sir Roger remembered what he had casually heard at +times about the 'life-philosopher' who had built for himself a dwelling +on The Islands out of the timbers of wrecked vessels. This must surely +be the man! Delighted at having thus come upon the very person most +likely to provide some sort of diversion for their Majesties, and +requesting Ronsard to wait at a distance for a moment, he hastened back +to the King and explained the position. Whereupon the monarch at once +advanced with alacrity, and as he approached the venerable personage +who had offered him the only hospitality he was likely to receive in +this part of his realm, he extended his hand with a frank and kindly +cordiality. Rene Ronsard accepted it with a slight but not over- +obsequious salutation. + +"We owe you our thanks," said the King, "for receiving us thus readily, +and without notice; which is surely the truest form of hospitable +kindness! That we are strangers here is entirely our own fault, due to +our own neglect of our Island subjects; and it is for this that we have +sought to know something of the place privately, before visiting it +with such public ceremonial and state as it deserves. We shall be +indebted to you greatly if you will lend us your aid in this +intention." + +"Your Majesty is welcome to my service in whatever way it can be of use +to you," replied Ronsard slowly; "As you see, I am an old man and poor +--I have lived here for well-nigh thirty years, making as little demand +as possible upon the resources of either rough Nature or smooth +civilization to provide me with sustenance. There is poor attraction +for a king in such a simple home as mine!" + +"More than all men living, a king has cause to love simplicity," +returned the monarch, as with his swift and keen glance he noted the +old man's proud figure, fine worn features, and clear, though deeply- +sunken eyes;--"for the glittering shows of ceremony are chiefly +irksome to those who have to suffer their daily monotony. Let me +present you to the Queen--she will thank you as I do, for your kindly +consent to play the part of host to us to-day." + +"Nay,"--murmured Ronsard--"No thanks--no thanks!" Then, as the King +said a few words to his fair Consort, and she received the old man's +respectful salutation in the cold, grave way which was her custom, he +raised his eyes to her face, and started back with an involuntary +exclamation. + +"By Heaven!" he said suddenly and bluntly, "I never thought to see any +woman's beauty that could compare with that of my Gloria!" + +He spoke more to himself than to any listener, but the King hearing his +words, was immediately on the alert, and when the whole Royal party +moved on again, he, walking in a gracious and kindly way by the old +man's side, and skilfully keeping up the conversation at first on mere +generalities, said presently:-- + +"And that name of Gloria;--may I ask you who it is that bears so +strange an appellation?" + +Ronsard looked at him somewhat doubtingly. + +"Your Majesty considers it strange? Had you ever seen her, you would +think it the only fitting name for her," he answered,--"For she is +surely the most glorious thing God ever made!" + +"Your wife--or daughter?" gently hinted the King. + +The old man smiled bitterly. + +"Sir, I have never owned wife or child! For aught I know Gloria may +have been born like the goddess Aphrodite, of the sunlight and the sea! +No other parents have ever claimed her." + +He checked himself, and appeared disposed to change the subject. The +King looked at him encouragingly. + +"May I not hear more of her?" he asked. + +Ronsard hesitated--then with a certain abruptness replied-- + +"Nay--I am sorry I spoke of her! There is nothing to tell. I have said +she is beautiful--and beauty is always stimulating--even to Kings! But +your Majesty will have no chance of seeing her, as she is absent from +home to-day." + +The King smiled;--had the rumours of his many gallantries reached The +Islands then?--and was this 'life-philosopher' afraid that 'Gloria '-- +whoever she was--might succumb to his royal fascinations? The thought +was subtly flattering, but he disguised the touch of amusement he felt, +and spoke his next words with a kindly and indulgent air. + +"Then, as I shall not see her, you may surely tell me of her? I am no +betrayer of confidence!" + +A pale red tinged Ronsard's worn features--anon he said:-- + +"It is no question of confidence, Sir,--and there is no secret or +mystery associated with the matter. Gloria was, like myself, cast up +from the sea. I found her half-drowned, a helpless infant tied to a +floating spar. It was on the other side of these Islands--among the +rocks where there is no landing-place. There is a little church on the +heights up there, and every evening the men and boys practise their +sacred singing. It was sunset, and I was wandering by myself upon the +shore, and in the church above me I heard them chant 'Gloria! Gloria! +Gloria in excelsis Deo!' And while they were yet practising this line I +came upon the child,--lying like a strange lily, in a salt pool,-- +between two shafts of rock like fangs on either side of her, bound fast +with rope to a bit of ship's timber. I untied her little limbs, and +restored her to life; and all the time I was busy bringing her back to +breath and motion, the singing in the church above me was 'Gloria!' and +ever again 'Gloria!' So I gave her that name. That was nineteen years +ago. She is married now." + +"Married!" exclaimed the King, with a curious sense of mingled relief +and disappointment. "Then she has left you?" + +"Oh, no, she has not left me!" replied Ronsard; "She stays with me till +her husband is ready to give her a home. He is very poor, and lives in +hope of better days. Meanwhile poverty so far smiles upon them that +they are happy;--and happiness, youth and beauty rarely go together. +For once they have all met in the joyous life of my Gloria!" + +"I should like to see her!" said the King, musingly; "You have +interested me greatly in her history!" + +The old man did not reply, but quickening his pace, moved on a little +in advance of the King and his suite, to open a gate in front of them, +which guarded the approach to a long low house with carved gables and +lattice windows, over which a wealth of roses and jasmine clambered in +long tresses of pink and white bloom. Smooth grass surrounded the +place, and tall pine trees towered in the background; and round the +pillars of the broad verandah, which extended to the full length of the +house front, clematis and honeysuckle twined in thick clusters, filling +the air with delicate perfume. The Royal party murmured their +admiration of this picturesque abode, while Ronsard, with a nimbleness +remarkable for a man of his age, set chairs on the verandah and lawn +for his distinguished guests. Sir Walter Langton and the Marquis +Montala strolled about the garden with some of the ladies, commenting +on the simple yet exquisite taste displayed in its planting and +arrangement; while the King and Queen listened with considerable +interest to the conversation of their venerable host. He was a man of +evident culture, and his description of the coral-fishing community, +their habits and traditions, was both graphic and picturesque. + +"Are they all away to-day?" asked the King. + +"All the men on this side of The Islands--yes, Sir," replied Ronsard; +"And the women have enough to do inside their houses till their +husbands return. With the evening and the moonlight, they will all be +out in their fields and gardens, making merry with innocent dance and +song, for they are very happy folk--much happier than their neighbours +on the mainland." + +"Are you acquainted with the people of the mainland, then?" enquired +the King. + +"Sufficiently to know that they are dissatisfied;" returned Ronsard +quietly,--"And that, deep down among the tangled grass and flowers of +that brilliant pleasure-ground called Society, there is a fierce and +starving lion called the People, waiting for prey!" + +His voice sank to a low and impressive tone, and for a moment his +hearers looked astonished and disconcerted. He went on as though he had +not seen the expression of their faces. + +"Here in The Islands there was the same discontent when I first came. +Every man was in heart a Socialist,--every young boy was a budding +Anarchist. Wild ideas fired their brains. They sought Equality. No man +should be richer than another, they said. Equal lots,--equal lives. +They had their own secret Society, connected with another similar one +across the sea yonder. They were brave, clever and desperate,--moved by +a burning sense of wrong,--wrong which they had not the skill to +explain, but which they felt. It was difficult to persuade or soothe +such men, for they were men of Nature,--not of Shams. But fierce and +obstinate as they were, they were good to me when I was cast up for +dead on their seashore. And I, in turn, have tried to be good to them. +That is, I have tried to make them happy. For happiness is what we all +work for and seek for,--from the beginning to the end of life. We go +far afield for it, when it oftener lies at our very doors. Well!--they +are a peaceful community now, and have no evil intentions towards +anyone. They grudge no one his wealth--I think if the truth were known, +they rather pity the rich man than envy him. So, at any rate, I have +taught them to do. But, formerly, they were, to say the least of it, +dangerous!" + +The King heard in silence, although the slightest quizzical lifting of +his eyebrows appeared to imply that 'dangerous' was perhaps too strong +a term by which to designate a handful of Socialistic coral-fishers. + +"It is curious," went on Ronsard slowly, "how soon the sense of wrong +and injustice infects a whole community. One malcontent makes a host of +malcontents. This is a fact which many governments lose sight of. If I +were the ruler of a country--" + +Here he suddenly paused--then added with a touch of brusqueness-- + +"Pardon me, Sir; I have never known the formalities which apply to +conversation with a king, and I am too old to learn now. No doubt I +speak too boldly! To me you are no more than man; you should be more by +etiquette--but by simple humanity you are not!" + +The King smiled, well pleased. This independent commoner, with his +rough garb and rougher simplicity of speech, was a refreshing contrast +to the obsequious personages by whom he was generally surrounded; and +he felt an irresistible desire to know more of the life and +surroundings of one who had gained a position of evident authority +among the people of his own class. + +"Go on, my friend!" he said. "Honest expression of thought can offend +none but knaves and fools; and though there are some who say I have a +smack of both, yet I flatter myself I am wholly neither of the twain! +Continue what you were saying--if you were ruler of a country, what +would you do?" + +Rene Ronsard considered for a moment, and his furrowed brows set in a +puzzled line. + +"I think," he said slowly, at last, "I should choose my friends and +confidants among the leaders of the people." + +"And is not that precisely what we all do?" queried the King lightly; +"Surely every monarch must count his friends among the members of the +Government?" + +"But the Government does not represent the actual people, Sir!" said +Ronsard quietly. + +"No? Then what does it represent?" enquired the King, becoming amused +and interested in the discussion, and holding up his hand to warn back +De Launay, and the other members of his suite who were just coming +towards him from their tour of inspection through the garden--"Every +member of the Government is elected by the people, and returned by the +popular vote. What else would you have?" + +"Ministers have not always the popular vote," said Ronsard; "They are +selected by the Premier. And if the Premier should happen to be shifty, +treacherous or self-interested, he chooses such men as are most likely +to serve his own ends. And it can hardly be said, Sir, that the People +truly return the members of Government. For when the time comes for one +such man to be elected, each candidate secures his own agent to bribe +the people, and to work upon them as though they were so much soft +dough, to be kneaded into a political loaf for his private and +particular eating. Poor People! Poor hard-working millions! In the main +they are all too busy earning the wherewithal to Live, to have any time +left to Think--they are the easy prey of the party agent, except-- +except when they gather to the voice of a real leader, one who though +not in Government, governs!" + +"And is there such an one?" enquired the King, while as he spoke his +glance fell suddenly, and with an unpleasant memory, on the flashing +blue of the sapphire in the Premier's signet he wore; "Here, or +anywhere?" + +"Over there!" said Ronsard impressively, pointing across the landscape +seawards; "On the mainland there is not only one, but many! Women,--as +well as men. Writers,--as well as speakers. These are they whom Courts +neglect or ignore,--these are the consuming fire of thrones!" His old +eyes flashed, and as he turned them on the statuesque beauty of the +Queen, she started, for they seemed to pierce into the very recesses of +her soul. "When Court and Fashion played their pranks once upon a time +in France, there was a pen at work on the '_Contrat Social_'--the +pen of one Rousseau! Who among the idle pleasure-loving aristocrats +ever thought that a mere Book would have helped to send them to the +scaffold!" He clenched his hand almost unconsciously--then he spoke +more quietly. "That is what I mean, when I say that if I were ruler of +a country, I should take special care to make friends with the people's +chosen thinkers. Someone in authority"--and here he smiled quizzically +--"should have given Rousseau an estate, and made him a marquis--_in +time_! The leaders of an advancing Thought,--and not the leaders of +a fixed Government are the real representatives of the People!" + +Something in this last sentence appeared to strike the King very +forcibly. + +"You are a philosopher, Rene Ronsard," he said rising from his chair, +and laying a hand kindly on his shoulder. "And so, in another way am I! +If I understand you rightly, you would maintain that in many cases +discontent and disorder are the fermentation in the mind of one man, +who for some hidden personal motive works his thought through a whole +kingdom; and you suggest that if that man once obtained what he wanted +there would be an end of trouble--at any rate for a time till the next +malcontent turned up! Is not that so?" + +"It is so, Sir," replied Ronsard; "and I think it has always been so. +In every era of strife and revolution, we shall find one dissatisfied +Soul--often a soul of genius and ambition--at the centre of the +trouble." + +"Probably you are right," said the monarch indulgently; "But evidently +the dissatisfied soul is not in _your_ body! You are no Don +Quixote fighting a windmill of imaginary wrongs, are you?" + +A dark red flush mounted to the old man's brow, and as it passed away, +left him pale as death. + +"Sir, I have fought against wrongs in my time; but they were not +imaginary. I might have still continued the combat but for Gloria!" + +"Ah! She is your peace-offering to an unjust world?" + +"No Sir; she is God's gift to a broken heart," replied Ronsard gently. +"The sea cast her up like a pearl into my life; and so for her sake I +resolved to live. For her only I made this little home--for her I +managed to gain some control over the rough inhabitants of these +Islands, and encouraged in them the spirit of peace, mirth and +gladness. I soothed their discontent, and tried to instil into them +something of the Greek love of beauty and pleasure. But after all, my +work sprang from a personal, I may as well say a selfish motive--merely +to make the child I loved, happy!" + +"Then do you not regret that she is married, and no longer yours to +cherish entirely?" + +"No, I regret nothing!" answered Ronsard; "For I am old and must soon +die. I shall leave her in good and safe hands." + +The King looked at him thoughtfully, and seemed about to ask another +question, then suddenly changing his mind, he turned to his Consort and +said a few words to her in a low tone, whereupon as if in obedience to +a command, she rose, and with all the gracious charm which she could +always exert if she so pleased, she enquired of Ronsard if he would +permit them to see something of the interior of his house. + +"Madam," replied Ronsard, with some embarrassment; "All I have is at +your service, but it is only a poor place." + +"No place is poor that has peace in it," returned the Queen, with one +of those rare smiles of hers, which so swiftly subjugated the hearts of +men. "Will you lead the way?" + +Thus persuaded, Rene Ronsard could only bow a respectful assent, and +obey the request, which from Royalty was tantamount to a command. +Signing to the other members of the party, who had stood till now at a +little distance, the Queen bade them all accompany her. + +"The King will stay here till we return," she said, "And Sir Roger will +stay with him!" + +With these words, and a flashing glance at De Launay, she stepped +across the lawn, followed by her ladies-in-waiting, with Sir Walter +Langton and the other gentlemen; and in another moment the brilliant +little group had disappeared behind the trailing roses and clematis, +which hung in profusion from the oaken projections of the wide verandah +round Ronsard's picturesque dwelling. Standing still for a moment, with +Sir Roger a pace behind him, the King watched them enter the house-- +then quickly turning round on his heel, faced his equerry with a broad +smile. + +"Now, De Launay," he said, "let us find Von Glauben!" + +Sir Roger started with surprise, and not a little apprehension. + +"Von Glauben, Sir?" + +"Yes--Von Glauben! He is here! I saw his face two minutes ago, peering +through those trees!" And he pointed down a shadowy path, dark with the +intertwisted gloom of untrained pine-boughs. "I am not dreaming, nor am +I accustomed to imagine spectres! I am on the track of a mystery, +Roger! There is a beautiful girl here named Gloria. The beautiful girl +is married--possibly to a jealous husband, for she is apparently hidden +away from all likely admirers, including myself! Now suppose Von +Glauben is that husband!" + +He broke off and laughed. Sir Roger de Launay laughed with him; the +idea was too irresistibly droll. But the King was bent on mischief, and +determined to lose no time in compassing it. + +"Come along!" he said. "If this tangled path holds a secret, it shall +be discovered before we are many minutes older! I am confident I saw +Von Glauben; and what he can be doing here passes my comprehension! +Follow me, Roger! If our worthy Professor has a wife, and his wife is +beautiful, we will pardon him for keeping her existence a secret from +us so long!" + +He laughed again; and turning into the path he had previously +indicated, began walking down it rapidly, Sir Roger following closely, +and revolving in his own perplexed mind the scene of the morning, when +Von Glauben had expressed such a strong desire to get away to The +Islands, and had admitted that there was "a lady in the case." + +"Really, it is most extraordinary!" he thought. "The King no sooner +decides to break through conventional forms, than all things seem +loosened from their moorings! A week ago, we were all apparently fixed +in our orbits of exact routine and work--the King most fixed of all-- +but now, who can say what may happen next!" + +At that moment the monarch turned round. + +"This path seems interminable, Roger," he said; "It gets darker, closer +and narrower. It thickens, in fact, like, the mystery we are probing!" + +Sir Roger glanced about him. A straight band of trees hemmed them in on +either side, and the daylight filtered through their stems pallidly, +while, as the King had said, there seemed to be no end to the path they +were following. They walked on swiftly, however, exchanging no further +word, when suddenly an unexpected sound came sweeping up through the +heavy branches. It was the rush and roar of the sea,--a surging, +natural psalmody that filled the air, and quivered through the trees +with the measured beat of an almost human chorus. + +"This must be another way to the shore," said the King, coming to a +standstill; "And there must be rocks or caverns near. Hark how the +waves thunder and reverberate through some deep hollow!" + +Sir Roger listened, and heard the boom of water rolling in and rolling +out again, with the regularity and rhythm of an organ swell, but he +caught an echo of something else besides, which piqued his curiosity +and provoked him to a touch of unusual excitement,--it was the sweet +and apparently quickly suppressed sound of a woman's laughter. He +glanced at his Royal master, and saw at once that he, too, had sharp +ears for that silvery cadence of mirth, for his eyes flashed into a +smile. + +"On, Roger," he said softly; "We are close on the heels of the +problem!" + +But they had only pressed forward a few steps when they were again +brought to a sudden pause. A voice, whose gruffly mellow accents were +familiar to both of them, was speaking within evidently close range, +and the King, with a warning look, motioned De Launay back a pace or +two, himself withdrawing a little into the shadow of the trees. + +"Ach! Do not sing, my princess!" said the voice; "For if you open your +rosy mouth of music, all the birds of the air, and all the little +fishes of the sea will come to listen! And, who knows! Someone more +dangerous than either a bird or a fish may listen also!" + +The King grasped De Launay by the arm. + +"Was I not right?" he whispered. "There is no mistaking Von Glauben's +accent!" + +Sir Roger looked, as he felt, utterly bewildered. In his own mind he +felt it very difficult to associate the Professor with a love affair. +Yet things certainly seemed pointing to some entanglement of the sort. +Suddenly the King held up an admonitory finger. + +"Listen!" he said. + +Another voice spoke, rich and clear, and sweet as honey. + +"Why should I not sing?" and there was a thrill of merriment in the +delicious accents. "You are so afraid of everything to-day! Why? Why +should I stay here with nothing to do? Because you tell me the King is +visiting The Islands. What does that matter? What do I care for the +King? He is nothing to me!" + +"You would be something, perhaps, to him if he saw you," replied the +guttural voice of Von Glauben. "It is safer to be out of his way. You +are a very wilful princess this afternoon! You must remember your +husband is jealous!" + +The King started. + +"Her husband! What the devil does Von Glauben know about her husband!" + +De Launay was dumb. A nameless fear and dismay began to possess him. + +"My husband!" And the sweet voice laughed out again. "It would be +strange indeed for a poor sailor to be jealous of a king!" + +"If the poor sailor had a beautiful wife he worshipped, and the King +should admire the wife, he might have cause to be jealous!" replied Von +Glauben; "And with some ladies, a poor sailor would stand no chance +against a king! Why are you so rebellious, my princess, to-day? Have I +not brought a letter from your beloved which plainly asks you to keep +out of the sight of the King? Have I not been an hour with you here, +reading the most beautiful poetry of Heine?" + +"That is why I want to sing," said the sweet voice, with a touch of +wilfulness in its tone. "Listen! I will give you a reading of Heine in +music!" And suddenly, rich and clear as a bell, a golden cadence of +notes rang out with the words: + + "Ah, Hast thou forgotten, That I possessed thy heart?" + +The King sprang lightly out of his hiding-place, and with De Launay +moved on slowly and cautiously through the trees. + +"Ach, mein Gott!" they heard Von Glauben exclaim--"That is a bird-call +which will float on wings to the ears of the King!" + +A soft laugh rippled on the air. + +"Dear friend and master, why are you so afraid?" asked the caressing +woman's voice again;--"We are quite hidden away from the Royal +visitors,--and though you have been peeping at the King through the +trees, and though you know he is actually in our garden, he will never +find his way here! This is quite a secret little study and schoolroom, +where you have taught me so much!--yes--so much!--and I am very +grateful! And whenever you come to see me you teach me something more-- +you are always good and kind!--and I would not anger you for the world! +But what is the good of knowing and feeling beautiful things, if I may +not express them?" + +"You do express them,--in yourself,--in your own existence and +appearance!" said the Professor gruffly; "but that is a physiological +accident which I do not expect you to understand!" + +There was a moment's silence. Then came a slight movement, as of quick +feet clambering among loose pebbles, and the voice rang out again. + +"There! Now I am in my rocky throne! Do you remember--Ah, no!--you know +nothing about it,--but I will tell you the story! It was here, in this +very place, that my husband first saw me!" + +"Ach so!" murmured Von Glauben. "It is an excellent place to make a +first appearance! Eve herself could not have chosen more picturesque +surroundings to make a conquest of Adam!" + +Apparently his mild sarcasm fell on unheeding ears. + +"He was walking slowly all alone on the shore," went on the voice, +dropping into a more plaintive and tender tone; "The sun had sunk, and +one little star was sparkling in the sky. He looked up at the star-- +and--" + +"Then he saw a woman's eye," interpolated Von Glauben; "Which is always +more attractive to weak man than an impossible-to-visit planet! What +does Shakespeare say of women's eyes? + + 'Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven, + Having some business, do entreat her eyes + To twinkle in their spheres till they return. + What if her eyes were there, they in her head? + The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars, + As daylight doth a lamp; her eye in heaven + Would through the airy regions stream so bright, + That birds would sing and think it were not night!' + +Ach! That is so!" + +As the final words left his lips, a rich note of melody stirred the +air, and a song in which words and music seemed thoroughly welded +together, rose vibratingly up to the quiet sky: + + "Here by the sea, + My Love found me! + Seagulls over the waves were swinging; + Mermaids down in their caves were singing,-- + And one little star in the rosy sky + Sparkled above like an angel's eye! + My Love found me, + And I and he + Plighted our troth eternally! + Oh day of splendour, + And self-surrender! + The day when my Love found me! + + Here, by the sea, + My King crown'd me! + Wild ocean sang for my Coronation, + With the jubilant voice of a mighty nation!-- + 'Mid the towering rocks he set my throne, + And made me forever and ever his own! + My King crown'd me, + And I and he + Are one till the world shall cease to be! + Oh sweet love story! + Oh night of glory! + The night when my King crown'd me!" + +No language could ever describe the marvellous sweetness of the voice +that sung these lines; it was so full of exquisite triumph, tenderness +and passion, that it seemed more supernatural than human. When the song +ceased, a great wave dashed on the shore, like a closing organ chord, +and Von Glauben spoke. + +"There! You wanted your own way, my princess, and you have had it! You +have sung like one of the seraphim;--do not be surprised if mortals are +drawn to listen. Sst! What is that?" + +There was a pause. The King had inadvertently cracked a twig on one of +the pine-boughs he was holding back in an endeavour to see the +speakers. But he now boldly pushed on, beckoning De Launay to follow +close, and in another minute had emerged on a small sandy plateau, +which led, by means of an ascending path, to a rocky eminence, +encircled by huge boulders and rocky pinnacles, which somewhat +resembled peaks of white coral,--and here, on a height above him,--with +the afternoon sun-glow bathing her in its full mellow radiance, sat a +visibly enthroned goddess of the landscape,--a girl, or rather a +perfect woman, more beautiful than any he had ever seen, or even +imagined. He stared up at her in dazzled wonder, half blinded by the +brightness of the sun and her almost equally blinding loveliness. + +"Gloria!" he exclaimed breathlessly, hardly conscious of his own +utterance; "You are Gloria!" + +The fair vision rose, and came swiftly forward with an astonished look +in her bright deep eyes. + +"Yes!" she said, "I am Gloria!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A SEA PRINCESS + + +Scarcely had she thus declared herself, when the Bismarckian head and +shoulders of Von Glauben appeared above the protecting boulders; and +moving with deliberate caution, the rest of his body came slowly after, +till he stood fully declared in an attitude of military 'attention.' He +showed neither alarm nor confusion at seeing the King; on the contrary, +the fixed, wooden expression of his countenance betokened some deeply- +seated mental obstinacy, and he faced his Royal master with the utmost +composure, lifting the slouched hat he wore with his usual stiff and +soldierly dignity, though carefully avoiding the amazed stare of his +friend, Sir Roger de Launay. + +The King glanced him up and down with a smiling air of amused +curiosity. + +"So this is how you pursue your scientific studies, Professor!" he said +lightly; "Well!"--and he turned his eyes, full of admiration, on the +beautiful creature who stood silently confronting him with all that +perfect ease which expresses a well-balanced mind,--"Wisdom is often +symbolised to us as a marble goddess,--but when Pallas Athene takes so +fair a shape of flesh and blood as this, who shall blame even a veteran +philosopher for sitting at her feet in worship!" + +"Pardon me, Sir," returned Von Glauben calmly; "There is no goddess of +Wisdom here, so please you, but only a very simple and unworldly young +woman. She is--" Here he hesitated a moment, then went on--"She is +merely the adopted child of a fisherman living on these Islands." + +"I am aware of that!" said the King still smiling. "Rene Ronsard is his +name. He is my host to-day; and he has told me something of her. But, +certes, he did not mention that you had adopted her also!" + +Von Glauben flushed vexedly. + +"Sir," he stammered, "I could explain--" + +"Another time!" interrupted the King, with a touch of asperity. +"Meanwhile, present your--your pupil in the poesy of Heine,--to me!" + +Thus commanded, the Professor, casting a vexed glance at De Launay, who +did not in the least comprehend his distress, went to the girl, who +during their brief conversation had stood quietly looking from one to +the other with an expression of half-amused disdain on her lovely +features. + +"Gloria," he began reluctantly--then whispering in her ear, he +muttered--"I told you your voice would do mischief, and it has done +it!" Then aloud--"Gloria,--this--this is the King!" + +She smiled, but did not change her erect and easy attitude. + +"The King is welcome!" she said simply. + +She had evidently no intention of saluting the monarch; and Sir Roger +de Launay gazed at her in mingled surprise and admiration. She was +certainly wonderfully beautiful. Her complexion had the soft clear +transparency of a pink sea-shell--her eyes, large and lustrous, were as +densely blue as the dark azure in the depths of a wave,--and her hair, +of a warm bronze chestnut, caught back with a single band of red coral, +seemed to have gathered in its rich curling clusters all the deepest +tints of autumn leaves flecked with a golden touch of the sun. Her +figure, clad in a straight garment of rough white homespun, was the +model of perfect womanhood. She stood a little above the medium height, +her fair head poised proudly on regal shoulders, while the curve of the +full bosom would have baffled the sculptural genius of a Phidias. The +whole exquisite outline of her person was the expressed essence of +beauty, from the lightest wave of her hair, down to her slender ankles +and small feet; and the look that irradiated her noble features was +that of child-like happiness and repose,--the untired expression of one +who had never known any other life than the innocent enjoyment bestowed +upon her by God and divine Nature. Beautiful as his Queen-Consort was +and always had been, the King was forced to admit to himself that here +was a woman far more beautiful,--and as he looked upon her critically, +he saw that there was a light and splendour about her which only the +happiness of Love can give. Her whole aspect was as of one uplifted +into a finer atmosphere than that of earth,--she seemed to exhale +purity from herself, as a rose exhales perfume, and her undisturbed +serenity and dignity, when made aware of the Royal presence, were +evidently not the outcome of ill-breeding or discourtesy, but of mere +self-respect and independence. He approached her with a strange +hesitation, which for him was quite a new experience. + +"I am glad I have been fortunate enough to meet you!" he said gently;-- +"Some kindly fate guided my steps down the path which brought me to +this part of the shore, else I might have gone away without seeing +you!" + +"That would have been no loss to your Majesty," answered Gloria +calmly;--"For to see me, is of no use to anyone!" + +"Would your husband say so?" hazarded the King with a smile. + +Her eyes flashed. + +"My husband would say what is right," she replied. "He would know +better how to talk to you than I do!" + +He had insensibly drawn nearer to her as he spoke; meanwhile Von +Glauben, with a disconsolate air, had joined Sir Roger de Launay, who, +by an enquiring look and anxious uplifting of his eyebrows, dumbly +asked what was to be the upshot of this affair,--only to receive a +dismal shake of the head in reply. + +"Possibly I know your husband," went on the King, anxious to continue +conversation with so beautiful a creature. "If I do, and he is in my +personal service, he shall not lack promotion! Will you tell me his +name?" + +A startled look came into the girl's eyes, and a deep blush swept over +her fair cheeks. + +"I dare not!" she said;--"He has forbidden me!" + +"Forbidden you!" The King recoiled a step--a vague suspicion rankled in +his mind. "Then, though your King asks you a friendly question, you +refuse to answer it?" + +Von Glauben here gripped Sir Roger so fiercely by the arm, that the +latter nearly cried out with pain. + +"She must not tell," he muttered--"She must not--she will not!" + +But Gloria was looking straight at her Royal questioner. + +"I have no King but my husband!" she said firmly. "I have sworn before +God to obey him in all things, and I will not break my vow!" + +"Good girl! Wise girl!" exclaimed Von Glauben. "Ach, if all the +beautiful women so guarded their tongues and obeyed their husbands, +what a happy world it would be!" + +The King turned upon him. + +"True! But you are not bound by the confidences of marriage, +Professor,--so that while in our service our will must be your law! +You, therefore, can perhaps tell me the name of the fortunate man who +has wedded this fair lady?" + +The Professor's countenance visibly reddened. + +"Sir," he stammered--"With every respect for your Majesty, I would +rather lose my much-to-be-appreciated post with you than betray my +friends!" + +The King suddenly lost patience. + +"By Heaven!" he exclaimed, "Is my command to be slighted and set aside +as if it were naught? Not while I am king of this country! What mystery +is here that I am not to know?" + +Gloria laughed outright, and the pretty ripple of mirth, so unforced +and natural, diverted the monarch's irritation. + +"Oh, you are angry!" she said, her lovely eyes twinkling and sparkling +like diamonds:--"So! Then your Majesty is no more than a very common +man who loses temper when he cannot have his own way!" She laughed +again, and the King stared at her unoffended,--being spellbound, both +by her regal beauty, and her complete indifference to himself. "I will +speak like the prophets do in the Bible and say, 'Lo! there is no +mystery, O King!' I am only poor Gloria, a sailor's wife,--and the +sailor has a place on board your son the Crown Prince's yacht, and he +does not want his master to know that he is married lest he lose that +place! Is not that plain and clear, O King? And why should I disobey my +beloved in such a simple matter?" + +The King was still in something of a fume. + +"There is no reason why you should disobey," he said more quietly, but +still with vexation;--"But, equally, there is no reason why your +husband should be dismissed from the Crown Prince's service, because he +has chosen to marry. If you tell me his name, I will make all things +easy for him, for you, and your future. Can you not trust me?" + +With wonderful grace and quickness Gloria suddenly sprang forward, +caught the King's hand, kissed it, and then threw it lightly away from +her. + +"No!" she said, with a pretty defiance; "I kiss the hand of the +country's King--but I have my own King to serve!" + +And pausing for no more words, she turned away, sprang lightly up the +rocks as swiftly as a roe-deer, and disappeared. And from some hidden +corner, clear and full and sweet, her voice rang out above the peaceful +plashing of the waves: + + + "My King crown'd me! + And I and he + Are one till the world shall cease to be!" + +Stricken dumb and confused by the suddenness of her action, and the +swiftness of her departure, the King stood for a moment inert, gazing +up the rocky height with the air of one who has seen a vision of heaven +withdrawn again into its native element. Some darkening doubt troubled +his mind, and it was with an altogether changed and stern countenance +that he confronted Von Glauben. + +"Last night, Professor, you were somewhat anxious for our health and +safety," he said severely; "It is our turn now to be equally anxious +for yours! We are of opinion that you, like ourselves, run some risk of +danger by meddling in affairs which do not concern you! Silence!" This, +as the Professor, deeply moved by his Royal master's evident +displeasure, made an attempt to speak. "We will hear all you have to +say to-morrow. Meanwhile--follow your fair charge!" And he pointed up +in the direction whither Gloria had vanished. "Her husband"--and he +emphasized the word,--"whoever he is, appears to have entrusted her +safety to you;--see that you do not betray his trust, even though you +have betrayed mine!" + +At this remark Von Glauben was visibly overcome. + +"Sir, you have never had reason to complain of any lack of loyalty in +me to you and to your service," he said with an earnest dignity which +became him well;--"In the matter of the poor child yonder, whose beauty +would surely be a fatal snare to any man, there is much to be told,-- +which if told truly, will prove that I am merely the slave of +circumstances which were not created by me,--and which it is possible +for a faithful servant of your Majesty to regret! But a betrayer of +trust I have never been, and I beseech your Majesty to believe me when +I say that the acuteness of that undeserved reproach cuts me to the +heart! I yield to no man in the respect and affection I entertain for +your Royal person, not even to De Launay here--who knows--who knows--" + +He broke off, unable through strong emotion to proceed. + +"'Who knows'--What?" enquired the King, turning his steadfast eyes on +Sir Roger. + +"Nothing, Sir! Absolutely nothing!" replied the equerry, opening his +eyes as widely as their habitual langour would permit; "I am absolutely +ignorant of everything concerning Von Glauben except that he is an +honest man! That I certainly do know!" + +A slight smile cleared away something of the doubt and displeasure on +the King's face. Approaching the disconsolate Professor, he laid one +hand on his shoulder and looked him steadily in the eyes. + +"By my faith, Von Glauben, if I thought positively that you could play +me false in any matter, I would never believe a man again! Come! +Forgive my hasty speech, and do not look so downcast! Honest I have +always known you to be,--and that you will prove your honesty, I do not +doubt! But--there is something in this affair which awakens grave +suspicion in my mind. For to-day I press no questions--but to-morrow I +must know all! You understand? _All_! Say this to the girl, +Gloria,--say it to her husband also--as, of course, you know who her +husband is. If he serves on Prince Humphry's yacht, that is enough to +say that Humphry himself has probably seen her. Under all the +circumstances, I confess, my dear Von Glauben, that your presence here +is a riddle which needs explanation!" + +"It shall be explained, Sir--" murmured the Professor. + +"Naturally! It must, of course be explained. But I hope you give me +credit for not being altogether a fool; and I have an idea that my +son's frequent mysterious visits to The Islands have something to do +with this fair Gloria of Glorias!" Von Glauben started involuntarily. +"You perhaps think it too? Or know it? Well, if it is so, I can hardly +blame him overmuch,--though I am sorry he should have selected a poor +sailor's wife as a subject for his secret amours! I should have +thought him possessed of more honour. However--to-morrow I shall look +to you for a full account of the matter. For the present, I excuse +your attendance, and permit you to remain with her whom you call +'princess'!" + +He stepped back, and, taking De Launay's arm, turned round at once, and +walked away back to Ronsard's house by the path he had followed with +such eagerness and care. + +Von Glauben watched the two tall figures disappear, and then with a +troubled look, began to climb slowly up the rocks in the direction +where Gloria had gone. His reflections were not altogether as +philosophical as usual, because as he said to himself--"One can never +tell how a woman is going to meet misfortune! Sometimes she takes it +well; and then the men who have ruthlessly destroyed her happiness go +on their way rejoicing; but more often she takes it ill, and there is +the devil to pay! Yet--Gloria is not like any ordinary woman--she is a +carefully selected specimen of her sex, which a kindly Nature has +produced as an example of what women were intended to be when they were +first created. I wonder where she has hidden herself?" + +Arriving at the summit of the ascent, he peered down towards the sea. +Slopes of rank grass and sea-daisies tufted the rocks on this side, +divided by certain deep hollows which the action of the waves had +honeycombed here and there; and below the grass was the shore, powdered +thickly with sand, of a fine, light, and sparkling colour, like gold +dust. Here in the full light of the sinking sun lay Gloria, her head +pillowed against a rough stone, on the top of which a tall cluster of +daisies, sometimes called moon-flowers, waved like white plumes. + +"Gloria!" called Von Glauben. + +She looked up, smiling. + +"Has Majesty gone?" she asked. + +"Gone for the present," replied the Professor, beginning to put one +foot cautiously before the other down a roughly hewn stairway in the +otherwise almost inaccessible cliff. "But, like the sun which is +setting to-night, he will rise again to-morrow!" + +"Shall I come and help you down?" enquired the girl, turning on her +elbow as she lay, and lifting her lovely face, radiant as a flower, +towards him. + +"Whether down or up, you shall never help me, my princess!" he replied. +"When I can neither climb nor fall without the assistance of a woman's +hand, I shall take a pistol and tell it to whisper in my ear--'Good- +bye, Heinrich Von Glauben! You are all up--finish--gone!'" + +Here, with a somewhat elephantine jump, he alighted beside her and +threw himself on the warm sand with a deep sigh of mingled exhaustion +and relief. + +"You would be very wicked to put a pistol to your ear," said Gloria +severely;--"It is only a coward who shoots himself!" + +"Ach so! And it is a brave man who shoots others! That is curious, is +it not, princess? It is a little bit of man's morality; but we have no +time to discuss it now. We have something more serious to consider,-- +your husband!" + +She looked at him wonderingly. + +"My husband? Do you really think he will be very angry that the King +saw me?" + +The Professor appeared to be considering the question; but in reality +he was studying the exquisite delicacy of the face turned so wistfully +upon him, and the lovely lines of the slim throat and rounded chin--"So +beautiful a creature"--he was saying within himself--"And must she also +suffer pain and disillusion like all the rest of her unfortunate sex!" +Aloud he replied. + +"My princess, it is not for me to say he will be 'angry,'--for how +could he be angry with the one he loves to such adoration! He will be +sorry and troubled--it will put him into a great difficulty! Ach!--a +whole nest of difficulties!" + +"Why?" And Gloria's eyes filled with sudden tears. "I would not grieve +him for the world! I cannot understand why it should matter at all, +even if the King does find out that he is married. Are the rules so +strict for all the men who serve on board the Royal vessels?" + +Von Glauben bit his lips to hide an involuntary smile. But he answered +her with quite a martinet air. + +"Yes, they are strict--very strict! Particularly so in the case of your +husband. You see, my child--you do not perhaps quite understand--but he +is a sort of superior officer on board; and in close personal +attendance on the Crown Prince." + +"He did not tell me that!" said the girl a little anxiously; "Yet +surely it would not matter if he loses one place; can he not easily get +another?" + +Von Glauben was looking at her with a grave, almost melancholy +intentness. + +"Listen, my princess,--listen to your poor old friend, who means you so +much good, and no harm at all! Your husband--and I too, for that +matter,--wished much to prevent the King from seeing you--for--for many +reasons. When I heard he was coming to The Islands, I resolved to +arrive here before him, and so I did. I said nothing to Ronsard, not +even to warn him of the King's impending visit. I took you just +quietly, as I have often done, for a walk, with a book to read and to +explain to you, because you tell me you want to study; though in my +opinion you know quite enough--for a woman. I gave you a letter from +your husband, and you know he asked you in that letter to avoid all +possibility of meeting with the King. Good! Well, now, what happens? +You sing--and lo! his Majesty, like a fish on a hook, is drawn up open- +mouthed to your feet! Now, who is to blame? You or I?" + +A little perplexed line appeared on the girl's fair brows. "I am, I +suppose!" she said somewhat plaintively,--"But yet, even now, I do not +understand. What is the King? He is nothing! He does nothing for +anybody! People make petitions to him, and he never answers them--they +try to point out errors and abuses, and he takes no trouble to remedy +them--he is no better than a wooden idol! He is not a real man, though +he looks like one." + +"Oh, you think he looks like one?" murmured Von Glauben; "That is to +say you are not altogether displeased with his appearance?" + +Gloria's eyes darkened a moment with thought,--then flashed with +laughter. + +"No," she said frankly--"He is more kingly than I thought a king could +be. But he should not lose temper. That spoils all dignity!" + +Von Glauben smiled. + +"Kings are but mortal," he said, "and never to lose temper would be +impossible to any man." + +"It is such a waste of time!" declared Gloria--"Why should anyone lose +self-control? It is like giving up a sword to an enemy." + +"That is one of Rene Ronsard's teachings,"--said the Professor--"It is +excellent in theory! But in practice I have seen Rene give way to +temper himself, with considerable enjoyment of his own mental +thunderstorm. As for the King, he is generally a very equable +personage; and he has one great virtue--that is courage. He is brave as +a lion--perhaps braver than many lions!" + +She raised her eyes enquiringly. + +"Has he proved it?" + +Rather taken aback by the question, he stared at her solemnly. + +"Proved it? Well! He has had no chance. The country has been at peace +for many years--but if there should ever be a war----" + +"Would he go and fight for the country?" enquired Gloria. + +"In person? No. He would not be allowed to do that. His life would be +endangered----" + +"Of course!" interrupted the girl with a touch of contempt; "But if he +would allow himself to be ruled by others in such a matter, I do not +call him brave!" + +The Professor drew out his spectacles, and fixing them on his nose with +much care, regarded her through them with bland and kindly interest. + +"Very simple and primitive reasoning, my princess!" he said; "And from +an early historic point of view, your idea is correct. In the olden +times kings went themselves to battle, and led their soldiers on to +victory in person. It was very fine; much finer than our modern ways of +warfare. But it has perhaps never occurred to you that a king's life +nowadays is always in danger? He can do nothing more completely +courageous than to show himself in public!" + +"Are kings then so hated?" she asked. + +"They are not loved, it must be confessed," returned Von Glauben, +taking off his spectacles again; "But that is quite their own fault. +They seldom do anything to deserve the respect,--much less the +affection of their subjects. But this king--this man you have just +seen--certainly deserves both." + +"Why, what has he done?" asked Gloria wonderingly. "I have heard people +say he is very wicked--that he takes other men's wives away from them--" + +The Professor coughed discreetly. + +"My princess, let me suggest to you that he could scarcely take other +men's wives away from them, unless those wives were perfectly willing +to go!" + +She gave an impatient gesture. + +"Oh, there are weak women, no doubt; but then a king should know better +than to put temptation in their way. If a man undertakes to be strong, +he should also be honourable. Then,--what of the taxes the King imposes +on the people? The sufferings of the poor over there on the mainland +are terrible!--I know all about them! I have heard Sergius Thord!" + +The Professor gave an uncomfortable start. + +"You have heard Sergius Thord? Where?" + +"Here!" And Gloria smiled at his expression of wonderment. "He has +spoken often to our people, and he is father Rene's friend." + +"And what does he talk about when he speaks here?" enquired Von +Glauben. "When does he come, and how does he go?" + +"Always at night," answered Gloria; "He has a sailing skiff of his own, +and on many an evening when the wind sets in our quarter, he arrives +quite suddenly, all alone, and in a moment, as if by magic, the +Islanders all seem to know he is here. On the shore, or in the fields +he assembles them round him, and tells them many things that are plain +and true. I have heard him speak often of the shortness of life and its +many sorrows, and he says we could all make each other happy for the +little time we have to live, if we would. And I think he is right; it +is only wicked and selfish people who make others unhappy!" + +The Professor was silent. Gloria, watching him, wondered at his +somewhat perturbed expression. + +"Do you know the King very well?" she asked suddenly. "He seemed very +cross with you!" + +Von Glauben roused himself from a fit of momentary abstraction. + +"Yes,--he was cross!" he rejoined. "I, like your husband, am in his +service--and I ought to have been on duty to-day. It will be all right, +however--all right! But--" He paused for a moment, then went on--"You +say that only wicked and selfish people make others unhappy. Now suppose +your husband were wicked and selfish enough to make _you_ unhappy; +what would you say?" + +A sweet smile shone in her eyes. + +"He could not make me unhappy!" she said. "He would not try! He loves +me, and he will always love me!" + +"But, suppose," persisted the Professor--"Just for the sake of argument +--suppose he had deceived you?" + +With a low cry she sprang up. + +"Impossible!" she exclaimed; "He is truth itself! He could not deceive +anyone!" + +"Come and sit down again," said Von Glauben tranquilly; "It is +disturbing to my mind to see you standing there pronouncing your faith +in the integrity of man! No male creature deserves such implicit trust, +and whenever a woman gives it, she invariably finds out her mistake!" + +But Gloria stood still, The rich colour had faded from her cheeks--her +eyes were dilated with alarm, and her breath came and went quickly. + +"You must explain," she said hurriedly; "You must tell me what you mean +by suggesting such a wicked thought to me as that my husband could +deceive me! It is not right or kind of you,--it is cruel!" + +The Professor scrambled up hastily out of his sandy nook, and +approaching her, took her hand very gently and respectfully in his own +and kissed it. + +"My dear--my princess--I was wrong! Forgive me!" he murmured, and there +was a little tremor in his voice; "But can you not understand the +possibility of a man loving a woman very much, and yet deceiving her +for her good?" + +"It could never be for her good," said Gloria firmly; "It would not be +for mine! No lie ever lasts!" + +Von Glauben looked at her with a sense of reverence and something like +awe. The after-glow of the sinking sun was burning low down upon the +sea, and turning it to fiery crimson, and as she stood bathed in its +splendour, the white rocks towering above her, and the golden sands +sparkling at her feet, she appeared like some newly descended angel +expressing the very truth of Heaven itself in her own presence on +earth. As they stood thus, the sudden boom of a single cannon echoed +clear across the waves. + +"There goes the King!" said Von Glauben; "Majesty departs for the +present, having so far satisfied his curiosity! That gun is the signal. +Child!"--and turning towards her again, he took both her hands in his, +and spoke with emphatic gravity and kindness--"Remember that I am your +friend always! Whatever chances to you, do not forget that you may +command my service and devotion till death! In this strange life, we +never know from day to day what may happen to us, for constant change +is the law of Nature and the universe,--but after all, there is +something in the soul of a true man which does not change with the +elements,--and that is--loyalty to a sworn faith! In my heart, I have +sworn an oath of fealty to you, my beautiful little princess of the +sea!--and it is a vow that shall never be broken! Do you understand? +And will you remember?" + +Her large dark blue eyes looked trustingly into his. + +"Indeed, I will never forget!" she said, with a touch of wistfulness in +her accents; "But I do not know why you should be anxious for me--there +is nothing to fear for my happiness. I have all the love I care for in +the world!" + +"And long may you keep it!" said the Professor earnestly; "Come! It +will soon be time for me to leave you, and I must see Rene before I go. +If you follow my advice, you will say nothing to him of having met the +King--not for the present, at any rate." + +She agreed to this, though with some little hesitation,--then they +ascended the cliff, and walking by way of the pine-wood through which +the King had come, arrived at Ronsard's house, to find the old man +quite alone, and peacefully engaged in tying up the roses and jessamine +on the pillars of his verandah. His worn face lighted up with animation +and tenderness as Gloria approached him and threw her arms around his +neck, and to her he related the incident of the King and Queen's +unexpected visit, as a sort of accidental, uninteresting, and wholly +unimportant occurrence. The Queen, he said, was very beautiful; but too +cold in her manner, though she had certainly taken much interest in +seeing the house and garden. + +"It was just as well you were absent, child," he added--"Royalty brings +an atmosphere with it which is not wholesome. A king never knows what +it is to be an honest man!" + +"Those are your old, discarded theories, Ronsard!" said Von Glauben, +shaking his head;--"You said you would never return to them!" + +"Aye!" rejoined Ronsard;--"I have tried to put away all my old thoughts +and dreams for her sake"--and his gaze rested lovingly on Gloria as, +standing on tiptoe to reach a down-drooping rose, she gathered it and +fastened it in her bosom. "There should only be peace and contentment +where _she_ dwells! But sometimes my life's long rebellion against +sham and injustice stirs in my blood, and I long to pull down the +ignorant people's idols of wood and straw, and set up men in place of +dummies!" + +"A Mumbo-Jumbo of some kind has always been necessary in the world, my +friend," said the Professor calmly; "Either in the shape of a deity or +a king. A wood and straw Nonentity is better than an incarnated fleshly +Selfishness. Will you give me supper before I leave?" + +Ronsard smiled a cheery assent, and Gloria preceding them, and singing +in a low tone to herself as she went, they all entered the house +together. + +Meanwhile, the Royal yacht was scudding back to the mainland over crisp +waters on the wings of a soft breeze, with a bright moon flying through +fleecy clouds above, and silvering the foam-crests of the waves below. +There was music on board,--the King and Queen dined with their guests, +--and laughter and gay converse intermingled with the sound of song. +They talked of their day's experience--of the beauty of The Islands--of +Ronsard,--his quaint house and quainter self,--so different to the +persons with whom they associated in their own exclusive and brilliant +Court 'set,' and the pretty Countess Amabil flirting harmlessly with +Sir Walter Langton, suggested that a 'Flower Feast' or Carnival should +be held during the summer, for the surprise and benefit of the +Islanders, who had never yet seen a Royal pageant of pleasure on their +shores. + +But Sir Roger de Launay, ever watching the Queen, saw that she was very +pale, and more silent even than was her usual habit, and that her eyes +every now and again rested on the King, with something of wonder, as +well as fear. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +SECRET SERVICE + + +In one of the ultra-fashionable quarters of the brilliant and +overcrowded metropolis which formed the nucleus and centre of +everything notable or progressive in the King's dominions, there stood +a large and aggressively-handsome house, over-decorated both outside +and in, and implying in its general appearance vulgarity, no less than +wealth. These two things go together very much nowadays; in fact one +scarcely ever sees them apart. The fair, southern city of the sea was +not behind other modern cities in luxury and self-aggrandisement, and +there were certain members of the population who made it their business +to show all they were worth in their domestic and home surroundings. +One of the most flagrant money-exhibitors of this kind was a certain +Jew named David Jost. Jost was the sole proprietor of the most +influential newspaper in the kingdom, and the largest shareholder in +three other newspaper companies, all apparently differing in party +views, but all in reality working into the same hands, and for the same +ends. Jost and his companies virtually governed the Press; and what was +euphoniously termed 'public opinion' was the opinion of Jost. Should +anything by chance happen to get into his own special journal, or into +any of the other journals connected with Jost, which Jost did not +approve of, or which might be damaging to Jost's social or financial +interests, the editor in charge was severely censured; if the fault +occurred again he was promptly dismissed. 'Public opinion' had to be +formed on Jost's humour; otherwise it was no opinion at all. A few +other newspapers led a precarious existence in offering a daily feeble +opposition to Jost; but they had not cash enough to carry on the +quarrel. Jost secured all the advertisers, and as a natural consequence +of this, could well afford to be the 'voice of the people' ad libitum. +He was immensely wealthy, openly vicious, and utterly unscrupulous; and +made brilliant speculative 'deals' in the unsuspecting natures of those +who were led, by that bland and cheery demeanour which is generally +associated with a large paunch, to consider him a 'good fellow' with +his 'heart in the right place.' With regard to this last assertion, it +may be doubted whether he had a heart at all, in any place, right or +wrong. He was certainly not given to sentiment. He had married for +money, and his wife had died in a mad-house. He was now anxious to +marry again for position; and while looking round the market for a +sufficiently perfect person of high-breeding, he patronized the theatre +largely, and 'protected' several ballet-girls and actresses. Everyone +knew that his life was black with villainy and intrigue of the most +shameless kind, yet everyone swore that he was a good man. Such is the +value of a limitless money-bag! + +It was very late in the evening of the day following that on which the +King had paid his unexpected visit to The Islands,--and David Jost had +just returned from a comic opera-house, where he had supped in private +with two or three painted heroines of the footlights. He was in an +excellent humour with himself. He had sprung a mine on the public; and +a carefully-concocted rumour of war with a foreign power had sent up +certain stocks and shares in which he had considerable interest. He +smiled, as he thought of the general uneasiness he was creating by a +few headlines in his newspaper; and he enjoyed to the full the tranquil +sense of having flung a bone of discord between two nations, in order +to watch them from his arm-chair fighting like dogs for it tooth and +claw, till one or the other gave in. + +"Lutera will have to thank me for this," he said to himself; "And he +will owe me both a place and a title!" + +He sat down at his desk in his warm and luxuriously-furnished study,-- +turned over a few letters, and then glanced up at the clock. Its hands +pointed to within a few minutes of midnight. Taking up a copy of his +own newspaper, he frowned slightly, as he saw that a certain leading +article in favour of the Jesuit settlement in the country had not +appeared. + +"Crowded out, I suppose, for want of space," he said; "I must see that +it goes in to-morrow. These Jesuits know a thing or two; and they are +not going to plank down a thousand pounds for nothing. They have paid +for their advertisement, and they must have it. They ought to have had +it to-day. Lutera must warn the King that it will not do to offend the +Church. There's a lot of loose cash lying idle in the Vatican,--we may +as well have some of it! His Majesty has acted most unwisely in +refusing to grant the religious Orders the land they want. He must be +persuaded to yield it to them by degrees,--in exchange of course for +plenty of cash down, without loss of dignity!" + +At that moment the door-bell rang softly, as if it were pulled with +extreme caution. A servant answered it, and at once came to his +master's room. + +"A gentleman to see you, sir, on business," he said. + +Jost looked up. + +"On business? At this time of night? Say I cannot see him--tell him to +come again to-morrow!" + +The servant withdrew, only to return again with a more urgent +statement. + +"The gentleman says he must see you, sir; he comes from the Premier." + +"From the Premier?" + +"Yes, sir; his business is urgent, he says, and private. He sent in his +card, sir." + +Here he handed over the card in question, a small, unobtrusive bit of +pasteboard, laid in solitary grandeur on a very large silver salver. + +David Jost took it up, and scanned it with some curiosity. "'Pasquin +Leroy'! H'm! Don't know the name at all. 'Urgent business; bear private +credentials from the Marquis de Lutera'!" He paused again, considering, +--then turned to the waiting attendant. "Show him in.". + +"Yes, sir!" + +Another moment and Pasquin Leroy entered,--but it was an altogether +different Pasquin Leroy to the one that had recently enrolled himself +as an associate of Sergius Thord's Revolutionary Committee. _That_ +particular Pasquin had seemed somewhat of a dreamer and a visionary, +with a peculiar and striking resemblance to the King; _this_ +Pasquin Leroy had all the alertness and sharpness common to a practised +journalist, press-reporter or commercial traveller. Moreover, his +countenance, adorned with a black mustache, and small pointed beard, +wore a cold and concentrated air of business--and he confronted the +Jew millionaire without the slightest embarrassment or apology for +having broken in upon his seclusion at so unseasonable an hour. He used +a pince-nez, and was constantly putting it to his eyes, as though +troubled with short-sightedness. + +"I presume your matter cannot wait, sir," said Jost, surveying him +coolly, without rising from his seat,--"but if it can--" + +"It cannot!" returned Leroy, bluntly. + +Jost stared. + +"So! You come from the Marquis de Lutera?" + +"I do." + +"Your credentials?" + +Leroy stepped close up to him, and with a sudden movement, which was +somewhat startling, held up his right hand. + +"This signet is, I believe, familiar to you,--and it will be enough to +prove that I come on confidential business which cannot be trusted to +writing!" + +Jost gazed at the flashing sapphire on the stranger's hand with a sense +of deadly apprehension. He recognised the Premier's ring well enough; +and he also knew that it would never have been sent to him in this +mysterious way unless the matter in question was almost too desperate +for whispering within four walls. An uneasy sensation affected him; he +pulled at his collar, looked round the room as though in search of +inspiration, and then finally bringing his small, swine-like eyes to +bear on the neat soldierly figure before him, he said with a careless +air: + +"You probably bring news for the Press affecting the present policy?" + +"That remains to be seen!" replied Leroy imperturbably; "From a +perfectly impartial standpoint, I should imagine that the present +policy may have to alter considerably!" + +Jost recoiled. + +"Impossible! It cannot be altered!" he said roughly,--then suddenly +recollecting himself, he assumed his usual indolent equanimity, and +rising slowly, went to a side door in the room and threw it open. + +"Step in here," he said; "We can talk without fear of interruption. +Will you smoke?" + +"With pleasure!" replied Leroy, accepting a cigar from the case Jost +extended--then glancing with a slight smile at the broad, squat Jewish +countenance which had, in the last couple of minutes, lost something of +its habitual redness, he added--"I am glad you are disposed to discuss +matters with me in a friendly, as well as in a confidential way. It is +possible my news may not be altogether agreeable to you;--but of course +you would be more willing to suffer personally, than to jeopardise the +honour of Ministers." + +He uttered the last sentence more as a question than a statement. + +Jost shifted one foot against the other uneasily. + +"I am not so sure of that," he said after a pause, during which he had +drawn himself up, and had endeavoured to look conscientious; "You see I +have the public to consider! Ministers may fall; statesmen may be +thrown out of office; but the Press is the same yesterday, to-day, and +for ever!" + +"Except when a great Editor changes his opinions," said Leroy +tranquilly,--"Which is, of course, always a point of reason and +conscience, as well as of--advantage! In the present case I think--but +--shall we not enter the sanctum of which you have so obligingly opened +the door? We can scarcely be too private when the King's name is in +question!" + +Jost opened his furtive eyes in amazement. + +"The King? What the devil has he to do with anything but his women and +his amusements?" + +A very close observer might have seen a curious expression flicker over +Pasquin Leroy's face at these words,--an expression half of laughter, +half of scorn,--but it was slight and evanescent, and his reply was +frigidly courteous. + +"I really cannot inform you; but I am afraid his Majesty is departing +somewhat from his customary routine! He is, in fact, taking an active, +instead of a passive part in national affairs." + +"Then he must be warned off the ground!" said Jost irritably; "He is a +Constitutional monarch, and must obey the laws of the Constitution." + +"Precisely!" And Leroy looked carefully at the end of his cigar; "But +at present he appears to have an idea that the laws of the Constitution +are being tampered with by certain other kings;--for example,--the +kings of finance!" + +Jost muttered a half-inaudible oath. + +"Come this way," he said impatiently;--"Bad news is best soon over!" + +Leroy gave a careless nod of acquiescence,--then glancing round the +room, up at the clock, and down again to Jost's desk, strewn with +letters and documents of every description, he smiled a little to +himself, and followed the all-powerful editor into the smaller +adjoining apartment. The door closed behind them both, and Jost turned +the key in the lock from within. + +For a long time all was very silent. Jost's valet and confidential +servant, sleepy and tired, waited in the hall to let his master's +visitor out,--and hearing no sound, ventured to look into the study now +and then,--but to no purpose. He knew the sanctity of that inner +chamber beyond; he knew that when the Premier came to see the great +Jost,--as he often did,--it was in that mysterious further room that +business was transacted, and that it was as much as his place was worth +to venture even to knock at the door. So, yawning heavily, he dozed on +his bench in the hall,--woke with a start and dozed again,--while the +clock slowly ticked away the minutes till with a dull clang the hour +struck One. Then on again went the steady and wearisome tick-tick of +the pendulum, for a quarter of an hour, half an hour,--and three- +quarters,--till the utterly fatigued valet was about to knock down a +few walking-sticks and umbrellas, and make a general noise of reminder +to his master as to how the time was going, when, to his great relief, +he heard the inner door open at last, and the voice of the mysterious +visitor ring out in clear, precise accents. + +"Nothing will be done publicly, of course,--unless Parliament insists +on an enquiry!" The speaker came towards the hall, and the valet +sprang up from his bench, and stood ready to show the stranger out. + +Jost replied, and his accents were thick and unsteady. + +"Enquiry cannot be forced! The Marquis himself can burk any such +attempt." + +"But--if the King should insist?" + +"He would be breaking all the rules of custom and precedent," said +Jost,--"And he would deserve to be dethroned!" + +Pasquin Leroy laughed. + +"True! Good-night, Mr. Jost! Can I do anything for you in Moscow?" The +two men now came into the full light shed by the great lamp in the +hall. Jost looked darkly red in the face--almost apoplectic; Leroy was +as cool, imperturbable and easy of manner as a practised detective or +professional spy. + +"In Moscow," Jost repeated--"You are going straight to Russia?" + +"I think so." + +"I suppose you are in the secret service?" + +"Exactly! A curious line of business, too, which the outside world +knows very little of. Ah!--if the excellent people--the masses as we +call them--knew what rogues had the ruling of their affairs in some +countries--not in this country, of course!" he added with a quizzical +smile,--"but in some others, not very far away, I wonder how many +revolutions would break out within six months! Good-night, Mr. Jost!" + +"Good-night!" responded Jost briefly. "You will let me know any further +developments?" + +"Most assuredly!" + +The servant opened the door, and Pasquin Leroy slipped a gold coin +worth a sovereign into his hand, whereupon, of course, the worthy +domestic considered him to be a 'real gentleman.' As soon as he had +passed into the street, and the door was shut and barred for the night, +Jost bade his man go to bed, a command which was gladly obeyed; and re- +entering his study, passed all the time till the breaking of dawn in +rummaging out letters and documents from various desks, drawers and +despatch-boxes, and burning them carefully one by one in the open +grate. While thus employed, he had a truly villainous aspect,--each +flame he kindled with each paper seemed to show up a more unpleasing +expression on his countenance, till at last,--when such matter was +destroyed as he had at present determined on,--he drew himself up and +stood for a moment surveying the pile of light black ashes, which was +all that was left of about a hundred or more incriminating paper +witnesses to certain matters in which he had more than a lawful +interest. + +"It will be difficult now to trace my hand in the scheme!" he said to +himself, frowning heavily, as he considered various uncomfortable +contingencies arising out of his conversation with his late visitor. +"If the thunderbolt falls, it will crush Carl Perousse--not me. Yes! It +means ruin for him--ruin and disgrace--but for me--well! I shall find +it as easy to damn Perousse as it has been to support him, for he +cannot involve me without adding tenfold to his own disaster! I think +it will be safe enough for me--possibly not so safe for the Premier. +However, I will write to him to-morrow, just to let him know I received +his messenger." + +In the meantime, while David Jost was thus cogitating unpleasant and +even dangerous possibilities, which were perhaps on the eve of +occurring to himself and certain of his associates in politics and +journalism, Pasquin Leroy was hurrying along the city streets under the +light of a clear, though pallid and waning moon. Few wanderers were +abroad; the police walked their various rounds, and one or two +miserable women passed him, like flying ghosts in the thin air of +night. His mind was in a turmoil of agitation; and the thoughts that +were tossing rapidly through his brain one upon the other, were such as +he had never known before. He had fathomed a depth of rascality and +deception, which but a short month ago, he could scarcely have believed +capable of existence. The cruel injury and loss preparing for thousands +of innocent persons through the self-interested plotting of a few men, +was almost incalculable,--and his blood burned with passionate +indignation as he realized on what a verge of misery, bloodshed, +disaster and crime the unthinking people of the country stood, pushed +to the very edge of a fall by the shameless and unscrupulous designs of +a few financiers, playing their gambling game with the public +confidence,--and cheating nations as callously as they would have +cheated their partners at cards. + +"Thank God, it is not too late!" he murmured; "Not quite too late to +save the situation!--to rescue the people from long years of undeserved +taxation, loss of trade and general distress! It is a supreme task that +has been given me to accomplish!--but if there is any truth and right +in the laws of the Universe, I shall surely not be misjudged while +accomplishing it!" + +He quickened his pace;--and to avoid going up one of the longer +thoroughfares which led to the citadel and palace, he decided to cross +one of the many picturesque bridges, arched over certain inlets from +the sea, and forming canals, where barges and other vessels might be +towed up to the very doors of the warehouses which received their +cargoes. But just as he was about to turn in the necessary direction, +he halted abruptly at sight of two men, standing at the first corner in +the way of his advance, talking earnestly. He recognized them at once +as Sergius Thord and the half-inebriated poet, Paul Zouche. With +noiseless step he moved cautiously into the broad stretch of black +shadow cast by the great facade of a block of buildings which occupied +half the length of the street in which he stood, and so managing to +slip into the denser darkness of a doorway, was able to hear what they +were saying. The full, mellow, and persuasive tone of Thord's voice had +something in it of reproach. + +"You shame yourself, Zouche!" he said; "You shame me; you shame us all! +Man, did God put a light of Genius in your soul merely to be quenched +by the cravings of a bestial body? What associate are you for us? How +can you help us in the fulfilment of our ideal dream? By day you mingle +with litterateurs, scientists, and philosophers,--report has it that +you have even managed to stumble your way into my lady's boudoir;--but +by night you wander like this,--insensate, furious, warped in soul, +muddled in brain, and only the heart of you alive,--the poor +unsatisfied heart--hungering and crying for what itself makes +impossible!" + +Zouche broke into a harsh laugh. Turning up his head to the sky, he +thrust back his wild hair, and showed his thin eager face and +glittering eyes, outlined cameo-like by the paling radiance of the +moon. + +"Well spoken, my Sergius!" he exclaimed. "You always speak well! Your +thoughts are of flame--your speech is of gold; the fire melts the ore! +And then again you have a conscience! That is a strange possession!-- +quite useless in these days, like the remains of the tail we had when +we were all happy apes in the primeval forest, pelting the Megatherium +or other such remarkable beasts with cocoanuts! It was a much better +life, Sergius, believe me! A Conscience is merely a mental +Appendicitis! There should be a psychical surgeon with an airy lancet +to cut it out. Not for me!--I was born perfect--without it!" + +He laughed again, then with an abrupt change of manner he caught Thord +violently by the arm. + +"How can you speak of shame?" he said--"What shame is left in either +man or woman nowadays? Naked to the very skin of foulness, they flaunt +a nudity of vice in every public thoroughfare! Your sentiments, my +grand Sergius, are those of an old world long passed away! You are a +reformer, a lover of truth--a hater of shams--and in the days when the +people loved truth,--and wanted justice,--and fought for both, you +would have been great! But greatness is nowadays judged as 'madness'-- +truth as 'want of tact'--desire for justice is 'clamour for notoriety.' +Shame? There is no shame in anything, Sergius, but honesty! That is a +disgrace to the century; for an honest man is always poor, and poverty +is the worst of crimes." He threw up his arms with a wild gesture,-- +"The worst of crimes! Do I not know it!" + +Thord took him gently by the shoulder. + +"You talk, Zouche, as you always talk, at random, scarcely knowing, and +certainly not half meaning what you say. There is no real reason in +your rages against fate and fortune. Leave the accursed drink, and you +may still win the prize you covet--Fame." + +"Not I!" said Zouche scornfully,--"Fame in its original sense belonged +also to the growing-time of the world--when, proud of youth and the +glow of life, the full-fledged man judged himself immortal. Fame now is +adjudged to the biped-machine who drives a motor-car best,--or to the +fortunate soap-boiler who dines with a king! Poetry is understood to be +the useful rhyme which announces the virtues of pills and boot- +blacking! Mark you, Sergius!--my latest volume was 'graciously accepted +by the King'! Do you know what that means?" + +"No," replied Thord, a trifle coldly; "And if it were not that I know +your strange vagaries, I should say you wronged your election as one of +us, to send any of your work to a crowned fool!" + +Zouche laughed discordantly. + +"You would? No, you would not, my Sergius, if you knew the spirit in +which I sent it! A spirit as wild, as reckless, as ranting, as defiant +as ever devil indulged in! The humility of my presentation letter to +his Majesty was beautiful! The reply of the flunkey-secretary was +equally beautiful in smug courtesy: 'Sir, I am commanded by the King to +thank you for the book of poems you have kindly sent for his +acceptance!' I say again, Thord, do you know what it means?" + +"No; I only wish that instead of talking here, you would let me see you +safely home." + +"Home! I have no home! Since _she_ died--" He paused, and a grey +shadow crossed his face like the hue of approaching sickness or death. +"I killed her, poor child! Of course you know that! I neglected her,-- +deserted her--left her to die! Well! She is only one more added to the +list of countless women martyrs who have been tortured out of an unjust +world--and now--now I write verses to her memory!" He shivered as with +cold, still clinging to Thord's arm. "But I did not tell you what great +good comes of sending a book to the King! It means less to a writer +than to a boot-maker. For the boot-maker can put up a sign: 'Special +Fitter for the ease of His Majesty's Corns'--but if a poet should say +his verse is 'accepted' by a monarch, the shrewd public take it at once +to be bad verse, and will have none of it! That is the case with my +book to-day!" + +"Why did you send it?" asked Thord, with grave patience. "Your business +with kings is to warn, not to flatter!" + +"Just so!" cried Zouche; "And if His Most Gracious and Glorious had +been pleased to look inside the volume, he would have seen enough to +startle him! It was sent in hate, my Sergius,--not in humility,--just +as the flunkey-secretary's answer was penned in derision, aping +courtesy! How you look, under this wan sky of night! Reproachful, yet +pitying, as the eyes of Buddha are your eyes, my Sergius! You are a +fine fellow--your brain is a dome decorated with glorious ideals!--and +yet you are like all of us, weak in one point, as Achilles in the heel. +One thing could turn you from man into beast--and that would be if +Lotys loved--not you--she never will love you--but another!"--Thord +started back as though suddenly stabbed, and angrily shook off his +companion, who only laughed again,--a shrill, echoing laugh in which +there was a note of madness and desolation. "Bah!" he exclaimed; "You +are a fool after all! You work for a woman as I did--once! But mark +you!--do not kill her--as I did--once! Be patient! Watch the light +shine, even though it does not illumine your path; be glad that the +rose blooms for itself, if not for you! It will be difficult!-- +meanwhile you can live on hope--a bitter fruit to eat; but gnaw it to +the last rind, my Sergius! Hope that Lotys may melt in your fire, as a +snowflake in the sun! Come! Now take the poor poet home,--the drunken +child of inspiration--take him home to his garret in the slums--the +poet whose book has been accepted by the King!" + +Pulling himself up from his semi-crouching position, he seized Thord's +arm again more tightly, and began to walk along unsteadily. Presently +he paused, smiling vacantly up at the gradually vanishing stars. + +"Lotys speaks to our followers on Saturday," he said; "You know that?" + +Thord bent his head in acquiescence. + +"You will be there, of course. I shall be there! What a voice she has! +Whether we believe what she says or not, we must hear,--and hearing, we +must follow. Where shall we drink in the sweet Oracle this time?" + +"At the People's Assembly Rooms," responded Thord; "But remember, +Zouche, she does not speak till nine o'clock. That means that you will +be unfit to listen!" + +"You think so?" responded Zouche airily, and leaning on Thord he +stumbled onward, the two passing close in front of the doorway where +Pasquin Leroy stood concealed. "But I am more ready to understand +wisdom when drunk, than when sober, my Sergius! You do not understand. +I am a human eccentricity--the result of an _amour_ between a +fiend and an angel! Believe me! I will listen to Lotys with all my +devil-saintly soul,--you will listen to her with all your loving, +longing heart--and with us two thus attentive, the opinions of the rest +of the audience will scarcely matter! How the street reels! How the old +moon dances! So did she whirl pallidly when Antony clasped his Egyptian +Queen, and lost Actium! Remember the fate of Antony, Sergius! Kingdoms +would have been seized and controlled by men such as you are, long +before now--if there had not always been a woman in the case--a +Cleopatra--or a Lotys!" + +Still laughing foolishly, he reeled onwards, Sergius Thord half- +supporting, half-leading him, with grave carefulness and brotherly +compassion. They were soon out of sight; and Pasquin Leroy, leaving his +dark hiding-place, crossed the bridge with an alert step, and mounted a +steep street leading to the citadel. From gaps between the tall leaning +houses a glimpse of the sea, silvered by the dying moonlight, flashed +now and again; and in the silence of the night the low ripple of small +waves against the breakwater could be distinctly heard. A sense of holy +calm impressed him as he paused a moment; and the words of an old +monkish verse came back to him from some far-off depth of memory: + + Lord Christ, I would my soul were clear as air, + With only Thy pure radiance falling through! + +He caught his breath hard--there was a smarting sense as of tears in +his eyes. + +"So proudly throned, and so unloved!" he muttered. "Yet,--has not the +misprisal and miscomprehension been merited? Whose is the blame? Not +with the People, who, despite the prophet's warning, 'still put their +trust in princes'--but with the falsity and hollowness of the system! +Sovereignty is like an old ship stuck fast in the docks, and unfit for +sailing the wide seas--crusted with barnacles of custom and prejudice, +--and in every gale of wind pulling and straining at a rusty chain +anchor. But the spirit of Change is in the world; a hurrying movement +that has wings of fire, and might possibly be called Revolution! It is +better that the torch should be lighted from the Throne than from the +slums!" + +He went on his way quickly,--till reaching the outer wall of the +citadel, he was challenged by a sentinel, to whom he gave the password +in a low tone. The man drew back, satisfied, and Leroy went on, +mounting from point to point of the cliff, till he reached a private +gate leading into the wide park-lands which skirted the King's palace. +Here stood a muffled and cloaked figure evidently watching for him; for +as soon as he appeared the gate was noiselessly opened for his +admittance, and he passed in at once. Then he and the person who had +awaited his coming, walked together through the scented woods of pine +and rhododendrons, and talking in low and confidential voices, slowly +disappeared. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE KING'S VETO + + +The Marquis de Lutera was a heavy sleeper, and for some time had been +growing stouter than was advisable for the dignity of a Prime Minister. +He had been defeated of late years in one or two important measures; +and his colleague, Carl Perousse, had by gradual degrees succeeded in +worming himself into such close connection with the rest of the members +of the Cabinet, that he, Lutera, felt himself being edged out, not only +from political 'deals,' but from the profits appertaining thereto. So, +growing somewhat indifferent, as well as disgusted at the course +affairs were taking, he had made up his mind to retire from office, as +soon as he had carried through a certain Bill which, in its results, +would have the effect of crippling the people of the country, while +helping on his own interests to a considerable degree. At the immediate +moment he had a chance of looming large on the political horizon. Carl +Perousse could not do anything of very great importance without him; +they were both too deeply involved together in the same schemes. In +point of fact, if Perousse could bring the Premier to a fall, the +Premier could do the same by Perousse. The two depended on each other; +and Lutera, conscious that if Perousse gained any fresh accession of +power, it would be to his, Lutera's, advantage, was gradually preparing +to gracefully resign his position in the younger and more ambitious +man's favour. But he was not altogether comfortable in his mind since +his last interview with the King. The King had shown unusual signs of +self-will and obstinacy. He had presumed to give a command affecting +the national policy; and, moreover, he had threatened, if his command +were not obeyed, to address Parliament himself on the subject in hand, +from the Throne. Such an unaccustomed, unconstitutional idea was very +upsetting to the Premier's mind. It had cost him a sleepless night; and +when he woke to a new day's work, he was in an extremely irritable +humour. He was doubtful how to act;--for to complain of the King would +not do; and to enlighten the members of the Cabinet as to his Majesty's +declared determination to dispose amicably of certain difficulties with +a foreign power, which the Ministry had fully purposed fanning up into +a flame of war, might possibly awaken a storm of dissension and +discussion. + +"We all want money!" said the Marquis gloomily, as he rose from his +tumbled bed to take his first breakfast, and read his early morning +letters--"And to crush a small and insolent race, whose country is rich +in mineral product, is simply the act of squeezing an orange for the +necessary juice. Life would be lost, of course, but we are over- +populated; and a good war would rid the country of many scamps and +vagabonds. Widows and orphans could be provided for by national +subscriptions, invested as the Ministry think fit, and paid to +applicants after about twenty years' waiting!" He smiled sardonically. +"The gain to ourselves would be incalculable; new wealth, new schemes, +new openings for commerce and speculation in every way! And now the +King sets himself up as an obstacle to progress! If he were fond of +money, we could explain the whole big combine, and offer him a share;-- +but with a character such as he possesses, I doubt if it would work! +With some monarchs whom I could name, it would be perfectly easy. And +yet,--for the three years he has been on the throne, he has been +passive enough,--asking no questions,--signing such documents as he has +been told to sign,--uttering such speeches as have been written for +him,--and I was never more shocked and taken aback in my life than +yesterday morning, when he declared he had decided to think and act for +himself! Simply preposterous! An ordinary man who presumes to think and +act for himself is always a danger to the community--but a king! Good +Heavens! We should have the old feudal system back again." + +He sipped his coffee leisurely, and opened a few letters; there were +none of very pressing importance. He was just about to glance through +the morning's newspaper, when his man-servant entered bearing a note +marked 'Private and Immediate.' He recognized the handwriting of David +Jost. + +"Anyone waiting for an answer?" he enquired. + +"No, Excellency." + +The man retired. The Marquis broke the large splotchy seal bearing the +coat-of-arms which Jost affected, but to which he had no more right +than the man in the moon, and read what seemed to him more inexplicable +than the most confusing conundrum ever invented. + +"MY DEAR MARQUIS,--I received your confidential messenger last night, +and explained the entire situation. He left for Moscow this morning, +but will warn us of any further developments. Sorry matters look so +grave for you. Should like a few minutes private chat when you can +spare the time.-- + +"Yours truly, DAVID JOST." + +Over and over again the Marquis read this brief note, staring at its +every word and utterly unable to understand its meaning. + +"What in the world is the fellow driving at!" he exclaimed angrily-- +"'My messenger'! 'Explained the entire situation'! The devil! 'Left for +Moscow'! Upon my soul, this is maddening!" And he rang the bell +sharply. + +"Who brought this note?" he asked, as his servant entered. + +"Mr. Jost's own man, Excellency." + +"Has he gone?" + +"Yes, Excellency." + +"Wait!" And sitting down he wrote hastily the following lines: + +"DEAR SIR,--Your letter is inexplicable. I sent no messenger to you +last night. If you have any explanation to offer, I shall be disengaged +and alone till 11.30 this morning. + +"Yours truly,--DE LUTERA." + +Folding, sealing, and addressing this, he marked it 'Private' and gave +it to his man. + +"Take this yourself," he said, "and put it into Mr. Jost's own hands. +Trust no one to deliver it. Ask to see him personally, and then give it +to him. You understand?" + +"Yes, Excellency." + +His note thus despatched, the Marquis threw himself down in his arm- +chair, and again read Jost's mysterious communication. + +"Whatever messenger has passed himself off as coming from me, Jost must +have been crazy to receive him without credentials," he said. "There +must be a mistake somewhere!" + +A vague alarm troubled him; he was not moved by conscientious scruples, +but the idea that any of his secret moves should be 'explained' to a +stranger was, to say the least of it, annoying, and not conducive to +the tranquillity of his mind. A thousand awkward possibilities +suggested themselves at once to his brain, and as he carried a somewhat +excitable disposition under his heavy and phlegmatic exterior, he fumed +and fretted himself for the next half hour into an impatience which +only found vent in the prosaic and everyday performance of dressing +himself. Ah!--if those who consider a Prime Minister great and exalted, +could only see him as he pulls on his trousers, and fastens his shirt +collar, what a disillusion would be promptly effected! Especially if, +like the Marquis de Lutera, he happened to be over-stout, and difficult +to clothe! This particular example of Premiership was an ungainly man; +his proud position could not make him handsome, nor lend true dignity +to his deportment. Old Mother Nature has a way of marking her +specimens, if we will learn to recognize the signs she sets on certain +particular 'makes' of man. The Marquis de Lutera was 'made' to be a +stock-jobber, not a statesman. His bent was towards the material gain +and good of himself, more than the advantage of his country. His +reasoning was a slight variation of Falstaff's logical misprisal of +honour. He argued; "If I am poor, then what is it to me that others are +rich? If I am neglected, what do I care that the people are prosperous? +Let me but secure and keep those certain millions of money which shall +ensure to me and my heritage a handsome endowment, not only for my +life, but for all lives connected with mine which come after me,--and +my 'patriotism' is satisfied!" + +He had just finished insinuating himself by degrees into his morning +coat, when his servant entered. + +"Well!" he asked impatiently. + +"Mr. Jost is coming round at once, Excellency. He ordered his carriage +directly he read your note." + +"He sent no answer?" + +"None, Excellency." + +"When he arrives, show him into the library." + +"Yes, Excellency." + +The Marquis thereupon left his sleeping apartment, and descended to the +library himself. The sun was streaming brilliantly into the room, and +the windows, thrown wide open, showed a cheerful display of lawn and +flower-garden, filled with palms and other semi-tropical shrubs, for +though the Premier's house was in the centre of the fashionable quarter +of the city, it had the advantage of extensive and well-shaded grounds. +A law had been passed in the late King's time against the felling of +trees, it having been scientifically proved that trees in a certain +quantity, not only purify the air from disease germs affecting the +human organization, but also save the crops from many noxious insect- +pests and poisonous fungi. Having learned the lesson at last, that the +Almighty may be trusted to know His own business, and that trees are +intended for wider purposes than mere timber, the regulations were +strict concerning them. No one could fell a tree on his own ground +without, first of all, making a statement at the National Office of +Aboriculture as to the causes for its removal; and only if these causes +were found satisfactory, could a stamped permission be obtained for +cutting it down or 'lifting' it to other ground. The result of this +sensible regulation was that in the hottest days of summer the city was +kept cool and shady by the rich foliage branching out everywhere, and +in some parts running into broad avenues and groves of great thickness +and beauty. The Marquis de Lutera's garden had an additional charm in a +beautiful alley of orange trees, and the fragrance wafted into his room +from the delicious blossoms would have refreshed and charmed anyone +less troubled, worried and feverish, than he was at the time. But this +morning the very sunshine annoyed him;--never a great lover of Nature, +the trees and flowers forming the outlook on which his heavy eyes +rested were almost an affront. The tranquil beauty of an ever renewed +and renewing Nature is always particularly offensive to an uneasy +conscience and an exhausted mind. + +The sound of wheels grinding along the outer drive brought a faint +gleam of satisfaction on his brooding features, and he turned sharply +round, as the door of the library was thrown open to admit Jost, whose +appearance, despite his jaunty manner, betokened evident confusion and +alarm. + +"Good-morning, Mr. Jost!" said the Marquis stiffly, as his confidential +man ushered in the visitor,--then when the servant had retired and +closed the door, he added quickly--"Now what does this mean?" + +Jost dropped into a chair, and pulling out a handkerchief wiped the +perspiration from his brow. + +"I don't know!" he said helplessly; "I don't know what it means! I have +told you the truth! A man came to see me late last night, saying he was +sent by you on urgent business. He said you wished me to explain the +position we held, and the amount of the interests we had at stake, as +there were grave discoveries pending, and complexities likely to ensue. +He gave his name--there is his card!" + +And with a semi-groan, he threw down the bit of pasteboard in question. + +The Marquis snatched it up. + +"'Pasquin Leroy'! I never heard the name in my life," he said fiercely. +"Jost, you have been done! You mean to tell me you were such a fool as +to trust an entire stranger with the whole financial plan of campaign, +and that you were credulous enough to believe that he came from me--me +--De Lutera,--without any credentials?" + +"Credentials!" exclaimed Jost; "Do you suppose I would have received +him at all had credentials been lacking? Not I! He brought me the most +sure and confidential sign of your trust that could be produced--your +own signet-ring!" + +The Marquis staggered back, as though Jost's words had been so many +direct blows on the chest,--his countenance turned a livid white. + +"My signet-ring!" he repeated,--and almost unconsciously he looked at +the hand from which the great jewel was missing; "My signet!"--Then he +forced a smile--"Jost, I repeat, you have been done!--doubly fooled!-- +no one could possibly have obtained my signet,--for at this very +moment it is on the hand of the King!" + +Jost rose slowly out of his chair, his eyes protruding out of his head, +his jaw almost dropping in the extremity of his amazement. + +"The King!"--he gasped--"The King!" + +"Yes, man, the King!" repeated De Lutera impatiently,--"Only yesterday +morning his Majesty, having mislaid his own ring for the moment, +borrowed mine just before starting on his yachting cruise. How you +stare! You have been fooled!--that is perfectly plain and evident!" + +"The King!" repeated Jost stupidly--"Then the man who came to me last +night--" He broke off, unable to find any words for the expression of +the thoughts which began to terrify him. + +"Well!--the man who came to you last night," echoed the Marquis,--"He +was not the King, I suppose, was he?" And he laughed derisively. + +"No--he was not the King," said Jost slowly; "I know _him_ well +enough! But it might have been someone in the King's service! For he +knew, or said he knew, the King's intentions in a certain matter +affecting both you and Carl Perousse,--and in a more distant way, +myself--and warned me of a coming change in the policy. Ah!