KING JOHN OF JINGALO

 THE STORY OF A MONARCH IN DIFFICULTIES

 BY LAURENCE HOUSMAN

 NEW YORK HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 1912

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

 I. A Domestic Interior

 II. Accidents Will Happen

 III. Wild Oats and Widows' Weeds

 IV. Popular Monarchy

 V. Church and State

 VI. Of Things not Expected

 VII. The Old Order

 VIII. Pace-making in Politics

 IX. The New Endymion

 X. King and Council

 XI. A Royal Commission

 XII. An Arrival and a Departure

 XIII. A Promissory Note

 XIV. Heads or Tails

 XV. A Deed Without a Name

 XVI. Concealment and Discovery

 XVII. The Incredible Thing Happens

 XVIII. The King's Night Out

 XIX. The Spiritual Power

 XX. The Thorn and the Flesh

 XXI. Night-light

 XXII. A Man of Business

 XXIII. "Call Me Jack"

 XXIV. The Voice of Thanksgiving

KING JOHN OF JINGALO

CHAPTER I

A DOMESTIC INTERIOR

I

The King of Jingalo had just finished breakfast in the seclusion of theroyal private apartments. Turning away from the pleasantly derangedboard he took up one of the morning newspapers which lay neatly foldedupon a small gilt-legged table beside him. Then he looked at his watch. 

This action was characteristic of his Majesty: doing one thing alwaysreminded him that presently he would have to be doing another. Conscientious to a fault, he led a harassed and over-occupied life, which was not the less wearisome in its routine because no clear resultsever presented themselves within his own range of vision. By an unkindstroke of fortune he had been called to the rule of a kingdom that hadgrown restive under the weight of too much tradition; andconstitutionally he was unable to let it alone. So must he now remindhimself in the hour of his privacy how all too fleeting were itsmoments, and how soon he would have to project himself elsewhere. 

Glancing across the table towards his consort he saw that she was stillengrossed in the opening of her letters--large stiff envelopes, conspicuously crested, containing squarish sheets of unfoldednote-paper; for it was a rule of the Court that no creasedcorrespondence should ever solicit the attention of the royal eye, andthat all letters should be written upon one side only. The Queen wasvery fond of receiving these spacious missives; though they containedlittle of importance they came to her from half the crowned heads ofEurope, as well as from the most select circle of Jingalese aristocracy. They gave occupation to two secretaries, and were a daily reminder toher Majesty that, in her own country at any rate, she was theacknowledged leader of society. 

Having looked at his watch the King said: "My dear, what are you goingto do to-day?"

"Really, " replied the Queen, "I don't quite know; I have not yet lookedat my diary. "

Her Majesty seldom did know anything of the day's program until she hadconsulted her secretaries, who, with dovetailing ingenuity, arranged herhours and booked to each day--often many months in advance--theengagements which lay ahead. Therein she showed a calmer and morephilosophic temperament than her consort. The King always knew; everyday of his life with anxious forecast he consulted his diary whileshaving, and breakfasted with its troubling details fresh upon hisrecollection. 

Having answered his inquiry the Queen relapsed into her correspondence, while the King resumed his newspaper; and the moment may be regarded aspropitious for presenting the reader with a portrait of these two augustpersonages, since so good an opportunity may not occur again. The kindof portrait we offer is, of course, of an up-to-date and biographicalcharacter, and does not limit itself to those circumstances of time andspace in which the commencement of this history has landed us. 

So, first, we take the King, --not as we have just found him, seated at atable with chair turned sideways and features sharply illuminated by thereflected lights of the journal he holds in his hands--for thus we donot see him to advantage, and it is to advantage that we would exhibitin its externals a character of which, before we have done with it, weintend to grow fond. Time and space must provide us with a broader viewof him than that. 

This King had been upon the throne for twenty-five years; and duringthat period, like a rich wine in the wood, monarchy had mellowed withinhim, permeating his system with its mild and slightly dry flavor; it hadbecome as it were a habit, and he carried it quite naturally, almostunconsciously, though with just a suspicion of weight, much as a scholarcarries his learning or a workman his bag of tools. 

A pleasantly florid face, quaintly expressive of an importance aboutwhich its owner was undecided, imposed above a fullish waistcoat a chinwhich was now tending toward the slopes of middle age. The eyes weremild and vaguely speculative, the lips full and loosely formed, and whenthey smiled they began tentatively in a tremulous lift showing only thetwo upper front teeth--the smile of a woman rather than of a man. Thissmile--when it made, as it so often had to make, its appearance inpublic--was curiously suggestive of interrogation. "Am I now meant tosmile?" it seemed to say. "Very good, then I will. " This tentativelyadvanced smile of a countenance so highly exalted for others to gaze on, was peculiarly winning to those who were its recipients; it suggested agentle character, indicating through its shyness both the giving and thereceiving of a favor; and among those in personal attendance on him theKing was--perhaps on account of that smile--more liked than he knew. Servants whom the vastness of his establishments did not convert intototal strangers found him a considerate master, full of a personalinterest in their snug lives, and with a carefully practised memory forthe numbers and names of their children; and the only complaint thateven his valets had against him was that he remained his own barber andevinced a certain reluctance