--it is +now your turn to stare, Marquis! You had best be on your guard, for if +the person who came to me last night was not your messenger, he was the +King's spy! And, in that case, we are lost!" + +The Marquis paced the room with long uneven strides,--his mind was +greatly agitated, but he had no wish to show his perturbation too +openly to one whom he considered as a mere tool in his service. + +"I know," went on Jost emphatically, "that the ring he wore was yours! +I noticed it particularly while I was talking to him. It would take a +long time and exceptional skill to make any imitation of that sapphire. +There is no doubt that it was your signet!" + +The Premier halted suddenly in his nervous walk. + +"You told him the whole scheme, you say?" + +"I did." + +"And his reply?" + +"Was, that the King had discovered it, and proposed insisting on an +enquiry." + +"And then?" + +"Well! Then he warned me to look out for myself,--as anyone connected +with Carl Perousse's financial deal would inevitably be ruined during +the next few weeks." + +"Who is going to work the ruin?" asked the Marquis with a sneer; "Do +you not know that if the King dared to give an opinion on a national +crisis, he would be dethroned?" + +"There are the People--" began Jost. + +"The People! Human emmets--born for crushing under the heel of power! A +couple of 'leaders' in your paper, Jost, can guide the fool-mob any +way!" + +"That depends!" said Jost hesitatingly; "If what the fellow said last +night be true--" + +"It is not true!" said the Premier authoritatively. "We are going on in +precisely the same course as originally arranged. Neither King nor +People can interfere! Go home, and write an article about love of +country, Jost! You look in the humour for it!" + +The Jew's expression was anything but amiable. + +"What is to be done about last night?" he asked sullenly. + +"Nothing at present. I am going to the palace at two o'clock--I shall +see the King, and find out whether my signet is lost, stolen or +strayed. Meanwhile, keep your own counsel! If you have been betrayed +into giving your confidence to a spy in the foreign service, as I +imagine--(for the King has never employed a spy, and is not likely to +do so), and he makes known his information, it can be officially +denied. The official denial of a Government, Jost, like charity, has +before now covered a multitude of sins!" + +An instinctive disinclination for further conversation brought the +interview between them abruptly to a close, and Jost, full of a +suspicious alarm, which he was ashamed to confess, drove off to his +newspaper offices. The Premier, meantime, though harassed by secret +anxiety, managed to display his usual frigid equanimity, when, after +Jost's departure, his private secretary arrived at the customary time, +to transact under his orders the correspondence and business of the +day. This secretary, Eugene Silvano by name, was a quiet self-contained +young man, highly ambitious, and keenly interested in the political +situation, and, though in the Premier's service, not altogether of his +way of thinking. He called the Marquis's attention now to a letter that +had missed careful reading on the previous day. It was from the Vicar- +General of the Society of Jesus, expressing surprise and indignation +that the King should have refused the Society's request for such land +as was required to be devoted to religious and educational purposes, +and begging that the Premier would exert his influence with the monarch +to persuade him to withdraw or mitigate his refusal. + +"I can do nothing;" said the Marquis irritably,--"the lands they want +belong to the Crown. The King can dispose of them as he thinks best." + +The secretary set the letter aside. + +"Shall I reply to that effect?" he enquired. + +The Marquis nodded. + +"I know," said Silvano presently with a slight hesitation, "that you +never pay any attention to anonymous communications. Otherwise, there +is one here which might merit consideration." + +"What does it concern?" + +"A revolutionary meeting," replied Silvano, "where it appears the +woman, Lotys, is to speak." + +The Premier shrugged his shoulders and smiled. "You must enlighten me! +Who is the woman Lotys?" + +"Ah, that no one exactly knows!" replied the secretary. "A strange +character, without doubt, but--" He paused and spoke more +emphatically--"She has power!" + +Lutera gave a gesture of irritation. + +"Bah! Over whom does she exercise it. Over one man or many?" + +"Over one half the population at least," responded Silvano, quietly, +turning over a few papers without looking up. + +The Marquis stared at him, slightly amused. + +"Have you taken statistics of the lady's followers," he asked; "Are you +one of them yourself?" + +Silvano raised his eyes,--clear dark eyes, deep-set and steady in their +glance. + +"Were I so, I should not be here;" he replied--"But I know how she +speaks; I know what she does! and from a purely political point of view +I think it unwise to ignore her." + +"What is this anonymous communication you speak of?" asked the Premier, +after a pause. + +"Oh, it is brief enough," answered Silvano unfolding a paper, and he +read aloud: + +"To the Marquis de Lutera, Premier. + +"Satisfy yourself that those who meet on Saturday night where Lotys +speaks, have already decided on your downfall!" + +"Oracular!" said the Marquis carelessly;--"To decide is one thing--to +fulfil the decision is another! Lotys, whoever she may be, can preach +to her heart's content, for all I care! I am rather surprised, Silvano, +that a man of your penetration and intelligence should attach any +importance to revolutionary meetings, which are always going on more or +less in every city under the sun. Why, it was but the other day, the +police were sent to disperse a crowd which had gathered round the +fanatic, Sergius Thord; only the people had sufficient sense to +disperse themselves. A street-preacher or woman ranter is like a cheap- +jack or a dispenser of quack medicines;--the mob gathers to such +persons out of curiosity, not conviction." + +The secretary made no reply, and went on with other matters awaiting +his attention. + +At a few minutes before two o'clock the Marquis entered his carriage, +and was driven to the palace. There he learned that the King was +receiving, more or less unofficially, certain foreign ambassadors and +noblemen of repute in the Throne-room. A fine band was playing military +music in the great open quadrangle in front of the palace, where +pillars of rose-marble, straight as the stems of pine-trees, held up +fabulous heraldic griffins, clasping between their paws the country's +shield. Flags were flying,--fountains flashing,--gay costumes gleamed +here and there,--and the atmosphere was full of brilliancy and gaiety, +--yet the Marquis, on his way to the audience-chamber, was rendered +uncomfortably aware of one of those mysterious impressions which are +sometimes conveyed to us, we know not how, but which tend to prepare us +for surprise and disappointment. Some extra fibre of sensitiveness in +his nervous organization was acutely touched, for he actually fancied +he saw slighting and indifferent looks on the faces of the various +flunkeys and retainers who bowed him along the different passages, or +ushered him up the state stairway, when--as a matter of fact,--all was +precisely the same as usual, and it was only his own conscience that +gave imaginary hints of change. Arrived at the ante-chamber to the +Throne-room, he was surprised to find Prince Humphry there, talking +animatedly to the King's physician, Professor Von Glauben. The Prince +seemed unusually excited; his face was flushed, and his eyes +extraordinarily brilliant, and as he saw the Premier, he came forward, +extending his hand, and almost preventing Lutera's profound bow and +deferential salutation. + +"Have you business with the King, Marquis?" enquired the young man with +a light laugh. "If you have, you must do as I am doing,--wait his +Majesty's pleasure!" + +The Premier lifted his eyebrows, smiled deprecatingly, and murmuring +something about pressure of State affairs, shook hands with Von +Glauben, whose countenance, as usual, presented an impenetrable mask to +his thoughts. + +"It is rather a new experience for me," continued the Prince, "to be +treated as a kind of petitioner on the King's favour, and kept in +attendance,--but no matter!--novelty is always pleasing! I have been +cooling my heels here for more than an hour. Von Glauben, too, has been +waiting;--contrary to custom, he has not even been permitted to enquire +after his Majesty's health this morning!" + +Lutera maintained his former expression of polite surprise, but said +nothing. Instinct warned him to be sparing of words lest he should +betray his own private anxiety. + +The Prince went on carelessly. + +"Majesty takes humours like other men, and must, more than other men, I +suppose, be humoured! Yet there is to my mind something unnatural in a +system which causes several human beings to be dependent on another's +caprice!" + +"You will not say so, Sir, when you yourself are King," observed the +Marquis. + +"Long distant be the day!" returned the Prince. "Indeed, I hope it may +never be! I would rather be the simplest peasant ploughing the fields, +and happy in my own way, than suffer the penalties and pains +surrounding the possession of a Throne!" + +"Only," put in Von Glauben sententiously, "you would have to take into +consideration, Sir, whether the peasant ploughing the fields is happy +in his own way. I have made 'the peasant ploughing the fields' a +special form of study,--and I have always found him a remarkably +discontented, often ill-fed--and therefore unhealthy individual." + +"We are all discontented, if it comes to that!" said Prince Humphry +with a light laugh,--"Except myself! I am perfectly contented!" + +"You have reason to be, Sir," said Lutera, bowing low. + +"You are quite right, Marquis!--I have! More reason than perhaps you +are aware of!" + +His eyes lightened and flashed; he looked unusually handsome, and the +Premier's shifty glance rested on him for a moment with a certain +curiosity. But he had not been accustomed to pay very much attention to +the words or actions of the Heir-Apparent, considering him to be a very +'ordinary' young man, without either the brilliancy or the ambition +which should mark him out as worthy of his exalted station. And before +any further conversation could take place, Sir Roger de Launay entered +the room and announced to the Marquis that the King was ready to +receive him. Prince Humphry turning sharply round, faced the equerry. + +"I am still to wait?" he enquired, with a slight touch of hauteur. + +Sir Roger bowed respectfully. + +"Your instant desire to see the King, your father, Sir, was +communicated to his Majesty at once," he replied. "The present delay is +by his Majesty's own orders. I much regret----" + +"Regret nothing, my dear Sir Roger," he said. "My patience does not +easily tire! Marquis, I trust your business will not take long?" + +"I shall endeavour to make it as brief as possible, Sir," replied the +Premier deferentially as he withdrew. + +It was with a certain uneasiness, however, in his mind that he followed +Sir Roger to the Throne-room. There was no possibility of exchanging so +much as a word with the equerry; besides, De Launay was not a talking +man. Passing between the lines of attendants, pages, lords-in-waiting +and others, he was conscious of a certain loss of his usual self- +possession as he found himself at last in the presence of the King,-- +who, attired in brilliant uniform, was conversing graciously and +familiarly with a select group of distinguished individuals whose +costume betokened them as envoys or visitors from foreign courts in the +diplomatic service. Perceiving the Premier, however, he paused in his +conversation, and standing quite still awaited his approach. Then he +extended his hand, with his usual kindly condescension. Instinctively +Lutera's eyes searched that hand, with the expression of a guilty soul +searching for a witness to its innocence. There shone the great +sapphire--his own signet--and to his excited fancy its blue glimmer +emitted a witch-like glow of menace. Meanwhile the King was speaking. + +"You are just a few minutes late, Marquis!" he said; "Had you come a +little earlier, you would have met M. Perousse, who has matters of +import to discuss with you." Here he moved aside from those immediately +in hearing. "It is perhaps as well you should know I have 'vetoed' his +war propositions. It will rest now with you, to call a Council to- +morrow,--the next day,--or,--when you please!" + +Completely taken aback, the Premier was silent for a moment, biting his +lips to keep down the torrent of rage and disappointment that +threatened to break out in violent and unguarded speech. + +"Sir!--Your Majesty! Pardon me, but surely you cannot fail to +understand that in a Constitution like ours, the course decided upon by +Ministers _cannot_ be vetoed by the King?" + +The monarch smiled gravely. + +"'Cannot' is a weak word, Marquis! I do not include it in my +vocabulary! I fully grant you that a plan of campaign decided upon by +Ministers as you say, has _not_ been 'vetoed' by a reigning +sovereign for at least a couple of centuries,--and the custom has +naturally fallen into desuetude,--but if it should be found at any +time,--(I do not say it _has_ been found) that Ministers are +engaged in a seriously mistaken policy, and are being misled by the +doubtful propositions of private financial speculators, so much as to +consider their own advantage more important and valuable than the +prosperity of a country or the good of a people,--then a king who does +_not_ veto the same is a worse criminal than those he tacitly +supports and encourages!" + +Lutera turned a deadly white,--his eyes fell before the clear, straight +gaze of his Sovereign,--but he said not a word. + +"A king's 'veto' has before now brought about a king's dethronement," +went on the monarch; "Should it do so in my case, I shall not greatly +care,--but if things trend that way, I shall lay my thoughts openly +before the People for their judgment. They seldom or never hear the +Sovereign whom they pay to keep, speak to them on a matter gravely +affecting their national destinies,--but they shall hear _me_,--if +necessary!" + +The Marquis moistened his dry lips, and essayed to pronounce a few +words. + +"Your Majesty will run considerable risk----" + +"Of being judged as something more than a mere dummy," said the King-- +"Or a fool set on a throne to be fooled! True! But the risk can only +involve life,--and life is immaterial when weighed in the balance +against Honour. By the way, Marquis, permit me to return to you this +valuable gem";--Here drawing off the Premier's sapphire signet, he +handed it to him--"Almost I envy it! It is a fine stone!--and worthy of +its high service!" + +"Your Majesty has increased its value by wearing it," said Lutera, +recovering a little of his strayed equanimity in his determination to +probe to the bottom of the mystery which perplexed his mind. "May I +ask----" + +"Anything in reason, my dear Marquis," returned the King lightly, and +smiling as he spoke. "A thousand questions if you like!" + +"One will suffice," answered the Premier. "I had an unpleasant dream +last night about this very ring----" + +"Ah!" ejaculated the King; "Did you dream that I had dropped it in the +sea on my way to The Islands yesterday?" + +He spoke jestingly, yet with a kindly air, and Lutera gained courage to +look boldly up and straight into his eyes. + +"I did not dream that you had lost it, Sir," he answered--"but that it +had been stolen from your hand, and used by a spy for unlawful +purposes!" + +A strange expression crossed the King's face,--a look of inward +illumination; he smiled, but there was a quiver of strong feeling under +the smile. Advancing a step, he laid his hand with a light, half- +warning pressure on the Premier's shoulder. + +"Dreams always go by contraries, Marquis!" he said;--"I assure you, on +my honour as a king and a gentleman, that from the moment you lent it +to me, till now,--when I return it to you,--_that ring has never left +my finger_!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +"MORGANATIC" OR--? + + +The Royal 'at home' was soon over. Many of those who had the felicity +of breathing in the King's presence that afternoon remarked upon his +Majesty's evident good health and high spirits, while others as freely +commented on the unapproachableness and irritability of the Marquis de +Lutera. Sir Walter Langton, the great English traveller, who was taking +his leave of the Sovereign that day, being bound on an expedition to +the innermost recesses of Africa, was not altogether agreeably +impressed by the Premier, whom he met on this occasion for the first +and only time. They had begun their acquaintance by talking +generalities,--but drifted by degrees into the dangerous circle of +politics, and were skirting round the edge of various critical +questions of the day, when the Marquis said abruptly: + +"An autocracy would not flourish in your country, I presume, Sir +Walter? The British people have been too long accustomed to sing that +they 'never, never will be slaves.' Your Government is really more or +less of a Republic." + +"All Governments are so in these days, I imagine," replied Langton. +"Autocracy on the part of a monarch is nowhere endured, save in +Russia,--and what is Russia? A huge volcano, smouldering with fire, and +ever threatening to break out in flame and engulf the Throne! Monarchs +were not always wisdom personified in olden times,--and I venture to +consider them nowadays less wise and more careless than ever. Only a +return to almost barbaric ignorance and superstition would tolerate any +complete monarchical authority in these present times of progress. It +is only the long serfdom of Russia that hinders the triumph of Liberty +there, as elsewhere." + +The Marquis listened eagerly, and with evident satisfaction. + +"I agree with you!" he said. "You consider, then, that in no country, +under any circumstances, could the people be expected to obey their +monarch blindly?" + +"Certainly not! Even Rome, with its visible spiritual Head and +Sovereign, has no real power. It imagines it has; but let it make any +decided step to ensnare the liberties of the people at large, and the +result would be somewhat astonishing! Personally--" and he smiled +gravely--"I have often thought that my own country would be very much +benefited by a couple of years existence under an autocrat--an autocrat +like Cromwell, for example. A man strong and fierce, intelligent and +candid,--who would expose shams and destroy abuses,--who would have no +mercy on either religious, social, or political fraud, and who would +perform the part of the necessary hard broom for sweeping the National +house. But, unfortunately, we have no such man. You have,--in your +Sergius Thord!" + +The Premier heard this name with unconcealed amazement. + +"Sergius Thord! Why he is a mere fanatic----" + +"Pardon me!" interrupted Sir Walter,--"so was Cromwell!" + +"But, my dear sir!" remonstrated the Marquis smilingly,--"Is it +possible that you really consider Sergius Thord any sort of an +influence in this country? If you do, I assure you you are greatly +mistaken!" + +"I think not," responded Sir Walter quietly; "With every respect for +you, Marquis, I believe I am not mistaken! Books written by Sergius +Thord are circulating in their thousands all over the world--his +speeches are reported not only here, but in journals which probably you +never hear of, in far-off countries,--in short, his propaganda is +simply enormous. He is a kind of new Rousseau, without,--so far as I +can learn,--Rousseau's private vices. He is a man I much wished to see +during my stay here, but I have not had the opportunity of finding him +out. He is an undoubted genius,--but I need not remind you, Marquis, +that a man is never a prophet in his own country! The world's +'celebrity' is always eyed with more or less suspicion as a strange +sort of rogue or vagabond in his own native town or village!" + +At that moment, the King, having concluded a conversation with certain +of his guests, who were thereupon leaving the Throne-room, approached +them. He had not spoken a word to the Premier since returning him his +signet-ring, but now he said: + +"Marquis, I was almost forgetting a special request I have to make of +you!" + +"A request from you is a command, Sir!" replied Lutera with +hypocritical deference and something of a covert sneer, which did not +escape the quick observation of Sir Walter Langton. + +"In certain cases it should be so," returned the King tranquilly; "And +in this you will probably make it so! I have received a volume of poems +by one Paul Zouche. His genius appears to me deserving of +encouragement. A grant of a hundred golden pieces a year will not be +too much for his hundred best poems. Will you see to this?" + +The Marquis bowed. + +"I have never heard of the man in question," he replied hesitatingly. + +"Probably not," returned the King smiling;--"How often do Premiers read +poetry, or notice poets? Scarcely ever, if we may credit history! But +in this case----" + +"I will make myself immediately acquainted with Paul Zouche, and inform +him of your Majesty's gracious intention," the Marquis hastened to say. + +"It is quite possible he may refuse the grant," continued the King; +"Sometimes--though seldom--poets are prouder than Prime Ministers!" + +With a brief nod of dismissal he turned away, inviting Sir Walter +Langton to accompany him, and there was nothing more for the Marquis to +do, save to return even as he had come, with two pieces of information +puzzling his brain,--one, that the King's 'veto' had stopped a +declaration of war,--unless,--which was a very remote contingency,--he +and his party could persuade the people to go against the King,--the +other, that some clever spy, with the assistance of a fraudulent +imitation of his signet-ring, had become aware of the financial +interests involved in a private speculation depending on the intended +war, which included himself, Carl Perousse, and two or three other +members of the Ministry. And, out of these two facts might possibly +arise a whole train of misfortune, ruin and disgrace to those +concerned. + +It was considerably past three o'clock in the afternoon when the King, +retiring to his own private cabinet, desired Sir Roger de Launay to +inform Prince Humphry that he was now prepared to receive him. Sir +Roger hesitated a moment before going to fulfil the command. The King +looked at him with an indulgent smile. + +"Things are moving too quickly, you think, Roger?" he queried. "Upon my +soul, I am beginning to find a new zest in life! I feel some twenty +years younger since I saw the face of the beautiful Gloria yesterday! +We must promote her sailor husband, and bring his pearl of the sea to +our Court!" + +"It was on this very subject, Sir, that Von Glauben wished to see your +Majesty the first thing this morning," said Sir Roger;--"But you +refused him so early an audience. Yet you will remember that yesterday +you told him you wished for an explanation of his acquaintance with +this girl. He was ready and prepared to give it, but was prevented,-- +not only by your refusal to see him,--but also by the Prince." + +Drawing up a chair to the open window, the King seated himself +deliberately, and lit a cigar. + +"Presumably the Prince knows more than the Professor!" he said calmly; +"We will hear both, and give Royalty the precedence! Tell Prince +Humphry I am waiting for him." + +Sir Roger withdrew, and in another two or three minutes returned, +throwing open the door and ushering in the Prince, who entered with a +quick step, and brief, somewhat haughty salutation. Puffing leisurely +at his cigar, the King glanced his son up and down smilingly, but said +not a word. The Prince stood waiting for his father to speak, till at +last, growing impatient and waiving ceremony, he began. + +"I came, Sir, to spare Von Glauben your reproaches,--which he does not +merit. You accused him yesterday, he tells me, of betraying your trust; +he has neither betrayed your trust nor mine! I alone am to blame in +this matter!" + +"In what matter?" enquired the King quietly. + +Prince Humphry coloured deeply, and then grew pale. There was a ray of +defiance in the light of his fine eyes, but the tumult within his soul +showed itself only in an added composure of his features. + +"You wish me to speak plainly, I suppose," he said;--"though you know +already what I mean. I repeat,--I, and I alone, am to blame,--for--for +anything that seemed strange to you yesterday, when you met Von Glauben +at The Islands." + +The King's serious face lightened with a gleam of laughter. + +"Nothing seemed very strange to me, Humphry," he said, "except the one +fact that I found Von Glauben,--whom I supposed to be studying +scientific problems,--engaged in studying a woman instead! A very +beautiful woman, too, who ought to be something better than a sailor's +wife. And I do not understand, as yet, what he has to do with her, +unless--" Here he paused and went on more slowly--"Unless he is, as I +suspect, acting for you in some way, and trying to tempt the fair +creature with the prospect of a prince's admiration while the sailor +husband is out of the way! Remember, I know nothing--I merely hazard a +guess. You are an habitue of The Islands;--though I learned, on enquiry +of the interesting old gentleman who was good enough to be my host, +Rene Ronsard, that nobody had ever seen you there. They had only seen +your yacht constantly cruising about the bay. This struck me as +curious, I must confess. Some of your men were well known,-- +particularly one,--the husband of the pretty girl I saw. Her name, it +seems, is Gloria,--and I must admit that it entirely suits her. I can +hardly imagine that if you have visited The Islands as often as you +seem to have done, you can have escaped seeing her. She is too +beautiful to remain unknown to you--particularly if her husband is, as +they tell me, in your service. I asked her to give me his name, but she +refused it point-blank. I do not wish to accuse you of an amour, which +you are perhaps quite innocent of--but certain things taken in their +conjunction look suspicious,--and I would remind you that honour in +princes,--as in all men,--should come before self-indulgence." + +"I entirely agree with you, Sir!" said the Prince, composedly; "And in +the present case honour has been my first thought, as it will be my +last. Gloria is my wife!" + +"Your wife!" The King rose, his tall figure looking taller, his eyes +sparkling with anger from under their deep-set brows. "Your wife! Are +you mad, Humphry! You!----the Heir-Apparent to the Throne! You have +married her!" + +"I have!" replied the Prince, and the words now came coursing rapidly +from his lips in his excitement--"I love her! I love her with all my +heart and soul!--and I have given her the only shield and safeguard +love in this world can give! I have married her in my own name--the +name of our family,--which neither she nor any of the humble folk out +yonder have ever heard--but she is wedded to me as fast as Church and +Law can make it,--and there is only one wrong connected with my vows to +her--she does not know who I am. I have deceived her there,--but in +nothing else. Had I told her of my rank, she would never have married +me. But now she is mine,--and for her sake I am willing to resign all +pretension to the Throne in favour of my brother Rupert. Let it be so, +I implore you! Let me live my own life of love and liberty in my own +way!" + +Rigid as a statue the King stood,--his lips were set hard and his eyes +lowered. Long buried thoughts rose up from the innermost recesses of +his being, and rushed upon his brain in a deluge of remembrance and +regret. What!--after all these years, had the ghost of his first love, +the little self-slain maiden of his boyhood's dream, risen to avenge +herself in the life of his son? The strangeness of the comparison +between himself as he was now, and the eager passionate youth he was +then, smote him with a sense of sharp pain. Away in those far-off days +he had believed in love as the chief glory of existence; he had +considered it as the poets would have us consider it,--a saving, +binding, holding and immortal influence, which leads to all pure and +holy things, even unto God Himself, the Highest and Holiest of all. +When he lost that belief, how great was his loss!--when he ceased to +experience that pure idealistic emotion, how bitter became the monotony +of living! Rapidly the stream of memory swept over his innermost soul +and shook his nerves, and it was only through a strong effort of self- +repression that at last, lifting up his eyes he fixed them on the +flushed face of his son, and said in measured tones. + +"This is a very unexpected and very unhappy confession of yours, +Humphry! You have acted most unwisely!--you have been disloyal to me, +who am not only your father, but your King! You have proved yourself +unworthy of the nation's trust,--and you have deceived, more cruelly +than you think, an innocent and too-confiding girl. I shall not dispute +the legality of your marriage;--that would not be worth my while. You +have no doubt taken every step to make it as binding as possible;-- +however, that is but a trifling matter in your case. You know that such +a marriage is, and can only be morganatic;--and as the immediate +consequence of your amazing folly, a suitable Royal alliance must be +arranged for you at once. The nuptials can be celebrated with the +attainment of your majority next year." + +He spoke coldly and calmly, but his heart was beating with mingled +wrath and pain, and even while he thus pronounced her doom, the +exquisite face of Gloria floated before him like the vision of a +perfect innocence ruined and betrayed. He realised that he possibly had +an unusual character to reckon with in her,--and he had lately become +fully aware that there was as much determination and latent force in +the disposition of his son, as in the mother who had given him birth. +Pale and composed, the young Prince heard him in absolute silence, and +when he had finished, still waited a moment, lest any further word +should fall from the lips of his parent and Sovereign. Then he spoke in +quite as measured, cold and tranquil a manner as the King had done. + +"I need not remind you, Sir, that the days of tyranny are over. You +cannot force me into bigamy against my will!" + +His father uttered a quick oath. + +"Bigamy! Who talks of bigamy?" + +"You do, Sir! I have married a beautiful and innocent woman,--she is my +lawful wife in the sight of God and man; yet you coolly propose to give +me a second wife under the 'morganatic' law, which, as I view it, is +merely a Royal excuse for bigamy! Now I have no wish to excuse myself +for marrying Gloria,--I consider she has honoured me far more than I +have honoured her. She has given me all her youth, her life, her love, +her beauty and her trust, and whatever I am worth in this world shall +be hers and hers only. I am quite prepared"--and he smiled somewhat +sarcastically,--"to make it a test case, and appeal to the law of the +realm. If that law tolerates a crime in princes, which it would punish +in commoners, then I shall ask the People to judge me!" + +"Indeed!" And the King surveyed him with a touch of ironical amusement +and vague admiration for his audacity. "And suppose the people fail to +appreciate the romance of the situation?" + +"Then I shall resign my nationality;" said the young man coolly; +"Because a country that legalises a wrong done to the innocent, is not +worth belonging to! Concerning the Throne,--as I told you before--I am +ready to abandon it at once. I would rather lose all the kingdoms of +the world than lose Gloria!" + +There was a pause, during which the King took two or three slow paces +up and down the room. At last he turned and faced his son; his eyes +were softer--his look more kindly. + +"You are very much in love just now, Humphry!" he said; "And I do not +wish to be too hard on you in this matter, for there can be no question +as to the extraordinary beauty of the girl you call your wife----" + +"The girl who _is_ my wife," interrupted the Prince decisively. + +"Very well; so let it be!" said his father calmly; "The girl who +_is_ your wife--for the present! I will give you time--plenty of +time--to consider the position reasonably!" + +"I have already considered it," he declared. + +"No doubt! You think you have considered it. But if _you_ do not +want to meditate any further upon your marriage problem, you must allow +me the leisure to do so, as one who has seen more of life than you,--as +one who takes things philosophically--and also--as one who was young-- +once;--who loved--once;--and who had his own private dreams of +happiness--once!" He rested a hand on his son's shoulder, and looked +him full and fairly in the eyes. "Let me advise you, Humphry, to go +abroad! Travel round the world for a year!" + +The Prince was silent,--but his eyes did not flinch from his father's +steady gaze. He seemed to be thinking rapidly; but his thoughts were +not betrayed by any movement or expression that could denote anxiety. +He was alert, calm, and perfectly self-possessed. + +"I have no objection," he said at last; "A year is soon past!" + +"It is," agreed the King, with a sense of relief at his ready assent; +"But by the end of that time----" + +"Things will be precisely as they are now," said the Prince tranquilly; +"Gloria will still be my wife, and I shall still be her husband!" + +The King gave a gesture of annoyance. + +"Whatever the result," he said, "she cannot, and will not be Crown +Princess!" + +"She will not envy that destiny in my brother Rupert's wife," said +Prince Humphry quietly; "Nor shall I envy my brother Rupert!" + +"You talk like a fool, Humphry!" said the King impatiently; "You cannot +resign your Heir-Apparency to the Throne, without giving a reason;--and +so making known your marriage." + +"That is precisely what I wish to do," returned the young man. "I have +no intention of keeping my marriage secret. I am proud of it! Gloria is +mine--the joy of my soul--the very pulse of my life! Why should I hide +my heart's light under a cloud?" + +His voice vibrated with tender feeling,--his handsome features were +softened into finer beauty by the passion which invigorated him, and +his father looking at him, thought for a moment that so might the young +gods of the fabled Parnassus have appeared in the height of their +symbolic power and charm. His own eyes grew melancholy, as he studied +this vigorous incarnation of ardent love and passionate resolve; and a +slight sigh escaped him unconsciously. + +"You forget!" he said slowly, "you have, up to the present deceived the +girl. She does not know who you are. When she hears that you have +played a part,--that you are no sailor in the service of the Crown +Prince, as you have apparently represented yourself to be, but the +Crown Prince himself, what will she say to you? Perhaps she will hate +you for the deception, as much as she now loves you!" + +A shadow darkened the young Prince's open countenance, but it soon +passed away. + +"She will never hate me!" he said,--"For when I do tell her the truth, +it will be when I have resigned all the ridiculous pomp and +circumstance of my position for her sake----" + +"Perhaps she will not let you resign it!" said the King; "She may be as +unselfish as she is beautiful!" + +There was a slight, very slight note of derision in his voice, and the +Prince caught it up at once. + +"You wrong yourself, Sir, more than you wrong my wife by any lurking +misjudgment of her," he said, with singularly masterful and expressive +dignity. "As her husband, and the guardian of her honour, I also claim +her obedience. What I desire is her law!" + +The King laughed a little forcedly. + +"Evidently you have found the miracle of the ages, Humphry!" he said; +"A woman who obeys her master! Well! Let us talk no more of it. You +have been guilty of an egregious folly,--but nothing can make your +marriage otherwise than morganatic. And when the State considers a +Royal alliance for you advisable, you will be compelled to obey the +country's wish,--or else resign the Throne." + +"I shall obey the country's wish most decidedly," said the Prince, +"unless it asks me to commit bigamy,--as you suggest,--in which case I +shall decline! Three or four Royal sinners of this class I know of, who +for all their pains have not succeeded in winning the attachment of +their people, either for themselves or their heirs. Their people know +what they are, well enough, and despise their fraudulent position as +heartily as I do! I am perfectly convinced that if it were put to the +vote of the country, no people in the world would wish their future +monarch to be a bigamist!" + +"How you stick to a word and a phrase!" exclaimed the King irritably; +"The morganatic rule does away with the very idea of bigamy!" + +"How do you prove it, Sir?" queried the Prince. "Bigamy is the act of +contracting a second marriage while the first partner is alive. It is +punished severely in commoners;--why should Royalty escape?" + +The King began to laugh. This boy was developing 'discursive +philosophies' such as his own old tutor had abhorred. + +"Upon my life, I do not know, Humphry!" he declared; "You must ask the +departed shades of those who made themselves responsible for kingship +in the first place. Personally, I do not come under the law. I have +only married once myself!" + +His son looked full at him;--and the intensity of that look affected +and unsteadied his usual calm nerves. But he was not one to shirk an +unpleasant suggestion. + +"You would say, Humphry, if your filial respect permitted you, that my +one marriage has been amplified in various other ways. Perfectly true! +When women lie down and ask you to walk over them, you do it if you are +a man and a king! When, on the contrary, women show you that they do +not care whether you are royal or the reverse, and despise you more +than admire you, you run after them for all you are worth! At least I +do! I always have done so. And, to a certain extent, it has been +amusing. But the limit is reached. I am growing old!" Here he took up +the cigar he had thrown aside when his son had first startled him by +the announcement of his marriage, and relighting it, began to smoke +peaceably. "I am, as I say, growing old. I have never found what is +called love. You have--or think you have! Enjoy your dream, Humphry-- +but--take my advice and go abroad! See whether travel does not work a +change in you or,--in her!" He paused a moment, and while the Prince +still regarded him fixedly, added; "Will you tell the Queen?" + +"I will leave you to tell her, Sir, with your permission;" replied the +Prince; "I cannot expect her sympathy." + +"Von Glauben, then, is the only person you have trusted with your +confidence?" + +"Von Glauben was no party to my marriage, Sir. I was married fully +three months before I told him. He was greatly vexed and troubled,-- +but when he saw Gloria, he was glad." + +"Glad!" echoed the King; "For what reason, pray?" + +"I am afraid, Sir," said the young man with a smile, "his gladness was +but a part of his science! He said it was better for a prince to wed a +healthy and beautiful commoner, than the daughter of a hundred +scrofulous kings!" + +With a movement of intense indignation, the monarch sprang up from the +chair in which he had just seated himself. + +"Now, by Heaven!" he exclaimed; "Von Glauben goes too far! He shall +suffer for this!" + +"Why?" queried the Prince calmly; "You know that what he says is +perfectly true. True? Why, there is scarcely a Royal house in the world +save our own, without its hereditary curse of disease or insanity. We +pay more attention to the breeding of horses than the breeding of +kings!" + +The plain candour and veracity of the statement, left no room for +denial. + +"You have seen Gloria," went on the Prince; "You know she is the most +beautiful creature your eyes ever rested upon! Von Glauben told me you +were stricken dumb, and almost stupefied at sight of her----" + +"Damn Von Glauben!" said the King. + +His son smiled ever so slightly, but continued. + +"You have made yourself acquainted with her history--" + +"Yes!" said the King; "That she is a foundling picked up from the sea-- +a castaway from a wreck!--no one knows who her father and mother were, +and yet you, in your raving madness and folly of love, would make her +Crown Princess and future Queen!" + +The Prince went on unheedingly. + +"She is beautiful--and the simple method of her bringing up has left +her unspoilt and innocent. She is ignorant of the world's ways--because +--" and his voice sank to a reverential tenderness--"God's ways are +more familiar to her!" He paused, but his father was silent; he +therefore went on. "She is healthy, strong, simple and true,--more +fit for a throne, if such were her destiny, than any daughter of any +Royal house I know of. Happy the nation that could call such a woman +their Queen!" + +"As I have already told you, Humphry," returned the King, "you are in +love!--with the love of a headstrong, passionate boy for a beautiful +and credulous girl. I do not propose to discuss the subject further. +You are willing to go abroad, you tell me,--then make your preparations +at once. I will select one or two necessary companions for you, and you +can start when you please. I would let Von Glauben accompany you, but-- +for the present--I cannot well spare him. Your intended voyage must be +made public, and in this way nothing will be known of the manner in +which you have privately chosen to make a fool of yourself. I will +explain the situation to the Queen;--but beyond that I shall say +nothing. Let me know by to-morrow how soon you can arrange your +departure." + +The Prince bowed composedly, and was about to retire, when the King +called him back. + +"You do not ask my pardon, Humphry, for the offence you have +committed?" + +The young man flushed, and bit his lip. + +"Sir, I cannot ask pardon for what I do not consider is wrong! I have +married the woman I love; and I intend to be faithful to her. You +married a woman you did not love--and the result, according to my +views, and also according to my experience of my mother and yourself, +is more or less regrettable. If I have offended you, I sincerely beg +your forgiveness, but you must first point out the nature of the +offence. Surely, it must be more gratifying to you to know that I +prefer to be a man of honour than a common seducer?" + +The King looked at him, and his own eyes fell under his son's clear +candid gaze. + +"Enough! You may go!" he said briefly. + +The door opened and closed again;--he was gone. + +The King, left alone, fixed his eyes on the sparkling line of the sea, +brightly blue, and the flower-bordered terrace in front of him. Life +was becoming interesting;--the long burdensome monotony of years had +changed into a variety of contrasting scenes and colours,--and in +taking up the problem of human life as lived by others, more than as +lived by himself, he had entered on a new path, untrodden by +conventionalities, and leading, he knew not whither. But, having begun +to walk in it, he was determined to go on--and to use each new +experience as a guide for the rest of his actions. His son's marriage +with a commoner--one who indeed was not only a commoner but a +foundling--might after all lead to good, if properly taken in hand,-- +and he resolved not to make the worst of it, but rather to let things +take their own natural course. + +"For love," he said to himself somewhat bitterly, "in nine cases out of +ten ends in satiety,--marriage, in separation by mutual consent! Let +the boy travel for a year, and forget, if he can, the fair face which +captivates him,--for it is a fair face,--and more than that,--I +honestly believe it is the reflex of a fair soul!" + +His eyes grew dreamy and absorbed; away on the horizon a little white +cloud, shaped like the outspread wings of a dove, hovered over the sea +just where The Islands lay. + +"Yes! Let him see new scenes--strange lands, and varying customs; let +him hear modern opinions of life, instead of reading the philosophies +of Aurelius and Epictetus, and the poetry written ages ago by the dead +wild souls of the past;--and so he will forget--and all will be well! +While for Gloria herself,--and the old revolutionist Ronsard--we shall +doubtless find ways and means of consolation for them both!" + +Thus he mused,--yet in the very midst of his thoughts the echoing +memory of a golden voice, round and rich with delight and triumph rang +in his ears: + + "My King crown'd me! + And I and he + Are one till the world shall cease to be!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE PROFESSOR ADVISES + + +"I have discovered the secret of successful living, Professor," said the +King, a couple of hours later as, walking in one of the many thickly +wooded alleys of the palace grounds, he greeted Von Glauben, who had +been told to meet him there, and who had been waiting the Royal +approach with some little trepidation,--"It is this,--to draw a +straight line of conduct, and walk in it, regardless of other people's +crooked curves!" + +The Professor looked at him, and saw nothing but kindliness expressed +in his eyes and smile,--therefore, taking courage he replied without +embarrassment,-- + +"Truly, Sir, if a man is brave enough to do this, he may conquer +everything but death, and even face this last enemy without much +alarm." + +"I agree with you!" replied the monarch; "And Humphry's line has +certainly been straight enough, taken from the point of his own +perspective! Do you not think so?" + +Von Glauben hesitated a moment--then spoke out boldly. + +"Sir, as you now know all, I will frankly assure you that I think his +Royal Highness has behaved honourably, and as a true man! Society +pardons a prince for seducing innocence--but whether it will pardon him +for marrying it, is quite another question! And that is why I repeat, +he has behaved well. Though when he first told me he was married, I +suffered a not-to-be-explained misery and horror; 'For,' said he--'I +have married an angel!' Which naturally I thought (deducting a certain +quantity of the enthusiasm of youth for the statement) meant that he +had married a bouncing housemaid with large hands and feet. 'That is +well,' I told him--'For divorce is now made easy in this country, and +you can easily return the celestial creature to her native element!' At +which I resigned myself to hear some oaths, for violent expletives are +always refreshing to the masculine brain-matter. But his Royal Highness +maintained the good breeding which always distinguishes him, and merely +proceeded with his strange confession of romance,--which, as you, Sir, +are now happily aware of it, I need not recapitulate. Your knowledge of +the matter has lifted an enormous burden from my mind; Ach! Enormous!" + +He gave a deep breath, and drew himself up to his full height--squared +his shoulders, and then, as it were stood firm, as though waiting +attack. + +The King laughed good-naturedly, and took him by the arm. + +"Tell me all you know, Von Glauben!" he said; "I am acquainted with the +gist and upshot of the matter,--namely, Humphry's marriage; but I am +wholly ignorant of the details." + +"There is little to tell, Sir," said Von Glauben;--"Of the Prince's +constant journeyings to The Islands we were all aware long ago; but the +cause of those little voyages was not so apparent. To avoid the +suspicion with which a Royal visitor would be viewed, the Prince, it +appears, assumed to be merely one of the junior officers on his own +yacht,--and under this disguise became known and much liked by the +Islanders generally. He fell in love at first sight with the beautiful +girl your Majesty saw yesterday--Gloria; 'Glory-of-the-Sea'--as I +sometimes call her, and they were married by the old parish priest in +the little church among the rocks--the very church where, as her +adopted father, Ronsard, tells me, he heard the choristers singing a +'Gloria in Excelsis' on the day he found her cast up on the shore." + +"Well!" said the King, seeing that he paused; "And is the marriage +legal, think you?" + +"Perfectly so, Sir!" replied Von Glauben; "Registered by law, as well +as sanctified by church. The Prince tells me he married her in his own +name,--but no one,--not even the poor little priest who married them,-- +knew the surname of your Majesty's distinguished house, and I believe, +--nay I am sure--" here he heaved an unconscious sigh, "it will bring +a tragedy to the girl when she knows the true rank and title of her +husband!" + +"How came _you_ to make her acquaintance? Tell me everything!--you +know I will not misjudge you!" + +"Indeed, Sir, I hope you will not!" returned the Professor earnestly;-- +"For there was never a man more hopelessly involved than myself in the +net prepared for me by this romantic lover, who has the honour to be +your son. In the first place, directly I heard this confession of +marriage, I was for telling you at once; but as he had bound me by my +word of honour before he began the story, to keep his confidence +sacred, I was unable to disburden myself of it. He said he wanted to +secure me as a friend for his wife. 'That,' said I firmly, 'I will +never be! For there will be difficulty when all is known; and if it +comes to a struggle between a pretty fishwife and the good of a king-- +ach!--mein Gott!--I am not for the fishwife!'" + +The King smiled; and Von Glauben went on. + +"Well, he assured me she was not a fishwife. I said 'What is she then?' +'I tell you,' he replied, 'she is an angel! You will come and see her; +you will pass as an old friend of her sailor husband; and when you have +seen her you will understand!' I was angry, and said I would not go +with him; but afterwards I thought perhaps it would be best if I did, +as I might be able to advise him to some wise course. So I accompanied +him one afternoon in the past autumn to The Islands (he was married +last summer) and saw the girl,--the 'Glory-of-the-Sea.' And I must +confess to your Majesty, my heart went down before her beauty and +innocence in absolute worship! And if you were to kill me for it, I +cannot help it--I am now as devoted to her service as I am to yours!" + +"Good!" said the King gently;--"Then you must help me to console her in +Humphry's absence!" + +Professor Von Glauben's eyes opened widely, with a vague look of alarm. + +"In his absence, Sir?" + +"Yes! I am sending him abroad. He is quite willing to go, he tells me. +His departure will make all things perfectly easy for us. The girl must +remain in her present ignorance as to the position of the man she has +really married. The sailor she supposes him to be will accompany the +Prince on his yacht,--and it must be arranged that he never returns! +She is young, and will easily be consoled!" + +Von Glauben was silent. + +"_You_ will not betray the Prince's identity with her lover," went +on the King, "and no one else knows it. In fact, you will be the very +person best qualified to tell her of his departure, and--in due time, +of his fictitious death!" + +They were walking slowly under the heavy shadow of crossed ilex +boughs,--and Von Glauben came to a dead halt. + +"Sir," he said, in rather unsteady accents; "With every respect for +your Majesty, I must altogether decline the task of breaking a pure +heart, and ruining a young life! Moreover, if your Majesty, after all +your recent experiences,"--and he laid great emphasis on these last +words, "thinks there is any ultimate good to be obtained by keeping up +a lie, and practising a fraud, the lessons we have learned in these +latter days are wholly unavailing! You began this conversation with me +by speaking of a straight line of conduct, which should avoid other +people's crooked curves. Is this your Majesty's idea of a straight +line?" + +He spoke with unguarded vehemence, but the King was not offended. On +the contrary, he looked whimsically interested and amused. + +"My dear Von Glauben, you are not usually so inconsistent! Humphry +himself has kept up a lie, and practised a fraud on the girl----" + +"Only for a time!" interrupted the Professor hastily. + +"Oh, we all do it 'only for a time.' Everything--life itself--is 'only +for a time!' You know as well as I do that this absurd marriage can +never be acknowledged. I explained as much to Humphry; I told him he +could guard himself by the morganatic law, provided he would consent to +a Royal alliance immediately--but the young fool swore it would be +bigamy, and took himself off in a huff." + +"He was right! It would be bigamy;--it _is_ bigamy!", said the +Professor; "Call it by what name you like in Court parlance, the act of +having two wives is forbidden in this country. The wisest men have come +to the conclusion that one wife is enough!" + +"Humphry's ideas being so absolutely childish," went on the King, "it +is necessary for him to expand them somewhat. That is why I shall send +him abroad. You have a strong flavour of romance in your Teutonic +composition, Von Glauben,--and I can quite sympathise with your +admiration for the 'Glory-of-the-Sea' as you call her. From a man's +point of view, I admire her myself. But I know nothing of her moral or +mental qualities; though from her flat refusal to give me her husband's +name yesterday, I judge her as wilful,--but most pretty women are that. +And as for my line of conduct, it will, I assure you, be perfectly +'straight,'--in the direction of my duty as a King,--apart altogether +from sentimental considerations! And in this, as in other things,--" he +paused and emphasised his words--"I rely on your honour and faithful +service!" + +The Professor made no reply. He was, thinking deeply. With a kind of +grim scorn, he pointed out to himself that his imagination was held +captive by the mental image of a woman, whose eyes had expressed trust +in him; and almost as tenderly as the lover in Tennyson's 'Maud' he +could have said that he 'would die, To save from some slight shame one +simple girl.' Presently he braced himself up, and confronted his Royal +master. + +"Sir," he said very quietly, yet with perfect frankness; "Your +Majesty must have the goodness to pardon me if I say you must not rely +upon me at all in this matter! I will promise nothing, except to be +true to myself and my own sense of justice. I have given up my own +country for conscience' sake--I can easily give up another which is not +my own, for the same reason. In the matter of this marriage or +'mesalliance' as the worldly would call it,--I have nothing whatever to +do. While the Prince asked me to keep his secret, I kept it. Now that +he has confided it to your Majesty, I am relieved and satisfied; and +shall not in any way, by word or suggestion, interfere with your +Majesty's intentions. But, at the same time, I shall not assist them! +For as regards the trusting girl who has been persuaded that she has +won a great love and complete happiness for all her life,--I have sworn +to be her friend;--and I must respectfully decline to be a party to any +further deception in her case. Knowing what I know of her character, +which is a pure and grand one, I think it would be far better to tell +her the whole truth, and let her be the arbiter of her own destiny. She +will decide well and truly, I am sure!" + +He ceased; the King was silent. Von Glauben studied his face +attentively. + +"You are a thinker, Sir,--a student and a philosopher. You are not one +of those kings who treat their kingship as a license for the free +exercise of intolerant humours and vicious practices. Were you no +monarch at all, you would still be a sane and thoughtful man. Take my +humble advice, Sir--for once put the unspoilt nature of a pure woman to +the test, and find out what a grand creature God intended woman to be, +in her pristine simplicity and virtue! Send for Gloria to this Court;-- +tell her the truth!--and await the result with confidence!" + +There was a pause. The King walked slowly up and down; at last he +spoke. + +"You may be right! I do not say you are wrong. I will consider your +suggestion. Certainly it would be the straightest course. But first a +complete explanation is due to the Queen. She must know all,--and if +her interest can be awakened by such a triviality as her son's love- +affair--" and he smiled somewhat bitterly,--"perhaps she may agree to +your plan as the best way out of the difficulty. In any case"--here he +extended his hand which the Professor deferentially bowed over--"I +respect your honesty and plain speaking, Professor! I have reason to +approve highly of sincerity,--wherever and however I find it,--at the +present crisis of affairs. For the moment, I will only ask you to be on +your guard with Humphry;--and say as little as possible to him on the +subject of his marriage or intended departure from this country. Keep +everything as quiet as may be;--till--till we find a clear and +satisfactory course to follow, which shall inflict as little pain as +possible on all concerned. And now, a word with you on other matters." + +They walked on side by side, through the garden walks and ways, +conversing earnestly,--and by and by penetrating into the deeper +recesses of the outlying woodlands, were soon hidden among the crossing +and recrossing of the trees. Had they kept to the open ground, from +whence the wide expanse of the sea could be viewed from end to end, +their discussions might perhaps have been interrupted, and themselves +somewhat startled,--for they would have seen Prince Humphry's yacht, +with every inch of canvas stretched to the utmost, flying rapidly +before the wind like a wild white bird, winging its swift, straight way +to the west where the sun shot down Apollo-like shafts of gold on the +gleaming purple coast-line of The Islands. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +AN "HONOURABLE" STATESMAN + + +It is not easy to trace the causes why it so often happens that semi- +educated, and more or less shallow men rise suddenly to a height of +brilliant power and influence in the working of a country's policy. +Sometimes it is wealth that brings them to the front; sometimes the +strong support secretly given to them by others in the background, who +have their own motives to serve, and who require a public +representative; but more often still it is sheer unscrupulousness,--or +what may be described as 'walking over' all humane and honest +considerations,--that places them in triumph at the helm of affairs. To +rise from a statesman to be a Secretary of State augurs a certain +amount of brain, though not necessarily of the highest quality; while +it certainly betokens a good deal of dash and impudence. Carl Perousse, +one of the most prominent among the political notabilities of Europe, +had begun his career by small peddling transactions in iron and timber +manufactures; he came of a very plebeian stock, and had received only a +desultory sort of education, picked up here and there in cheap +provincial schools. But he had a restless, domineering spirit of +ambition. Ashamed of his plebeian origin, and embittered from his +earliest years by a sense of grudge against those who moved in the +highest and most influential circles of the time, the idea was always +in his mind that he would one day make himself an authority over the +very persons, who, in the rough and tumble working-days of his younger +manhood, would not so much as cast him a word or a look. He knew that +the first thing necessary to attain for this purpose was money; and he +had, by steady and constant plod, managed to enlarge and expand all his +business concerns into various, important companies, which he set +afloat in all quarters of the world,--with the satisfactory result that +by the time his years had run well into the forties, he was one of the +wealthiest men in the country. He had from the first taken every +opportunity to insinuate himself into politics; and in exact proportion +to the money he made, so was his success in acquiring such coveted +positions in life as brought with them the masterful control of various +conflicting aims and interests. His individual influence had extended +by leaps and bounds till he had become only secondary in importance to +the Prime Minister himself; and he possessed a conveniently elastic +conscience, which could be stretched at will to suit any party or any +set of principles. In personal appearance he was not prepossessing. +Nature had branded him in her own special way 'Trickster,' for those +who cared to search for her trademark. He was tall and thin, with a +narrow head and a deeply-lined, clean-shaven countenance, the cold +immovability of which was sometimes broken up by an unpleasant smile, +that merely widened the pale set lips without softening them, and +disclosed a crooked row of smoke-coloured teeth, much decayed. He had +small eyes, furtively hidden under a somewhat restricted frontal +development,--his brows were narrow,--his forehead ignoble and +retreating. But despite a general badness, or what may be called a +'smirchiness' of feature, he had learned to assume an air of +superiority, which by its sheer audacity prevented a casual observer +from setting him down as the vulgarian he undoubtedly was; and his +amazing pluck, boldness and originality in devising ways and means of +smothering popular discontent under various 'shows' of apparent public +prosperity, was immensely useful to all such 'statesmen,' whose +statesmanship consisted in making as much money as possible for +themselves out of the pockets of their credulous countrymen. He was +seldom disturbed by opposing influences; and even now when he had just +returned from the palace with the full knowledge that the King was +absolutely resolved on vetoing certain propositions he had set down in +council for the somewhat arbitrary treatment of a certain half- +tributary power which had latterly turned rebellious, he was more +amused than irritated. + +"I suppose his Majesty wants to distinguish himself by a melodramatic +_coup d'etat_" he said, leaning easily back in his chair, and +studying the tips of his carefully pared and polished finger-nails;-- +"Poor fool! I don't blame him for trying to do something more than walk +about his palace in different costumes at stated intervals,--but he +will find his 'veto' out of date. We shall put it to the country;--and +I think I can answer for that!" + +He smiled, as one who knows where and how to secure a triumph, and his +equanimity was not disturbed in the least by the unexpected arrival of +the Premier, who was just then announced, and who, coming in his turn +from the King's diplomatic reception, had taken the opportunity to call +and see his colleague on his way home. + +"You seem fatigued, Marquis!" he said, as, rising to receive his +distinguished guest, he placed a chair for him opposite his own. "Was +his Majesty's conversazione more tedious than usual?" + +Lutera looked at him with a dubious air. + +"No!--it was brief enough so far as I was immediately concerned," he +replied;--"I do not suppose I stayed more than twenty minutes in the +Throne-room altogether. I understand you have been told that our +proposed negotiations are to be vetoed?" + +Perousse smiled. + +"I have been told--yes!--but I have been told many things which I do +not believe! The King certainly has the right of veto; but he dare not +exercise it." + +"Dare not?" echoed the Marquis--"From his present unconstitutional +attitude it seems to me he dare do anything!" + +"I tell you he dare not!" repeated Perousse quietly;--"Unless he wishes +to lose the Throne. I daresay if it came to that, we should get on +quite as well--if not better--with a Republic!" + +Lutera looked at him with an amazed and reluctant admiration. + +"_You_ talk of a Republic? You,--who are for ever making the most +loyal speeches in favour of the monarchy?" + +"Why not?" queried Perousse lightly;--"If the monarchy does not do as +it is told, whip it like a naughty child and send it to bed. That has +been easily arranged before now in history!" + +The Marquis sat silent,--thinking, or rather brooding heavily. Should +he, or should he not unburden himself of certain fears that oppressed +his mind? He cleared his throat of a troublesome huskiness and began,-- + +"If the purely business transactions in which you are engaged----" + +"And you also," put in Perousse placidly. + +The Premier shifted his position uneasily and went on. + +"I say, if the purely business transactions of this affair were +publicly known----" + +"As well expect Cabinet secrets to be posted on a hoarding in the open +thoroughfare!" said Perousse. "What afflicts you with these sudden +pangs of distrust at your position? You have taken care to provide for +all your own people! What more can you desire?" + +Lutera hesitated; then he said slowly:-- + +"I think there is only one thing for me to do,--and that is to send in +my resignation at once!" + +Carl Perousse raised himself a little out of his chair, and opened his +narrow eyes. + +"Send in your resignation!" he echoed; "On what grounds? Do me the +kindness to remember, Marquis, that I am not yet quite ready to take +your place!" + +He smiled his disagreeable smile,--and the Marquis began to feel +irritated. + +"Do not be too sure that you will ever have it to take," he said with +some acerbity; "If the King should by any means come to know of your +financial deal----" + +"You seem to be very suddenly afraid of the King!" interrupted +Perousse; "Or else strange touches of those catch-word ideals 'Loyalty' +and 'Patriotism' are troubling your mind! You speak of _my_ +financial deal,--is not yours as important? Review the position;--it +is simply this;--for years and years the Ministry have been speculating +in office matters,--it is no new thing. Sometimes they have lost, and +sometimes they have won; their losses have been replaced by the +imposition of taxes on the people,--their gains they have very wisely +said nothing about. In these latter days, however, the loss has been +considerably more than the gain. 'Patriotism,' as stocks, has gone +down. 'Honour' will not pay the piper. We cannot increase taxation just +at present; but by a war, we can clear out some of the useless +population, and invest in contracts for supplies. The mob love +fighting,--and every small victory won, can be celebrated in beer and +illuminations, to expand what is called 'the heart of the People.' It +is a great 'heart,' and always leaps to strong drink,--which is cheap +enough, being so largely adulterated. The country we propose to subdue +is rich,--and both you and I have large investments of land there. With +the success which our arms are sure to obtain, we shall fill not only +the State coffers (which have been somewhat emptied by our +predecessors' peculations), but our own coffers as well. The King +'vetoes' the war; then let us hear what the People say! Of course we +must work them up first; and then get their verdict while they are red- +hot with patriotic excitement. The Press, ordered by Jost, can manage +that! Put it to the country; (through Jost);--but do not talk of +resigning when we are on the brink of success! _I_ will carry this +thing through, despite the King's 'veto'!" + +"Wait!" said the Marquis, drawing his chair closer to Perousse, and +speaking in a low uneasy tone; "You do not know all! There is some +secret agency at work against us; and, among other things, I fear that +a foreign spy has been inadvertently allowed to learn the mainspring of +our principal moves. Listen, and judge for yourself!" + +And he related the story of David Jost's midnight experience, carefully +emphasising every point connected with his own signet-ring. As he +proceeded with the narration, Perousse's face grew livid,--once or +twice he clenched his hand nervously, but he said nothing till he had +heard all. + +"Your ring, you say, had never left the King's possession?" + +"So the King himself assured me, this very afternoon." + +"Then someone must have passed off an imitation signet on David Jost," +continued Perousse meditatively. "What name did the spy give?" + +"Pasquin Leroy." + +Carl Perousse opened a small memorandum book, and carefully wrote the +name down within it. + +"Whatever David Jost has said, David Jost alone is answerable for!" he +then said calmly--"A Jew may be called a liar with impunity, and +whatever a Jew has asserted can be flatly denied. Remember, he is in +our pay!" + +"I doubt if he will consent to be made the scapegoat in this affair," +said Lutera; "Unless we can make it exceptionally to his advantage;--he +has the press at his command." + +"Give him a title!" returned Perousse contemptuously; "These Jew press- +men love nothing better!" + +The Marquis smiled somewhat sardonically. + +"Jost, with a patent of nobility would cut rather an extraordinary +figure!" he said; "Still he would probably make good use of it,-- +especially if he were to start a newspaper in London! They would accept +him as a great man there!" + +Perousse gave a careless nod; his thoughts were otherwise occupied. + +"This Pasquin Leroy has gone to Moscow?" + +"According to his own words, he was leaving this morning." + +"I daresay that statement is a blind. I should not at all wonder if he +is still in the city. I will get an exact description of him from Jost, +and set Bernhoff on his track." + +"Do not forget," said the Marquis impressively, "that he told Jost in +apparently the most friendly and well-meaning manner possible, that the +King had discovered the whole plan of our financial campaign. He even +reported _me_ as being ready to resign in consequence----" + +"Which apparently you are!" interpolated Perousse with some sarcasm. + +"I certainly have my resignation in prospect," returned Lutera coldly-- +"And, so far, this mysterious spy has seemingly probed my thoughts. If +he is as correct in his report concerning the King, it is impossible to +say what may be the consequence." + +"Why, what can the King do?" demanded Perousse impatiently, and with +scorn for the vacillating humour of his companion; "Granted that he +knew everything from the beginning----" + +"Including your large land purchases and contract concessions in the +very country you propose war with," put in the Marquis,--"Say that he +knew you had resolved on war, and had already started a company for the +fabrication of the guns and other armaments, out of which you get the +principal pickings--what then?" + +"What then?" echoed Perousse defiantly--"Why nothing! The King is as +powerless as a target in a field, set up for arrows to be aimed at! He +dare not divulge a State secret; he has no privilege of interference +with politics; all he can do is to 'lead' fashionable society--a poor +business at best--and at present his lead is not particularly apparent. +The King must do as We command!" + +He rose and paced up and down with agitated steps. + +"To-day, when he told me he had resolved to 'veto' my propositions, I +accepted his information without any manifestation of surprise. I +merely said it would have to be stated in the Senate, and that reasons +would have to be given. He agreed, and said that he himself would +proclaim those reasons. I told him it was impossible!" + +"And what was his reply?" asked the Marquis. + +"His reply was as absurd as his avowed intention. 'Hitherto it has been +impossible,' he said; 'But in Our reign we shall make it possible!' He +declined any further conversation with me, referring me to you and our +chief colleagues in the Cabinet." + +"Well?" + +"Well! I pay no more attention to a King's sudden caprice than I do to +the veering of the wind! He will alter his mind in a few days, when the +exigency of the matters in hand becomes apparent to him. In the same +way, he will revoke his decision about that grant of land to the +Jesuits. He must let them have their way." + +"What benefit do we get by favouring the Jesuits?" asked Lutera. + +"Jost gets a thousand a year for putting flattering notices of the +schools, processions, festivals and such nonsense in his various +newspapers; and our party secures the political support of the Vatican +in Europe,--which just now is very necessary. The Pope must give his +Christian benediction not only to our Educational system, but also to +the war!" + +"Then the King has set himself in our way already, even in this +matter?" + +"He has! Quite unaccountably and very foolishly. But we shall persuade +him still to be of our opinion. The ass that will not walk must be +beaten till he gallops! I have no anxiety whatever on any point; even +the advent of Jost's spy, with an imitation of your signet on his +finger appears to me quite melodramatic, and only helps to make the +general situation more interesting,--to me at least;--I am only sorry +to see that you allow yourself to be so much concerned over these +trifles!" + +"I have my family to think of," said the Marquis slowly; "My reputation +as a statesman, and my honour as a minister are both at stake." +Perousse smiled oddly, but said nothing. "If in any way my name became +a subject of popular animadversion, it would entirely ruin the position +I believe I have attained in history. I have always wished,--" and +there was a tinge of pathos in his voice--"my descendants to hold a +certain pride in my career!" + +Perousse looked at him with grim amusement. + +"It is a curious and unpleasant fact that the 'descendants' of these +days do not care a button for their ancestors," he said; "They +generally try to forget them as fast as possible. What do the +descendants of Robespierre, (if there are any), care about him? The +descendants of Wellington? The descendants of Beethoven or Lord Byron? +Among the many numerous advantages attending the world-wide fame of +Shakespeare is that he has left no descendants. If he had, his memory +would have been more vulgarised by _them,_ than by any Yankee +kicker at his grave! One of the most remarkable features of this +progressive age is the cheerful ease with which sons forget they ever +had fathers! I am afraid, Marquis, you are not likely to escape the +common doom!" + +Lutera rose slowly, and prepared to take his departure. + +"I shall call a Cabinet Council for Monday," he said; "This is Friday. +You will find it convenient to attend?" + +Perousse, rising at the same time, assented smilingly. + +"You will see things in a better and clearer light by then," he said. +"Rely on me! I have not involved you thus far with any intention of +bringing you to loss or disaster. Whatever befalls you in this affair +must equally befall me; we are both in the same boat. We must carry +things through with a firm hand, and show no hesitation. As for the +King, his business is to be a Dummy; and as Dummy he must remain." + +Lutera made no reply. They shook hands,--not over cordially,--and +parted; and as soon as Perousse heard the wheels of the Premier's +carriage grinding away from his outer gate, he applied himself +vigorously to the handle of one of the numerous telephone wires fitted +up near his desk, and after getting into communication with the quarter +he desired, requested General Bernhoff, Chief of the Police, to attend +upon him instantly. Bernhoff's headquarters were close by, so that he +had but to wait barely a quarter of an hour before that personage,--the +same who had before been summoned to the presence of the King,-- +appeared. + +To him Perousse handed a slip of paper, on which he had written the +words 'Pasquin Leroy.' + +"Do you know that name?" he asked. + +General Bernhoff looked at it attentively. Only the keenest and closest +observer could have possibly detected the slight flicker of a smile +under the stiff waxed points of his military moustache, as he read it. +He returned it carefully folded. + +"I fancy I have heard it!" he said cautiously; "In any case, I shall +remember it." + +"Good! There is a man of that name in this city; trace him if you can! +Take this note to Mr. David Jost"--and while he spoke he hastily +scrawled a few lines and addressed them--"and he will give you an exact +personal description of him. He is reported to have left for Moscow,-- +but I discredit that statement. He is a foreign spy, engaged, we +believe, in the work of taking plans of our military defences,--he must +be arrested, and dealt with rigorously at once. You understand?" + +"Perfectly," replied Bernhoff, accepting the note handed to him; "If he +is to be discovered, I shall not fail to discover him!" + +"And when you think you are on the track, let me have information at +once," went on Perousse; "But be well on your guard, and let no one +learn the object of your pursuit. Keep your own counsel!" + +"I always do!" returned Bernhoff bluntly. "If I did not there might be +trouble!" + +Perousse looked at him sharply, but seeing the wooden-like +impassiveness of his countenance, forced a smile. + +"There might indeed!" he said; "Your tact and discretion, General, do +much to keep the city quiet. But this affair of Pasquin Leroy is a +private matter." + +"Distinctly so!" agreed Bernhoff quietly; "I hold the position +entirely!" + +He shortly afterwards withdrew, and Carl Perousse, satisfied that he +had at any rate taken precautions to make known the existence of a spy +in the city, if not to secure his arrest, turned to the crowding +business on his hands with a sense of ease and refreshment. He might +not have felt quite so self-assured and complacent, had he seen the +worthy Bernhoff smiling broadly to himself as he strolled along the +street, with the air of one enjoying a joke, the while he murmured,-- + +"Pasquin Leroy,--engaged in taking plans of the military defences--is +he? Ah!--a very dangerous amusement to indulge in! Engaged in taking +plans!--Ah!--Yes!--Very good,--very good; excellent! Do I know the +name? Yes! I fancy I might have heard it! Oh, yes, very good indeed-- +excellent! And this spy is probably still in the city? Yes!--Probably! +Yes--I should imagine it quite likely!" + +Still smiling, and apparently in the best of humours with himself and +the world at large, the General continued his easy stroll by the sea- +fronted ways of the city, along the many picturesque terraces, and up +flights of marble steps built somewhat in the fashion of the prettiest +corners of Monaco, till he reached the chief promenade and resort of +fashion, which being a broad avenue running immediately under and in +front of the King's palace facing the sea, was in the late sunshine of +the afternoon crowded with carriages and pedestrians. Here he took his +place with the rest, saluting a fellow officer here, or a friend +there,--and stood bareheaded with the rest of the crowd, when a light +gracefully-shaped landau, drawn by four greys, and escorted by +postillions in the Royal liveries, passed like a triumphal car, +enshrining the cold, changeless and statuesque beauty of the Queen, +upon whom the public were never weary of gazing. She was a curiosity to +them--a living miracle in her unwithering loveliness; for, apparently +unmoved by emotion herself, she roused all sorts of emotions in others. +Bernhoff had seen her a thousand times, but never without a sense of +new dazzlement. + +"Always the same Sphinx!" he thought now, with a slight frown shading +the bluff good-nature of his usual expression; "She is a woman who will +face Death as she faces Time,--with that cold smile of hers which +expresses nothing but scorn of all life's little business!" + +He proceeded meditatively on his way to the palace itself, where, on +demand, he was at once admitted to the private apartments of the King. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +ROYAL LOVERS + + +Silver-white glamour of the moon, and velvet darkness of deep branching +foliage held the quiet breadth of The Islands between them. Low on the +shore the fantastic shapes of one or two tall cliffs were outlined +black on the fine sparkling sand,--tiny waves rose from the bosom of +the calm sea, and cuddling together in baby ripples made bubbles of +their crests, and broke here and there among the pebbles with low +gurgles of laughter, and in the warm silence of the southern night the +nightingales began to tune up their delicate fluty voices with +delicious tremors and pauses in the trying of their song. The under- +scent of hidden violets among moss flowed potently upon the quiet air, +mingled with strong pine-odours and the salt breath of the gently +heaving sea,--and all the land seemed as lonely and as fair as the +fabled Eden might have been, when the first two human mated creatures +knew it as their own. To every soul that loves for the first time, the +vision of that Lost Paradise is granted; to every man and woman who +know and feel the truth of the divine passion is vouchsafed a flashing +gleam of glory from that Heaven which gives them to each other. For the +voluptuary--for the animal man,--who like his four-footed kindred is +only conscious of instinctive desire, this pure expansion of the heart +and ennobling of the thought is as a sealed book,--a never-to-be- +divulged mystery of joy, which, because he cannot experience it, he is +unable to believe in. It is a glory-cloud in which the privileged ones +are 'caught up and received out of sight.' It transfuses the roughest +elements into immortal influences,--it colours the earth with fairer +hues, and fills the days with beauty; every hour is a gem of sweet +thought set in the dreaming soul, and the lover, at certain times of +rapt ecstasy, would smile incredulously were he told that anyone living +could be unhappy. For love goes back to the beginning of things,--to +the time when the world was new. It has its birth in that primeval +light when 'the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God +shouted for joy.' If it is real, deep, passionate and disinterested +love, it sees no difficulties and knows no disillusions. It is a +sufficient assurance of God to make life beautiful. But in these days +of the eld-time of nations, when all things are being mixed and +prepared for casting into a new mould of world-formation, where we and +our civilizations are not, and shall not be,--any more than the +Egyptian Rameses is part of us now,--love in its pristine purity, faith +and simplicity, is rare. Very little romance is left to hallow it; and +it is doubtful whether the white moon, swinging like a silver lamp in +heaven above the peaceful Islands, shed her glory anywhere on any such +lovers in the world, as the two who on this fair night of the southern +springtime, with arms entwined round each other, moved slowly up and +down on the velvet greensward outside Ronsard's cottage,--Gloria and +her 'sailor' husband. + +Gloria was happy,--and her happiness made her doubly beautiful. Clad in +her usual attire of white homespun, with her rich hair falling unbound +over her shoulders in girl-fashion, and just kept back by a band of +white coral, she looked like a young goddess of the sea; her lustrous, +starlike eyes gazed up into the tender responsive ones of the handsome +stripling she had so trustfully wedded, and not a shadow of doubt or +fear darkened the heaven of her confidence. She did not know how +beautiful she was,--she did not realise that her body was like one of +the unfettered, graceful and perfectly-proportioned figures of women +left to our wondering reverence by the Greek sculptors,--she had never +thought about herself at all, not even to compare her fair brilliancy +of skin with the bronzed, weather-beaten faces of the fisher-folk among +whom she dwelt. Resting her delicate classic head against the +encircling arm of her lover and lord, her beauty seemed almost +unearthly in its pure transparency of feature, outlined by the silver +glimmer of the moonbeams; and the young man by her side, with his +handsome dark head, tall figure and distinguished bearing, looked the +fitting mate for her fair, blossoming womanhood. No two lovers were +ever more ideally matched in physical perfection; and as they moved +slowly to and fro on the soft dark grass, brushing the dewy scent from +hanging rose-boughs that pushed out inviting tufts of white and pink +bloom here and there from the surrounding foliage, they would have +served many a poet for some sweet idyll, or romance in rhyme, which +should hold in its stanzas the magic of immortality. Yet there was a +shade of uneasiness in the minds of both,--Prince Humphry was more +silent than usual, and seemed absorbed in thought; and Gloria, looking +timidly up from time to time at the dark poetic face of her 'sailor' +lover, felt with a woman's quick instinct that something was troubling +him, and remorsefully concluded that she was to blame,--that he had +heard of her having been seen by the King, and that he was evidently +vexed by it. He had arrived that evening suddenly and unexpectedly; for +she and her 'little father,' as she called Rene Ronsard, had just begun +their frugal supper, when the Crown Prince's yacht swept into the bay +and dropped anchor. Half an hour later he, the much-beloved 'junior +officer' in the Crown Prince's service had appeared at the cottage +door, greatly to their delight, for they did not expect to see him so +soon. They had supped together, and then Ronsard himself had gone to +superintend a meeting at a small social club he had started for the +amusement of the fisher-folk, wisely leaving the young wedded lovers to +themselves. And they had for a long time been very quiet, save for such +little words of love as came into tune with the interchange of +caresses,--and after a pause of anxious inward thought, Gloria ventured +on a timid query. + +"Dearest,--are you _very_ angry with me?" + +He started,--and stopping in his walk, turned the fair face up between +his two hands, as one might lift a rose on its stem, and kissed it +tenderly. + +"Angry? How can I ever be angry with you, Sweet? Besides what cause +have I for anger?" + +"I thought, perhaps--" murmured Gloria, "that if the Professor told you +what I did yesterday,--when the King came--" + +"He did tell me;" and the Prince still gazed down on that heavenly +beauty which was the light of the world to him. "He told me that you +sang;--and that your golden voice was a musical magnet which drew his +Majesty to your feet! I am not surprised,--it was only natural! But I +could have wished it had not happened just yet; however, it has +happened, and we must make the best of it!" + +"It was my fault," said the girl penitently;--"I had the fancy to sing; +and I _would_ sing, though the good Professor told me not to do +so!" + +The Prince was silent. He was bracing his mind to the inevitable. He +had determined that on this very night Gloria should know the truth. +For he was instinctively certain that if he went abroad, as his father +wished him to do, some means would be taken to remove her altogether +from the country before his return; and his idea was to tell her all, +and make her accompany him on his travels. As his wife, she was bound +to obey him, he argued within himself; she should, she must go with +him! Unconsciously Gloria's next words supplied him with an opening to +the subject. + +"Why did you never tell me that the Professor was in the King's +service?" she asked. "He seemed to know him quite well,--indeed, almost +as a friend!" + +"He is the King's physician," answered the Prince abruptly; "And, +therefore, he is very greatly in the King's confidence." + +He walked on, still keeping his arm round her, and seemed not to see +the half-frightened glance she gave him. + +"The King's physician!" she echoed;--"He does not seem a great person +at all,--he is quite a simple old German man!" + +Her lover smiled. + +"To be physician to the King, my Gloria, is not a very wonderful +honour! It merely implies that the man so chosen is perhaps the ablest +fencer with sickness and death; the greatness is in the simple old +German himself, not in the King's preference. Von Glauben is a good +man." + +"I know it;" said Gloria gently; "He is good,--and very kind. He said +he would always be my friend,--but he was very strange in his manner +yesterday, and almost I was vexed with him. Do you know what he said? +He asked me what I should do if you--my husband, had deceived me? Can +you imagine such a thing?" + +Now was the supreme moment. With a violently beating heart the Prince +halted, and putting both arms round her waist, drew her up to him in +such a way that their eyes looked close into each other's, and their +lips were within kissing touch. + +"Yes, my sweetest one! I can imagine such a thing! Such a thing is +possible! Consider it to be true! Consider that I _have_ deceived +you!" + +She did not move from his clasp, but into her large, lovely trusting +eyes came a look of grief and terror, and her face grew ashy pale. + +"In what way?" she whispered faintly; "Tell me! I--I--cannot believe +it!" + +"Gloria,--Gloria! My love, my darling! Do not tremble so! Do not fear! +I have not deceived you in any evil way,--what I have done was for your +good and mine; but now--now there is no longer any need of deception,-- +you may, and _shall_ know all the truth, my wife, my dearest in +the world! You shall know me as I truly am at last!" + +She moved restlessly in his strong clasp,--she was trembling from head +to foot, as if her blood was suddenly chilled. + +"As you truly are!" she echoed, with pale lips--"Are you not then what +I have believed you to be?" + +And she made an effort to withdraw herself entirely from his embrace. +But he held her fast. + +"I am your husband, Gloria!" he said, "and you are my wife! Nothing can +alter that; nothing can change our love or disunite our lives. But I am +not the poor naval officer I have represented myself to be!--though I +am glad I adopted such a disguise, because by its aid I wooed and won +your love! I am not in the service of the Crown Prince,--except in so +far as I serve my own needs! Why, how you tremble!"--and he held her +closer--"Do not be afraid, my darling! Lift up your eyes and look at me +with your own sweet trusting look,--do not turn away from me, because +instead of being the Prince's servant, I am the Prince himself!" + +"The Prince!" And with a cry of utter desolation, Gloria wrenched +herself out of his arms, and stood apart, looking at him in wild alarm +and bewilderment. "The Prince! You--you!--my husband! You,--the King's +son! And you have married _me_!--oh, how cruel of you!--how cruel! +--how cruel!" + +Covering her face with her hands, she broke into a low sobbing,--and +the Prince, cut to the heart by her distress, caught her again in his +arms. + +"Hush, Gloria!" he said, with an accent of authority, though his own +voice was tremulous; "You must not grieve like this! You will break my +heart! Do you not understand? Do you not see that all my life is bound +up in you?--that I give it to you to do what you will with?--that I +care nothing for rank, state or throne without you?--that I will let +all the world go rather than lose you? Gloria, do not weep so!--do not +weep! Every tear of yours is a pang to me! What does it matter whether +I am prince or commoner? I love you!--we love each other!--we are one +in the sight of Heaven!" + +He held her passionately in his arms, kissing the soft clusters of hair +that fell against his breast, and whispering all the tenderest words of +endearment he could think of to console and soothe her anguish. By +degrees she grew calmer, and her sobs gradually ceased. Dashing the +tears from her eyes, she looked up,--her face white as marble. + +"You must not tell Ronsard!" she said in faint tones that shook with +fear; "He would kill you!" + +The Prince smiled indulgently; his only thought was for her, and so +long as he could dry her tears, Ronsard's rage or pleasure was nothing +to him. + +"He would kill you!" repeated Gloria, with wide open tear-wet eyes; "He +hates all kings, in his heart!--and if he knew that you--_you_--my +husband,--were what you say you are;--if he thought you had married me +under a disguise, only to leave me and never to want me any more----" + +"Gloria, Gloria!" cried the Prince, in despair; "Why will you say such +things! Never to want you any more! I want you all my life, and every +moment of that life! Gloria, you must listen to me--you must not turn +from me at the very time I need you most! Are you not brave? Are you +not true? Do you not love me?" + +With a pathetic gesture she stretched out her hands to him. + +"Oh, yes, I love you!" she said; "I love you with all my heart! But you +have deceived me!--my dearest, you have deceived me! And if you had +only told me the truth, I would never,--for your own sake,--have +married you!" + +"I know that!" said the Prince; "And that is why I determined to win +you under the mask of poverty! Now listen, my Princess and my Queen!-- +for you are both! I want all your help--all your love--all your trust! +Do not be afraid of Ronsard; he will, he can do nothing to harm me! You +are my wife, Gloria,--you have promised before God to obey me! I claim +your obedience!" + +She stood silent, looking at him,--pale and fair as an ivory statue of +Psyche, seen against the dark background of the heavily-branched trees. +Her mind was stunned and confused; she had not yet grasped the full +consciousness of her position,--but as he spoke, the old primitive +lessons of faith, steadfastness of purpose, and unwavering love and +trust in God, which her adopted father had instilled into her from +childhood, rose and asserted their sway over her startled, but unspoilt +soul. + +"You need not claim it!" she said, slowly; "It is yours always! I shall +do whatever you tell me, even if you command me to die for your sake!" + +With a swift impulsive action, full of grace and spirit, he dropped on +one knee and kissed her hand. + +"And so I pledge my faith to my Queen!" he said joyously. "Gloria! my +'Glory-of-the-Sea'!--you will forgive me for having in this one thing +misled you? Think of me as your sailor lover still!--it is a much +harder thing to be a king's son than a simple, independent seafarer! +Pity me for my position, and help me to make it endurable! Come now +with me down to that rocky nook on the shore where I first saw you,-- +and I will tell you exactly how everything stands,--and how I trust to +your love for me and your courage, to clear away all the difficulties +before us. You do not love me less?" + +"I could not love you less!" she replied slowly; "but I cannot think of +you as quite the same!" + +A shadow of pain darkened his face. + +"Gloria," he said sadly; "If your love was as great as mine you would +forgive!" + +She stood a moment wavering and uncertain; their eyes were riveted on +each other in a strange spiritual attraction--her soft lips were a +little relaxed from their gravity as she steadfastly regarded him. She +was embarrassed, conscious, and very pale; but he drank in gratefully +the wonder and shy worship of those pure eyes,--and waited. Suddenly +she sprang to him and closed her arms about his neck, kissing him with +simple and loving tenderness. + +"I do forgive! Oh, I do forgive!" she murmured; "Because I love you, my +darling--because I love you! Whatever you wish I will do for your +love's sake--believe me!--but I am frightened just now!--it is as if I +did not know you--as if someone had taken you suddenly a long way off! +Give me a little time to recover my courage!--and to know"--here a +faint smile trembled on her beautiful curved mouth--"to know,--and to +_feel_,--that you are still my own!--even though the world may try +to part you from me!--still my very own!" + +The warmth of passionate feeling in her face flushed it into a rose- +glow that spread from chin to brow,--and clasping her to his breast, he +gave her the speechless answer that love inscribes on eyes and lips,-- +then, keeping his arm tenderly about her, he led her gently into the +path through the pinewood, which wound down to their favourite haunt by +the sea. + +The moonlight had now increased in brilliancy, and illumined the +landscape with all the opulence, splendour and superabundance of +radiance common to the south,--the air was soft and balmy, and one +great white cloud floating lazily under the silver orb, moved slowly to +the centre of the heavens,--the violet-blue of night falling around it +like an imperial robe of state. The two youthful figures passed under +the pine-boughs, which closed over them odorously in dark arches of +shadow, and wended their slow way down to the seashore, from whence +they could see the Royal yacht lying at anchor, every tapering line of +her fair proportions distinctly outlined against the sky, and all her +masts shining as if they had been washed with silver dew; and the Heir- +Apparent to a throne was,--for once in the history of Heir-Apparents,-- +happy--happy in knowing that he was loved as princes seldom or never +are loved,--not for his power, not for his rank, but simply for himself +alone, by one of the most beautiful women in the world, who,--if she +knew neither the ways of a Court, nor the wiles of fashion,--had +something better than either of these,--the sanctity of truth and the +strength of innocence. + +Rene Ronsard, coming back from his pleasurable duties as host and +chairman to his fishermen-friends, found the cottage deserted, and +smiled, as he sat himself down in the porch to smoke, and to wait for +the lover's return. + +"What a thing it is to be young!" he sighed, as he gazed meditatively +at the still beauty of the night around him;--"To be young,--and in +love with the right person! Hours go like moments--the grass is never +damp--the air is never cold--there is never time enough to give all the +kisses that are waiting to be given; and life is so beautiful, that we +are almost able to understand why God created the universe! The rapture +passes very quickly, unfortunately--with some people;--but if I ever +prayed for anything--which I do not--I should pray that it might remain +with Gloria! It surely cannot offend the Supreme Being who is +responsible for our existence, to see one woman happy out of all the +tortured millions of them! One exception to the universal rule would +not make much difference! The law that the strong should prey on the +weak, nearly always prevails,--but it is possible to hope and believe +that on rare occasions the strong may be magnanimous!" + +He smoked on placidly, considering various points of philosophic +meditation, and by and by fell into a gentle doze. The doze deepened +into a dream which grew sombre and terrible,--and in it he thought he +saw himself standing bareheaded on a raised platform above surging +millions of people who all shouted with one terrific uproar of unison-- +"Regicide! Regicide!" He looked down upon his hands, and saw them red +with blood!--he looked up to the heavens, and they were flushed with +the same ominous hue. Blood!--blood!--the blood of kings,--the dust of +thrones!--and he, the cause! Choked and tormented with a parching +thirst, it seemed in the dream that he tried to speak,--and with all +his force he cried out--"For her sake I did it! For her sake!" But the +clamour of the crowd drowned his voice,--and then it was as if the +coldness of death crept slowly over him,--slowly and cruelly, as though +his whole body were being enclosed within an iceberg,--and he saw +Gloria, the child of his love and care, laid out before him dead,--but +robed and crowned like a queen, and placed on a great golden bier of +state, with purple velvet falling about her, and tall candles blazing +at her head and feet. And voices sang in his ears--"Gloria! Gloria in +excelsis Deo!"--mingling with the muffled chanting of priests at some +distant altar; and he thought he made an attempt to touch the royal +velvet pall that draped her beautiful lifeless body, when he was +roughly thrust back by armed men with swords and bayonets who asked him +"What do you here? Are you not her murderer?"--and he cried out wildly +"No, no! Never could I have harmed the child of my love! Never could I +hurt a hair of her head, or cause her an hour's sorrow! She is all I +had in the world!--I loved her!--I loved her! Let me see her!--let me +touch her!--let me kiss her once again!" And then the scene suddenly +changed,--and it was found that Gloria was not dead at all, but walking +peacefully alone in a garden of flowers, with lilies crowning her, and +all the sunshine about her; and that the golden bier of state had +changed into a ship at sea which was floating, floating westward +bearing some great message to a far country, and that all was well for +him and his darling. The troubled vision cleared from his brain, and +his sleep grew calmer; he breathed more easily, and flitting glimpses +of fair scenes passed before his dreaming eyes,--scenes in some +peaceful and beautiful world, where never a shadow of sorrow or trouble +darkened the quiet contentment of happy and innocent lives. He smiled +in his sleep, and heaved a deep sigh of pleasure,--and so, gently +awoke, to feel a light touch on his shoulder, and to see Gloria +standing before him. A smile was on her face,--the fragrance of the +woodlands and the sea clung about her garments,--she held a few roses +in her hand, and there was something in her whole appearance that +struck him as new, commanding, and more than ever beautiful. + +"You have returned alone?" he said wonderingly. + +"Yes. I have returned alone! I have much to tell you, dear! Let us go +in!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +OF THE CORRUPTION OF THE STATE + + +The large gaunt building, which was dignified by the name of the +'People's Assembly Rooms,' stood in a dim unfashionable square of the +city which had once been entirely devoted to warehouses and storage +cellars. It had originally served a useful purpose in providing +temporary shelter for foreign-made furniture, which was badly +constructed and intrinsically worthless,--but which, being cheaply +imported and showy in appearance, was patronized by some of the upper +middle-classes in preference to goods of their own home workmanship. +Lately, however, the foreign import had fallen to almost less than +nothing; and whether or no this was due to the secret machinations of +Sergius Thord and his Revolutionary Committee, no one would have had +the hardihood to assert. Foreign tradesmen, however, and foreign +workmen generally had certainly experienced a check in their inroads +upon home manufactures, and some of the larger business firms had been +so successfully intimidated as to set up prominent announcements +outside their warehouses to the effect that "Only native workmen need +apply." Partly in consequence of the "slump" in foreign goods, the +"Assembly Rooms," as a mere building had for some time been shut up, +and given over to dust and decay, till the owners of the property +decided to let it out for popular concerts, meetings and dances, and so +make some little money out of its bare whitewashed walls and +comfortless ugliness. The plan had succeeded fairly well, and the place +was beginning to be known as a convenient centre where thousands were +wont to congregate, to enjoy cheap music and cheap entertainment +generally. It was a favourite vantage ground for the disaffected and +radical classes of the metropolis to hold forth on their wrongs, real +or imaginary,--and the capacities of the largest room or hall in the +building were put to their utmost extent to hold the enormous audiences +that always assembled to hear the picturesque, passionate and striking +oratory of Sergius Thord. + +But there were one or two rare occasions when even Sergius Thord's +attractions as a speaker were thrown into the background, by the +appearance of that mysterious personality known as Lotys,--concerning +whom a thousand extravagant stories were rife, none of which were true. +It was rumoured among other things as wild and strange, that she was +the illegitimate child of a certain great prince, whose amours were +legion--that she had been thrown out into the street to perish, +deserted as an infant, and that Sergius Thord had rescued her from that +impending fate of starvation and death,--and that it was by way of +vengeance for the treatment of her mother by the Exalted Personage +involved, that she had thrown in her lot with the Revolutionary party, +to aid their propaganda by her intellectual gifts, which were many. She +was known to be very poor,--she lived in cheap rooms in a low quarter +of the city; she was seldom or never seen in the public thoroughfares, +--she appeared to have no women friends, and she certainly mixed in no +form of social intercourse or entertainment. Yet her name was on the +lips of the million, and her influence was felt far beyond the city's +radius. Even among some of the highest and wealthiest classes of +society this peculiar appellation of "Lotys," carrying no surname with +it, and spoken at haphazard had the effect of causing a sudden silence, +and the interchange of questioning looks among those who heard it, and +who, without knowing who she was, or what her aims in life really were, +voted her "dangerous." Those among the superior classes who had by rare +chance seen her, were unanimous in their verdict that she was not +beautiful,--"but!"--and the "but" spoke volumes. She was known to +possess something much less common, and far more potent than beauty,-- +and that was a fascinating, compelling spiritual force, which +magnetised into strange submission all who came within its influence,-- +and many there were who admitted, though with bated breath that 'An' if +she chose' she could easily become a very great personage indeed. + +She herself was, or seemed to be, perfectly unconscious of the many +discussions concerning her and her origin. She had her own secret +sorrows,--her sad private history, which she shut close within her own +breast,--but out of many griefs and poverty-stricken days of struggle +and cruel environment, she had educated herself to a wonderful height +of moral self-control and almost stoical rectitude. Her nature was a +broad and grand one, absolutely devoid of pettiness, and full of a +strong, almost passionate sympathy with the wrongs of others,--and she +had formed herself on such firm, heroic lines of courage and truth and +self-respect, that the meaner vices of her sex were absolutely unknown +to her. Neither vanity, nor envy, nor malice, nor spleen disturbed the +calmly-flowing current of her blood,--her soul was absorbed in pity for +human kind, and contemplation of its many woes,--and so living alone, +and studiously apart from the more frivolous world, she had attained a +finely tempered and deeply thoughtful disposition which gave her +equally the courage of the hero and the resignation of the martyr. She +had long put away out of her life all possibility of happiness for +herself. She had, by her unwearying study of the masses of working, +suffering men and women, come to the sorrowful conclusion that real +happiness could only be enjoyed by the extremely young, and the +extremely thoughtless,--and that love was only another name for the +selfish and often cruel and destructive instincts of animal desire. She +did not resent these ugly facts, or passionately proclaim against the +gloomy results of life such as were daily displayed to her,--she was +only filled with a profound and ceaseless compassion for the evils +which were impossible to cure. Her tireless love for the sick, the +feeble, the despairing, the broken-hearted and the dying, had raised +her to the height of an angel's quality among the very desperately poor +and criminal classes;--the fiercest ruffians of the slums were docile +in her presence and obedient to her command;--and many a bold plan of +robbery,--many a wicked scheme of murder had been altogether foregone +and abandoned through the intervention of Lotys, whose intellectual +acumen, swift to perceive the savage instinct, or motive for crime, was +equally swift to point out its uselessness as a means of satisfying +vengeance. No preacher could persuade a thief of the practical +ingloriousness of thieving, as Lotys could,--and a prison chaplain, +remonstrating with an assassin after his crime, was not half as much +use to the State as Lotys, who could induce such an one to resign his +murderous intent altogether, before he had so much as possessed himself +of the necessary weapon. Thousands of people were absolutely under her +moral dominion,--and the power she exercised over them was so great, +and yet so unobtrusive, that had she bidden the whole city rise in +revolt, she would most surely have been obeyed by the larger and +fiercer half of its population. + +With the moneyed classes she had nothing in common, though she viewed +them with perhaps more pity than she did the very poor. An overplus of +cash in any one person's possession that had not been rightfully earned +by the work of brain or body, was to her an incongruity, and a +defection from the laws of the universe;--show and ostentation she +despised,--and though she loved beautiful things, she found them,--as +she herself said,--much more in the everyday provisions of nature, +than in the elaborate designs of art. When she passed the gay shops in +the principal thoroughfares she never paused to look in at the +jewellers' windows,--but she would linger for many minutes studying the +beauty of the sprays of orchids and other delicate blossoms, arranged +in baskets and vases by the leading florists; while,--best delight of +all to her, was a solitary walk inland among the woods, where she could +gather violets and narcissi, and, as she expressed it 'feel them +growing about her feet.' She would have been an extraordinary +personality as a man,--as a woman she was doubly remarkable, for to a +woman's gentleness she added a force of will and brain which are not +often found even in the stronger sex. + +Mysterious as she was in her life and surroundings, enough was known of +her by the people at large, to bring a goodly concourse of them to the +Assembly Rooms on the night when she was announced to speak on a +subject of which the very title seemed questionable, namely, "On the +Corruption of the State." The police had been notified of the impending +meeting, and a few stalwart emissaries of the law in plain clothes +mixed with the in-pouring throng. The crowd, however, was very +orderly;--there was no pushing, no roughness, and no coarse language. +All the members of Sergius Thord's Revolutionary Committee were +present, but they came as stragglers, several and apart,--and among +them Paul Zouche the poet, was perhaps the most noticeable. He had +affected the picturesque in his appearance;--his hat was of the +Rembrandt character, and he had donned a very much worn, short +velveteen jacket, whose dusty brown was relieved by the vivid touch of +a bright red tie. His hair was wild and bushy, and his eyes sparkled +with unwonted brilliancy, as he nodded to one or two of his associates, +and gave a careless wave of the hand to Sergius Thord, who, entering +slowly, and as if with reluctance, took a seat at the very furthest end +of the hall, where his massive figure showed least conspicuous among +the surging throng. Keeping his head down in a pensive attitude of +thought, his eyes were, nevertheless, sharp to see every person +entering who belonged to his own particular following,--and a ray of +satisfaction lighted up his face, as he perceived his latest new +associate, Pasquin Leroy, quietly edge his way through the crowd, and +secure a seat in one of the obscurest and darkest corners of the badly +lighted hall. He was followed by his comrades, Max Graub and Axel +Regor,--and Thord felt a warm glow of contentment in the consciousness +that these lately enrolled members of the Revolutionary Committee were +so far faithful to their bond. Signed and sealed in the blood of Lotys, +they had responded to the magnetism of her name with the prompt +obedience of waves rising to the influence of the moon,--and Sergius, +full of a thousand wild schemes for the regeneration of the People, was +more happy to know them as subjects to her power, than as adherents to +his own cause. He was calmly cognisant of the presence of General +Bernhoff, the well-known Chief of Police;--though he was rendered a +trifle uneasy by observing that personage had seated himself as closely +as possible to the bench occupied by Leroy and his companions. A faint +wonder crossed his mind as to whether the three, in their zeal for the +new Cause they had taken up, had by any means laid themselves open to +suspicion; but he was not a man given to fears; and he felt convinced +in his own mind, from the close personal observation he had taken of +Leroy, and from the boldness of his speech on his enrolment as a member +of the Revolutionary Committee, that, whatever else he might prove to +be, he was certainly no coward. + +The hall filled quickly, till by and by it would have been impossible +to find standing room for a child. A student of human nature is never +long in finding out the dominant characteristic of an audience,-- +whether its attitude be profane or reverent, rowdy or attentive, and +the bearing of the four or five thousand here assembled was remarkable +chiefly for its seriousness and evident intensity of purpose. The +extreme orderliness of the manner in which the people found and took +their seats,--the entire absence of all fussy movement, fidgeting, +staring, querulous changing of places, whispering or laughter, showed +that the crowd were there for a deeper purpose than mere curiosity. The +bulk of the assemblage was composed of men; very few women were +present, and these few were all of the poor and hard-working classes. +No female of even the lower middle ranks of life, with any faint +pretence to 'fashion,' would have been seen listening to "that dreadful +woman,"--as Lotys was very often called by her own sex,--simply because +of the extraordinary fascination she secretly exercised over men. +Pasquin Leroy and his companions spoke now and then, guardedly, and in +low whispers, concerning the appearance and demeanour of the crowd, Max +Graub being particularly struck by the general physiognomy and type of +the people present. + +"Plenty of good heads!" he said cautiously. "There are thinkers here-- +and thinkers are a very dangerous class!" + +"There are many people who 'think' all their lives and 'do' nothing!" +said Axel Regor languidly. + +"True, my friend! But their thought may lead, while, they themselves +remain passive," joined in Pasquin Leroy sotto-voce;--"It is not at all +impossible that if Lotys bade these five thousand here assembled burn +down the citadel, it would be done before daybreak!" + +"I have no doubt at all of that," said Graub. "One cannot forget that +the Bastille was taken while the poor King Louis XVI. was enjoying a +supper-party and 'a little orange-flower-water refreshment' at +Versailles!" + +Leroy made an imperative sign of silence, for there was a faint stir +and subdued hum of expectation in the crowd. Another moment,--and Lotys +stepped quietly and alone on the bare platform. As she confronted her +audience, a low passionate sound, like the murmur of a rising storm, +greeted her,--a sound that was not anything like the customary applause +or encouragement offered to a public speaker, but that suggested +extraordinary satisfaction and expectancy, which almost bordered on +exultation. Pasquin Leroy, raising his eyes as she entered, was +startled by an altogether new impression of her to that which he had +received on the night he first saw her. Her personality was somehow +different--her appearance more striking, brilliant and commanding. +Attired in the same plain garment of dead white serge in which he had +previously seen her, with the same deep blood-red scarf crossing her +left shoulder and breast,--there was something to-night in this mere +costume that seemed emblematic of a far deeper power than he had been +at first inclined to give her. A curious sensation began to affect his +nerves,--a sudden and overwhelming attraction, as though his very soul +were being drawn out of him by the calm irresistible dominance of those +slumbrous dark-blue iris-coloured eyes, which had the merit of +appearing neither brilliant nor remarkable as eyes merely, but which +held in their luminous depths that intellectual command which +represents the active and passionate life of the brain, beside which +all other life is poor and colourless. These eyes appeared to rest upon +him now from under their drooping sleepy white eyelids with an +inexpressible tenderness and fascination, and he was suddenly reminded +of Heinrich Heine's quaint love-fancy; "Behind her dreaming eyelids the +sun has gone to rest; when she opens her eyes it will be day, and the +birds will be heard singing!" He began to realise depths in his own +nature which he had till now been almost unconscious of; he knew +himself to a certain extent, but by no means thoroughly; and awakening +as he was to the fact that other lives around him presented strange +riddles for consideration, he wondered whether after all, his own life +might not perhaps prove one of the most complex among human conundrums? +He had often meditated on the inaccessibility of ideal virtues, the +uselessness of persuasion, the commonplace absurdity, as he had +thought, of trying to embody any lofty spiritual dream,--yet he was +himself a man in whom spiritual forces were so strong that he was +personally unaware of their overflow, because they were as much a part +of him as his breathing capacity. True, he had never consciously tested +them, but they were existent in him nevertheless. + +He watched Lotys now, with an irritable, restless attention,--there +was a thrill of vague expectation in his soul as of new things to be +done,--changes to be made in the complex machinery of human nature,-- +and a great wonder, as well as a great calm, fell upon him as the first +clear steady tones of her voice chimed through the deep hush which had +prepared the way for her first words. Her voice was a remarkable one, +vibrant, yet gentle,--ringing out forcefully, yet perfectly sweet. She +began very simply,--without any attempt at a majestic choice of words, +or an impressive flow of oratory. She faced her audience quietly,--one +bare rounded arm resting easily on a small uncovered deal table in +front of her;--she had no 'notes' but her words were plainly the +result of deliberate and careful thinking-out of certain problems +needful to be brought before the notice of the people. Her face was +colourless,--the dead gold hair rippling thickly away in loose clusters +from the white brows, fell into their accustomed serpentine twisted +knot at the nape of her neck; and the scarlet sash she wore, alone +relieved the statuesque white folds of her draperies; but as she spoke, +something altogether superphysical seemed to exhale from her as heat +exhales from fire--a strange essence of overpowering and compelling +sweetness stole into the heavy heated air, and gave to the commonplace +surroundings and the poorly clothed crowd of people an atmosphere of +sacredness and beauty. This influence deepened steadily under the +rhythmic cadence of her voice, till every agitated soul, every +resentful and troubled heart in the throng was conscious of a sudden +ingathering of force and calm, of self-respect and self-reliance. The +gist of her intention was plainly to set people thinking for +themselves, and in this there could be no manner of doubt but that she +succeeded. Of the 'Corruption of the State' she spoke as a thing +thoroughly recognised by the masses. + +"We know,--all of us,"--she said, in the concluding portion of her +address, "that we have Ministers who personally care nothing for the +prosperity or welfare of the country. We know--all of us,--that we have +a bribed Press; whose business it is to say nothing that shall run +counter to Ministerial views. We know,--all of us,--that it is this +bribed Ministerial press which leads the ignorant, (who are not behind +the scenes,) to wrong and false conclusions;--and that it is solely +upon these wrong and false conclusions of the wilfully misled million, +that the Ministry itself rests for support. On one side the Press is +manipulated by the Jews; on the other by the Jesuits. There is no +journal in this country that will, or dare, publish the true reflex of +popular opinion. Therefore the word 'free' cannot be applied to that +recording-force of nations which we call Journalism; inasmuch as it is +now a merely purchased Chattle. We should remember, when we read +'opinions of the Press,'--on any great movement or important change in +policy, that we are merely accepting the opinions of the bound and paid +Slave of Capitalists;--and we should take care to form our judgment for +ourselves, rather than from the Capitalist point of view. Were there a +strong man to lead,--the shiftiness, treachery, and deliberate neglect +practised on the million by those who are now in office, could not +possibly last;--but where there is no strength, there must be +weakness,--and where a long career of deceit has been followed, instead +of a course of plain dealing, failure in the end is inevitable. With +failure comes disaster; and often something which augments disaster-- +Revolt. The people, weary of constant imposition,--of incessant delays +of the justice due to them,--as well as the unscrupulous breaking of +promises solemnly pledged,--will--in the long run, take their own way, +as they have done before in history, of securing instant amelioration +of those wrongs which their paid rulers fail to redress. Who will dare +to say that, under such circumstances, it is ill for the people to act? +Sometimes it is a greater Consciousness than their own that moves them; +and the wronged and half-forgotten Cause of all worlds makes His +command known through His creatures, who obey His impulse,--even as the +atoms gathering in space cluster at His will into solar systems, and +bring forth their burden of life!" + +She paused, and leaning forward a little, her eyes poured out their +flashing searchlight as it seemed into the very souls of her hearers. + +"Dear friends!--dear children!" she said, and in her tone there was the +tenderness of a great compassion, almost bordering on tears,--"What is +it, think you all, that makes the age in which we live so sad, so +colourless, so restless and devoid of hope and peace? It is not that we +are the inhabitants of a less wonderful or less beautiful world,--it is +not as if the sun had ceased to shine, or the birds had forgotten how +to sing! Triumphs of science,--triumphs of learning and discovery, +these are all on the increase for our help and furtherance. With so +much gain in evident advancement, what is it we have lost?--what is it +we miss?--whence come the dreariness and emptiness and satiety,--the +intolerable sense of the futility of life, even when life has most to +offer? Dear children, you are all so sad!--many of you so broken- +hearted!--why is it?--how is it? Poverty alone is not the cause,--for +it is quite possible to be poor, yet happy! True enough it is that in +these days you are ground down by the imposition of taxes, which try +all the strength of your earnings to pay; but even this is an evil you +could mitigate for yourselves, by strong and united public protest. How +is it that you do not realise your own strength? You are not like the +poor brutes of the field and forest, who lack the reason which would +show them how superior in physical force alone they are to the +insignificant biped who commands them. Could the ox understand his own +strength, he would never be led to the slaughter-house;--he and his +kind would become a terror instead of a provision. You are not oxen,-- +yet often you are as patient, as dull, as blind and reasonless as they! +You form clubs, societies, and trades-unions;--but in how many cases +do you not enter upon small and querulous differences which so weaken +your unity that presently it falls to pieces and has no more power in +it? This is what your tyrants in trade rely on and hope for; the +constant recurrence of quarrels and dissensions among yourselves. No +Society lasts which tolerates conflicting argument or differing +sentiments in itself. Why is it that the Jesuits,--whom you are all +unanimous in hating,--are still the strongest political Brotherhood on +the face of the earth? Because they are bound to maintain in every +particular the tenets of their Order. No matter how vile, or how +reprehensibly false their theories, they are compelled to carry on the +work and propaganda of their Union, despite all loss and sacrifice to +themselves. This is the secret of their force. Expelled from one land, +they take root in another. Suppressed entirely by Pope Clement XIV., in +1773, they virtually ignored suppression, and took up their +headquarters in Russia. The influence they exerted there still lies on +the serf population, like one of the many chains fastened to a Siberian +exile's body. Yet they were driven from Russia in 1820,--from Holland +in 1816,--from Switzerland in 1847, and from Germany in 1872. Latterly +they have been expelled from France. Nevertheless, in spite of these +numerous expulsions, and the universal odium in which they are held,-- +they still flourish; still are they able to maintain their twenty-two +generals and their four Vicars;--and still all countries have, in their +turn, to deal with their impending or fulfilled invasion. Why is it +that a Society so criminal in historic annals, should yet remain as a +force in our advanced era of civilization? Simply, because it is of One +Mind! Bent on evil, or good,--self-renunciation or self- +aggrandisement,--it is still of One Mind! Friends,--were you like them, +also of One Mind, your injuries, your oppressions, your taxations would +not last long! The remedy for all is easy, and rests with yourselves,-- +only yourselves! But some of you have lost heart--and other some have +lost patience. You look round upon the squalid corners of this great +city--you shudder at the cruelty of the daily life with which you have +to contend,--you enter poor rooms, which you are compelled to call +'home,' where the sick and dying, the newly-born and the dead are +huddled all together,--ten, and sometimes fifteen in one small den of +four whitewashed walls;--and sickened and tired, you cry out 'Is life +worth no more than this? Is God's scheme for the human race no more +than this? Then why were we born at all? Or, being born, why may we not +die at once, self-slain?' Ah, yes, dear friends!--you often feel like +this; we all of us often feel like this! But--it is not God who has +made life thus hard for you,--it is yourselves! It is you who consent +to be down-trodden,--it is you who resign your freewill, your thought, +your originality of character, into the dominating power of others. +True,--wealth controls affairs to a vast extent nowadays,--but there is +a stronger power than wealth, and that is Soul! It is not the +possession of gold that has given the greatest men their position. This +is a commercial age, we own,--and certainly,--because of the base and +degrading love of accumulation,--Intellectuality is for the moment +often set aside as something valueless--but whenever Intellectuality +truly asserts itself, there is at once made visible an acting force of +the Divine, which is practically limitless and irresistible. Think for +yourselves, friends!--do not let a hired Press think for you! Think for +yourselves--judge for yourselves, and act for yourselves! By your +observation of a statesman's life, you shall know his capabilities. If +he has once been a turncoat, he will be a turncoat again. If he has +been known to speculate privately in a forthcoming political crisis, +which he alone knows of in advance----" + +Here the speaker was interrupted by what sounded more like a snarl than +a shout. "Perousse! Perousse!" + +The name was hissed out, and tossed from one rank to another of the +audience, and one or two of the police present glanced enquiringly +towards Bernhoff their chief,--but he sat with folded arms and +inscrutable demeanour, making no sign. Lotys raised her small, +beautifully-shaped white hand to enjoin silence. She was obeyed +instantly. + +"I speak of no one man," she said with deliberate emphasis; "I accuse +no one man,--or any man! I say 'if' any man gambles with State policy, +he is a traitor to the country! But such gambling is not a novelty in +the history of nations. It has been practised over and over again. Only +mark you all this one God's truth!--that whenever it _has_ +occurred--whenever the rulers of a State _are_ corrupt,--whenever +society sinks into such moral defilement that it sees nothing better, +nothing higher than the love of money,--then comes the downfall!--then +Ruin and Anarchy set up their dominion,--and Heaven's rage rolls out +upon the offenders, till their offence be cleansed away in rivers of +blood and tears!" + +She waited a moment,--and changing her attitude, seemed as it were, to +project her thought into her audience, by the sudden passion of her +commanding gesture, and the flash of her deep luminous eyes. + +"We have heard of the Great Renunciation!" she said; "How God Himself +took human form, and came to this low little earth to prove how nobly +we should live and die! But in our day,--we with our preachers and +teachers, our press and our parliamentary orators,--our atheistical +statesmen on all hands, have come upon the Great Obliteration!--the +Obliteration of God altogether in our ways of life! We push Him out, as +if He were not. He is not in our Churches--He is not in our Laws--He +is not in our Commerce. Only when we are brought low by pain and +sickness--when we are confronted by death itself--then we call out +'God! God!' like cowards, praying for help from the Power we have +negatived all our lives! Here is the evil, O children all!--we have +forgotten Our Father! We arrange all our affairs in life without giving +Him a thought! Our pleasures, our gains, our advantages,--are +calculated without consulting His good pleasure. He is last, or not at +all,--when He should be first, and in everything! The end of this is +misery;--it must be so; it cannot by law be anything else. For what is +God? Who is God? God is a name merely,--but we give it to that Unseen, +but ever working Force which rules the Universe! The coldest atheist +that ever breathed must own that somehow,--by some means or other,-- +the Universe _is_ ruled,--for if it were not, we should know +nothing of it. Therefore, when we set aside, or leave out the +consciousness and acknowledgment of the Ruler, the ruling of our +affairs must, of necessity, go wrong! + +"I cannot preach to you--I cannot out of my own conscience recommend to +you one or the other form of faith as the way to peace and wisdom;--but +I can and do Beseech you to remember the Note Dominant of this great +Universe--the Note that sounds through high and low,--through small and +great alike!--and that must and will in due course absorb all our +discords into Everlasting Harmony! Try not to put this fact out of your +lives,--that Justice and Order are the rule of the spheres; and that +whenever we depart from these, even in the smallest contingency, +confusion reigns. How hard it is to believe in Justice and Order, you +will tell me,--when the poor are not treated with the same +consideration as the rich,--and when money will buy place and position! +True! It is hard to believe,--but it is believable nevertheless. As the +lungs and the heart are the life of the human body, so are Justice and +Order the life of the Universe,--and when these are pushed out of +place, or become diseased in the composition of a human state or +community, then the life of that state or community is threatened;--and +unless remedies are quickly to hand, it must end. You all know the +position of things among yourselves to-day;--you all know that there is +no trust to be placed in Churches, Kings or Parliaments;--that the +world is in a state of ferment and unrest,--moving towards Change;-- +change imminent--change, possibly, disastrous! And if it is You who +know, it is likewise You who must seize the hour as it approaches!-- +seize it as you would seize a robber by the throat, and demand its +business;--search its heart;--deprive it of its weapons;--and learn +from it its message! A message it may be of wild alarm--of tearing up +old conventions;--of thrusting forth old abuses; a message full of +clamour and outcry--but whatever the uproar, doubt not that we shall +hear the voice of the Forgotten God thundering in our ears at the +close! We shall have found our way closer to Him--and with penitence +and prayer, we shall ask to be forgiven for having wandered away from +Him so long! + +"And will He not pardon? Yes,--He will, because He must! To Him we owe +our existence;--He alone is responsible for our life, our probation, +our progress, our striving through many errors towards Perfection! He, +who sees all, must needs have pity for His creature Man! Out of the +evolutions of a blind Time, He has made the poor weak human being, who +in the first days of his sojourn on earth had neither covering nor +home. Less protected than the beasts of the forest, he found himself +compelled to Think!--to think out his own means of shelter,--to +contrive his own weapons of defence. Slowly, and by painful degrees, +from Savagery he has emerged to Civilization;--wherefore it is evident +that his Maker meant Thought to be his first principle, and Action his +second. He who does not work, shall not eat;--he who does not use all +his faculties for improvement, shall by and by have none to use. +Injustice and corruption are amongst us, merely because we ourselves +have failed to resist their first inroads. Who is it that complains of +wrong? Let him hasten to his own amending,--and he will find a thousand +hands, a thousand hearts ready to work with him! All Nature is on the +side of health in the body, as of health in the State. All Nature +fights against disease,--physical and moral. Therefore do not,--dear +friends and children!--sit idle and passive, submitting yourselves to +be deceived, as if you had no force to withstand deception! Show that +you hate lies, and will have none of them,--show that you will not be +imposed upon--and decline to be led or governed by party agents, who +persuade you to your own and your country's destruction! The voice of +the People can no longer be heard in a purchased Press;--let it echo +forth then, in stronger form than ephemeral print, which to-day is +glanced at, and to-morrow is forgotten;--wherever and whenever you are +given the chance to meet, and to speak, let your authority as the +workers, the ratepayers, and supporters of the State be heard; and do +not You, without whom even the King could not keep his throne, consent +to be set aside as the Unvalued Majority! Prove, by your own firm +attitude that without You, nothing can be done! It is time, oh people +of my heart!--it is time you spoke clearly! God is moving His thought +through your souls--God stirs in you the fear, the discontent, the +suspicion that all is not well with your country;--and it is the Spirit +of God which breathes in the warning note of the time-- + + "'Hark to the voice of the time! + The multitude think for +themselves, + And weigh their condition each one; + The drudge has +a spirit sublime, + And whether he hammers or delves, + He reads +when his labour is done; + And learns, though he groan under poverty's ban, + That freedom to Think, is the birthright of man!' + +"Learn," she continued,--as a low deep murmur of agreement ran through +the room; "Learn to what strange uses God puts even such men of this +world, whose sole existence has been for the cause of amassing money! +They have acted as the merest machines, gathering in the millions;-- +gathering, gathering them in! For what purpose? Lo, they are smitten +down in the prime of their lives, and the gold they have piled up is at +once scattered! Much of it becomes used for educational purposes;--and +some of these dead millionaires have, as it were thrown Education at +the heads of the people, and almost pauperised it. Far away in Great +Britain, a millionaire has recently made the Scottish University +education 'free' to all students,--instead of, as it used to be, hard +to get, and well worth working to win. Now,--through the wealth of one +man, it is turned into a pauper's allowance;--like offering the +smallest silver coin to a reduced gentleman. The pride,--the skill,-- +the self-renunciation,--the strong determination to succeed, which form +fine character, and which taught the struggling student to win his own +University education, are all wiped out;--there is no longer any +necessity for the practice of these manly and self-sustaining virtues. +The harm that will be done is probably not yet perceivable; but it will +be incalculable. Education, turned into a kind of pauper's monopoly, +will have widely different results to those just now imagined! But with +all the contemptuous throwing out of the unneeded kitchen-waste of +millionaires,--still Education is the thing to take at any price, and +under any circumstances;--because it alone is capable of giving power! +It alone will 'put down the mighty from their seats, and exalt the +humble and the meek.' It alone will give us the force to fight our +taskmasters with their own weapons, and to place them where they should +be, coequal with us, but not superior,--considerate of us, but not +commanding us,--and above all things, bound to make their records of +such work as they do for the State--clean!" + +A hurricane of applause interrupted her,--she waited till it subsided, +then went on quietly. + +"There should be no scheming in the dark; no secret contracts for which +we have to pay blindly;--no refusal to explain the way in which the +people's hard-earned money is spent; and before foreign urbanities and +diplomacies and concessions are allowed to take up time in the Senate, +it is necessary that the frightful and abounding evils of our own +land,--our own homes,--be considered. For this we purpose to demand +redress,--and not only to demand it, but to obtain it! Ministers may +refuse to hear us; but the Country's claims are greater than any +Ministry! A King's displeasure may cause court-parasites to tremble-- +but a People's Honour is more to be guarded than a thousand thrones!" + +As she concluded with these words, she seemed to grow taller, nobler, +more inspired and commanding,--and while the applause was yet shaking +the rafters of the hall, she left the platform. Shouts of "Lotys! +Lotys!" rang out again and again with passionate bursts of cheering,-- +and in response to it she came back, and by a slight gesture commanded +silence. + +"Dear friends, I thank you all for listening to me!" she said simply, +her rich voice trembling a little; "I speak only with a woman's impulse +and unwisdom--just as I think and feel--and always out of my great love +for you! As you all know, I have no interests to serve;--I am only +Lotys, your own poor friend,--one who works with you, and dwells among +you, seeing and sharing your hard lives, and wishing with all my heart +that I could help you to be happier and freer! My life is at your +service,--my love for you is all too great for any words to express,-- +and my gratitude for your faith and trust in me forms my daily +thanksgiving! Now, dear children all,--for you are truly as children in +your patience, submission and obedience to bitter destiny!--I will ask +you to disperse quietly without noise or confusion, or any trouble that +may give to the paid men of law ungrateful work to do;--and in your +homes, think of me!--remember my words!--and while you maintain order +by the steadiness and reasonableness of your difficult lives, still +avoid and resent that slavish obedience to the yoke fastened upon you +by capitalists,--who have no other comfort to offer you in poverty than +the workhouse; and no other remedy for the sins into which you are +thrust by their neglect, than the prison! Take, and keep the rights of +your humanity!--the right to think,--the right to speak,--the right to +know what is being done with the money you patiently earn for others;-- +and work, all together in unity. Put aside all petty differences,--all +small rancours and jealousies; and even as a Ministry may unite to +defraud and deceive you, so do you, the People, unite to expose the +fraud, and reject the deception! There is no voice so resonant and +convincing as the voice of the public; there is no power on earth more +strong or more irresistible than the power of the People!" + +She stood for one moment more,--silent; her eyes brilliant, her face +beautiful with inspired thought,--then with a quiet, half-deprecatory +gesture, in response to the fresh outbreak of passionate cheering, she +retired from the platform. Pasquin Leroy, whose eyes had been riveted +on her from the first to the last word of her oration, now started as +from a dream, and rose up half-unconsciously, passing his hand across +his brow, as though to exorcise some magnetic spell that had crept over +his brain. His face was flushed, his pulses were throbbing quickly. His +companions, Max Graub and Axel Regor, looked at him inquisitively. The +audience was beginning to file out of the hall in orderly groups. + +"What next?" said Graub; "Shall ye go?" + +"I suppose so," said Leroy, with a quick sigh, and forcing a smile; +"But--I should have liked to speak with her----" + +At that moment his shoulder was touched by a man he recognised as Johan +Zegota. He gave the sign of the Revolutionary Committee bond, to which +Leroy and his comrades responded. + +"Will you all three come over the way?" whispered Zegota cautiously; +"We are entertaining Lotys to supper at the inn opposite,--the landlord +is one of us. Thord saw you sitting here, and sent me to ask you to +join us." + +"With pleasure," assented Leroy; "We will come at once!" + +Zegota nodded and disappeared. + +"So you will see the end of this escapade!" said Max Graub, a trifle +crossly. "It would have been much better to go home!" + +"You have enjoyed escapades in your time, have you not, my friend? Some +even quite recently?" returned Leroy gaily. "One or two more will not +hurt you!" + +They edged their way out among the quietly moving crowd, and happening +to push past General Bernhoff, that personage gave an almost +imperceptible salute, which Leroy as imperceptibly returned. It was +clear that the Chief of Police was acquainted with Pasquin Leroy, the +'spy' on whose track he had been sent by Carl Perousse, and moreover, +that he was evidently in no hurry to arrest him. At any rate he allowed +him to pass with his friends unmolested, out of the People's Assembly +Rooms, and though he followed him across the road, 'shadowing him,' as +it were, into a large tavern, whose lighted windows betokened some +entertainment within, he did not enter the hostelry himself, but +contented his immediate humour by walking past it to a considerable +distance off, and then slowly back again. By and by Max Graub came out +and beckoned to him, and after a little earnest conversation Bernhoff +walked off altogether, the ring of his martial heels echoing for some +time along the pavement, even after he had disappeared. And from within +the lighted tavern came the sound of a deep, harmonious, swinging +chorus-- + + "Way, make way!--for our banner is unfurled, + Let each man +stand by his neighbour! + The thunder of our footsteps shall roll +through the world, + In the March of the Men of Labour!" + +"Yes!" said Max Graub, pausing to listen ere re-entering the tavern-- +"If--and it is a great 'if'--if every man will stand by his neighbour, +the thunder will be very loud,--and by all the deities that ever lived +in the Heaven blue, it is a thunder that is likely to last some time! +The possibility of standing by one's neighbour is the only doubtful +point!" + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE SCORN OF KINGS + + +Inside the tavern, from whence the singing proceeded, there was a +strange scene,--somewhat disorderly yet picturesque. Lotys, seated at +the head of a long supper-table, had been crowned by her admirers with +a wreath of laurels,--and as she sat more or less silent, with a rather +weary expression on her face, she looked like the impersonation of a +Daphne, exhausted by the speed of her flight from pursuing Apollo. +Beside her, nestling close against her caressingly, was a little girl +with great black Spanish eyes,--eyes full of an appealing, half- +frightened wistfulness, like those of a hunted animal. Lotys kept one +arm round the child, and every now and again spoke to her some little +caressing word. All the rest of the guests at the supper-board were +men,--and all of them members of the Revolutionary Committee. When +Pasquin Leroy and his friends entered, there was a general clapping of +hands, and the pale countenance of Lotys flushed a delicate rose-red, +as she extended her hand to each. + +"You begin your career with us very well!" she said gently, her eyes +resting musingly on Leroy; "I had not expected to see you to-night!" + +"Madame, I had never heard you speak," he answered; and as he addressed +her, he pressed her hand with unconscious fervour, while his eloquent +eyes dilated and darkened, as, moved by some complex emotion, she +quickly withdrew her slender fingers from his clasp. "And I felt I +should never know you truly as you are, till I saw you face the people. +Now----" + +He paused. She looked at him wonderingly, and her heart began to beat +with a strange quick thrill. It is not always easy to see the outlines +of a soul's development, or the inchoate formation of a great love,-- +and though everything in a certain sense moved her and appealed to her +that was outside herself, it was difficult to her to believe or to +admit that she, in her own person, might be the cause of an entirely +new set of thoughts and emotions in the mind of one man. Seeing he was +silent, she repeated softly and with a half smile. + +"'Now'?" + +"Now," continued Leroy quickly, and in a half-whisper; "I do know you +partly,--but I must know you more! You will give me the chance to do +that?" + +His look said more than his words, and her face grew paler than before. +She turned from him to the child at her side-- + +"Pequita, are you very tired?" + +"No!" was the reply, given brightly, and with an upward glance of the +dark eyes. + +"That is right! Pasquin Leroy my friend! this is Pequita,--the child we +told you of the other night, the only daughter of Sholto. She will +dance for us presently, will you not, my little one?" + +"Yes, indeed!" and the young face lighted up swiftly at the suggestion; +while Leroy, taking the seat indicated to him at the supper-table, +experienced a tumult of extraordinary sensations,--the chief one of +which was, that he felt himself to have been 'snubbed,' very quietly +but effectually, by a woman who had succeeded, though he knew not how, +in suddenly awakening in him a violent fever of excitement, to which he +was at present unable to give a name. Rallying himself, however, he +glanced up and down the board smilingly, lifting his glass to salute +Sergius Thord, who responded from his place at the bottom of the +table,--and very soon he regained his usual placidity, for he had +enormous strength of will, and kept an almost despotic tyranny over his +feelings. His companions, Max Graub and Axel Regor, were separated from +him, and from each other, at different sides of the table, and Paul +Zouche the poet, was almost immediately opposite to him. He was glad to +see that he was next but one to Lotys--the man between them being a +desperado-looking fellow with a fierce moustache, and exceedingly +gentle eyes,--who, as he afterwards discovered, was one of the greatest +violinists in the world,--the favourite of kings and Courts,--and yet +for all that, a prominent member of the Revolutionary Committee. The +supper, which was of a simple, almost frugal character, was soon +served, and the landlord, in setting the first plate before Lotys, laid +beside it a knot of deep crimson roses, as an offering of homage and +obedience from himself. She thanked him with a smile and glance, and +taking up the flowers, fastened them at her breast. Conversation now +became animated and general; and one of the men present, a delicate- +looking young fellow, with a head resembling somewhat that of Keats, +started a discussion by saying suddenly-- + +"Jost has sold out all his shares in that new mine that was started the +other day. It looks as if he did not think, after all his newspaper +puffs, that the thing was going to work." + +"If Jost has sold, Perousse will," said his neighbour; "The two are +concerned together in the floating of the whole business." + +"And yet another piece of news!" put in Paul Zouche suddenly; "For if +we talk of stocks and shares, we talk of money! What think you, my +friends! I, Paul Zouche, have been offered payment for my poems! This +very afternoon! Imagine! Will not the spheres fall? A poet to be paid +for his poems is as though one should offer the Creator a pecuniary +consideration for creating the flowers!" + +His face was flushed, and his eyes deliriously bright. + +"Listen, my Sergius!" he said; "Wonders never cease in this world; but +this is the most wonderful of all wonders! Out of the merest mischief +and monkeyish malice, the other day I sent my latest book of poems to +the King--" + +"Shame! shame!" interrupted a dozen voices. "Against the rules, Paul! +You have broken the bond!" + +Paul Zouche laughed loudly. + +"How you yell, my baboons!" he cried; "How you screech about the rules +of your lair! Wait till you hear! You surely do not suppose I sent the +book out of any humility or loyalty, or desire for notice, do you? I +sent it out of pure hate and scorn, to show him as a fool-Majesty, that +there was something he could not do--something that should last when +_he_ was forgotten!--a few burning lines that should, like +vitriol, eat into his Throne and outlast it! I sent it some days ago, +and got an acknowledgment from the flunkey who writes Majesty's +letters. But this afternoon I received a much more important document, +--a letter from Eugene Silvano, secretary to our very honourable and +trustworthy Premier! He informs me in set terms, that his Majesty the +King has been pleased to appreciate my work as a poet, to the extent of +offering me a hundred golden pieces a year for the term of my natural +life! Ha-ha! A hundred golden pieces a year! And thus they would fasten +this wild bird of Revolutionary song to a Royal cage, for a bit of +sugar! A hundred golden pieces a year! It means food and lodging--warm +blankets to sleep in--but it means something else,--loss of +independence!" + +"Then you will not accept it?" said Pasquin Leroy, looking at him with +interest over the rim of the glass from which he was just sipping his +wine. + +"Accept it! I have already refused it! By swift return of post!" + +Shouts of "Bravo! bravo!" echoed around him on all sides; men sprang up +and shook hands with him and patted him on the back, and even over the +dark face of Sergius Thord there passed a bright illumining smile. + +"Zouche, with all thy faults, thou art a brave man!" said the young man +with the Keats-like head, who was in reality confidential clerk to one +of the largest stockbrokers in the metropolis; "A thousand times better +to starve, than to accept Royal alms!" + +"To your health, Zouche!" said Lotys, leaning forward, glass in hand. +"Your refusal of the King's offered bounty is a greater tragedy than +any you have ever tried to write!" + +"Hear her!" cried Zouche, exultant; "She knows exactly how to put it! +For look you, there are the true elements of tragedy in a worn coat and +scant food, while the thoughts that help nations to live or die are +burning in one's brain! Then comes a King with a handful of gold--and +gold would be useful--it always is! But--by Heaven! to pay a poet for +his poems is, as I said before, as if one were to meet the Deity on His +way through space, scattering planets and solar systems at a touch, and +then to say--'Well done, God! We shall remunerate You for your creative +power as long as You shall last--so much per aeon!'" + +Leroy laughed. + +"You wild soul!" he said; "Would you starve then, rather than accept a +king's bounty?" + +"I would!" answered Paul. "Look you, my brave Pasquin! Read back over +all the centuries, and see the way in which these puppets we call kings +have rewarded the greatest thinkers of their times! Is it anywhere +recorded that the antique virgin, Elizabeth of England, ever did +anything for Shakespeare? True--he might have been 'graciously +permitted' to act one of his sublime tragedies before her--by Heaven!-- +she was only fit to be his scrubbing woman, by intellectual comparison! +Kings and Queens have always trembled in their shoes, and on their +thrones, before the might of the pen!--and it is natural therefore that +they should ignore it as much as conveniently possible. A general, +whose military tactics succeed in killing a hundred thousand innocent +men receives a peerage and a hundred thousand a year,--a speculator who +snatches territory and turns it into stock-jobbing material, is called +an 'Empire Builder'; but the man whose Thought destroys or moulds a new +World, and raises up a new Civilization, is considered beneath a +crowned Majesty's consideration! 'Beneath,' by Heaven!--I, Paul +Zouche, may yet mount behind Majesty's chair, and with a single rhyme +send his crown spinning into space! Meanwhile, I have flung back his +hundred golden pieces, with as much force in the edge of my pen as +there would be in my hand if _you_ were his Majesty sitting there, +and I flung them across the table now!" + +Again Leroy laughed. His eyes flashed, but there was a certain regret +and wistfulness in them. + +"You approve, of course?" he said, turning to Sergius Thord. + +Sergius looked for a moment at Zouche with an infinitely grave and +kindly compassion. + +"I think Paul has acted bravely;" he then said slowly; "He has been +true to the principles of our Order. And under the circumstances, it +must have been difficult for him to refuse what would have been a +certain competence,--" + +"Not difficult, Sergius!" exclaimed Zouche, "But purely triumphant!" + +Thord smiled,--then went on--"You see, my friend," and he addressed +himself now to Leroy; "Kings have scorned the power of the pen too +long! Those who possess that power are now taking vengeance for +neglect. Thousands of pens all over the world to-day are digging the +grave of Royalty, and building up the throne of Democracy. Who is to +blame? Royalty itself is to blame, for deliberately passing over the +claims of art and intellect, and giving preference to the claims of +money. The moneyed man is ever the friend of Majesty,--but the +brilliant man of letters is left out in the cold. Yet it is the man of +letters who chronicles the age, and who will do so, we may be sure, +according to his own experience. As the King treats the essayist, the +romancist or the historian, so will these recording scribes treat the +King!" + +"It is possible, though," suggested Leroy, "that the King meant well in +his offer to our friend Zouche?" + +"Quite possible!" agreed Thord; "Only his offer of one hundred gold +pieces a year to a man of intellect, is out of all proportion to the +salary he pays his cook!" + +A slight flush reddened Leroy's bronzed cheek. Thord observed him +attentively, and saw that his soul was absorbed by some deep-seated +intellectual irritation. He began to feel strangely drawn towards him; +his eyes questioned the secret which he appeared to hold in his mind, +but the quiet composure of the man's handsome face baffled enquiry. +Meanwhile around the table the conversation grew louder and less +restrained. The young stockbroker's clerk was holding forth eloquently +concerning the many occasions on which he had seen Carl Perousse at his +employer's office, carefully going into the closest questions of +financial losses or gains likely to result from certain political +moves,--and he remembered one day in particular, when, after purchasing +a hundred thousand shares in a certain company, Perousse had turned +suddenly round on his broker with the cool remark--"If ever you breathe +a whisper about this transaction, I will shoot you dead!" + +Whereat the broker had replied that it was not his custom to give away +his clients' business, and that threats were unworthy of a statesman. +Then Perousse had become as friendly as he had been before menacing; +and the two had gone out of the office and lunched together. And the +confidential clerk thus chattering his news, declared that his employer +was now evidently uneasy; and that from that uneasiness he augured a +sudden fluctuation or fall in what had lately seemed the most valuable +stock in the market. + +"And you? Your news, Valdor," cried one or two eager voices, while +several heads leaned forward in the direction of the fiercely- +moustached man who sat next to Lotys. "Where have you been with your +fiddle? Do you arrive among us to-night infected by the pay, or the +purple of Royalty?" + +Louis Valdor, by birth a Norseman, and by sympathies a cosmopolitan, +looked up with a satiric smile in his dark eyes. + +"There is no purple left to infect a man with, in the modern slum of +Royalty!" he said; "Tobacco-smoke, not incense, perfumes the palaces of +the great nowadays--and card-playing is more appreciated than music! +Yet I and my fiddle have made many long journeys lately,--and we have +sent our messages of Heaven thrilling through the callous horrors of +Hell! A few nights since, I played at the Russian Court--before the +beautiful Empress--cold as a stone--with her great diamonds flashing on +her unhappy breast,--before the Emperor, whose furtive eyes gazed +unseeingly before him, as though black Fate hovered in the air--before +women, whose lives are steeped in the lowest intrigue--before men, +whose faces are as bearded masks, covering the wolf's snarl,--yes!--I +played before these,--played with all the chords of my heart vibrating +to the violin, till at last a human sigh quivered from the lips of the +statuesque Empress,--till a frown crossed the brooding brow of her +spouse--till the intriguing women shook off the spell with a laugh, and +the men did the same with an oath--and I was satisfied! I received +neither 'pay,' nor jewel of recognition,--I had played 'for the honour' +of appearing before their Majesties!--but my bow was a wand to wake the +little poisoned asp of despair that stings its way into the heart under +every Royal mantle of ermine, and that sufficed me!" + +"Sometimes," said Leroy, turning towards him; "I pity kings!" + +"I' faith, so do I!" returned Valdor. "But only sometimes! And if you +had seen as much of them as I have, the 'sometimes' would be rare!" + +"Yet you play before them?" put in Max Graub. + +"Because I must do so to satisfy the impresarios who advertise me to +the public," said Valdor. "Alas!--why will the public be so foolish as +to wish their favourite artist to play before kings and queens? Seldom, +if ever, do these Royal people understand music,--still less do they +understand the musician! Believe me, I have been treated as the veriest +scullion by these jacks-in-office; and that I still permit myself to +play before them is a duty I owe to this Brotherhood,--because it +deepens and sustains my bond with you all. There is no king on the face +of the earth who has dignity and nobleness of character enough to +command my respect,--much less my reverence! I take nothing from kings, +remember!--they dare not offer me money--they dare not insult me with a +jewelled pin, such as they would give to a station-master who sees a +Royal train off. Only the other day, when I was summoned to play before +a certain Majesty, a lord-in-waiting addressed me when I arrived with +the insolent words--'You are late, Monsieur Valdor!--You have kept the +King waiting!' I replied--'Is that so? I regret it! But having kept his +Majesty waiting, I will no longer detain him; au revoir!' And I +returned straightway to the carriage in which I had come. Majesty did +without his music that evening, owing to the insolence of his flunkey- +man! Whether I ever play before him again or not, is absolutely +immaterial to me!" + +"Tell me," said Pasquin Leroy, pushing the flask of wine over to him as +he spoke; "What is it that makes kings so unloved? I hate them myself! +--but let us analyse the reasons why." + +"Discuss--discuss!" cried Paul Zouche; "Why are kings hated? Let Thord +answer first!" + +"Yes--yes! Let Thord answer first!" was echoed a dozen times. + +Thord, thus appealed to, looked up. His melancholy deep eyes were +sombre, yet full of fire,--lonely eyes they were, yearning for love. + +"Why are kings hated?" he repeated; "Because today they are the effete +representatives of an effete system. I can quite imagine that if, as in +olden times, kings had maintained a position of personal bravery, and +personal influence on their subjects, they would have been as much +beloved as they are now despised. But what we have to see and to +recognise is this: in one land we hear of a sovereign who speculates +hand-and-glove with low-born Jew contractors and tradesmen,--another +monarch makes no secret of his desire to profit financially out of a +gambling hell started in his dominions,--another makes his domestic +affairs the subject of newspaper comment,--another is always +apostrophising the Almighty in public;--another is insane or stupid,-- +and so on through the whole gamut. Is it not natural that an +intelligent People should resent the fact that their visibly governing +head is a gambler, or a voluptuary? Myself, I think the growing +unpopularity of kings is the result of their incapability for +kingship." + +"Now let me speak!" cried Paul Zouche excitedly; "There is another root +to the matter,--a root like that of a certain tropical orchid, which +according to superstition, is shaped like a man, and utters a shriek +when it is pulled out of the earth! Pull out this screaming mystery,-- +hatred of kings! In the first place it is because they are hateful in +themselves,--because they have been brought up and educated to take an +immeasurable and all-absorbing interest in their own identity, rather +than in the lives, hopes and aims of their subjects. In the second--as +soon as they occupy thrones, they become overbearing to their best +friends. It is a well-known fact that the more loyal and faithful you +are to a king, the more completely is he neglectful of you! 'Put not +your trust in princes,' sang old David. He knew how untrustworthy they +were, being a king himself, and a pious one to boot! Thirdly and +lastly,--they only give their own personal attention to their +concubines, and leave all their honest and respectable subjects to be +dealt with by servants and secretaries. Our King, for example, never +smiles so graciously as on Madame Vantine, the wife of Vantine the +wine-grower;--and he buys Vantine's wines as well as his wife, which +brings in a double profit to the firm!" + +Leroy looked up. + +"Are you sure of that?" + +Zouche met his eyes with a stare and a laugh. + +"Sure? Of course I am sure! By my faith, your resemblance to his +Majesty is somewhat striking to-night, my bold Leroy! The same straight +brows--the same inscrutable, woman-conquering smile! I studied his +portrait after the offer of the hundred golden pieces--and I swear you +might be his twin brother!" + +"I told you so!" replied Leroy imperturbably;--"It is a hateful +resemblance! I wish I could rid myself of it. Still after all, there is +something unique in being countenanced like a King, and minded as a +Socialist!" + +"True!" put in Thord gently;--"I am satisfied, Pasquin Leroy, that you +are an honest comrade!" + +Leroy met his eyes with a grave smile, and touched his glass by way of +acknowledgement. + +"You do not ask me," he said then, "whether I have been able to serve +your Cause in any way since last we met?" + +"This is not our regular meeting," said Johan Zegota; "We ask no +questions till the general monthly assembly." + +"I see!" And Leroy looked whimsically meditative--"Still, as we are +all friends and brothers here, there is no harm in conveying to you the +fact that I have so far moved, in the appointed way, that Carl Perousse +has ordered the discovery and arrest of one Pasquin Leroy, supposed to +be a spy on the military defences of the city!" + +Lotys gave a little cry. + +"Not possible! So soon!" + +"Quite possible, Madame," said Leroy inclining his head towards her +deferentially. "I have lost no time in doing my duty!" And his eyes +flashed upon her with a passionate, half-eager questioning. "I must +carry out my Chief's commands!" + +"But you are in danger, then?" said Sergius Thord, bending an anxious +look of enquiry upon him. + +"Not more so than you, or any of my comrades are," replied Leroy; "I +have commenced my campaign--and I have no doubt you will hear some +results of it ere long!" + +He spoke so quietly and firmly, yet with such an air of assurance and +authority, that something of an electric thrill passed through the +entire company, and all eyes were fixed on him in mingled admiration +and wonderment. + +"Of the 'Corruption of the State,' concerning which our fair teacher +has spoken to-night," he continued, with another quick glance at Lotys +--"there can be no manner of doubt. But we should, I think, say the +'Corruption of the Ministry' rather than of the State. It is not +because a few stock-jobbers rule the Press and the Cabinet, that the +State is necessarily corrupt. Remove the corruptors,--sweep the dirt +from the house--and the State will be clean." + +"It will require a very long broom!" said Paul Zouche. "Take David +Jost, for example,--he is the fat Jew-spider of several newspaper +webs,--and to sweep him out is not so easy. His printed sheets are read +by the million; and the million are deluded into believing him a +reliable authority!" + +"Nothing so easy as to prove him unreliable," said Leroy composedly; +"And then----" + +"Then the million will continue to read his journals out of sheer +curiosity, to see how long a liar can go on lying!" said Zouche;-- +"Besides a Jew can turn his coat a dozen times a day; he has inherited +Joseph's 'coat of many colours' to suit many opinions. At present Jost +supports Perousse, and calls him the greatest statesman living; but if +Perousse were once proved a fraud, Jost would pen a sublimely- +conscientious leading article, beginning in this strain;--' We are now +at liberty to confess that we always had our doubts of M. Perousse!'" + +A murmur of angry laughter went round the board. + +"There was an article this evening in one of Jost's off-shoot +journals," went on Zouche, "which must have been paid for at a +considerable cost. It chanted the praises of one Monsignor Del Fortis, +--who, it appears, preached a sermon on 'National Education' the other +day, and told all the sleepy, yawning people how necessary it was to +have Roman Catholic schools in every town and village, in order that +souls might be saved. The article ended by saying--'We hear on good +authority that his Majesty the King has been pleased to grant a +considerable portion of certain Crown lands to the Jesuit Order, for +the necessary building of a monastery and schools'----" + +"That is a lie!" broke in Pasquin Leroy, with sudden vehemence. "The +King is in many respects a scoundrel, but he does not go back on his +word!" + +Axel Regor looked fixedly across at him, with a warning flash in the +light of his cold languid eyes. + +"But how do you know that the King has given his word?" + +"It was in the paper," said Leroy, more guardedly; "I was reading about +it, as you know, on the very night I encountered Thord." + +"Ah! But you must recollect, my friend, that a statement in the papers +is never true nowadays!" said Max Graub, with a laugh; "Whenever I read +anything in the newspaper, unless it is an official telegram, I know it +is a lie; and even official telegrams have been known to emanate from +unofficial sources!" + +By this time supper was nearly over, and the landlord, clearing the +remains of the heavier fare, set fruit and wine on the board. Sergius +Thord filled his glass, and made a sign to his companions to do the +same. Then he stood up. + +"To Lotys!" he said, his fine eyes darkening with the passion of his +thought. "To Lotys, who inspires our best work, and helps us to retain +our noblest ideals!" + +All present sprang to their feet. + +"To Lotys!" + +Pasquin Leroy fixed a straight glance on the subject of the toast, +sitting quietly at the head of the table. + +"To Lotys!" he repeated; "And may she always be as merciful as she is +strong!" + +She lifted her dark-blue slumbrous eyes, and met his keen scrutinizing +look. A very slight tremulous smile flickered across her lips. She +inclined her head gently, and in the same mute fashion thanked them +all. + +"Play to us, Valdor!" she then said; "And so make answer for me to our +friends' good wishes!" + +Valdor dived under the table, and brought up his violin case, which he +unlocked with jealous tenderness, lifting his instrument as carefully +as though it were a sleeping child whom he feared to wake. Drawing the +bow across the strings, he invoked a sweet plaintive sound, like the +first sigh of the wind among the trees; then, without further +preliminary wandered off into a strange labyrinth of melody, wherein it +seemed that the voices of women and angels clamoured one against the +other,--the appeals of earth with the refusals of Heaven,--the +loneliness of life with the fulness of immortality,--so, rising, +falling, sobbing, praying, alternately, the music expostulated with +humanity in its throbbing chords, till it seemed as if some Divine +interposition could alone end the heart-searching argument. Every man +sat motionless and mute, listening; Paul Zouche, with his head thrown +back and eyes closed as in a dream,--Johan Zegota's hard, plain and +careworn face growing softer and quieter in its expression,--while +Sergius Thord, leaning on one elbow, covered his brow with one hand to +shade the lines of sorrow there. + +When Valdor ceased playing, there was a burst of applause. + +"You play before kings,--kings should be proud to hear you!" said +Leroy. + +"Ah! So they should," responded Valdor promptly; "Only it happens that +they are not! They treat me merely as a _laquais de place_,--just +as they would treat Zouche, had he accepted his Sovereign's offer. But +this I will admit,--that mediocre musicians always get on very well +with Royal persons! I have heard a very great Majesty indeed praise a +common little American woman's abominable singing, as though she were a +prima-donna, and saw him give a jewelled cigar-case to an amateur +pianist, whose fingers rattled on the keyboard like bones on a tom-tom. +But then the common little American woman invited his Majesty's 'cheres +amies' to her house; and the amateur pianist was content to lose money +to him at cards! Wheels within wheels, my friend! In a lesser degree +the stock-jobber who sets a little extra cash rolling on the Exchange +is called an 'Empire Builder.' It is a curious world! But kings were +never known to be 'proud' of any really 'great' men in either art or +literature; on the contrary, they were always afraid of them, and +always will be! Among musicians, the only one who ever got decently +honoured by a monarch was Richard Wagner,--and the world swears that +_his_ Royal patron was mad!" + +Paul Zouche opened his eyes, filled his glass afresh, and tossed down +the liquor it contained at a gulp. + +"Before we have any more music," he said, "and before the little +Pequita gives us the dance which she has promised,--not to us, but to +Lotys--we ought to have prayers!" + +A loud laugh answered this strange proposition. + +"I say we ought to have prayers!" repeated Zouche with semi-solemn +earnestness,--"You talk of news,--news in telegram,--news in brief,-- +official scratchings for the day and hour,--and do you take no thought +for the fact that his Holiness the Pope is ill--perhaps dying?" + +He stared wildly round upon them all; and a tolerant smile passed over +the face of the company. + +"Well, if that be so, Paul," said a man next to him, "it is not to be +wondered at. The Pope has arrived at a great age!" + +"No age at all!--no age at all!" declared Zouche. "A saint of God +should live longer than a pauper! What of the good old lady admitted to +hospital the other day whose birth certificate proved her beyond doubt +to be one hundred and twenty-one years old? The dear creature had not +married;--nor has his Holiness the Pope,--the real cause of death is +in neither of them! Why should he not live as long as his aged sister, +possessing, as he does the keys of Heaven? He need not unlock the +little golden door, even for himself, unless he likes. That is true +orthodoxy! Pasquin Leroy, you bold imitation of a king, more wine!" + +Leroy filled the glass he held out to him. The glances of the company +told him Zouche was 'on,' and that it was no good trying to stem the +flow of his ideas, or check the inconsequential nature of his speech. +Lotys had moved her chair a little back from the table, and with both +arms encircling the child, Pequita, was talking to her in low and +tender tones. + +"Brethren, let us pray!" cried Zouche; "For all we know, while we sit +here carousing and drinking to the health of our incomparable Lotys, +the soul of St. Peter's successor may be careering through Sphere- +Forests, and over Planet-Oceans, up to its own specially built and +particularly furnished Heaven! There is only one Heaven, as we all +know,--and the space is limited, as it only holds the followers of St. +Peter, the good disciple who denied Christ!" + +"That is an exploded creed, Zouche," said Thord quietly; "No man of any +sense or reason believes such childish nonsense nowadays! The most +casual student of astronomy knows better." + +"Astronomy! Fie, for shame!" And Zouche gave a mock-solemn shake of the +head; "A wicked science! A great heresy! What are God's Facts to the +Church Fallacies? Science proves that there are millions and millions +of solar systems,--millions and millions of worlds, no doubt +inhabited;--yet the Church teaches that there is only one Heaven, +specially reserved for good Roman Catholics; and that St. Peter and his +successors keep the keys of it. God,--the Deity--the Creator,--the +Supreme Being, has evidently nothing at all to do with it. In fact, He +is probably outside it! And of a surety Christ, with His ideas of +honesty and equality, could never possibly get into it!" + +"There you are right!" said Valdor; "Your words remind me of a +conversation I overheard once between a great writer of books and a +certain Prince of the blood Royal. 'Life is a difficult problem!' said +the Prince, smoking a fat cigar. 'To the student, it is, Sir,' replied +the author; 'But to the sensualist, it is no more than the mud-stye of +the swine,--he noses the refuse and is happy! He has no need of the +Higher life, and plainly the Higher life has no need of him. Of +course,' he added with covert satire, 'your Highness believes in a +Higher life?' 'Of course, of course!' responded the Royal creature, +unconscious of any veiled sarcasm; 'We must be Christians before +anything!' And that same evening this hypocritical Highness 'rooked' a +foolish young fellow of over one thousand English pounds!" + +"Perfectly natural!" said Zouche. "The fashionable estimate of +Christianity is to go to church o' Sundays, and say 'I believe in God,' +and to cheat at cards on all the other days of the week, as active +testimony to a stronger faith in the devil!" + +"And with it all, Zouche," said Lotys suddenly; "There is more good in +humanity than is apparent." + +"And more bad, beloved Lotys," returned Paul. "Tout le deux se disent! +But let us think of the Holy Father!--he who, after long years of +patient and sublime credulity, is now, for all we know, bracing himself +to take the inevitable plunge into the dark waters of Eternity! Poor +frail old man! Who would not pity him! His earthly home has been so +small and cosy and restricted,--he has been taken such tender care of-- +the faithful have fallen at his feet in such adoring thousands,--and +now--away from all this warmth and light and incense, and colour of +pictures and stained-glass windows, and white statuary and purple +velvets, and golden-fringed palanquins,--now--out into the cold he must +go!--out into the darkness and mystery and silence!--where all the +former generations of the world, immense and endless, and all the old +religions, are huddled away in the mist of the mouldered past!--out +into the thick blackness, where maybe the fiery heads of Bel and the +Dragon may lift themselves upward and leer at him!--or he may meet the +frightful menace of some monstrous Mexican deity, once worshipped with +the rites of blood!--out--out into the unknown, unimaginable Amazement +must the poor naked Soul go shuddering on the blast of death, to face +he truly knows not what!--but possibly he has such a pitiful blind +trust in good, that he may be re-transformed into some pleasant living +consciousness that shall be more agreeable even than that of Pope of +Rome! 'Mourir c'est rien,--mais souffrir!' That is the hard part of it! +Let us all pray for the Pope, my friends!--he is an old man!" + +"When you are silent, Zouche," said Thord with a half smile; "We may +perhaps meditate upon him in our thoughts,--but not while you talk thus +volubly! You take up time--and Pequita is getting tired." + +"Yes," said Lotys; "Pequita and I will go home, and there will be no +dancing to-night." + +"No, Lotys! You will not be so cruel!" said Zouche, pushing his grey +hair back from his brows, while his wild eyes glittered under the +tangle, like the eyes of a beast in its lair; "Think for a moment! I do +not come here and bore you with my poems, though I might very well do +so! Some of them are worth hearing, I assure you;--even the King-- +curse him!--has condescended to think so, or else why should he offer +me pay for them? Kings are not so ready to part with money, even when +it is Government money! In England once a Premier named Gladstone, gave +two hundred and fifty pounds a year pension to the French Prince, +Lucien Buonaparte, 'for his researches into Celtic literature'! Bah! +There were many worthier native-born men who had worked harder on the +same subject, to choose from,--without giving good English money to a +Frenchman! There is a case of your Order and Justice, Lotys! You spoke +to-night of these two impossible things. Why will you touch on such +subjects? You know there is no Order and no Justice anywhere! The +Universe is a chance whirl of gas and atoms; though where the two +mischiefs come from nobody knows! And why the devil we should be made +the prey of gas and atoms is a mystery which no Church can solve!" + +As he said this, there was a slight movement of every head towards +Lotys, and enquiring eyes looked suggestively at her. She saw the look, +and responded to it. + +"You are wrong, Zouche!--I have always told you you are wrong," she +said emphatically, "It is in your own disordered thoughts that you see +no justice and no order,--but Order there is, and Justice there is,-- +and Compensation for all that seems to go wrong. There is an +Intelligence at the core of Creation! It is not for us to measure that +Intelligence, or to set any limits to it. Our duty is to recognize it, +and to set ourselves as much as possible in harmony with it. Do you +never, in sane moments, study the progress of humanity? Do you not see +that while the brute creation remains stationary, (some specimens of it +even becoming extinct), man goes step by step to higher results? This +is, or should be, sufficient proof that death is not the end for us. +This world is only one link in our chain of intended experience. I +think it depends on ourselves as to what we make of it. Thought is a +great power by which we mould ourselves and others; and we have no +right to subvert that power to base uses, or to poison it by distrust +of good, or disbelief in the Supreme Guidance. You would be a thousand +times better as a man, Zouche, and far greater as a poet, if you could +believe in God!" + +She spoke with eloquence and affectionate earnestness, and among all +the men there was a moment's silence. + +"Well, _you_ believe in Him;" said Zouche at last, "and I will +catch hold of your angel's robe as you pass into His Presence and say +to Him;--' Here comes poor Zouche, who wrote of beautiful things among +ugly surroundings, and who, in order to be true to his friends, chose +poverty rather than the gold of a king!'" + +Lotys smiled, very sweetly and indulgently. + +"Such a plea would stand you in good stead, Zouche! To be always true +to one's friends, and to persistently believe in beauty, is a very long +step towards Heaven!" + +"I did not say I _believed_ in beauty," said Zouche suddenly and +obstinately;--"I dream it--I think it--but I do not see it! To me the +world is one Horror--nothing but a Grave into which we all must fall! +The fairest face has a hideous skull behind it,--the dazzling blue of +the sea covers devouring monsters in its depths--the green fields, the +lovely woodlands, are full of vile worms and noxious beetles,--and +space itself swarms with thick-strewn worlds,--flaming comets,--blazing +nebulae,--among which our earth is but a gnat's wing in a huge flame! +Horrible!--horrible!" And he spoke with a kind of vehement fury. "Let +us not think of it! Why should we insist on Truth? Let us have lies!-- +dear, sweet lies and fond delusions! Let us believe that men are all +honest, and women all loving!--that there are virgins and saints and +angels, as well as bishops and curates, looking after us in this wild +world of terror,--oh, yes!--let us believe!--better the Pope's little +private snuggery of a Heaven, than the crushing truth which says 'Our +God is a consuming fire'! Knowledge deepens sorrow,--truth kills!--we +must--we must have a little love, and a few lies to lean upon!" + +His voice faltered,--and a sudden ashy paleness overspread his +features,--his head fell back helplessly, and he seemed transfixed and +insensible. Leroy and one or two of the others rose in alarm, thinking +he had swooned, but Sergius Thord warned them back by a sign. The +little Pequita, slipping from the arms of Lotys, went softly up to him. + +"Paul! Dear Paul!" she said in her soft childish tones. + +Zouche stirred, and stretching out one hand, groped with it blindly in +the air. Pequita took it, warming it between her own little palms. + +"Paul!" she said; "Do wake up! You have been asleep such a long time!" + +He opened his eyes. The grey pallor passed from his face; he lifted his +head and smiled. + +"So! There you are, Pequita!" he said gently; "Dear little one! So +brave and cheerful in your hard life!" + +He lifted her small brown hand, and kissed it. The feverish tension of +his brain relaxed,--and two large tears welled up in his eyes, and +rolled down his cheeks. "Poor little girl!" he murmured weakly; "Poor +little hard-working girl!" + +All the men sat silent, watching the gradual softening of Zouche's +drunken delirium by the mere gentle caress of the child; and Pasquin +Leroy was conscious of a curious tightening of the muscles of his +throat, and a straining compassion at his heart, which was more like +acute sympathy with the griefs and sins of humanity than any emotion he +had ever known. He saw that the thoughtful, pitiful eyes of Lotys were +full of tears, and he longed, in quite a foolish, almost boyish +fashion, to take her in his arms and by a whispered word of tenderness, +persuade those tears away. Yet he was a man of the world, and had seen +and known enough. But had he known them humanly? Or only from the usual +standpoint of masculine egotism? As he thought this, a strain of sweet +and solemn music stole through the room,--Louis Valdor had risen to +his feet, and holding the violin tenderly against his heart, was +coaxing out of its wooden cavity a plaintive request for sympathy and +attention. Such delicious music thrilled upon the dead silence as might +have fitted Shelley's exquisite lines. + + "There the voluptuous nightingales, + Are awake through all the broad noon-day, + When one with bliss or sadness fails, + And through the windless ivy-boughs + Sick with sweet love, droops dying away + On its mate's music-panting bosom; + Another from the swinging blossom, + Watching to catch the languid close + Of the last strain; then lifts on high + The wings of the weak melody, + Till some new strain of feeling bear + The song, and all the woods are mute; + When there is heard through the dim air + The rush of wings, and rising there + Like many a lake-surrounded flute + Sounds overflow the listener's brain, + So sweet that joy is almost pain." + +"Thank God for music!" said Sergius Thord, as Valdor laid aside his +bow; "It exorcises the evil spirit from every modern Saul!" + +"Sometimes!" responded Valdor; "But I have known cases where the evil +spirit has been roused by music instead of suppressed. Art, like +virtue, has two sides!" + +Zouche was still holding Pequita's hand. He looked ill and exhausted, +like a man who had passed through a violent paroxysm of fever. + +"You are a good child, Pequita!" he was saying softly; "Try to be +always so!--it is difficult--but it is easier to a woman than to a man! +Women have more of good in them than men!" + +"How about the dance?" suggested Thord; "The hour is late,--close on +midnight--and Lotys must be tired." + +"Shall I dance now?" enquired Pequita. + +Lotys smiled and nodded. Four or five of the company at once got up, +and helped to push aside the table. + +"Will you play for me, Monsieur Valdor?" asked the little girl, still +standing by the side of Zouche. + +"Of course, my child! What shall it be? Something to suggest a fairy +hopping over mushrooms in the moonlight?--or Shakespeare's Ariel +swinging on a cobweb from a bunch of may?" + +Pequita considered, and for a moment did not reply, while Zouche, still +holding her little brown hand, kissed it again. + +"You are very fond of dancing?" asked Pasquin Leroy, looking at her +dark face and big black eyes with increasing interest. + +She smiled frankly at him. + +"Yes! I would like to dance before the King!" + +"Fie, fie, Pequita!" cried Johan Zegota, while murmurs of laughter and +playful cries of 'Shame, Shame' echoed through the room. + +"Why not?" said Pequita; "It would do me good, and my father too! Such +poor, sad people come to the theatre where I dance,--they love to see +me, and I love to dance for them--but then--they too would be pleased +if I could dance at the Royal Opera, because they would know I could +then earn enough money to make my father comfortable." + +"What a very matter-of-fact statement in favour of kings!" exclaimed +Max Graub;--"Here is a child who does not care a button for a king as +king; but she thinks he would be useful as a figure-head to dance to,-- +for idiotic Fashion, grouping itself idiotically around the figure- +head, would want to see her dance also--and then--oh simple +conclusion!--she would be able to support her father! Truly, a king has +often been put to worse uses!" + +"I think," said Pasquin Leroy, "I could manage to get you a trial at +the Royal Opera, Pequita! I know the manager." + +She looked up with a sudden blaze of light in her eyes, sprang towards +him, dropped on one knee with an exquisite grace, and kissed his hand. + +"Oh!--you will be goodness itself!" she cried;--"And I will be +grateful--indeed I will!--so grateful!" + +He was startled and amazed at her impulsive action, and taking her +little hand, gently pressed it. + +"Poor child!" he said;--"You must not thank me till I succeed. It is +very little to do--but I will do all I can." + +"Someone else will be grateful too!" said Lotys in her rich thrilling +voice; and her eyes rested on him with that wonderful magnetic +sweetness which drew his soul out of him as by a spell; while Zouche, +only partially understanding the conversation said slowly:-- + +"Pequita deserves all the good she can get; more than any of us. We do +nothing but try to support ourselves; and we talk a vast amount about +supporting others,--but Pequita works all the time and says nothing. +And she is a genius--she does not know it, but she is. Give us the +Dagger Dance, Pequita! Then our friend Leroy can judge of you at your +best, and make good report of you." + +Pequita looked at Lotys and received a sign of assent. She then nodded +to Valdor. + +"You know what to play?" + +Valdor nodded in return, and took up his violin. The company drew back +their seats, and sat, or stood aside, from the centre of the room. +Pequita disappeared for a moment, and returned divested of the plain +rusty black frock she had worn, and merely clad in a short scarlet +petticoat, with a low white calico bodice--her dark curls tumbling in +disorder, and grasping in her right hand a brightly polished, +unsheathed dagger. Valdor began to play, and with the first wild chords +the childish figure swayed, circled, and leaped forward like a young +Amazon, the dagger brandished aloft, and gleaming here and there as +though it were a snaky twist of lightning. Very soon Pasquin Leroy +found himself watching the evolutions of the girl dancer with +fascinated interest. Nothing so light, so delicate or so graceful had +he ever seen as this little slight form bending to and fro, now gliding +with the grace of a swan on water--now leaping swiftly as a fawn,-- +while the attitudes she threw herself into, sometimes threatening, +sometimes defiant, and often commanding, with the glittering steel +weapon held firmly in her tiny hand, were each and all pictures of +youthful pliancy and animation. As she swung and whirled,--sometimes +pirouetting so swiftly that her scarlet skirt looked like a mere red +flower in the wind,--her bright eyes flashed, her dark hair tangled +itself in still richer masses, and her lips, crimson as the +pomegranate, were half parted with her panting breath. + +"Brava! Brava!" shouted the men, becoming more and more excited as +their eyes followed the flash of the dagger she held, now directed +towards them, now shaken aloft, and again waved threateningly from side +to side, or pointed at her own bosom, while her little feet twinkled +over the floor in a maze of intricate and perfectly performed steps;-- +and "Brava!" cried Pasquin Leroy, as breathless, but still glowing and +bright with her exertions, she suddenly out of her own impulse, dropped +on one knee before him with the glittering dagger pointed straight at +his heart! + +"Would that please the King?" she asked, her pearly teeth gleaming into +a mischievous smile between the red lips. + +"If it did not, he would be a worse fool than even I take him for!" +replied Leroy, as she sprang up again, and confronted him. "Here is a +little souvenir from me, child!--and if ever you do dance before his +Majesty, wear it for my sake!" + +He took from his pocket a ring, in which was set a fine brilliant of +unusual size and lustre. + +She looked at it a moment as he held it out to her. + +"Oh, no," she faltered, "I cannot take it--I cannot! Lotys dear, you +know I cannot!" + +Lotys, thus appealed to, left her seat and came forward. Taking the +ring from Leroy's hand, she examined it a moment, then gently returned +it. + +"This is too great a temptation for Pequita, my friend," she said +quietly, but firmly. "In duty bound, she would have to sell it in order +to help her poor father. She could not justly keep it. Let me be the +arbiter in this matter. If you can carry out your suggestion, and +obtain for her an engagement at the Royal Opera, then give it to her, +but not till then! Do you not think I am right?" + +She spoke so sweetly and persuasively, that Leroy was profoundly +touched. What he would have liked would have been to give the child a +roll of gold pieces,--but he was playing a strange part, and the time +to act openly was not yet. + +"It shall be as you wish, Madame!" he said with courteous deference. +"Pequita, the first time you dance before the King, this shall be +yours!" + +He put aside the jewel, and Pequita kissed his hand impulsively,--as +impulsively she kissed the lips of her friend Lotys--and then came the +general dispersal and break-up of the assembly. + +"Tell me;" said Sergius Thord, catching Leroy's hand in a close and +friendly grasp ere bidding him farewell; "Are you in very truth in +personal danger on account of serving our Cause?" + +"No!" replied Leroy frankly, returning the warm pressure; "And rest +assured that if I were, I would find means to elude it! I have managed +to frighten Carl Perousse, that is all--and Jost!" + +"Jost!" echoed Sergius; "The Colossus of the Press? Surely it would +take more than one man to frighten him!" + +Leroy laughed. + +"I grant you the Jewish centres of journalism are difficult to shake! +But they all depend on stocks and shares!" + +A touch on his arm caused him to turn round,--Paul Zouche confronted +both him and Thord, with a solemn worn face, and lack-lustre eyes. + +"Good-night, friends!" he said; "I have not kicked at a king with my +boot, but I have with my brain!--and the effort is exhausting! I am +going home to bed." + +"Where is your home?" asked Leroy suddenly. + +Zouche looked mysterious. + +"In a palace, dear sir! A palace of golden air, peopled with winged +dreams! No money could purchase it;--no 'Empire Builder' could build +it!--it is mine and mine alone! And I pay no taxes!" + +"Will you put this to some use for me?" said Leroy, holding out a gold +piece; "Simply as comrade and friend?" + +Zouche stared at him. + +"You mean it?" + +"Of course I mean it! Zouche, believe me, you are going to be the +fashion! You will be able to do _me_ a good turn before long!" + +Zouche took the gold piece, and as he took it, pressed the giver's +hand. + +"You mean well!" he said tremulously; "You know--as Sergius does, that +I am poor,--often starving--often drunk--but you know also that there +is something _here_!"--and he touched his forehead meaningly. "But +to be the 'fashion'! Bah! I do not belong to the Trade-ocracy! Nobody +becomes the 'fashion' nowadays unless they have cheated their +neighbours by short weight and falsified accounts! Good-night! You +might be the King from your looks;--but you have something better than +kingship--Heart! Good-night, Pequita! You danced well! Good-night, +Lotys! You spoke well! Everyone does everything well, except poor +Zouche!" + +Pequita ran up to him. + +"Good-night, dear Paul!" + +He stooped and kissed her gently. + +"Good-night, little one! If ever you show your twinkling feet at the +Opera, _you_ will be the 'fashion'--and will you remember Paul +then?" + +"Always--always!" said Pequita tenderly; "Father and Lotys and I will +always love you!" + +Zouche gave a short laugh. + +"Always love me! Me! Well!--what strange things children will say, not +knowing in the least what they mean!" + +He gave a vague salute to the entire company, and walked out of the +tavern with drooping head. Others followed him,--every man in going, +shook hands with Lotys and Sergius Thord,--the lamps were extinguished, +and the landlord standing in the porch of his tavern watched them all +file out, and bade them all a cordial farewell. Pequita's home was with +her father in the house where Sergius Thord dwelt, and Lotys kissing +her tenderly good-night, left her to Thord's care. + +"And who will see you home, Lotys?" enquired Thord. + +"May I for once have that honour?" asked Pasquin Leroy. His two +companions stared in undisguised amazement, and there was a moment's +silence. + +Then Lotys spoke. + +"You may!" she said simply. + +There was another silence while she put on her hat, and wrapped herself +in her long dark cloak. Then Thord took Pequita by the hand. + +"Good-night, Lotys!" + +"Good-night, Sergius!" + +Leroy turned to his two friends and spoke to them in a low tone. + +"Go your ways!" he said peremptorily; "I will join you later!" + +Vain were their alarmed looks of remonstrance; and in another moment +all the party had separated, and only Max Graub and Axel Regor remained +on the pavement outside the tavern, disconsolately watching two figures +disappearing in the semi-shadowed moonlight--Pasquin Leroy and Lotys-- +walking closely side by side. + +"Was there ever such a drama as this?" muttered Graub, "He may lose his +life at any moment!" + +"If he does," responded Regor, "It will not be our fault. We do our +best to guard him from the consequence of one folly,--and he +straightway runs into another! There is no help for it; we have sworn +to obey him, and we must keep our oath!" + +They passed slowly along the street, too absorbed in their own +uncomfortable reflections for the interchange of many words. By the +rules of the Revolutionary Committee, they were not allowed 'to follow +or track any other member' so they were careful to walk in a reverse +direction to that taken by their late comrades. The great bell of the +Cathedral boomed midnight as they climbed towards the citadel, and the +pale moon peeping whitely through piled-up fleecy clouds, shed a silver +glare upon the quiet sea. And down into the 'slums,' down, and ever +deeper, into the sad and cheerless 'Quarter of the Poor' Pasquin Leroy +walked as though he trod lightly on a path of flowers,--his heart +beating high, and his soul fully awakened within him, thrilled, he knew +not why, to the heart's core by the soft low voice of Lotys,--and glad +that in the glimpses of the moonlight her eyes were occasionally lifted +to his face, with something of a child's trust, if not of a woman's +tenderness. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +AN INVITATION TO COURT + + +The spring was now advancing into full summer, and some time had passed +since the Socialist party had gathered under their leaders to the voice +of Lotys. Troublous days appeared to be impending for the Senate, and +rumours of War,--war sometimes apparently imminent, and again suddenly +averted,--had from time to time worried the public through the Press. +But what was even more disturbing to the country, was the proposed +infliction of new, heavy and irritating taxes, which had begun to +affect the popular mind to the verge of revolt. Twice since Lotys had +spoken at the People's Assembly Rooms had Sergius Thord addressed huge +mass meetings, which apparently the police had no orders to disperse, +and his power over the multitude was increasing by leaps and bounds. +Whenever he spoke, wherever he worked, the indefatigable Pasquin Leroy +was constantly at his side, and he, in his turn began to be recognized +by the Revolutionary Committee as one of their most energetic members, +--able, resolute, and above all, of an invaluably inscrutable and self- +contained demeanour. His two comrades were not so effectual in their +assistance, and appeared to act merely in obedience to his +instructions. Their attitude, however, suited everyone concerned as +well as, if not better than, if they had been overzealous. Owing to +what Leroy had stated concerning the possibility of his arrest as a +spy, his name was never mentioned in public by one single member of the +Brotherhood; and to the outside Socialist following, he therefore +appeared simply as one of the many who worked under Sergius Thord's +command. Meanwhile, there were not lacking many other subjects for +popular concern and comment; all of which in their turn gave rise to +anxious discussion and vague conjecture. A Cabinet Council had been +held by the Premier, at which, without warning, the King had attended +personally, but the results were not made known to the public. Yet the +general impression was that his Majesty seemed to be perfectly +indifferent to the feelings or the well-being of his subjects; in fact, +as some of them said with dismal shakings of the head, "It was all a +part of the system; kings were not allowed to do anything even for the +benefit of their people." And rising Socialism, ever growing stronger, +and amassing in its ranks all the youthful and ambitious intellects of +the time, agreed and swore that it was time for a Republic. Only by a +complete change of Government could the cruelly-increasing taxation be +put down; and if Government was to be changed, why not the dummy +figure-head of Government as well? + +Thus Rumour talked, sometimes in whispers--sometimes in shouts;--but +through it all the life of the Court and fashion went on in the same +way,--the King continued to receive with apparent favour the most +successful and most moneyed men from all parts of the world; the Queen +drove or walked, or rode;--and the only prospective change in the +social routine was the report that the Crown Prince was about to leave +the country for a tour round the world, and that he would start on his +journey in his own yacht about the end of the month. The newspapers +made a great fuss in print over this projected tour; but the actual +people were wholly indifferent to it. They had seen very little of the +Crown Prince,--certainly not enough to give him their affection; and +whether he left the kingdom or stayed in it concerned them not at all. +He had done nothing marked or decisive in his life to show either +talent, originality of character, or resolution; and the many 'puffs' +in the press concerning him, were scarcely read at all by the public, +or if they were, they were not credited. The expression of an ordinary +working-man with regard to his position was entirely typical of the +general popular sentiment;--"If he would only do something to prove he +had a will of his own, and a mind, he would perhaps be able to set the +Throne more firmly on its legs than it is at present." + +How thoroughly the young man _had_ proved that he indeed possessed +'a will of his own,' was not yet disclosed to the outside critics of +his life and conduct. Only the King and Queen, and Professor von +Glauben knew it;--for even Sir Roger de Launay had not been entrusted +with the story of his secret marriage. The Queen had received the news +with her usual characteristic immobility. A faint cold smile had parted +her lips as she listened to the story of her son's romance,--and her +reply to the King's brief explanation was almost as brief:-- + +"Nearly all the aristocracy marry music-hall women!" she said; "One +should therefore be grateful that a Crown Prince does not go lower in +his matrimonial choice than an innocent little peasant!" + +"The marriage is useless, of course," said the King; "It has satisfied +Humphry's exalted notions of honour; but it can never be acknowledged +or admitted." + +"Of course not!" she agreed languidly; "It certainly clears up the +mystery of The Islands, which you were so anxious to visit;--and I +suppose the next thing you will do is to marry him again to some +daughter of a Royal house?" + +"Most assuredly!" + +"As _you_ were married to _me?_" she said, raising her eyes +to his face with that strange deep look which spoke eloquently of some +mystery hidden in her soul. + +His cheeks burned with an involuntary flush. He bowed. + +"Precisely! As I married you!" he replied. + +"The experiment was hardly successful!" she said with her little cold +smile. "I fear you have often regretted it!" + +He looked at her, studying her beauty intently,--and the remembrance of +another face, far less fair of feature, but warm and impassioned by the +lovely light of sympathy and tenderness, came between his eyes and +hers, like a heavenly vision. + +"Had you loved me," he said slowly, "I might never have known what it +was to need love!" + +A slight tremor ran through her veins. There was a strange tone in his +voice,--a soft cadence to which she was unaccustomed,--something that +suggested a new emotion in his life, and a deeper experience. + +"I never loved anyone in my life!" she answered calmly--"And now the +days are past for loving. Humphry, however, has made up for my lack of +the tender passion!" + +She turned away indifferently, and appeared to dismiss the matter +altogether from her mind. The first time she saw her son, however, +after hearing of his marriage, she looked at him curiously. + +"And so your wife is very lovely, Humphry!" she said with a slightly +derisive smile. + +He was not startled by the suddenness of her observation nor put out by +it. + +"She is the loveliest woman I have ever seen,--not excepting yourself," +he replied. + +"It is a very foolish affair!" she continued composedly; "But +fortunately in our line of life such things are easily arranged;--and +your future will not be spoiled by it. I am glad you are going abroad, +as you will very soon forget!" + +The Prince regarded her steadfastly with something of grave wonderment +as well as compassion,--but he made no reply, and with the briefest +excuse left her presence as soon as possible, in order to avoid further +conversation on the subject. She, herself, however, found her mind +curiously perturbed and full of conjectures concerning her son's +idyllic love-story, in which all considerations for her as Queen and +mother seemed omitted,--and where she, as it were, appeared to be shut +outside a lover's paradise, the delights of which she had never +experienced. The King held many private conferences with her on the +matter, in which sometimes Professor von Glauben was permitted to +share;--and the upshot of these numerous discussions resulted in a +scheme which was as astonishing in its climax as it was unexpected. +Over and over again it has been proved to nations as well as to +individuals, that the whole course of events may be changed by the +fixed determination of one resolute mind; but it is not often that the +moral force of a mere girl succeeds in competing with the authority of +kings and parliaments. But so it chanced on this occasion, and in the +following manner. + +One glorious early morning, the sun having risen without a cloud in the +deep blue of the sky, and the sea being as calm as an inland lake, the +King's yacht was seen to weigh anchor and steam away at her fullest +speed towards The Islands. Little or no preparation had been made for +her short voyage; there was no Royal party on board, and the only +passenger was Professor von Glauben. He sat solitary on deck in a +luxurious chair, smoking his meerschaum pipe, and dubiously considering +the difficult and peculiar situation in which he was placed. He made no +attempt to calculate the possible success or failure of his mission-- +'for,' said he very sagely, 'it all depends on a woman, and God alone +knows what a woman will do! Her ways are dark and wonderful, and +altogether beyond the limit of the comprehension of man!' + +His journey was undertaken at the King's command; and equally by the +King's command he had been compelled to keep it a secret from Prince +Humphry. He had never been to The Islands since the King's 'surprise +visit' there, and he was of course not aware that Gloria now knew the +real rank and position of her supposed 'sailor' husband. He was at +present charged to break the news to her, and bring her straightway to +the palace, there to confront both the King and Queen, and learn from +them the true state of affairs. + +"It is a cruel ordeal," he said, shaking his head sorrowfully; "Yet I +myself am a party to its being tried. For once in my life I have pinned +my faith on the unspoilt soul of an unworldly woman. I wonder what will +come of it? It rests entirely with Gloria herself, and with no one else +in the world!" + +As the yacht arrived at its destination and dropped anchor at some +distance from the pier, owing to the shallowness of the tide at that +hour of the day, The Islands presented a fair aspect in the dancing +beams of the summer sunlight. Numbers of fruit trees were bursting into +blossom,--the apple, the cherry, the pink almond and the orange blossom +all waved together and whispered sweetness to one another in the pure +air, and the full-flowering mimosa perfumed every breath of wind. +Fishermen were grouped here and there on the shore, mending or drying +their nets; and in the fields beyond could be perceived many workers +pruning the hedges or guiding the plough. The vision of a perfect +Arcadia was presented to the eye; and so the Professor thought, as +getting into the boat lowered for him, he was rowed from the yacht to +the landing-place, and there dismissed the sailors, warning them that +at the first sound of his whistle they should swiftly come for him +again. + +"What a pity to spoil her peace of mind--her simplicity of life!" he +thought, as he walked at a slow and reluctant pace towards Ronsard's +cottage; "And I fear we shall have trouble with the old man! I wonder +if his philosophy will stand hard wear and tear!" + +The pretty, low timber-raftered house confronted him at the next bend +in the road, and presented a charming aspect of tranquillity. The grass +in front of it was smooth as velvet and emerald-green, and in one of +the flower borders Ronsard himself was digging and planting. He looked +up as he heard the gate open, but did not attempt to interrupt his +work;--and Von Glauben advanced towards him with a considerable sense +of anxiety and insecurity in his mind. Anon he paused in the very act +of greeting, as the old man turned his strong, deeply-furrowed +countenance upon him with a look of fierce indignation and scorn. + +"So! You are here!" he said; "Have you come to look upon the evil your +Royal master has worked? Or to make dutiful obeisance to Gloria as +Crown-Princess?" + +Von Glauben was altogether taken aback. + +"Then--you know--?" he stammered. + +"Oh yes, I know!" responded Ronsard sternly and bitterly; "I know +everything! There has been full confession! If the husband of my Gloria +were more prince than man, my knife would have slit his throat! But he +is more man than prince!--and I have let him live--for her sake!" + +"Well--that is so far good!" said Von Glauben, wiping the perspiration +from his brow, and heaving a deep sigh of relief; "And as you fully +comprehend the situation, it saves me the trouble of explaining it! You +are a philosopher, Ronsard! Permit me to remind you of that fact! You +know, like myself, that what is done, even if it is done foolishly, +cannot be undone!" + +"I know it! Who should know it so well as I!" and Ronsard set a +delicate rose-tree roughly in the hole he had dug for it, and began to +fiercely pile in the earth around it;--"Fate is fate, and there is no +gainsaying it! The law of Compensation will always have its way! Look +you, man!--and listen! I, Rene Ronsard, once killed a king!--and now in +my old age, the only creature I ever loved is tricked by the son of a +king! It is just! So be it!" + +He bent his white head over his digging again, and Von Glauben was for +a moment silent, vaguely amazed and stupefied by this sudden +declaration of a past crime. + +"You should not say 'tricked,' my friend!" he at last ventured to +remark; "Prince Humphry is an honest lad;--he means to keep his word!" + +Ronsard looked up, his eyes gleaming with fury. + +"Keep his word? Bah! How can he? Who in this wide realm will give him +the honourable liberty to keep his word? Will he acknowledge Gloria as +his wife before the nation?--she a foundling and a castaway? Will he +make her his future queen? Not he! He will forsake her, and live with +another woman, in sin which the law will sanctify!" + +He went on planting the rose-tree, then,--dropping his spade,--tossed +up his head and hands with a wild gesture. + +"What, and who is this God who so ordains our destiny!" he exclaimed; +"For surely this is His work,--not mine! Hidden away from all the world +with my life's secret buried in my soul, I, without wife, or children +or friends, or any soul on earth to care whether I lived or died, was +sent an angel comforter;--the child I rescued from the sea! 'Gloria, +Gloria in excelsis Deo!' the choristers sang in the church when I found +her! I thought it true! With her,--in every action, in every thought +and word, I strove,--and have faithfully striven,--to atone for my past +crime;--for I was forced through others to kill that king! When proved +guilty of the deed, I was told by my associates to assume madness,--a +mere matter of acting,--and, being adjudged as insane, I was sent with +other criminals on a convict ship, bound for a certain coast-prison, +where we were all to be kept for life. The ship was wrecked off the +rocks yonder, and it was reported that every soul on board went down, +but I escaped--only I,--for what inscrutable reason God alone knows! +Finding myself saved and free, I devoted my life to hard work, and to +doing all the good I could think of to atone--to atone--always to +atone! Then the child was sent to me; and I thought it was a sign that +my penance was accepted; but no!--no!--the compensating curse falls,-- +not on me,--not on me, for if only so, I would welcome it--but on Her! +--the child of my love--the heart of my heart!--on Her!" + +He turned away his face, and a hard sob broke from his labouring chest. +Von Glauben laid a gentle, protective hand on his shoulder. + +"Ronsard, be a man!" he said in a kind, firm voice; "This is the first +time you have told me your true history--and--I shall respect your +confidence! You have suffered much--equally you have loved much! Doubt +not that you are forgiven much. But why should you assume, or foresee +unhappiness for Gloria? Why talk of a curse where perhaps there is only +an intended blessing? Is she unhappy, that you are thus moved?" + +Ronsard furtively dashed away the tears from his eyes. + +"She? Gloria unhappy? No,--not yet! The delights of spring and summer +have met in her smile,--her eyes, her movements! It was she herself who +told me all! If he had told me, I would have killed him!" + +"Eminently sensible!" said Von Glauben, recovering his usual phlegmatic +calm; "You would have killed the man she loves best in the world. And +so with perfect certainty you would have killed her as well,--and +probably yourself afterwards. A perfect slaughterhouse, like the last +scene in Hamlet, by the so admirable Shakespeare! It is better as it +is. Life is really very pleasant!" + +He sniffed the perfumed air,--listened with appreciation to the +trilling of a bird swinging on a bough of apple-blossom above him, and +began to feel quite easy in his mind. Half his mission was done for +him, Prince Humphry having declared himself in his true colours. "I +always said," mused the Professor, "that he was a very honest young +man! And I think he will be honest to the end." Aloud he asked: + +"When did you know the truth?" + +"Some days since," replied Ronsard. "He--Gloria's husband--I can as yet +call him by no other name--came suddenly one evening;--the two went out +together as usual, and then--then my child returned alone. She told me +all,--of the disguise he had assumed--and of his real identity--and I-- +well! I think I was mad! I know I spoke and acted like a madman!" + +"Nay, rather say like a philosopher!" murmured Von Glauben with a +humorous smile; "Remember, my good fellow, that there is no human being +who loses self-control more easily and rapidly than he who proclaims +the advantage of keeping it! And what did Gloria say to you?" + +Ronsard looked up at the tranquil skies, and was for a moment silent. +Then he answered. + +"Gloria is--just Gloria! There is no woman like her,--there never will +be any woman like her! She said nothing at all while I raged and +swore;--she stood before me white and silent,--grand and calm, like +some great angel. Then when I cursed _him,_--she raised her hand, +and like a queen she said: 'I forbid you to utter one word against +him!' I stood before her mute and foolish. 'I forbid you!' She,--the +child I reared and nurtured--menaced me with her 'command' as though I +were her slave and servant! You see I have lost her!--she is not mine +any more--she is _his_--to be treated as he wills, and made the +toy of his pleasure! She does not know the world, but I know it! I know +the misery that is in store for her! But there is yet time--and I will +live to avenge her wrong!" + +"Possibly there will be no wrong to avenge," said Von Glauben +composedly; "But if there is, I have no doubt you would kill another +king!" Ronsard turned pale and shuddered. "It is stupid work, killing +kings," went on the Professor; "It never does any good; and often +increases the evil it was intended to cure. Your studies in philosophy +must have taught you that much at least! As for your losing Gloria,-- +you lost her in a sense when you gave her to her husband. It is no use +complaining now, because you find he is not the man you took him for. +The mischief is done. At any rate you are bound to admit that Gloria +has, so far, been perfectly happy; she will be happy still, I truly +believe, for she has the secret of happiness in her own beautiful +nature. And you, Ronsard, must make the best of things, and meet fate +with calmness. To-day, for instance, I am here by the King's command,-- +I bear his orders,--and I have come for Gloria. They want her at the +Palace." + +Ronsard stepped out of his flower-border, and stood on the greensward +amazed, and indignantly suspicious. + +"They want her at the Palace!" he repeated; "Why? What for? To do her +harm? To make her miserable? To insult and threaten her? No, she shall +not go!" + +"Look here, my friend," said the Professor with mild patience; "You +have--for a philosopher--a most unpleasant habit of jumping to wrong +conclusions! Please endeavour to compose the tumult in your soul, and +listen to me! The King has sent for Gloria, and I am instructed to take +charge of her, and escort her to the presence of their Majesties. No +insult, no threat, no wrong is intended. I will bring her back again +safe to you immediately the audience is concluded. Be satisfied, +Ronsard! For once 'put your trust in princes,' for her husband will be +there,--and do you think he would suffer her to be insulted or +wronged?" + +Ronsard's sunken eyes looked wild,--his aged frame trembled violently, +and he gave a hopeless gesture. + +"I do not know--I do not know!" he said incoherently; "I am an old man, +and I have always found it a wicked world! But--if you give me your +word that she shall come to no harm, I will trust _you_!" + +Silently Von Glauben took his hand and pressed it. Two or three minutes +passed, weighted with unuttered and unutterable thoughts in the minds +of both men; and then, in a somewhat hushed voice, the Professor said: + +"Ronsard, I am just now reminded of the tragic story of Rudolf of +Austria, who killed himself through the maddening sorrow of an ill- +fated love! We, in our different lines of life should remember that,-- +and let no young innocent heart suffer through our follies--our rages +against fate--our conventions--our more or less idiotic laws of +restraint and hypocrisy. The tragedy of Prince Rudolf and the unhappy +Marie Vetsera whom he worshipped, was caused by the sin and the +falsehood of others,--not by the victims of the cruel catastrophe. +Therefore, I say to you, my friend, be wise in time!--and control the +natural stormy tendency of your passions in this present affair. I +assure you, on my faith and honour as a man, that the King has a kindly +heart and a brave one,--together with a strong sense of justice. He is +not truly known to his people;--they only see him through the pens of +press reporters, or the slavish descriptions of toadies and parasites. +Then again, the Crown Prince is an honourable lad; and from what I know +of him, he is not likely to submit to conventional usages in matters +which are close to his life and heart. Gloria herself is of such an +exceptional character and disposition, that I think she may be safely +left to arbitrate her own destiny----" + +"And the Queen?" interrupted Ronsard suddenly;--"She, at any rate, as a +woman, wife and mother, will be gentle?" + +"Gentle, she certainly is," said Von Glauben, with a slight sigh; "But +only because she does not consider it worth while to be otherwise! God +has put a stone in the place where her heart should be! However,--she +will have little to say, and still less to do with to-day's business. +You tell me you will trust me; I promise you, you shall not repent your +trust! But I must see Gloria herself. Where is she?" + +Ronsard pointed towards the cottage. + +"She is in there, studying," he said; "Books of the old time;--books +that few read. She gets them all from Sergius Thord. How would it be, +think you, if he knew?" + +The pleasantly rubicund countenance of the Professor grew a shade +paler. + +"Sergius Thord--Sergius Thord?--H'm--h'm--let me see!--who is he? Ah! I +remember,--he is the Socialist lion, for ever roaring through the +streets and seeking whom he may devour! I daresay he is not without +cleverness!" + +"Cleverness!" echoed Ronsard; "That is a tame word! He has genius, and +the people swear by him. Since the proposed new taxation, and other +injustices of the Government, he has gained adherents by many +thousands. You,--whom I once took to be a mere German schoolmaster, a +friend of the young 'sailor' whom my child so innocently wedded,--you +whom I now know to be the King's physician--surely you cannot live on +the mainland, and in the metropolis, without knowing of the power of +Sergius Thord?" + +"I know something--not much;" replied the Professor guardedly; "But +come, my friend, _I_ have not deceived you! I was in very truth a +poor 'German schoolmaster,' once,--before I became a student of +medicine and surgery. And that I am the King's physician, is merely one +of those accidental circumstances which occur in a world of chance. But +schoolmaster as I have been, I doubt if I would set our 'Glory-of-the- +Sea' to study books recommended to her by Sergius Thord. The poetry of +Heine is more suitable to her age and sex. Let us break in upon her +meditations." And he walked across the grass with one arm thrust +through that of Ronsard; "For she must prepare herself. We ought to be +gone within an hour." + +They passed under the low, rose-covered porch into a wide square room, +with raftered ceiling and deep carved oak ingle nook,--and here at the +table, with a quarto volume opened out before her, sat Gloria, resting +her head on one fair hand, her rich hair falling about her in loose +shining tresses, and her whole attitude expressive of the deepest +absorption in study. As they entered, she looked up and smiled,--then +rose, her hand still resting on the open book. + +"At last you have come again, dear Professor!" she said; "I began to +think you had grown weary in well-doing!" + +Von Glauben stared at her, stricken speechless for a moment. What +mysterious change had passed over the girl, investing her with such an +air of regal authority? It was impossible to say. To all appearance she +was the same beautiful creature, clad in the same simple white homespun +gown,--yet were she Empress of half the habitable globe, she could not +have looked more environed with dignity, sweetness and delicately +gracious manner. He understood the desolating expression of Ronsard,-- +'You see I have lost her!--she is not mine any more--she is his!' He +recognised and was suddenly impressed by that fact;--she was 'his'--the +wife of the Crown Prince and Heir-Apparent to the Throne;--and +evidently with the knowledge of her position had arisen the pride of +love and the spirit of grace to support her honours worthily. And so, +as Von Glauben met her eyes, which expressed their gentle wonder at his +silence, and as she extended her hand to him, he came slowly forward +and bowing low, respectfully kissed that hand. + +"Princess," he said, in a voice that trembled ever so slightly; "I +shall never be weary in well-doing,--if you are good enough to call my +service and friendship for you by that name! I hesitated to come +before,--because I thought--I feared--I did not know!--" + +"I understand!" said Gloria tranquilly; "You did not think the Prince, +my husband, would tell me the truth so soon! But I know all, and now--I +am glad to know it! Dearest," and she moved swiftly to Ronsard who was +standing silent in the doorway--"come in and sit down! You make +yourself so tired sometimes in the garden;" and she threw a loving arm +about him. "You must rest; you look so pale!" + +For all answer, he lifted the hand that hung about his neck, to his +lips and kissed it tenderly. + +"They want you, Gloria!" he said tremulously; "They want you at the +Palace. You must go to-day!" + +She lifted her brilliant eyes enquiringly to Von Glauben, who responded +to the look by at once explaining his mission. He was there, he said, +by the King's special command;--their Majesties had been informed of +their son's marriage by their son himself; and they desired at once to +see and speak with their unknown daughter-in-law. The interview would +be private; his Royal Highness the Crown Prince would be present;--it +might last an hour, perhaps longer,--and he, Von Glauben, was entrusted +to bring Gloria to the Palace, and escort her back to The Islands again +when all was over. Thus, with elaborate and detailed courtesy, the +Professor unfolded the nature of his enterprise, while Gloria, still +keeping one arm round Ronsard, heard and smiled. + +"I shall obey the King's command!" she said composedly; "Though,-- +having no word from the Prince, my husband, concerning this mandate,--I +might very well refuse to do so! But it may be as well that their +Majesties and their son's wife should plainly, and once for all, +understand each other. Dear Professor, you look sadly troubled. Is +there some little convention, some special ceremonial of so-called +'good manners,' which you are commissioned to teach me, before I make +my appearance at Court under your escort?" + +Her lovely lips smiled,--her eyes laughed,--she looked the very +incarnation of Beauty triumphant. Von Glauben's brain whirled,--he felt +bewitched and dazzled. + +"I?--to teach you anything? No, my princess!--and please think how +loyally I have called you 'Princess' from the beginning!--I have always +told you that you have a spiritual knowledge far surpassing all +material wisdom. Conventions and ceremonials are not for you,--you +will make fashion, not follow it! I am not troubled, save for your +sake, dear child!--for you know nothing of the world, and the ways of +the Court may at first offend you--" + +"The ways of Hell must have seemed dark to Proserpine," said Ronsard in +his harsh, strong voice; "But Love gave her light!" + +"A very just reminder!" said Von Glauben, well pleased;--"Consider +Gloria to be the new Proserpine to-day! And now she must forgive me for +playing the part of a tyrannical friend, and urging her to hasten her +preparations." + +Gloria bent down and kissed Ronsard gently. + +"Trust me, little father!" she whispered; "You have not taught me great +lessons of truth in vain!" + +Aloud she said. + +"The King and Queen wish to see me and speak with me,--and I know the +reason why! They desire to fully explain to me all that my husband has +already told me,--which is that according to the rules made for +monarchs, our marriage is inadmissible. Well!--I have my answer ready; +and you, Professor, shall hear me give it! Wait but a few moments and I +will come with you." + +She left the room. The two men looked at each other in silence. At last +Von Glauben said:-- + +"Ronsard, I think you will soon reap the reward of your 'life- +philosophy' system! You have fed that girl from her childhood on strong +intellectual food, and trained the mental muscles rather than the +physical ones. Upon my word, I believe you will see a good result!" + +Ronsard, who had grown much calmer and quieter during the last few +minutes, raised himself a little from the chair into which he had sunk +with an air of fatigue, and looked dreamily towards the open lattice +window, where the roses hung in a curtain of crimson blossom. + +"If it be so, I shall praise God!" he said; "But the years have come +and gone with me so peacefully since I made my home on these quiet +shores, that the exercise of what I have presumed to call 'philosophy' +has had no chance. Philosophy! It is well to preach it,--but when the +blow of misfortune falls, who can practise it?" + +"You can," replied the Professor;--"I can! Gloria can! I think we all +three have clear brains. There is a tendency in the present age to +overlook and neglect the greatest power in the whole human +composition,--the mental and psychical part of it. Now, in the present +curious drama of events, we have a chance given to exercise it; and it +will be our own faults if we do not make our wills rule our destinies!" + +"But the position is intolerable--impossible!" said Ronsard, rising and +pacing the room with a fresh touch of agitation. "Nothing can do away +with the fact that we--my child and I--have been cruelly deceived! And +now there can be only one of two contingencies; Gloria must be +acknowledged as the Prince's wife,--in which case he will be forced to +resign all claim to the Throne;--or he must marry again, which makes +her no wife at all. That is a disgrace which her pride would never +submit to, nor mine;--for did I not kill a king?" + +"Let me advise you for the future not to allude to that disagreeable +incident!" said Von Glauben persuasively: "Exercise discretion,--as I +do! Observe that I do not ask you what king you killed;--I am as +careful on that matter as I am concerning the reasons for which I +myself left my native Fatherland! I make it a rule never to converse on +painful subjects. You tell me you have tried to atone; then believe +that the atonement is made, and that Gloria is the sign of its +acceptance, and--happy augury!--here she comes." + +They both instinctively turned to confront the girl as she entered. She +had changed her ordinary white homespun gown for another of the same +kind, equally simple, but fresh and unworn; her glorious bronze- +chestnut hair was unbound to its full rippling length, and was held +back by a band or fillet of curiously carved white coral, which +surmounted the rich tresses somewhat in the fashion of a small crown, +and she carried, thrown over one arm, the only kind of cloak she ever +wore,--a burnous-like wrap of the same white homespun as her dress, +with a hood, which, as the Professor slowly took out his glasses and +fixed them on his nose out of mere mechanical habit, to look at her +more closely, she drew over her head and shoulders, the soft folds +about her exquisite face completing a classic picture of such radiant +beauty as is seldom seen nowadays among the increasingly imperfect and +repulsive specimens of female humanity which 'progress' combined with +sensuality, produce for the 'advancement' of the race. + +"I have no Court dress," she said smiling; "And if I had I should not +wear it! The King and Queen shall see me as my husband sees me,--what +pleases him, must suffice to please them! I am quite ready!" + +Von Glauben removed the spectacles he had needlessly put on. They were +dim with a moisture which he furtively polished off, blinking his eyes +meanwhile as if the light hurt him. He was profoundly moved--thrilled +to the very core of his soul by the simplicity, frankness and courage +of this girl whose education was chiefly out of wild Nature's lesson- +book, and who knew nothing of the artificial world of fashion. + +"And I, my princess, am at your service!" he said; "Ronsard, it is but +a few hours that we shall be absent. To-night with the rising of the +moon we shall return, and I doubt not with the Prince himself as chief +escort! Keep a good heart and have faith! All will be well!" + +"All _shall_ be well if Love can make it so!" said Ronsard;-- +"Gloria--my child--!" He held out his wrinkled hands pathetically, +unable to say more. She sank on her knees before him, and tenderly +drawing down those hands upon her head, pressed them closely there. + +"Your blessing, dearest!" she said; "Not in speech--but in thought!" + +There was a moment's sacred silence;--then Gloria rose, and throwing +her arms round the old man, the faithful protector of her infancy and +girlhood, kissed him tenderly. After that, she seemed to throw all +seriousness to the winds, and running out under the roses of the porch +made two or three light dancing steps across the lawn. + +"Come!" she cried, her eyes sparkling, her face radiant with the +gaiety of her inward spirit; "Come, Professor! This is not what we call +a poet's day of dreams,--it is a Royal day of nonsense! Come!" and here +she drew herself up with a stately air--"WE are prepared to confront the +King!" + +The Professor caught the infection of her mirth, and quickly followed +her; and within the next half-hour Rene Ronsard, climbing slowly to the +summit of one of the nearest rocks on the shore adjacent to his +dwelling, shaded his eyes from the dazzling sunlight on the sea, and +strained them to watch the magnificent Royal yacht steaming swiftly +over the tranquil blue water, with one slight figure clad in white +leaning against the mast, a figure that waved its hand fondly towards +The Islands, and of whom it might have been said: + + "Her gaze was glad past love's own singing of, + And her face lovely past desire of love!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +A FAIR DEBUTANTE + + +That same afternoon there was a mysterious commotion at the Palace,-- +whispers ran from lip to lip among the few who had seen her, that a +beautiful woman,--lovelier than the Queen herself,--had, under the escort +of the uncommunicative Professor von Glauben, passed into the presence +of the King and Queen, to receive the honour of a private audience. +Who was she? What was she? Where did she come from? How was +she dressed? This last question was answered first, being easiest to +deal with. She was attired all in white,--'like a picture' said some-- +'like a statue' said others. No one, however, dared ask any direct +question concerning her,--her reception, whoever she was, being of a +strictly guarded nature, and peremptory orders having been given to +admit no one to the Queen's presence-chamber, to which apartment she +had been taken by the King's physician. But such dazzling beauty as +hers could not go altogether unnoticed by the most casual attendant, +sentinel, or lord-in-waiting, and the very fact that special commands +had been issued to guard all the doors of entrance to the Royal +apartments on either hand, during her visit, only served to pique and +inflame the general curiosity. + +Meantime,--while lesser and inferior personages were commenting on the +possibility of the unknown fair one being concerned with some dramatic +incident that might have to be included among the King's numerous +gallantries,--the unconscious subject of their discussion was quietly +seated alone in an ante-room adjoining the Queen's apartments, waiting +till Professor von Glauben should announce that their Majesties were +ready to receive her. She was not troubled or anxious, or in any way +ill at ease. She looked curiously upon the splendid evidences of Royal +state, wealth and luxury which surrounded her, with artistic +appreciation but no envy. She caught sight of her own face and figure +in a tall mirror opposite to her, set in a silver frame; and she +studied herself quietly and critically with the calm knowledge that +there was nothing to deplore or to regret in the way God and Nature had +been pleased to make her. She was not in the slightest degree vain,-- +but she knew that a healthy and quiet mind in a healthy and unspoilt +body, together form what is understood as the highest beauty,--and +that these two elements were not lacking in her. Moreover, she was +conscious of a great love warming her heart and strengthening her +soul,--and with this great motive-force to brace her nerves and add +extra charm to her natural loveliness, she had no fear. She had enjoyed +the swift voyage across the sparkling sea, and the fresh air had made +her eyes doubly lustrous, her complexion even more than usually fair +and brilliant. She did not permit herself to be rendered unhappy or +anxious as to the possible attitude of the King and Queen towards her, +--she was prepared for all contingencies, and had fully made up her +mind what to say. Therefore, there was no need to fret over the +position, or to be timorously concerned because she was called upon to +confront those who by human law alone were made superior in rank to the +rest of mankind. + +"In God's sight all men are equal!" she said to herself: "The King is a +mere helpless babe at birth, dependant on others,--as he is a mere +helpless corpse at death. It is only men's own foolish ideas and +conventions of usage in life that make any difference!" + +At that moment the Professor entered hurriedly, and impulsively seizing +her hands in his own, kissed them and pressed them tenderly. His face +was flushed--he was evidently strongly excited. + +"Go in there now, Princess!" he whispered, pointing to the adjacent +room, of which the door stood ajar; "And may God be on your side!" + +She rose up, and releasing her hands gently from his nervous grasp, +smiled. + +"Do not be afraid!" she said; "You, too, are coming?" + +"I follow you!" he replied. + +And to himself he said: "Ach, Gott in Himmel! Will she keep her so +beautiful calm? If she will--if she can--a throne would be well lost +for such a woman!" + +And he watched her with an admiration amounting almost to fear, as she +passed before him and entered the Royal presence-chamber with a proud +light step, a grace of bearing and a supreme distinction, which, had +she been there on a day of diplomatic receptions, would have made half +the women accustomed to attend Court, look like the merest vulgar +plebeians. + +The room she entered was very large and lofty. A dazzle of gold +ceiling, painted walls and mirrors flashed upon her eyes, with the hue +of silken curtains and embroidered hangings,--the heavy perfume of +hundreds of flowers in tall crystal vases and wide gilded stands made +the air drowsy and odorous, and for a moment, Gloria, just fresh from +the sweet breath of the sea, felt sickened and giddy,--but she +recovered quickly, and raised her eyes fearlessly to the two motionless +figures, which, like idols set in a temple for worship, waited her +approach. The King, stiffly upright, and arrayed in military uniform, +stood near the Queen, who was seated in a throne-like chair over- +canopied with gold,--her trailing robes were of a pale azure hue +bordered with ermine, and touched here and there with silver, giving +out reflexes of light, stolen as it seemed from the sea and sky,--and +her beautiful face, with its clear-cut features and cold pallor, might +have been carved out of ivory, for all the interest or emotion +expressed upon it. Gloria came straight towards her, then stopped. With +her erect supple form, proud head and fair features, she looked the +living embodiment of sovereign womanhood,--and the Queen, meeting the +full starry glance of her eyes, stirred among her Royal draperies, and +raised herself with a slow graceful air of critical observation, in +which there was a touch of languid wonder mingled with contempt. Still +Gloria stood motionless,--neither abashed nor intimidated,--she made no +curtsey or reverential salutation of any kind, and presently removing +her gaze from the Queen, she turned to the King. + +"You sent for me," she said; "And I have come. What do you want with +me?" + +The King smiled. What a dazzling Perfection was here, he thought! A +second Una unarmed, and strong in the courage of innocence! But he was +acting a special part, and he determined to play it well and +thoroughly. So he gave her no reply, but turned with a stiff air to Von +Glauben. + +"Tell the girl to make her obeisance to the Queen!" he said. + +The Professor very reluctantly approached the 'Glory-of-the-Sea' with +this suggestion, cautiously whispered. Gloria obeyed at once. Moving +swiftly to the Queen's chair, she bent low before her. + +"Madam!" she said, "I am told to kneel to you, because you are the +Queen,--but it is not for that I do so. I kneel, because you are my +husband's mother!" + +And raising the cold impassive hand covered with great gems, that +rested idly on the rich velvets so near to her touch, she gently +kissed it,--then rose up to her full height again. + +"Is it always like this here?" she asked, gazing around her. "Do you +always sit thus in a chair, dressed grandly and quite silent?" + +The smile deepened on the King's face; the Queen, perforce moved at +last from her inertia, half rose with an air of amazement and +indignation, and Von Glauben barely saved himself from laughing +outright. + +"You," continued Gloria, fixing her bright glance on the King; "You +have seen me before! You have spoken to me. Then why do you pretend not +to know me now? Is that Court manners? If so, they are not good or +kind!" + +The King relaxed his formal attitude, and addressed his Consort in a +low tone. + +"It is no use dealing with this girl in the conventional way," he said; +"She is a mere child at heart, simple and uneducated;--we must treat +her as such. Perhaps you will speak to her first?" + +"No, Sir, I much prefer that you should do so," she replied. "When I +have heard her answers to you, it will be perhaps my turn!" + +Thereupon the King advanced a step or two, and Gloria regarded him +steadfastly. Meeting the pure light of those lovely eyes, he lost +something of his ordinary self-possession,--he was conscious of a +certain sense of embarrassment and foolishness;--his very uniform, +ablaze with gold and jewelled orders, seemed a clown's costume compared +with the classic simplicity of Gloria's homespun garb, which might have +fitly clothed a Greek goddess. Sensible of his nervous irritation, he +however overcame it by an effort, and summoning all his dignity, he +'graciously,' as the newspaper parasites put it, extended his hand. +Gloria smiled archly. + +"I kissed your hand the other day when you were cross!" she said; "You +would like it kissed again? There!" + +And with easy grace of gesture she pressed her lips lightly upon it. It +would have needed something stronger than mere flesh and blood to +resist the natural playfulness and charm of her action, combined with +her unparalleled beauty, and the King, who was daily and hourly proving +for himself the power and intensity of that Spirit of Man which makes +clamour for higher things than Man's conventionalities, became for the +moment as helplessly overwhelmed and defeated by a woman's smile, a +woman's eyes, as any hero of old times, whose conquests have been +reported to us in history as achieved for the sake of love and beauty. +But he was compelled to disguise his thoughts, and to maintain an +outward expression of formality, particularly in the presence of his +Queen-Consort,--and he withdrew the hand that bore her soft kiss upon +it with a well-simulated air of chill tolerance. Then he spoke gravely, +in measured precise accents. + +"Gloria Ronsard, we have sent for you in all kindness," he said; "out +of a sincere wish to remedy any wrong which our son, the Crown Prince +has, in the light folly and hot impulse of his youth, done to you in +your life. We are given to understand that there is a boy-and-girl +attachment between you; that he won your attachment under a disguised +identity, and that you were thus innocently deceived,--and that, in +order to satisfy his own honourable scruples, as well as your sense of +maidenly virtue, he has, still under a disguise, gone through the +ceremony of marriage with you. Therefore, it seems that you now imagine +yourself to be his lawful wife. This is a very natural mistake for a +girl to make who is as young and inexperienced as you are, and I am +sorry,--very sorry for the false position in which my son the Crown +Prince has so thoughtlessly placed you. But, after very earnest +consideration, I,--and the Queen also,--think it much better for you to +know the truth at once, so that you may fully realize the situation, +and then, by the exercise of a little common sense, spare yourself any +further delusion and pain. All we can do to repair the evil, you may +rest assured shall be done. But you must thoroughly understand that the +Crown Prince, as heir to the Throne, cannot marry out of his own +station. If he should presume to do so, through some mad and hot-headed +impulse, such a marriage is not admitted or agreed to by the nation. +Thus you will see plainly that, though you have gone through the +marriage ceremony with him, that counts as nothing in your case,--for, +according to the law of the realm, and in the sight of the world, you +are not, and cannot be his wife!" + +Gloria raised her deep bright eyes and smiled. + +"No?" she said, and then was silent. + +The King regarded her with surprise, and a touch of anger. He had +expected tears, passionate declamations, and reiterated assurances of +the unalterable and indissoluble tie between herself and her lover, but +this little indifferently-queried "No?" upset all his calculations. + +"Have you nothing to say?" he asked, somewhat sternly. + +"What should I say?" she responded, still smiling; "You are the King; +it is for you to speak!" + +"She does not understand you, Sir," interrupted the Queen coldly; "Your +words are possibly too elaborate for her simple comprehension!" + +Gloria turned a fearless beautiful glance upon her. + +"Pardon me, Madam, but I do understand!" she said; "I understand that +by the law of God I am your son's wife, and that by the law of the +world I am no wife! I abide by the law of God!" + +There was a moment's dead silence. Professor von Glauben gave a +discreet cough to break it, and the King, reminded of his presence +turned towards him. + +"Has she no sense of the position?" he demanded. + +"Sir, I have every reason to believe that she grasps it thoroughly!" +replied Von Glauben with a deferential bow. + +"Then why----" + +But here he was again interrupted by the Queen. She, raising herself in +her chair, her beautiful head and shoulders lifted statue-like from her +enshrining draperies of azure and white, stretched forth a hand and +beckoned Gloria towards her. + +"Come here, child!" she said; then as Gloria advanced with evident +reluctance, she added; "Come closer--you must not be afraid of me!" + +Gloria smiled. + +"Nay, Madam, trouble not yourself at all in that regard! I never was +afraid of anyone!" + +A shadow of annoyance darkened the Queen's fair brows. + +"Since you have no fear, you may equally have no shame!" she said in +icy-cold accents; "Therefore it is easy to understand why you +deliberately refuse to see the harm and cruelty done to our son, the +Crown Prince, by his marriage with you, if such marriage were in the +least admissible, which fortunately for all concerned, it is not. He is +destined to occupy the Throne, and he must wed someone who is fit to +share it. Kings and princes may love where they choose,--but they can +only marry where they must! You are my son's first love;--the thought +and memory of that may perhaps be a consolation to you,--but do not +assume that you will be his last!" + +Gloria drew back from her; her face had paled a little. + +"You can speak so!" she said sorrowfully; "You,--his mother! Poor +Queen--poor woman! I am sorry for you!" + +Without pausing to notice the crimson flush of vexation that flew over +the Queen's delicate face at her words, she turned, now with some +haughtiness, to the King. + +"Speak plainly!" she said; "What is it you want of me?" + +Her flashing eyes, her proud look startled him--he moved back a step or +two. Then he replied with as much firmness and dignity as he could +assume. + +"Nothing is wanted of you, my child, but obedience and loyalty! Resign +all claim upon the Crown Prince as his wife; promise never to see him +again, or correspond with him,--and--you shall lose nothing by the +sacrifice you make of your little love affair to the good of the +country." + +"The good of the country!" echoed Gloria in thrilling tones. "Do +_you_ know anything about it? You--who never go among your people +except to hunt and shoot and amuse yourself generally? You, who permit +wicked liars and spendthrifts to gamble with the people's money! The +good of the country! If my life could only lift the burden of taxation +from the country, I would lay it down gladly and freely! If I were +Queen, do you think I could be like her?" and she stretched forth her +white arm to where the Queen, amazed, had risen from her seat, and now +stood erect, her rich robes trailing yards on the ground, and flashing +at every point with jewels. "Do you think I could sit unmoved, clad in +rich velvet and gems, while one single starving creature sought bread +within my kingdom? Nay, I would sell everything I possessed and go +barefoot rather! I would be a sister, not a mere 'patroness' to the +poor;--I would never wear a single garment that had not been made for +me by the workers of my own land;--and the 'good of the country' should +be 'good' indeed, not 'bad,' as it is now!" + +Breathless with the sudden rush of her thoughts into words, she stood +with heaving bosom and sparkling eyes, the incarnation of eloquence and +inspiration, and before the astonished monarch could speak, she went +on. + +"I am your son's wife! He loves me--he has wedded me honourably and +lawfully. You wish me to disclaim that. I will not! From him and him +alone, must come my dismissal from his heart, his life and his soul. If +he desires his marriage with me dissolved, let him tell me so himself +face to face, and before you and his mother! Then I shall be content to +be no more his wife. But not till then! I will promise nothing without +his consent. He is my husband,--and to him I owe my first obedience. I +seek no honour, no rank, no wealth,--but I have won the greatest +treasure in this world, his love!--and that I will keep!" + +A door opened at the further end of the room--a curtain was quietly +pushed aside, and the Crown Prince entered. With a composed, almost +formal demeanour, he saluted the King and Queen, and then going up to +Gloria, passed his arm around her waist, and held her fast. + +"When you have concluded your interview with my wife, Sir,--an +interview of which I had no previous knowledge," he said quietly, +addressing the King; "I shall be glad to have one of my own with her!" + +The King answered him calmly enough. + +"Your wife,--as you call her,--is a very incorrigible young person," he +said. "The sooner she returns to her companions, the fisher-folk on The +Islands, the better! From her looks I imagined she might have sense; +but I fear that is lacking to her composition! However, she is +perfectly willing to consider her marriage with you dissolved, if you +desire it. I trust you _will_ desire it;--here, now, and at once, +in my presence and that of the Queen, your mother;--and thus a very +unpleasant and unfortunate incident in your career will be +satisfactorily closed!" + +Prince Humphry smiled. + +"Dissolve the heavens and its stars into a cup of wine, and drink them +all down at one gulp!" he said; "And then, perhaps, you may dissolve my +marriage with this lady! If you consider it illegal, put the question +to the Courts of Law;--to the Pope, who most strenuously supports the +sanctity of the marriage-tie;--ask all who know anything of the +sacrament, whether, when two people love each other, and are bound by +holy matrimony to be as one, and are mutually resolved to so remain, +any earthly power can part them! 'Those whom God hath joined together, +let no man put asunder.' Is that mere lip mockery, or is it a holy +bond?" + +The King gave an impatient gesture. + +"There is no use in argument," he said, "when argument has to be +carried on with such children as yourselves. What cannot be done by +persuasion, must be done by force. I wished to act kindly and +reasonably by both of you--and I had hoped better things from this +interview,--but as matters have turned out, it may as well be +concluded." + +"Wait!" said Gloria, disengaging herself gently from her husband's +embrace; "I have something to say which ought to meet your wishes, even +though it may not be all you desire. I will not promise to give up my +husband;--I will not promise never to see him, and never to write to +him--but I will swear to you one thing that should completely put your +fears and doubts of me at rest!" + +Both the King and Queen looked at her wonderingly;--a brighter, more +delicate beauty seemed to invest her,--she stood very proudly upright, +her small head lifted,--her rich hair glistening in the soft sunshine +that streamed in subdued tints through the high stained-glass windows +of the room,--her figure, slight and tall, was like that of the goddess +dreamt of by Endymion. + +"You are so unhappy already," she continued, turning to the Queen; "You +have lost so much, and you need so much, that I should be sorry to add +to your burden of grief! If I thought I could make you glad,--if I +thought I could make you see the world through my eyes, with all the +patient, loving human hearts about you, waiting for the sympathy you +never give; I would come to you often, and try to find the warm pulse +of you somewhere under all that splendour which you clothe yourself in, +and which is as valueless to me as the dust on the common road! And if +I could show _you_" and here she fixed her steadfast glance upon +the King,--"where you might win friends instead of losing them,--if I +could persuade you to look and see where the fires of Revolution are +beginning to smoulder and kindle under your very Throne,--if I could +bear messages from you of compassion and tenderness to all the +disaffected and disloyal, I would ask you on my knees to let me be your +daughter in affection, as I am by marriage; and I would unveil to you +the secrets of your own kingdom, which is slowly but steadily rising +against you! But you judge me wrongly--you estimate me falsely,--and +where I might have given aid, your own misconception of me makes me +useless! You consider me low-born and a mere peasant! How can you be +sure of that?--for truly I do not know who I am, or where I came from. +For aught I can tell, the storm was my father, and the sea my mother,-- +but my parents may as easily have been Royal! You judge me half- +educated,--and wholly unworthy to be your son's wife. Will the ladies +of your Court compete with me in learning? I am ready! What I hear of +their attainments has not as yet commanded my respect or admiration,-- +and you yourself as King, do nothing to show that you care for either +art or learning! I wonder, indeed, that you should even pause to +consider whether your son's wife is educated or not!" + +Absolutely silent, the King kept his eyes upon her. He was experiencing +a novel sensation which was altogether delightful to him, and more +instructive than any essay or sermon. He, the ostensible ruler of the +country, was face to face with a woman who had no fear of him,--no awe +for his position,--no respect for his rank, but who simply spoke to him +as though he had been any ordinary person. He saw a scarcely +perceptible smile on his son's handsome features,--he saw that Von +Glauben's eyes twinkled, despite his carefully preserved seriousness of +demeanour, and he realized the almost absurd powerlessness of his +authority in such an embarrassing position. The assumption of a mute +contempt, such as was vaguely expressed by the Queen, appeared to him +to be the best policy;--he therefore adopted that attitude, without +however producing the least visible effect. Gloria's face, softly +flushed with suppressed emotion, looked earnest and impassioned, but +neither abashed nor afraid. + +"I have read many histories of kings," she continued slowly; "Of their +treacheries and cruelties; of their neglect of their people! Seldom +have they been truly great! The few who are reported as wise, lived and +reigned so many ages ago, that we cannot tell whether their virtues +were indeed as admirable as described,--or whether their vices were +not condoned by a too-partial historian. A Throne has no attraction for +me! The only sorrow I have ever known in my life, is the discovery that +the man I love best in the world is a king's son! Would to God he were +poor and unrenowned as I thought him to be, when I married him!--for so +we should always have been happy. But now I have to think for him as +well as for myself;--his position is as hard as mine,--and we accept +our fate as a trial of our love. Love cannot be forced,--it must root +itself, and grow where it will. It has made us two as one;--one in +thought,--one in hope,--one in faith! No earthly power can part us. You +would marry him to another woman, and force him to commit a great sin +'for the good of the country'? I tell you, if you do that,--if any king +or prince does that,--God's curse will surely fall upon the Throne, +and all that do inherit it!" + +She did not raise her voice,--she spoke in low thrilling accents, +without excitement, but with measured force and calm. Then she beckoned +the Crown Prince to her side. He instantly obeyed her gesture. Taking +him by the hand, she advanced a little, and with him confronted both +the King and Queen. + +"Hear me, your Majesties both!" she said in clear, firm accents; "And +when you have heard, be satisfied as to 'the good of the country,' and +let me depart to my own home in peace, away from all your crushing and +miserable conventions. I take your son by the hand, and even as I swore +my faith to him at the marriage altar, so I swear to you that he is +free to follow his own inclination;--his law is mine,--his will my +pleasure,--and in everything I shall obey him, save in this one decree, +which I make for myself in your Majesties' sovereign presence--that +never, so help me God, will I claim or share my husband's rank as Crown +Prince, or set foot within this palace, which is his home, again, till +a greater voice than that of any king,--the voice of the Nation itself, +calls upon me to do so!" + +This proud declaration was entirely unexpected; and both the King and +Queen regarded the beautiful speaker in undisguised amazement. She, +gently dropping the Prince's hand, met their eyes with a wistful pathos +in her own. + +"Will that satisfy you?" she asked, a slight tremor shaking her voice +as she put the question. + +The King at once advanced, and now spoke frankly, and without any +ceremony. + +"Assuredly! You are a brave girl! True to your love, and true to the +country at one and the same time! But while I accept your vow, let me +warn you not to indulge in any lurking hope or feeling that the Nation +will ever recognize your marriage. Your own willingly-taken oath at +this moment practically makes it null and void, so far as the State is +concerned;--but perhaps it strengthens it as a bond of--youthful +passion!" + +An open admiration flashed in his bold fine eyes as he spoke,--and +Gloria grew pale. With an involuntary movement she turned towards the +Queen. + +"You--Madam--you--Ah! No,--not you!--you are cruel!--you have not a +woman's heart! My love--my husband!" + +The Prince was at once beside her, and she clung to him trembling. + +"Take me away!" she whispered; "Take me away altogether--this place +stifles me!" + +He caught her in his strong young arms, and was about to lead her to +the door, when she suddenly appeared to remember something, and +releasing herself from his clasp, put him away from her with a faint +smile. + +"No, dearest! You must stay here;--stay here and make your father and +mother understand all that I have said. Tell them I mean to keep my +vow. You know how thoroughly I mean it! The Professor will take me +home!" + +Then the Queen moved, and came towards her with her usual slow +noiseless grace. + +"Let me thank you!" she said, with an air of gracious condescension; +"You are a very good girl, and I am sure you will keep your word! You +are so beautiful that you are bound to do well; and I hope your future +life will be a happy one!" + +"I hope so, Madam!" replied Gloria slowly; "I think it will! If it is +not happier than yours, I shall indeed be unfortunate!" + +The Queen drew back, offended; but the King, who had been whispering +aside to Von Glauben, now approached and said kindly. + +"You must not go away, my child, without some token of our regard. Wear +this for Our sake!" + +He offered her a chain of gold bearing a simple yet exquisitely +designed pendant of choice pearls. Her face crimsoned, and she pushed +it disdainfully aside. + +"Keep it, Sir, for those whose love and faith can be purchased with +jewelled toys! Mine cannot! You mean kindly no doubt,--but a gift from +you is an offence, not an honour! Fare-you-well!" + +Another moment and she was gone. Von Glauben, at a sign from the King, +hastily followed her. Prince Humphry, who had remained almost entirely +mute during the scene, now stood with folded arms opposite his Royal +parents, still silent and rigid. The King watched him for a minute or +two--then laid a hand gently on his arm. + +"We do not blame you over-much, Humphry!" he said; "She is a beautiful +creature, and more intelligent than I had imagined. Moreover she has +great calmness, as well as courage." + +Still the Prince said nothing. + +"You are satisfied, Madam, I presume?" went on the King addressing his +Consort;--"The girl could hardly make a more earnest vow of abnegation +than she has done. And when Humphry has travelled for a year and seen +other lands, other manners, and other faces, we may look upon this +boyish incident in his career as finally closed. I think both you and I +can rest assured that there will be no further cause for anxiety?" + +He put the question carelessly. The Queen bent her head in +acquiescence, but her eyes were fixed upon her son, who still said +nothing. + +"We have not received any promise from Humphry himself," she said; +"Apparently he is not disposed to take a similar oath of loyalty!" + +"Truly, Madam, you judge me rightly for once!" said the Prince, +quietly; "I am certainly not disposed to do anything but to be master +of my own thoughts and actions." + +"Remain so, Humphry, by all means!" said the King indulgently. "The +present circumstances being so far favourable, we exact nothing more +from you. Love will be love, and passion must have its way with boys of +your age. I impose no further restriction upon you. The girl's own word +is to me sufficient bond for the preservation of your high position. +All young men have their little secret love-affairs; we shall not blame +you for yours now, seeing, as we do, the satisfactory end of it in +sight! But I fear we are detaining you!" This with elaborate +politeness. "If you wish to follow your fair _inamorata_, the way +is clear! You may retire!" + +Without any haste, but with formal military stiffness the Prince +saluted,--and turning slowly on his heel, left the presence-chamber. +Alone, the King and his beautiful Queen-Consort looked questioningly at +one another. + +"What think you, Madam, of the heroine of this strange love-story?" he +asked with a touch of bitterness in his voice. "Does it not strike you +that even in this arid world of much deception, there may be after all +such a thing as innocence?--such a treasure as true and trusting love? +Were not the eyes of this girl Gloria, when lifted to your face, +something like the eyes of a child who has just said its prayers to +God,--who fears nothing and loves all? Yet I doubt whether you were +moved!" + +"Were you?" she asked indifferently, yet with a strange fluttering at +her heart, which she could not herself comprehend. + +"I was!" he answered. "I confess it! I was profoundly touched to see a +girl of such beauty and innocence confront us here, with no other +shield against our formal and ridiculous conventionalities, save the +pure strength of her own love for Humphry, and her complete trust in +him. It is easy to see that her life hangs on his will; it is not so +much her with whom we have to deal, as with him. What he says, she will +evidently obey. If he tells her he has ceased to love her, she will die +quite uncomplainingly; but so long as he does love her, she will live, +and expand in beauty and intelligence on that love alone; and you may +be assured, Madam, that in that case, he will never wed another woman! +Nor could I possibly blame him, for he is bound to find all--or most +women inferior to her!" + +She regarded him wonderingly. + +"Your admiration of her is keen, Sir!" she said, amazed to find herself +somewhat irritated. "Perhaps if she were not morganatically your +daughter-in-law, you might be your son's rival?" + +He turned upon her indignantly. + +"Madam, the days were, when you, as my wife, had it in your power to +admit no rivals to the kingdom of your own beauty! Since then, I +confess, you have had many! But they have been worthless rivals all,-- +crazed with their own vanity and greed, and empty of truth and honour. +A month or two before I came to the Throne, I was beginning to think +that women were viler than vermin,--I had grown utterly weary of their +beauty,--weary--ay, sick to death of their alluring eyes, sensual lips, +and too freely-offered caresses; the uncomely, hard-worked woman, +earning bread for her half-starved children, seemed the only kind of +feminine creature for which I could have any respect--but now--I am +learning that there _are_ good women who are fair to see,--women +who have hearts to love and suffer, and who are true--ay--true as the +sun in heaven to the one man they worship!" + +"A man who is generally quite unworthy of them!" said the Queen with a +chill laugh; "Your eloquence, Sir, is very touching, and no doubt leads +further than I care to penetrate! The girl Gloria is certainly +beautiful, and no doubt very innocent and true at present,--but when +Humphry tires of her, as he surely will, for all men quickly tire of +those that love them best,--she will no doubt sink into the ordinary +ways of obtaining consolation. I know little concerning these amazingly +good women you speak of; and nothing concerning good men! But I quite +agree with you that many women are to be admired for their hard work. +You see when once they do begin to work, men generally keep them at +it!" She gathered up her rich train on one arm, and prepared to leave +the apartment. "If you think," she continued, "as you now say, that +Humphry will never change his present sentiments, and never marry any +other woman, the girl's oath is a mere farce and of no avail!" + +"On the contrary, it is of much avail," said the King, "for she has +sworn before us both never to claim any right to share in Humphry's +position, till the nation itself asks her to do so. Now as the nation +will never know of the marriage at all, the 'call' will not be +forthcoming." + +The Queen paused in the act of turning away. + +"If you were to die," she said; "Humphry would be King. And as King, he +is quite capable of making Gloria Queen!" + +He looked at her very strangely. + +"Madam, in the event of my death, all things are possible!" he said; "A +dying Sovereignty may give birth to a Republic!" + +The Queen smiled. + +"Well, it is the most popular form of government nowadays," she +responded, carelessly moving slowly towards the door; "And perhaps the +most satisfactory. I think if I were not a Queen, I should be a +republican!" + +"And I, if I were not a King," he responded, "should be a Socialist! +Such are the strange contradictions of human nature! Permit me!" He +opened the door of the room for her to pass out,--and as she did so, +she looked up full in his face. + +"Are you still interested in your new form of amusement?" she said; +"And do you still expose yourself to danger and death?" + +He bowed assent. + +"Still am I a fool in a new course of folly, Madam!" he answered with a +smile, and a half sigh. "So many of my brother monarchs are wadded +round like peaches in wool, with precautions for their safety, lest +they bruise at a touch, that I assure you I take the chances of danger +and death as exhilarating sport, compared to their guarded condition. +But it is very good of you to assume such a gracious solicitude for my +safety!" + +"Assume?" she said. Her voice had a slight tremor in it,--her eyes +looked soft and suffused with something like tears. Then, with her +usual stately grace, she saluted him, and passed out. + +Struck at the unwonted expression in her face, he stood for a moment +amazed. Then he gave vent to a low bitter laugh. + +"How strange it would be if she should love me now!" he murmured. "But +--after all these years--too late! Too late!" + +That night before the King retired to rest, Professor von Glauben +reported himself and his duty to his Majesty in the privacy of his own +apartments. He had, he stated, accompanied Gloria back to her home in +The Islands; and, he added somewhat hesitatingly, the Crown Prince had +returned with her, and had there remained. He, the Professor, had left +them together, being commanded by the Prince so to do. + +The King received this information with perfect equanimity. + +"The boy must have his way for the present," he said. "His passion will +soon exhaust itself. All passion exhausts itself sooner or--later!" + +"That depends very much on the depth or shallowness of its source, +Sir," replied the Professor. + +"True! But a boy!--a mere infant in experience! What can he know of the +depths in the heart and soul! Now a man of my age----" + +He broke off abruptly, seeing Von Glauben's eyes fixed steadfastly upon +him, and the colour deepened in his cheek. Then he gave a slight laugh. + +"I tell you, Von Glauben, this little love-affair--this absurd toy- +marriage is not worth thinking about. Humphry leaves the country at the +end of this month,--he will remain absent a year,--and at the +expiration of that time we shall marry him in good earnest to a +royally-born bride. Meanwhile, let us not trouble ourselves about this +sentimental episode, which is so rapidly drawing to its close." + +The Professor bowed respectfully and retired. But not to sleep. He had +a glowing picture before his eyes,--a picture he could not forget, of +the Crown Prince and Gloria standing with arms entwined about each +other under the rose-covered porch of Ronsard's cottage saying "Good- +night" to him, while Ronsard himself, his tranquillity completely +restored, and his former fears at rest, warmly shook his hand, and with +a curious mingling of pride and deference thanked him for all his +friendship--'all his goodness!' + +"And no goodness at all is mine," said the meditative Professor, "save +that of being as honest as I can to both sides! But there is some +change in the situation which I do not quite understand. There is some +new plan on foot I would swear! The Prince was too triumphant--Gloria +too happy--Ronsard too satisfied! There is something in the wind!--but +I cannot make out what it is!" + +He pondered uneasily for a part of the night, reflecting that when he +had returned from The Islands in the King's yacht, he had met the +Prince's own private vessel on her way thither, gliding over the waves, +a mere ghostly bunch of white sails in the glimmering moon. He had +concluded that it was under orders to embark the Prince for home again +in the morning; and yet, though this was a perfectly natural and +probable surmise, he had been unable to rid himself altogether of a +doubtful presentiment, to which he could give no name. By degrees, he +fell into an uneasy slumber, in which he had many incompleted dreams,-- +one of which was that he found himself all alone on the wide ocean +which stretched for thousands of miles beyond The Islands,--alone in a +small boat, endeavouring to row it towards the great Southern Continent +that lay afar off in the invisible distance,--where few but the most +adventurous travellers ever cared to wander. And as he pulled with +weak, ineffectual oars against the mighty weight of the rolling +billows, he thought he heard the words of an old Irish song which he +remembered having listened to, when as quite a young man he had paid +his first and last visit to the misty and romantic shores of Britain. + + "Come o'er the sea + _Cushla ma chree_!-- + Mine through sunshine, storm and snows!-- + Seasons may roll, + But the true soul, + Burns the same wherever it goes; + Let fate frown on, so we love and part not, +'T is life where thou art, 't is death where thou art not! + Then come o'er the sea, + _Cushla ma chree_! + Mine wherever the wild wind blows!" + +Then waking with a violent start, he wondered what set of brain-cells +had been stirred to reproduce rhymes that he had, or so he deemed, long +ago forgotten. And still musing, he almost mechanically went on with +the wild ditty. + + "Was not the sea + Made for the free, + Land for Courts and chains alone!-- + Here we are slaves, + But on the waves, + Love and liberty are our own!" + +"This will never do!" he exclaimed, leaping from his bed; "I am becoming +a mere driveller with advancing age!" + +He went to the window and looked out. It was about six o'clock in the +morning,--the sun was shining brightly into his room. Before him lay +the sea, calm as a lake, and clear-sparkling as a diamond;--not a boat +was in sight;--not a single white sail on the distant horizon. And in +the freshness and stillness of the breaking day, the world looked but +just newly created. + +"How we fret and fume in our little span of life!" he murmured. "A few +years hence, and for us all the troubles which we make for ourselves +will be ended! But the sun and the sea will shine on just the same--and +Love, the supremest power on earth, will still govern mankind, when +thrones and kings and empires are no more!" + +His thoughts were destined to bear quick fruition. The morning deepened +into noon--and at that hour a sealed dispatch brought by a sailor, who +gave no name and who departed as soon as he had delivered his packet, +was handed to the King. It was from the Crown Prince, and ran briefly +thus:-- + +"At your command, Sir, and by my own desire, I have left the country +over which you hold your sovereign dominion. Whither I travel, and how, +is my own affair. I shall return no more _till the Nation demands my +service_,--whereof I shall doubtless hear should such a contingency +ever arise. I leave you to deal with the situation as seems best to +your good pleasure and that of the Government,--but the life God has +given me can only be lived once, and to Him alone am I responsible for +it. I am resolved therefore to live it to my own liking,--in honesty, +faith and freedom. In accordance with this determination, Gloria, my +wife, as in her sworn marriage-duty bound, goes with me." + +For one moment the King stood transfixed and astounded; a cloud of +anger darkened his brows. Crumpling up the document in his hand, he was +about to fling it from him in a fury. What! This mere boy and girl had +baffled the authority of a king! Anon, his anger cooled--his +countenance cleared. Smoothing the paper out he read its contents +again,--then smiled. + +"Well! Humphry has something of me in him after all!" he said. "He is +not entirely his mother! He has a heart,--a will, and a conscience,-- +all three generally lacking to sons of kings! Let me be honest with +myself! If he had given way to me, I should have despised him!--'but +for Love's sake he has opposed me; and by my soul!--I respect him!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE KING'S DEFENDER + + +Rumour, we are told, has a million tongues, and they were soon all at +work, wagging out the news of the Crown Prince's mysterious departure. +Each tongue told a different story, and none of the stories tallied. No +information was to be obtained at Court. There nothing was said, but +that the Prince, disliking the formal ceremony of a public departure, +had privately set sail in his own yacht for his projected tour round +the world. Nobody believed this; and the general impression soon gained +ground that the young man had fallen into disgrace with his Royal +parents, and had been sent away for a time till he should recognize the +enormity of his youthful indiscretions. + +"Sent away--you understand!" said the society gossips; "To avoid +further scandal!" + +The Prince's younger brothers, Rupert and Cyprian, were often plied +with questions by their intimates, but knowing nothing, and truly +caring less, they could give no explanation. Neither King nor Queen +spoke a word on the subject; and Sir Roger de Launay, astonished and +perplexed beyond measure as he was at this turn in affairs, dared not +put any questions even to his friend Professor von Glauben who, as soon +as the news of the Prince's departure was known, resolutely declined to +speak, so he said, "on what did not concern him." Gradually, however, +this excitement partially subsided to give place to other forms of +social commotion, which beginning in trifles, swiftly expanded to +larger and more serious development. The first of these was the sudden +rise of a newspaper which had for many years subsisted with the +greatest difficulty in opposition to the many journals governed by +David Jost. It happened in this manner. + +Several leading articles written in favour of a Jesuit settlement in +the country, had appeared constantly in Jost's largest and most widely +circulated newspaper, and the last of these 'leaders,' had concluded +with the assertion that though his Majesty, the King, had at first +refused the portion of Crown-lands needed by the Society for building, +he had now 'graciously' re-considered the situation, and had been +pleased to revoke his previous decision. Whereat, the very next morning +the rival 'daily' had leaped into prominence by merely two headlines: + +THE JESUIT SETTLEMENT STATEMENT BY HIS MAJESTY THE KING. + +And there, plainly set forth, was the Royal and authoritative refusal +to grant the lands required, 'Because of the earnest petition of our +loving subjects against the said grant,'--and till 'our loving +subjects'' objections were removed, the lands would be withheld. This +public announcement signed by the King in person, created the most +extraordinary sensation throughout the whole country. It was the one +topic at every social meeting; it was the one subject of every sermon. +Preachers stormed and harangued in every pulpit, and Monsignor Del +Fortis, lifting up his harsh raucous voice in the Cathedral itself, +addressed an enormous congregation one Sunday morning on the matter, +and denounced the King, the Queen, and the mysteriously-departed Crown +Prince in the most orthodox Christian manner, commending them to the +flames of hell, and the mercy of a loving God at one and the same +moment. + +Meanwhile, the newspaper that had been permitted to publish the King's +statement got its circulation up by tens of thousands, the more so as +certain brilliant and fiery articles on the political situation began +to appear therein signed by one Pasquin Leroy, a stranger to the +reading public, but in whom the spirit of a modern 'Junius' appeared to +have entered for the purpose of warning, threatening and commanding. A +scathing and audacious attack upon Carl Perousse, Secretary of State, +in which the small darts of satire flew further than the sharpest +arrows of assertion, was among the first of these, and Perousse +himself, maddened like a bull at the first prick of the toreador, by +the stinging truths the writer uttered, or rather suggested, lost no +time in summoning General Bernhoff to a second interview. + +"Did I not tell you," he said, pointing to the signature at the end of +the offending article, "to 'shadow' that man, and arrest him as a +common spy?" + +Bernhoff bowed stiffly. + +"You did! But it is difficult to arrest one who is not capable of being +arrested. I must be provided first with proofs of his guilt; and I must +also obtain the King's order." + +"Proofs should be easy enough for you to obtain," said Perousse +fiercely; "And the King will sign any warrant he is told. At least, you +can surely find this rascal out?--where he lives, and what are his +means of subsistence?" + +"If he were here, I could," responded Bernhoff calmly; "I have made all +the necessary preliminary enquiries. The man is a gentleman of +considerable wealth. He writes for his own amusement, and--from a +distance. I advise you--" and here the General held up an obstinate- +looking finger of warning; "I advise you, I say, to let him alone! I +can find no proof whatever that he is a spy." + +"Proof! I can give you enough--" began Perousse hotly, then paused in +confusion. For what could he truly say? If he told the Chief of Police +that this Pasquin Leroy was believed to have counterfeited the Prime +Minister's signet, in order to obtain an interview with David Jost, why +then the Chief of Police would be informed once and for all that the +Prime Minister was in confidential communication with the Jew- +proprietor of a stock-jobbing newspaper! And that would never do! It +would, at the least, be impolitic. Inwardly chafing with annoyance, he +assumed an outward air of conscientious gravity. + +"You will regret it, General, I think, if you do not follow out my +suggestions respecting this man," he said coldly; "He is writing for +the press in a strain which is plainly directed against the Government. +Of course we statesmen pay little or no heed to modern journalism, but +the King, having taken the unusual, and as I consider it, unwise step +of proclaiming certain of his intentions in a newspaper which was, +until his patronage, obscure and unsuccessful, the public attention has +been suddenly turned towards this particular journal; and what is +written therein may possibly influence the masses as it would not have +done a few weeks ago." + +"I quite believe that!" said Bernhoff tersely; "But I cannot arrest a +man for writing clever things. Literary talent is no proof of +dishonesty." + +Perousse looked at him sharply. But there was no satire in Bernhoff's +fixed and glassy eye, and no expression whatever in his woodenly- +composed countenance. + +"We entertain different opinions on the matter, it is evident!" he +said; "You will at least grant that if he cannot be arrested, he can be +carefully watched?" + +"He _is_ carefully watched!" replied Bernhoff; "That is to say, as +far as _I_ can watch him!" + +"Good!" and Perousse smiled, somewhat relieved. "Then on the first +suspicion of a treasonable act----" + +"I shall arrest him--in the King's name, when the King signs the +warrant," said Bernhoff; "But he is one of Sergius Thord's followers, +and at the present juncture it might be unwise to touch any member of +that particularly inflammable body." + +Perousse frowned. + +"Sergius Thord ought to have been hanged or shot years ago----" + +"Then why did not you hang or shoot him?" enquired Bernhoff. + +"I was not in office." + +"Why do you not hang or shoot him now?" + +"Why? Because----" + +"Because," interrupted Bernhoff, again lifting his grim warning finger; +"If you did, the city would be in a tumult and more than half the +soldiery would be on the side of the mob! By way of warning, M. +Perousse, I may as well tell you frankly, on the authority of my +position as Head of the Police, that the Government are on the edge of +a dangerous situation!" + +Perousse looked contemptuous. + +"Every Government in the world is on the edge of a dangerous situation +nowadays!" he retorted;--"But any Government that yields to the mob +proves itself a mere ministry of cowardice." + +"Yet the mob often wins,--not only by excess of numbers, but by sheer +force of--honesty!"--said Bernhoff sententiously; "It has been known to +sweep away, and re-make political constitutions before now." + +"It has,"--agreed Perousse, drawing pens and paper towards him, and +feigning to be busily occupied in the commencement of a letter--"But it +will not indulge itself in such amusements during _my_ time!" + +"Ah! I wonder how long your time will last!" muttered Bernhoff to +himself as he withdrew--"Six months or six days? I would not bet on the +longer period!" + +In good truth there was considerable reason for the General's dubious +outlook on affairs. A political storm was brewing. A heavy tidal wave +of discontent was sweeping the masses of the people stormily against +the rocks of existing authority, and loud and bitter and incessant were +the complaints on all sides against the increased taxation levied upon +every rate-payer. Fiercest of all was the clamour made by the poor at +the increasing price of bread, the chief necessity of life; for the +imposition of a heavy duty upon wheat and other cereals had made the +common loaf of the peasant's daily fare almost an article of luxury. +Stormy meetings were held in every quarter of the city,--protests were +drawn up and signed by thousands,--endless petitions were handed to the +King,--but no practical result came from these. His Majesty was +'graciously pleased' to seem blind, deaf and wholly indifferent to the +agitated condition of his subjects. Now and then a Government orator +would mount the political rostrum and talk 'patriotism' for an hour or +so, to a more or less sullen audience, informing them with much high- +flown eloquence that, by responding to the Governmental demands and +supporting the Governmental measures, they were strengthening the +resources of the country and completing the efficiency of both Army and +Navy; but somehow, his hydraulic efforts at rousing the popular +enthusiasm failed of effect. Whereas, whenever Sergius Thord spoke, +thousands of throats roared acclamation,--and the very sight of Lotys +passing quietly down the poorer thoroughfares of the city was +sufficient to bring out groups of men and women to their doors, waving +their hands to her, sending her wild kisses,--and almost kneeling +before her in an ecstasy of trust and adoration. Thord himself +perceived that the situation was rapidly reaching a climax, and quietly +prepared himself to meet and cope with it. Two of the monthly business +meetings of the Revolutionary Committee had been held since that on +which Pasquin Leroy and his two friends had been enrolled as members of +the Brotherhood, and at the last of these, Thord took Leroy into his +full confidence, and gave him all the secret clues of the Revolutionary +organization which honeycombed the metropolis from end to end. He had +trusted the man in many ways and found him honest. One trifling proof +of this was perhaps the main reason of Thord's further reliance upon +him; he had fulfilled his half-suggested promise to bring the sunshine +of prosperity into the hard-working, and more or less sordid life of +the little dancing-girl, Pequita. She had been sent for one morning by +the manager of the Royal Opera, who having seen the ease, grace, and +dexterity of her performance, forthwith engaged her for the entire +season at a salary which when named to the amazed child, seemed like a +veritable shower of gold tumbling by rare chance out of the lap of Dame +Fortune. The manager was a curt, cold business man, and she was afraid +to ask him any questions, for when the words--"I am sure a kind friend +has spoken to you of me--" came timidly from her lips, he had shut up +her confidence at once by the brief answer-- + +"No. You are mistaken. We accept no personal recommendations. We only +employ proved talent!" + +All the same Pequita felt sure that she owed the sudden lifting of her +own and her father's daily burden of life, to the unforgetting care and +intercession of Leroy. Lotys was equally convinced of the same, and +both she and Sergius Thord highly appreciated their new associate's +unobtrusive way of doing good, as it were, by stealth. Pequita's +exquisite grace and agility had made her at once the fashion; the Opera +was crowded nightly to see the 'wonderful child-dancer'; and valuable +gifts and costly jewels were showered upon her, all of which she +brought to Lotys, who advised her how to dispose of them best, and put +by the money for the comfort and care of her father in the event of +sickness, or the advance of age. Flattered and petted by the great +world as she now was, Pequita never lost her head in the whirl of gay +splendour, but remained the same child-like, loving little creature,-- +her one idol her father,--her only confidante, Lotys, whose gentle +admonitions and constant watchfulness saved her from many a dangerous +pitfall. As yet, she had not attained the wish she had expressed, to +dance before the King,--but she was told that at any time his Majesty +might visit the Opera, and that steps would be taken to induce him to +do so for the special purpose of witnessing her performance. So with +this half promise she was fain to be content, and to bear with the +laughing taunts of her 'Revolutionary' friends, who constantly teased +her and called her 'little traitor' because she sought the Royal +favour. + +Another event, which was correctly or incorrectly traced to Leroy's +silently working influence, was the sudden meteoric blaze of Paul +Zouche into fame. How it happened, no one knew;--and _why_ it +happened was still more of a mystery, because by all its own tenets and +traditions the social world ought to have set itself dead against the +'Psalm of Revolution,'--the title of the book of poems which created +such an amazing stir. But somehow, it got whispered about that the King +had attempted to 'patronise' the poet, and that the poet had very +indignantly resented the offered Royal condescension. Whereat, by +degrees, there arose in society circles a murmur of wonder at the +poet's 'pluck,' wonder that deepened into admiration, with incessant +demand for his book,--and admiration soon expanded, with the aid of the +book, into a complete "craze." Zouche's name was on every lip; +invitations to great houses reached him every week;--his poems began to +sell by thousands; yet with all this, the obstinacy of his erratic +nature asserted itself as usual, undiminished, and Zouche withdrew from +the shower of praise like a snail into its shell,--answered none of the +flattering requests for 'the pleasure of his company,' and handed +whatever money he made by his poems over to the funds of the +Revolutionary Committee, only accepting as much out of it as would pay +for his clothes, food, lodging, and--drink! But the more he turned his +back on Fame, the more hotly it pursued him;--his very churlishness +was talked about as something remarkable and admirable,--and when it +was suggested that he was fonder of strong liquor than was altogether +seemly, people smiled and nodded at each other pleasantly, tapped their +foreheads meaningly and murmured: 'Genius! Genius!' as though that were +a quality allied of divine necessity to alcoholism. + +These two things,--the advent of a new dancer at the Opera, and the +fame of Paul Zouche, were the chief topics of 'Society' outside its own +tawdry personal concern; but under all the light froth and spume of the +pleasure-seeking, pleasure-loving whirl of fashion, a fierce tempest +was rising, and the first whistlings of the wind of revolt were already +beginning to pierce through the keyholes and crannies of the stately +building allotted to the business of Government;--so much so indeed +that one terrible night, all unexpectedly, a huge mob, some twenty +thousand strong, surrounded it, armed with every conceivable weapon +from muskets to pickaxes, and shouted with horrid din for 'Bread and +Justice!'--these being considered co-equal in the bewildered mind of +the excited multitude. Likewise did they scream with protrusive energy: +'Give us back our lost Trades!' being fully aware, despite their +delirium, that these said 'lost Trades' were being sold off into +'Trusts,' wherein Ministers themselves held considerable shares, A two- +sided clamour was also made for 'The King! The King!' one side +appealing, the other menacing,--the latter under the belief that his +Majesty equally had 'shares' in the bartered Trades,--the former in the +hope that the country's Honour might still be saved with the help of +their visible Head. + +Much difficulty was experienced in clearing this surging throng of +indignant humanity, for though the soldiery were called out to effect +the work, they were more than half-hearted in their business, having +considerable grievances of their own to avenge,--and when ordered to +fire on the people, flatly refused to do so. Two persons however +succeeded at last in calming and quelling the tumult. One was Sergius +Thord,--the other Lotys. Carl Perousse, seized with an access of +'nerves' within the cushioned luxury of his own private room in the +recesses of the Government buildings, from whence he had watched the +demonstration, peered from one of the windows, and saw one half of the +huge mob melt swiftly away under the command of a tall, majestic- +looking creature, whose massive form and leonine head appeared Ajax- +like above the throng; and he watched the other half turn round in +brisk order, like a well-drilled army, and march off, singing loudly +and lustily, headed by a woman carried shoulder-high before them, whose +white robes gleamed like a flag of truce in the glare of the torches +blazing around her;--and to his utter amazement, fear and disgust, he +heard the very soldiers shouting her name: "Lotys! Lotys!" with ever- +increasing and thunderous plaudits of admiration and homage. Often and +often had he heard that name,--often and often had he dismissed it from +his thoughts with light masculine contempt. Often, too, had it come to +the ears of his colleague the Premier, who as has been shown, even in +intimate converse with his own private secretary, feigned complete +ignorance of it. But it is well understood that politicians generally, +and diplomatists always, assume to have no knowledge whatever +concerning those persons of whom they are most afraid. Yet just now it +was unpleasantly possible that "the stone which the builders rejected" +might indirectly be the means of crushing the Ministry, and +reorganizing the affairs of the country. His meditations on this +occasion were interrupted by a touch on the shoulder from behind, and, +looking up, he saw the Marquis de Lutera. + +"Almost a riot!" he said, forcing a pale smile,--"But not quite!" + +"Say, rather, almost a revolution!" retorted the Marquis brusquely;-- +"Jesting is out of place. We are on the brink of a very serious +disaster! The people are roused. To-night they threatened to burn down +these buildings over our heads,--to sack and destroy the King's Palace. +The Socialist leader, Thord, alone saved the situation." + +"With the aid of his mistress?" suggested Perousse with a sneer. + +"You mean the woman they call Lotys? I am not aware that she is his +mistress. I should rather doubt it. The people would not make such a +saint of her if she were. At any rate, whatever else she may be, she is +certainly dangerous;--and in a country less free than ours would be +placed under arrest. I must confess I never believed in her 'vogue' +with the masses, until to-night." + +Perousse was silent. The great square in front of the Government +buildings was now deserted,--save for the police and soldiery on guard; +but away in the distance could still be heard faint echoes of singing +and cheering from the broken-up sections of the crowd that had lately +disturbed the peace. + +"Have you seen the King lately?" enquired Lutera presently. + +"No." + +"By his absolute 'veto' against our propositions at the last Cabinet +Council, the impending war which would have been so useful to us, has +been quashed in embryo," went on the Premier with a frown;--"This of +course you know! And he has the right to exercise his veto if he likes. +But I scarcely expected you after all you said, to take the matter so +easily!" + +Perousse smiled, and shrugged his shoulders deprecatingly. + +"However," continued the Marquis with latent contempt in his tone;--"I +now quite understand your complacent attitude! You have simply turned +your 'Army Supplies Contract' into a 'Trust' Combine with other +nations,--so you will not lose, but rather gain by the transaction!" + +"I never intended to lose!" said Perousse calmly; "I am not troubled +with scruples. One form of trade is as good as another. The prime +object of life nowadays is to make money!" + +Lutera looked at him, but said nothing. + +"To amalgamate all the steel industries into one international Union, +and get as many shares myself in the combine is not at all an unwise +project," went on Perousse,--"For if our country is not to fight, +other countries will;--and they will require guns and swords and all +such accoutrements of war. Why should we not satisfy the demand and +pocket the cash?" + +Still the Marquis looked at him steadily. + +"Are you aware,"--he asked at last, "that Jost, to save his 'press' +prestige, has turned informer against you?" + +Perousse sprang up, white with fury. + +"By Heaven, if he has dared!--" + +"There is no 'if' in the case"--said Lutera very coldly--"He has, as he +himself says, 'done his duty.' You must be pretty well cognisant of +what a Jew's notions of 'duty' are! They can be summed up in one +sentence;--'to save his own pocket.' Jost is driven to fury and +desperation by the sudden success of the rival newspaper, which has +been so prominently favoured by the King. The shares in his own +journalistic concerns are going down rapidly, and he is determined-- +naturally enough--to take care of himself before anyone else. He has +sold out of every company with which you have been, or are associated-- +and has--so I understand,--sent a complete list of your proposed +financial 'deals,' investments and other 'stock' to--" + +He paused. + +"Well!" exclaimed Perousse irascibly--"To whom?" + +"To those whom it may concern,"--replied Lutera evasively--"I really +can give you no exact information. I have said enough by way of +warning!" + +Perousse looked at him heedfully, and what he saw in that dark brooding +face was not of a quieting or satisfactory nature. + +"You are as deeply involved as I am--" he began. + +"Pardon!" and the Marquis drew himself up with some dignity--"I +_was_ involved;--I am not now. I have also taken care of myself! I +may have been misled, but I shall let no one suffer for my errors. I +have sent in my resignation." + +"Fool!" ejaculated Perousse, forgetting all courtesy in the sudden +access of rage that took possession of him at these words;--"Fool, I +say! At the very moment when you ought to stick to the ship, you desert +it!" + +"Are _you_ not ready to run to the helm?" enquired Lutera with a +satiric smile; "Surely you can have no doubt but that his Majesty will +command you to take office!" + +With this, he turned on his heel, and left his colleague to a space of +very disagreeable meditation. For the first time in his bold and +unscrupulous career, Perousse found himself in an awkward position. If +it were indeed true that Jost and Lutera had thrown up the game, +especially Jost, then he, Perousse, was lost. He had made of Jost, not +only a tool, but a confidant. He had used him, and his great leading +newspaper for his own political and financial purposes. He had +entrusted him with State secrets, in order to speculate thereon in all +the money-markets of the world. He had induced him to approach the +Premier with crafty promises of support, and to inveigle him by +insidious degrees into the same dishonourable financial 'deal.' So that +if this one man,--this fat, unscrupulous turncoat of a Jew,--chose to +speak out, he, Carl Perousse, Secretary of State, would be the most +disgraced and ruined Minister that ever attempted to defraud a nation! +His brows grew moist with fever-heat, and his tongue parched, with the +dry thirst of fear, as the gravity of the situation was gradually borne +in upon him. He began to calculate contingencies and possibilities of +escape from the toils that seemed closing around him,--and much to his +irritation and embarrassment, he found that most of the ways leading +out of difficulty pointed first of all to,--the King. + +The King! The very personage whom he had called a Dummy, only bound to +do as he was told! And now, if he could only persuade the King that +he,--the poor Secretary of State,--was a deeply-injured man, whose +life's effort had been solely directed towards 'the good of the +country,' yet who nevertheless was cruelly wronged and calumniated by +his enemies, all might yet be well. + +"Were he only like other monarchs whom I know," he reflected. "I could +have easily involved him in the Trades deal! Then the press could have +been silenced, and the public fooled. With five or six hundred thousand +shares in the biggest concerns, he would have been compelled to work +under me for the amalgamation of our Trades with the financial forces +of other countries, regardless of the rubbish talked by 'patriots' on +the loss of our position and prestige. But he is not fond of money,-- +he is not fond of money! Would that he were!--for so _I_ should be +virtually king of the King!" + +Cogitating various problems on his return to his own house that +evening, he remembered that despite numerous protests and petitions, +the King had, up to the present, paid no attention to the appeals of +his people against the increasing inroads of taxation. The only two +measures he had carried with a high and imperative hand, were first,-- +the 'vetoing' of an intended declaration of war,--and the refusal of +extensive lands to the Jesuits. The first was the more important +action, as, while it had won the gratitude and friendship of a +previously hostile State, it had lost several 'noble' gamblers in the +griefs of nations, some millions of money. The check to the Jesuits was +comparatively trivial, yet it had already produced far-reaching +effects, and had offended the powers at the Vatican. But, beyond this, +things remained apparently as they were; true, the Socialists were +growing stronger;--but there was no evidence that the Government was +growing weaker. + +"After all," thought Perousse, as a result of his meditations; "there +is no immediate cause for anxiety. If Lutera has sent in his +resignation, it may not be accepted. That rests--like other things-- +with the King." And a vague surprise affected him at this fact. +"Curious!" he muttered,--"Very curious that he, who was a Nothing, +should now be a Something! The change has taken place very rapidly,-- +and very strangely! I wonder what--or who--is moving him?" + +But to this inward query he received no satisfactory reply. The +mysterious upshot of the whole position was the same,--namely, that +somehow, in the most unaccountable, inexplicable manner, the wind and +weather of affairs had so veered round, that the security of Ministers +and the stability of Government rested, not with themselves or the +nature of their quarrels and discussions, but solely on one whom they +were accustomed to consider as a mere ornamental figure-head,--the +King. + +Some few days after the unexpected turbulent rising of the mob, it was +judged advisable to give the people something in the way of a 'gala,' +or spectacle, in order to distract their attention from their own +grievances, and to draw them away from their Socialistic clubs and +conventions, to the contemplation of a parade of Royal state and +splendour. The careful student of History cannot fail to note that +whenever the rottenness and inadequacy of a Government are most +apparent, great 'shows' and Royal ceremonials are always resorted to, +in order to divert the minds of the people from the bitter +consideration of a deficient Exchequer and a diminishing National +Honour. The authorities who organize these State masquerades are wise +in their generation. They know that the working-classes very seldom +have the leisure to think for themselves, and that they often lack the +intelligent ability to foresee the difficulties and dangers menacing +their country's welfare;--but that they are always ready, with the +strangest fatuity, patience, and good-nature, to take their wives and +families to see any new variation of a world's 'Punch and Judy' play, +particularly if there is a savour of Royalty about it, accompanied by a +brass band, well-equipped soldiers, and gilded coaches. Though they +take no part in the pageant, beyond consenting to be hustled and rudely +driven back by the police like intrusive sheep, out of the sacred way +of a Royal progress, they nevertheless have an instinctive (and very +correct) idea that somehow or other it is all part of the 'fun' for +which they have paid their money. There is no more actual reverence or +respect for the positive Person of Royalty in such a parade, than there +is for the Wonderful Performing Pig who takes part in a circus- +procession through a country town. The public impression is simple,-- +That having to pay for the up-keep of a Throne, its splendours should +be occasionally 'trotted out' to see whether they are worth the +nation's annual expenditure. + +Moved entirely by this plain and practical sentiment, the popular +breast was thrilled with some amount of interest and animation when it +was announced that his Majesty the King would, on a certain afternoon, +go in state to lay the foundation-stone of the Grand National Theatre, +which was the very latest pet project of various cogitating Jews and +cautious millionaires. The Grand National Theatre was intended to +'supply,' according to a stock newspaper phrase, 'a long-felt want.' It +was to be a 'philanthropic' scheme, by which the 'Philanthropists' +would receive excellent interest for their money. Ostensibly, it was to +provide the 'masses' with the highest form of dramatic entertainment at +the lowest cost;--but there were many intricate wheels within wheels in +the elaborate piece of stock-jobbing mechanism, by which the public +would be caught and fooled--as usual--and the speculators therein +rendered triumphant. Sufficient funds were at hand to start the +building of the necessary edifice, and the King's 'gracious' consent to +lay the first stone, with full state and ceremony, was hailed by the +promoters of the plan as of the happiest augury. For with such approval +and support openly given, all the Snob-world would follow the Royal +'lead'--quite as infallibly as it did in the case of another monarch +who, persuaded to drink of a certain mineral spring, and likewise to +'take shares' in its bottled waters, turned the said spring into a +'paying concern' at once, thereby causing much rejoicing among the +Semites. The 'mob' might certainly decline to imitate the Snob-world,-- +but, considering the recent riotous outbreak, it might be as well that +the overbold and unwashen populace should be awed by the panoply and +glory of earthly Majesty passing by in earthly splendour. + +Alas, poor Snob-world! How often has it thought the same thing! How +often has it fancied that with show and glitter and brazen ostentation +of mere purse-power, it can quell the rage for Justice, which, like a +spark of God's own eternal Being, burns for ever in the soul of a +People! Ah, that rage for Justice!--that divine fury and fever which +with strong sweating and delirium shakes the body politic and cleanses +it from accumulated sickly humours and pestilence! What would the +nations be without its periodical and merciful visitations! Tearing +down old hypocrisies,--rooting up weedy abuses,--rending asunder rotten +conventions,--what wonder if thrones and sceptres, and even the heads +of kings get sometimes mixed into the general swift clearance of long- +accumulated dirt and disorder! And vainly at such times does the Snob- +world anxiously proffer golden pieces for the price of its life! There +shall not then be millions enough in all the earth, to purchase the +safety of one proved Liar who has wilfully robbed his neighbour! + +No hint of the underworkings of the people's thought, or the movement +of the times was, however, apparent in the aspect of the gay multitudes +that poured along the principal thoroughfares of the metropolis on the +day appointed for the ceremony in which the King had consented to take +the leading part. Poor and rich together, vied with one another to +secure the various best points of view from whence the Royal pageant +could be seen, winding down in glittering length from the Palace and +Citadel, past the Cathedral, and so on to the great open square, where, +surrounded by fluttering flags and streamers, a huge block of stone +hung suspended by ropes from a crane, ready to be lowered at the Royal +touch, and fixed in its place by the Royal trowel, as the visible and +solid beginning of the stately fabric, which, according to pictorial +models was to rise from this, its first foundation, into a temple of +art and architecture, devoted to Melpomene and Thalia. + +It was a glorious day,--the sun shone with vigorous heat and lustre +from a cloudless sky,--the sea was calm as an inland pool--and people +wore their lightest, brightest and most festive attire. Fair "society" +dames, clad in the last capricious mode of ever-changing Fashion, and +shading their delicate, and not always natural, complexions with airy +parasols, filmy and finely-coloured as the petals of flowers, queened +it over the flocking crowds of pedestrians, as they were driven past in +their softly-cushioned carriages drawn by high-stepping horses;--all +the boudoirs and drawing-rooms of the most exclusive houses seemed to +have emptied their luxury-loving occupants into the streets,--and the +whole town was, for a few hours at any rate, apparently given over to +holiday. As the long line of soldiery preceding the King's carriage, +wound down from the Citadel, groups of people cheered, and waved hats +and handkerchiefs,--then, when his Majesty's own escort came into view, +the cheering was redoubled,--and at last when the cumbrous, over- +gilded, over-painted "Cinderella" State-coach appeared, and the +familiar, but somewhat sternly-composed features of the King himself +were perceived through the glass windows, a roar of acclamation, like +the thundering of a long wave on an extensive stretch of rock-bound +coast, echoed far and near, and again and again was repeated with +increased and ever-increasing clamour. Who,--hearing such an +enthusiastic greeting--would or could have imagined for one moment that +the King, who was the object and centre of these tremendous plaudits, +was at the same time judged as an enemy and an obstruction to justice +by more than one half of the population! Yet it was so,--and so has +often been. The populace will shout itself hoarse for any cause; +whether it be a king going to be crowned, or a king going to be +executed, the stimulus is the same, and the enthusiasm as passionate. +It is merely the contagious hysteria of a moment that tickles their +lungs to expansion in noise;--but the real sentiment of admiration for +a fine character which might perhaps have moved the subjects of Richard +Coeur de Lion to cries of exultation, is generally non-existent. And +why? For no cause truly!--save that Lion-Hearts in kings no more +pulsate through nations. + +By the time the Royal procession reached its destination the crowd had +largely increased, and the press of people round the scene of the +forthcoming function was great enough to be seriously embarrassing to +both the soldiery and the police. Slowly the gorgeous State-coach +lumbered up to the entrance of the ground railed off for the ceremony, +--and between a line of armed guards, the King alighted. Vociferous +cheering again broke out on all sides, which his Majesty acknowledged +in the usual formal manner by a monotonous military salute performed at +regular intervals. Received with obsequious deference by all the +persons concerned in the Grand National Theatre project, he conversed +with one or two, shook hands with others, and was just on the point of +addressing a few of his usual suave compliments to some pretty women +who had been invited to adorn the scene, when David Jost advanced +smilingly, evidently sure of a friendly recognition. For had not the +King, when Crown Prince and Heir-Apparent, hunted game in his +preserves?--yea, had he not even dined with him?--and had not he, Jost, +written whole columns of vapid twaddle about the 'Royal smile' and the +'Royal favour' till the outside public had sickened at every stroke of +his flunkey pen? How came it, then, that his Majesty seemed on this +occasion to have no recollection of him, and looked over and beyond him +in the airiest way, as though he were a far-off Jew in Jerusalem, +instead of being the assumptive-Orthodox proprietor of several European +newspapers published for the general misinformation and plunder of +gullible Christians? Dismayed at the Royal coldness of eye, Jost +stepped back with an uncomfortably crimson face; and one of the ladies +present, personally knowing him, and seeing his discomfiture, ventured +to call the King's attention to his presence and to make way for his +approach, by murmuring gently, "Mr. Jost, Sir!" + +"Ah, indeed!" said the monarch, with calm grey eyes still fixed on +vacancy,--"I do not know anyone of that name! Permit me to admire that +exquisite arrangement of flowers!" and, smiling affably on the +astonished and embarrassed lady, he led her aside, altogether away from +Jost's vicinity. + +Stricken to the very dust of abasement by this direct "cut" so publicly +administered, the crestfallen editor and proprietor of many journals +stood aghast for a moment,--then as various unbidden thoughts began to +chase one another through his bewildered head, he was seized with a +violent trembling. He remembered every foolish, imprudent and disloyal +remark he had made to the stranger named Pasquin Leroy who had called +upon him bearing the Premier's signet,--and reflecting that this very +Pasquin Leroy was now, by some odd chance, a contributor of political +leaders and other articles to the rival daily newspaper which had +published the King's official refusal of a grant of land to the +Jesuits, he writhed inwardly with impotent fury. For might not this +unknown man, Leroy,--if he were,--as he possibly was,--a friend of the +King's--go to the full length of declaring all he knew and all he had +learned from Jost's own lips, concerning certain 'financial secrets,' +which if fully disclosed, would utterly dismember the Government and +put the nation itself in peril? Might he not already even have informed +the King? With his little, swine-like eyes retreating under the +crinkling fat of his lowering brows, Jost, hot and cold by turns, +wandered confusedly out of the 'exclusive' set of persons connected +with the 'Grand National Theatre' scheme, who were now gathered round +the suspended foundation-stone to which the King was approaching. He +pretended not to see the curious eyes that stared at him, or the +sneering mouths that smiled at the open slight he had received. Pushing +his way through the crowd, he jostled against the thin black-garmented +figure of a priest,--no other than Monsignor Del Fortis, who, with an +affable word of recognition, drew aside to allow him passage. Affecting +his usual 'company-manner' of tolerant good-nature, he forced himself +to speak to this 'holy' man, who, at any rate, had paid him good money +in round sums for so-called 'articles' or rather puff-advertisements in +his paper concerning Church matters. + +"Good-day, Monsignor!" he said--"You are not often seen at a Royal +pageant! How comes it that you, of all persons in the world have +brought yourself to witness the laying of the foundation-stone of a +Theatre? Does not your calling forbid any patronage of the mimic Art?" + +The priest's thin lips parted, showing a glimmer of wolfish teeth +behind the pale stretched line of flesh. + +"Not by any means!" he replied suavely--"In the present levelling and +amalgamation of social interests, the Church and Stage are drawing very +closely together." + +"True!" said Jost, with a grin--"One might very well be taken for the +other!" + +Del Fortis looked at him meditatively. + +"This," he said, waving his lean hand towards the centre of the +brilliant crowd where now the King stood, "is a kind of drama in its +way. And you, Mr. Jost, have just played one little scene in it!" + +Jost reddened, and bit his lip. + +"I am also another actor on the boards," continued Del Fortis smiling +darkly;--"if only as a spectator in the 'super' crowd. And other +comedians and tragedians are doubtless present, of whom we may hear +anon!" + +"The King has nasty humours sometimes," said Jost shortly, looking down +at the flower in his buttonhole, and absently flicking off one of its +petals with his fat forefinger--"He ought to be made to pay for them!" + +"Ha, ha! Very good! Certainly!" and Del Fortis gave a piously- +deprecating nod--"He ought to be made to pay! Especially when he hurts +the feelings of his old friends! Are you going, Mr. Jost? Yes? What a +pity! But you no doubt have your reporters present?" + +"Oh, there are plenty of them about,"--said Jost carelessly, "But I +shall condense all the account of these proceedings into a few lines." + +"Ha,--ha!" laughed Del Fortis,--"I understand! Revenge--revenge! But-- +in certain cases--the briefest description is sometimes the most +graphic--and startling! Good-day!" + +Jost returned the salute curtly, and went,--not to leave the scene +altogether, but merely to take up a position of vantage immediately +above and behind the surging crowd, where from a distance he could +watch all that was going on. He saw the King lift his hand towards the +ropes and pulleys of the crane above him,--and as it was touched by the +Royal finger, the foundation stone was slowly lowered into the deep +socket prepared for it, where gold and silver coins of the year's +currency had already been strewn. Then, with the aid of a silver trowel +set in a handle of gold, and obsequiously presented by the managing +director of the scheme, his Majesty dabbed in a little mortar, and +declared in a loud voice that the stone was 'well and truly laid.' A +burst of cheering greeted the announcement, and the band struck up the +country's National Hymn, this being the usual sign that the ceremony +was at an end. Whereupon the King, shaking hands again cordially with +the various parties concerned, and again shedding the lustre of his +smile upon the various ladies with whom he had been conversing, made +his way very leisurely to his State equipage, which, with its six +magnificently caparisoned horses, stood prepared for his departure, the +door being already held open for him by one of the attendant powdered +and gold-laced flunkeys. Sir Roger de Launay walked immediately behind +his Sovereign, and Professor von Glauben was close at hand, companioned +by two of the gentlemen of the Royal Household. All at once a young man +pushed himself out of the crowd nearest to the enclosure,--paused a +moment irresolute, and then, with a single determined bound reached the +King's side. + +"Thief of the People's money! Take that!" he shouted, wildly,--and, +brandishing aloft a glittering stiletto, he aimed it straight at the +monarch's heart! + +But the blow never reached its destination, for a woman, closely veiled +in black, suddenly threw herself swiftly and adroitly between the +King's body and the descending blade, shielding his breast with both +her outstretched arms. The dagger struck her violently, piercing her +flesh through the upper part of her right shoulder, and under the sheer +force of the blow, she fell senseless. + +The whole incident took place in less time than it could be +breathlessly told,--and even as she who had risked her life to save the +King's, sank bleeding to the ground, the police seized the assassin +red-handed in his mad and criminal act, and wrenched the murderous +weapon from his hand. He was a mere lad of eighteen or twenty, and +seemed dazed, submitting to be bound and handcuffed without a word. The +King, perfectly tranquil and unhurt, bared his head to the wild cries +and hysterical cheering of the excited spectators to whom his narrow +escape from death appeared a kind of miracle, moving them to frantic +paroxysms of passionate enthusiasm, and then bent anxiously down over +the prostrate form of his rescuer, endeavouring himself to raise her +from the ground. A hundred hands at once proffered assistance;--Sir +Roger de Launay, pale to the lips with the shock of sick horror he had +experienced at what might so easily have been a national catastrophe, +assisted the police in forming a strong cordon round the person of his +beloved Royal master, in order to guard him against any further +possible attack,--and Professor von Glauben, obeying the King's signal, +knelt down by the unconscious woman's side to examine the extent of her +injury. Gently he turned back the close folds of her enveloping veil,-- +then gave a little start and cry: + +"Gott in Himmel!" And he hastily drew down the veil again as the King +approached with the question-- + +"Is she dangerously hurt?" + +"No, Sir!--I think not--I hope not--but--!" + +And the Professor's eyes looked volumes of suggestion. Catching his +expression, the King drew still nearer. + +"Uncover her face,--give her air!" he commanded. + +With a perplexed side-glance at Sir Roger de Launay, the Professor +obeyed,--and the sunshine fell full on the white calm features and +closed eyelids of "the woman known as Lotys." Her black dress was +darkly stained and soaked with oozing blood--and the deep dull gold of +her hair was touched here and there with the same crimson hue;--but +there was a smile on her lips, and her face was as fair and placid as +though it had been smoothed out of all pain and trouble by the restful +touch of Death. Silently, and with a perfectly inscrutable demeanour, +the King surveyed her for a moment. Then, raising his plumed hat with +grave grace and courtesy, he looked on all those who stood about him, +soldiery, police and spectators. + +"Does anyone here present know this lady?" he demanded. + +A crowd of eager heads were pushed forward, and then a low murmur +began, which deepened into a steady roar of delighted acclamation. + +"Lotys! Lotys!" + +The name was caught up quickly and repeated from mouth to mouth--till +away on the extreme outskirts of the crowd it was tossed back again +with shouts--"Lotys! Lotys!" + +Swiftly the news ran like an electric current through the whole body of +the populace, that it was Lotys, their own Lotys, their friend, their +fellow-worker, the idol of the poorer classes, that had saved the life +of the King! Half-incredulous, half-admiring, the mob listened to the +growing rumour, and the general excitement increased in intensity among +them. David Jost, from his point of observation, caught the infection, +and realizing at once the value of the dramatic "copy" for his paper, +to be obtained out of such a situation, jumped into the nearest vehicle +and was driven straight to his offices, there to send electric messages +of the news to every quarter of the world, and to endeavour by printed +loyal outbursts of "gush" to turn the current of the King's displeasure +against him into a more favourable direction. Meanwhile the King +himself gave orders that his wounded rescuer should be conveyed in one +of the Royal carriages straight to the Palace, and there attended by +his own physician. Professor von Glauben was entrusted with the +carrying-out of this command,--and the monarch, then entering his own +State-equipage, started on his homeward progress. + +Thundering cheers now greeted him at every step;--for an hour at least +the populace went mad with rapture, shouting, singing and calling +alternately for "The King!" and "Lotys!" with no respect of persons, or +consideration as to their differing motives and opposite stations in +life. Two facts only were clear to them,--first an attempt had been +made to assassinate the King,--secondly, that Lotys had frustrated the +attempt, and risked her own life to save that of the monarch. These +were enough to set fire to the passionate sentiments of a warm-blooded, +restless Southern people, and they gave full sway to their feelings +accordingly. So, amid deafening plaudits, the Royal procession wended +its way back to the Citadel, the State-coach moving at a snail's pace +in order to allow the people to see the King for themselves, and make +sure he was uninjured, as they cheered, and followed it in surging +throngs to the very gates of the Palace,--while in another and reverse +direction the wretched youth whose miserable effort to commit a dastard +crime had so fortunately failed, was marched off, under the guard of a +strong body of police to the State-Prison, there to await his trial and +condemnation. A small crowd, hooting and cursing the criminal, pursued +him as he went, and one personage, austere and dignified, also +followed, at a distance, as though curious to see the last of the +would-be murderer ere he was shut out from liberty,--and this was +Monsignor Del Fortis. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +A WOMAN'S REASON + + +When Lotys recovered from her death-like swoon, she found herself on a +sofa among heaped-up soft cushions, in a small semi-darkened room hung +with draperies of rose satin, which were here and there drawn aside to +show exquisite groupings of Saxe china and rare miniatures on ivory;-- +the ceiling above her was a painted mirror, where Venus in her car of +flowers, drawn by doves, was pictured floating across a crystal sea,-- +the floor was strewn with white bearskins,--the corners were filled +with palms and flowers. As she regarded these unaccustomed surroundings +wonderingly, a firm hand was laid on her wrist, and a brusque voice +said in her ear:-- + +"Lie still, if you please! You have been seriously hurt! You must +rest." + +She turned feebly towards the speaker, and saw a big burly man with a +bald head, seated at her side, who held a watch in one hand, and felt +her pulse with the other. She could not discern his features plainly, +for his back was set to the already shaded light, and her own eyes were +weak and dim. + +"You are very kind!" she murmured--"I do not quite remember--Ah, +yes!" and a quick flash of animation passed over her face--"I know now! +The King! Is--is all well?" + +"All is well, thanks to you!" replied the gruff voice--"You have saved +his life." + +"Thank God!"--and she closed her eyes again wearily, while two slow +tears trickled from under the shut white lids--"Thank God!" + +Professor von Glauben, placed in charge of her by the King's command, +gently relinquished the small white hand he held, and stepping +noiselessly to a table near at hand, poured out from one of the various +little flasks set thereon, a cordial the properties of which were alone +known to himself, and held the glass to her lips. + +"Drink this off at once!"--he said authoritatively, yet kindly. + +She obeyed. He then, turning aside with the empty glass, sat down and +watched her from a little distance. Soon a faint flush tinged her dead- +white skin, and presently, with a deep sigh, she opened her eyes again. +Then she became aware of a stiffness and smart in her right shoulder, +and saw that it was tightly bandaged, and that the bodice of her dress +was cut away from it. Lying perfectly still, she gradually brought her +strong spirit of self-control to bear on the situation, and tried to +collect her scattered thoughts. Very few minutes sufficed her to +recollect all that had happened, and as she realised more and more +vividly that she was in some strange and luxurious abode where she had +no business or desire to be, she gathered all the forces of her mind to +her aid, and with but a slight effort, sat upright. Professor von +Glauben came towards her with an exclamation of warning--but she +motioned him back with a very decided gesture. + +"Please do not trouble!" she said--"I am quite able to move--to stand-- +see!" And she rose to her feet, trembling a little, and steadying +herself by resting one hand on the edge of the sofa. "I do not know who +you are, but I am sure you have been most kind to me! And if you would +do me a still greater kindness, you will let me go away from here at +once!" + +"Impossible, Madame!" declared the Professor, firmly--"His Majesty, the +King----" + +"What of his Majesty, the King?" demanded Lotys with sudden hauteur-- +"Am I not mistress of my own actions?" + +The Professor made an elaborate bow. + +"Most unquestionably you are, Madame!" he replied--"But you are also +for the moment, a guest in the King's Palace; and having saved his +life, you will surely not withhold from him the courteous acceptance of +his hospitality?" + +"The King's Palace!" she echoed, and a little disdainful smile crossed +her lips--"I,--Lotys,--in the King's Palace!" She moved a few steps, +and drew herself proudly erect. "You, sir, are a servant of the +King's?" + +"I am his Majesty's resident physician, at your service!" he said, with +another bow--"I have had the honour of attending to the wound you so +heroically received in his defence,--and though it is not a dangerous +wound, it is an exceedingly unpleasant one I assure you,--and will +give you a good deal of pain and trouble. Let me advise you very +earnestly to stay where you are, and rest--do not think of leaving the +Palace to-night." + +She sighed restlessly. "I must not think of staying in it!" she +replied. "But I do not wish to seem churlish--or ungrateful for your +care and kindness;--will you tell the King--" Here she broke off +abruptly, and fixed her eyes searchingly on his face. "Strange!" she +murmured--"I seem to have seen you before,--or someone very like you!" + +The Professor was troubled with a sudden fit of coughing which made him +very red in the face, and obliged him to turn away for a moment in +order to recover himself. Still struggling with that obstinate catch in +his throat he said: + +"You were saying, Madame, that you wished me to tell the King +something?" + +"Yes!" said Lotys eagerly--"if you will be so good! Tell him that I +thank him for his courtesy;--but that I must go away from this Palace, +--that I cannot--may not--stop in it an hour longer! He does not know +who it is that saved his life,--if he did, he would not wish me to +remain a moment under his roof! He would be as anxious and willing for +me to leave as I am to go! Will you tell him this?" + +"Madame, I will tell him," replied the Professor deferentially, yet +with a slight smile--"But--if it will satisfy your scruples, or ease +your mind at all,--I may as well inform you that his Majesty does know +who you are! The populace itself declared your name to him, with shouts +of acclamation." She flushed a vivid red, then grew very pale. + +"If that be so, then he must also be aware that I am his sworn enemy!" +she said,--"And, that in accordance with the principles I hold, I +cannot possibly remain under his roof! Therefore I trust, sir, you will +have the kindness to provide me with a way of quick exit before my +presence here becomes too publicly reported." + +The Professor was slightly nonplussed. He considered for a moment; then +rapidly made up his mind. + +"Madame, I will do so!" he said--"That is, if you will permit me first +of all to announce your intention of leaving the Palace, to the King. +Pardon me for suggesting that his Majesty can hardly regard as an enemy +a lady who has saved his life at the risk of her own." + +"I did not save it because he is the King," she said curtly, "And you +are at liberty to tell him so. Please make haste to inform him at once +of my desire to leave the Palace,--and say also, that if he considers +he owes me any gratitude, he will show it by not detaining me." + +The Professor bowed and retired. Lotys, left alone, sat down for a +moment in one of the luxuriously cushioned chairs, and pressed her left +hand hard over her eyes to try and still their throbbing ache. Her +right arm was bound up and useless,--and the pain from the wound in her +shoulder caused her acute agony,--but she had a will of iron, and she +had trained her mental forces to control, if not entirely to master, +her physical weaknesses. She thought, not of her own suffering, but of +the exciting incident in which mere impulse had led her to take so +marked a share. It was by pure accident that she had joined the crowd +assembled to see the King lay the foundation-stone of the proposed new +Theatre. She had been as it were, entangled in the press of the people, +and had got pushed towards the centre of the scene almost against her +own volition. And while she had stood,--a passive and unwilling +spectator of the pageant,--her attention had been singularly attracted +towards the uneasy and restless movements of the youth who had +afterwards attempted the assassination of the monarch. She had watched +him narrowly; though she could not have explained why she did so, even +to herself. He was a complete stranger to her, and yet, with her quick +intuition, she had discerned a curious expression of anxiety and fear +in his face, as though of the impending horror of a crime,--a look +which, because it was so strained and unnatural, had aroused her +suspicion. When she had sprung forward to shield the King, only one +idea had inspired her,--and that idea she would not now fully own even +to herself, because it was so entirely, weakly feminine. Nevertheless, +from woman's weakness has often sprung a hero's strength--and so it had +proved in this case. She did not, however, allow herself to dwell on +the instinctive impulse which had thrown her on the King's breast, +ready to receive her own death-blow rather than that he should die; she +preferred to elude that question, and to consider her action solely +from the standpoint of those Socialistic theories with which she was +indissolubly associated. + +"Had I not frustrated the attempt, the crime would have been set down +to us and our Brotherhood," she said to herself, "Sergius--or Paul +Zouche--or I myself--or even Pasquin--yes, even he!--might, and +doubtless would, have been accused of instigating it. As it is, I think +I have saved the situation." She rose and walked slowly up and down the +room. "I wonder who is behind the wretched boy concerned in this +business? He is too young to have determined on such a deed himself,-- +unless he is mad;--he must be a tool in the hands of others." + +Here spying her long black cloak hanging across a chair, she took it up +and threw it round her,--her face was reflected back upon her from a +mirror set in the wall, round which a cluster of ivory cupids +clambered,--and she looked critically at her white drawn features, and +the disordered masses of her hair. Loosening these abundant locks, she +shook them down and gathered them into her one uncrippled hand, +preparatory to twisting them into the usual knot at the back of her +head, the while she looked at the little sculptured _amorini_ set +round the mirror, with a compassionate smile. + +"Such a number of mimic Loves where there is no real love!" she said +half aloud,--when the opening of a door, and the swaying movement of a +curtain pushed aside, startled her; and still holding her rich hair up +in her hand she turned quickly,--to find herself face to face with,-- +the King. + +There was an instant's dead silence. Dropping the silken gold weight of +her tresses to fall as they would, regardless of conventional +appearances, she stood erect, making all unconsciously to herself, a +picture of statuesque and beauteous tragedy. Her plain black garments, +--the long cloak enveloping her slight form, and the glorious tangle of +her unbound hair rippling loosely about her pale face, in which her +eyes shone like blue flowers, made luminous by the sunlight of the +inspired soul behind them, all gave her an almost supernatural air,-- +and made her seem as wholly unlike any other woman as a strange leaf +from an unexplored country is unlike the foliage common to one's native +land. The King looked steadfastly upon her; she, meeting his gaze with +equal steadfastness, felt her heart beating violently, though, as she +well knew, it was not with fear. She had no thought of Court +etiquette,--nor had she any reason to consider it, his Majesty having +himself deliberately trespassed upon its rules by visiting her thus +alone and unattended. She offered no reverence,--no salutation;--she +simply stood before him, quite silent, awaiting his pleasure,--though +in her eyes there shone a dangerous brilliancy that was almost +feverish, and nervous tremors shook her from head to foot. The strange +dumb spell between them relaxed at last. With a kind of effort which +expressed itself in the extra rigidity and pallor of his fine features, +the King spoke: + +"Madame, I have come to thank you! Your noble act of heroism this +afternoon has saved my life. I do not say it is worth saving!--but the +Nation appears to think it is,--and in the name of the Nation, whose +servant I am, I offer you my personal gratitude--and service!" + +He bowed low as he said these words gravely and courteously. Her eyes +still searched his face wistfully, with the eager plaintive expression +of a child looking for some precious treasure it has lost. She strove +to calm her throbbing pulses,--to quiet the hurrying blood in her +veins,--to brace herself up to her usual impervious height of composure +and self-control. + +"I need no thanks!" she answered briefly--"I have only done my duty!" + +"Nay, Madame, is it quite consistent with your duty to shield from +death one so hated by your disciples and followers?" he asked, with a +tinge of melancholy in his accents--"You--as the famous Lotys--should +have helped to kill, not to save!" + +She regarded him fearlessly. + +"You mistake!" she said--"As King, you should learn to know your +subjects better! We are not murderers. We do not seek your life,--we +seek to make you understand the need there is of honesty and justice. +We live our lives among the poor; and we see those poor crushed down +into the dust by the rich, without hope and without help,--and we +endeavour to rouse them to a sense of this Wrong, so that they may, by +persistence, obtain Right. We do not want the death of any man! Even to +a traitor we give warning and time, ere we punish his treachery. The +unhappy wretch who attempted your life to-day was not of our party, or +our teaching, thank God!" + +"I am sure of that!" he said very gently, his face brightening with a +kind smile,--then, seeing her swerve, as though about to fall, he +caught her on one arm--"You are faint! You must not stand too long. I +fear you are suffering from the pain of that cruel wound inflicted on +you for my sake!" + +"A little--" she managed to say, with white lips--"But it is nothing-- +it will soon pass----" + +She sank helplessly into the chair he placed for her, and mutely +watched him as he walked to the window and threw it open, admitting the +sweet, fresh, sea-scented air, and a flood of crimson radiance from the +setting sun. + +"I am informed that you wish to quit the Palace at once," he said, +averting his gaze from hers for a moment;--"Need I say how much I +regret this decision of yours? Both I and the Queen had hoped you would +have remained with us, under the care of our own physician, till you +were quite recovered. But I owe you too great a debt already to make +any further claim upon you--and I will not command you to stay, if you +desire to go." + +She lifted her head;--the faint colour was returning to her cheeks. + +"I thank you!" she said simply;--"I do indeed desire to go. Every +moment spent here is a moment wasted!" + +"You think so?"--and, turning from the window where he stood, he +confronted her again;--"May I venture to suggest that you hardly do +justice to me, or to the situation? You have placed me under very great +obligations--surely you should endure my company long enough to tell +me at least how I can in some measure show my personal recognition of +your brave and self-sacrificing action!" + +She looked at him in musing silence. A strange glow came into her +eyes,--a deeper crimson flushed her cheek. + +"You can do nothing for me!" she said, after a long pause, "You are a +King--I, a poor commoner. I would not be indebted to you for all the +world! I am prouder of my 'common' estate than you are of your royalty! +What are 'royal' rewards? Jewels, money, place, title! All valueless to +me! If you would serve anyone, serve the People;--do something to +deserve their trust! If you would show _me_ any personal recognition, +as you say, for saving your life, make that life more noble!" + +He heard her without offence, holding himself mute and motionless. She +rose from her seat, and approached him more closely. + +"Perhaps, after all, it is well that I was,--unconsciously and against +my own volition,--brought here," she said; "Perhaps it is God's will +that I should speak with you! For, as a rule none of your unknown +subjects can, or may speak with you!--you are so much hemmed in and +ringed round with slaves and parasites! In so far as this goes, you are +to be pitied; though it rests with you to shake yourself free from the +toils of vulgar adulation. Your flatterers tell you nothing. They are +careful to keep you shut out of your own kingdom--to hide from you +things that are true,--things that you ought to know; they fool you +with false assurances of national tranquillity and content,--they +persuade you to play, like an over-grown child, with the toys of +luxury,--they lead you, a mere puppet, round and round in the clockwork +routine of a foolish and licentious society,--when you might be a Man! +--up and doing man's work that should help you to regenerate and +revivify the whole country! I speak boldly--yes!--because I do not fear +you!--because I have no favours to gain from you,--because to me,-- +Lotys,--you,--the King--are nothing!" + +Her voice, perfectly tranquil, even, and coldly sweet, had not a single +vibration of uncertainty or hesitation in it--and her words seemed to +cut through the stillness of the room with clean incisiveness like the +sweep of a sword-blade. Outside, the sea murmured and the leaves +rustled,--the sun had sunk, leaving behind it a bright, pearly twilight +sky, flecked with pink clouds like scattered rose-petals. + +He looked straight at her,--his clear dark grey eyes were filled with +the glowing fire of strongly suppressed feeling. Some hasty ejaculation +sprang to his lips, but he checked it, and pacing once or twice up and +down, suddenly wheeled round, and again confronted her. + +"If, as a king, I fall so far short of kingliness, and am nothing to +you,"--he said deliberately; "Why did you shield me from the assassin's +dagger a while ago? Why not have let me perish?" + +She shook back her gold hair, and regarded him almost defiantly. + +"I did not save you because you are the King!" she replied--"Be assured +of that!" + +He was vaguely astonished. + +"Merely a humane sentiment then?" he said--"Just as you would have +saved a dog from drowning!" + +A little smile crept reluctantly round the corners of her mouth. + +"There was another reason," she began in a low tone,--then paused-- +"But--only a woman's reason!" + +Something in her changing colour,--some delicate indefinable touch of +tenderness and pathos, which softened her features and made them almost +ethereal, sent a curious thrill through his blood. + +"A woman's reason!" he echoed; "May I not hear it?" + +Again she hesitated,--then, as if despising herself for her own +irresolution she spoke out bravely. + +"You may!"--she said--"There is nothing to conceal--nothing of which I +am ashamed! Besides, it is the true motive of the action which you are +pleased to call 'heroic.' I saved your life simply because--because you +resemble in form and feature, in look and manner, the only man I love!" + +A curious silence followed her words. The faint far whispering of the +leaves on the trees outside seemed almost intrusively loud in such a +stillness,--the placid murmur of the sea against the cliff below the +Palace became well-nigh suggestive of storm. Lotys was suddenly +conscious of an odd strained sense of terror,--she had spoken as freely +and frankly as she would have spoken to any one of her own associates, +--and yet she felt that somehow she had been over-impulsive, and that in +a thoughtless moment she had let slip some secret which placed her, +weak and helpless, in the King's power. The King himself stood +immovable as a figure of bronze,--his eyes resting upon her with a deep +insistence of purpose, as though he sought to wrest some further +confession from her soul. The tension between them was painful,--almost +intolerable,--and though it lasted but a minute, that minute seemed +weighted with the potentialities of years. Forcing herself to break the +dumb spell, Lotys went on hurriedly and half desperately:-- + +"You may smile at this," she said--"Men always jest with a woman's +heart,--a woman's folly! But folly or no, I will not have you draw any +false conclusions concerning me,--or flatter yourself that it was +loyalty to you, or honour for your position that made me your living +shield to-day. No!--for if you were not the exact counterpart of him +who is dearer to me than all the world beside, I think I should have +let you die! I think so--I do not know! Because, after all, you are not +like him in mind or heart; it is only your outward bearing, your +physical features that resemble his! But, even so, I could not have +looked idly on, and seen his merest Resemblance slain! Now you +understand! It is not for you, as King, that I have turned aside a +murderer's weapon,--but solely because you have the face, the eyes, the +smile of one who is a thousand times greater and nobler than you,--who, +though poor and uncrowned, is a true king in the grace and thought and +goodness of his actions,--who, all unlike you, personally attends to +the wants of the poor, instead of neglecting them,--and who recognises, +and does his best to remedy, the many wrongs which afflict the people +of this land!" + +Her sweet voice thrilled with passion,--her cheeks glowed,-- +unconsciously she stretched out her uninjured hand with an eloquent +gesture of pride and conviction. The King's figure, till now rigid and +motionless, stirred;--advancing a step, he took that hand before she +could withhold it, and raised it to his lips. + +"Madame, I am twice honoured!" he said, in accents that shook ever so +slightly--"To resemble a good man even outwardly is something,--to wear +in any degree the lineaments of one whom a brave and true woman honours +by her love is still more! You have made me very much your debtor"-- +here he gently relinquished the hand he had kissed--"but believe me, I +shall endeavour most faithfully to meet the claim you have upon my +gratitude!" Here he paused, and drawing back, bowed courteously. "The +way for your departure is clear," he continued;--"I have ordered a +carriage to be in waiting at one of the private entrances to the +Palace. Professor von Glauben, my physician, who has just attended you, +will escort you to it. You will pass out quite unnoticed,--and be,--as +you desire it--again at full liberty. Let the memory of the King whose +life you saved trouble you no more,--except when you look upon his +better counterpart!--as then, perchance, you may think more kindly of +him! For he has to suffer!--not so much for his own faults, as for the +faults of a system formulated by his ancestors." + +Her intense eyes glowed with a fire of enthusiasm as she lifted them to +his face. + +"Kingship would be a grand system," she said, "if kings were true! And +Autocracy would be the best and noblest form of government in the +world, if autocrats could be found who were intellectual and honest at +one and the same time!" + +He looked at her observantly. + +"You think they are neither?" + +"_I_ think? 'I' am nothing,--my opinions count for nothing! But +History gives evidence, and supplies proof of their incompetency. A +great king,--good as well as great,--would be the salvation of this +present time of the world!" + +Still he kept his eyes upon her. + +"Go on!"--he said--"There is something in your mind which you would +fain express to me more openly. You have eloquent features, Madame!-- +and your looks are the candid mirror of your thoughts. Speak, I beg of +you!" + +The light of a daring inward hope flashed in her face and inspired her +very attitude, as she stood before him, entirely regardless of herself. + +"Then,--since you give me leave,--I _will_ speak!" she said; "For +perhaps I shall never see you again--never have the chance to ask you, +as a Man whom the mere accident of birth has made a king, to have more +thought, more pity, more love for your subjects! Surely you should be +their guardian--their father--their protector? Surely you should not +leave them to become the prey of unscrupulous financiers or intriguing +Churchmen? Some say you are yourself involved in the cruel schemes +which are slowly but steadily robbing this country's people of their +Trades, the lawful means of their subsistence; and that you approve, in +the main, of the private contracts which place our chief manufactures +and lines of traffic in the hands of foreign rivals. But I do not +believe this. We--and by we, I mean the Revolutionary party--try hard +not to believe this! I admit to you, as faithfully as if I stood on my +trial before you, that much of the work to which we, as a party have +pledged ourselves, consists in moving the destruction of the Monarchy, +and the formation of a Republic. But why? Only because the Monarchy has +proved itself indifferent to the needs of the people, and deaf to their +protestations against injustice! Thus we have conceived it likely that +a Republic might help to mend matters,--if it were in power for at +least some twenty or thirty years,--but at the same time we know well +enough that if a King ruled over us who was indeed a King,--who would +refuse to be the tool of party speculators, and who could not be moved +this way or that by the tyrants of finance, the people would have far +more chance of equality and right under a Republic even! Only we cannot +find that king!--no country can! You, for instance, are no hero! You +will not think for yourself, though you might; you only interest +yourself in affairs that may redound to your personal and private +credit; or in those which affect 'society,' the most dissolute portion +of the community,--and you have shown so little individuality in +yourself or your actions, that your unexpected refusal to grant Crown +lands to the Jesuits was scarcely believed in or accepted, otherwise +than as a caprice, till your own 'official' announcement. Even now we +can scarcely be brought to look upon it except as an impulse inspired +by fear! Herein, we do you, no doubt, a grave injustice; I, for one, +honestly believe that you have refused these lands to the Priest- +Politicians, out of earnest consideration for the future peace and +welfare of your subjects." + +"Nay, why believe even thus much of me?" he interrupted with a grave +smile; "May you not be misled by that Resemblance I bear, to one who +is, in your eyes, so much my superior?" + +A faint expression of offence darkened her face, and her brows +contracted. + +"You are pleased to jest!" she said coldly; "As I said before, it is +man's only way of turning aside, or concluding all argument with a +woman! I am mistaken perhaps in the instinct which has led me to speak +to you as openly as I have done,--and yet,--I know in my heart I can do +you no harm by telling you the truth, as others would never tell it to +you! Many times within this last two months the people have sent in +petitions to you against the heavy taxes with which your Government is +afflicting them, and they can get no answer to their desperate appeals. +Is it kingly--is it worthy of your post as Head of this realm, to turn +a deaf ear to the cries of those whose hard-earned money keeps you on +the Throne, housed in luxury, guarded from every possible evil, and +happily ignorant of the pangs of want and hunger? How can you, if you +have a heart, permit such an iniquitous act on the part of your +Government as the setting of a tax on bread?--the all in all of life to +the very poor! Have you ever seen young children crying for bread? I +have! Have you ever seen strong men reduced to the shame of stealing +bread, to feed their wives and infants? I have! I think of it as I +stand here, surrounded by the luxury which is your daily lot,--and +knowing what I know, I would strip these satin-draped walls, and sell +everything of value around me if I possessed it, rather than know that +one woman or child starved within the city's precincts! Your Ministers +tell you there is a deficiency in the Exchequer,--but you do not ask +why, or how the deficiency arose! You do not ask whether Ministers +themselves have not been trafficking and speculating with the country's +money! For if deficiency there be, it has arisen out of the +Government's mismanagement! The Government have had the people's +money,--and have thrown it recklessly away. Therefore, they have no +right to ask for more, to supply what they themselves have wilfully +wasted. No right, I say!--no right to rob them of another coin! If I +were a man, and a king like you, I would voluntarily resign more than +half my annual kingly income to help that deficit in the National +Exchequer till it had been replaced;--I would live poor,--and be +content to know that by my act I had won far more than many millions--a +deathless, and beloved name of honour with my people!" + +She paused. He said not a word. Suddenly she became conscious that her +hair was unbound and falling loosely about her; she had almost +forgotten this till now. A wave of colour swept over her face,--but she +mastered her embarrassment, and gathering the long tresses together in +her left hand, twisted them up slowly, and with an evident painful +effort. The King watched her, a little smile hovering about his mouth. + +"If I might help you!" he said softly--"but--that is a task for my +Resemblance!" + +She appeared not to hear him. A sudden determination moved her, and she +uttered her thought boldly and at all hazards. + +"If you do not, as the public report, approve of the financial schemes +out of which your Ministers make their fortunes, to the utter ruin of +the people in general," she said slowly; "Dismiss Carl Perousse from +office! So may you perchance avert a great national disaster!" + +He permitted himself to smile indulgently. + +"Madame, you may ask much!--and however great your demands, I will do +my utmost to meet and comply with them;--but like all your charming +sex, you forget that a king can seldom or never interfere with a +political situation! It would be very unwise policy on my part to +dismiss M. Perousse, seeing that he is already nominated as the next +Premier." + +"The next Premier!" Lotys echoed the words with a passionate scorn; "If +that is so, I give you an honest warning! The people will revolt,--no +force can hold them back or keep them in check! And if you should +command your soldiery to fire on the populace, there must be bloodshed +and crime!--on your head be the result! Oh, are you not, can you not be +something higher than even a king?--an honest man? Will you not open +the eyes of your mind to see the wickedness, falsehood and treachery of +this vile Minister, who ministers only to his own ends?--who feigns +incorruptibility in order to more easily corrupt others?--who assumes +the defence of outlying states, merely to hide the depredations he is +making on home power? Nay, if you will not, you are not worth a +beggar's blessing!--and I shall wonder to myself why God made of you so +exact a copy of one whom I know to be a good man!" + +Her breath came and went quickly,--her cheeks were flushed, and great +tears stood in her eyes. But he seemed altogether unmoved. + +"I' faith, I shall wonder too!" he said very tranquilly; "Good men are +scarce!--and to be the copy of one is excellent, though it may in some +cases be misleading! Madame, I have heard you with patience, and--if +you will permit me to say so--admiration! I honour your courage--your +frankness--and--still more--your absolute independence. You speak of +wrongs to the People. If such wrongs indeed exist----" + +"If!" interrupted Lotys with a whole world of meaning in the +expression. + +"I say, if they indeed exist, I will, as far as I may,--endeavour to +remedy them. I, personally, have no hesitation in declaring to you that +I am not involved in the financial schemes to which you allude--though +I know two or three of my fellow-sovereigns who are! But I do not care +sufficiently for money to indulge in speculation. Nevertheless, let me +tell you, speculation is good, and even necessary in matters affecting +national finance, and I am confident--" here he smiled enigmatically, +"that the country's honour is safe in the hands of M. Perousse!" + +At this she lifted her head proudly and looked at him, with eyes that +expressed so magnificent a disdain, that had he been any other than the +man he was, he might have quailed beneath the lightning flash of such +utter contempt. + +"You are confident that the country's honour is safe!" she repeated +bitterly; "I am confident that it is betrayed and shamed! And History +will set a curse against the King who helped in its downfall!" + +He regarded her with a vague, lingering gentleness. + +"You are harsh, Madame!" he said softly; "But you could not offend me +if you tried! I quarrel with none of your sex! And you will, I hope, +think better of me some day,--and not be sorry--as perhaps you are now +--for having saved a life so worthless! Farewell!" + +She offered no response. The silken portiere rustled and swayed,--the +door opened and shut again quietly--he was gone. Left alone, Lotys +dropped wearily on the sofa, and burying her head in the soft cushions, +gave way to an outburst of tears and sobbed like a tired and exhausted +child. In this condition Professor von Glauben, entering presently, +found her. But his sympathy, if he felt any, was outwardly very chill +and formal. Another dose of his 'cordial,'--a careful examination and +re-strapping of the wounded shoulder,--these summed up the whole of his +consolation; and his precise cold manner did much to restore her to her +self-possession. She thanked him in a few words for his professional +attention, without raising her eyes to his face, and quietly followed +him down a long narrow passage which terminated in a small private door +giving egress to the Royal pleasure-grounds,--and here a hired close +carriage was waiting. Putting her carefully into this vehicle, the +Professor then delivered himself of his last instructions. + +"The driver has no orders beyond the citadel, Madame," he explained. +"His Majesty begged me to say that he has no desire to seem inquisitive +as to your place of residence. You will therefore please inform the +coachman yourself as to where you wish to be driven. And take care of +that so-much-wounded shoulder!" he added, relapsing into a kinder and +less formal tone;--"It will pain you,--but there will be no +inflammation, not now I have treated it!--and it will heal quickly, +that I will guarantee--I, who have had first care of it!" + +She thanked him again in a low voice,--there was an uncomfortable lump +in her throat, and tears still trembled on her lashes. + +"Remember well," said the Professor cheerily; "how very grateful we are +to you! What we shall do for you some day, we do not yet know! A +monument in the public square, or a bust in the Cathedral? Ha, ha! +Goodbye! You have the blessing of the nation with you!" + +She shook her head deprecatingly,--she tried to smile, but she could +not trust herself to speak. The carriage rolled swiftly down the broad +avenue and soon disappeared, and the Professor, having watched the last +flash of its wheels vanish between the arching trees, executed a slow +and somewhat solemn _pas-seul_ on the doorstep where it had left +him. + +"Ach so!" he exclaimed, almost audibly; "The King's Comedy progresses! +But it had nearly taken the form of Tragedy to-day--and now Tragedy +itself has melted into sentiment, and tears, and passion! And with this +very difficult kind of human mixture, the worst may happen!" + +He re-entered the Palace and returned with some haste to the apartments +of the King, whither he had been bidden. + +But on arriving there he was met by an attendant in the ante-room who +informed him that his Majesty had retired to his private library and +desired to be left alone. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +"I SAY--'ROME'!" + + +The State prison was a gloomy fortress built on a wedge of rock that +jutted far out into the ocean. It stood full-fronted to the north, and +had opposed its massive walls and huge battlements to every sort of +storm for many centuries. It was a relic of mediaeval days, when +torture no less than death, was the daily practice of the law, and when +persons were punished as cruelly for light offences as for the greatest +crimes. It was completely honeycombed with dungeons and subterranean +passages, which led to the sea,--and in one of the darkest and deepest +of these underground cells, the wretched youth who had attempted the +life of the King, was placed under the charge of two armed warders, who +marched up and down outside the heavily-barred door, keeping close +watch and guard. Neither they nor anyone else had exchanged a word with +the prisoner since his arrest. He had given them no trouble. He had +been carefully searched, but nothing of an incriminating nature had +been found upon him,--nothing to point to any possible instigator of +his dastard crime. He had entered the dungeon allotted to him with +almost a cheerful air,--he had muttered half-inaudible thanks for the +bread and water which had been passed to him through the grating; and +he had seated himself upon the cold bench, hewn out of the stone wall, +with a resignation that might have easily passed for pleasure. As the +time wore on, however, and the reality of his position began to press +more consciously upon his senses, the warders heard him sigh deeply, +and move restlessly, and once he gave a cry like that of a wounded +animal, exclaiming:-- + +"For Thy sake, Lord Christ! For Thy sake I strove--for Thy sake, and in +Thy service! Thou wilt not leave me here to perish!" + +He had been brought to the prison immediately after his murderous +attack, and the time had then been about four in the afternoon. It was +now night; and all over the city the joy-bells were clashing out music +from the Cathedral towers, to express the popular thanksgiving for the +miraculous escape and safety of the King. The echo of the chimes which +had been ringing ever since sunset, was caught by the sea and thrown +back again upon the air, so that it partially drowned the melancholy +clang of the prison bell, which in its turn, tolled forth the dreary +passing of the time for those to whom liberty had become the merest +shadow of a dream. As it struck nine, a priest presented himself to the +Superintendent of the prison, bearing a 'permit' from General Bernhoff, +Head of the Police, to visit and 'confess' the prisoner. He was led to +the cell and admitted at once. At the noise of a stranger's entrance, +the criminal raised himself from the sunken attitude into which he had +fallen on his stone bench, and watched, by the light of the dim lamp +set in the wall, the approach of his tall, gaunt, black-garmented +visitor with evident horror and fear. When,--with the removal of the +shovel hat and thick muffler which had helped to disguise that +visitor's personality,--the features of Monsignor Del Fortis were +disclosed, he sprang forward and threw himself on his knees. + +"Mercy!--Mercy!" he moaned--"Have pity on me, in the name of God!" + +Del Fortis looked down upon him with contempt, as though he were some +loathsome reptile writhing at his feet. "Silence!" he said, in a harsh +whisper--"Remember, we are watched here! Get up!--why do you kneel to +_me_? I have nothing to do with you, beyond such office as the +Church enjoins!" And a cold smile darkened, rather than lightened his +features. "I am sent to administer 'spiritual consolation' to you!" + +Slowly the prisoner struggled up to a standing posture, and pressing +both hands to his head, he stared wildly before him. + +"'Spiritual consolation'!" he muttered-"'Spiritual'?" A faint dull +vacuous smile flickered over his face, and he shuddered. "I understand! +You come to prepare my soul for Heaven!" + +Del Fortis gave him a sinister look. + +"That depends on yourself!" he replied curtly--"The Church can speed +you either way,--to Heaven, or--Hell!" + +The prisoner's hands clenched involuntarily with a gesture of despair. + +"I know that!" he said sullenly--"The Church can save or kill! What of +it? I am now beyond even the power of the Church!" + +Del Fortis seated himself on the stone bench. + +"Come here!" he said--"Sit down beside me!" + +The prisoner obeyed. + +"Look at this!"--and he drew an ebony and silver crucifix from his +breast--"Fix your eyes upon it, and try, my son,"--here he raised his +voice a little--"try to conquer your thoughts of things temporal, and +lift them to the things which are eternal! For things temporal do +quickly vanish and disperse, but things eternal shall endure for ever! +Humble your soul before God, and beseech Him with me, to mercifully +cleanse the dark stain of sin upon your soul!" Here he began mumbling a +Latin prayer, and while engaged in this, he caught the prisoner's hand +in a close grip. "Act--act with me!" he said firmly. "Fool!--Play a +part, as I do! Bend your head close to mine--assume shame and sorrow +even if you cannot feel it! And listen to me well! _You have +failed_!" + +"I know it!" + +The reply came thick and low. + +"Why did you make the attempt at all? Who persuaded you?" + +The wretched youth lifted his head, and showed a wild white face, in +which the piteous eyes, starting from their sockets, looked blind with +terror. + +"Who persuaded me?" he replied mechanically--"No one! No single one,-- +but many!" + +Del Fortis gripped him firmly by the wrist. + +"You lie!" he snarled--"How dare you utter such a calumny! Who were +you? What were you? A miserable starveling--picked up from the streets +and saved from penury,--housed and sheltered in our College,--taught +and trained and given paid employment by us,--what have _you_ to +say of 'persuasion'?--you, who owe your very life to us, and to our +charity!" + +Roused by this attack, the prisoner, wrenching his hand away from the +priest's cruel grasp, sprang upright. + +"Wait--wait!" he said breathlessly--"You do not understand! You forget! +All my life I have been under One great influence--all my life I have +been taught to dream One great Dream! When I talk of 'persuasion,' I +only mean the persuasion of that force which has surrounded me as +closely as the air I breathe!--that spirit which is bound to enter into +all who work for you, or with you! Oh no!--neither you nor any member +of your Order ever seek openly to 'persuade' any man to any act, +whether good or evil--your Rule is much wiser than that!--much more +subtle! You issue no actual commands--your power comes chiefly by +suggestion! And _with_ you,--working _for_ you--I have thought +day and night, night and day, of the glory of Rome!--the dominion of +Rome!--the triumph of Rome! I have learned, under you, to wish for it, +to pray for it, to desire it more than my own life!--do you, can you blame +me for that? You dare not call it a sin;--for your Order represents it as +a virtue that condones all sin!" + +Del Fortis was silent, watching him with a kind of curious contempt. + +"It grew to be part of me, this Dream!" went on the lad, his eyes now +shining with a feverish brilliancy--"And I began to see wonderful +visions, and to hear voices calling me in the daytime,--voices that no +one else heard! Once in the College chapel I saw the Blessed Virgin's +picture smile! I was copying documents for the Vatican then,--and I +thought of the Holy Father,--how he was imprisoned in Rome, when he +should be Emperor of all the Emperors,--King of all the Kings! I +remembered how it was that he had no temporal power,--though all the +powers of the earth should be subservient to him!--and my heart beat +almost to bursting, and my brain seemed on fire!--but the Blessed +Virgin's picture still smiled;--and I knelt down before it and swore +that I,--even I, would help to give the whole world back to Rome, even +if I died for it!" + +He caught his breath with a kind of sob, and looked appealingly at Del +Fortis, who, fingering the crucifix he held, sat immovable. + +"And then--and then" he went on, "I heard enough,--while at work in +the monastery with you and the brethren,--to strengthen and fire my +resolution. I learned that all kings are, in these days, the enemies of +the Church. I learned that they were all united in one resolve; and +that,--to deprive the Holy Father of temporal power! Then I set myself +to study kings. Each, and all of those who sit on thrones to-day passed +before my view;--all selfish, money-seeking, sensual men!--not one +good, true soul among them! Demons they seemed to me,--bent on +depriving God's Evangelist in Rome of his Sacred and Supreme +Sovereignty! It made me mad!--and I would have killed all kings, could +I have done so with a single thought! Then came a day when you preached +openly in the Cathedral against this one King, who should by right have +gone to his account this very afternoon!--you told the people how he +had refused lands to the Church,--and how by this wicked act he had +stopped the progress of religious education, and had put himself, as it +were, in the way of Christ who said: 'Suffer little children to come +unto Me!' And my dreams of the glory of Rome again took shape--I saw in +my mind all the children,--the poor little children of the world, +gathered to the knee of the Holy Father, and brought up to obey him and +him only!--I remembered my oath before the Blessed Virgin's picture, +and all my soul cried out: 'Death to the crowned Tyrant! Death!' For +you said--and I believed it--that all who opposed the Holy Father's +will, were opposed to the will of God!--and over and over again I said +in my heart: 'Death to the tyrant! Death!' And the words went with me +like the response of a litany,--till--till--I saw him before me to-day +--a pampered fool, surrounded by women!--a blazoned liar!--and then--" +He paused, smiling foolishly; and shaking his head with a slow movement +to and fro, he added--"The dagger should have struck home!--it was +aimed surely--aimed strongly!--but that woman came between--why did she +come? They said she was Lotys!--ha ha!--Lotys, the Revolutionary +sybil!--Lotys, the Socialist!--but that could not be,--Lotys is as +great an enemy of kings as I am!" + +"And an enemy of the Church as well!" said Del Fortis harshly--"Between +the Church and Socialism, all Thrones stand on a cracking earth, +devoured by fire! But make no mistake about it!--the woman was Lotys! +Socialist and Revolutionary as she may be, she has saved the life of +the King. This is so far fortunate--for you! And it is much to be hoped +that she herself is not slain by your dagger thrust;--death is far too +easy and light a punishment for her and her associates! We trust it may +please a merciful God to visit her with more lingering calamity!" + +As he said this, he piously kissed the crucifix he held, keeping his +shallow dark eyes fixed on the prisoner with the expression of a cat +watching a mouse. The half-crazed youth, absorbed in the ideas of his +own dementia, still smiled to himself vaguely, and nervously plucked at +his fingers, till Del Fortis, growing impatient and forgetting for the +moment that they stood in a prison cell, the interior of which might +possibly be seen and watched from many points of observation unknown to +them, went up to him and shook him roughly by the arm. + +"Attention!" he said angrily--"Rouse yourself and hear me! You talk +like a fool or a madman,--yet you are neither--neither, you +understand?--neither idiot-born nor suddenly crazed;--so, when on your +trial do not feign to be what you are not! Such ideas as you have +expressed, though they may have their foundation in a desire for good, +are evil in their results--yet even out of evil good may come! The +power of Rome--the glory of Rome--the dominion of Rome! Rome, supreme +Mistress of the world! Would you help the Church to win this great +victory? Then now is your chance! God has given you--you, His poor +instrument,--the means to effectually aid His conquest,--to Him be all +the praise and thanksgiving! It rests with you to accept His message +and perform His work!" + +The high-flown, melodramatic intensity with which he pronounced these +words, had the desired effect on the stunned and bewildered, weak mind +of the unfortunate lad so addressed. His eyes sparkled--his cheeks +flushed,--and he looked eagerly up into the face of his priestly +hypnotizer. + +"Yes--yes!" he said quickly in a breathless whisper--"But how?--tell +me how! I will work--oh, I will work--for Rome, for God, for the +Blessed Virgin!--I will do all that I can!--but how--how? Will the +Holy Father send an angel to take me out of this prison, so that I may +be free to help God?" + +Del Fortis surveyed him with a kind of grim derision, A slight noise +like the slipping-back or slipping-to of a grating, startled him, and +he looked about him on all sides, moved by a sudden nervous +apprehension. But the massive walls of the cell, oozing with damp and +slime, had apparently no aperture or outlet anywhere, not even a slit +in the masonry for the admission of daylight. Satisfied with his hasty +examination, he took his credulous victim by the arm, and led him back +to the rough stone bench where they had first begun to converse. + +"Kneel down here before me!"--he said--"Kneel, as if you were repeating +all the sins of your life to me in your last confession! Kneel, I say!" + +Feebly, and with trembling limbs, the lad obeyed. + +"Now," continued Del Fortis, holding up the crucifix before him--"Try +to follow my words and understand them! To-morrow, or the next day, you +will be taken before a judge and tried for your attempted crime. Do you +realise that?" + +"I do!" The answer came hesitatingly, and with a faint moan. + +"Have you thought what you intend to say when you are asked your +reasons for attacking the King? Do you mean to tell judge and jury the +story of what you call your 'persuasion' to dream of the dominion of +Rome?" + +"Yes--yes!" replied the lad, looking up with an eager light on his +face--"Yes, I will tell them all,--just as I have told you! Then they +will know,--they will see that it was a good thought of mine--it would +have been a good sin! I will speak to them of the wicked wrongs done to +you and your Holy Order,--of the cruelty which the Christian Apostle in +Rome has to suffer at the hands of kings--and they will acknowledge me +to be right and just;--they will know I am as a man inspired by God to +work for the Church, the bride of Christ, and to make her Queen of all +the world!" + +He stopped suddenly, intimidated by the cruel glare of the wolfish eyes +above him. + +"You will say nothing of all this!" and Del Fortis shook the crucifix +in his face as though it were a threatening weapon; "You will say only +what _I_ choose,--only what _I_ command! And if you do not swear +to speak as I tell you, I will kill you!--here and now--with my own hands!" + +Uttering a half-smothered cry, the wretched youth recoiled in terror. + +"You will kill me? You--_you_?" he gasped--"No--no!--you could +not do that! you could not,--you are a holy man! I--I am not afraid +that you will hurt me! I have done nothing to offend you,--I have +always been obedient to you,--I have been your slave--your dog to fetch +and carry!--and you should remember,--yes!--you should remember that +my mother was rich,--and that because she too felt the call of God, +she gave all her money to the Church, and left me thrown upon the +streets to starve! But the Church rescued me--the Church did not +forget! And I am ready to serve the Church in all and every possible +way,--I have done my best, even now!" + +He spoke with all the passionate self-persuasion of a fanatic, and Del +Fortis judged it wisest to control his own fierce inward impatience and +deal with him more restrainedly. + +"That is true enough!" he said in milder accents;--"You are ready to +serve the Church,--I do not doubt it;--but you do not serve it in the +right way. No earthly good is gained to us by the killing of kings! +Their conversion and obedience is what we seek. This king you would +have slain is a baptised son of the Church; but beyond attending mass +regularly in his private chapel, which he does for the mere sake of +appearances, he is an atheist, condemned to the fires of Hell. +Nevertheless, no advantage to us could possibly be obtained by his +death. Much can be done for us by you--yes, _you_!--and much will +depend on the answers to the questions asked you at your trial. Give +those answers as _I_ shall bid you, and you will win a triumph for +the cause of Rome!" + +The prisoner's eyes glittered feverishly,--full of the delirium of +bigotry, he caught the lean, cold hand that held the crucifix, and +kissed it fervently. + +"Command me!" he muttered--"Command!--and in the name of the Blessed +Virgin, I will obey!" + +"Hear then, and attend closely to my words," went on Del Fortis, +enunciating his sentences in a low distinct voice--"When you are +brought before the judge, you will be accused of an attempt to +assassinate the King. Make no denial of it,--admit it at once, and +express contrition. You will then be asked if any person or persons +instigated you to commit the crime. To this say 'yes'!" + +"Say 'yes'!" repeated the lad--"But that will not be true!" + +"Fool, does it matter!" ejaculated Del Fortis, almost savagely--"Have +you not sworn to speak as I command you? What is it to you whether it +is true or false?" + +A slight shiver passed through the prisoner's limbs--but he was silent. + +"Say"--went on his pitiless instructor--"that you were enticed and +persuaded to commit the wicked deed by the teachings of the Socialist, +Sergius Thord, and his followers. Say that the woman Lotys knew of your +intention,--and saved the life of the King at the last moment, through +fear, lest her own seditious schemes should be discovered and herself +punished. Say,--that because you were young and weak and +impressionable, she chose you out to attempt the assassination. Do you +hear?" + +"I hear!" The reply came thickly and almost inaudibly. "But must I tell +these lies? I have never spoken to Sergius Thord in my life!--nor to +the woman Lotys;--I know nothing of them or their followers, except by +the public talk;--why should I harm the innocent? Let me tell the +truth, I pray of you!--let me speak as my heart dictates!--let me plead +for the Holy Father--for you--for your Order--for the Church!--" + +He broke off as Del Fortis caught him by both hands in an angry grip. + +"Do not dare to speak one word of the Church!" he said, "Or of us,--or +of our Order! Let not a single syllable escape your lips concerning +your connection with us and our Society!--or we shall find means to +make you regret it! Beware of betraying yourself! When you are once +before the Court of Law, remember you know nothing of Us, our Work, or +our Creed!" + +Utterly bewildered and mystified, the unhappy youth rocked himself to +and fro, clasping and unclasping his hands in a kind of nervous +paroxysm. + +"Oh why, why will you bid me to do this?" he moaned--"You know there +are times when I cannot be answerable for myself! How can I tell what I +shall do when I am brought face to face with my accusers?--when I see +all the dreadful eyes of the people turned upon me? How can I deny all +knowledge of those who brought me up, and nurtured and educated me? If +they ask me of my home, is it not with you?--under your sufferance and +charity? If they seek to know my means of subsistence, is it not +through you that I receive the copying-work for which I am paid? You +would not have me repudiate all this, would you? I should be worse than +a dog in sheer ingratitude if I did not bear open testimony to all the +Church has done for me!" + +"Be, not worse than a dog, but faithful as a dog in obedience!" +responded Del Fortis impressively--"And, for once, speak of the Church +with the indifference of an atheist,--or with such marked coldness as a +wise man speaks of the woman he secretly adores! Hold the Church and Us +too sacred for any mention in a Court of criminal law! But serve the +Church by involving the Socialist and Revolutionary party! Think of the +magnificent results which will spring from this act,--and nerve +yourself to tell a lie in order to support a truth!" + +Rising unsteadily from his knees, the prisoner stood upright. By the +flicker of the dim lamp, he looked deadly pale, and his limbs tottered +as though shaken by an ague fit. + +"What good will come of it?" he queried dully--"What good _can_ +come of it?" + +"Great and lasting good will come of it!"--replied Del Fortis--"And it +will come quickly too;--in this way, for by fastening the accusation of +undue influence on Sergius Thord and his companions, you will obtain +Government restriction, if not total suppression of the Socialist +party. This is what we need! The Socialists are growing too strong--too +powerful in every country,--and we are on the brink of trouble through +their accursed and atheistical demonstrations. There will soon be +serious disturbances in the political arena--possibly an overthrow of +the Government, and a general election--and if Sergius Thord has the +chance of advancing himself as a deputy, he will be elected above all +others by an overpowering majority of the lower classes. _You_ can +prevent this!--you can prevent it by a single falsehood, which in this +case will be more pleasing to God than a thousand mischievous +veracities! Will you do it? Yes or No?" + +The miserable lad looked helplessly around him, his weak frame +trembling as with palsy, and his uncertain fingers plucking at each +other with that involuntary movement of the muscles which indicates a +disordered brain. + +"Will you, or will you not?" reiterated Del Fortis in a whisper that +hissed through the close precincts of the cell like the warning of a +snake about to sting--"Answer me!" + +"Suppose I say I will not!"--stammered the poor wretch, with trembling +lips and appealing eyes--"Suppose I say I will not falsely accuse the +innocent, even for the sake of the Church----?" + +"Then," said Del Fortis slowly, rising and moving towards him;--"You +had best accept the only alternative--this!" + +And he took from his breast pocket a small phial, full of clear, +colourless fluid, and showed it to him--"Take it!--and so make a quick +and quiet end! For, if you betray you connection with Us by so much as +a look,--a sign, or a syllable,--your mode of exit from this world may +be slower, less decent, and more painful!" + +The miserable boy wrung his hands in agony, and such a cry of despair +broke from his lips as might have moved anyone less cruelly made of +spiritual adamant than the determined servant of the cruellest +'religious' Order known. The dull harsh clang of the prison bell struck +ten. The 'priest' had been an hour at the work of 'confessing' his +penitent,--and his patience was well-nigh exhausted. + +"Swear you will attribute your intended assassination of the King, to +the influence of the Socialists!" he said with fierce imperativeness-- +"Or with this--end all your difficulties to-night! It is a gentle +quietus!--and you ought to thank me for it! It is better than solitary +imprisonment for life! I will give you absolution for taking it-- +provided I see you swallow it before I go!--and I will declare to the +Church that I left you shrived of your sins, and clean! Half an hour +after I leave you, you will sleep!--and wake--in Heaven! Make your +choice!" + +The last words had scarcely left his lips when the cell door was +suddenly thrown open, and a blaze of light poured in. Dazzled by the +strong and sudden glare, Del Fortis recoiled, and still holding the +phial of poison in his hand, stumbled back against the half-fainting +form of the poor crazed creature he had been terrorising, as a dozen +armed men silently entered the dungeon and ranged themselves in order, +six on one side and six on the other, while, in their midst one man +advanced, throwing back his dark military cloak as he came, and +displaying a mass of jewelled orders and insignia on his brilliant +uniform. Del Fortis uttered a fierce oath. + +"The King!" he muttered, under his breath--"The King!" + +"Ay, the King!" and a glance of supreme scorn swept over him from head +to foot, as the monarch's clear dark grey eyes flashed with the glitter +of cold steel in the luminance of the torches which were carried by +attendants behind him; "Monsignor Del Fortis! You stand convicted of +the offence of unlawfully tampering with the conscience of a prisoner +of State! We have heard your every word--and have obtained a bird's-eye +view of your policy!--so that,--if necessary,--we will Ourselves bear +witness against you! For the present,--you will be detained in this +fortress until our further pleasure!" + +For one moment Del Fortis appeared to be literally contorted in every +muscle by his excess of rage. His features grew livid,--his eyes became +almost blood-red, and his teeth met on his drawn-in under-lip in a +smile of intense malignity. Baffled again!--and by this 'king,'--the +crowned Dummy,--who had cast aside all former precedent, and instead of +amusing himself with card-playing and sensual intrigue, after the +accepted fashion of most modern sovereigns, had presumed to interfere, +not only with the Church, but with the Government, and now, as it +seemed, had acted as a spy on the very secrets of a so-called prison +'confession'! The utter impossibility of escaping from the net into +which his own words had betrayed him, stood plainly before his mind and +half-choked him with impotent fury,--till--all suddenly a thought +crossed his brain like a flash of fire, and with a strong effort, he +recovered his self-possession. Crossing his arms meekly on his breast, +he bowed with a silent and profound affectation of humility, as one who +is bent under the Royal displeasure, yet resigned to the Royal +command,--then with a rapid movement he lifted the poison-phial he had +held concealed, to his lips. His action was at once perceived. Two or +three of the armed guards threw themselves upon him and, after a brief +struggle, wrenched the flask from his hand, but not till he had +succeeded in swallowing its contents. Breathing quickly, yet smiling +imperturbably, he stood upright and calm. + +"God's will and mine--not your Majesty's--be done!" he said. "In half +an hour--or less--Mother Church may add to her list of martyrs the name +of Andrea Del Fortis!--who died rather than sacrifice the dignity of +his calling to the tyranny of a king!" + +A slight convulsion passed over his features,--he staggered backward. +The King, horror-stricken, signed to the prison warders standing by, to +support him. He muttered a word of thanks, as they caught him by both +arms. + +"Take me where I can die quietly!" he said to them, "It will soon be +over! I shall give you little trouble!" + +A cold, weak, trembling hand clasped his. It was the hand of the King's +wretched assassin. + +"Let me go with you!" he cried--"Let me die with you! You have been +cruel to me!--but you could not have meant it!--you were once kind!" + +Del Fortis thrust him aside. + +"Curse you!" he said thickly--"You are the cause--you--you are the +cause of this damned mischief! You!--God!--to think of it!--you devil's +spawn!--you cur!" + +His voice failed him, and he reeled heavily against the sturdy form of +one of the warders who held him--his lips were flecked with blood and +foam. Shocked and appalled, no less at his words, than at the fiendish +contortion of his features, the King drew near. + +"Curse not a fellow-mortal, unhappy priest, in thine own passage +towards the final judgment!" he said in grave accents--"The blessing of +this poor misguided creature may help thee more than even a king's free +pardon!" + +And he extended his hand;--but with all the force of his now struggling +and convulsed body, Del Fortis beat it back, and raised himself by an +almost superhuman effort. + +"Pardon! Who talks of pardon!" he cried, with a strong voice--"I do not +need it--I do not seek it! I have worked for the Church--I die for the +Church! For every one that says 'The King!'--I say, 'Rome'!" + +He drew himself stiffly upright; his dark eyes glittered; his face, +though deadly pale, scarcely looked like the face of a dying man. + +"I say, 'Rome'!" he repeated, in a harsh whisper;--"Over all the +world!--over all the kingdoms of the world, and in defiance of all +kings--'Rome'!" + +He fell back,--not dead,--but insensible, in the stupor which precedes +death;--and was quickly borne out of the cell and carried to the prison +infirmary, there to receive medical aid, though that could only now +avail to soothe the approaching agonies of dissolution. + +The King stood mute and motionless, lost in thought, a heavy darkness +brooding on his features. How strange the impulse that had led him to +be the mover and witness of this scene! By merest chance he had learned +that Del Fortis had applied for permission to 'confess' the would-be +destroyer of his life,--the life which Lotys had saved,--and acting--as +he had lately accustomed himself to do--on a sudden first idea or +instinct, he had summoned General Bernhoff to escort him to the prison, +and make the way easy for him to watch and overhear the interview +between priest and penitent,--himself unobserved. And from so slight an +incident had sprung a tragedy,--which might have results as yet +undreamed-of! + +And while he yet mused upon this, General Bernhoff ventured +respectfully to approach him, and ask if it was now his pleasure to +return to the Palace? He roused himself,--and with a heavy sigh looked +round on the damp and dismal cell in which he stood, and at the +crouching, fear-stricken form of the semi-crazed and now violently +weeping lad who had attempted his life. + +"Take that poor wretch away from here!" he said in hushed tones--"Give +him light, and warmth, and food! His evil desires spring from an +unsound brain;--I would have him dealt with mercifully! Guard him with +all necessary and firm restraint,--but do not brutalise his body more +than Rome has brutalised his soul!" + +With that he turned away,--and his armed guard and attendants followed +him. + +That self-same midnight a requiem mass was sung in a certain chapel +before a silent gathering of black-robed stern-featured men, who prayed +"For the repose of the soul of our dear brother, Andrea Del Fortis, +servant of God, and martyr to the cause of truth and justice,--who +departed this life suddenly, in the performance of his sacred duties." +In the newspapers next day, the death of this same martyr and shining +light of the Church was recorded with much paid-for regret and press- +eulogy as 'due to heart-failure' and his body being claimed by the +Jesuit brotherhood, it was buried with great pomp and solemn +circumstance, several of the Catholic societies and congregations +following it to the grave. One week after the funeral,--for no other +ostensible cause whatever, save the offence of openly publishing his +official refusal of a grant of Crown lands to the Jesuits,--the Holy +Father, the Evangelist and Infallible Apostle enthroned in St. Peter's +Chair, launched against the King who had dared to deny his wish and +oppose his will, the once terrible, but now futile ban of +excommunication; and the Royal son of the Church who had honestly +considered the good of his people more than the advancement of +priestcraft, stood outside the sacred pale,--barred by a so-called +'Christian' creed, from the mercy of God and the hope of Heaven. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +"ONE WAY,--ONE WOMAN!" + + +For several days after the foregoing events, the editors and +proprietors of newspapers had more than enough 'copy' to keep them +busy. The narrow escape of the King from assassination, followed by his +excommunication from the Church, worked a curious effect on the minds +of the populace, who were somewhat bewildered and uncertain as to the +possible undercurrent of political meaning flowing beneath the +conjunction of these two events; and their feelings were intensified by +the announcement that the youth who had attempted the monarch's life,-- +being proved as suffering from hereditary brain disease,--had received +a free pardon, and was placed in a suitable home for the treatment of +such cases, under careful restraint and medical supervision. The tide +of popular opinion was now divided into two ways,--for, and against +their Sovereign-ruler. By far the larger half were against;--but the +ban pronounced upon him by the Pope had the effect of making even this +disaffected portion inclined to consider him more favourably,--seeing +that the Church's punishment had fallen upon him, apparently because he +had done his duty, as a king, by granting the earnest petitions of +thousands of his subjects. David Jost, who had always made a point of +flattering Royalty in all its forms, now let his pen go with a complete +passion of toadyism, such as disgraced certain writers in Great Britain +during the reigns of the pernicious and vicious Georges,--and, seeing +the continued success of the rival journal which the King had +personally favoured, he trimmed his sails to the Court breeze, and +dropped the Church party as though it had burned his fingers. But he +found various channels on which he had previously relied for +information, rigorously closed to him. He had written many times to the +Marquis de Lutera to ask if the report of his having sent in his +resignation was correct,--but he had received no answer. He had called +over and over again on Carl Perousse, hoping to obtain a few minutes' +conversation with him, but had been denied an interview. Cogitating +upon these changes,--which imported much,--and wishing over and over +again that he had been born an Englishman, so that by the insidious +flattery of Royalty he might obtain a peerage,--as a certain Jew +associate of his concerned in the same business in London, had recently +succeeded in doing,--he decided that the wisest course to follow was +to continue to 'butter' the King;--hence he laid it on with a thick +brush, wherever the grease of hypocrisy could show off best. But work +as he would, the 'shares' in his journalistic concerns were steadily +going down,--none of his numerous magazines or 'half-penny rags,' paid +so well as they had hitherto done; while the one paper which had lately +been so prominently used by the King, continued to prosper, the public +having now learned to accept with avidity and eagerness the brilliant +articles which bore the signature of Pasquin Leroy, as though they were +somewhat of a new political gospel. The charm of mystery intensified +this new writer's reputation. He was never seen in 'fashionable' +society,--no 'fashionable' person appeared to know him,--and the +general impression was that he resided altogether out of the country. +Only the members of the Revolutionary Committee were aware that he was +one of them, and recognised his work as part of the carrying out of his +sworn bond. He had grown to be almost the right hand of Sergius Thord; +wherever Thord sought supporters, he helped to obtain them,--wherever +the sick and needy, the desolate and distressed, required aid, he +somehow managed to secure it,--and next to Thord,--and of course Lotys, +--he was the idol of the Socialist centre. He never spoke in public,-- +he seldom appeared at mass meetings; but his influence was always felt; +and he made himself and his work almost a necessity to the Cause. The +action of Lotys in saving the life of the King, had created +considerable discussion among the Revolutionists, not unmixed with +anger. When she first appeared among them after the incident, with her +arm in a sling, she was greeted with mingled cheers and groans, to +neither of which she paid the slightest attention. She took her seat at +the head of the Committee table as usual, with her customary +indifference and grace, and appeared deaf to the conflicting murmurs +around her,--till, as they grew louder and more complaining and +insistent, she raised her head and sent the lightning flash of her blue +eyes down the double line of men with a sweeping scorn that instantly +silenced them. + +"What do you seek from me?" she demanded;--"Why do you clamour like +babes for something you cannot get,--my obedience?" + +They looked shamefacedly at one another,--then at Sergius Thord and +Pasquin Leroy, who sat side by side at the lower end of the table. Max +Graub and Axel Regor, Leroy's two comrades, were for once absent; but +they had sent suitable and satisfactory excuses. Thord's brows were +heavy and lowering,--his eyes were wild and unrestful, and his attitude +and expression were such as caused Leroy to watch him with a little +more than his usual close attention. Seeing that his companions +expected him to answer Lotys before them all, he spoke with evident +effort. + +"You make a difficult demand upon us, Lotys," he said slowly, "if you +wish us to explain the stormy nature of our greeting to you this +evening. You might surely have understood it without a question! For we +are compelled to blame you;--you who have never till now deserved +blame,--for the folly of your action in exposing your own life to save +that of the King! The one is valuable to us--the other is nothing to +us! Besides, you have trespassed against the Seventh Rule of our Order +--which solemnly pledges us to 'destroy the present monarchy'!" + +"Ah!" said Lotys, "And is it part of the oath that the monarchy should +be destroyed by murder without warning? You know it is not! You know +that there is nothing more dastardly, more cowardly, more utterly +loathsome and contemptible than to kill a man defenceless and unarmed! +We speak of a Monarchy, not a King;--not one single individual,--for if +he were killed, he has three sons to come after him. You have called me +the Soul of an Ideal--good! But I am not, and will not be the Soul of a +Murder-Committee!" + +"Well spoken!" said Johan Zegota, looking up from some papers which he, +as secretary to the Society, had been docketing for the convenience of +Thord's perusal; "But do not forget, brave Lotys, that the very next +meeting we hold is the annual one, in which we draw lots for the 'happy +dispatch' of traitors and false rulers; and that this year the name of +the King is among them!" + +Lotys grew a shade paler, but she replied at once and dauntlessly. + +"I do not forget it! But if lots are cast and traitors doomed,--it is +part of our procedure to give any such doomed man six months' steady +and repeated warning, that he may have time to repent of his mistakes +and remedy them, so that haply he may still be spared;--and also that +he may take heed to arm himself, that he do not die defenceless. Had I +not saved the King, his death would have been set down to us, and our +work! Any one of you might have been accused of influencing the crazy +boy who attempted the deed,--and it is quite possible our meetings +would have been suppressed, and all our work fatally hindered,--if not +entirely stopped. Foolish children! You should thank me, not blame me! +--but you are blind children all, and cannot even see where you have +been faithfully served by your faithfullest friend!" + +At these words a new light appeared to break on the minds of all +present--a light that was reflected in their eager and animated faces. +The knotted line of Thord's brooding brows smoothed itself gradually +away. + +"Was that indeed your thought, Lotys," he asked gently, almost +tenderly--"Was it for our sakes and for us alone, that you saved the +King?" + +At that instant Pasquin Leroy turned his eyes, which till now had been +intent on watching Thord, to the other end of the table where the fine, +compact woman's head, framed in its autumn-gold hair, was silhouetted +against the dark background of the wall behind her like a cameo. His +gaze met hers,--and a vague look of fear and pain flashed over her +face, as a faint touch of colour reddened her cheeks. + +"I am not accustomed to repeat my words, Sergius Thord!" she answered +coldly; "I have said my say!" + +Looks were exchanged, and there was a silence. + +"If we doubt Lotys, we doubt the very spirit of ourselves!" said +Pasquin Leroy, his rich voice thrilling with unwonted emotion; +"Sergius--and comrades all! If you will hear me, and believe me,--you +may take my word for it, she has run the risk of death for Us!--and has +saved Us from false accusation, and Government interference! To wrong +Lotys by so much as a thought, is to wrong the truest woman God ever +made!" + +A wild shout answered him,--and moved by one impulse, the whole body of +men rose to their feet and drank "to the health and honour of Lotys!" +with acclamation, many of them afterwards coming round to where she +sat, and kneeling to kiss her hand and ask her pardon for their +momentary doubt of her, in the excitement and enthusiasm of their +souls. But Lotys herself sat very silent,--almost as silent as Sergius +Thord, who, though he drank the toast, remained moody and abstracted. + +When the company dispersed that night, each man present was carefully +reminded by the secretary, Johan Zegota, that unless the most serious +illness or misfortune intervened, every one must attend the next +meeting, as it was the yearly "Day of Fate." Pasquin Leroy was told +that his two friends, Max Graub and Axel Regor must be with him, and he +willingly made himself surety for their attendance. + +"But," said he, as he gave the promise, "what is the Day of Fate?" + +Johan Zegota pointed a thin finger delicately at his heart. + +"The Day of Fate," he said, "is the day of punishment,--or Decision of +Deaths. The names of several persons who have been found guilty of +treachery,--or who otherwise do injury to the people by the manner of +their life and conduct, are written down on slips of paper, which are +folded up and put in one receptacle, together with two or three hundred +blanks. They must be all men's names,--we never make war on women. +Against some of these names,--a Red Cross is placed. Whosoever draws a +name, and finds the red cross against it, is bound to kill, within six +months after due warning, the man therein mentioned. If he fortunately +draws a blank then he is free for a year at least,--in spite of the +fatal sign,--from the unpleasant duty of despatching a fellow mortal +to the next world"--and here Zegota smiled quite cheerfully; "But if he +draws a Name,--and at the same time sees the red cross against it, then +he is bound by his oath to us to--_do his duty_!" + +Leroy nodded, and appeared in no wise dismayed at the ominous +suggestion implied. + +"How if our friend Zouche were to draw the fatal sign," he said; "Would +he perform his allotted task, think you?" + +"Most thoroughly!" replied Zegota, still smiling. + +And with that, they separated. + +Meanwhile, during the constant change and interchange of conflicting +rumours, some of which appeared to have foundation in fact, and others +which rapidly dispersed themselves as fiction, there could be no doubt +whatever of the growing unpopularity of the Government in power. Little +by little, drop by drop, there oozed out the secrets of the "Perousse +Policy," which was merely another name for Perousse Self- +aggrandisement. Little by little, certain facts were at first +whispered, and then more loudly talked about, as to the nature of his +financial speculations; and it was soon openly stated that in the +formation of some of the larger companies, which were beginning to be +run on the Gargantuan lines of the "American Trust" idea, he had +enormous shares,--though these "Trusts" had been frequently denounced +as a means of enslaving the country, and ruining certain trade- +interests which he was in office to protect. Accusations began to be +guardedly thrown out against him in the Senate, which he parried off +with the cool and audacious skill of an expert fencer, knowing that for +the immediate moment at least, he had a "majority" under his thumb. +This majority was composed of persons who had unfortunately become +involved in his toils, and were, therefore, naturally afraid of him;-- +yet it was evident, even to a superficial student of events, that if +once the innuendoes against his probity as a statesman could be +veraciously proved, this sense of intimidation among his supporters +would be removed, and like the props set against a decaying house, +their withdrawal would result in the ruin of the building. It was +pretty well known that the Marquis de Lutera had sent in his +resignation, but it was not at all certain whether the King was of a +mind to accept it. + +Things were in abeyance,--political and social matters whirled giddily +towards chaos and confusion; and the numerous hurried Cabinet Councils +that were convened, boded some perturbation among the governing heads +of the State. From each and all of these meetings Ministers came away +more gloomy and despondent in manner,--some shook their heads +sorrowfully and spoke of "the King's folly,"--others with considerable +indignation flung out sudden invectives against "the King's +insolence!"--and between the two appellations, it was not easy to +measure exactly the nature of the conduct which had deserved them. For +the King himself made no alteration whatever in the outward character +of his daily routine; he transacted business in the morning, lunched, +sometimes with his family, sometimes with friends; drove in the +afternoon, and showed himself punctiliously at different theatres once +or twice in the evenings of the week. The only change more observant +persons began to notice in his conduct was, that he had drawn the line +of demarcation very strongly between those persons who by rank and +worth, and nobility of life, merited his attention, and those who by +mere Push and Pocket, sought to win his favour by that servile flattery +and obsequiousness which are the trademarks of the plebeian and +vulgarian. Quietly but firmly, he dropped the acquaintance of Jew +sharks, lying in wait among the dirty pools of speculation;--with ease +and absoluteness he 'let go' one by one, certain ladies of particularly +elastic virtue, who fondly dreamed that they 'managed' him; and among +these, to her infinite rage and despair, went Madame Vantine, wife of +Vantine the winegrower, a yellow-haired, sensual "_femelle +d'homme_," whose extravagance in clothes, and reckless indecency in +conversation, combined with the King's amused notice, and the super- +excellence of her husband's wines, had for a brief period made her 'the +rage' among a certain set of exceedingly dissolute individuals. + +In place of this kind of riff-raff of "_nouveaux riches_," and +plutocrats, he began by degrees to form around himself a totally +different _entourage_,--though he was careful to make his various +changes slowly, so that they should not be too freely noticed and +commented upon. Great nobles, whether possessed of vast wealth and +estates, or altogether landless, were summoned to take their rightful +positions at the Court, where Vantine the wine-grower, and Jost the +Jew, no more obtained admittance;--men of science, letters and +learning, were sought out and honoured in various ways, their wives and +daughters receiving special marks of the Royal attention and favour; +and round the icy and statuesque beauty of the Queen soon gathered a +brilliant bevy of the real world of women, not the half-world of the +'_femme galante_' which having long held sway over the Crown +Prince while Heir-Apparent to the Throne, judged itself almost as a +necessary, and even becoming, appendage to his larger responsibility +and state as King. These excellent changes, beneficial and elevating to +the social atmosphere generally, could not of course be effected +without considerable trouble and heart-burning, in the directions where +certain persons had received their dismissal from such favour as they +had previously held at Court. The dismissed ones thirsted with a desire +for vengeance, and took every opportunity to inflame the passions of +their own particular set against the King, some of them openly +declaring their readiness to side with the Revolutionary party, and +help it to power. But over the seething volcano of discontent, the tide +of fashion moved as usual, to all outward appearances tranquil, and +absorbed in trivialities of the latest description; and though many +talked, few dreamed that the mind of the country, growing more +compressed in thought, and inflammable in nature every day, was rapidly +becoming like a huge magazine of gunpowder or dynamite, which at a +spark would explode into that periodically recurring fire-of-cleansing +called Revolution. + +Weighted with many thoughts, Sir Roger de Launay, whose taciturn and +easy temperament disinclined him for argument and kept him aloof from +discussion whenever he could avoid it, sat alone one evening in his own +room which adjoined the King's library, writing a few special letters +for his Majesty which were of too friendly a nature to be dealt with in +the curt official manner of the private secretary. Once or twice he had +risen and drawn aside the dividing curtain between himself and the +King's apartment to see if his Royal master had entered; but the room +remained empty, though it was long past eleven at night. He looked +every now and again at a small clock which ticked with a quick +intrusive cheerfulness on his desk,--then with a slight sigh resumed +his work. Letter after letter was written and sealed, and he was +getting to the end of his correspondence, when a tap at the door +disturbed him, and his sister Teresa, the Queen's lady-in-waiting, +entered. + +"Is the King within?" she asked softly, moving almost on tiptoe as she +came. + +Sir Roger shook his head. + +"He has been absent for some time," he replied,--then after a pause-- +"But what are you here for, Teresa? This is not your department!" and +he took her hand kindly, noticing with some concern that there were +tears in her large dark eyes;--"Is anything wrong?" + +"Nothing! That is,--nothing that I have any right to imagine--or to +guess. But--" and here she seemed a little confused--"I am commanded +by the Queen to summon you to her presence if,--if the King has not +returned!" + +He rose at once, looking perplexed. Teresa watched him anxiously, and +the expression of his face did not tend to reassure her. + +"Roger," she began timidly--"Would you not tell me,--might I not know +something of this mystery? Might I not be trusted?" + +His languid eyes flashed with a sudden tenderness, as from his great +and stately height he looked down upon her pretty shrinking figure. + +"Poor little Teresa!" he murmured playfully; "What is the matter? What +mystery are you talking about?" + +"_You_ know--you must know!" answered Teresa, clasping her hands +with a gesture of entreaty; "There is something wrong, I am sure! Why +is the King so often absent--when all the household suppose him to be +with the Queen?--or in his private library there?" and she pointed to +the curtained-off Royal sanctum beyond; + +"Why does the Queen herself give it out that he is with her, when he is +not? Why does he enter the Queen's corridor sometimes quite late at +night by the private battlement-stair? Does it not seem very strange? +And since he was so nearly assassinated, his absences have been more +frequent than ever!" + +Sir Roger pulled his long fair moustache meditatively between his +fingers. + +"When you were a little girl, Teresa, you must have been told the story +of Blue-beard;" he said; "Now take my advice!--and do not try to open +forbidden doors with your tiny golden key of curiosity!" + +Teresa's cheeks flushed a pretty rose pink. + +"I am not curious;" she said, with an air of hauteur; "And indeed I am +far too loyal to say anything to anyone but to you, of what seems so +new and strange. Besides--the Queen has forbidden me--only it is just +because of the Queen--" here she stopped hesitatingly. + +"Because of the Queen?" echoed Sir Roger; "Why?" + +"She is unhappy!" said Teresa. + +A smile,--somewhat bitter,--crossed De Launay's face. + +"Unhappy!" he repeated; "She! You mistake her, little girl! She does +not know what it is to be unhappy; nothing so weak and slight as poor +humanity affects the shining iceberg of her soul! For it _is_ an +iceberg, Teresa! The sun shines on it all day, fierce and hot, and +never moves or melts one glittering particle!" + +He spoke with a concentrated passion of melancholy, and Teresa trembled +a little. She knew, as no one else did, the intense and despairing love +that had corroded her brother's life ever since the Queen had been +brought home to the kingdom in all her exquisite maiden beauty, as +bride of the Heir-Apparent. Such love terrified her; she did not +understand it. She knew it was hopeless,--she felt it was disloyal,-- +and yet--it was love!--and her brother was one of the truest and +noblest of gentlemen, devoted to the King's service, and incapable of a +mean or a treacherous act. The position was quite incomprehensible to +her, for she was not thoughtful enough to analyse it,--and she had no +experience of the tender passion herself, to aid her in sympathetically +considering its many moods, sorrows, and inexplicable martyrdoms of +mind-torture. She contented herself now with repeating her former +assertion. + +"She is unhappy,--I am sure she is! You may call her an iceberg, if you +like, Roger!--men have such odd names for the women they are unable to +understand! But I have seen the iceberg shed tears very often lately!" + +He looked at her, surprised. + +"You have? Then we may expect the Pallas Athene to weep in marble? +Well! What did you say, Teresa? That her Majesty commanded my presence, +if the King had not returned?" + +Teresa nodded assent. She was a little worried--her brother's face +looked worn and pale, and he seemed moved beyond himself. She watched +him nervously as he pushed aside the dividing curtain, and looked into +the adjoining room. It was still vacant. The window stood open, and the +line of the sea, glittering in the moon, shone far off like a string of +jewels,--while the perfume of heliotrope and lilies came floating in +deliciously on the cool night-breeze. Satisfied that there was as yet +no sign of his Royal master, he turned back again,--and stooping his +tall head, kissed the charming girl, whose anxious and timid looks +betrayed her inward anxiety. + +"I am ready, Teresa!" he said cheerfully; "Lead the way!" + +She glided quickly on before him, along an inner passage leading to the +Queen's apartments. Arriving at one particular door, she opened it +noiselessly, and with a warning finger laid on her lips, went in +softly,--Sir Roger following. The light of rose-shaded waxen tapers +which were reflected a dozen times in the silver-framed mirrors that +rose up to the ceiling from banks of flowers below, shed a fairy-like +radiance on the figure of the Queen, who, seated at a reading-table, +with one hand buried in the loosened waves of her hair, seemed absorbed +in the close study of a book. A straight white robe of thick creamy +satin flowed round her perfect form,--it was slightly open at the +throat, and softened with a drifting snow of lace, in which one or two +great jewels sparkled. As Sir Roger approached her with his usual +formal salute,--she turned swiftly round with an air of scarcely- +concealed impatience. + +"Where is the King?" she demanded. + +Startled at the sudden peremptory manner of her question, Sir Roger +hesitated,--for the moment taken quite aback. + +"Did I not tell you," she went on, in the same imperious tone; "that I +made you responsible for his safety? Yet--though you were by his side +at the time--you could not shield him from attempted assassination! +That was left,--to a woman!" + +Her breast heaved--her eyes flashed glorious lightning,--she looked +altogether transformed. + +Had a thunder-bolt fallen through the painted ceiling at Sir Roger's +feet, he could scarcely have been more astounded. + +"Madam!" he stammered,--and then as the light of her eyes swept over +him, with a concentration of scorn and passion such as he had never +seen in them, he grew deadly pale. + +"Who, and what is this woman?" she went on; "Why was it given to +_her_ to save the King's life, while you stood by? Why was she +brought to the Palace to be attended like some princess,--and then +taken away secretly before I could see her? Lotys is her name--I know +it by heart!" + +Like twinkling stars, the jewels in her lace scintillated with the +quick panting of her breath. + +"The King is absent,"--she continued--"as usual;--but why are you not +with him, also as usual? Answer me!" + +"Madam," said De Launay, slowly; "For some few days past his Majesty +has absolutely forbidden me to attend him. To carry out _your_ +commands I should be forced to disobey _his_!" + +She looked at him in a suppressed passion of enquiry. + +"Then--is he alone?" she asked. + +"Madam, I regret to say--he is quite alone!" + +She rose, and paced once up and down the room, a superb figure of +mingled rage and pride, and humiliation, all comingled. Her eyes +lighted on Teresa, who had timorously withdrawn to a corner of the +apartment where she stood apparently busied in arranging some blossoms +that had fallen too far out of the crystal vase in which they were set. + +"Teresa, you can leave us!" she said suddenly; "I will speak to Sir +Roger alone." + +With a nervous glance at her brother, who stood mute, his head slightly +bent, himself immovable as a figure of stone, Teresa curtseyed and +withdrew. + +The Queen stood haughtily erect,--her white robes trailing around her, +--her exquisite face transfigured into a far grander beauty than had +ever been seen upon it, by some pent-up emotion which to Sir Roger was +well-nigh inexplicable. His heart beat thickly; he could almost hear +its heavy pulsations, and he kept his eyes lowered, lest she should +read too clearly in them the adoration of a lifetime. + +"Sir Roger, speak plainly," she said, "and speak the truth! Some little +time ago you said it was wrong for me to shut out from my sight, my +heart, my soul, the ugly side of Nature. I have remedied that fault! I +am looking at the ugly side of Nature now,--in myself! The rebellious +side--the passionate, fierce, betrayed side! I trusted you with the +safety of the King!" + +"Madam, he _is_ safe!" said Sir Roger quietly;--"I can guarantee +upon my life that he is with those who will defend him far more +thoroughly than I could ever do! It is better to have a hundred +protectors than one!" + +"Oh, I know what you would imply!" she answered, impatiently; "I +understand, thus far, from what he himself has told me. But--there is +something else, something else! Something that portends far closer and +more intimate danger to him--" + +She paused, apparently uncertain how to go on, and moving back to her +chair, sat down. + +"If you are the man I have imagined you to be," she continued, in +deliberate accents; "You perfectly know--you perfectly understand what +I mean!" + +Sir Roger raised his head and looked her bravely in the eyes. + +"You would imply, Madam, that one, who like myself has been conscious +of a great passion for many years, should be able to recognise the +signs of it in others! Your Majesty is right! Once you expressed to me +a wonder as to what it was like 'to feel.' If that experience has come +to you now, I cannot but rejoice,--even while I grieve to think that +you must endure pain at the discovery. Yet it is only from the pierced +earth that the flowers can bloom,--and it may be you will have more +mercy for others, when you yourself are wounded!" + +She was silent. + +He drew a step nearer. + +"You wish me to speak plainly?" he continued in a lower tone. "You give +me leave to express the lurking thought which is in your own heart?" + +She gave a slight inclination of her head, and he went on. + +"You assume danger for the King,--but not danger from the knife of the +assassin--or from the schemes of revolutionists! You judge him--as I +do--to be in the grasp of the greatest Force which exists in the +universe! The force against which there is, and can be no opposition!-- +a force, which if it once binds even a king--makes of him a life- +prisoner, and turns mere 'temporal power' to nothingness; upsetting +thrones, destroying kingdoms, and beating down the very Church itself +in the way of its desires--and that force is--Love!" + +She started violently,--then controlled herself. + +"You waste your eloquence!" she said coldly; "What you speak of, I do +not understand. I do not believe in Love!" + +"Or jealousy?" + +The words sprang from his lips almost unconsciously, and like a +magnificent animal who has been suddenly stung, she sprang upright. + +"How dare you!" she said in low, vibrating accents--"How dare you!" + +Sir Roger's breath came quick and fast,--but he was a strong man with a +strong will, and he maintained his attitude of quiet resolution. + +"Madam!--My Queen!--forgive me!" he said; "But as your humblest friend +--your faithful servant!--let me have my say with you now--and then--if +you will--condemn me to perpetual silence! You despise Love, you say! +Yes--because you have only seen its poor imitations! The King's light +gallantries,--his sins of body, which in many cases are not sins of +mind, have disgusted you with its very name! The King has loved--or +can love--so you think,--many, or any, women! Ah! No--no! Pardon me, +dearest Majesty! A man's desire may lead him through devious ways both +vile and vicious,--but a man's _love_ leads only one way to one +woman! Believe it! For even so, I have loved one woman these many +years!--and even so--I greatly fear--the King loves one woman now!" + +Rigid as a figure of marble, she looked at him. He met her eyes calmly. + +"Your Majesty asked me for the truth;" he said; "I have spoken it!" + +Her lips parted in a cold, strained little smile. + +"And--you--think," she said slowly; "that I--I am what you call +'jealous' of this 'one woman'? Had jealousy been in my nature, it would +have been provoked sufficiently often since my marriage!" + +"Madam," responded Sir Roger humbly; "If I may dare to say so to your +Majesty, it is not possible to a noble woman to be jealous of a man's +mere humours of desire! But of Love--Love, the crown, the glory and +supremacy of life,--who, with a human heart and human blood, would not +be jealous? Who would not give kingdoms, thrones, ay, Heaven itself, if +it were not in itself Heaven, for its rapturous oblivion of sorrow, and +its full measure of joy!" + +A dead silence fell between them, only disturbed by a small silver +chime in the distance, striking midnight. + +The Queen again seated herself, and drew her book towards her. Then +raising her lovely unfathomable eyes, she looked at the tall stately +figure of the man before her with a slight touch of pity and pathos. + +"Possibly you may be right," she said slowly, "Possibly wrong! But I do +not doubt that you yourself personally 'feel' all that you express,-- +and--that you are faithful!" + +Here she extended her hand. Sir Roger bowed low over it, and kissed its +delicate smoothness with careful coldness. As she withdrew it again, +she said in a low dreamy, half questioning tone: + +"The woman's name is Lotys?" + +Silently Sir Roger bent his head in assent. + +"A man's love leads only one way--to one woman! And in this particular +case that woman is--Lotys!" she said, with a little musing scorn, as of +herself,--"Strange!" + +She laid her hand on the bell which at a touch would summon back her +lady-in-waiting. "You have served me well, Sir Roger, albeit somewhat +roughly----" + +He gave a low exclamation of regret. + +"Roughly, Madam?" + +A smile, sudden and sweet, which transfigured her usually passionless +features into an almost angelic loveliness, lit up her mouth and eyes. + +"Yes--roughly! But no matter! I pardon you freely! Good-night!" + +"Good-night to your Majesty!" And as he stepped backward from her +presence, she rang for Teresa, who at once entered. + +"Our excommunication from the Church sits lightly upon us, Sir Roger, +does it not?" said the Queen then, almost playfully; "You must know +that we say our prayers as of old, and we still believe God hears us!" + +"Surely, Madam," he replied, "God must hear all prayers when they are +pure and honest!" + +"Truly, I think so," she responded, laying one hand tenderly on +Teresa's hair, as the girl caressingly knelt beside her. "And--so, +despite lack of priestcraft,--we shall continue to pray,--in these +uncertain and dangerous times,--that all may be well for the country,-- +the people, and--the King! Good-night!" + +Again Sir Roger bowed, and this time altogether withdrew. He was strung +up to a pitch of intense excitement; the brief interview had been a +most trying one for him,--though there was a warm glow at his heart, +assuring him that he had done well. His suspicion that the King had +admired, and had sought out Lotys since the day she saved him from +assassination, had a very strong foundation in fact;--much stronger +indeed than was at present requisite to admit or to declare. But the +whole matter was a source of the greatest anxiety to De Launay, who, in +his strong love for his Royal master, found it often difficult to +conceal his apprehension,--and who was in a large measure relieved to +feel that the Queen had guessed something of it, and shared in his +sentiments. He now re-entered his room, and on doing so at once +perceived that the King had returned. But his Majesty was busy writing, +and did not raise his head from his papers, even when Sir Roger +noiselessly entered and laid some letters on the table. His complete +abstraction in his work was a sign that he did not wish to be disturbed +or spoken to;--and Sir Roger, taking the hint, retired again in +silence. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE SONG OF FREEDOM + + +Revolution! The flame-winged Fury that swoops down on a people like a +sudden visitation of God, with the movement of a storm, and the +devastation of a plague in one! Who shall say how, or where, the seed +is sown that springs so swiftly to such thick harvest! Who can trace +its beginnings--and who can predict its end! Tragic and terrible as its +work has always seemed to the miserable and muddle-headed human units, +whose faults and follies, whose dissoluteness and neglect of the +highest interests of the people, are chiefly to blame for the birth of +this Monster, it is nevertheless Divine Law, that, when any part of +God's Universe-House is deliberately made foul by the dwellers in it, +then must it be cleansed,--and Revolution is the burning of the +rubbish,--the huge bonfire in which old abuses blazon their destruction +to an amazed and terror-stricken world. Yet there have been moments, or +periods, in history, when the threatening conflagration could have been +stayed and turned back from its course,--when the useless shedding of +blood might have been foregone--when the fierce passions of the people +might have been soothed and pacified, and when Justice might have been +nobly done and catastrophe averted, if there had been but one brave +man,--one only!--and that man a King! But in nearly all the convulsive +throes of nations, kings have proved themselves the weakest, tamest, +most cowardly and ineffectual of all the heads of the time--ready and +willing enough to sacrifice the lives of thousands of brave and devoted +men to their own cause, but never prepared to sacrifice themselves. +Hence the cause of the triumph of Democracy over effete Autocracy. +Kings may not be more than men,--but, certes, they should never be +less. They should not practise vices of which the very day-labourer +whom they employ, would be ashamed; nor should they flaunt their love +of sensuality and intrigue in the faces of their subjects as a 'Royal +example' and distinctive 'lead' to vulgar licentiousness. The loftier +the position, the greater the responsibility;--and a monarch who +voluntarily lowers the social standard in his realm has lost more +adherents than could possibly be slain in his defence on the field of +honour. + +The King who plays his part as the hero of this narrative, was now +fully aware in his own mind and conscience of the thousands of +opportunities he had missed and wasted on his way to the Throne when +Heir-Apparent. Since the day of his 'real coronation,' when as he had +expressed it to his thoughts, he had 'crowned himself with his own +resolve,' he had studied men, manners, persons and events, to deep and +serious purpose. He had learned much, and discovered more. He had been, +in a moral sense, conquered by his son, Prince Humphry, who had proved +a match for him in his determined and honourable marriage for love, and +love only,--though born heir to all the conventions and hypocrisies of +a Throne. He,--in his day,--had lacked the courage and truth that this +boy had shown. And now, by certain means known best to himself, he had +fathomed an intricate network of deception and infamy among the +governing heads of the State. He had convinced himself in many ways of +the unblushing dishonesty and fraudulent self-service of Carl Perousse. +And--yet--with all this information stored carefully up in his brain +he, to all appearances, took no advantage of it, and did nothing +remarkable,--save the one act which had been so much talked about--the +refusal of land in his possession to the Jesuits for a 'religious' (and +political) settlement. This independent course of procedure had +resulted in his excommunication from the Church. Of his 'veto' against +an intended war, scarcely anything was known. Only the Government were +aware of the part he had taken in that matter,--the Government and--the +Money-market! But the time was now ripe for further movement; and in +the deep and almost passionate interest he had recently learned to take +in the affairs of the actual People, he was in no humour for +hesitation. + +He had mapped out in his brain a certain plan of action, and he was +determined to go through with it. The more so, as now a new and close +interest had incorporated itself with his life,--an emotion so deep and +tender and overwhelming, that he scarcely dared to own it to himself,-- +scarcely ventured to believe that he, deprived of true love so long, +should now be truly loved for himself, at last! But on this he seldom +allowed his mind to dwell,--except when quite alone,--in the deep +silences of night;--when he gave his soul up to the secret sweetness +which had begun to purify and ennoble his innermost nature,--when he +saw visioned before him a face,--warm with the passion of a love so +grand and unselfish that it drew near to a likeness of the Divine;--a +love that asked nothing, and gave everything, with the beneficent glory +of the sunlight bestowing splendour on the earth. His lonely moments, +which were few, were all the time he devoted to this brooding luxury of +meditation, and though his heart beat like a boy's, and his eyes grew +dim with tenderness, as in fancy he dreamed of joy that might be, and +that yet still more surely might never be his,--his determined mind, +braced and bent to action, never faltered for a second in the new +conceptions he had formed of his duty to his people, who, as he now +considered, had been too long and too cruelly deceived. + +Hence, something like an earthquake shock sent its tremor through the +country, when two things were suddenly announced without warning, as +the apparent results of the various Cabinet Councils held latterly so +often, and in such haste. The first was, that not only had his Majesty +accepted the resignation of the Marquis de Lutera as Premier, but that +he had decided--provided the selection was entirely agreeable to the +Government--to ask M. Carl Perousse to form a Ministry in his place. +The second piece of intelligence, and one that was received with much +more favour than the first, by all classes and conditions of persons, +was that the Government had issued a decree for the complete expulsion +of the Jesuits from the country. By a certain named date, and within a +month, every Jesuit must have left the King's dominions, or else must +take the risk of a year's imprisonment followed by compulsory +banishment. + +Much uproar and discussion did this mandate excite among the clerical +parties of Europe,--much indignation did it breed within that Holy of +Holies situate at the Vatican,--which, having launched forth the ban of +excommunication, had no further thunderbolts left to throw at the head +of the recreant and abandoned Royalty whose 'temporal power' so +insolently superseded the spiritual. But the country breathed freely; +relieved from a dangerous and mischievous incubus. The educational +authorities gave fervent thanks to Heaven for sparing them from long +dreaded interference;--and when it was known that the excommunicated +King was the chief mover in this firm and liberating act, a silent wave +of passionate gratitude and approval ran through the multitudes of the +people, who would almost have assembled under the Palace walls and +offered a grand demonstration to their monarch, who had so boldly +carried the war into the enemy's country and won the victory, had they +not been held back and checked from their purpose by the counter- +feeling of their disgust at his Majesty's apparently forthcoming choice +of Carl Perousse as Prime Minister. + +Swayed this way and that, the people were divided more absolutely than +before into those two sections which always become very dangerous when +strongly marked out as distinctly separated,--the Classes and the +Masses. The comfortable wedge of Trade, which,--calling itself the +Middle-class,--had up to the present kept things firm, now split +asunder likewise,--the wealthy plutocrats clinging willy-nilly to the +Classes, to whom they did not legitimately belong; and the men of +moderate income throwing in their lot with the Masses, whose wrongs +they sympathetically felt somewhat resembled their own. For taxation +had ground them down to that particularly fine powder, which when +applied to the rocks of convention and usage, proves to be of a +somewhat blasting quality. They had paid as much on their earnings and +their goods as they could or would pay;--more indeed than they had any +reasonable right to pay,--and being sick of Government mismanagement, +and also of what they still regarded as the King's indifference to +their needs, they were prepared to make a dash for liberty. The +expulsion of the Jesuits they naturally looked upon as a suitable +retaliation on Rome for the excommunication of the Royal Family; but +beyond the intense relief it gave to all, it could not be considered as +affecting or materially altering the political situation. So, like the +dividing waves of the Red Sea, which rolled up on either side to permit +the passage of Moses and his followers--the Classes and the Masses +piled themselves up in opposite billowy sections to allow Sergius Thord +and the Revolutionary party to pass triumphantly through their midst, +adding thousands of adherents to their forces from both sides;--while +they were prepared to let the full weight of the billows engulf the +King, if, like Pharaoh and his chariots, he assumed too much, or +proceeded too far. + +Professor von Glauben, seated in his own sanctum, and engaged in the +continuance of his "Political History of Hunger," found many points in +the immediate situation which considerably interested him and moved him +to philosophical meditation. + +"For,--take the feeling of the People as it now is," he said to +himself; "It starts in Hunger! The taxes,--the uncomfortable visit of +the tax-gatherer! The price of the loaf,--concerning which the baker, +or the baker-ess, politely tells the customer that it is costly, +because of the Government tax on corn; then from the bread, it is +marvellous how the little clue winds upward through the spider-webs of +Trade. The butcher's meat is dearer,--for says he--'The tax on corn +makes it necessary for me to increase the price of meat.' There is no +logical reason given,--the fact simply _is_! So that Hunger +commences the warfare,--Hunger of Soul, as well as Hunger of body. 'Why +starve my thought?' says Soul. 'Why tax my bread?' says Body. These +tiresome questions continue to be asked, and never answered,--but +answers are clamoured for, and the people complain--and then one fierce +day the gods hear them grumble, and begin to grumble back! Ach! Then it +is thunder with a vengeance! Now in my own so-beloved Fatherland, there +has been this double grumbling for a long time. And that the storm will +burst, in spite of the so-excellently-advertising Kaiser is evident! +Hoch!--or _Ach_? Which should it be to salute the Kaiser! I know +not at all,--but I admit it is clever of him to put up a special +Hoarding-announcement for the private view of the Almighty God, each +time he addresses his troops! And he will come in for a chapter of my +history--for he also is Hungry!--he would fain eat a little of the loaf +of Britain!--yes!--he will fit into my work very well for the +instruction of the helpless unborn generations!" + +He wrote on for a while, and then laid down his pen. His eyes grew +dreamy, and his rough features softened. + +"What has become of the child, I wonder!" he mused; "Where has she +gone, the 'Glory-of-the-Sea'! I would give all I have to look upon her +beautiful face again;--and Ronsard--he, poor soul--silent as a stone, +weakening day after day in the grasp of relentless age,--would die +happy,--if I would let him! But I do not intend to give him that +satisfaction. He shall live! As I often tell him, my science is of no +avail if I cannot keep a man going, till at least a hundred and odd +years are past. Barring accidents, or self-slaughter, of course!" Here +he became somewhat abstracted in his meditations. "The old fellow is +brave enough,--brave as a lion, and strong too for his years;--I have +seen him handle a pair of oars and take down a sail as I could never do +it,--and--he has accepted a strange and difficult situation heroically. +'You must not be involved in any trouble by a knowledge of our +movements.' So Prince Humphry said, when I saw him last,--though I did +not then understand the real drift of his meaning. And time goes on-- +and time seems wearisome without any tidings of those we love!" + +A tap at the door disturbed his mental soliloquy, and in answer to his +'Come in,' Sir Roger de Launay entered. + +"Sorry to interrupt work, Professor!" he said briefly; "The King goes +to the Opera this evening, and desires you to be of the party." + +"Good! I shall obey with more pleasure than I have obeyed some of his +Majesty's recent instructions!" And the Professor pushed aside his +manuscript to look through his spectacled eyes at the tall equerry's +handsome face and figure. "You have a healthy appearance, Roger! Your +complexion speaks of an admirable digestion!" + +De Launay smiled. + +"You think so? Well! Your professional approval is worth having!" He +paused, then went on; "The party will be a pleasant one to-night. The +King is in high spirits." + +"Ah!" And Von Glauben's monosyllable spoke volumes. + +"Perhaps he ought not to be?" suggested Sir Roger with a slight touch +of anxiety. + +"I do not know--I cannot tell! This is the way of it, Roger--see!" And +taking off his spectacles, he polished them with due solemnity. "If I +were a King, and ruled over a country swarming with dissatisfied +subjects,--if I had a fox for a Premier,--and was in love with a woman +who could not possibly be my wife,--I should not be in high spirits!" + +"Nor I!" said De Launay curtly. "But the fox is not Premier yet. Do you +think he ever will be?" + +Von Glauben shrugged his shoulders. + +"He is bound to be, I presume. What else remains to do? Upset +everything? Government, deputies and all?" + +"Just that!" responded Sir Roger. "The People will do it, if the King +does not." + +"The King will do anything he is asked to do--now--" said the Professor +significantly; "If the right person asks him!" + +"You forget--she does not know--" Here checking himself abruptly, Sir +Roger walked to the window and looked out. It was a fair and peaceful +afternoon,--the ocean heaved placidly, covered with innumerable +wavelets, over which the seabirds flew and darted, their wings shining +like silver and diamonds as they dipped and circled up and down and +round the edges of the rocky coast. Far off, a faint rim of amethyst +under a slowly sailing white cloud could be recognized as the first +line of the shore of The Islands. + +"Do you ever go and see the beautiful 'Gloria' girl now?" asked Sir +Roger suddenly. "The King has never mentioned her since the day we saw +her. And you have never explained the mystery of your acquaintance with +her,--nor whether it is true that Prince Humphry was specially +attracted by her. I shrewdly suspect----" + +"What?" + +"That he has been sent off, out of harm's way!" + +"You are right," said the Professor gravely; "That is exactly the +position! He has been sent off out of harm's way!" + +"I heard," went on De Launay, "that the girl--or some girl of +remarkable beauty had been seen here--actually here in the Palace-- +before the Prince left! And such an odd way he left, too--scuttling off +in his own yacht without--so far as I have ever heard--any farewells, +or preparation, or suitable companions to go with him. Still one hears +such extraordinary stories----" + +"True!--one does!" agreed the Professor; "And after proper experience, +one hears without listening!" + +De Launay looked at him curiously. + +"The girl was certainly beautiful," he proceeded meditatively; "And her +adopted father,--Rene Ronsard,--was not that his name?--was a quaint +old fellow. A republican, too!--fiery as a new Danton! Well! The King's +curiosity is apparently satisfied on that score,--but"--here he began +to laugh--"I shall never forget your face, Von Glauben, when he caught +you on The Islands that day!--never! Like an overgrown boy, discovered +with his fingers in a jam-pot!" + +"Thank you!" said the Professor imperturbably; "I can assure you that +the jam was excellent--and that I still remember its flavour!" + +Sir Roger laughed again, but with great good-humour,--then he became +suddenly serious. + +"The King goes out alone very often now?" he said. + +"Very often," assented the Professor. + +"Are we right in allowing him to do so?" + +"Allowing him! Who is to forbid him?" + +"Is he safe, do you think?" + +"Safer, it would seem, my friend, than when laying a foundation-stone, +with ourselves and all his suite around him!" responded the Professor. +"Besides, it is too late now to count the possible risks of the +adventure he has entered upon. He knows the position, and estimates the +cost at its correct value. He has made himself the ruler of his own +destiny; we are only his servants. Personally, I have no fear,--save of +one fatality." + +"And that?" + +"Is what kills many strong men off in their middle-age," said Von +Glauben; "A disease for which there is no possible cure at that special +time of life,--Love! The love of boys is like a taste for green +gooseberries,--it soon passes, leaving a disordered stomach and a +general disrelish for acid fruit ever afterwards;--the love of the man- +about-town between the twenties and thirties is the love of self;--but +the love of a Man, after the Self-and-Clothes Period has passed, is the +love of the full-grown human creature clamouring for its mate,--its +mate in Soul even more than in Body. There is no gainsaying it--no +checking it--no pacifying it; it is a most disastrous business, +provocative of all manner of evils,--and to a king who has always been +accustomed to have his own way, it means Victory or Death!" + +Sir Roger gazed at him perplexedly,--his tone was so solemn and full of +earnest meaning. + +"You, for example," continued the Professor dictatorially, fixing his +keen piercing eyes full upon him; "You are a curious subject,--a very +curious subject! You live on a Dream; it is a good life--an excellent +life! It has the advantage, your Dream, of never becoming a reality,-- +therefore you will always love,--and while you always love, you will +always keep young. Your lot is an exceedingly enviable one, my friend! +You need not frown,--I am old enough--and let us hope wise enough--to +guess your secret--to admire it from a purely philosophic point of +view--and to respect it!" + +Sir Roger held his peace. + +"But," continued the Professor, "His Majesty is not the manner of man +who would consent to subsist, like you, on an idle phantasy. If he +loves--he must possess; it is the regal way!" + +"He will never succeed in the direction _you_ mean!" said Sir +Roger emphatically. + +"Never!" agreed Von Glauben with a profound shake of his head; "Strange +as it may seem, his case is quite as hopeless as yours!" + +The door opened and closed abruptly,--and there followed silence. Von +Glauben looked up to find himself alone. He smiled tolerantly. + +"Poor Roger!" he murmured; "He lives the life of a martyr by choice! +Some men do--and like it! They need not do it;--there is not the least +necessity in the world for their deliberately sticking a knife into +their hearts and walking about with it in a kind of idiot rapture. It +must hurt;--but they seem to enjoy it! Just as some women become nuns, +and flagellate themselves,--and then when they are writhing from their +own self-inflicted stripes, they dream they are the 'brides of Christ,' +entirely forgetting the extremely irreligious fact that to have so many +'brides' the good Christ Himself might possibly be troubled, and would +surely occupy an inconvenient position, even in Heaven! Each man,--each +woman,--makes for himself or herself a little groove or pet sorrow, in +which to trot round and round and bemoan life; the secret of the whole +bemoaning being that he or she cannot have precisely the thing he or +she wants. That is all! Such a trifle! Church, State, Prayer and Power +--it can all be summed up in one line--'I have not the thing I want-- +give it to me!'" + +He resumed his writing, and did not interrupt it again till it was time +to join the Royal party at the Opera. + +That evening was one destined to be long remembered in the annals of +the kingdom. The beautiful Opera-house, a marvel of art and +architecture, was brilliantly full; all the fairest women and most +distinguished men occupying the boxes and stalls, while round and +round, in a seemingly never-ending galaxy of faces, and crowded in the +tiers of balconies above, a mixed audience had gathered, made up of +various sections of the populace which filled the space well up to the +furthest galleries. The attraction that had drawn so large an audience +together was not contained in the magnetic personality of either the +King or Queen, for those exalted individuals had only announced their +intention of being present just two hours before the curtain rose. +Moreover, when their Majesties entered the Royal box, accompanied by +their two younger sons, Rupert and Cyprian, and attended by their +personal suite, their appearance created very little sensation. The +fact that it was the first time the King had showed himself openly in +public since his excommunication from the Church, caused perhaps a +couple of hundred persons to raise their eyes inquisitively towards him +in a kind of half-morbid, half-languid curiosity, but in these days +the sentiment of Self is so strong, that it is only a minority of more +thoughtful individuals that ever trouble themselves seriously to +consider the annoyances or griefs which their fellow-mortals have to +endure, often alone and undefended. + +The interest of the public on this particular occasion was centred in +the new Opera, which had only been given three times before, and in +which the little dancer, Pequita, played the part of a child-heroine. +The _libretto_ was the work of Paul Zouche, and the music by one +of the greatest violinists in the world, Louis Valdor. The plot was +slight enough;--yet, described in exquisite verse, and scattered +throughout with the daintiest songs and dances, it merited a +considerably higher place in musical records than such works as +Meyerbeer's "Dinorah," or Verdi's "Rigoletto." The thread on which the +pearls of poesy and harmony were strung, was the story of a wandering +fiddler, who, accompanied by his only child (the part played by +Pequita), travels from city to city earning a scant livelihood by his +own playing and his daughter's dancing. Chance or fate leads them to +throw in their fortunes with a band of enthusiastic adventurers, who, +headed by a young hare-brained patriot, elected as their leader, have +determined to storm the Vatican, and demand the person of the Pope, +that they may convey him to America, there to convene an assemblage of +all true Christians (or 'New Christians'), and found a new and more +Christ-like Church. Their expedition fails,--as naturally so wild a +scheme would be bound to do,--but though they cannot succeed in +capturing the Pope, they secure a large following of the Italian +populace, who join with them in singing "The Song of Freedom," which, +with Paul Zouche's words, and Valdor's music was the great _chef +d'oevre_ of the Opera, rousing the listeners to a pitch of something +like frenzy. In this,--the last great scene,--Pequita, dancing the +'Dagger Dance,' is supposed to infect the people with that fervour +which moves them to sing "The Freedom Chorus," and the curtain comes +down upon a brilliant stage, crowded with enthusiasts and patriots, +ready to fight and die for the glory of their country. A love-interest +is given to the piece by the passion of the wandering fiddler-hero for +a girl whose wealth places her above his reach; and who in the end +sacrifices all worldly advantage that she may share his uncertain +fortunes for love's sake only. + +Such was the story,--which, wedded to wild and passionate music, had +taken the public by storm on its first representation, not only on +account of its own merit, but because it gave their new favourite, +Pequita, many opportunities for showing off her exquisite grace as a +dancer. She, while preparing for the stage on this special night, had +been told that her wish was about to be granted--that she would now, at +last, really dance before the King;--and her heart beat high, and the +rich colour reddened in her soft childish face, as she donned her +scarlet skirts with more than her usual care, and knotted back her +raven curls with a great glowing damask rose, such as Spanish beauties +fasten behind tiny shell-like ears to emphasise the perfection of their +contour. Her thoughts flew to her kindest friend, Pasquin Leroy;--she +remembered the starry diamond in the ring he had wished to give her, +and how he had said, 'Pequita, the first time you dance before the +King, this shall be yours!' + +Where was he now, she wondered? She would have given anything to know +his place of abode, just to send him word that the King was to be at +the Opera that night, and ask him too, to come and see her in her +triumph! But she had no time to study ways and means for sending a +message to him, either through Sholto, her father, who always waited +patiently for her behind the scenes,--or through Paul Zouche, who, +though as _librettist_ of the opera, and as a poet of new and +rising fame, was treated by everyone with the greatest deference, still +made a special point of appearing in the shabbiest clothes, and +lounging near the side-wings like a sort of disgraced tramp all the +time the performance was in progress. Neither of them knew Leroy's +address;--they only met him or saw him, when he himself chose to come +among them. Besides,--the sound of the National Hymn played by the +orchestra, warned her that the King had arrived; and that she must hold +herself in readiness for her part and think of nothing else. + +The blaze of light in the Opera-house seemed more dazzling than usual +to the child, when her cue was called,--and as she sprang from the +wings and bounded towards the footlights, amid the loud roar of +applause which she was now accustomed to receive nightly, she raised +her eyes towards the Royal box, half-frightened, half-expectant. Her +heart sank as she saw that the King had partially turned away from the +stage, and was chatting carelessly with some person or persons behind +him, and that only a statuesque woman with a pale face, great eyes, and +a crown of diamonds, regarded her steadily with a high-bred air of +chill indifference, which was sufficient to turn the little warm +beating heart of her into stone. A handsome youth stared down upon her +smiling,--his eyes sleepily amorous,--it was the elder of the King's +two younger sons, Prince Rupert. She hated his expression, beautiful +though his features were,--and hated herself for having to dance before +him. Poor little Pequita! It was her first experience of the insult a +girl-child can be made to feel through the look of a budding young +profligate. On and on she danced, giddily whirling;--the thoughts in +her brain circling as rapidly as her movements. Why would not the King +look at her,--she thought? Why was he so indifferent, even when his +subjects sought most to please him? At the end of the second act of the +Opera a great fatigue and lassitude overcame her, and a look of black +resentment clouded her pretty face. + +"What ails you?" said Zouche, sauntering up to her as she stood behind +the wings; "You look like a small thunder-cloud!" + +She gave an unmistakable gesture in the direction of that quarter of +the theatre where the Royal box was situated. + +"I hate him!" she said, with a stamp of her little foot. + +"The King? So do I!" And Zouche lit a cigarette and stuck it between +his lips by way of a stop-gap to a threatening violent expletive; "An +insolent, pampered, flattered fool! Yet you wanted to dance before him; +and now you've done it! The fact will serve you as a kind of +advertisement! That is all!" + +"I do not want to be advertised through _his_ favour!" And Pequita +closed her tiny teeth on her scarlet under-lip in suppressed anger; +"But I have not danced before him yet! I _will_!" + +Zouche looked at her sleepily. He was not drunk--though he had,--of +course,--been drinking. + +"You have not danced before him? Then what have you been doing?" + +"Walking!" answered Pequita, with a fierce little laugh, her colour +coming and going with all the quick wavering hue of irritated and +irritable Spanish blood, "I have, as they say 'walked across the +stage.' I shall dance presently!" + +He smiled, flicking a little ash off his cigarette. + +"You are a curious child!" he said; "By and by you will want severely +keeping in order!" + +Pequita laughed again, and shook back her long curls defiantly. + +"Who is that cold woman with a face like a mask and the crown of +diamonds, that sits beside the King?" + +It was Zouche's turn to laugh now, and he did so with a keen sense of +enjoyment. + +"Upon my word!" he exclaimed; "A little experience of the world has +given you what newspaper men call 'local colour.' The 'cold woman with +the face like a mask,' is the Queen!" + +Pequita made a little grimace of scorn. + +"And who is the leering boy?" + +"Prince Rupert." + +"The Crown Prince?" + +"No. The Crown Prince is travelling abroad. He went away very +mysteriously,--no one knows where he has gone, or when he will come +back." + +"I am not surprised!" said Pequita; "With such a father and mother, and +such impudent-looking brothers, no wonder he wanted to get away!" + +Zouche had another fit of laughter. He had never seen the little girl +in such a temper. He tried to assume gravity. + +"Pequita, you are naughty! The flatteries of the great world are +spoiling you!" + +"Bah!" said Pequita, with a contemptuous wave of her small brown hands. +"The flatteries of the great world! To what do they lead? To +_that_!" and she made another eloquent sign towards the Royal +box;--"I would rather dance for you and Lotys, and Sergius Thord, and +Pasquin Leroy, than all the Kings of the world together! What I do here +is for my father's sake--_you_ know that!" + +"I know!" and Zouche smoked on, and shook his wild head sentimentally, +--murmuring in a _sotto-voce_: + + "What I do _here_, is for the need of gold,-- + What I do _there_, is for sweet love's sake only; + Love, ever timid _there_, doth _here_ grow bold,-- + And wins such triumph as but leaves me lonely!" + +"Is that yours?" said Pequita with a sudden smile. + +"Mine, or Shakespeare's," answered Zouche indolently; "Does it matter +which?" + +Pequita laughed, and her cue being just then called, again she bounded +on to the stage; but this time she played her part, as the stock phrase +goes, 'to the gallery,' and did not once turn her eyes towards the +place where the King sat withdrawn into the shadow of his box, giving +no sign of applause. She, however, had caught sight of Sergius Thord +and some of her Revolutionary friends seated 'among the gods,' and that +was enough inspiration for her. Something,--a quite indefinable +something,--a touch of personal or spiritual magnetism, had been fired +in her young soul; and gradually as the Opera went on, her fellow- +players became infected by it. Some of them gave her odd, half-laughing +glances now and then,--being more or less amazed at the unusual vigour +with which she sang, in her pure childish soprano, the few strophes of +recitative and light song attached to her part;--the very prima-donna +herself caught fire,--and the distinguished tenor, who had travelled +all the way from Buda Pesth in haste, so that he might 'create' the +chief role in the work of his friend Valdor, began to feel that there +was something more in operatic singing than the mere inflation of the +chest, and the careful production of perfectly-rounded notes. Valdor +himself played the various violin solos which occurred frequently +throughout the piece, and never failed to evoke a storm of rapturous +plaudits,--and many were the half-indignant glances of the audience +towards the Royal shrine of draped satin, gilding, and electric light, +wherein the King, like an idol, sat,--undemonstrative, and apparently +more bored than satisfied. There was a general feeling that he ought to +have shown,--by his personal applause in public,--a proper appreciation +of the many gifted artists playing that evening, especially in the case +of Louis Valdor, the composer of the Opera itself. But he sat inert, +only occasionally glancing at the stage, and anon carelessly turning +away from it to converse with the members of his suite. + +The piece went on;--and more and more the passion of Pequita's pent-up +little soul communicated itself to the other performers,--till they +found themselves almost unconsciously obeying her 'lead.' At last came +the grand final act,--where, in accordance with the progress of the +story, the bold band of 'New Christians' are fought back from the gates +of the Vatican by the Papal Guard; and the Roman populace, roused to +enthusiasm, gather round their defeated ranks to defend and to aid them +with sympathy and support in their combat,--breaking forth all together +at last in the triumphant 'Song of Freedom.' Truly grand and majestic +was this same song,--pulsating with truth and passion,--breathing with +the very essence of liberty,--an echo of the heart and soul of strong +nations who struggle, even unto death, for the lawful rights of +humanity denied to them by the tyrants in place and power. As the +superb roll and swell of the glorious music poured through the crowded +house, there was an almost unconscious movement among the audience,-- +the people in the gallery rose _en masse_, and at the close of the +first verse, responded to it by a mighty cheer, which reverberated +through and through the immense building like thunder. The occupants of +the stalls and boxes exchanged wondering and half-frightened looks,-- +then as the cheer subsided, settled themselves again to listen, more or +less spell-bound, as the second verse began. Just before this had +merged into its accompanying splendid and soul-awakening chorus,-- +Pequita,--having obtained the consent of the manager to execute her +'Dagger Dance' in the middle of the song, instead of at the end,-- +suddenly sprang towards the footlights in a pirouette of extravagant +and exquisite velocity--while,--checked by a sign from the conductor, +the singers ceased. Without music, in an absolute stillness as of +death, the girl swung herself to and fro, like a bell-flower in the +breeze,--anon she sprang and leaped like a scarlet flame--and again +sank into a slow and voluptuous motion, as of a fairy who dreamingly +glides on tiptoe over a field of flowers. Then, on a sudden, while the +fascinated spectators watched her breathlessly,--she seemed to wake +from sleep,--and running forward wildly, began to toss and whirl her +scarlet skirts, her black curls streaming, her dark eyes flashing with +mingled defiance and scorn, while drawing from her breast an unsheathed +dagger, she flung it in the air, caught it dexterously by the hilt +again, twisted and turned it in every possible way,--now beckoning, now +repelling, now defending,--and lastly threatening, with a passionate +intensity of action that was well-nigh irresistible. + +Caught by the marvellous subtlety of her performance, quite one half +the audience now rose instinctively, all eyes being fixed on the +strange evolutions of this whirling, flying thing that seemed possessed +by the very devil of dancing! The King at last attracted, leaned +slightly forward from his box with a tolerant smile,--the Queen's face +was as usual, immovable,--the Princes Rupert and Cyprian stared, open- +mouthed--while over the whole brilliant scene that remarkable silence +brooded, like the sultry pause before the breaking of a storm. +Triumphant, reckless, panting,--scarcely knowing what she did in her +excitement,--Pequita, suddenly running backward, with the lightness of +thistle-down flying before the wind, snatched the flag of the country +from a super standing by, and dancing forward again, waved it aloft, +till with a final abandonment of herself to the humour of the moment, +she sprang with a single bound towards the Royal box, and there--the +youthful incarnation of living, breathing passion, fury, patriotism, +and exultation in one,--dropped on one knee, the flag waving behind +her, the dagger pointed straight upward, full at the King! + +A great roar,--like that of hundreds of famished wild beasts,--answered +this gesture; mingled with acclamations,--and when 'The Song of +Freedom' again burst out from the singers on the stage, the whole mass +of people joined in the chorus with a kind of melodious madness. Shouts +of 'Pequita! Pequita!' rang out on all sides,--then 'Valdor! Valdor!'-- +and then,--all suddenly,--a stentorian voice cried 'Sergius Thord!' +At that word the house became a chaos. Men in the gallery, seized by +some extraordinary impulse of doing they knew not what, and going they +knew not whither, leaped over each other's shoulders, and began to +climb down by the pillars of the balconies to the stalls,--and a +universal panic and rush ensued. Terrified women hurried from the +stalls and boxes in spite of warning, and got mixed with the maddened +crowd, a section of which, pouring out of the Opera-house came +incontinently upon the King's carriage in waiting,--and forthwith, +without any reflection as to the why or the wherefore, smashed it to +atoms! Then, singing again 'The Song of Freedom,'--the people, pouring +out from all the doors, formed into a huge battalion, and started on a +march of devastation and plunder. + +Sergius Thord, grasping the situation from the first, rushed out of the +Opera-house in all haste, anxious to avert a catastrophe, but he was +too late to stop the frenzied crowd,--nothing could, or would have +stopped them at that particular moment. The fire had been too long +smouldering in their souls; and Pequita, like a little spark of fury, +had set it in a blaze. Through private ways and back streets, the King +and Queen and their sons, escorted by the alarmed manager, escaped from +the Opera unhurt,--and drove back unobserved to the Palace in a common +fiacre--and a vast multitude, waiting to see them come out by the usual +doors, and finding they did not come, vented their rage and disgust by +tearing up and smashing everything within their reach. Then, +remembering in good time, despite their excitement, that the manager of +the Opera had done nothing to deserve injury to himself or his +property, they paused in this work of destruction, and with the sudden +caprice of children, gave out ringing cheers for him and for Pequita;-- +while their uncertainty as to what to do next was settled for them by +Paul Zouche, who, mounting on one of the pedestals which supported the +columns of the entrance to the Opera, where his wild head, glittering +eyes and eager face looked scarcely human, cried out: + +"Damnation to Carl Perousse! Why do you idle here, my friends, when you +might be busy! If you want Freedom, seek it from him who is to be your +new Prime Minister!" + +A prolonged yell of savage approval answered him,--and like an angry +tide, the crowd swept on and on, gathering strength and force as it +went, and pouring through the streets with fierce clamour of shouting, +and clash of hastily collected weapons,--on and on to the great square, +in the centre of which stood the statue of the late King, and where the +house of Carl Perousse occupied the most prominent position. And the +moon, coming suddenly out of a cloud, stared whitely down upon the +turbulent scene,--one too often witnessed in history, when, as Carlyle +says, 'a Nation of men is suddenly hurled beyond the limits. For +Nature, as green as she looks, rests everywhere on dread foundations, +and Pan, to whose music the Nymphs dance, has a cry in him that can +drive all men distracted!' + +In such distraction, and with such wild cry, the night of Pequita's +long-looked-for dance before the King swept stormily on towards day. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +"FATE GIVES--THE KING!" + + +News of this fresh and more violent disturbance among the people +brought the soldiery out in hot haste, who galloped down to the scene +of excitement, only to find the mounted police before them, headed by +General Bernhoff, who careering to and fro, cool and composed, forbade, +'in the name of the King!' any attempt to drive the mob out of the +square. Swaying uneasily round and round, the populace yelled and +groaned, and cheered and hissed; not knowing exactly whereunto they +were so wildly moved, but evidently waiting for a fresh 'lead.' The +house of Carl Perousse, with its handsome exterior and stately marble +portico, offered itself as a tempting target to the more excitable +roughs, and a stone sent crashing through one of the windows would have +certainly been the signal for a general onslaught had not a man's +figure suddenly climbed the pedestal which supported the statue of the +late King in the centre of the square, and lifted its living visible +identity against the frowning cold stone image of the dead. A cry went +up from thousands of throats--'Sergius Thord!'--followed by an +extraordinary clamour of passionate plaudits, as the excited people +recognised the grand head and commanding aspect of their own particular +Apostle of Liberty. He,--stretching out his hands with a gesture of +mingled authority and entreaty,--pacified the raging sea of +contradictory and conflicting voices as if by magic,--and the horrid +clamour died down into a dull roar, which in its turn subsided into +silence. + +"Friends and brothers!" he cried; "Be calm! Be patient! What spirit +possesses you to thus destroy the chances of your own peace! What is +your aim? Justice? Ay--justice!--but how can you gain this by being +yourselves unjust? Will you remedy Wrong by injuring Right? Nay--this +must not be!--this cannot be, with _you_, whose passion for +liberty is noble,--whose love for truth is fixed and resolute,--and who +seek no more than is by human right your own! This sudden tempest, by +which your souls are tossed, is like an angry gust upon the sea, which +wrecks great vessels and drowns brave men;--be something more than the +semblance of the capricious wind which destroys without having reason +to know why it is bent on destruction! What are you here for? What +would you do?" + +A confused shouting answered him, in which cries of 'Perousse!' and +'The King!' were most prominent. + +Sergius Thord looked round upon the seething mass below him, with a +strange sense of power and of triumph. He--even he--who could claim to +be no more than a poor Thinker, speaker and writer,--had won these +thousands to his command!--he had them here, willing to obey his +lightest word,--ready to follow his signal wheresoever it might take +them! His eyes glowed,--and the light of a great and earnest +inspiration illumined his strong features. + +"You call for Carl Perousse!" he said; "Yonder he dwells!--in the regal +house he has built for himself out of the sweating work of the poor!" A +fierce yell from the populace and an attempt at a rush, was again +stopped by the speaker's uplifted hand; "Wait, friends--wait! Think for +a moment of the result of action, before you act! Suppose you pulled +down that palace of fraud; suppose your strong hands righteously rent +it asunder;--suppose you set fire to its walls,--suppose you dragged +out the robber from his cave and slew him here, before sunrise--what +then? You would make of him a martyr!--and the hypocritical liars of +the present policy, who are involved with him in his financial +schemes,--would chant his praises in every newspaper, and laud his +virtues in every sermon! Nay, we should probably hear of a special +'Memorial Service' being held in our great Cathedral to sanctify the +corpse of the vilest stock-jobbing rascal that ever cheated the +gallows! Be wiser than that, my friends! Do not soil your hands either +with the body of Carl Perousse or his ill-gotten dwelling. What we want +for him is Disgrace, not Death! Death is far too easy! An innocent +child may die; do not give to a false-hearted knave the simple exit +common to the brave and true! Disgrace!--disgrace! Shame, confusion, +and the curse of the country,--let these be your vengeance on the man +who seeks to clutch the reins of government!--the man who would drive +the people like whipped horses to their ruin!" + +Another roar answered him, but this time it was mingled with murmurs of +dissatisfaction. Thord caught these up, and at once responded to them. + +"I hear you, O People! I hear the clamour of your hearts and souls, +which is almost too strong to find expression in speech! You cannot +wait, you would tell me! You would have Perousse dragged out here,--you +would tear him to pieces among you, if you could, and carry the +fragments of him to the King, to prove what a people can do with a +villain proposed to them as their Prime Minister!" Loud and ferocious +shouts answered these words, and he went on; "I know--I understand!-- +and I sympathise! But even as I know you, you know me! Believe me now, +therefore, and hear my promise! I swear to you before you all"--and +here he extended both arms with a solemn and impressive gesture--"that +this month shall not be ended before the dishonesty of Carl Perousse is +publicly and flagrantly known at every street corner,--in every town +and province of the land!--and before the most high God, I take my oath +to you, the People,--that he shall never be the governing head of the +country!" + +A hurricane of applause answered him--a tempest of shouting that seemed +to surge and sway through the air and down to the earth again like the +beating of a powerful wind. + +"Give me your trust, O People!" he cried, carried beyond himself with +the excitement and fervour of the scene--"Give me yourselves!" + +Another roar replied to this adjuration. He stood triumphant;--the +people pressing up around him,--some weeping--some kneeling at his +feet--some climbing to kiss his hand. A few angry voices in the +distance cried out--'The King!'--and he turned at once on the word. + +"Who needs the King?" he demanded; "Who calls for him? What is he to +us? What has he ever been? Look back on his career!--see him as Heir- +Apparent to the Throne, wasting his time with dishonest associates,-- +dealing with speculators and turf gamblers--involving himself in debt-- +and pandering to vile women, who still hold him in their grasp, and who +in their turn rule the country by their caprice, and drain the Royal +coffers by their licentious extravagance! Now look on him as the King, +--a tool in the hands of financiers--a speculator among speculators-- +steeped to the very eyes in the love of money, and despising all men +who do not bear the open blazon of wealth upon them,--what has he done +for the people? Nothing! What will he ever do for the People? Nothing! +Flattered by self-seekers--stuffed with eulogy by a paid Press--his +name made a byword and a mockery by the very women with whom he +consorts, what should we do with him in Our work! Let him alone!--let +him be! Let him eat and drink as suits his nature--and die of the +poison his own vices breed in his blood!--we want naught of him, or his +heirs! When the time ripens to its full fruition, we, the People, can +do without a Throne!" + +At this, thousands of hats and handkerchiefs were tossed in the air,-- +thousands of voices cheered to the very echo, and to relieve their +feelings still more completely the vast crowd once more took up 'The +Song of Freedom' and began singing it in unison steadily and grandly, +with all that resistless force and passion which springs from deep- +seated emotion in the soul. And while they were singing, Thord, +glancing rapidly about him, saw Johan Zegota close at hand, and to his +still greater satisfaction, Pasquin Leroy; and beckoning them both to +his side whispered his brief orders, which were at once comprehended. +The day was breaking; and in the purple east a line of crimson showed +where the sun would presently rise. A few minutes' quick organisation +worked by Leroy and Zegota, and some few other of their comrades +sufficed to break up the mob into three sections, and in perfect order +they stood blocked for a moment, like the three wings of a great army. +Then once more Thord addressed them: + +"People, you have heard my vow! If before the end of the month Carl +Perousse is not ejected with contempt from office, I will ask my death +at your hands! A meeting will be convened next week at the People's +Assembly Rooms where we shall make arrangements to approach the King. +If the King refuses to receive us, we shall find means to make him do +so! He _shall_ hear us! He is our paid servant, and he is bound to +serve us faithfully,--or the Throne shall be a thing of the past, to be +looked back upon with regret that we, a great and free people, ever +tolerated its vice and tyranny!" + +Here he waited to let the storm of plaudits subside,--and then +continued: "Now part, all of you friends!--go your ways,--and keep +order for yourselves with vigilance! The soldiery are here, but they +dare not fire!--the police are here, but they dare not arrest! Give +them no cause even to say that it would have been well to do either! +Let the spiritual force of your determined minds,--fixed on a noble and +just purpose, over-rule mere temporal authority; let none have to blame +you for murder or violence,--take no life,--shed no blood; but let your +conquest of the Government,--your capture of the Throne,--be a glorious +moral victory, outweighing any battle gained only by brute force and +rapine!" + +He was answered by a strenuous cheer; and then the three great sections +of the multitude began to move. Out of the square in perfect order they +marched,--still singing; one huge mass of people being headed by +Pasquin Leroy, the other by Johan Zegota,--the third by Sergius Thord +himself. The soldiery, seeing there was no cause for interference, +withdrew,--the police dispersed, and once again an outbreak of popular +disorder was checked and for a time withheld. + +But this second riot had startled the metropolis in good earnest. +Everyone became fully alive to the danger and increasing force of the +disaffected community,--and the Government,--lately grown inert and +dilatory in the transaction of business,--began seriously to consider +ways and means of pacifying general clamour and public dissatisfaction. +None of the members of the Cabinet were much surprised, therefore, when +they each received a summons from the King to wait upon him at the +Palace that day week,--'to discuss affairs of national urgency,' and +the general impression appeared to be, that though Carl Perousse +dismissed the 'street rowdyism,' as he called it, with contempt, and +spoke of 'disloyal traitors opposed to the Government,' he was +nevertheless riding for a fall; and that his chances of obtaining the +Premiership were scarcely so sure as they had hitherto seemed. + +Meanwhile, Pequita, whose childish rage against the King for not +noticing her dancing or applauding it, had been the trifling cause of +the sudden volcanic eruption of the public mind, became more than ever +the idol of the hour. The night after the riot, the Opera-house was +crowded to suffocation,--and the stage was covered with flowers. Among +the countless bouquets offered to the triumphant little dancer, came +one which was not thrown from the audience, but was brought to her by a +messenger; it was a great cluster of scarlet carnations, and attached +to it was a tiny velvet case, containing the ring promised to her by +Pasquin Leroy, when, as he had said, she 'should dance before the +King.' A small card accompanied it on which was written 'Pequita, from +Pasquin!' Turning to Lotys, who, in the event of further turbulence, +had accompanied her to the Opera that night to take care of her, and +who sat grave, pale, and thoughtful, in one of the dressing-rooms near +the stage, the child eagerly showed her the jewel, exclaiming: + +"See! He has kept his promise!" + +And Lotys,--sighing even while she smiled,--answered: + +"Yes, dear! He would not be the brave man he is, if he ever broke his +word!" + +Whereat Pequita slipped the ring on her friend's finger, kissing her +and whispering: + +"Take care of it for me! Wear it for me! For tonight, at least!" + +Lotys assented,--though with a little reluctance,--and it was only +while Pequita was away from her, performing her part on the stage, that +this strange lonely woman bent her face down on the hand adorned with +the star-like gem and kissed it,--tears standing in her eyes as she +murmured: + +"My love--my love! If you only knew!" + +And then the hot colour surged into her cheeks for sheer shame of +herself that she should love!--she--no longer in her youth,--and +utterly unconscious that there was, or could be any beauty in her deep +lustrous eyes, white skin, and dull gold hair. What had she to do with +the thoughts of passion?--she whose life was devoted to the sick and +needy,--and who had no right to think of anything else but how she +should aid them best, so long as that life should last! She knew well +enough that love of a great, jealous, and almost savage kind, was hers +if she chose to claim it--the love of Sergius Thord, who worshipped her +both as a woman and an Intellect; but she could not contemplate him as +her lover, having grown up to consider him more as a sort of paternal +guardian and friend. In fact, she had thoroughly resigned herself to +think of nothing but work for the remainder of her days, and to +entirely forego the love and tenderness which most women, even the +poorest, have the natural right to win; and now slowly,--almost +unconsciously to herself,--Love had stolen into her soul and taken +possession of it;--secret love for the man, who brave almost to +recklessness, had joined his fortunes in with Sergius Thord and his +companions, and had assisted the work of pushing matters so far +forward, that the wrongs done to the poor, and the numerous injustices +of the law, which for years had been accumulating, and had become part +and parcel of the governing system of the country, now stood a fair +chance of being remedied. She, with her quick woman's instinct, had +perceived that where Sergius Thord, in his dreamy idealism, halted and +was uncertain of results, Pasquin Leroy stepped into the breach and won +the victory. And, like all courageous women, she admired a courageous +man. Not that Thord lacked courage,--he had plenty of the physical +brute force known as such,--but he had also a peculiar and +uncomfortable quality of rousing desires, both in himself and others +which he had not the means of gratifying. + +Thus Lotys foresaw that, unless by some miraculous chance he obtained +both place and power, and a share in the ruling of things, there was +every possibility of a split in the Revolutionary Committee,--one half +being inclined to indulge in the criminal and wholly wasteful spirit of +Anarchy,--the other disposed to throw in its lot with the Liberal or +Radical side of politics. And she began to regard Pasquin Leroy, with +his even temperament, cool imperturbability, intellectual daring, and +literary ability, as the link which kept them all together, and gave +practical force to the often brooding and fantastic day-dreams of +Thord, who, though he made plans night and day for the greater freedom +and relief of the People from unjust coercion, had not succeeded in +obtaining as yet sufficient power to carry them into execution. + +It was evident, however, to the whole country that the times were in a +ferment,--that the Government was growing more unpopular, and that Carl +Perousse, the chief hinge on which Governmental force turned, was under +a cloud of the gravest suspicion. Meetings, more or less stormy in +character, were held everywhere by every shade of party in politics,-- +and strong protests against his being nominated as Premier were daily +sent to the King. But to the surprise of many, and the annoyance of +most, his Majesty gave no sign. The newspapers burst into rampant +argument,--every little editor issued his Jovian 'opinion' on the grave +issues at stake;--David Jost kept his Hebraic colours flying for the +King,--judging that to flatter Royalty was always a safe course for +most Jews;--while in the rival journal, brilliant essays, leaders and +satires on the political situation, combined with point-blank +accusations against the Secretary of State, (which that distinguished +personage always failed to notice,) flew from the pen of the mysterious +writer, Pasquin Leroy, and occupied constant public attention. Unlike +the realm of Britain,--where the 'golden youth' enfeeble their +intellects by the perusal of such poor and slangy journalism that they +have lost both the art and wit to comprehend brilliant political +writing,--the inhabitants of this particular corner of the sunny south +were always ready to worship genius wherever even the smallest glimmer +of it appeared,--and the admiration Leroy's writings excited was fast +becoming universal, though for the most part these writings were +extremely inflammable in nature, and rated both King and Court soundly. +But with the usual indifference of Royalty to 'genius' generally, the +King, when asked if he had taken note of certain articles dealing very +freely with both him and his social conduct, declared he had never +heard of them, or of their writer! + +"I never," he said with an odd smile, "pay any attention to clever +literature! I should be establishing a precedent which would be +inconvenient and disagreeable to my fellow sovereigns!" + +The time went on; the King met his Ministers on the day he had summoned +them in private council,--and on the other hand Sergius Thord convened +a mighty mass-meeting for the purpose of carrying a resolution formed +to address his Majesty on the impending question of the Premiership. +From the King's council, the heads of Government came away in haste, +despair and confusion; from the mass-meeting whole regiments marched +through the streets in triumphant and satisfied order. + +After these events there came a night, when the sweet progress of calm +weather was broken up by cloud and storm,--and when heavy thunder +boomed over the city at long dull intervals, like the grinding and +pounding of artillery, without any rain to cool the heated ether, which +was now and again torn asunder by flashes of lightning. There was +evidently a raging tempest far out at sea, though the land only +received suggestions of this by the occasional rearing up of huge dark +green billows which broke against the tall cliffs, plumed with mimosa +and myrtle, that guarded the coast. Heavy scents of flowers were in the +air--heavy heat weighed down the atmosphere,--and there was a languor +in the slow footsteps of the men, who, singly, or in groups, arrived at +the door of Sergius Thord's house to fulfil the dread compact binding +upon them all in regard to the 'Day of Fate.' Pasquin Leroy and his two +companions were among the first to arrive, and to make their way up the +dark steep stairs to the Committee room, where, when they entered, they +found the usual aspect of things strangely altered. The table no longer +occupied its position in the middle of the floor; it was set on a +raised platform entirely draped with black. Large candelabra, holding +six lights each, occupied either end,--and in the centre one solitary +red lamp was placed, shedding its flare over a large bronze vessel +shaped like a funeral urn. The rest of the room was in darkness,--and +with the gathering groups of men, who moved silently and spoke in +whispers, it presented a solemn and eerie spectacle. + +"Ah! You have now arrived," said Max Graub, in a cautious sotto voce to +Leroy, "at the end of your adventures! Behold the number Thirteen! Six +lights at one end, six lights at the other,--that is twelve; and in the +centre the Thirteenth--the red Eye looking into the sepulchral urn! It +is all up with us!" + +Leroy said nothing,--but the face of the man called Axel Regor grew +suddenly very pale. He drew Leroy a little aside. + +"This is no laughing matter!" he said very earnestly; "Let me stand +near you--let me keep close at your side all the evening!" + +Leroy smiled and pressed his hand. + +"My dear fellow!" he said; "Have no fear! Or if you have fear, do not +show it! You stand in precisely the same danger as myself, or as any of +us; you may draw the fatal Signal!--but if you do, I promise you I will +volunteer myself in your place." + +"_You_!" said Regor with a volume of meaning in the utterance; +"You would stand in my place?" + +"Why, of course!" replied Leroy cheerily; "Life is not such a wonderful +business, that death for a friend's sake is not better!" + +Regor looked at him, and a speechless devotion filled and softened his +eyes. Certain words spoken to him by a woman he loved echoed through +his brain, and he murmured: + +"Nay, by the God above us, if death is in question, _I_ will die +rather than let _you_ die!" + +"That will depend on my humour!" said Leroy, still smiling; "You will +require my permission to enter into combat with the last enemy before +he offers challenge!" + +Max Graub here approached them with a warning finger laid on his lips. + +"Hush--sh--sh!" he said; "Think as much as you like,--but talk as +little as you can! I assure you this is a most uncomfortable business!-- +and here comes the axis of the revolving wheel!" + +They made way,--as did all the men grouped together in the room,--for +the entrance of Sergius Thord and Lotys. These two came in together; +and with a silent salute which included the whole Committee, ascended +the raised platform. Lotys was deadly pale; and the white dress she +wore, with its scarlet sash, accentuated that paleness. She appeared +for once to move under the dominance of some greater will than her +own,--she moved slowly, and her head was bent,--and even to Pasquin +Leroy as she passed him, her faint smile of recognition was both sad +and cold. Once on the platform, she seated herself at the lower end of +the funereally-draped table; and leaning her head on one hand, seemed +lost in thought. Thord took his place at the opposite end,--whereupon +Johan Zegota moving stealthily to the door, closed it, locked it, and +put the key in his pocket. Then he in turn mounted the platform, and +began in a clear but low voice to call the roll of the members of the +Committee. + +Each man answered to his name in the same guarded tone; all without a +single exception were present;--and Zegota, having completed the +catalogue, turned to Thord for further instructions. The rest of the +company then seated themselves,--finding their chairs with some little +difficulty in the semi-darkness. When the noise of their shuffling feet +had ceased, Thord rose and advanced to the front of the platform. + +"Friends," he said slowly; "You are here to-night to determine by the +hand of Chance, or Destiny, which of certain traitors among many +thousands, shall meet with the punishment his treachery deserves. In +the list of those who are to-night marked down for death is Carl +Perousse;--happy the man that draws _that_ name and is able to +serve as the liberator to his country! Another, is the Jew, David +Jost,--because it has been chiefly at his persuasion that the heads of +the Government have been tempted to gamble for their own personal +motives with the secrets of State policy. Another, is the Marquis de +Lutera;--who though he has, possibly through fear, resigned office, is +to blame for having made his own private fortune,--as well as the +fortunes of all the members of his family,--out of the injuries and +taxations inflicted on the People. To his suggestion we owe the cruel +price of bread,--the tax on corn, a necessity of life;--on his policy +rests the responsibility of opening our Trades to such an over-excess +of Foreign Competition and Supply that our native work and our native +interests are paralysed by the strain. To him,--as well as to Carl +Perousse, we owe the ridiculous urbanities of such extreme foreign +diplomacies as expose our secret forces of war to our rivals;--from him +emanates the courteous and almost servile attention with which we +foolishly exhibit our naval and military defences to our enemies. We +assume that a Minister who graciously permits a foreign arsenal to copy +our guns--a foreign dockyard to copy and to emulate our ships,--is a +traitor to the prosperity and continued power of the country. Two of +the great leaders in Trade are named on the Death-list;--one because, +in spite of many warnings, he employs foreign workmen only; the other, +because he 'sweats' native labour. The removal of all these persons +will be a boon to the country--the clearing of a plague of rats from +the national House and Exchequer! Lastly, the King is named;--because, +--though he has rescued the system of National Education from Jesuit +interference and threatening priestly dominance, he has turned a deaf +ear to other equally pressing petitions of his People,--and also +because he does nothing to either influence or guide society to its +best and highest ends. Under his rule, learning is set at naught--Art, +Science and Literature, the three saving graces which make for the +peace, prosperity and fraternity of nations,--are rendered valueless, +because no example is set which would give them their rightful +prominence,--and wine, cards and women are substituted,--the three evil +fates between which the honour of the Throne is brought into contempt. +We should know and remember that Lotys, when she lately saved the life +of the King, did,--as she herself can tell you,--plead personally with +him to save the people from the despotic government of Carl Perousse +and his pernicious 'majority';--but though she rescued the monarch at +the risk of her own much more valuable existence--and equally at the +risk of being misunderstood and condemned by this very Society to which +her heart and soul are pledged,--he refused to even consider her +entreaty. Therefore, we may be satisfied that he has been warned;--but +it would seem that the warning is of no avail;--and whosoever to-night +draws the name of the King must be swift and sure in his business!" + +There was a deep pause. Suddenly Max Graub rose, his bulky form and +great height giving him an almost Titanesque appearance in the gloom of +the chamber. Raising one hand as a signal, he asked permission to +speak, which was instantly accorded. + +"To my chief, Sergius Thord, and my comrades," he said with a slight +military salutation; "I wish to explain what perhaps they have already +discovered,--that I am a poor and uncouth German,--not altogether +conversant with your language,--and considerably bewildered by your +social ethics;--so that if I do not entirely understand things as I +should, you will perhaps pardon my ignorance, which includes other +drawbacks of my disposition. But when death is in question, I am always +much interested,--having spent all my days in trying to find out ways +and means of combating man's chief enemy on his own ground. Because,-- +though I fully admit the usefulness of death as a cleanser and solvent; +and as a means of clearing off hopelessly-useless persons, I am not at +all sure that it is an advisable way to get rid of the healthy and the +promising. I speak as a physician merely,--with an eye to what is +called the 'stock' of the human race; and what I now want to know is +this: On what scientific, ethical, or religious grounds, do you wish to +get rid of the King? Science, ethics, and religion being only in the +present day so many forms of carefully ministering to one's Self, and +one's own particular humour, you will understand that I mean,--as +concerns the 'happy dispatch' of this same King,--what good will it do +to you?" + +There was a silence. No one vouchsafed any explanation. After a +considerable pause, Thord replied. + +"It will do us no good. But it will show the country that we exist to +revenge injustice!" + +"But--is the King unjust?" + +"Can you ask it?" replied Thord with a certain grave patience. "During +your association with us, have you not learned?--and do you not know?" + +"Sit down, Graub!" interrupted Pasquin Leroy suddenly; "I know the +King's ways well enough,--and I can swear upon my honour that he +deserves the worst that can be done to him!" + +A murmur of sullen approval ran through the room, and somewhat lowering +glances were cast at the audacious Graub, who had, by his few words, +created the very undesirable impression that he wished, in some remote +way, to interfere with the Committee solemnities in progress, and to +defend the King from attack. He sat down again looking more or less +crushed and baffled,--and Thord went on. + +"We have little time to spend together to-night, and none to waste. Let +each man come forward now, and take his chance,--remembering,--lest his +courage fail him,--that whatever work is given him to do, this +Committee are sworn to stand by him as their associate and comrade!--to +defend him,--even at the risk of their own lives!--and to share +completely in the consequences of whatever act he may be called upon to +perform in the faithful following of his duty! Friends, repeat with me +all together, the Vow of Fealty!" + +At once every man rose,--and all lifting their right hands on high +repeated in steady tones the following formula after their Chief,-- + +"We swear in the name of God, and by the eternal glory of Freedom! That +whosoever among us this night shall draw the Red Cross Signal which +destines him to take from life, a life proved unworthy,--shall be to us +a sacred person, and an object of defence and continued protection! We +guarantee to shield him at all times and under all circumstances;--we +promise to fight for him against the utmost combined power of the law; +--we are prepared to maintain an inviolate silence concerning his +movements, his actions and their ultimate result,--even to the +sufferance of imprisonment, punishment and death for his sake! And may +the curse of the Almighty Creator of Heaven and Earth be upon us and +our children, and our children's children, if we break this vow. Amen!" + +The stern and impressive intensity with which these words were spoken +sent a slight tremor along even such steel-like nerves as those of +Pasquin Leroy, though he repeated the formula after Sergius Thord with +the attentive care of a child saying a lesson. At its conclusion, +however, a sudden thought flashed through his brain which brought a +wonderful smile to his lips, and a rare light in his eyes, and touching +the arm of Axel Regor, he whispered. + +"Could anything be more protective to me,--_as you know me_,--than +this Vow of Fealty? By my faith, a right loyal vow!" + +The man he so questioned looked at him doubtfully. He did not +understand. He himself had repeated the vow mechanically and without +thought, being occupied in serious and uncomfortable meditation as to +what possible dangerous lengths the evening's business might be +carried. And, accustomed as he now was to the varying and brilliant +moods of one whom he had proved to be of most varying and brilliant +intelligence, his brain was not quick enough to follow the lightning- +like speed of the chain of ideas,--all moving in a perfectly organised +plan,--conceived by this daring, scheming and original brain, which had +been so lately roused to its own powers and set in thinking, working +order. He therefore merely expressed his mind's bewilderment by a +warning glance mingled with alarm, which caused Leroy to smile again,-- +but the scene which was being enacted, now demanded their closest +attention, and they had no further opportunity of exchanging so much as +a word. + +The Vow of Fealty being duly sworn, Sergius Thord stood aside, and made +way for Lotys, who, rising from her seat, lifted the funeral urn from +the table and held it out towards the men. She made a strange and weird +picture standing thus,--her white arms gleaming like sculptured ivory +against the dark bronze of the metal vase,--her gold hair touched with +a blood-like hue from the reflection of the red lamp behind her,--and +her face,--infinitely mournful and resigned,--wearing the expression of +one who, forced to behold evil, has no active part in it. As she took +up her position in the front of the platform, Thord again spoke. + +"Let each man now advance and draw his fate! Whosoever receives a blank +is exempt for another year;--whosoever draws the name of a victim must +be prepared to do his duty!" + +This order was at once obeyed. Each man rose separately and approaching +Lotys, saluted her first, and then drew a folded paper from the vessel +she held. But they moved forward reluctantly,--and most of their faces +were very pale. When Pasquin Leroy's turn came to draw, he raised his +eyes to the woman's countenance above him and marvelled at its cold +fixity. She seemed scarcely to be herself,--and it was plainly evident +that the part she was forced to play in the evening's drama was a most +reluctant one. + +At last all the lots were taken, and Johan Zegota lit up the gas- +burners in the centre of the room. A sigh of relief came from the lips +of many of the men who, on opening their papers found a blank instead +of a name. But Leroy, unfolding his, sat in dumb amazement,--feeling, +and not for the first time either, that surely God, or some special +Providence, is always on the side of a strong man's just aim, +fulfilling it to entire accomplishment. For to him was assigned the Red +Cross, marked with the name of 'The King!' The words of Sergius Thord, +uttered that very night, rushed back on his mind;--"Whosoever draws the +name of the King must be swift and sure in his business!" + +His heart beat high; he occupied at that moment a position no man in +all the world had ever occupied before;--he was the centre of a drama +such as had never before been enacted,--he had the greatest move to +play on the chess-board of life that could possibly be desired;--and +the greatest chance to prove himself the Man he was, that had ever been +given to one of his quality. His brain whirled,--his pulses throbbed,-- +his eyes rested on Lotys with a passionate longing; something of the +god-like as well as the heroic warmed his soul,--for Danger and Death +stood as intimately close to him as Safety and Victory! What a strange, +what a marvellous card he held in the game of life!--and yet one false +move might mean ruin and annihilation! As in a dream he saw the members +of the Committee go up, one by one, to Sergius Thord, who, as each laid +their open papers before him, declared their contents. When Paul +Zouche's paper was declared he was found to have drawn Carl Perousse, +whereat he smiled grimly; and retired to his seat, walking rather +unsteadily. Max Graub had drawn a blank,--so had Axel Regor,--so had +Louis Valdor and many others. + +At last it came to Leroy's turn, and as he walked up to the platform +and ascended it, there was a look on his face which attracted the +instant attention of all present. His eyes were singularly bright,--his +lithe handsome figure seemed taller and more erect,--he bore himself +with a proud, even grand air,--and Lotys, moved at last from her chill +and melancholy apathy, gazed at him as he approached, with eyes in +which a profound sadness was mingled with the dark tenderness of many +passionate thoughts and dreams. He laid down his paper before Thord, +who, taking it up read aloud: + +"Our friend and comrade, Pasquin Leroy, has received the Red Cross +Signal." + +Then pausing before uttering his next words he raised his voice a +little, so that he might be heard by everyone in the room, and added +slowly: + +"To Pasquin Leroy, Fate gives--the King!" + +A low murmur of deep applause ran through the room. Max Graub and Axel +Regor sprang up with a kind of smothered cry, but Leroy stood +immovable. Instead of returning to his seat as the others had done, he +remained standing on the platform in front of the Committee table, +between Lotys and Sergius Thord. A strange smile rested on his lips,-- +his attitude was inexplicable. Surveying all the men's faces which were +grouped before him in a kind of chiaro-oscuro, he studied them for a +moment, and then turned his head towards Thord. + +"Sergius,--so far, I have served you well! Destiny has now chosen me +out for even a greater service! May I speak a few words?" + +Thord assented,--but a sudden sense of inquietude stirred in him as he +saw that Lotys had half risen, that her lips quivered, and that great +tears stood in her eyes. + +"She grieves!" he thought, sullenly, in his strange and confused way of +balancing justice and injustice--"She grieves that the worthless life +of the King she saved, is now to be taken by a righteous hand!" + +Meanwhile Leroy faced the assembly. + +"Comrades!" he said; "This is the first time I have assisted in the work +of your Day of Fate,--the first time I have recognised how entirely +Providence moves _with_ you and _for_ you in the ruling of your +destinies! And because it is the first time, our Chief permits me to +address you with the same fraternal liberty which was allowed to me on +the night I became enrolled among you, as one of you! Since then, I +have done my best to serve you--" here he was interrupted by applause +--"and so far as it has been humanly possible, I have endeavoured to +carry out your views and desires because,--though many of them spring +from pure idealism, and are, I fear, impossible of realisation in this +world,--they contain the seed of much useful and necessary reform in +many institutions of this country. I have--as I promised you--shaken +the stronghold of Carl Perousse;"--again the applause broke out, none +the less earnest because it was restrained. "I have destroyed the +press-power and prestige of that knavish Jew-speculator in false news, +David Jost; and wherever the wishes of this Society could be fulfilled, I +have honestly sought to fulfil them. On this night, of all nights in the +year, I should like to feel, and to know, that you acknowledge me as +your true comrade and faithful friend!" + +At this, the whole of the company gave vent to an outburst of cheering. + +"Do you doubt our love, that you ask of it?--or our gratitude that you +seek to have it expressed?" said Thord, leaning forward to clasp his +hand;--"Surely you know you have given new life and impetus to our +work!--and that you have gained fresh triumph for our Cause!" + +Leroy smiled,--but though returning his grasp cordially, he said +nothing to him in person by way of reply, evidently preferring rather +to address the whole community than one, even though that one was his +acknowledged Chief. + +"I thank you all!" he said in response to the acclamations around him. +"I thank you for so heartily acknowledging me as your fellow-worker! I +thank you for giving me your confidence and employing my services! +Tonight--the most important night of my destiny--Fate has determined +that I shall perform the greatest task of all you have ever allotted to +me; and that with swiftness and sureness in the business I shall kill +the King! He is my marked victim! I am his chosen assassin!" Here +interrupting himself with a bright smile, he said: "Will someone +restrain my two friends, Max Graub and Axel Regor from springing out of +their seats? They are both extremely envious of the task which has been +allotted to me!--both are disappointed that it did not fall to them to +perform,--but I am not in the humour for arguing so nice a point of +honour with them just now!" + +A laugh went round the company, and the two delinquents thus called to +order, and who had really been seeking in quite a wild and aimless way, +to scramble out of their seats and make for the platform, resumed their +places with heads bent low, lest those around them should see the +deadly pallor of their countenances. Leroy resumed. + +"I rejoice, friends and comrades, that I have been elected to the high +task of removing from the Throne one who has long been unworthy of it! +--one who has wasted his opportunities both in youth and middle-age,-- +and who, by his own fault in a great measure, has lost much of the love +and confidence of his people! I am glad and proud to be the one chosen +to put an end to the career of a monarch whose vices and follies--which +might have suited a gambler and profligate--are entirely unbecoming to +the Sovereign Ruler of a great Realm! I shall have no fear in carrying +out my appointed duty to the letter! I here declare my acceptance of +whatever punishment may be visited on one who removes from life a King +who brings kingliness into contempt! And,--as our Chief, Sergius Thord, +suggested to-night,--I shall be swift and sure in the business!--there +shall be no delay!" + +Here, as he spoke he drew a pistol from his pocket and turned the +muzzle towards himself,--at which unexpected action there was a hasty +movement of surprise, terror and confusion among the company. + +"Gentlemen all! Friends! Brothers!--as you have been,--and are to me,-- +by the binding of our compact in the name of Lotys! It is the +determination of destiny,--as it is your desire,--that I should kill +the King! You have resolved upon it. You are sure that his death will +benefit the country. You have decided not to take into consideration +any of his possible good qualities, or to pity any of the probable +sorrows and difficulties besetting him in the uneasy position he is +compelled to occupy. You are quite certain among yourselves, that +somehow or other his removal will bring about that ideal condition of +society which many philosophers have written of, and which many +reformers have desired, but which has till now, proved itself incapable +of being realised. The King's death, you think, will better all +existing conditions, and you wish me to fulfil not only the call of +destiny, but your own desire. Be it so! I am ready to obey! I will kill +the King at once!--here and now! I _am_ the King!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE COMRADE OF HIS FOES + + +This bold declaration, boldly spoken, had the startling effect of a +sudden and sharp flash of lightning in dense darkness. Amazement and +utter stupefaction held every man for the moment paralysed. Had a +volcano suddenly opened beneath their feet and belched forth its floods +of fire and lava, it could not have rendered them more helplessly +stricken and speechless. + +"I _am_ the King!" + +The words appeared to blaze on the air before them,--like the +handwriting on the wall at Belshazzar's feast. The King! He,--their +friend, their advocate, he--Pasquin Leroy,--the most obedient, the most +daring and energetic of all the workers in their Cause--he--even he-- +was the King! Was it,--could it be possible! Their eyes--all riveted in +fearful fascination upon him as he stood before them wholly at their +mercy, but cool, dauntless, and smilingly ready to die,--had the wild +uncomprehending stare of delirium;--the silence in the room was +intense, breathless and terrible. Suddenly, like a lion roused, Sergius +Thord, with a half-savage movement, sprang forward and seized him +roughly by the arm. + +"You,--you are the King?" he said; "You,--Pasquin Leroy?" and +struggling for breath, his words almost choked him. "_You_! Enemy +in the guise of friend! You have fooled us! You have deceived us--you--!" + +"Take care, Sergius!" said the monarch smiling, as he gently disengaged +himself from the fierce hand that clutched him; "This pistol is +loaded,--not to shoot you with!--but myself!--at your command! It would +be unfortunate if it went off and killed the wrong man by accident!" + +His indomitable courage was irresistible; and Thord, relaxing his +grasp, fell back in something like awe. And then the spell of horror +and amazement that had struck the rest of the assemblage dumb, broke +all at once into a sort of wild-beast clamour. Every man 'rushed' for +the platform--and Max Graub and Axel Regor, taking swift and conscious +possession of their true personalities as Professor von Glauben and Sir +Roger de Launay, fought silently and determinedly to keep back the +crowding hands that threatened instant violence to the person of their +Royal master. + +A complete hubbub and confusion reigned;--cries of "Traitor!" and +"Spy!" were hurled from one voice to another; but before a single +member of the Committee could reach the spot where stood the undaunted +Sovereign whom they had so lately idolised as their friend and helper, +and whom they were now ready to tear to pieces, Lotys flung herself in +front of him, while at the same moment she snatched the pistol he held +from his hand, and fired it harmlessly into the air. The loud report-- +the flash of fire,--startled all the men, who gaped upon her, +thunderstruck. + +"Through me!" she cried, her blue eyes flashing glorious menace; +"Through me your shots! Through me your daggers! On me your destroying +hands! Through my body alone shall you reach this King! Stand back all +of you! What would you do? King or commoner, he is your comrade and +associate! Sovereign or servant, he is the bravest man among you! Touch +him who dare! Remember your Vow of Fealty!" + +Transfigured into an almost sublime beauty by the fervour of her +emotion, she looked the supreme incarnation of inspired womanhood, and +the infuriated men fell back, dismayed and completely overwhelmed by +the strong conviction of her words, and the amazing situation in which +they found themselves. + +It was true!--he, the King,--whom they had accepted and known as +Pasquin Leroy,--was verily their own comrade! He had proved himself a +thousand times their friend and helper!--they had sworn to defend him +at the cost of their own lives, if need be,--to shelter and protect him +in all circumstances, and to accept all the consequences of whatever +danger he might run in the performance of his duty. His duty now,-- +according to the fatal drawing of lots,--was that he should kill the +King; and he had declared himself ready to fulfil the task by killing +himself! But--as he was their comrade--they were bound in honour to +guard his life! + +These bewildering and maddening thoughts coursed like fire through the +brain of Sergius Thord,--the while his eyes, grown suddenly dark and +bloodshot, rested wonderingly on the tall upright figure of the +monarch, standing quietly face to face with the blood-thirsty +Revolutionary Committee, entirely unmoved by their fierce and lowering +looks, and on Lotys, white, beautiful and breathless, kneeling at his +feet! A crushing sense of impotence and failure rushed over his soul +like a storm wave,--his brain grew thick with the hurrying confusion, +and a great cry, like that of a wounded animal, broke from his lips. + +"My God! My God! All my life's work lost--in a single moment!" + +The King heard. Gently, and with careful courtesy, raising Lotys from +the position in which she had thrown herself to guard him from attack +for the second time, he pressed her hands tenderly in his own. + +"Trust me!" he whispered; "Have no fear! Not a man among them will +touch me now!" + +With a slight gesture he signed her back to the chair she had +previously occupied. She sank into it, trembling from head to foot, but +her eyes feverishly brilliant and watchful, were widely open and alert, +ready to note the least movement or look that indicated further danger. +Then the King addressed himself to Thord. + +"Sergius, I am entirely in your hands! I wait your word of command! You +are armed,--all my companions here are armed also! But Lotys has +deprived me of the only weapon I possessed,--though there are plenty +more in the room to be had on loan. What say you? Shall I kill the +King? Or will you?" + +Thord was silent. A strong shudder shook his frame. The King laid a +firm hand on his shoulder. + +"Friend!" he said in a low voice; "Believe me, I am your friend more +than ever!--you never had, and never will have a truer one than I! All +your life's work lost, you say? Nay, not so! It is gained! You +conquered the People before I knew you,--and now you have conquered the +People's King!" + +Slowly Thord raised his great, dark, passionate eyes, clouded black +with thoughts which could find no adequate expression. The look in them +went straight to the monarch's heart. Baffled ambition,--the hunger of +greatness,--the desire to do something that should raise his soul above +such common ruck of human emmets as make of the earth the merest ant- +hill whereon to eat and breed and die;--all this pent-up emotion swam +luminously in the fierce bright orbs, which like mirrors, reflected the +picture of the troubled mind within. The suppressed power of the man, +who, apart from his confused notions of 'liberty, equality, and +fraternity' could resort to the sternest and most self-endangering +measures for destroying what he considered the abuses of the law, had +moved the King, while disguised as Pasquin Leroy, to the profoundest +admiration for his bold character;--but perhaps he was never more moved +than at this supreme moment, when, hopelessly entangled in a net of +most unexpected weaving, the redoubtable Socialist had to confess +himself vanquished by the simple friendship and service of the very +monarchy he sought to destroy. + +"Sergius," said the King again,--"Trust me! Trust me as your Sovereign, +with the same trust that you gave to me as your comrade, Pasquin! For I +am still your comrade, remember! Nothing can undo the oath that binds +me to you and to the People! I have not become one of you to betray +you; but to serve you! Our present position is certainly a strange +one!--for by the tenets you hold, we should be sworn opponents, instead +of, as we are, sworn friends! Political agitators would have set us one +against the other for their own selfish ends; as matters stand, we are +united in the People's Cause; and I may perhaps do you more good living +than dead! Give me a chance to serve you even better than I have done +as yet! Still,--if you judge my death would be an advantage to the +country,--you have but to say the word! I have sworn,--and I am ready +to carry out the full accomplishment of my vow! Do you understand? You +are, by the rules of this Committee my Chief!--there are no kings here; +and I am good soldier enough to obey orders! It is for you to speak!-- +straightly, plainly, and at once,--to the Committee,--and to me!" + +"Before God, you are brave!" muttered Thord, gazing at him in reluctant +admiration. "So brave, that it is almost impossible to believe that you +can be a King!" + +He smiled. + +"Speak! Speak, my friend!" he urged; "Our comrades are watching our +conference like famished tigers! Give them food!" + +Thus adjured, Thord advanced, and confronted the murmuring, +gesticulating crowd of men, some of whom were wrathfully expostulating +with Johan Zegota, because he declined to unlock the door of the room +and let them out, till he had received his Chief's commands to do so. +Others were grouped round Paul Zouche, who had sat apparently stricken +immovable in his chair ever since the King had declared his identity; +and others showed themselves somewhat inclined to 'hustle' Sir Roger de +Launay and Professor von Glauben, who guarded the approach to the +platform like sentinels,--though they were discreet enough to show no +weapons of defence. + +"Comrades!" + +The rich, deep voice of their leader thrilled through the room, and +brought them all to silence and attention. + +"Comrades!" said Thord slowly,--his accents vibrating with the deepest +emotion. "I desire and command you all to be satisfied that no wrong +has been done to you! I ask you all to understand, fully and surely, +that no wrong is intended to you! The man whom we have loved,--the man +who has served us faithfully as Pasquin Leroy,--is still the same man, +though the King! Rank cannot alter his proved friendship and service,-- +nor kingship break his bond! He is one of us,--signed and sealed in the +blood of Lotys;--and as one of us he must, and will remain! Have I +spoken truly?" he added, turning to the King, "or is there more that I +should say?" + +Before any reply could be given a hubbub of voices cried:-- + +"Explain! Confess! Bind him to his oath!" + +Whereat the King, stepping forward a pace or two, confronted his would- +be doubters and detractors with a dauntless composure. + +"Explain? Confess? Friends, I will do both! but for binding me to my +oath, there is no need,--for it is too strong a compact of faith and +friendship ever to be broken! Would you have me remind _you_ of +your Vow of Fealty pronounced so solemnly this evening? Did you not +swear that 'Whosoever among us this night shall draw the Red Cross +Signal which destines him to take from life a life proved unworthy, +shall be to us a sacred person, and an object of defence and continued +protection'? As Pasquin Leroy, this vow applied to me,--as King, I ask +no better or stronger pledge of loyalty!" + +All eyes were fixed upon him as he spoke. For some moments there was a +dead silence. + +This silence was presently broken by a murmur of conflicting wonder, +impatience and uncertainty,--deepening as it ran,--and then,--as the +full situation became more and more apparent, coupled with the smiling +and heroic calm of the monarch who had thus placed himself voluntarily +in the hands of his sworn enemies, all their struggling passions were +suddenly merged in one great wave of natural and human admiration for a +brave man and a burst of impetuous cheering broke impulsively from +every lip. Once started, the infection caught on like a fever,--and +again and yet again the excited Revolutionists cheered 'for the King!'-- +till they made the room echo. + +The tumult was extraordinary. Lotys sat silent, with clasped hands, her +eyes dilated with feverish watchfulness and excitement,--the tempest of +emotion in her own poor tortured soul, being of such a character which +no words, no tears, no exclamations could possibly relieve. The memory +of her interview with the King in his own Palace flashed across her +like a scene limned in fire. She had no power to think--she was simply +stunned and overwhelmed,--and held only one idea in her mind, and that +was to save him at all costs, even at the sacrifice of her own life. +Thord, carried away from his very self by the force of such a +'Revolution' as he had never planned or anticipated, stood more in the +attitude of one who was trying to think, rather than of one who was +thinking. + +"For the King!" cried Johan Zegota, suddenly giving vent to the +feelings he had long kept in check,--feelings which had made him a +greater admirer of the so-called "Pasquin Leroy" than of Thord +himself;--"For our sworn comrade, the King!" + +Again the cheers broke out, to be redoubled in intensity when Louis +Valdor added his voice to the rest and exclaimed: + +"For the first real King I have ever known!" + +Then the excitement rose to its zenith,--and amidst the tempest of +applause, the King himself stood quiet, watching the turbulence with +the thoughtful eyes of a student who seeks to unravel some difficult +problem. Raising his hand gently, he, by this gesture created immediate +silence,--and so, in this hush remained for an instant, leaning +slightly against the Committee Table, draped as it was in its funereal +black,--the lights at either end of it, and the red lamp in its centre +flinging an unearthly radiance on his fine composed features. Long, +long afterwards, his faithful servants, Sir Roger de Launay and +Heinrich von Glauben retained a mental picture of him in that +attitude,--the dauntless smile upon his lips,--the dreamful look in his +eyes,--resting, as it seemed against a prepared funeral-bier, with the +watch-lights burning for burial,--and the face of Lotys, pale as a +marble mask, yet wearing an expression of mingled triumph and agony, +shining near him like a star amid the gloom, while the tall form of +Sergius Thord in the background loomed large,--a shadow of impending +evil. + +After a pause, he spoke. + +"Comrades! I thank you for the expressed renewal of your trust in me. +In my heart and soul, as a man, I am one of you and with you;--even +though fate has made me a king! You demand an explanation--a +confession. You shall have both! When I enrolled myself as a member of +your Committee, I did so in all honesty and honour,--wishing to +discover the object of your Cause, and prepared to aid it if I found it +worthy. When I sealed my compact with you in the blood of Lotys, the +Angel of our Covenant,"--here the cheering again broke out,--and Lotys, +turning aside, endeavoured to restrain the tears that threatened to +fall;--then, as silence was restored, he resumed;--"When as I say, I +did this,--you will remember that on being asked of my origin and +country, I answered that I was a slave. I spoke truly! There is no +greater slave in all the length and breadth of the world than a king! +Bound by the chains of convention and custom, he is coerced more +violently than any prisoner,--his lightest word is misunderstood--his +smallest action is misconstrued,--his very looks are made the subject +of comment--and whether he walks or stands,--sits to give wearisome +audience, or lies down to forget his sorrows in sleep, he should +assuredly be an object of the deepest pity and consideration, instead +of being as he often is, a target for the arrows of slander,--a pivot +round which to move the wheel of social evil and misrule! The name of +Freedom sounds sweet in your ears, my friends!--how sweet it is--how +dear it is, we all know! You are ready to fight for it--to die for it! +Then remember, all of you, that it is a glory utterly unknown to a +king! Were he to take sword in hand and do battle for it unto the +death, he could never obtain it;--he might win it for his country, but +never for himself! Nothing so glorious as Liberty!--you cry! True!--but +kings are prisoners from the moment they ascend thrones! And you never +set them free, save in the way you suggested this evening;" and he +smiled, "which way is still open to you--and--to me! But while you take +time to consider whether I shall or shall not fulfil the duty which the +drawing of lots on this Day of Fate has assigned to me,--whether you, +on your parts, will or will not maintain the Vow of Fealty which we all +have sworn together,--I will freely declare to you the motives which +led me to depart from the conventional rule and formality of a merely +'Royal' existence, and to become as a Man among men,--for once at least +in the history of modern sovereigns!" + +He paused,--every eye was fixed upon him; and the stillness was so +intense that the lightest breath might be heard. + +"I came to the Throne three years ago," he resumed, "and I accepted its +responsibilities with reluctance. As Heir-Apparent, you all know, or +think you know, my career; for some of you have very freely expressed +your convictions concerning it! It was discreditable,--according to the +opinions formed and expressed by this Committee. No doubt it was! Let +any man among you occupy my place;--and be surrounded by the same +temptations,--and then comport himself wisely--if he can! Such an one +would need to be either god or hero; and I profess to be neither. But I +do not wish to palliate or deny the errors of the past. The present is +my concern,--the present time, and the present People. Great changes +are fermenting in the world; and of these changes, especially of those +directly affecting our own country, I became actively conscious, +shortly after I ascended the Throne. I heard of disaffections,-- +disloyalties; I gathered that the Ministry were suspected of personal +self-aggrandisement. I learned that a disastrous policy was on foot +respecting National Education--in which priestcraft would be given +every advantage, and Jesuitry obtain undue influence over the minds of +the rising generation. I heard,--I studied,--and finding that I could +get no true answer on any point at issue from anyone of my supposed +'reliable' ministers, I resolved to discover things for myself. I found +out that the disaffected portion of the metropolis was chiefly under +the influence of Sergius Thord--and accordingly I placed myself in his +way, and became enrolled among you as 'Pasquin Leroy'; his sworn +associate. I am his sworn associate still! I am proud that he should +call me friend;--and even as we have worked already for the People, so +we will work still--together!" + +No restraint could have availed to check the wild plaudits that broke +out afresh at these words. Still thoughtfully and with grave kindness +contemplating all the eager and excited faces upturned to him, the King +went on. + +"You know nearly all the rest. As Pasquin Leroy, I discovered all the +shameful speculations with the public money, carried on by Carl +Perousse,--and found that so far, at any rate, your accusations against +him were founded in fact. At the first threatening suspicion of +possible condemnation the Marquis de Lutera resigned,--thus evidencing +his guilty participation in the intended plunder. A false statement +printed by David Jost, stating that I,--the King,--had revoked my +decision concerning the refusal of land to the Jesuits, caused me to +announce the truth of my own action myself, in the rival newspaper. Of +my excommunication from the Church it is unnecessary to speak; a man is +not injured in God's sight by that merely earthly ban. Among other +things"--and he smiled,--"I found myself curiously possessed of a +taste for literature!--and proved, that whereas some few monarchs of my +acquaintance cannot be quite sure of their spelling, I could, at a +pinch, make myself fairly well understood by the general public, as a +skilled writer of polemics against myself!--as well as against the +Secretary of State. This, so far as I personally am concerned, has been +the humorous side of my little drama of disguise!--for sometimes I have +had serious thoughts of appearing as a rival to our friend, Paul +Zouche, in the lists of literary Fame!" + +A murmur of wondering laughter ran round the room,--and all heads were +turned to one corner, as the King, with the kindly smile still lighting +up his eyes and lips, called: + +"Zouche, are you there? Do you hear me?" + +Zouche did hear. He had been sitting in a state of semi-stupor all the +evening,--his chaotic mind utterly confused and bewildered by the +events which had taken place;--but now, on being called, his usual +audacious and irrepressible spirit came to his aid, and he answered: + +"O King, I hear! O King, your Majesty would make the deaf to hear, and +the dumb to speak! And if there is anything to be done to me for +abominating you, O King, who had the impudence to offer me a hundred +gold pieces a year for my poems, I, O King, will submit to the utmost +terrors of the law!" + +A burst of laughter long and loud, relieved the pent-up feelings of the +company. The King laughed as heartily as the rest, and over the +brooding features of Thord himself came the shadow of a smile. + +"We will settle our accounts together later on, Zouche!" said the +monarch gaily; "Meanwhile, I beg you to continue your harmless +abomination of me at your leisure!" + +Another laugh went round, and then the King resuming his speech +continued: + +"I have played two parts at once,--Revolutionist and King! But both +parts are after all but two sides of the same nature. When I first came +among you, I bade you all look at me well,--I asked you to note the +resemblance I bore to the ruling Sovereign. I called myself 'the living +copy of the man I most despise.' That was quite true! For there is no +one I despise more utterly than myself,--when I think what I might have +done with my million opportunities, and how much time I have wasted! +You all scrutinised me closely;--and I did not flinch! You all accepted +my service,--and I have served you well! I have noted every one of your +desires. Where possible, I have sought to fulfil them. Every accusation +you have brought against the Ministry has been sifted to the bottom, +and proved down to the hilt. My publicly-proclaimed decision to +nominate Carl Perousse as Premier was merely thrown out as a test to +try the temper and quality of the nation. That test has answered its +purpose well! But there is no need for fear,--Carl Perousse will never +be nominated to anything but disgrace! All his schemes are in my hand, +--I hold complete documentary proofs of his dishonesty and guilt; and +the very day which you have chosen as that on which to appeal to the +King against the choice of him as Prime Minister, will see him +denounced by myself in person to the Government." + +A storm of applause greeted this welcome announcement. For a moment all +the men went mad with excitement, shouting, stamping and singing,-- +while again and yet again the cry: 'For the King!' echoed round and +round in tempestuous cheering. + +Sergius Thord gazed blankly at the Scene with a strange sense of being +the dreaming witness of some marvellous drama enacted altogether away +from the earth. He could hot yet bring himself to realise that by such +a simple method as the independent working of one individual +intelligence, all his own followers had been swept round to loyalty and +love for a monarch, whom previously, though without knowing him, they +had hated--and sworn to destroy! Yet, in very truth, all the hatreds +and envys,--all the slanders and cruelties of the members of the human +race towards each other, spring from ignorance; and when disaffected +persons hate a king, they do so mostly because they do not know him, +and because they can form no true opinion of his qualities or the +various difficulties of his position. If the Anarchist, bent on the +destruction of some person in authority, only had the culture and +knowledge to recognise how much that person already suffers, by being +in all probability forced to fulfil duties for which he has no heart or +mind, he would stay his murderous hand, and pity rather than condemn. +For the removal of one ruler only means the installation of another,-- +and the wild and often gifted souls of reformers, stumbling through +darkness after some great Ideal which resolves itself into a shadow and +delusion the nearer one approaches to it, need to be tenderly dealt +with from the standpoint of plainest simplicity and truth,--so that +they may feel the sympathetic touch of human love and care emanating +from those very quarters which they seek to assail. This had been the +self-imposed mission of the King who had played the part of 'Pasquin +Leroy';--and thus, fearing nothing, doubting nothing, and relying +simply on his own strength, discretion, and determination, he had +gained a moral victory over the passions of his secret foes such as he +had never himself anticipated. When silence was again restored, he +proceeded: + +"The various suggestions made in my presence during the time I have +been a member of this Committee, will all be carried out. The present +Government will naturally oppose every measure,--but I,--backed by such +supporters as I have now won,--will elect a new Government--a new +Ministry. When I began this bloodless campaign of my own, the present +Ministry were on the edge of war. Determined to provoke hostilities +with a peaceful Power, they were ready even with arms and ammunition, +manufactured by a 'Company,' of which Perousse was the director and +chief shareholder! Contracts for army supplies were being secretly +tendered; and one was already secretly accepted and arranged for,--in +which Carl Perousse and the Marquis de Lutera were to derive enormous +interest;--the head of the concern being David Jost. This plan was +concocted with devilish ingenuity,--for, if the war had actually broken +out, the supplies of our army would have been of the worst possible +kind, in order to give the best possible profit to the contractors; and +Jost, with his newspaper influence, would have satisfied the public +mind by printing constant reiterations of the completeness and +excellence of the supplies, and the entire contentment and jubilation +of the men! But I awoke to my responsibilities in time to checkmate +this move. I forbade the provocation intended;--I stopped the war. In +this matter at least--much loss of life, much heavy expenditure, and +much ill-will among other nations has been happily spared to us. For +the rest,--everything you have been working for shall be granted,--if +you yourselves will help me to realise your own plans! I want you in +your thousands!--ay, in your tens of thousands! I want you all on my +side! With you,--the representatives of the otherwise unvoiced People, +--I will enforce all the measures which you have discussed before me, +showing good and adequate reason why they should be carried. The taxes +you complain of shall be instantly removed;--and for the more speedy +replenishment of the National Exchequer, I gladly resign one half my +revenues from all sources whatsoever for the space of five years; or +longer, if considered desirable. But I want your aid! Will you all +stand by me?" + +A mighty shout answered him. + +"To the death!" + +He turned to Thord. + +"Sergius," he said, "my task is finished--my confession made! The next +Order of this meeting must come from you!" + +Thord looked at him amazedly. + +"From me? Are you not the King?" + +"Only so long as the People desire it!" replied the monarch gently; +"And are you not the representative of the People?" + +Thord's chest heaved. Burning tears stood in his eyes. The strangeness +of the situation--the deliberate coolness and resolve with which this +sovereign ruler of a powerful kingdom laid his life trustingly in his +hands, was too much for his nerve. + +"Lotys!" he said huskily; "Lotys!" + +She rose at once and came to him, moving ghostlike in her white +draperies, her eyes shining--her lips tremulous. + +"Lotys," he said, "The King is in our hands! You saved his life once-- +will you save it again?" + +She raised her bent head, and the old courageous light flashed in her +face, transfiguring its every feature. + +"It is not for me to save!" she replied in clear firm tones; "It is for +you--and for all of us,--to defend!" + +A ringing cheer answered her. Sergius Thord slowly advanced, and as he +did so, the King, seeing his movement frankly held out his hand. For a +moment the Socialist Chief hesitated--then suddenly yielding to his +overpowering impulse, caught that hand and raised his dark eyes full to +the monarch's face. + +"You have conquered me!" he said, "But only by your qualities as a man +--not by your authority as a king! You have won my honour--my respect-- +my gratitude--my friendship--and with these, so long as you are +faithful to our Cause, take my allegiance! More I cannot say--more I +will not promise!" + +"I need no more!" responded the King cheerily, enclosing his hand in a +warm clasp. "We are friends and fellow-workers, Sergius!--we can never +be rivals!" + +As he spoke, his glance fell on Lotys. She shrank from the swift +passion of his gaze,--and her eyelids drooped half-swooningly over the +bright star-windows of her own too ardent soul. Abruptly turning from +both her and Thord, the King again addressed the company: + +"One word more, my friends! It is arranged that you, with all your +thousands of the People are to convene together in one great multitude, +and march to the Palace to demand justice from the King. There is now +no need to do this,--for the King himself is one of you!--the King only +lives and reigns that justice in all respects may be done! I will +therefore ask you to change your plan;--and instead of marching to the +Palace, march with me to the House of Government. You would have +demanded justice from the King; the King himself will go with you to +demand justice for the People!" + +A wild shout answered him; and he knew as he looked on the faces of his +hearers that he had them all in his power as the servants of his will. + +"And now, gentlemen," he proceeded; "I should perhaps make some excuses +for my two friends, known to you as Max Graub and Axel Regor. I told +you I would be responsible for their conduct, and, so far as they have +been permitted to go, they have behaved well! I must, however, in +justice to them, assure you that whereas I became a member of your +Committee gladly, they followed my example reluctantly, and only out of +fidelity and obedience to me. They have lived in the shadow of the +Throne,--and have learned to pity,--and I think,--to love its +occupant! Because they know,--as you have never known,--the heavy +burden which a king puts on with his crown! They have, however, in +their way, served you under my orders, and under my orders will +continue to serve you still. Max Graub, or, to give him his right name, +Heinrich von Glauben, has a high reputation in this country for his +learning, apart from his position as Household Physician to our Court; +--Axel Regor is my very good friend Sir Roger de Launay, who is amiable +enough to support the monotony of his duty as one of my equerries in +waiting. Now you know us as we are! But after all, nothing is changed, +save our names and the titles we bear; we are the same men, the same +friends, the same comrades!--and so I trust we shall remain!" + +The cheering broke out again, and Sir Roger de Launay, who was quite as +overwhelmed with astonishment at the courage and coolness of his Royal +master as any Revolutionist present, joined in it with a will, as did +Von Glauben. + +"One favour I have to ask of you," proceeded the King, "and it is this: +If you exempt me to-night from killing the King;" and he smiled,--"you +must also exempt all the members of the Revolutionary Committee from +any similar task allotted to them by having drawn the fatal Signal! Our +friend, Zouche, for instance, has drawn the name of Carl Perousse. Now +I want Zouche for better work than that of killing a rascal!" + +Loud cheers answered him, and Zouche rising from his place advanced a +little. + +"Majesty!" he cried, "You are right! I hand your Majesty's intended +Premier over to you with the greatest, pleasure in the world! Apart +from the fact of your being the King, I am compelled to admit that you +have common sense!" + +Laughter and cheers resounded through the room again, and the King +quietly turning round, extinguished the red lamp on the table. The +thirteenth light was quenched; the Day of Fate was ended. As the +ominous crimson flare sank out, a sudden silence prevailed, and the +King fixed his eyes on Lotys. + +"From you, Madame, must come my final exoneration! If you still condemn +me as a King, I shall be indeed unfortunate! If you still think well of +me as a man, I shall be proud! I have to thank you, not only for my +life, but for having helped me to make that life valuable! As Pasquin +Leroy, I have sought to serve you,--as King, I seek to serve you +still!" + +The silence continued. Every man present watched the visible emotion +which swept every vestige of colour from the face of Lotys, and made +her eyes so feverishly bright. Every man gazed at her as she rose from +her chair and came forward a little to the front of the platform. It +was with a strong effort that she raised her eyes to those of the King, +and in that one glance between them, the lightning flash of a +resistless love tore the veil of secrecy from their souls. But she +spoke out bravely. + +"I thank your Majesty!" she said; "I thank you for all you have done +for us as our comrade and associate,--for all you will yet do for us as +our comrade and associate still! It is better to be a brave man than a +weak King--but it is best to be a strong man and a strong king both +together! You have disproved the thoughts I had of you as King! You +have ratified--" here she paused, while the colour suddenly sprang to +her cheeks, and her breath came pantingly and quick,--"and strengthened +the thoughts I had of you as our Pasquin!" Her eyes softened with +tears, though she smiled. "We have believed in you; we believe in you +still! All is as it was,--save in the one thing new,--that where we +were banded together against the King, we are now united for, and with +the King!" + +These words were all that were needed to reawaken and confirm the +enthusiasm of the Revolutionists, whose 'revolutionary' measures were +now accepted and sworn to by the Crowned Head of the Realm. Thereupon, +they gave themselves up to the wildest cheering. + +"Comrades!" cried Paul Zouche, in the midst of the uproar; "There is +one point you seem to have missed! The King,--God bless him!--doesn't +see it,--Thord, glowering like an owl in his ivy-bush of hair, doesn't +see it! It is only left to me to perceive the chief result of this +evening's disclosures!" + +All the men laughed. + +"What is it, Zouche?" demanded Louis Valdor. + +"Ay! What is it?" echoed Zegota. + +"Speak, Zouche!" said the King; "Whatever strange conclusion your +poetic brain discovers, doubt not but that we shall accept it,--from !" + +"Accept it? I should think so!" cried Zouche; "You are bound to accept +it whether you like it or not; there is no other way out of it!" + +"Well, what is it?" repeated Zegota impatiently; "Declare it!" + +"It is this;" said Zouche, "Simply this,--that, with the King as our +comrade and associate, the Revolutionary Committee is no use! It is +finished! There can be no longer a Revolutionary Committee!" + +"That is true!" said the King; "It may henceforth be known as a new +Parliament!" + +Cheer after cheer echoed through the crowded room, and while the noise +was at its height a knocking was heard outside and Sholto, the +hunchback father of Pequita, demanded admittance. Zegota unlocked the +door, and in a few minutes the situation was explained to the +astonished landlord of the Revolutionary Committee quarters. +Overwhelmed at the news, and full of gratitude for the kindness shown +to his child, which he now knew had emanated from the King in person, +he would have knelt to kiss the Royal hand, had not the monarch +prevented him. + +"No, my good Sholto!" he said gently; "Enough of such humility wearies +me in the monotonous routine of Court life; and were it not for custom +and prejudice, I would suffer no self-respecting man to abase himself +before me, simply because my profession is that of King! Tell Pequita +that I would not look at her, or applaud her dancing the other night, +because I wished her to hate the King and to love Pasquin!--but now you +must ask her for me, to love them both!" + +Sholto bowed low, profoundly overcome. Was this the King against whom +they had all been in league?--this simple, unaffected man, who seemed +so much at home and at one with them all? Amazed and bewildered, he, by +general invitation, mixed with the rest of the men, for each of whom +the King had a kind and appreciative word, or a fresh pledge of his +good faith and intention towards them and the reforms they sought to +effect. Von Glauben was surrounded by a group of those among whom he +had made himself popular; and a hundred eager questions were asked of +both him and De Launay, who were ready enough to eulogise the daring of +their Royal master, and the determination with which he had resolved on +making his secret foes his open friends. + +"After all," said Zegota deprecatingly, "it is not so much the King whom +we were against, as the Government." + +"Ah! You forget, no doubt," said Von Glauben, "that the King--any King-- +is usually a Dummy in the hands of Government, unless, as in the +present instance, he chooses to become a living Personality for +himself!" + +"The King has created an autocracy!" said Louis Valdor; "and it will +last for his lifetime. But after----!" + +"After him,--if his eldest son, Prince Humphry, comes to the Throne,-- +the autocracy will be continued;" said Von Glauben decisively; "For he +is a young man who is singularly fond of having his own way!" + +The conversation now became general; and the big, bare, common room +assumed in a few minutes almost the aspect of a Royal levee. This was +curious enough,--and furnished food for meditation to Professor von +Glauben, who was considerably excited by the dramatic denouement of the +Day of Fate,--a climax for which neither he nor Sir Roger had been in +the least prepared. He said something of it to Sir Roger who was +watching Lotys. + +"You look at the woman," he said; "I look at the man! Do you think this +drama is finished?" + +"Not yet!" answered De Launay curtly; "Nor is the danger over!" + +The hum of talk continued; and the good feeling of friendship and unity +of the assemblage was intensified with every cordial handshake. When +the time came to break up, someone suggested that a carriage should be +sent for to convey the King and his two companions to the Palace. +Whereat the monarch laughed aloud and right joyously. + +"By my faith!" he exclaimed; "You, my friends, would actually pamper me +already, by offering me a luxury which you yourselves do not propose to +enjoy! Ah, my friends, here comes in the mischief of the monarchical +system! What of your 'Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity'? Do I ask to +have anything different to yourselves? Can I not walk, even as you do? +Have I not walked to, and from these meetings often? And even so, I +purpose to walk now! If you are true Revolutionists--as I am--do not +reverse your own theories! You complain,--and justly,--that a king is +over-flattered; do not then flatter him yourselves by insisting on such +convenience for him as he does not even demand at your hands!" + +"You take us too literally, Sir," said Louis Valdor; "Even +Revolutionists owe respect to their chief!" + +"Sergius Thord is your Chief, my friend!" replied the monarch; "And, +from a Revolutionary point of view, mine! But you have never thought of +sending _him_ anywhere in a carriage! Ah!--what children we are! +What slaves of convention! 'Liberty, Equality and Fraternity' have been +the ideals of ages;--yet despite them, we are always ready to follow a +Leader,--and form ourselves into one body under a Head!" + +"Provided the Head has brains in it!" said Zouche. "But otherwise--" + +"You cut it off!" laughed the monarch--"and quite right too!" + +They now began to separate. The hunchback Sholto explained that it was +long after midnight, and that he had already put out all the lights in +the basement. + +Whereupon the King, turning to Sergius Thord said: "Farewell for the +moment, Sergius! Come to me at the Palace with the whole plan of the +meeting you are now organising; I shall hold myself ready to fall in +with your plans! Gather your thousands, and--leave the rest to me!" + +Thord clasped his extended hand,--and was moved by a curious instinct +to bend down low over it after the fashion of a courtier, but +restrained himself almost by force. The men began to move; one after +the other bade good-night to the King--then to Thord, and last to +Lotys, who, drawing on her cloak, prepared to leave also. + +"I will see you safely down the stairs," said the King smilingly, to +her. "It is not the first time I have done so! How now, Zouche?" + +Paul Zouche stood before him, his eyes full of a strange mingled pathos +and scorn. + +"I have to thank your Majesty," he said slowly, "for something I do not +in the least value,--Fame! It has come too late! Had it been my portion +three years ago, the woman I loved would have been proud of me, and I +should have been happy! She is dead now--and nothing matters!" + +The King was silent. There was something both solemn and pitiful about +this wreck of manhood which was still kept alive by the fire of genius. + +"With one word you might have saved me--and her!" he went on. "When you +came to the Throne,--and all the wretched versifiers in the kingdom +were scribbling twaddle in the way of 'Coronation odes' and medleys, I +wrote 'The Song of Freedom' for your glory! All the people of the land +know that song now!--but you might have known it then! For now it is +too late!--too late to call her back;--too late to give me peace!" + +He paused;--then--without another word--turned, and went out. + +"Poor Zouche!" said the King gently; "I accept his reproach and +understand it! He is right! The recognition of his genius is one of the +thousand chances I have missed! But, as God lives, I will miss no +more!" + +A great quietude fell on the house as the Revolutionary Committee +dispersed. The last to leave was the King, his two friends, and Lotys. +Lotys declined all escort somewhat imperatively, refusing to allow +Sergius Thord to see her to her own home. + +"I must be alone!" she said; "Do you not understand! I want to think--I +want to realise our change of position. I cannot talk to you, Sergius, +--no--not till to-morrow--you must let me be!" + +He drew back, chilled and hurt by her tone, but forbore to press his +company on her. With another farewell to the King, he stood at the top +of the long dark winding stair watching the group descend,--first Von +Glauben, next De Launay,--thirdly, the King,--and lastly, Lotys. + +"Good-night!" he called, as her white robes vanished in the gloom. + +"Good-night!" she answered tremulously, as she disappeared. + +And he, returning to the empty room, stared vacantly at the table +draped with black, and the funeral urn set upon it,--stared at the +empty chairs and bare walls, and listened as it were, to the midnight +silence,--realising that he as Chief of the Revolutionary Committee, +was no longer a chief but a servant!--and that the power he sought-- +that power which he had endeavoured to attain in order that he might +make of Lotys, as he had said, 'a queen among women!' was only to be +won through,--the King! The King knew all his secret plans and his +aims,--he held the clue to the whole network of his Revolutionary +organisation,--and the only chance he now had of ever arriving at the +highest goal of his ambition was in the King's hands! Thus was he,-- +Socialist and Revolutionist,--made subject to the Throne; the very +rules he had drawn up for himself and his Committee making it +impossible that he could be otherwise than loyal, to a monarch who was +at the same time his comrade! + +Meanwhile, in the thick darkness of the hall below, while Von Glauben +and De Launay were groping their way to the door which was cautiously +held open by Sholto, Lotys, moving with hesitating steps down the +stairs, felt rather than saw a head turned back upon her,--a flash of +eyes in the darkness, and heard her name breathed softly: + +"Lotys!" + +She grew dizzy and uncertain of her footing; she could not answer. +Suddenly a strong arm caught her,--she was drawn into a close, fierce, +jealous clasp; warm lips caressed her hair, her brow, her eyes; and a +voice whispered in her ear: + +"You love me, Lotys! You love me! Hush!--do not deny it--you cannot +deny it!--you know it, as I know it!--you have told me you love me! +You love me, my Love! You love me!" + +Another moment--and the King passed quietly out of the door with a +bland 'Good-night' to Sholto, and joining his two companions, raised +his hat to Lotys with a courteous salutation. + +"Good-night, Madame!" + +She stood in the doorway, shuddering violently from head to foot,-- +watching his tall figure disappear in the shadows of the street. Then +stretching out her hands blindly, she gave a faint cry, and murmuring +something inarticulate to the alarmed Sholto, fell senseless at his +feet. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +KING AND SOCIALIST + + +To many persons of the servile or flunkey habit, the idea that a king +should ever comport himself as an ordinary,--or extraordinary,--man, +seems more or less preposterous; while to conceive him as endowed with +dash, spirit, and a love of adventure is judged almost as absurd and +impossible. The only potentate that ever appears, in legendary lore, to +have indulged himself to his heart's content in the sport of adopting a +disguise and going about unrecognised among his subjects, is the witty +and delightful hero of the 'Arabian Nights' Entertainment,' Caliph +Haroun Alraschid, who, as Tennyson describes him, had + + "Deep eyes, laughter-stirred + With merriment of kingly pride; + Sole star of all that place and time, + I saw him in his golden prime. + The good Haroun Alraschid!" + +We accept Haroun; and acknowledge him to have been wise in the purport +of his wanderings through the streets of the city,--gaining new +experience with every hour, and studying the needs and complaints of +his people for himself;--but if we should be told of a modern monarch +doing likewise in our own day, we should mount on the stiff hobby-horse +of our ridiculous conventionality, and accuse him of having brought the +dignity of the Throne into contempt. Yet nothing perhaps can be more +contemptible than a monarch who is too surrounded by flunkeyism to be a +Man,--and, on the other hand, nothing could be more beneficial than the +feeling that perhaps a monarch may be so much of a man after all that +no one can be quite certain as to his whereabouts. It would be well if +some rowdy 'clubs' could be restrained by the idea that the Sovereign +of the Realm might step in unexpectedly,--or if the 'slums' could +scarcely be able to tell when he might not be among their inmates, +disguised as one of them, studying and knowing more in a day than his +ministers would tell him in several years. It is generally admitted +that no man is fit for a profession till he has thoroughly mastered its +possibilities,--yet it is not too much to declare that in the +profession of Sovereignty the few who practise it, have mastered it to +so little purpose, that they are almost entirely blind to the singular +advantages which they might obtain, not only for themselves, but for +the entire world, if they chose to put forth their own individuality, +and, instead of wasting their time on the scheming and self-seeking +sections of Society, elected to try their powers on the working and +trade communities of the nation. But throughout all history, the +various careers of kings and emperors contain instructive lessons of +Lost Opportunity. Allowing for the differences of climate and +temperament, it may be taken for granted that no people of any country +are constitutionally able to rise above a certain height of enthusiasm; +and that when the high-water mark is reached, their enthusiasm cools, +and a reaction invariably sets in. For this cause a monarch should +never rely too much on the plaudits of the mob in a time of conquest, +or public festival of jubilation. He should look upon such acclamation +as the mere rising of a wave, which must in due time sink again,--and +if he would know his people thoroughly, he should study that same +shouting mob, not when it is affected by hysteria, but during its +everyday level condition of stubborn and patient toil. So will he +perhaps be able to lay his finger on the sore places of life, and to +find out where the seed of mischief is planted, before it begins to +grow. But he must give an individual interest to such work; no +information must be obtained or given through this person or that +person,--for the old maxim that 'if you want anything done, do it +yourself' applies to kings as well as to all other classes of men. + +That the old adage had been amply practised by one king at least, was +soon known throughout the capital of the country over which the monarch +here written of held dominion. Somehow, and by some means or other, the +story oozed out bit by bit and in guarded whispers, that the King had +'trapped' Carl Perousse, as well as several other defaulting +ministers,--and that, strange and incredible as it appeared, he himself +was the very 'Pasquin Leroy' whose political polemics had created such +a stir. Once started, the rumour flew;--some disbelieved it;--others +listened, with ears stretched wide, greedy for more detail,--but +presently the scattered threads of gossip became woven into a +consecutive web of certainty so far as one point, at least, was +concerned,--and this was, that the King would personally address his +Parliament during the ensuing week on matters of national safety and +importance. Such an announcement was altogether unprecedented, and +excited the whole country's attention. Plenty of discussion there was, +as to whether the King had any right to so address the members of the +Government,--and some oracular journals were of the opinion that he was +acting in an 'unconstitutional manner.' On the other hand, it was +discovered and proved that there was no actual law forbidding the +Sovereign to speak when any question of urgency appeared to call for +his expressed opinion. + +While this affair was being contested and argued, a considerable +sensation was created by the news that the Marquis de Lutera had +suddenly left the country,--ostensibly for his health, which, everyone +was assured, had completely broken down. People shook their heads +ominously, and wondered when the King would give M. Perousse the task +of forming a new Ministry,--while they watched with deepening interest +the progress of the various Government debates, which were carried on +in the usual way, following the lines laid down by the absent Premier, +Marquis de Lutera. Carl Perousse, confronted by a thousand +difficulties, maintained his usual equable and audacious attitude, +scouting with scorn the rumour that the Socialist writer, 'Pasquin +Leroy' was merely a disguise adopted by the King himself,--and he was +as cool and imperturbable as ever when one morning David Jost succeeded +in finding him at home, and obtaining an audience. + +"It was the King!" burst out Jost, as soon as he found himself alone +with his ally; "It was the King himself who wore Lutera's signet, and +came to me disguised so well that his own father would not have known +him! The King himself, I say! And I told him everything!" + +"More fool you!" returned Perousse quietly; "However, fools generally +have to pay the price of their folly!" + +"And knaves!" said Jost furiously; "But there is a power which cannot +be controlled, even by kings or statesmen--and that is--the pen!" + +"And do you think you can use the pen?" queried Perousse indolently; +"Excellent Shylock, you know you cannot! You can pay others to use it +for you! That is all!" + +"I can make short work of _you_ at any rate!" said Jost, his +little eyes sparkling with rage; "For I see plainly enough now that +even if our plans had succeeded, you would have left me in the lurch!" + +"Of course!" smiled Perousse; "Are you so simple in the world's ways as +not to be able to realise that such Jew pressmen as you are only made +for the use of politicians? We drop you, when we have done with you! Go +to London, Jost! Start a paper there! It is the very place for you! Get +a Cardinal to back you up, with funds to be used for the 'conversion' +of England! Or give a hundred thousand pounds to a hospital! You can +become naturalised as an Englishman if you like; any country does for a +Jew! And you will be a power of the realm in no time! They manage these +sort of things capitally there!" + +"By God!" said Jost; "I could kill you!" + +"What for?" demanded Perousse; "Because you think I am going to be +proved a political fraud? Wait and see! If the King denounces me, I am +prepared to denounce the King!" + +Jost stared, then laughed aloud. + +"Denounce the King! You are bold! But you make up your sum with the +wrong numerals this time! The King holds the complete list of your +speculations in his hand,--he has got them through the agency of the +Revolutionary Committee, to which your stockbroker's confidential clerk +belongs! You fool! All your schemes--all your 'companies' are known to +him root and branch--and you say you will 'denounce' him! If you do, +it will be a real comedy!--the case of a thief denouncing the officer +who has caught him red-handed in the act of thieving!" + +With this parting shot, he made a violent exit. Perousse left alone, +dismissed him, with all other harassments from his mind; for being +entirely without a conscience, he had very little care as to the +results of the King's reported intentions. He was preparing a brilliant +speech, which he intended to deliver if occasion demanded; and on his +own coolness, mendacity and pluck, he staked his future. + +"If I fail," he said to himself; "I will go to the United States, and +end by becoming President! There are many such plans open to a man of +resources!" + +During the ensuing few days there were some extra gaieties at the +Palace,--and the King and Queen were seen daily in public. Everywhere, +they were greeted with frantic outbursts of cheering, and the recent +riotous outbreaks seemed altogether forgotten. The Opera was crowded +nightly, and undeterred by the fear of any fresh manifestations of +popular discontent, their Majesties were again present. This time the +King was the first to lead off the applause that hailed Pequita's +dancing. And how her little feet flew!--how her eyes sparkled with +rapture--how the dark curls tossed, and the cherry lips smiled! To her +the King remained Pasquin!--a kind of monarch in a fairy tale, who +scattered benefits at a touch, and sunshine with a glance, and who +deserved all the love and loyalty of every subject in the kingdom! But +she had never had any idea of 'Revolution,' poor child!--save such a +revolving of chance and circumstance as should enable her father to +live in comfort, without anxiety for his latter days. And perhaps at +the bottom of all political or religious fanaticism we should find an +equally simple root of cause for the effect. + +The day at last came when Sergius Thord held his mighty 'mass meeting,' +convened in the Cathedral square,--all ready for marching orders. No +interference was offered either from soldiery or police; and the people +came pouring up from every quarter of the city in their thousands and +tens of thousands. By noon, the tall lace-like spire of the Cathedral +towered above a vast sea of human heads, which from a distance looked +like swarming bees; and as the bells struck the hour, Thord, mounting +the steps of a monument erected to certain heroes who had long ago +fallen in battle, was greeted with a roar of acclamation like the +thunder of heaven's own artillery. But even while the multitude still +shouted and cheered, the sight of another figure, which quietly +ascended to the same position, caused a sudden hush,--a gradually +deepening silence of amazement and awe,--and then finally swift +recognition. + +"The King!" cried a voice. + +"Pasquin Leroy!" shouted another, who was answered by yells and shrieks +of derision. + +"The King!" was again the cry. And as the vast crowd circled round and +round, its million eyes wonderingly upturned, Sergius Thord suddenly +lifted his cap and waved it: + +"Ay! The King!" His voice rang over the heads of the people with a rich +thrill of command. "The King, who here declares himself the friend of +our Cause! The King, who is with us to-day of his own will, at his own +request, by his own choice!--without escort,--unarmed--defenceless! The +King! The King who has resolved to go with us, and demand justice for +his overtaxed and suffering subjects! The King, who is one with us!-- +who seeks no greater kingliness than that of being loved and trusted by +his People!" + +The surprise of this announcement was so truly overpowering, that for +the moment the mighty mass of men stood inert; then,--as the situation +flashed upon them, such a thunder of cheering broke out as seemed to +make the very earth rock and the houses in the square tremble. The King +himself, standing by Thord, grew pale as he heard it, and his eyes were +suffused with something like tears. + +"By Heaven!" he murmured; "The love of this people is worth having!" + +"Did you ever doubt it?" queried Thord slowly, eyeing him with a touch +of wonder not unmixed with jealousy; "There is only one power which +keeps a king on his throne--the confidence of the nation! You had +nearly lost that! For though there is nothing so easy to win, there is +nothing so easy to lose!" + +"True!" said the monarch, his eyes still resting tenderly on the +excited multitude below him. "I have deserved little at the people's +hands--but perhaps--when I am gone--" he paused abruptly, then with a +smile added--"Give us our marching orders, Sergius!" + +Thord obeyed,--and very soon, under his command, the huge multitude +arranged itself in blocks, or regiments, perfectly organised in +different companies, and entirely prepared to keep order. Dividing into +equal lines they made way quickly and with enthusiasm as they perceived +the King's charger, which, richly caparisoned, had been brought for his +Majesty at Thord's own earnest request. + +When all was ready, the King sprang into the saddle, and gathering the +reins in one hand, sat for a moment bare-headed, the people surging +round him with repeated outbursts of applause. Without a weapon,-- +without a single man of his own household to bear him company,--without +any armed escort,--he remained there enthroned;--the centre,--not of +'society,'--but of the People, who gathered round him as their visible +Head, with as much shouting and enthusiasm and worship, as if he had, +in his own person, made the conquest, single-handed, of a hundred +nations! Never, in his most gorgeous apparel,--never, even when robed +and crowned in state, had he looked so noble; never had he seemed so +worthy of the highest honour, reverence and admiration, as now! At a +signal from Thord, who led the way on foot, the thousands of the city +began to march to the House of Government, all gathering round one +principal figure, that of their King. A group of workmen constituted +themselves his body-guard, protecting his proudly-stepping charger +from so much as a stone that might startle it or check its progress, +and thus--liberated from the protection of flunkeys and flatterers,-- +the monarch, surrounded by his true subjects advanced together as one +Body, to challenge and overthrow a fraudulent Ministry, whose measures +had been drawn up and passed, not for the good of the country, but for +the financial advantage and protection of themselves. + +Never was such a wondrous sight seen, as that almost interminable +procession through the broad thoroughfares of the city, headed by a +Socialist, and centred by a King! No Royal ceremonial, overburdened +with snobbish conventionalities and hypocritical parade, ever presented +so splendid and imposing a sight as that concentrated mass of the +actual people,--the working muscle and sinew of the land's common weal, +marching in steady and triumphant order,--surging like the billows of +the sea around that brave ship, their Sovereign, cheering him to the +echo, and waving around him the flags of the country, while he, still +bare-headed, rode dauntless in their midst looking every inch a king!-- +more kingly indeed than he had ever seemed, and more established in the +affections of his subjects than any living monarch of the time. So was +he brought with ceaseless acclamation to the Government House, where, +as all knew, he purposed denouncing Carl Perousse;--and thus did he +assert in his own person that a king, supported by a nation, is more +powerful than any government built up by mere party agency! + +And even so, at his best and bravest, two women looked upon him and +loved him! One, from the outskirts of the great crowd where, shrouded +close in her veil, she waited tremblingly near the Government +buildings, and saw him alight from his charger, and enter there, amid +the wild shoutings of the populace,--the other, from a high window in +the Royal Palace, where she leaned watching the crowd,--the sunlight +catching the diamonds at her breast and sparkling in her proud cold +eyes. And over the whole city rang the continuous and exultant cry: + +"The King! The King!" + +And perhaps only one soul, prophetic in instinct, foresaw any terror in +the triumph!--only one voice, low and tremulous and weighted with tears +and prayers, murmured: + +"Ah, dear God! Would he were not a King!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +A VOTE FOR LOVE + + +Next day it was known through the length and breadth of the city that +the King, so long judged as a political Dummy, had proved himself a +living, acting authority. Every journal in city and province led off +its news under the one chief heading,--'The King's Speech.' The King +had spoken;--and with no uncertain voice. Cool, brilliant in wording, +concise in statement,--cuttingly correct in facts, convincing in +argument, his unexpected denouncement of Carl Perousse, and the +Perousse 'majority,' swept the Government off their feet by its daring +courage, and still more daring veracity. Documentary evidence of the +dishonourable speculations with the public money which had been so +freely indulged in by the Secretary of State, aided and abetted by the +Premier, was handed by the King in person to the authorities whose +business it was to examine such proofs,--the dishonourable measures +used to retain the 'majority' were fully exposed, and the whole House +stood thunderstruck and mentally paralysed, under the straight +accusation and merciless condemnation launched at their own lax +tolerance of such iniquitous practices, by their reigning monarch. With +perfect dignity and impressive calm, the King quietly demanded whether +M. Carl Perousse would be pleased to explain his actions? Whether he +had anything to say in response to the charges brought against him? To +this last query, after a dead silence, during which every eye was fixed +on the defaulting Minister, who, in the course of the Royal speech had +seen every bulwark of his own intended defence torn away from him, +Perousse, with an ashy white countenance answered: + +"Nothing!" + +And the silence around him continued; a silence more expressive than +any outspoken word of scorn. + +But more surprises were in store for the Ministry, which found itself +thus suddenly overthrown. The King announced the marriage of his son, +the Crown Prince, to 'a daughter of the People'! Boldly, and with an +ardent passion of truth lighting up every feature of his handsome +countenance, he stated this overwhelming piece of news in a perfectly +matter-of-fact way, adding, that in consequence of the step taken,--a +step which he did not himself in any way regret,--the Crown Prince +asked to be allowed to resign the Throne in favour of his brother +Rupert. + +"Unless," continued his Majesty, "the Nation should be proved ready to +accept the wife he has chosen. It is needless to add that my son has +married without my consent, and this is the reason of his present +absence from the country. If the Nation accepts his wife, he will +return to the Nation; if not, I am bound to say, knowing his mind, that +there is nothing to be done, but to declare Prince Rupert Heir to the +Throne. This, however, I personally desire may be left to the +consideration and vote of the people!" + +And when the House rose on that astonishing afternoon, they knew they +were no longer a House,--they knew the Government was entirely +overthrown, and that there would be a new Ministry and a General +Election. They had to realise also, that their 'Bills' for imposing +fresh taxes on the people were mere waste paper,--and they heard +likewise with redoubled amazement that the King had decided to resign +half his revenues for the space of five years, to assist the deficit in +the National Exchequer. + +At the conclusion of the whole unprecedented scene, they saw the King +received, as it were, into the arms of a frenzied crowd, numbering many +tens of thousands, which spread round all the Government buildings, and +poured itself in thick streams through every street and thoroughfare, +and they had to accept the fact that their 'majority' was reduced to a +minority so infinitesimal, amid the greater wave of popular resolve, +that it was not worth counting. + +Carl Perousse, leaving the House by a private door of egress, +shamed, disgraced and crestfallen as he was, dared not trust the very +sight of himself to such an overwhelming multitude, and managed by +lucky chance to escape unobserved. He was assisted in this manoeuvre by +General Bernhoff. The Chief of the Police perceived him slinking +cautiously along the side-wall of an alley where the crowd had not +penetrated, and helped him into a passing cab that he might be driven +rapidly and safely to his home. + +"You will no doubt excuse me"--said the General with a slight smile-- +"for not having acted more rigorously in the matter of the suspected +'Pasquin Leroy'! I am afraid I should never have summed up sufficient +impudence to ask the King to sign a warrant against himself!" + +Perousse muttered an inarticulate oath by way of reply. He realised +fully that the game for him was lost. His speech of defence, so +carefully prepared had been useless, for he could not have uttered it +in the face of the damnatory evidence against him pronounced by the +King, and verified by his own public actions. Yet his audacity had not, +in the main, deserted him. He knew that, owing to his proved +defalcations and fraudulent use of the public money, his own property +would be confiscated to the Crown,--but he had always kept himself well +prepared for emergencies, and had invested in foreign securities under +various assumed names. Turning his attention to America, he felt pretty +sure he could do something there,--but so far as his own country was +concerned, he submitted to the inevitable, feeling that his day was +done. + +"The Jew is always triumphant!" he said, as he opened Jost's newspaper +next morning, and read a full account of the proceedings in the House, +described with all the 'colour' and gush of Jost's most melodramatic +reporter. "There is no doubt a 'leader' on my 'unhappy position' as a +fallen, but once trusted Minister!" + +He was right; there was! A gravely-reproachful, sternly-commiserating +'leader,' wherein the apparently impeccable and highly conscientious +writer 'deplored' the laxity of those who supported M. Carl Perousse in +his 'regrettable' scheme of self-aggrandisement. + +"The rascal!" ejaculated Perousse, as he read. "If I ever get a fresh +start in the United States or South Africa, I'll put him on a gridiron, +and roast him to slow music!" + +Meanwhile the whole country went mad over the King. No man was ever so +idolised; no man was ever made the centre of more hero-worship. In all +the excitement of a General Election, the wave of loyalty rose to its +extremest height, and no candidate that was not ready to follow the +lines of reform laid down by the monarch, had a ghost of a chance of +being returned as a deputy. With the abolition of the tax on bread, the +popular jubilation increased; bonfires were lit on every hill,--rockets +flared up star-like from every rocky point upon the coast, and the +Nation gave itself entirely up to joy. + +All the long dormant sentiment of the multitude was roused to a fever- +heat by the story of Prince Humphry's marriage, and he too, next to his +father, became a veritable hero of romance in the eyes of the people, +for whom Love, and all pertaining to love-matters form the most +interesting part of life. Following his announcement in the House, the +King issued a 'manifesto,' setting forth the facts of his son's union +with 'One Gloria Ronsard, of The Islands,' and requesting the vote of +the people for, or against, the Prince as Heir-Apparent to the Throne. + +The result of this bold and candid reliance on the Nation was one which +could never have been foreseen by so-called 'diplomatic' statesmen, who +are accustomed to juggle with simple facts, and who strive to cover up +and conceal the too distinct plainness of truth. An electric thrill of +chivalrous enthusiasm pulsated through the entire country; and the +unanimous vote of the people was returned to the King in entire favour +of the Crown Prince and his chosen bride. Perhaps no one was more +astonished at this than the King himself. He had been prepared for +considerable friction; he had been quite sure of opposition on the part +of 'Society,' but, Society, moved for once from its usual selfishness +by the boldness and daring of a heroic king, had ranked itself entirely +on his side, and was ready and even anxious to accept in Prince Humphry +a new kind of 'Cophetua,' even if he had chosen to wed a beggar-maid! +And it so chanced that there were many persons who had seen Gloria,-- +and among these was Sergius Thord, He had not only seen her, but known +her;--he had studied her character and qualities,--and was aware that +she possessed one of the most pure and beautiful of womanly souls;--and +though taken by surprise at the discovery that the young 'sailor' she +had wedded was no other than the Crown Prince, yet, after the +experience he had personally gone through with one 'Pasquin Leroy,' he +could scarcely feel that any news, even of the most wonderful kind, was +so wonderful after all! So that, as soon as he learned the truth, he +brought all his enormous 'following' into unanimity as regarded the +Prince's romantic love-story; and ere long there was not one in the +metropolis at least, who did not consider the marriage a good thing, +and likely to weld even more closely together the harmonious +relationship between people and Throne. + +And so it chanced, that even while the General Election was still going +on all over the country, an incessant popular clamour was made for the +instant return of the Prince to his native land. The papers teemed with +suggestions as to the 'welcoming home' of the young hero of romance and +his bride, and Professor von Glauben, mentally giddy with the whirl of +events, was nevertheless triumphantly elated. + +"Now that you know everything," he said to Sir Roger de Launay, "I hope +you are satisfied! My 'jam-pot' that you spoke of, has turned out to be +a special Sweetmeat for the whole nation!" + +"I am very much surprised, I confess!" said Sir Roger slowly; "I should +hardly have thought such a love-story possible in these modern days. +And I should certainly never have given the nation credit for so much +sentiment!" + +"A nation is always sentimental!" declared the Professor; "What does a +Government exist for? Merely to keep national sentiment in order. +Ministers know well enough, that despite the various 'Bills' brought in +for material advantage and improvement, they have always to deal with +the imaginative aspiration of the populace, rather than their +conception of logic. For truly, the masses have no logic at all; they +will not stop to count the cost of an Army, but they will shout +themselves hoarse at the sight of the Flag! The Flag is the Sentiment; +the Army is the Fact. The King has secured all the votes of the nation +on a question of Sentiment only,--but there is this pleasant scientific +'fact underlying the sentiment,--Gloria is fit to be the mother of +kings! And that is what I will not say of any royally-born woman I +know!" + +Sir Roger was silent. + +"Consider our present Queen as a mother only!" he went on; "Beautiful +and impassive as a snow-peak with the snow shining upon it! What of her +sons? The Crown Prince is the best of them,--but he has only been saved +from inherited mischief by his love for Gloria. The other two boys, +Rupert and Cyprian, will probably be selfish libertines!" + +Sir Roger opened his eyes in astonishment. + +"Why do you say that?" he asked; "They are harmless lads enough! +Cricket and football are enough to make them happy." + +"For the present, no doubt!" agreed Von Glauben; "But it sometimes +happens that the young human animal who expends all his brains on +kicking a football, is quite likely to expend another sort of force +when he grows up, in morally kicking other things! At least, that is +how I regard it. The over-cultivation of physical strength leads to +mental callousness and brutality. These are scientific points which +require discussion,--not with you,--but with a scientist. Nothing +should be overdone. Too much enervation and lack of athleticism leads +to moral deterioration certainly,--but so does too much 'sport' as they +call it. There is a happy medium to be obtained on both sides, but +human beings generally miss it. Prince Humphry, born of a beautiful, +introspective, selfish--yes, I repeat it!--selfish mother, would, if he +had married a hard-natured, cold and conventional wife, probably have +been the most indifferent, casual, and careless sovereign that ever +reigned; but, united as he is to a trusting, warm-hearted, loving, +womanly woman like Gloria, he will probably make himself the idol of +the Nation." + +"Not more so than his father is!" said Sir Roger, with a smile. + +"Ach so! That would be difficult, I grant you!" agreed the Professor; +"As I told you, Roger, at the beginning of this drama in which we have +both played our little parts; no harm ever came undeservedly to a brave +man with a good conscience!" + +"True! And no harm has come to the King--as yet!" said Sir Roger +thoughtfully. "But I sometimes fear one man----!" + +"Sergius Thord?" suggested Von Glauben; "To speak honestly, so do I! +But I watch him--I watch him closely! He loves Lotys, as a tiger loves +its mate,--and if he should ever suspect----!" + +"Hush!" said Roger quickly; "Do not speak of it! I assure you I am +always on guard!" + +"Good! So am I! But Thord is too busy just now climbing the hill to +look either backward or aside. When he reaches the summit, it is +possible he may see the whole landscape at a glance!" + +"He will reach the summit very soon!" said De Launay; "His election as +deputy for the city, is certain. From the moment he announced himself +as candidate, there has been no opposition." + +"He will be returned by an overwhelming majority," said the Professor; +"And he will gain all the power he has been working for. Also, with the +power, he will obtain all the difficulty, responsibility, +disappointment and bitterness. Power is a dangerous possession, unless +it is accompanied by a cool head; and in that our friend Sergius Thord +is lacking. He is a creature of impulse--and a savage creature too!--a +half-educated genius,--than which nothing in the shape of humanity is +more desperately difficult to manage!" + +"Lotys can manage him!" said Sir Roger. + +"That depends!" And the Professor rubbed his nose irritably. "Women are +excellent diplomatists up to a certain point, but their limit is +reached when they fall in love! Passion and enthusiasm transform them +into quite as absurd fools as--men!" + +Sir Roger smiled, and changed the subject. + +But in a few days, what had been foreshadowed in their conversation +came true. One of the chief results of the General Election was the +triumphal return of Sergius Thord as Deputy for the Metropolis by an +enormous majority; and in the evening of the day on which the polling +was declared, great crowds assembled beneath the windows of his house, +--that house so long known as the quarters of the Revolutionary +Committee,--roaring themselves hoarse with acclamation. He was, of +course, called out before them to speak,--and he yielded to the +clamorous demand, as perforce he was bound to do, but strangely enough, +with extreme reluctance. + +A certain vague weariness depressed his spirits; his undisputed +election as one of the most important Government-representatives of the +people, lacked the savour of the triumph he had expected;--and like all +those who have worked for years to win a coveted post and succeed at +last in winning it, he was filled with the fatal satiety of +accomplishment. Power,--temporal power,--was after all not so great as +it had seemed! He had climbed--he had striven; but all the joy was +contained in the climbing and the striving. Now that he had gained his +point there seemed nothing left to prick afresh his flagging ambition. +Nevertheless, he succeeded in addressing his enthusiastic followers and +worshippers with something of his old fervour and fire,--sufficiently +well, at any rate, to satisfy them, and send them off with renewed +shouts of exultation, expressive of their continued reliance on his +courage and ability. But, when left alone at last, his heart suddenly +failed him. + +"What is the use of it!" he thought wearily; "True, I now represent the +city,--I lead its opinions--I am its mouth-piece for the State,--and +the wrongs and injuries done to the million are mine to bring before +the Government; and my business it will be to force remedial measures +for the same. But what then? There will be, there must be, constant +discussion, argument, contradiction,--for there are always conflicting +opinions in every aspect of human affairs,--and it will be my work to +put down all contradiction,--all opposition,--and to carry the People's +Cause with a firm hand. Yet--after all, if I succeed, it will be the +King's doing,--not mine! To him I partly owe my present power; the +power I had before, was _all_ my own!" + +Sullen and silent he brooded on the changes in his fortunes with no +very satisfied mind. While he could not, as a brave man, refuse his +respect and homage to the monarch who had quietly made himself complete +master of the 'Revolutionary' organisation, and who had succeeded in +turning thousands of disaffected persons into ardent Loyalists, he was +nevertheless troubled by a lurking suspicion that Lotys had secretly +known and favoured the King's scheme. Vaguely ashamed in his own mind +of the idea, he yet found himself giving way to it now and again, as he +remembered how she had defended his life,--not once but twice,--and how +she had often frankly declared her admiration for the unselfishness, +heroism, and tireless energy of the so-called 'Pasquin Leroy.' After +much perplexed meditation, he came at last to one resolve. + +"She must be my wife!" he said, his eyes gleaming with a sudden fire of +passion and determination combined; "If,--as she says,--she does not +love me, she must learn to love me! Then, all will be well! With her, +it is possible I may reach still greater heights; without her, I can do +nothing!" + +Meantime, while the results of the Election to what was now called 'The +Royal Government,' were being daily recorded in all parts of the world, +and the King himself, from a selection of the ablest and most +honourably-proved men of the time, was forming a new Ministry, the news +of these radical changes in the kingdom's affairs, spreading rapidly +everywhere by cable, as news always spreads nowadays, reached a certain +far corner in one of the most beautiful provinces of India,--a corner +scarcely known to the conventional traveller,--where, in a wondrous +palace, lent to them by one of the most civilised and kindly of +Oriental potentates,--a palace surrounded by gardens that might have +been a true copy of the fabled Eden, Prince Humphry and the fair +'Gloria' of his life, were passing a happy, 'hidden-away' time of +perfect repose. + +The evening on which they learned that their own nation demanded their +return was 'like the night of Al-Kadir, better than a thousand months.' +All day long the heat had been intense,--and they had remained indoors +enjoying the coolness of marble courts and corridors, and plashing +fountains,--but with the sunset a soft breeze had sprung up, and +Gloria, passing into the shadiest corner of the gardens, had laid +herself down in a silken hammock swung between two broad sycamore +trees, and there, gently swaying to and fro, she watched her husband +reading the various European journals that had arrived for his host by +that day's mail. Beautiful always, she had grown lovelier than ever in +these halcyon days of rest, when 'Love took up the harp of Life and +smote on all the chords with might; Smote the chord of Self, that, +trembling, pass'd in music out of sight.' To her native grace she now +united a distinctive dignity which added to her always gracious and +queenly charm, and never had she looked more exquisite than now, when +rocking gently in the suspended network of woven turquoise silk fringed +with silver, she rested her head against cushions of the same delicate +hue, and turned her expressive eyes enquiringly towards her husband,-- +wondering what kept him so silent, and what was the cause of the little +line of anxiety which furrowed his brow. Clad in a loose diaphanous +robe of white, with a simple band of silver clasping it round her +supple form, her rich hair caught carelessly back with a knot of +scarlet passion-flowers, she looked a creature too fair for earth, a +being all divine; and the Prince presently turning his glances towards +her, evidently thought so, from the adoring tenderness with which he +bent over her and kissed the ripe, red, smiling lips which pouted so +deliciously to take the offered caress. + +"They want us back, my Gloria!" he said; "The Nation asks for me--and +for _you_!" + +She raised herself a little on one arm. + +"Do they know all?" + +"Yes! The King, my father, has announced everything concerning our +marriage, not only to the Government, but by special 'manifesto' to the +People. I did not think he would be so brave!" + +"Or so true!" said Gloria, her eyes darkening and deepening with the +intensity of her thought. "Let me read this strange news, Humphry!" + +He gave her the papers,--and a few tears sparkled on her lashes like +diamonds and fell, as with a beating heart she read of the complete +triumph of the King over the Socialist and Revolutionary party,--of his +march with the multitude to the Government House,--of his bold +denunciation of Carl Perousse, ending in the utter overthrow of a +fraudulent Ministry,--and of his determination to renounce for five +years, one half his royal revenues in order to personally assist the +deficit in the National Exchequer. + +"He is, in very truth a King!" she said, looking up with flushed cheeks +and sparkling eyes,--"Surely the noblest in the world!" + +Prince Humphry's face expressed wonderment as well as admiration. + +"I have been utterly mistaken in him,"--he confessed,--"Or else, +something has greatly changed his ideas. I should never have deemed him +capable of running so much risk of his position, or of showing so much +heroism, candour and self-sacrifice. All my life I have been accustomed +to see him more or less indifferent to everything but his own pleasure, +and more or less careless of the griefs of others; but now it seems as +if he had kept himself back on purpose, only to declare his true +character more openly and boldly in the end!" + +Gloria read on, with eagerness and interest, till she came to the +King's 'manifesto' regarding his son's marriage with 'a daughter of the +People.' She pointed to this expression with the tapering, rosy point +of her delicate little finger. + +"That is me!" she said; "I _am_ a daughter of the People! I am +proud of the name!" + +"You are my wife!" said the Prince; "And you are Crown Princess of the +realm!" + +She looked meditative. + +"I am not sure I like that title so well!" she said surveying him +archly under the shadow of her long lashes; "Indeed--if _you_ were +not Crown Prince,--I should not like it at all!" + +Prince Humphry smiled, and tenderly touched the scarlet passion-flowers +in her hair. + +"But as I am Crown Prince, you will try to put up with it, my Gloria!" +and he kissed her again. "We must return home, Sweetheart!--and as +speedily as possible,--though I am sorry our restful honey-time is +over!" + +Gloria looked wistfully around her,--over the long smooth undulating +lawns, the thickets of myrtle and orange, the lovely deep groves of +trees, and away to the peaks of the distant dark blue hills, over which +a great golden moon was slowly rising. + +"I am sorry too!" she said; "I could live always like this, in peace +with you, far, far away from all the world! Hark!" + +She held up her hand to invite attention, as the delicious warble of a +nightingale, or 'bul-bul' broke the heated silence into liquid melody. +Her lover-husband took that little uplifted hand, and drawing it in his +own, kissed it fondly,--and so for a moment they were very quiet, while +the little brown bird of music poured from its palpitating throat a +cadence of heart-moving song. Gradually, the golden splendour of the +Indian moonlight widened through the trees, enveloping them in its +clear luminous radiance; and the two beautiful human creatures, gazing +into each other's eyes with all the unspeakable rapture of a perfect +love, touched that wondrous height of pure mutual passion which makes +things temporal seem very far off, and things eternal very near. + +"If life could always be like this," murmured Gloria; "We should surely +understand God better! We should feel that He truly loved us, and +wished us to love each other! Ah, if only all the world were as happy +as I am!" + +"You will help to make a great part of it so, my beloved!" said the +Prince; "You will bring with you into our kingdom, comfort for the +sorrowful, aid to the poor, sympathy for the lonely, thought for all! +You will forget nothing that calls for your remembrance, my Sweet! And +one nation at least, will know what it is to have a true woman's love +to light up the darkness of a Throne!" + +That night a cable message was sent by the Prince to his father, +stating his intention to return home immediately. The Oriental +potentate who had generously placed his palace at the Royal lovers' +disposal, and had religiously preserved the secret of their identity +and whereabouts, being himself much fascinated and interested by the +romance of their story, now commanded festivals and illuminations for +their entertainment before their departure, and within a fortnight of +the despatch of his message, the Prince's yacht had left the mystic +shores of the East, and started on its homeward journey. + +The news that the Crown Prince was returning with his bride, set all +the country in a flutter of excitement, and the General Election being +concluded, and the meeting of the new Government being deferred until +after the Heir-Apparent's return, the people of every city and town and +province set themselves busily to work to prepare suitable festivities +for the homecoming of the Royal pair. At The Islands especially the +spirit of enthusiasm was complete--all sorts of ideas for fetes and +sports, and bonfires and illuminations, exercised the minds of the +simple fisher-folk, who were wild with joy at the singular destiny that +had befallen their 'waif of the sea' as they were wont to call the +beautiful girl who had grown up among them,--and the aged Rene Ronsard +was made the centre of their interest and attention,--even of their +adulation. But Ronsard had grown very listless of late. His age began +to tell heavily upon him, and the news that Gloria was returning in all +triumph as Crown Princess, moved him but little. + +"She would have been happier as a simple sailor's wife!" he averred, +when Professor von Glauben, who visited him constantly, sought to rouse +him from the apathy into which he appeared to have sunk. "The greater +the position, the heavier the burden!--the more outwardly brilliant the +appearance of life, the deeper its secret bitterness!" + +"But Gloria has Love with her, my friend!" urged the Professor; "And +Love makes the bitterest things sweet!" + +Ronsard's aged eyes sparkled faintly. + +"Ay, Love!" he echoed; "A dream--a delusion--and a snare! Unless it be +a love strong enough to drag one down to death!--and then it is the +strongest power in the world! It is a terror and a martyrdom,--and in +nothing shall its desire be thwarted! If It calls--even kings obey!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +BETWEEN TWO PASSIONS + + +Slowly, and with hesitating steps, Sergius Thord mounted the long +flight of stairs leading to the quiet attic which Lotys called 'home.' +Here she lived; here she had chosen to live ever since Thord had made +her, as he said, the 'Soul of the Revolutionary Ideal.' Here, since the +King had conquered the Revolutionary Ideal altogether, and had made it +a Loyalist centre, did she dwell still, though she had now some +thoughts of yielding to the child Pequita's earnest pleading, and +taking up her abode with her and her father, in a pretty little house +in the suburbs which, since Pequita's success as _premiere +danseuse_ at the Opera, Sholto had been able to afford, and to look +upon as something like a comfortable dwelling-place. For with the +election of Thord to the dignity of a Deputy, had, of course, come the +necessity of resigning his old quarters where his 'Revolutionary' +meetings had been held,--and he now resided in a more 'respectable' +quarter of the city, in such sober, yet distinctive fashion as became +one who was a friend of the King's, and who was likely to be a Minister +some day, when he had further proved his political mettle. So that +Sholto had no longer any need to try and eke out a scanty subsistence +by letting rooms to revolutionists and 'suspects' generally,--and Thord +himself had helped him to make a change for the better, as had also the +King. + +But Lotys had not as yet moved. She had lived so long among the +desperately poor, who were accustomed to go to her for sympathy and +aid, that she could not contemplate leaving so many sick and suffering +and sorrowful ones alone to fight their bitter battle. So had she said, +at least, to Thord, when he had endeavoured to persuade her to +establish herself in greater comfort, and in a part of the city which +had a 'better-class' reputation. She had listened to his suggestions +with a somewhat melancholy smile. + +"Once,--and not so very long ago,--for you there was no such thing as +the 'better-class,' Sergius!" she said; "You were wont to declare that +rich and poor alike were all one family in the sight of God!" + +"I have not altered my opinion," said Thord, a slight flush colouring +his cheek; "But--you are a woman--and as a woman should have every +care and tenderness." + +"So should my still poorer sisters," she replied; "And it is for those +who have least comfort, that comfort should be provided. I am perfectly +well and happy where I am!" + +Remembering her fixed ideas on this point, there was an uneasy sense of +trouble in Thord's mind as he ventured again on what he feared would be +a fruitless errand. + +"If I could command her!" he thought, chafing inwardly at his own +impotence to persuade or lead this woman, whose character and will were +so much more self-contained and strong than his own. "If I could only +exercise some authority over her! But I cannot. What small debt of +gratitude she owed me as a child, has long been cleared by her constant +work and the assistance she has given to me,--and unless she will +consent to be my wife, I know I shall lose her altogether. For she will +never submit to live on money that she has not earned." + +Arrived at the summit of the staircase he had been climbing, he knocked +at the first door which faced him on the uppermost landing. + +"Come in!" said the low, sweet voice that had thrilled and comforted so +many human souls; and entering as he was bidden, he saw Lotys seated in +a low chair near the window, rocking a tiny infant, so waxen-like and +meagre, that it looked more like a corpse than a living child. + +"The mother died last night," she said gently, in response to his look +of interrogation; "She had been struggling against want and sickness +for a long time. God was merciful in taking her at last! The father has +to go out all day in search of work,--often a vain search; so I do what +I can for this poor little one!" + +And she bent over the forlorn waif of humanity, kissing its pale small +face, and pressing it soothingly to her warm, full breast. She looked +quite beautiful in that Madonna-like attitude of protection and love,-- +her gold hair drooping against the slim whiteness of her throat,--her +deep blue eyes full of that tenderness for the defenceless and weak, +which is the loveliest of all womanly expressions. + +Sergius Thord drew a chair opposite to her, and sat down. + +"You are always doing good, Lotys!" he said, with a slight tremor in +his voice; "There is no day in your life without its record of help to +the helpless!" + +She shook her head deprecatingly, and went on caressing and soothing +the tiny babe in silence. + +After a pause, he spoke again. + +"I have come to you, Lotys, to ask you many things!" + +She looked up with a little smile. + +"Do you need advice, Sergius? Nay, surely not!--you have passed beyond +it--you are a great man!" + +He moved impatiently. + +"Great? What do you mean? I am Deputy for the city, it is true--but +that is not the height of my ambition; it is only a step towards it." + +"To what do you aspire?" she queried. "A place in the Ministry? You +will get that if you wait long enough! And then--will you be +satisfied?" + +"No--I shall never be satisfied--never till--" + +He broke off and shifted his position. His fierce eyes rested tenderly +upon her as she sat holding the motherless infant caressingly in her +arms. + +"You have heard the latest news?" he asked presently, "That Carl +Perousse has left the country?" + +"No, I have not heard that," said Lotys; "But why was he allowed to go +without being punished for his dishonesty?" + +"To punish him, would have involved the punishment of many more +associated with him," replied Thord; "His estates are confiscated;--the +opportunity was given him to escape, in order to avoid further +Ministerial scandals,--and he has taken the chance afforded him!" + +She was silent. + +"Jost too has gone," pursued Thord; "He has sold his paper to his chief +rival. So that now both journals are amalgamated under one head, and +work for the same cause--our cause, and the King's." + +Lotys looked up with a slight smile. + +"It is the same old system then?" she said. "For whereas before there +was one newspaper subsidised by a fraudulent Ministry, there are now +two, subsidised by the Royal Government;--with which the Socialist +party is united!" + +He frowned. + +"You mistake! We shall subsidise no newspaper whatever. We shall not +pursue any such mistaken policy." + +"Believe me, you will be compelled to do so, Sergius!" she declared, +still smiling; "Or some other force will step in! Do you not see that +politics always revolve in the same monotonous round? You have called +me the Soul of an Ideal,--but even when I worked my hardest with you, I +knew it was an Ideal that could never be realised! But the practice of +your theories led me among the poor, where I felt I could be useful,-- +and for this reason I conjoined what brains I had, what strength I had, +with yours. Yet, no matter how men talk of 'Revolution,' any and every +form of government is bound to run on the old eternal lines, whether it +be Imperial, Socialistic or Republican. Men are always the same +children--never satisfied,--ever clamouring for change,--tired of one +toy and crying for another,--so on and on,--till the end! I would +rather save a life"--and she glanced pityingly down upon the sleeping +infant she held-"than upset a throne!" + +"I quite believe that;" said Sergius slowly; "You are a woman, most +womanly! If you could only learn to love----" + +He paused, startled at the sudden rush of colour that spread over her +cheeks and brow; but it was a wave of crimson that soon died away, +leaving her very pale. + +"Love is not for me, Sergius!" she said; "I am no longer young. +Besides, the days of romance never existed for me at all, and now it is +too late. I have grown too much into the habit of looking upon men as +poor little emmets, clambering up and down the same tiny hill of +earth,--their passions, their ambitions, their emotions, their +fightings and conquests, their panoply and pride, do not interest me, +though they move me to pity; I seem to stand alone, looking beyond, +straight through the glorious world of Nature, up to the infinite +spaces above, searching for God!" + +"Yet you care for that waif?" said Thord with a gesture towards the +child she held. + +"Because it is helpless," she answered; "only that! If it ever lives to +grow up and be a man, it will forget that a woman ever held it, or +cherished it so! No wild beast of the forest--no treacherous serpent of +the jungle, is more cruel in its inherited nature, than man when he +deals with woman;--as lover, he betrays her,--as wife, he neglects +her,--as mother, he forgets her!" + +"You have a bad opinion of my sex!" said Thord, half angrily; "Would +you say thus much of the King?" + +She started, then controlled herself. + +"The King is brave,--but beyond exceptional courage, I do not think he +differs from other men." + +"Have you seen him lately?" + +"No." + +The answer came coldly, and with evident resentment at the query. Thord +hesitated a minute or two, looking at her yearningly; then he suddenly +laid his hand on her arm. + +"Lotys!" he said in a half-whisper; "If you would only love me! If you +would be my wife!" + +She raised her dark-blue pensive eyes. + +"My poor Sergius! With all your triumphs, do you still hanker for a +wayside weed? Alas!--the weed has tough roots that cannot be pulled up +to please you! I would make you happy if I could, dear friend!--but in +the way you ask, I cannot!" + +His heart beat thickly. + +"Why?" + +"Why? Ask why the rain will not melt marble into snow! I love you, +Sergius--but not with such love as you demand. And I would not be your +wife for all the world!" + +He restrained himself with difficulty. + +"Again--why?" + +She gave a slight movement of impatience. + +"In the first place, because we should not agree. In the second place, +because I abhor the very idea of marriage. I see, day by day, what +marriage means, even among the poor--the wreck of illusions--the death +of ideals--the despairing monotony of a mere struggle to live--" + +"I shall not be poor now;" said Thord; "All my work would be to make +you happy, Lotys! I would surround you with every grace and luxury-- +with love, with worship, with tenderness! With your intelligence and +fascination you would be honoured,--famous!" + +He broke off, interrupted by her gesture of annoyance. + +"Let me hear no more of this, Sergius!" she said. "You were very good +to me when I was a castaway child, and I do not forget it. But you must +not urge a claim upon me to which I cannot respond. I have given some +of the best years of my life to assist your work, to win you your +followers,--and to advance what I have always recognised as an exalted, +though impossible creed--but now, for the rest of the time left to me, +I must have my own way!" + +He sprang up suddenly and confronted her. + +"My God!" he cried. "Is it possible you do not understand! All my work +--all my plans--all my scheming and plotting has been for you--to make +you happy! To give you high place and power! Without you, what do I +care for the world? What do I care whether men are rich or poor-- +whether they starve or die! It is you I want to serve--you! It is for +your sake I have desired to win honour and position. Have pity on me, +Lotys! Have pity! I have seen you grow up to womanhood--I have loved +every inch of your stature--every hair of the gold on your head--every +glance of your eyes--every bright flash of your intelligent spirit! Oh, +I have loved you, and love you, Lotys, as no man ever loved woman! +Everything I have attempted--everything I have done, has been that you +might think me worthier of love. For the Country and the People I care +nothing--nothing! I only care for you!" + +She rose, holding the sleeping child to her like a shield. Her features +seemed to have grown rigid with an inflexible coldness. + +"So then," she said, "You are no better than the men you have blamed! +You confess yourself as false to the People as the Minister you have +displaced! You have served their Cause,--not because you love them, but +simply because you love Me!--and you would force me to become your +wife, not because you love Me, so much as you love Yourself! Self alone +is at the core of your social creed! Why, you are not a whit higher +than the vulgarest millionaire that ever stole a people's Trade to +further his own ends!" + +"Lotys! Lotys!" he cried, stung to the quick; "You judge me wrongly--by +Heaven, you do!" + +"I judge you only by your own words;" she answered steadily; "They +condemn you more than I do. I thought you were sincere in your love for +the People! I thought your work was all for them,--not for me! I judged +that you sought to gain authority in order to remedy their many +wrongs;--but if, after all, you have been fighting your way to power +merely to make yourself, as you thought, more acceptable to me as a +husband, you have deceived me in the honesty of your intentions as +grossly as you have deceived the King!" + +"The King!" he cried; "The King!" + +She flashed a proud and passionate glance upon him--and then--he +suddenly found himself alone. She had left the room; and though he knew +there was only one wall, one door between them, he dared not follow. + +Glancing around him at the simple furniture of the chamber he stood in, +which, though only an attic, was bright and fresh and sweet, with +bunches of wildflowers set here and there in simple and cheap crystal +vases, he sighed heavily. The poor and 'obscure' life was perhaps, +after all, the highest, holiest and best! All at once his eyes lighted +on one large cluster of flowers that were neither wild nor common, a +knot of rare roses and magnificent orchids, tied together with a golden +ribbon. He looked at them jealously, and his soul was assailed by +sudden resentment and suspicion. His face changed, his teeth closed +hard on his under lip, and he clenched his hand unconsciously. + +"If it is so--if it should be so!" he muttered; "There may be yet +another and more complete Day of Fate!" + +He left the room then, descending the stairs more rapidly than he had +climbed them, and as he went out of the house and up the street, he +stumbled against Paul Zouche. + +"Whither away, brave Deputy?" cried this irresponsible being; "Whither +away? To rescue the poor and the afflicted?--or to stop the King from +poaching on your own preserves?" + +With a force of which he was himself unconscious, he gripped Zouche by +the arm. + +"What do you mean?" he whispered thickly;--"Speak! What do you know?" + +Zouche laughed stupidly. + +"What do I know?" he echoed; "Why, what should I know, blockhead, save +what all who have eyes to see, know as well as I do! Sergius, your +grasp is none of the lightest; let me go!" Then as the other's hand +fell from his arm, he continued. "It is you who are the blind man +leading the blind! You--who like all thick-skulled reformers, can never +perceive what goes on under your own nose! But what does it matter? +What does anything matter? I told you long ago she would never love +you; I knew long ago that she loved his Majesty, 'Pasquin Leroy!'" + +"Curse you!" said Thord suddenly, in such low infuriated accents that +the oath sounded more like a wild beast's snarl. "Why did you not tell +me? Why did you not warn me?" + +Zouche shrugged his shoulders, and began to sidle aimlessly along the +roadway. + +"You would not have believed me!" he said; "Nobody believes anything +that is unpleasant to themselves! If you had not some suspicion in your +own mind, you would not believe me now! I am foolish--you are wise! I +am a poet--you are a reformer! I am drunk--you are sober! And with it +all, Lotys is the only one who keeps her head clear. Lotys was always +the creature of common-sense among us; she understood you--she +understood me--and better than either of us--she understood the King!" + +"No, no!" whispered Thord, more to himself than his companion; "She +could not--she could not have known!" + +"Now you look as Nature meant you to look!" exclaimed Zouche, staring +wildly at him; "Savage as a bear;--pitiless as a snake! God! What men +can become when they are baulked of their desires! But it is no use, my +Sergius!--you have gained power in one direction, but you have lost it +in another! You cannot have your cake, and eat it!" Here he reeled +against the wall,--then straightening himself with a curious effort at +dignity, he continued: "Leave her alone, Sergius! Leave Lotys in peace! +She is a good soul! Let her love where she will and how she will,--she +has the right to choose her lover,--the right!--by Heaven!--it is a +right denied to no woman! And if she has chosen the King, she is only +one of many who have done the same!" + +With a smothered sound between a curse and a groan, Thord suddenly +wheeled round away from him and left him. Vaguely surprised, yet too +stupefied to realise that his rambling words might have worked serious +mischief, Zouche gazed blinkingly on his retreating figure. + +"The same old story!" he muttered, with a foolish laugh; "Always a +woman in it! He has won leadership and power,--he has secured the +friendship of a King,--but if the King is his rival in matters of love-- +ah!--that is a worse danger for the Throne than the spread of +Socialism!" + +He rambled off unthinkingly, and gave the only part of him which +remained still active, his poetic instinct, up to the composition of a +delicate love-song, which he wrote between two taverns and several +drinks. + +Late in the afternoon--just after sundown--a small close brougham drove +up to the corner of the street where stood the tenement house,--divided +into several separate flats,--in which the attic where Lotys dwelt was +one of the most solitary and removed portions. The King alighted from +the carriage unobserved, and ascended the stairs on which Sergius +Thord's steps had echoed but a few hours gone by. Knocking at the door +as Sergius had done, he was in the same way bidden to enter, but as he +did so, Lotys, who was seated within, quite alone, started up with a +faint cry of terror. + +"You here!" she exclaimed in trembling accents; "Oh, why, why have you +come! Sir, I beg of you to leave this place!--at once, before there is +any chance of your being seen; your Majesty should surely know----!" + +"Majesty me no majesties, Lotys!" said the King, lightly; "I have been +forbidden this little shrine too long! Why should I not come to see +you? Are you not known as an angel of comfort to the sorrowful and the +lonely?--and will you not impart such consolation to me, as I may, in +my many griefs deserve? Nay, Lotys, Lotys! No tears!--no tears, dearest +of women! To see you weep is the only thing that could possibly unman +me, and make even 'Pasquin Leroy' lose his nerve!" + +He approached her, and sought to take her hand, but she turned away +from him, and he saw her bosom heave with a passion of repressed +weeping. + +"Lotys!" he then said, with exceeding gentleness; "What is this? Why +are you unhappy? I have written to you every day since that night when +your lips clung to mine for one glad moment,--I have poured out my soul +to you with more or less eloquence, and surely with passion!--every day +I have prayed you to receive me, and yet you have vouchsafed no reply +to one who is by your own confession 'the only man you love'! Ah, +Lotys!--you will not now deny that sweet betrayal of your heart! Do you +know that was the happiest day of my life?--the day on which I was +threatened by Death, and saved by Love!" + +His mellow voice thrilled with its underlying tenderness;--he caught +her hand and kissed it; but she was silent. + +With all the yearning passion which had been pent up in him for many +months, he studied the pure outlines of her brow and throat--the +falling sunlight glow of her hair--the deep azure glory of the pitying +eyes, half veiled beneath their golden lashes, and just now sparkling +with tears. + +"All my life," he said softly, still holding her hand; "I have longed +for love! All my life I have lacked it! Can you imagine, then, what it +was to me, Lotys, when I heard you say you loved my Resemblance,--the +poor Pasquin Leroy!--and even so I knew you loved me? When you praised +me as Pasquin, and cursed me as King, how my heart burned with desire +to clasp you in my arms, and tell you all the truth of my disguise! But +to hear you speak as you did of me, so unconsciously, so tenderly, so +bravely, was the sweetest gladness I have ever known! I felt myself a +king at last, in very deed and truth!--and it was for the love of you, +and because of your love for me, that I determined to do all I could +for my son Humphry, and the woman of his choice! For, finding myself +loved, I swore that he should not be deprived of love. I have done what +I could to ensure his happiness; but after all, it is your doing, and +the result of your influence! You are the sole centre of my good deeds, +Lotys!--you have been my star of destiny from the very first day I saw +you!--from the moment when I signed my bond with you in your own pure +blood, I loved you! And I know that you loved me!" + +She turned her eyes slowly upon him,--what eyes!--tearless now, and +glittering with the burning fever of the sad and suffering soul behind +them. + +"You forget!" she said in hushed, trembling accents; "You are the +King!" + +He lifted her hand to his lips again, and pressed its cool small palm +against his brows. + +"What then, my dearest? Must the King, because he is King, go through +life unloved?" + +"Unless the King is loved with honour," said Lotys in the same hushed +voice; "He must go unloved!" + +He dropped her hand and looked at her. She was very pale--her breath +came and went quickly, but her eyes were fixed upon him steadily,--and +though her whole heart cried out for his sympathy and tenderness, she +did not flinch. + +"Lotys!" he said; "Are you so cold, so frozen in an ice-wall of +conventionality that you cannot warm to passion--not even to that +passion which every pulse of you is ready to return? What do you want +of me? Lover's oaths? Vows of constancy? Oh, beloved woman as you are, +do you not understand that you have entered into my very heart of +hearts--that you hold my whole life in your possession? You--not I--are +the ruling power of this country! What you say, that I will do! What +you command, that will I obey! While you live, I will live--when you +die, I will die! Through you I have learned the value of sovereignty,-- +the good that can be done to a country by honest work in kingship,-- +through you I have won back my disaffected subjects to loyalty;--it is +all you--only you! And if you blamed me once as a worthless king, you +shall never have cause to so blame me again! But you must help me,--you +must help me with your love!" + +She strove to control the beating of her heart, as she looked upon him +and listened to his pleading. She resolutely shut her soul to the +persuasive music of his voice, the light of his eyes, the tenderness of +his smile. + +"What of the Queen?" she said. + +He started back, as though he had been stung. + +"The Queen!" he repeated, mechanically--"The Queen!" + +"Ay, the Queen!" said Lotys. "She is your wife--the mother of your +sons! She has never loved you, you would say,--you have never loved +her. But you are her husband! Would you make me your mistress?" + +Her voice was calm. She put the plain question point-blank, without a +note of hesitation. His face paled suddenly. + +"Lotys!" he said, and stretched out his hands towards her; "Lotys, I +love you!" + +A change passed over her,--rapid and transfiguring as a sudden radiance +from heaven. With an impulsive gesture, beautiful in its wild +abandonment, she cast herself at his feet. + +"And I love you!" she said. "I love you with every breath of my body, +every pulse of my heart! I love you with the entire passion of my life! +I love you with all the love pent up in my poor starved soul since +childhood until now!--I love you more than woman ever loved either +lover or husband! I love you, my lord and King!--but even as I love +you, I honour you! No selfish thought of mine shall ever tarnish the +smallest jewel in your Crown! Oh, my beloved! My Royal soul of courage! +What do you take me for? Should I be worthy of your thought if I +dragged you down? Should I be Lotys,--if, like some light woman who can +be bought for a few jewels,--I gave myself to you in that fever of +desire which men mistake for love? Ah, no!--ten thousand times no! I +love you! Look at me,--can you not see how my soul cries out for you? +How my lips hunger for your kisses--how I long, ah, God! for all the +tenderness which I know is in your heart for me,--I, so lonely, weary, +and robbed of all the dearest joys of life!--but I will not shame you +by my love, my best and dearest! I will not set you one degree lower in +the thoughts of the People, who now idolise you and know you as the +brave, true man you are! My love for you would be poor indeed, if I +could not sacrifice myself altogether for your sake,--you, who are my +King!" + +He heard her,--his whole soul was shaken by the passion of her words. + +"Lotys!" he said,--and again--"Lotys!" + +He drew her up from her kneeling attitude, and gathering her close in +his arms, kissed her tenderly, reverently--as a man might kiss the lips +of the dead. + +"Must it be so, Lotys?" he whispered; "Must we dwell always apart?" + +Her eyes, beautiful with a passion of the highest and holiest love, +looked full into his. + +"Always apart, yet always together, my beloved!" she answered; +"Together in thought, in soul, in aspiration!--in the hope and +confidence that God sees us, and knows that we seek to live purely in +His sight! Oh, my King, you would not have it otherwise! You would not +have our love defiled! How common and easy it would be for me to give +myself to you!--as other women are only too ready to give themselves,-- +to take your tenderness, your care, your admiration,--to demand your +constant attendance on my lightest humour!--to bring you shame by my +persistent companionship!--to cause an open slander, and allow the +finger of scorn to be pointed at you!--to see your honour made a +mockery of, by base, persons who would judge you as one, who, +notwithstanding his brave espousal of the People's Cause, was yet a +slave to the caprice of a woman! Think something more of me than this! +Do not put me on the level of such women as once brought your name into +contempt! They did not love you!--they loved themselves! But I--I love +you! Oh, my dearest lord, if self were concerned at all in this great +love of my heart, I would not suffer your arms to rest about me now!-- +I would not let your lips touch mine!--but it is for the last time, +beloved!--the last time! And so I put my hands here on your heart--I kiss +your lips--I say with all my soul in the prayer--God bless you!--God +keep you!--God save you, my King! Though I shall live apart from you all +my days, my spirit is one with yours! God will know that truth when we +meet--on the other side of Death!" + +Her tears fell fast, and he bent over her, torn by a tempest of +conflicting emotions, and kissing the soft hair that lay loosely +ruffled against his breast. + +"Then it shall be so, Lotys!" he murmured, at last. "Your wish is my +law!--it shall be as you command! I will fulfil such duties as I must +in this world,--and the knowledge of your love for me,--your trust in +me,--shall keep me high in the People's honour! Old follies shall be +swept away--old sins atoned for;--and when we meet, as you say, on the +other side of Death, God will perchance give us all that we have longed +for in this world--all that we have lost!" + +His voice shook,--he could not further rely on his self-control. + +"I will not tempt you, Lotys!" he whispered--"I dare not tempt myself! +God bless you!" + +He put her gently from him, and stood for a moment irresolute. All the +hope he had indulged in of a sweeter joy than any he had ever known, +was lost,--and yet--he knew he had no right to press upon her a love +which, to her, could only mean dishonour. + +"Good-bye, Lotys!" he said, huskily; "My one love in this world and the +next! Good-bye!" + +She gazed at him with her whole soul in her eyes,--then suddenly, and +with the tenderest grace in the world, dropped on her knees and kissed +his hand. + +"God save your Majesty!" she said, with a poor little effort at smiling +through her tears; "For many and many a long and happy year, when Lotys +is no more!" + +With a half cry he snatched her up in his arms and pressed her to his +heart, showering kisses on her lips, her eyes, her hair, her little +hands!--then, with a movement as abrupt as it was passion-stricken, put +her quickly from him and left her. + +She listened with straining ears to the quick firm echo of his +footsteps departing from her, and echoing down the stairs. She caught +the ring of his tread on the pavement outside. She heard the grinding +roll of the wheels of his carriage as he was rapidly driven away. He +had gone! As she realised this, her courage suddenly failed her, and +sinking down beside the chair in which he had for a moment sat, she +laid her head upon it, and wept long and bitterly. Her conscience told +her that she had done well, but her heart--the starving woman's heart,-- +was all unsatisfied, and clamoured for its dearest right--love! And +she had of her own will, her own choice, put love aside,--the most +precious, the most desired love in the world!--she had sent it away out +of her life for ever! True, she could call it back, if she chose with a +word--but she knew that for the sake of a king, and a country's honour, +she would not so call it back! She might have said with one of the most +human of poets: + + "Will someone say, then why not ill for good? + Why took ye not +your pastime? To that man + My word shall answer, since I knew the Right + And did it." [Footnote: Tennyson ] + +A shadowy form moving uncertainly to and fro near the corner of the +street, appeared to spring forward and to falter back again, as the +King, hurriedly departing, glanced up and down the street once or twice +as though in doubt or questioning, and then walked to his brougham. The +soft hues of a twilight sky, in which the stars were beginning to +appear, fell on his face and showed it ashy pale; but he was absorbed +in his own sad and bitter thoughts,--lost in his own inward +contemplation of the love which consumed him,--and he saw nothing of +that hidden watcher in the semi-gloom, gazing at him with such fierce +eyes of hate as might have intimidated even the bravest man. He entered +his carriage and was rapidly driven away, and the shadow,--no other +than Sergius Thord,--stumbling forward,--his brain on fire, and a +loaded pistol in his hand,--had hardly realised his presence before he +was gone. + +"Why did I not kill him?" he muttered, amazed at his own hesitation; +"He stood here, close to me! It would have been so easy!" + +He remained another moment or two gazing around him at the streets, at +the roofs, at the sky, as though in a wondering dream,--then all at +once, it seemed as if every cell in his brain had suddenly become +superhumanly active. His eyes flashed fury,--and turning swiftly into +the house which the King had just left, he ran madly up the stairs as +though impelled by a whirlwind, and burst without bidding, straight +into the room where Lotys still knelt, weeping. At the noise of his +entrance she started up, the tears wet on her face. + +"Sergius!" she cried. + +He looked at her, breathing heavily. + +"Yes,--Sergius!" he said, his voice sounding thick and husky, and +unlike itself. "I am Sergius! Or I was Sergius, before you made of me a +nameless devil! And you--you are Lotys!--you are weeping for the lover +who has just parted from you! You are Lotys--the mistress of the King!" + +She made him no answer. Drawing herself up to her full height, she +flashed upon him a look of utter scorn, and maintained a contemptuous +silence. + +"Mistress of the King!" he repeated, speaking in hard gasps; "You,-- +Lotys,--have come to this! You,--the spotless Angel of our Cause! +You!--why,--I sicken at the sight of you! Oh, you fulfil thoroughly the +mission of your sex!--which is to dupe and betray men! You were the +traitor all along! You knew the real identity of 'Pasquin Leroy'! He +was your lover from the first,--and to him you handed the secrets of +the Committee, and played Us into his hands! It was well done-- +cleverly done!--woman's work in all its best cunning!--but treachery +does not always pay!" + +Amazed and indignant, she boldly confronted him. + +"You must be mad, Sergius! What do you mean? What sudden accusations +are these? You know they are false--why do you utter them?" + +He sprang towards her, and seized her roughly by the arm. + +"How do I know they are false?" he said. "Prove to me they are false! +Who saved the King's life? You! And why? Because you knew he was +'Pasquin Leroy'! How was it he gained such swift ascendancy over all +our Committee, and led the work and swayed the men,--and made of me his +tool and servant? Through you again! And why? Because you knew he was +the King! Why have you scorned me--turned from me--thrust me from your +side--denied my love,--though I have loved and cared for you from +childhood! Why, I say? Because you love the King!" + +She stood perfectly still,--unmoved by his frantic manner--by the glare +of his bloodshot eyes, and his irrepressible agony of rage and +jealousy. Quietly she glanced him up and down. + +"You are right!" she said tranquilly; "I do love the King!" + +A horrible oath broke from his lips, and for a moment his face grew +crimson with the rising blood that threatened to choke the channels of +his brain. An anxious pity softened her face. + +"Sergius!" she said gently, "You are not yourself--you rave--you do not +know what you say! What has maddened you? What have I done? You know my +life is free--I have a right to do with it as I will, and even as my +life is free, so is my love! I cannot love where I am bidden--I must +love where Love itself calls!" + +He stood still, staring at her. He seemed to have lost the power of +speech. + +"You have insulted me almost beyond pardon!" she went on. "Your +accusations are all lies! I love the King,--but I am not the King's +mistress! I would no more be his mistress than I would be your wife!" + +Slowly, slowly, his hand got at something in his pocket and clutched it +almost unconsciously. Slowly, slowly, he raised that hand, still +clutching that something,--and his lips parted in a breathless way, +showing the wolfish glimmer of white teeth within. + +"You--love--the King!" he said in deliberate accents. "And you dare-- +you dare to tell me so?" + +She raised her golden head with a beautiful defiance and courage. + +"I love the King!" she said--"And I dare to tell you so!" + +With a lightning quickness of movement the hand that had been groping +after an unseen evil now came out into the light, with a sudden sharp +crash, and flame of fire! + +A faint cry tore the air. + +"Ah--Sergius!--Sergius! Oh--God!" + +And Lotys staggered back--stunned, deafened--sick, dizzy---- + +"Death, death!" she thought, wildly; "This is death!" + +And, with a last desperate rallying of her sinking force, as every +memory of her life swept over her brain in that supreme moment, she +sprang at her murderer and wrenched the weapon from his hand, clutching +it hard and fast in her own. + +"Say--say I did it--myself--!" she gasped, in short quick sobs of +pain; "Tell the King--I did it myself--myself! Sergius--save your own +life!--I--forgive!" + +She reeled, and with a choking cry fell back heavily--dead! Her hair +came unbound with her fall, and shook itself round her in a gold wave, +as though to hide the horror of the oozing blood that trickled from her +lips and breast. + +With a horrid sense of unreality Thord stared upon the evil he had +done. He gazed stupidly around him. He listened for someone to come and +explain to him what had happened. But up in that remote attic, there +was no one to hear either a pistol-shot or a cry. There was only one +thing to be understood and learnt by heart,--that Lotys, once living, +was now dead! Dead! How came she dead? That was what he could not +determine. The heat of his wild fury had passed,--leaving him cold and +passive as a stone. + +"Lotys!" + +He whispered the name. Horrible! How she looked,--with all that blood!-- +all that golden hair! + +'Tell the King I did it myself!' Yes--the King would have to be told-- +something! Stooping, he tried to detach the pistol from the lifeless +hand, but the fingers, though still warm were tightened on the weapon, +and he dared not unclasp them. He was afraid! He stood up again, and +looked around him. His glance fell on the knot of regal flowers he had +noticed in the morning,--the great roses,--the voluptuous orchids--tied +with their golden ribbon. He took them hastily and flung them down +beside her,--then watched a little trickling stream of blood running, +running towards one of the whitest and purest of the roses. It reached +it, stained it,--and presently drowned it in a little pool. Horrified, +he covered his eyes, and staggered backward against the door. The +evening was growing dark,--through the small high window he could see +the stars beginning to shine as usual. As usual,--though Lotys was +dead! That seemed strange! Putting one hand behind him, he cautiously +opened the door, still keeping his guarded gaze on that huddled heap of +clothes, and blood, and glittering hair which had been Lotys. + +"I must get home," he muttered. "I have business to attend to--as +Deputy to the city, there is much to do--much to do for the People! +The People! My God! And Lotys dead!" + +A kind of hysteric laughter threatened him. He pressed his mouth hard +with his hand to choke back this strange, struggling passion. + +"Lotys! Lotys is dead! There she lies! Someone, I know not who, killed +her! No,--no! She has killed herself,--she said so! There she lies, +poor Lotys! She will never speak to the People--never comfort them,-- +never teach them any more--never hold little motherless infants in her +arms and console them,--never smile on the sorrowful, or cheer the +sick--never! 'I love the King!' she said,--and she died for saying it! +One should not love kings! 'Tell the King I did it myself!' Yes, +Lotys!--lie still--be at peace--the King shall know--soon enough!" + +Still muttering uneasily to himself, he went out, always moving +backwards--and with a last look at that fallen breathless form of +murdered woman, shut the door stealthily behind him. + +Then, stumbling giddily down the stairs, he wandered, blind and half +crazed, into the darkening night. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +SAILING TO THE INFINITE + + +Great calamities always come suddenly. With the swiftness of lightning +they descend upon the world, often in the very midst of fancied peace +and security,--and the farcical, grinning, sneering apes of humanity, +for whom even the idea of a God has but furnished food for lewd +jesting, are scattered into terror-stricken hordes, who are forced to +realise for the first time in their lives, that whether they believe in +Omnipotence or no, an evident Law of Justice exists, which may not be +outraged with impunity. Sometimes this Law works strangely,--one might +almost say obliquely. It sweeps away persons whom we have judged as +useful to the community, and allows those to remain whom we consider +unnecessary. But 'we,'--all important 'we,'--are not allowed to long +assert or maintain our petty opinions against this unknown undetermined +Force which makes havoc of all our best and most carefully conceived +arrangements. For example, we are not given any practical reason why +Christ,--the Divine Man,--was taken from the world in His youthful +manhood, instead of being permitted to live to a great age for the +further benefit, teaching, and sanctification of His disciples and +followers. Pure, sinless, noble, and truly of God, He was tortured and +crucified as though He were the worst of criminals. And apart from the +Church's explanation of this great Mystery, we may take it as a lesson +that misfortune is like everything else, two-sided;--it falls equally +upon the ungodly and the godly,--with merely this difference--that when +it falls on the ungodly it is, as we are reluctantly forced to admit, +'the act of God'--but when it falls on the godly, it is generally the +proved and evident work of Man. + +In this last way, and for no fault at all of her own, had cruel death +befallen Lotys. Such as her career had been, it was unmarked by so much +as a shadow of selfishness or wickedness. From the first day of her +life, sorrow had elected her for its own. She had never known father or +mother;--cast out as an infant in the street, and picked up by Sergius +Thord, she had secured no other protector for her infancy and youth, +than the brooding, introspective man, who was destined in the end to be +her murderer. As a child, she had been passionately grateful to him; +she had learned all she could from the books he gave her to study, and +with a quick brain, and a keen sense of observation, she had become a +proficient in literature, so much so indeed, that more than one half +the Revolutionary treatises and other propaganda which he had sent out +to different quarters of the globe, were from her pen. Her one idea had +been to please and to serve him,--to show her gratitude for his care of +her, and to prove herself useful to him in all his aims. As she grew +up, however, she quickly discerned that his affection for her was +deepening into the passion of a lover; whereupon she had at once +withdrawn from his personal charge, and had made up her mind to live +alone and independently. She desired, so she told him, to subsist on +her own earnings,--and he who could do nothing successfully without +her, was only too glad to give her the rightful share of such financial +results as accrued from the various workings of the Revolutionary +Committee,--results which were sometimes considerable, though never +opulent. And so she had worked on, finding her best happiness in +succouring the poor, and nursing the sick. Her girlhood had passed +without either joy or love,--her womanhood had been bare of all the +happiness that should have graced it. The people had learned to love +her, it is true,--but this more or less distantly felt affection was +far from being the intimate and near love for which she had so often +longed. When at last this love had come to her,--when in 'Pasquin +Leroy' she thought she had found the true companion of her life and +heart,--when he had constantly accompanied her by his own choice, on +her errands of mercy among the poor; and had aided the sick and the +distressed by his own sympathy and tenderness, she had almost allowed +herself to dream of possible happiness. This dream had been encouraged +more than ever, after she had saved the King from assassination. +'Pasquin Leroy' had then become her closest comrade,--always at hand, +and ever ready to fulfil her slightest behest;--while from his ardent +and eloquent glances,--the occasional lingering pressure of his hand, +and the hastily murmured words of tenderness which she could not +misunderstand, she knew that he loved her. But when he had disclosed +his real identity to be that of the King himself, all her fair hopes +had vanished!--and her spirit had shrunk and fallen under the blow. +Worse than all,--when she learned that this great and exalted +Personage, despite his throned dignity, did still continue to entertain +a passion for herself, the knowledge was almost crushing in its effect +upon her mind. Pure in soul and body, she would have chosen death any +time rather than dishonour; and in the recent developments of events +she had sometimes grown to consider death as good, and even desirable. +Now death had come to her through the very hand that had first aided +her to live! And so had she fulfilled the common lot of women, which +is, taken in the aggregate, to be wronged and slain (morally, when not +physically) by the very men they have most unselfishly sought to serve! + +The heavy night passed away, and all through its slow hours the +murdered creature lay weltering in her blood, and shrouded in her +hair,--looked at by the pitiless stars and the cold moon, as they shed +their beams in turn through the high attic window. Morning broke; and +the sun shot its first rays down upon the dead,--upon the fixed white +countenance, and on the little hand grown icy cold, but clenched with +iron grip upon the pistol which had been so bravely snatched in that +last moment of life with the unselfish thought of averting suspicion +from the true murderer. With the full break of day, the mistress of the +house going to arouse her lodgers, came up the stairs with a bright +face, cheerfully singing, for her usual morning chat with Lotys was one +of her principal pleasures. Knocking at the door, and receiving no +answer, she turned the handle and pushed it open,--then, with a +piercing scream of horror, she rushed away, calling wildly for help, +and sending frantic cries down the street. + +"Lotys! Lotys! Lotys is dead!" + +The news flew. The houses poured out their poverty-stricken occupants +from garret to basement; and presently the street was blocked with a +stupefied, grief-stricken crowd. A doctor who had been hastily +summoned, lifted the poor corpse of her whose life had been all love +and pity, and laid it upon the simple truckle-bed, where the living +Lotys had slept, contented with poverty for many years; and after close +and careful examination pronounced it to be a case of suicide. The word +created consternation among all the people. + +"Suicide!" they murmured uneasily; "Why should she kill herself? We all +loved her!" + +Ay! They all loved her!--and only now when she was gone did they +realise how great that love had been, or how much her thought and +tenderness for them all, had been interwoven with their lives! They had +never stopped to think of the weariness and emptiness of her own life, +or of the longing she herself might have had for the love and care she +so freely gave to others. By and by, as the terrible news was borne in +upon them more convincingly, some began to weep and wail, others to +kneel and pray, others to recall little kindnesses, thoughtful deeds, +unselfish tendernesses, and patient endurances of the dead woman who, +friendless herself, had been their truest friend. + +"Who will tell Sergius Thord?" asked a man in the crowd; "Who will +break the news to him?" + +There was an awe-stricken silence. No one volunteered such heart- +rending service. + +"Who will tell the King?" suddenly exclaimed a harsh voice, that of +Paul Zouche, who in his habit of hardly ever going to bed, had seen the +crowd gather, and had quickly joined it. "Lotys saved his life! He +should be told!" + +His face, always remarkable in its thin, eager, intellectual aspect, +looked ghastly, and his eyes no longer feverish in their brilliancy, +were humanised by the dew of tears. + +"The King!" + +The weeping people looked at one another. The King had now become a +part of their life and interest,--he was one with them, not apart from +them as once he had been; therefore he must have known how Lotys had +loved them. Yes,--someone should surely tell the King! + +"The King must be informed of this," went on Zouche; "If there is no +one else to take the news to him,--I will!" + +And before any answer could be given, or any suggestion made, he was +gone. + +Meanwhile, no person volunteered to fetch Sergius Thord. Every man who +knew him, dreaded the task of telling him that Lotys was dead, self- +slain. Some poor, but tender-hearted women sorrowfully prepared the +corpse for burial, removing the bloodstained clothes with gentle hands, +smoothing out and parting on either side the glorious waves of hair, +while with the greatest care and difficulty they succeeded by slow +degrees in removing the pistol so tightly clenched in the dead hand. +While engaged in this sad duty, they found a sealed paper marked 'My +Last Wish,' and this they put aside till Thord should come. Then they +robed her in white, and laid white flowers upon her breast; and so came +in turns by groups of tens and twenties to kneel beside her and kiss +her hands and say prayers, and weep for the loss of one who had never +uttered a harsh word to any poor or sorrowful person, but whose mission +had been peace and healing, love and resignation, and submission to her +own hard fate until the end! + +Meantime Zouche, who had never been near any Royal precincts before, +walked boldly to the Palace. All irresolution had left him;--his step +was firm, his manner self-contained, and only his eyes betrayed the +deep and bitter sorrow of his soul. He was allowed to pass the sentinel +at the outer gates, but at the inner portico of the Palace he was +denied admittance. He maintained his composure, however, and handed in +his written name. + +"If I cannot see the King, I must see Sir Roger de Launay!" he said. + +At this the men in authority glanced at one another, and began to +unbend;--if this shabby, untidy being knew Sir Roger de Launay, he was +perhaps someone of importance. After a brief consultation together, +they asked him to wait while a messenger was despatched to Sir Roger. + +Zouche, with a curious air of passive toleration sat quietly on the +chair they offered, and waited several minutes glancing meanwhile at +the display of splendour and luxury about him with an indifference +bordering on contempt. + +"All this magnificence," he mused; "all this wealth cannot purchase +back a life, or bring comfort to a stricken heart! Nor can it vie with +a poet's rhyme, which, often unvalued, and always unpaid for, sometimes +outlasts a thousand thrones!" + +Here, seeing the tall figure of Sir Roger de Launay coming between him +and the light, he rose and advanced a step or two. + +"Why, Zouche," said Sir Roger kindly, greeting him with a smile; "You +are up betimes! They tell me you want to see the King. Is it not a +somewhat early call? His Majesty has only just left his sleeping- +apartment, and is busy writing urgent letters. Will you entrust me with +your message?" + +Paul Zouche looked at him fixedly. + +"My message is from Lotys!" he said deliberately; "And it must be +delivered to the King in person!" + +Vaguely alarmed, Sir Roger recoiled a step. + +"You bring ill news?" he whispered. + +"I do not know whether it will prove ill or well;" answered Zouche +wearily; "But such news as I have, must be told to his Majesty alone." + +Sir Roger paused a moment, hesitating; then he said: + +"If that is so--if that must be so,--then come with me!" + +He led the way, and Zouche followed. Entering the King's private +library where the King himself sat at his writing-desk, Sir Roger +announced the unexpected visitor, adding in a low tone that he came +'from Lotys!' + +The King started up, and threw down his pen. + +"From Lotys!" he echoed, while through his mind there flew a sudden +sweet hope that after all the star was willing to fall!--the flower was +ready to be gathered!--and that the woman who had sent him away from +her the day before, had a heart too full of love to remain obdurate to +the pleadings of her kingly lover!--"Paul Zouche, with a message from +Lotys? Let him come in!" + +Whereupon Zouche, bidden to enter, did so, and stood in the Royal +presence unabashed, but quite silent. An ominous presentiment crept +coldly through the monarch's warm veins, as he saw the dreary pain +expressed on the features of the man, who had so persistently scorned +him and his offered bounty,--and with a slight, but imperative sign, he +dismissed Sir Roger de Launay, who retired reluctantly, full of +forebodings. + +"Now Zouche," he said gently; "What do you seek of me? What is your +message?" + +Zouche looked full at him. + +"As King," he answered, "I seek nothing from you! As comrade"--and his +accents faltered--"I would fain break bad news to you gently--I would +spare you as much as possible--and give you time to face the blow,-- +for I know you loved her! Lotys----" + +The monarch's heart almost stood still. What was this hesitating tone-- +these great tears in Zouche's eyes? + +"Lotys!" he repeated slowly, and in a faint whisper; "Yes, yes--go on! +Go on, comrade! Lotys?" + +"Lotys is dead!" + +An awful stillness followed the words. Stiff and rigid the King sat, as +though stricken by sudden paralysis, giving no sign. Minute after +minute slipped away,--and he uttered not a word, nor did he raise his +eyes from the fixed study of the carpet at his feet. + +"Lotys is dead!" went on Zouche, speaking in a slow monotonous way. +"This morning, the first thing--they found her. She had killed herself. +The pistol was in her hand. And they are laying her out with flowers,-- +like a bride, or a queen,--and you can go and see her at rest so,--for +the last time,--if you will! This is my message! It is a message from +the dead!" + +Still the King spoke not a word; nor did he lift his eyes from his +brooding observation of the ground. + +"To be a great King, as you are," said Zouche; "And yet to be unable to +keep alive a love when you have won it, is a hard thing! She must have +killed herself for your sake!" + +No answer was vouchsafed to him. He began to feel a strange pity for +that solemn, upright figure, sitting there inflexibly silent,--and he +approached it a little nearer. + +"Comrade!" he said softly; "I have hated you as a King! Yes, I have +always hated you!--even when I found you had played the part of +'Pasquin Leroy,' and had worked for our Cause, and had helped to make +what is now called my 'fame'! I hated you,--because through it all, and +whatever you did for me, or for others, it seemed to me you had never +known hunger and cold and want!--never known what it was to have love +snatched away from you! I watched the growth of your passion for Lotys +--I knew she loved you!--and had you indeed been the poor writer and +thinker you assumed to be, all might have been well for you both! But +when you declared yourself to be King, what could there be for such a +woman but death? She would never have chosen dishonour! She has taken +the straight way out of trouble, but--but she has left _you_ +alone! And I am sorry for you! I know what it is--to be left alone! You +have a palace here, adorned with all the luxuries that wealth can buy, +and yet you are alone in it! I too have a palace,--a palace of +thought, furnished with ideals and dreams which no wealth can buy; and +I am alone in it too! I killed the woman who loved me best; and you +have done the same, in your way! It is the usual trick of men,--to +kill the women who love them best, and then to be sorry for ever +afterwards!" + +He drew still nearer--then very slowly, very hesitatingly, dropped on +one knee, and ventured to kiss the monarch's passive hand. + +"My comrade! My King! I am sorry for you now!" + +For answer, his own hand was suddenly caught in a fierce convulsive +grip, and the King rose stiffly erect. His features were grey and +drawn, his lips were bloodless, his eyes glittering, as with fever. +Stricken to the heart as he was, he yet forced himself to find voice +and utterance. + +"Speak again, Zouche! Speak those horrible, horrible words again! Make +me feel them to be true! Lotys is dead!" + +Zouche, with something like fear for the visible, yet strongly +suppressed anguish of the man before him, sighed drearily as he +repeated---- + +"Lotys is dead! It is God's way--to kill all beautiful things, just as +we have learned to love them! She,--Lotys,--used to talk of Justice +and Order,--poor soul!--she never found either! Yet she believed in +God!" + +The King's stern face never relaxed in its frozen rigidity of woe. Only +his lips moved mutteringly. + +"Dead! Lotys! My God!--my God! To rise to such a height of hope and +good--and then--to fall so low! Lotys gone from me!--and with her goes +all!" + +Then a sudden delirious hurry seemed to take possession of him. + +"Go now, Zouche!" he said impatiently--"Go back to the place where she +lies--and tell her I am coming! I must--I will see her again! And I +will see you again, Zouche!--you too!" He forced a pale smile--"Yes, +poor poet! I will see you and speak with you of this--you shall write +for her a dirge!--a threnody of passion and regret that shall make the +whole world weep! Poor Zouche!--you have had a hard life--well may you +wonder why God made us men! And Lotys is dead!" + +He rang the bell on his desk violently. Sir Roger de Launay at once +returned,--but started back at the sight of his Royal master's altered +countenance. + +"Have the kindness, De Launay"--said the King hurriedly, not heeding +his dismayed looks--"to place a carriage at the disposal of our friend +Zouche! He has much business to do;--sad news to bear to all the +quarters of the city--he will tell you of it,--as he has just told me! +Lotys,--you know her!--Lotys, who saved my life at the risk of her +own,--Lotys is dead!" + +Sir Roger recoiled with an ejaculation of horror and pity. + +"It is sudden--and--and strange!" continued the King, still speaking in +the same rapid manner, and beginning to push aside the various letters +and documents on his table--"It is a kind of darkness fallen without +warning!--but--such tragedies always do happen thus--unpreparedly! +Lotys was a grand creature,--a noble and self-sacrificing woman--the +poor will miss her--yes--the poor will miss her greatly!----" + +He broke off, and with a speechless gesture of agonised entreaty, +intimated that he must be left alone. De Launay hustled Zouche out of +the apartment in a kind of impotent fury. + +"Why have you brought the King such news?" he demanded--"It will kill +him!" + +"He has killed _her_!" returned Zouche, grimly--"If he had never +crossed her path, she would have been alive now! Why should not a King +suffer like other men? He does the same foolish things,--he has his +private loves and hatreds in the same foolish manner,--why should he +escape punishment for his follies? It is only in suffering that he +grows human,--stripped by grief and pain of his outward pomp and +temporal power, he even becomes lovable! God save us from this bauble +of 'power'! It is what Sergius Thord has worked for all his life!--it +is what this King claims over his subjects--and yet--both monarch and +reformer would give it all for the life of one woman back again! Look +you, the King has had a dozen or more mistresses, and Heaven knows how +many bastards--but he has only loved once! And it is well that he +should learn what real love means,--Sorrow always, and Death often!" + +That afternoon the whole city knew of the tragic end of Lotys. Nothing +else was thought of, nothing else talked of. Thousands gathered to look +up at the house where her body lay, stiffening in the cold grasp of +death, and a strong body of police were summoned to guard all the +approaches to the premises, in order to prevent a threatening 'crush' +and disaster among the increasing crowd, every member of which sought +to look for the last time on the face of her who had unselfishly served +them and loved them in their hours of bitterest need. The sight of +Sergius Thord passing through their midst, with bent head, and ashy, +distraught countenance, had not pacified the clamorous grief of the +people, nor had it elicited such an outburst of sympathy for him as one +might have thought would have been forthcoming. An idea had gotten +abroad that since his election as Deputy for the city, he had either +neglected or set aside the woman who had assisted him to gain his +position. It was a wrong idea, of course,--but the trifling fact of his +having taken up his abode in a more 'aristocratic' part of the +metropolis, while Lotys had still remained in the 'quarter of the +poor,' was sufficient to give it ground in the minds of the ignorant, +who are always more or less suspicious of even their best friends. Had +they made a more ominous guess,--had they imagined that Sergius Thord +was the actual murderer of the woman they had idolised, there would +have been no remembrance whatever of the work he had done to aid them +in the various reforms now being made for their benefit;--they would +have torn him to pieces without a moment's mercy. The rough justice of +the mob is a terrible thing! It knows nothing of legal phraseology or +courtesy--it merely sees an evil deed done, and straightway proceeds to +punish the evil-doer, regardless of consequences. Happily for the sake +of peace and order, however, no thought of the truth, no suspicion of +the real cause of the tragedy occurred to any one person among the +sorrow-stricken multitude. A faint, half-sobbing cheer went up for the +King, as his private brougham was recognised, making its way slowly +through the press of people,--and it was with a kind of silent awe, +that they watched his tall figure alight and pass into the house where +lay the dead. Sergius Thord had already entered there,--the King and +his new Deputy would meet! And with uneasy movements, rambling up and +down, talking of Lotys, of her gentleness, patience and never-wearying +sympathy for all the suffering and the lonely, the crowds collected, +dispersed, and collected again,--every soul among them heavily +weighted and depressed by the grief and the mystery of death, which +though occurring every day, still seems the strangest of fates to every +mortal born into the world. + +Meantime, the King with slow reluctant tread, ascended into the room of +death. Sergius Thord stood there,--but his brooding face and bulky +form might have been but a mote of dust in a sunbeam for the little +heed the stricken monarch took of him. His whole sight, his whole soul +were concentrated on the white recumbent statue with the autumn-gold +hair, which was couched in front of him, strewn with flowers. That was +Lotys--or rather, that had been Lotys! It was now a very beautiful, +still, smiling Thing,--its eyes were shut, but the eyelashes lay +delicately on the pallid cheeks like little fringes of dark gold, +tenderly slumbrous. Those eyelashes matched the hair--the soft, silken +hair--so fine--so lustrous, so warm and bright!--the hair was surely +yet living! With a shuddering sigh, the King bent over the piteous +sight,--and stooping lower and lower still, touched with trembling +lips the small, crossed hands. + +As he did this, his arm was caught roughly, and Thord thrust him aside. + +"Do not touch her!" he muttered hoarsely--"Let her rest in peace!" + +Slowly the King raised his face. It was ashen grey and stricken old. +The dark, clear, grey eyes were sunken and dim,--the light of hope, +ambition, love and endeavour, was quenched in them for ever. + +"Was she unhappy, that she killed herself?" he asked, in a hushed +voice. + +Thord drew back, shuddering. Those sad, lustreless eyes of his +Sovereign seemed to pierce his soul! He--the murderer of Lotys--could +not face them! A vague whirl of thoughts tormented his brain,--he had +heard it said that a murdered person's corpse would bleed in the +presence of the murderer,--would the dead body of Lotys bleed now, he +wondered dully, if he waited long enough? If so--the King would know! +He started guiltily, as once more the sad, questioning voice broke on +his ears. + +"Was she unhappy, think you? You knew her better than I!" + +Huskily, and with dry lips, Thord forced an answer. + +"Nay, it is possible your Majesty knew her best!" + +Again the sunken melancholy eyes searched his face. + +"She was endowed with genius,--rich in every good gift of womanhood! I +would have given my life for hers--my kingdom to spare her a moment's +sorrow!" went on the King; "But she would have nothing from me-- +nothing!" + +"Nothing,--not even love!" said Thord recklessly. + +"That she had, whether she would or no!"--replied the King, slowly,-- +"That she will have, till time itself shall end!" + +Thord was silent. A passion of mingled fury and remorse consumed him,-- +his heart was beating rapidly,--there were great pulsations in his +brain like heavy hammer-strokes,--he was afraid of himself, lest on a +savage impulse he should leap like a beast of prey on this grave +composed figure,--this King,--who was his acknowledged ruler,--and kill +him, even as he had killed Lotys! And then,--he thought of the People! +--the People by whose great force and strong justice he had sworn to +abide!--the People who had worshipped and applauded him,--the People +who, if they ever knew the truth of him and his crime, would snatch him +up and tear his body to atoms, as surely as he stood branded with +Murder in God's sight this day! With a powerful effort he rallied his +forces, and drawing from his breast the small folded paper which had +been found on the body of Lotys, and which was inscribed with the words +'My Last Wish,' he held it out to the King. + +"Then your Majesty will perhaps grant her the burial she here demands?" +he said--"It is a strange request!--but not difficult to gratify!" + +Taking the paper, the monarch touched it tenderly with his lips before +opening it. In all the blind stupefaction of his own grief, he was +struck by the fact that there was something strained and unnatural +about Thord's appearance,--something wild and forced even in his +expression of sorrow. He studied his face closely, but to no purpose; +--there was no clue to the mystery packed within the harsh lines of +those dark, fierce features,--he seemed no more and no less than the +same brooding, leonine creature that had mercilessly planned the deaths +of men in his own Revolutionary Committee. There was no touch of +softness in his eyes,--no tears, even at the sight of Lotys smiling +coldly in her flower-strewn shroud. And now, unfolding her last +message, the King beheld it thus expressed: + +"To THOSE WHO SHALL FIND ME DEAD + +"I pray you of your gentle love and charity, not to bury my body in the +earth, but in the sea. For I most earnestly desire no mark, or +remembrance of the place where my sorrows, with my mortal remains, +shall be rendered back to nature; and kinder than the worms in the +mould are the wild waves of the ocean which I have ever loved! And +there,--at least to my own thoughts,--if any spiritual part of me +remains to watch my will performed,--shall I be best pleased and most +grateful to be given my last rest. LOTYS." + +This document had been written and signed some years back, and had, +therefore, nothing to do with any idea of immediate departure from the +world, or premeditated suicide. And once again the King looked +searchingly at Thord, as he returned him the paper. + +"Her will shall be performed!" he said--"And in a manner befitting her +memory,--befitting the love borne to her by a People--and--a King!" + +He paused,--then went on softly. + +"To you Sergius, my friend and comrade!--to you will be entrusted the +task of committing this sweet casket of a sweeter soul to the mercy of +the waves!--you, the guardian of her childhood, the defender of her +womanhood, the protector of her life----" + +"O God! No more--no more!" cried Thord, suddenly falling on his knees +by the couch of the dead--"No more--in mercy! I will do all--all! But +leave me with her now!--leave me alone with her, this last little +while!" + +And breaking into great sobs, he buried his head among the death- +flowers in an utter abandonment of despair. + +Silently the King watched him for a little space. Then he turned his +eyes towards the pale form of the woman he had loved, and who had +taught him the noblest and most selfless part of love, sleeping her +last sleep, with a fixed sweet smile upon her face. + +"We shall meet again, my Lotys!" he whispered--"On the other side of +Death!" + +And so,--with the quiet air of one who knows a quick way out of +difficulty, he departed. + +Some five days later, a strange and solemn spectacle was witnessed by +thousands of spectators from all the shores and quays of the sea-girt +city. A ship set sail for the Land of the Infinite!--a silent passenger +went forth on a voyage to the borders of the Unknown! Coffined in +state,--with a purple velvet pall trailing its rich folds over the +casket which enshrined her perished mortality,--and with flowers of +every imaginable rareness, or wildness, scattered about it,--the body +of Lotys was, with no religious or formal ceremony, placed on the deck +of a sailing-brig, and sent out to the waves for burial. So Sergius +Thord had willed it; so Sergius Thord had planned it. He had purchased +the vessel for this one purpose, and with his own hands he had strewn +the deck with blossoms, till it looked like a floating garden of +fairyland. Garlands of roses trailed from the mast,--wreaths from every +former member of the now extinct 'Revolutionary Committee' were heaped +in profusion about the coffin which lay in the centre of the deck,--the +sails were white as snow, and one of them bore, the name 'Lotys' upon +it, in letters of gold. It was arranged that the brig should be towed +from the harbour, and out to sea for about a couple of miles,--and when +there, should be cut free and set loose to the wind and tide to meet +its fate of certain wreckage in the tossing billows beyond. In strange +contrast to this floating funeral were the brilliant flags and gay +streamers which were already being put up along the streets and quays, +as the first signs of the city's welcome to the Crown Prince and his +bride, who were expected to arrive home somewhere within the next ten +days. Eager crowds watched the unique ceremony, unknown save in old +Viking days, of sending forth a dead voyager to sail the pitiless seas; +and countless numbers of small boats attended the funeral vessel in a +long flotilla,--escorting it out to that verge where the ocean opened +widely to the wider horizon, and spread its high road of silver waves +invitingly out to the approaching silent adventurer. Comments ran +freely from lip to lip,--Sergius Thord had been seen, pale as death, +laying flowers on the deck to the last,--the King,--yes!--the King +himself had sent a wreath, as a token of remembrance, to the obsequies +of the woman who had saved his life,--the purple velvet pall, with its +glittering fringes of gold, had been the gift of the city of which +Thord was the lately-elected Deputy,--Louis Valdor had sent that +garland of violets,--the great wreath of roses which lay at the head of +the coffin, was the offering of the famous little dancer, Pequita, who, +it was said, now lay sick of a fever brought on by grief and fretting +for the loss of her best friend,--and rich and poor alike had vied with +one another in assisting the weird beauty of this exceptional and +strange burial, in which no sexton was employed but the wild wind, +which would in due time scoop a hollow in the sea, and whirl down into +fathomless deeps all that remained of a loving woman, with the +offerings of a People's love around her! + +From the Palace windows the Queen watched the weird pageant, with +straining eyes, and a sense of relief at her heart. This unknown rival +of hers,--this Lotys--was dead! Her body would soon be drifting out on +the wild waste of waters, to be caught by the first storm and sunk in +the depths of eternal silence. She was glad!--almost she could have +sung for joy! The colour mantled on her fair cheeks,--she looked +younger and more beautiful than ever. She had learned her long- +neglected lesson,--the lesson of, 'how to love.' And to herself she +humbly confessed the truth--that she loved no other than her husband! +The King had now become the centre of her heart, as he had become the +centre of his People's trust. And she watched the vessel bearing the +corpse of Lotys, gliding, gliding over the waves--she tracked the +circling concourse of boats that went with it--and waited, with +quickened breath and eager eyes, till she saw a sudden pause in the +procession--when, riding lightly on a shining wave, the funeral-ship +seemed to stop for an instant--and then, with a bird-like dip forward, +scurried out with full, bulging sails to the open sea! The crowding +spectators began to break up and disperse--the flotilla of attendant +boats turned back to shore--the dead woman who had held such magnetic +influence over the King, was gone!--gone for ever into the watery +caverns of endless death! + +It was with a light heart that the Queen at last rose from her watch at +the window, and prepared to array herself for the return of her +sovereign lord. Her eyes sparkled, her lips smiled; she looked the very +incarnation of love and tenderness. The snow-peak had melted at last, +and underneath the ice, love's late violets had begun to bloom! She +glanced once more out at the sea, where the vanishing death-ship now +seemed but a speck on the far horizon, and saw a bank of solemn purple +clouds darkening the golden sunset line,--clouds that rose up thickly +and swiftly, like magic mountains conjured into sudden existence by +some witch in a fairy tale. A gust of wind shook the lattice--and +moaned faintly through the chinks of the door. + +"There will be a storm to-night!" she said musingly, her eyes following +the dispersing crowds, as they poured along the terrace from the shore, +or climbed up from the quays to the higher streets of the town:--"There +will be a storm!--and the woman who was called Lotys, will know nothing +of it! The vessel she sails in will be crushed like a shell in the +teeth of the blast, and her body will sink like a stone in the angry +sea! So will she sleep--so does her brief power over the King come to +an end!" + +Turning, she smiled at her lady-in-waiting, Teresa de Launay, who had +also watched the sea funeral of Lotys with wondering and often tear- +filled eyes. + +"How the people must have loved her!" the girl murmured softly; "No +poor person or child came to these strange obsequies without flowers!-- +many wept--and some swear there is no happiness at all for them now, +without Lotys! She must have been a sweet, unselfish woman!" + +The Queen was silent. + +"Since she saved the life of our lord the King, I have often thought of +her!" went on Teresa--"I have even hoped to see her! Dearest Madam, +would you not have been glad to thank her once before she died?" + +The Queen's face hardened. + +"She only did her duty!" was the cold answer--"Every subject in the +realm would be proud to have the chance of being the King's defender!" + +At that moment the door opened, and Sir Roger de Launay entered,--then +drew back in some surprise and hesitation. + +"I crave your pardon, Madam!" he said, bowing low--"I thought the King +was here!" + +"Truly the King should be here by now,"--replied the Queen gently--"But +he is doubtless detained among the people, who wait upon his footsteps, +as though he were a demi-god!" She smiled happily. "He went out to see +yonder strange funeral pageant--and left no word of the hour of his +return." + +Sir Roger looked perplexed. The Queen noticed his expression of +anxiety. + +"Stay but a moment, Sir Roger," she added--"Now I remember, he bade me +at sunset, go to my own room and fetch a packet I would find from him +there,--he may be waiting for me now!" + +She retired, the radiant smile still upon her face, and Sir Roger +looked at his sister with concern for her tearful eyes. + +"Weeping, Teresa?" he said--"What is the trouble?" + +"Nothing!" she answered quickly--"Only a presentiment of evil! That +funeral-ship has made me sad!" + +Sir Roger said nothing for the moment. He was too preoccupied with his +own forebodings to give much heed to hers. He walked to the window. + +"There will be a storm to-night!" he said. "Look at those great clouds! +They are big with thunder and with rain!" + +"Yes!" murmured Teresa--"There will be a storm--Madam!" + +She turned with a cry to feel the Queen's grip on her shoulder--to see +the Queen, white as marble, with blazing eyes, possessed by a very +frenzy of grief and terror. A tragic picture of despairing Majesty, she +confronted the startled De Launay with an open paper in her hand. + +"Where is the King?" she demanded, in accents that quivered with fear +and passion. "From you, Sir Roger de Launay, must come the answer! To +you, his friend and servant, I trusted his safety! And of you I ask +again--Where is the King?" + +Stupefied and stunned, Sir Roger stared helplessly at this enraged +splendour of womanhood, this embodied wrath of royalty. + +"Madam!" he stammered,--"I know nothing--save that the King has been +sorely stricken by a great sorrow--" + +She looked at him with flashing eyes. + +"Sorrow for what?--for whom?" + +De Launay gazed at her amazedly;--why did she ask of what she knew so +well? + +"Madam, to answer that is not within my province!" + +She was silent, breathing quickly. Great tears gathered on her lashes, +but did not fall. + +"When saw you his Majesty last?" + +"But three hours since, Madam! He bade me leave him alone, saying he +would walk a while in the further grounds away from the sight of the +sea. He had no mind, he said, to look upon the passing away of Lotys!" + +A strange grey pallor crept over the Queen's face. She stood proudly +erect, yet tottered as though about to fall. Teresa de Launay ran to +her in terror. + +"Dearest Madam!" cried the trembling girl--"Be comforted! Be patient! +The King will come!" + +"He will never come!" said the Queen in a low choked voice;--"Never +again--never, never again! I feel--I know--that I have lost him for +ever! He has gone--but where?--O God!--where!" + +"Madam!" said Sir Roger, shaken to the soul by the sight of her +suppressed agony--"That paper in your hand--" + +"This paper," she said, with a convulsive effort at calmness, "makes me +Regent till the return of my son, the Crown Prince--and--at the same +time--bids me farewell! Farewell!--and why farewell? Oh, faithless +servant!" and she advanced a step, fixing her burning eyes on the +stricken De Launay--"I thought you loved me!" + +His face flushed--his lips quivered. + +"As God lives, Madam, I yield to no one in my love and service of you!" + +"Then find the King!" and she stretched out her arm with a gesture of +authority--"Bring back to me my husband!--the one man of the world!-- +the one man I have learned to love! Follow the King!--whether on land +or sea, whether alive or dead,--in heaven or hell, follow him! Your +place is not with me--but by your master's side! If you know not +whither he has fled, make it your business to learn!--and never let me +see your face again till _his_ face shines beside yours, like +sunshine against darkness!--till his eyes, his smile make gladness +where your presence without him is a mocking misery! Out of my sight! +And nevermore return again, save in your duty and attendance on the +King!" + +"Madam,--Madam!" exclaimed Teresa--"Would you condemn my brother to a +lasting banishment? What if the King were dead?" + +"Dead!" The word left the Queen's lips in a sharp sob of pain--"The +King cannot die!--he is too strong--too bold and brave! He has met +death ere now and conquered it! Dead? No--that is not possible--that +could not be!" + +She turned again upon Sir Roger, standing mute and pale, a very statue +of despair. + +"I give you a high mission!" she said--"Fulfil it!" + +He started from his unhappy reverie. + +"Be sure that I will do so!" he said--"I will--as your Majesty bids me-- +follow the King! And--till the King returns with me--I also say farewell!" + +Catching his sister in his arms, he kissed her with a murmured +blessing--and profoundly saluting the woman for whose love's sake his +very life was now demanded, he left the room. + +"Roger, Roger!" cried Teresa in an anguish, as the sound of his +footsteps died away--"Come back! Come back!" + +And falling on her knees by the Queen's side, she burst into wild +weeping. + +"If the King has gone for ever, my brother is gone too," she sobbed-- +"Oh, dearest Majesty, have you no heart?" + +"None!" said the Queen with a strained smile, while the slow, hot tears +began to fall from her aching eyes--"None! What heart I had is gone! It +follows the King!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +ABDICATION + + +A great storm was gathering. The heavy purple clouds which had arisen +in the west at sunset, when all that was mortal of Lotys had been sent +forth to a lonely burial in the sea, had gradually spread over the +whole sky, darkening in hue as they moved, and rolling together in huge +opaque masses, which presently began to close in and become denser as +the night advanced. By and by a wild wind awoke, as it were, from the +very cavities of ocean, and the waves began to hiss warnings all along +the coast, and to rise higher and higher over each other's shoulders as +the gale steadily increased. Rene Ronsard, sitting in his cottage, +feeble and somewhat ailing, heard the beginnings of the tempest with +long-accustomed ears. He was depressed in spirit, yet not altogether +solitary, for he had with him a kindly companion in Professor von +Glauben. The Professor had been one of the many who had attended the +strange funeral-pageant of the afternoon, not only out of interest in, +and regret for, the fate of the woman whose unique character he had +admired, and whose difficult position he had pitied; but also because +he had suffered from an unpleasant presentiment to which he could give +no name. If he could have described his forebodings at all, he would +have said they were more or less connected with the King,--but how or +why, he would not have been able to explain, save that since the death +of Lotys, his Sovereign master had no longer looked the same man. +Stricken as with a blight, and grown suddenly old, his manner and +appearance were as of one devoured by a secret despair,--a corroding +disease,--of which the end could only be disastrous. Overcome by the +pain and distress of being the constant witness of a sorrow which he +felt to the heart, yet could not relieve, the Professor, on returning +from the scene of Lotys's impressive funeral, had put ashore on The +Islands, instead of going back to the mainland. He had sought +permission from the King to remain with Ronsard for the night,--and the +permission had been readily, almost eagerly granted. The King, indeed, +had seemed glad to be relieved of the too anxious solicitude of his +physician, who, he knew, was well aware of the concealed agony of mind +which tortured and well-nigh maddened him,--and the Professor, keenly +observant, was equally conscious that, under the immediate +circumstances, his attendance might seem more of an intrusion than a +duty. + +"De Launay was not far wrong when he prophesied danger for the King as +the result of his beginning to think for himself;" he mused--"Yet it +has come--this danger--in a different way to that in which we expected +it! It is a bold move for the ruler of a country to make personal +examination into the needs of his people,--but it is seldom that, while +engaged in such a task, the ruler himself becomes ruled, by a stronger +force than even his own temporal power!" + +And now, sitting with old Rene Ronsard, by a fire which had been +kindled on this somewhat chilly night for his better comfort, he was, +despite the impression of sadness and disaster which hung upon his mind +as darkly as the clouds were hanging in heaven, doing his best to rouse +both himself and his companion to greater cheerfulness. The wind, +shaking the lattice, and now and then screaming dismally under the +door, did not inspire him to gaiety, but his thoughts were principally +for Ronsard, who was inclined to yield to an overpowering despondency. + +"This will never do, Ronsard!" he said after a pause, during which he +had noticed a tear or two steal slowly down the old man's furrowed +cheek; "What sort of a welcome will such a face as yours be to our +Crown Princess Gloria? She will soon be here; think of it! And what a +triumphant entry she will make, acclaimed by the whole nation!" + +"I shall not be wanted in her life!" said Ronsard, slowly. "After all, +I am nothing to her, and have no claim upon her. I found her, as a poor +man may by chance find a rare jewel,--that the jewel is afterwards +found worthy to be set in a king's crown, is not the business of that +same poor man. He who merely hews a diamond out of the mine, is not the +maker of the diamond!" + +"Gloria loves you!" said the Professor; "And she will love you always!" + +Ronsard smiled faintly. + +"My friend, I understand, and I accept the law of change!" he said. "To +me, as to all, it must come! The old must die, and the young succeed +them. As for me, I shall be glad to go--the sooner the better, I truly +think, for then none will taunt my Gloria with the simple manner of her +bringing up;--none will remember aught, save her exceeding beauty, or +blame her that the sun and sea were her only known parents. And if we +credit legend, hers is not the first birth of loveliness from the bosom +of the waves!" + +Here the wind, tearing round the rafters, rattled and roared for a +space like a demon threatening the whole construction of the house, and +then went galloping away with a shriek among the pines down to the +shore. + +"A wild night!" said the Professor, with a slight shiver. "Alas! poor +Lotys!--poor 'Soul of an Ideal' as Sergius Thord called her,--her frail +mortal tenement will soon be drawn down to the depths in such a storm +as this!" + +"I never saw her!" said Ronsard musingly; "Thord I have seen often. +Lotys was to me a name merely,--but I knew it was a name to conjure +with--a name beloved of the People. Gloria longed to see her,--she had +heard of her often." + +"She was a psychological phenomenon," said the Professor slowly; "And I +admit that her composition baffled me. No one have I ever seen at all +like her. She was beautiful without any of the accepted essentials of +beauty--and it is precisely such a woman as that who possesses the most +dangerous fascination over men--not over boys--but over men. She had a +loving, passionate, feminine heart, with a masculine brain,--the two +together are bound to constitute what is called Genius. The only thing +I cannot understand is the unexpected weakness she displayed in +committing suicide. That I should never have thought of her. On the +contrary, I should have imagined, knowing as much of her as I did, that +the greater the sorrow, the greater the fight she would have made +against it." + +A silence fell between them, filled by the thundering noise of the +wind. + +"Where is Thord?" asked Ronsard presently. + +"I do not know. The last I saw of him was on board the vessel that bore +her coffin;--he was laying flowers on the deck. He was not, I think, in +any of the smaller boats that accompanied it; he must have returned +with the crowd on shore. He has his duties as Deputy for the city now, +we must remember!" + +Ronsard's eyes flashed with a glimmer of satire in the firelight. + +"If it had not been for Lotys, he would not be a Deputy, or anything +else,--save perchance a Communist or an Anarchist!" he said; "he used +to be one of the fiercest malcontents in all the country when I first +came here. Many and many is the time I have heard him threaten to kill +the King!" + +"Ah!" said the Professor meaningly, the while he bent his eyes on the +flickering fire. + +Again a silence fell. The wind roared and screamed around the building, +and in the pauses of the gale, the minutes seemed weighted with a +strange dread. Every tick of the clock sounded heavy and long, even to +the equable-minded Professor. The storm outside was growing louder and +even louder, and his thoughts, despite himself, turned to the ocean- +wildernesses over which Prince Humphry's home-returning vessel must be +now on its way--while that other solitary barque, unhelmed and +unmanned, whose sail bore the name of 'Lotys' was also voyaging, but in +a darker direction, down to death and oblivion, carrying with it, as he +feared, all the love and heart of a King! Suddenly a loud knocking at +the door startled them; and as Ronsard rose from his chair, amazed at +the noise and Von Glauben did the same with more alacrity, a man with +wind blown hair and excited gestures burst into the little room. + +"Ronsard!" he cried; "The King--the King!" + +He paused, gasping for breath. Ronsard looked at him wonderingly. His +clothes were saturated with sea-water,--his face was pale--and his eyes +expressed some fear that his tongue seemed incapable of uttering. He +was one of the coral-fishers of the coast, and Ronsard knew him well. + +"What ails you, man?" he asked; "What say you of the King?" + +Holding the door of the cottage open with some difficulty, the coral- +fisher pointed to the sky overhead. It was flecked with great masses of +white cloud, through which the moon appeared to roll rapidly like a +ball of yellow fire. The wind howled furiously, and the pines in the +near distance could be seen bending to and fro like reeds in its +breath, while the roar of the sea beyond the rocks was fierce and +deafening. + +"It is all storm!" cried the man, excitedly; "The billows are running +mountains high!--there is no chance for him!" + +"No chance for whom?" demanded Von Glauben, impatiently; "What would +you tell us? Speak plainly!" + +"It was the King!" said the coral-fisher again, trying to express +himself more collectedly--"I saw his face lit up by the after-glow of +the sky--white--white as the foam on the wave! Listen! When the body of +the woman Lotys was borne away on that vessel, a man came to me out of +the thickest of the crowd (I was on one of the furthest quays)--and +offered me a purse of gold to take him out to sea--and to steer him in +such a way that we should meet the funeral barque just as she was cut +adrift and sent forth to be wrecked in the ocean. I did not know him +then. He kept his face hidden,--he spoke low, and he was evidently in +trouble. I thought he was a lover of the dead woman, and sought perhaps +to comfort himself by looking at her coffin for the last time. So I +consented to do what he asked. I had my sailing skiff, and we went at +once. The wind was strong; we sailed swiftly--and at the appointed +place--" He paused to take breath. Ronsard seized him by the arm. + +"Quick! Go on--what next?" + +"At the appointed place when the vessel stopped,--when her ropes were +cut and she afterwards sprang out to sea, I, by his orders, ran my +skiff close beside her as she came,--and before I knew how it happened, +my passenger sprang aboard her--Ay!--with a spring as light and sure as +the flight of a bird! 'Farewell!' he said, and flung me the promised +gold; 'May all be prosperous with you and yours!' And then the wind +swooped down and bore the ship a mile or more ere I could follow it; +but the strong light in the west fell full upon the man's face--and I +saw--I knew it was the King!" + +"Gott in Himmel! May you for ever be confounded and mistaken!" +exclaimed Von Glauben,--"I left the King in his own grounds but an hour +before I myself started to witness this accursed sea-funeral!" + +"I say it was the King!" repeated the man emphatically. "I would swear +it was the King! And the vessel going out to meet the storm tonight, +holds the living, as well as the dead!" + +With a sudden movement, as active as it was decided, old Ronsard went +to a corner in the room and drew out a thick coil of rope with an iron +hook at the end, and slinging it round his waist with the alert +quickness of youth, made for the open door. + +"Where is your skiff?" he demanded. + +"Ashore down yonder;" answered the coral-fisher; "But you--what are you +going to do? You cannot sail her in such a night as this!" + +"I will adventure!" said Ronsard. "If, as you say, it was the King, I +will save him if he can be saved! Once a King's life was nothing to me; +now it is something! The tide veers round these Islands, and the vessel +on which they have placed the body of Lotys, can scarcely drift away +from the circle till morning, unless the waves are too strong for it--" + +"They are too strong!" cried the coral-fisher; "Ronsard, believe me! +There is no rain to soften or abate the wind--and the sea grows greater +with every breath of the rising gale!" + +"I care nothing!" replied Ronsard; "Let be! If you are afraid, I will +go alone!" + +At these words, the Professor suddenly awoke to the situation. + +"What would you attempt, Ronsard?" he exclaimed; "You can do nothing! +You are weak and ailing!--there is no force in you to combat with the +elements on such a night as this--" + +"There _is_ force!" said Ronsard; "The force of my thirst for +atonement! Let me be, for God's sake! Let me do something useful in my +life!--let me try to save the King! If I die, so much the better." + +"Then I will go with you!" said Von Glauben, desperately. + +Ronsard shook his head. + +"You? No, my friend! You will not! You will remain to welcome Gloria-- +to tell her that I loved her to the last!--that I did my best!" + +He seemed to have grown young in an instant,--his eyes flashed with +alertness and vigour, and instead of an old decaying man, full of cares +and despondencies, he seemed like a bold adventurer, before whom a new +land of promise opens. Von Glauben looked at him, and in a moment made +up his mind. He turned to the coral-fisher. + +"What think you truly of the night, my friend? Is it for life or death +we go?" + +"Death! Certain death!" answered the man; "It is madness to set sail in +such a storm as this!" + +"You are married, no doubt? And little ones eat your earnings? Ach so! +Then you shall not be asked to go with us. Ronsard, I am ready! I can +pull an oar and manage a sail, and I am not afraid of death by +drowning! For Gloria's sake, let me go with you!" + +"For Gloria's sake, stay here!" cried Ronsard; and with an abrupt +movement he escaped Von Glauben's hold, and ran with all the speed of a +boy out of the cottage into the garden beyond. + +Von Glauben rushed after him, but found himself in the thicket of +pines, trapped and hemmed in by the darkness of their stems and +branches. The wind was so fierce and strong, that he could scarcely +keep his feet,--every now and again the moon flew out of a great cloud- +pinnacle and glared on the scene, but not with sufficient clearness to +show him his way. Yet he knew the place well--often had he and Gloria +trodden that path down to the sea, and yet to-night it seemed all +unfamiliar. How the sea roared! Like a thousand lions clamouring for +prey! Against the rocks the rising billows hissed and screamed, +rattling backward among stones and shells with the grinding noise of +artillery wagons being hastily dragged off a lost field of battle. + +"Ronsard!" he called as loudly as he could, and again "Ronsard!" but +his voice, big and stentorian though it was, made but the feeblest wail +in the loud shriek of the wind. Yet he stumbled on and on, and by slow +and difficult degrees found his way down to the foot of the high rocks +which formed a pinnacled wall between him and the sea,--the rocks he +had so often climbed with Gloria, and of which she had sung in such +matchless tones of triumph and tenderness. + + Here, by the sea. + My King crown'd me! + Wild ocean sang for my Coronation, + With the jubilant voice of a mighty nation! + +The memory of this song came back to his ears in a ringing echo, amid +the howling of the boisterous wind, which now blew harder and harder, +scattering masses of blown froth from the waves in his face, with +flying sand and light shells, and torn-up weed. Scarcely able to stand +against it, he paused to get his breath, realising that it would be +worse than useless to climb the rocks in the teeth of such a gale, or +try to reach the old accustomed winding way down to the shore. He +endeavoured to collect his scattered wits;--if the ceaseless onslaught +of the storm would only have allowed him to think coherently, he +fancied he might have found another and easier path to lead him in the +direction whither Ronsard, in his mad, but heroic impulse, had gone. +But the gale was so terrific, and the booming of the great waves on the +other side of the rocky barrier so awful, that it seemed as if the +water must be rolling in like a solid wall, bent on breaking down the +coast, and grinding it to powder. His heart ached heavily;--tears rose +to his eyes. + +"What a grain of dust I am in this world of storm!" he ejaculated; +"Here I stand,--a strong man, utterly useless! Powerless to save the +life I would die to serve! But maybe the story is not true!--the man +can easily have been mistaken! Surely the King would not give up all +for the sake of one woman's love!" + +But though he said this to himself, he knew that such things have been; +indeed, that they are common enough throughout all history. He had not +studied humanity to so little purpose as not to be aware that there are +certain phases of the passion of love which make havoc of a man's +wisest and best intentions; and that even as Marc Antony lost all for +Cleopatra's smile, and Harry the Eighth upset a Church for a woman's +whim, so in modern days the same old story repeats itself; and no +matter how great and famous the position of a king or an emperor, he +may yet court and obtain his own ruin and disaster, ay, lose his very +Throne for love;--deeming it well lost! + +Restless, miserable and troubled by the confusion of his thoughts, +which seemed to run wild with the wild wind and the thundering sea, the +unhappy Professor retraced his steps to the cottage, hoping against +hope that Ronsard, physically unable to cope with the storm, would have +returned, baffled in his reckless attempt to put forth a boat to sea. +But the little home was silent and deserted. There was the old man's +empty chair;--the clock against the wall ticked the minutes away with a +comfortable persistence which was aggravating to the nerves; the fire +was still bright. Before entering, Von Glauben looked up and down +everywhere outside, but there was no sign of any living creature. + +Nothing remained for him to do but to resign himself passively to +whatsoever calamity the Omnipotent Forces above him chose to inflict,-- +and utterly weary, baffled and helpless, he sank into Ronsard's vacant +chair, unconscious that tears were rolling down his face from the +excess of his anxiety and exhaustion. The shrieking of the wind, the +occasional glare of the moonlight through the rattling lattice windows, +and the apparent rocking of the very rafters above him thrilled him +into new and ever recurring sensations of fear--yet he was no coward, +and had often prided himself on having 'nerves of steel and sinews of +iron.' Presently, he began to see quaint faces and figures in the +glowing embers of the fire; old scraps of song and legend haunted him; +fragments of Heine, mixed up with long-winded philosophical phrases of +Schopenhauer, began to make absurd contradictions and glaring contrasts +in his mind, while he listened to the awful noises of the storm; and +the steady ticking of the clock on the wall worried him to such an +almost childish degree, that had he not thought how often he had seen +Gloria winding up that clock and setting it to the right hour, he could +almost have torn it down and broken it to pieces. By and by, however, +tired Nature had her way, and utterly heavy and worn out in mind and +body, and weary of the disturbed and incoherent thoughts in his brain, +he lay back and closed his eyes. He would rest a little while, he said +to himself, and 'wait.' And so he gradually fell asleep, and in his +sleep wrote, so he imagined, a whole eloquent chapter of his 'Political +History of Hunger' in which he described Sergius Thord as a despot, +who, after proving false to the cause of the People, and grinding them +down by unlimited taxation such as no Government had ever before +inflicted, seized the rightful king of the country, and sent him away +to be drowned in company with a woman of the People, whose body was +fastened to his by ropes and iron chains, in the fashion of 'Les +Noyades' of Nantes. And he thought that the King rejoiced in his doom, +and said strange words like those of the poet who sang of a similar +story: + + "For never a man like me + Shall die like me till the whole world dies, + I shall drown with her, laughing for love, and she + Mix with me, touching me, lips and eyes!" + +Meanwhile, Ronsard, true to the instinct within him, had fulfilled his +intention and had put out to sea. The fisherman who had brought the +tidings which had moved him to this desperate act, was too much of a +hero in himself to let the old man venture forth alone,--and so, +following him down to the shore, had, despite all commands and +entreaties to the contrary, insisted on going with him. The sailing +skiff he owned was a strong boat, stoutly built,--and at first it +seemed as if their efforts to ride the mountainous billows would be +crowned with success. Old Rene had a true genius for the management of +a sail; his watchfulness never flagged:--his strenuous exertions would +have done credit to a man less than half his age. With delicate +precision he guided the ropes, as a jockey might have guided the reins +of a racehorse, and the vessel rose and fell lightly over the great +waves, with such ease and rapidity, that the man who accompanied him +and took the helm, an experienced sailor himself, began to feel +confident that after all the voyage might not be altogether futile. + +"The sea may be calmer further out from land!" he shouted to Rene, who +nodded a quiet aquiescence, while he kept his eyes earnestly fixed on +the horizon, which the occasional brightness of the moon showed up like +a line of fretted silver. Everywhere he scanned the waves for a glimpse +of the fatal vessel bearing Death--and perhaps Life--on board; but over +the whole expanse of the undulating hills and valleys of wild water, +there was no speck of a boat to be seen save their own. They swept on +and on, the wind aiding them with savage violence--when suddenly the +man at the helm shouted excitedly: + +"Ronsard! See yonder! There she sails!" + +With an exclamation of joy, Ronsard sprang up, and looking, saw within +what seemed an apparently short distance, the drifting funeral-barque +he sought. So far she seemed intact; her sails were bellying out full +to the wind, and she was rising and plunging bravely over the great +breakers, which rolled on in interminable array, one over the other,-- +with rugged foam-crests that sprang like fountains to the sky. A five +or ten minutes' run with the wind would surely bring them alongside,-- +and Ronsard turned with an eager will to his work once more. Over the +heads of the monstrous waves, rising with their hills, sinking in their +valleys, he guided the few yielding planks that were between him and +destruction, trimming the straining sail to the ferocious wind, and +ever keeping his eyes fixed on the vessel which was the object of his +search,--the sole aim and end of his reckless voyage, and which seemed +now to recede, and then to almost disappear, the more earnestly he +strove to reach it. + +"To save the King!" he muttered--"To save--not to kill! For Gloria's +sake!--to save the King!" + +A capricious gust from the beating wings of the storm swooped down upon +him sideways, as he twisted the ropes and tugged at them in a herculean +effort to balance the plunging boat and keep her upright,--and in the +loud serpent-like hiss of the waves around him, he did not hear his +companion's wild warning cry--a cry of despair and farewell in one! A +toppling dark-green mass of water, moving on shoreward, lifted itself +quite suddenly, as it were, to its full height, as though to stare at +the puny human creatures who thus had dared to oppose the fury of the +elements, and then, leaping forward like a devouring monster, broke +over their frail skiff, sweeping the sail off like a strip of ribbon, +snapping the mast and rolling over and over them with a thousand heads +of foam that, spouting upwards, again fell into dark cavernous deeps, +covering and dragging down everything on the surface with a tumult and +roar! It passed on thundering,--but left a blank behind it. Skiff and +men had vanished,--and not a trace of the wreck floated on the angry +waves! + +For one blinding second, Ronsard, buffeting the wild waves, saw the +face of Gloria,--that best-beloved fair face,--angelic, pitying, loving +to the last,--shine on him like a star in the darkness!--the next he +was whelmed into the silence of the million dead worlds beneath the +sea! So at last he paid his life's full debt. So, at last his atonement +was fulfilled. If it was true,--as he had in an unguarded moment +confessed,--that he had once killed a King, then the resistless Law of +Compensation had worked its way with him,--inasmuch as he had been +forced to render up what he cherished most,--the love of Gloria,--to +the son of a King, and had ended his days in an effort to save the life +of a King! For the rest, whatever the real nature of his long-hidden +secret,--whatever the extent of the torture he had suffered in his +conscience, his earthly punishment was over; and the story of his past +crime would never be known to the living world of men. One sinner,--one +sufferer among many millions, he was but a floating straw on the vast +whirlpools of Time,--and whether he prayed for pardon and obtained it, +whether he had worked out his own salvation or had lost it, may not be +known of him, or of any of us, till God makes up the sum of life, in +which perchance none of even the smallest numerals shall be found +missing! + +Wilder grew the night, and more tempestuous the sea, while the sky +became a mountainous landscape of black and white clouds fitfully +illumined by the moon, which appeared to run over their fleecy +pinnacles and sable plains like some scared white creature pursued by +invisible foes: The vessel on which the corpse of Lotys lay, palled in +purple, and decked with flowers, flew over the waves, to all seeming +with the same hunted rapidity as the moon rushed through the heavens,-- +and so far, though her masts bent reed-like in the wind, and her sails +strained at their cordage, she had come to no harm. Tossed about as she +was, rudderless and solitary, there was something almost miraculous in +the way she had weathered a storm in which many a well-guided ship must +inevitably have gone down. The purple pall with its heavy fringe of +gold, that shrouded the coffin she carried, was drenched through and +through by the sea, and the flowers on the deck were beaten and drowned +in the salt spray that dashed over them. + +But amid all the ruined blossoms of earth, by the side of the dead, and +full-fronted to the tempest, stood one living man, for whom life had no +charm, and death no terror--the King! What had been reported of him was +true--he had resigned his Throne and left his kingdom for the sake of +adventuring forth on this great voyage of Discovery,--this swift and +stormy sail with Lotys to the Land of the Unknown! Whether it was a +madness, or a sick dream that fevered his blood, he knew not--but once +the woman he loved was dead, every hope, every ambition in him died +too--and he felt himself to be a mere corpse of clay, unwillingly +dragged about by a passionate soul that longed, and strove, and fought +in its shell for larger freedom. All his life, so to speak, save for +the last few months, he had been a prisoner;--he had never, as he had +himself declared, known the sweetness of liberty;--but for the sake of +Lotys,--had she lived,--he would have been content to still wear the +chains of monarchy, and would have endeavoured to accomplish such good +as he might, and make such reforms as could possibly benefit his +country. But, after all, it is only a 'possibility 'that any reforms +will avail to satisfy any people long; and he was philosopher and +student enough to know that whatsoever good one may endeavour to do for +the wider happiness and satisfaction of the multitude, they are as +likely as not to turn and cry out--"Thy good is our evil! Thy love to +us is but thine own serving!"--and so turn and rend their best +benefactors. With the loss of Lotys, he lost the one mainspring of +faith and enthusiasm which would have helped him to match himself +against his destiny and do battle with it. A great weariness seized +upon him,--a longing for some wider scope of action than such futile +work as that of governing, or attempting to govern, a handful of units +whose momentary Order was bound, in a certain period of time to lapse +into Disorder--then into Order again, and so on till the end of all. + +Hence his resolve to sail the seas with Lotys to that 'other side of +Death' of which she had spoken,--that 'other side' which an inward +instinct told him was not Death, but Life! He could not of himself +analyse the emotions which moved him. He could not take the measure of +his grief; it was too wide and too painful. He might have said with +Heine: "Go, prepare me a bier of strong wood, longer than the bridge at +Mayence, and bring twelve giants stronger than the vigorous St. +Christopher of Cologne Cathedral on the Rhine;--they will carry the +coffin and fling it in the sea,--so large a coffin needs a large grave! +Would you know why the bier must be so long and large? With myself, I +lay there at the same time all my love and my sorrow!" + +Sovereignty,--a throne,--a kingdom,--even an Empire--seemed poor +without love to grace them. Had he never known the pure ideal passion, +he would still have missed it;--but having known it--having felt its +power environing him day and night with a holy and spiritual +tenderness, he could not but follow it when it was withdrawn--follow +it, ay, even into the realms of blackest night! Like the 'Pilgrim of +Love,' delineated by one of the greatest painters in the world, he +recked nothing of the darkness closing in,--of the pain and +bewilderment of the road, which could only lead to interminable, +inexplicable mystery;--he felt the hand of the great Angel upon him-- +the Angel of Love whom alone he cared to serve,--and if Love's way led +to Death, why then Death would be surely as sweet as Love! A great and +almost divine calm had taken possession of him from the moment he had +fulfilled his intention of boarding the ship which carried away from +him all that was mortal of the woman he had secretly idolised. The wild +turbulence of Nature around him had only intensified his perfect +content. He had pleased himself by taking care of the sleeping Lotys-- +such tender care! He had tried to shield her coffin from the onslaughts +of the fierce waves; he had protected many of the funeral flowers from +destruction, and had lifted the gold fringe of the purple pall many and +many a time out of the drenching spray cast over it. There was a +strange delight in doing this. Lotys knew! That was his chief +reflection. And 'on the other side of Death,' as she had said, they +would meet--and to that 'other side' they were sailing together with +all the speed Heaven's own forces could give to their journey. Oh, that +'other side'! What brightness, what peace, what glory, what mutual +comprehension, what deep and perfect and undisturbed love would be +found there! He smiled as he watched the swollen and angry sea,--the +rising billows shouldering each other and bearing each other down;--how +much grander, how much more spiritual and near to God, he thought, was +this conflict of the elements, than the petty wars of men!--their +desires of conquest, their greed of gold, their thirst for temporal +power! + +"My Lotys!" he said aloud; "You knew the world! You knew the littleness +of worldly ambition! You knew that there is only one thing worth living +and dying for, and that is Love! Your heart was all love, my Lotys! +Deprived of love for yourself, you gave all you had to those who needed +it, and when you found my love for you might do me harm in the People's +honour, you sacrificed your life! Alas, my Lotys! If you could but have +realised that through you, and the love of you, I a King, who had long +missed my vocation, could alone be truly worthy of sovereignty!" + +He laid his hand on her coffin with a tender touch, as though to soothe +its quiet occupant. + +"My beloved!" he said, "We shall meet very soon!--very soon now! 'on +the other side of death'--and God will understand,--and be pitiful!" + +The storm now seemed to be at its height. The monstrous waves, as they +arose to combat the frail vessel in her swift career, made a bellowing +clamour, and once or twice the ship reeled and staggered, as though +about to lurch forward and go under. But the King felt no fear,--no +horror of his approaching fate. He watched the wild scene with +interest, even with appreciation,--as an artist or painter might watch +the changes in a landscape which he purposes immortalising. His past +life appeared to him like a picture in a magic crystal,--blurred and +uncertain,--a mist of shapes without decided meaning or colour. He +thought of the beautiful cold Queen, his wife,--and wondered whether +she would weep for his loss. + +"Not she!"--and he almost smiled at the idea--"Perhaps there will be a +ballad written about it--and she will listen, unchanged, unmoved--as +she listened that night when her minstrels sang: + + 'We shall drift along till we both grow old-- + Looking back on the days that have passed us by, + When "what might have been," can no longer be,-- + When I lost you and you lost me!' + +That was a quaint song--and a true one! She will not weep!" + +Then he went over in memory the various scenes of his life--brilliant, +useless, and without results--when he was Heir-Apparent;--he thought of +his two young sons, Rupert and Cyprian, who were as indifferent to him +as young foals to their sire,--and anon, his mind turned more tenderly +to his eldest-born, Prince Humphry, and the fair girl he had so boldly +wedded,--the happy twain, who, returning homeward, would find the +Throne ready for their occupancy, and a whole nation waiting to welcome +them. + +"God bless them both!" he said aloud, lifting his calm eyes to the wild +heavens--"They have the one shield and buckler against all misfortune-- +Love! And I thank God that I have not the sin upon my conscience of +having broken that shield away from them; or of having forced their +young lives asunder! Wiser than I, they took their own way and kept +it!--may they so keep it always!" + +Then a thought of 'the People' came to him--the People who had latterly +taken to idolising him, and making of him a hero greater than any +monarch whose deeds have ever been glorified since history began. + +"They will forget!" he said--"Nowadays Nations have short memories! +Battles and conquests, defeats and victories pass over the national +mind as rapidly and changefully as the clouds are flying over the sky +to-night!--the People remember neither their disgraces nor their +triumphs in the life of individual Self which absorbs each little unit. +Their idolatry of one monarch quickly changes to their idolatry of +another! I shall perhaps be regretted for six months as my father was-- +and then--consigned with my ancestors to oblivion! Nothing so beautiful +or so gladdening to the heart of a Monarch as the love of his People!-- +but--at the same time--nothing so changeable or uncertain as such +love!--nothing so purely temporal! And nothing so desperately sad, so +irremediably tragic as the death of kings!" + +Rapidly he reviewed the situation--the new Ministry, the new Government +members were elected--and business would begin again immediately after +the Crown Prince's return. All the reforms he had been prepared to +carry out, would be effected,--and then would come the new King's +Coronation. What a dazzling picture of resplendent beauty would be seen +in Gloria, robed and crowned! His heart beat rapidly at the mere +contemplation of it. For himself he had no thought--save to realise +that the strange manner of his disappearance from his kingdom would +probably only awaken a sense of resentment in 'society,' and a vague +superstition among the masses, who would for a long time cling to the +belief that he was not dead, but that like King Arthur he had only gone +to the 'island valley of Avillion' to "heal him of his grievous +wound,"--from which deep vale of rest he would return, rejoicing in his +strength again. Sergius Thord would know the truth--for to Sergius +Thord he had written the truth. And the letter would reach him this +very night--this night of his last earthly voyage. + +"When his great sorrow has abated," he said, "he too will forget! He +has all his work to do--all his career to make--and he will make it +well and nobly! Even for his sake, and for his future, it is well that +I am gone--for if he ever came to know,--if he were to guess even +remotely, through Zouche's ravings, or some other means, the reason why +Lotys killed herself, he would hate me,--and with justice! He loves +the People--he will serve their Cause better than I!" + +The moon stared whitely out of a cloud just then,--and to his +amazement and awe, he suddenly perceived the black shadow of a man +lifting itself slowly, slowly from the hold of the ship, like a massive +bulk, or ghost in the gloom. Unable to imagine what this might be, or +how any other human creature save himself would venture to sail with +the dead on a voyage whose end could be but destruction, he advanced a +step towards that looming shape, and started back with a cry, as he +recognised the very man he had been thinking of--Sergius Thord! + +"Sergius!" he cried aghast. + +"King!" and Thord looked scarcely human in the pale fleeting moonbeams, +as he too stared in half-maddened wonder at the face and form of a +companion on this dread journey such as he had never expected to see. +"What do you here in the midst of the sea and the storm? You should be +at home!--playing the fool in your Palace!--giving audiences on your +throne!--you--you have no right to die with Lotys, whom I loved!" + +"With Lotys whom you loved!" echoed the King; "You loved her--true! But +I loved her more!" + +"You lie!" said Thord, furiously; "No man--no King,--no Emperor of all +the world, could ever have loved Lotys as I loved her! These great +waves waiting to devour us--dead and living together--are not more +insatiate in their passion for us than I in my passion for Lotys! I +loved her!--and when she scorned me--when she rejected me,--when she +openly confessed that she loved you--the King--what remained for her +but death! Death, rather than dishonour at your Royal hands, Sir!" And +he laughed fiercely--a laugh with the ring of madness in it. "I rescued +her as a child from starvation and misery--and so I may say I gave her +her life. What I gave, I took again--I had the right to take it! I +would not see her shamed by you--dishonoured by you--branded by you!--I +did the only thing left to me to save her from you--I killed her!" + +With a loud cry the King, no longer so much king as man, with every +passion roused, sprang at him. + +"You killed her? Oh, treacherous devil! They said she killed herself!" + +"Hands off!" cried Thord, suddenly pointing a pistol at him; "I will +shoot you as readily as I shot her if you touch me! She killed herself +you think? Oh, yes--in a strange way! Her last words were: 'Say I did +it myself! Tell the King I did it myself!' A lie! All women are fond of +lying. But her lie was to protect Me! Her last thought was for my +defence,--not yours! Her last wish was to save Me, not you!--King +though you are--lover though you craved to be! I say I murdered her! +This is my Day of Fate,--the day on which it seems that Heaven itself +has drawn lots with me to kill a King! Why did I ever relax my hate of +you? It was inborn in me--a part of me,--my very life, the utmost +portion of my work! I called you friend;--I curse myself that I ever +did so!--for from the first you were my enemy--my rival in the love of +Lotys! What did I care for the People? What did you? We were both at +one in the love of the same woman! And now I am here to die with her +alone! Alone, I say--do you hear me? I will be alone with her to the +last--you shall not share with us in our sea burial! I will die beside +her,--all, all alone!--and drift out with her to the darkness of the +grave, to meet my fate with her--always with her,--whether her spirit +lead me to Hell or to Heaven!" + +His insensate frenzy was so desperate, so terrible, that by its very +force the strange mental composure of the King became intensified. +Quietly folding his arms, he took his stand by the coffin of the dead +in silence. The dashing spray that leaped at the masts of the vessel,-- +the wind that scooped up the billows into higher and higher pinnacles +of emerald green, might have been soundless and powerless, for all he +seemed to hear or to heed. + +"Why are you with us?" cried Thord again--"How came you on this ship, +where I thought I had hidden myself alone with her, voyaging to Death? +Could you not have left her to me?--you who have a throne and kingdom +--I, to whom she was all my life!" + +"I came--as you have come"--answered the King--"to die with her--or +rather not to die, but to find Life with her! She loved me!" + +With a savage curse, Thord raised the pistol he held. The King looked +him full in the eyes. + +"Take good aim, Sergius!" he said tranquilly--"For here between us lies +Lotys--the silent witness of your deed! Go hence, if you must, with two +murders on your soul! There is no escape from death for either you or +me, take it how we may;--and I care not at all how I meet it, whether +at your hands or in the waves of the sea! Give me the same death you +gave to Lotys! I ask no better end! For so at least shall we meet more +quickly!" + +Half choked with his fury, Thord looked at him with fixed and glassy +eyes. He was jealous of death!--jealous that death should of itself +seem to reunite Lotys and the man she had loved more closely together! +Standing erect by the purple pall that covered the one woman of the +world to them both, the King looked 'every inch a king,'--the +incarnation of pride, love, resolve and courage. With a sudden wild- +beast cry, Thord sprang at him and caught his arm with one hand, the +pistol grasped in the other. + +"Too near!" he gasped; "You shall not stand too near her!--you shall +not die so close to her!--you shall not have the barest chance of +resting where she sleeps!" + +He fell back, as the King's calm eyes regarded him steadfastly, +imperiously, almost commandingly, without a trace of fear. He trembled. + +"Do not look so!" he muttered; "I cannot kill you!--not if you look +so!--" + +Raising the pistol, he took apparent aim. The King stood unmoved, only +murmuring softly to himself: 'On the other side of Death, my Lotys!-- +On the other side!' + +There was a loud report, a crash in his ears--then--as he staggered +back, stunned by the shock, he saw that he was untouched, unhurt. Thord +had turned the pistol against his own breast, and reeling backward, +with a last supreme effort, dragged his sinking body to the vessel's +edge. + +"God save your Majesty!" he cried wildly; "Tell Lotys I did it myself! +God knows that is true!" + +The wild waves, clambering up over the deck rushed at him, and an +enormous foam-crested billow, higher and stronger than all the rest, +beat at the mast of the vessel and snapped it in twain. It came down, +dragging the sail with it in a tangle of cordage, and with that sail +the name of 'Lotys' inscribed upon it was whirled furiously out to sea. +The body of the vessel, now netted in a mass of ropes and rigging, +began to roll helplessly in the trough of the waves, and the corpse of +Thord, sinking under it as it plunged, was swept away like a leaf in +the storm! Gone, his wild heart and wilder brain!--gone his restless +ambition,--gone his unsatisfied love--his fierce passions, his +glimmerings of a noble nature which if trained and guided, might have +worked to noblest ends. Like many would-be leaders of men, he could not +lead himself--like many who seek to control law, and revolutionise the +world, he had been unable to master his own desperate soul. He was not +the first,--he will not be the last,--who for purely personal ends has +sought to 'serve the People'! The disinterested, the impersonal and +unselfish Leader has yet to come,--and if he ever does come, it is more +than probable that those for whom he gives his life, will be the first +to crucify his soul, and cry 'Thou hast a devil!' + +Death was now sole commander of the ocean that night! And the King of a +mere little earth-country, realised to the full that he stood +irrevocably face to face with the last great Enemy of Empires. Yet +never had he looked more truly imperial,--never more superbly the +incarnation of life! A mighty exultation began to stir within him--a +consciousness that he, despite all the terrors of the grave, would +still come forth the conqueror! The waves, leaping at him, were +friends, not foes,--the moon shedding ghostly glamours on the watery +wilderness, smiled as though she knew that he would soon be a partaker +in the secrets of all Nature, and solve the mystery of existence,-- +there was a singing in his ears as of voices triumphant, which swelled +with the passion of a mighty anthem,--and with the quietest mind and +calmest brain he found himself musing on life and death as if he were +already a witness apart, of their strange phenomena. Thord's appearance +on the same ship in which he and Lotys were passengers, seemed to him +quite simple and natural,--Thord's death moved him to a certain grave +compassion,--but the whole swift circumstance had been so dreamlike, +that he had no time to think of it, or regret it,--and the only active +consciousness his mind held was that he and Lotys were journeying to +'the other side';--that 'other side' which he now felt so near and +sure, that he could almost declare he saw the living presence of the +woman he loved arisen from the dead and standing near him! + +The ocean widened out interminably, and he saw, looking ahead, a great +heap of gigantic billows, leaping, sparkling, tossing, climbing over +each other in the fitful light of the moon, like huge sea-monsters +waiting to devour and engulf him. He smiled as he felt the yielding +craft on which he stood swirl towards those breakers, and begin to part +asunder,--so would he have smiled on a battlefield facing his foes, and +fronted with fiery cannon! The glory of Empire,--the splendour of +Sovereignty,--the pride and panoply of Temporal Power! How infinitely +trivial seemed all these compared with the mighty force of a resistless +love! How slight the boasted 'supremacy' of man with his laws and +creeds, matched against the wrath of the conflicting sea,--the sure and +swift approach of inexorable Death! Under the depths of the ocean which +this ruler of a kingdom traversed for the last time, lay a lost +Continent,--fallen dynasties--forgotten civilisations, wonderful and +endless--kings and queens and heroes once famous--and now as blotted +out of memory as though they had never been! + + "If thou could'st see a thousand fathoms down, +Thou would'st behold 'mid rock and shingle brown-- + The shapeless wreck of temple, tower and town,-- + The bones of Empires sleeping their last sleep, + Their names as dead as if they never bore + Crown or dominion!" + +With keen and watchful eyes he measured the swiftly lessening distance +between him and the glittering, tumbling whirlpool of waves--he felt +the weight of the wind bearing against the drifting vessel--the end was +very near! Standing by the dead Lotys, he prayed silently--prayed +strangely,--in words borrowed from no Church formula, but as they came, +straight from his heart--prayed that God might not be a Dream--that +Love might not be a Snare--and Death might not be an End! So do we all +pray when the last dread moment of dissolution comes--when no priest's +assurance can comfort us--and when the greatest King in the world is +but a poor ordinary human soul, ignorant and forlorn, shuddering on the +verge of eternal Judgment! + +A mountainous billow broke over the deck, half stunning him with the +shock of its cold onslaught, and sweeping the coffin of Lotys almost +over the edge of the vessel. He threw himself beside that dreary +casket, fastening his own body with strong rope knotted many times, to +its heavy leaden mass, resolved to sink with it painlessly, and without +a struggle. So,--in perfect passiveness,--he awaited his end. +Suddenly,--as if a bell had chimed in the distance, or a voice had sung +some old familiar song in his ears,--he saw, clearly visioned in all +the flying spray of the tempest a face!--not the face of Lotys--but a +soft, childish, piteous little countenance, framed in curling tendrils +of hair, with trusting sweet eyes, raised to his own in holiest, +simplest confidence! So pure, so fair a face!--so pathetically loving!-- +where had he seen it before? All at once he remembered,--and sprang up +with a sharp cry of pain. Why, why had this frail ghost of the past +flown out of the darkness of sea and storm to confront him now? The +ghost of his first young love!--the clinging, fond, credulous creature +who had gone to her death uncomplainingly for his sake--with only the +one little cry of farewell--'My love! Forgive me!' Why should he think +of her?--why should he see her before him at this supreme moment when +Death stared him in the face, and his spirit hovered on the edge of +Infinity? "Vengeance is mine!--I will repay, saith the Lord!" His first +love!--so lightly won--so cruelly betrayed! Tears rushed to his eyes,-- +he thought of the wrong done to a perfectly pure and blameless life--a +wrong he had forgotten in all these years--till now! + +"Oh God!" he cried aloud--"Forgive me! Forgive my weakness, my +selfishness, my many wasted years! Let not her face forever come +between thy redeeming Angel, Lotys, and my soul!" + +The tumultuous breakers rushing now with a great swoop at the vessel, +snatched and tore at him. He nerved himself to look again,--once again, +and for the last time, across the great wilderness of warring waters! +The moon now shone brightly,--the clouds were parting on either side of +her, rolling up in huge masses, white and glistening as Alpine peaks of +snow--the wind had not lessened, and the fury of the sea was still +unabated. But the fair childish face had vanished,--and only the clear +salt spray dashed in his eyes and blinded them,--only the salt waves +clambered round him, drawing him towards them in a cold embrace! + +"'On the other side,' my Lotys!" he said--"God be merciful to us both!-- +'on the other side'!" + +For one moment the breaking vessel paused shudderingly on the edge of +the seething whirlpool of waves, which, meeting in a centre of tidal +commotion, leaped at her, and began steadily to suck her down. For one +moment the moonbeams fell purely on the calm upturned face of the King, +who like others allied to him in kingship throughout history, had +esteemed mere sovereignty valueless at the cost of Love! For kings,-- +though surrounded with flatterers and sycophants who seek to make them +imagine themselves somewhat more than human,--are but men, with all +men's vain sins and passions, mad weaknesses and wild dreams; and when +they love, they love as foolishly as commoners,--and when they die, as +die they must, there is no difference in the actual way of death than +is known to a pauper. More gold and purple on the one side,--more straw +and sackcloth on the other,--but the solemnity and equality of Death +itself, is the same in both. And as this dying King well knew, the +People care little who governs them, provided bread is cheap, and +labour well paid. He is greatest who gives them most,--and he is the +most applauded who allows them the most liberty of action! The +personality, the complex nature, the character, the temptations, the +mind-sufferings of a King, as man merely, are less than nothing to the +multitude who run to follow and to cheer him. If he were once to +complain, he would be condemned;--and if he asked from his crowding +flatterers the bread of sympathy, they would give him but a stone! + +The moon smiled--the stars flashed fitfully through the clouds,--and +all through the length and breadth of ocean there seemed to come the +sound of a great psalmody, rising and filling the air. It surged on the +King's ears, as with hands clasped on the drenched lilies strewn over +the sleeping Lotys, he welcomed the coming Unveiling of the Beyond! And +then--the waters rose up, and caught living and dead together, and +dragged them down with a triumphal rush and roar,--down, down to that +grand Unconsciousness,--that sublime Pause in the chain of existence,-- +that longer Sleep, from which we shall wake refreshed and strong +again,--ready to learn Where we have failed, Why we have loved, and How +we have lost. But of things temporal there shall be no duration,-- +neither Sovereignty nor Supremacy, nor Power; only Love, which makes +weak the strongest, and governs the proudest;--and of things eternal we +know naught save that Love, always Love, is still the centre of the +Universe, and that even to redeem the sins of the world, God Himself +could find no surer way than through Love, born of Woman into Life. + + * * * * * + +Days passed,--and angry Ocean gradually smoothed out its frowning +furrows, spreading a surface darkly-blue and peaceful, under a +cloudless arch of sky. And one night,--when the moon, like a golden cup +in heaven, emptied her sparkling wine of radiance over the gently +heaving waves, a fair ship speeding swiftly with all the force of steam +and sail, with flags fluttering from every mast, and sounds of music +echoing from her lighted saloons, came flying over the billows like a +glorious white-winged bird soaring to its home on an errand of joy. On +her deck stood Gloria,--happily ignorant of all calamity,--watching +with dreamy, thoughtful eyes the lessening lengths of sea between her +and the land she loved. The Crown Prince, her husband,--now King, +though he knew it not,--stood beside her;--his handsome face brightened +by a smile which expressed his heart's elation, his soul's deep peace +and inward content. Naught knew these wedded lovers of the strange +reception awaiting them; of the half-mourning, half-rejoicing people,-- +of national flags suddenly veiled in crape,--of black funeral-streamers +set distractedly amidst gay bridal garlands;--of a widowed Queen, +broken-hearted and despairing, weeping vainly for the love she had so +long misprized, and had learned too late to value,--of a Crown +resigned,--of the lost Majesty and hero of a nation's idolatry;--of +the death of Ronsard, and the inexplicable disappearance of the famous +Socialist leader, Sergius Thord,--and of all the strange and tragic +history of vanished lives, even to that of Sir Roger de Launay whom no +man ever saw again,--which it fell to their faithful friend, Heinrich +von Glauben to relate, with passionate grief and many tears. They knew +nothing. They only saw home and the future before them, shining in +bright hues of hope and promise; for Love was with them,--and through +Love alone--love for the nation, love for the people, love for each +other,--they purposed, God willing, to faithfully fulfil whatever +destiny might be theirs, whether fortunate or disastrous! Thus minded, +they could see no evil in the world,--no mischief,--no ominous +crossings of Fate,--they had all earth and all heaven in each other! +And the gay ship bearing them onward, danced over the smiling, singing, +siren waves, as if she too had a human heart to feel and rejoice!--and +in her swift course swept lightly over the very spot, now tranquil and +radiant, where but a short while since, the body of Lotys had gone +down, companioned by the King. Gloria leaning over the deck-rail looked +dreamily into the sparkling water. + +"The storm we met has left no trace!" she said; "It was but a passing +hurricane!" + +Her husband came to her side, and they stood together in silence. Sweet +harmonies floating upwards from the saloon below, where a company of +musicians and singers were stationed to charm the evenings of the Royal +pair with 'sounds more dulcet than Heaven's own dulcimers' held them +attentive. The tender tones of an undetermined melody rose and fell on +the quiet air,--they listened, drawing closer and closer to each other, +till it seemed as if but one heart beat between them,--as if but one +Soul aspired,--Archangel-like,--from their two lives to Heaven! And +Gloria, with a sigh of perfect happiness, murmured softly,-- + +"How beautiful the night! How calm the sea!" + +So sped they onward,--with Love to steer them; with Love to bring them +safely through the brief cloud of sorrow and wonder hanging over the +kingdom to which they wended,--with Love to guide their lives through +all difficulty and danger, and to give them all the good that Love +alone can give! For whether the days be dark or bright,--whether +tempest fills the air, or sunshine illumines the sky,--whether we are +followed with fair blessing from friends, or pursued with the hate, +envy and slander of injurious foes,--whether we drown by choice in +tempestuous waters of passion, or float securely to the shores of +peace,--whether our ships are bound for Death or for Life, we are safe +in the hands of Love! And in the midst of what the world deems storm +and wreckage, we can gaze into the deeper depths of God's meaning with +trustful eyes, and sail on our voyage fearlessly,--on, even to the +Grave and beyond it!--for with Love at the helm, how beautiful is the +Night!--how calm the Sea! + +THE END + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, TEMPORAL POWER *** + +This file should be named 7tmpr10.txt or 7tmpr10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 7tmpr11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 7tmpr10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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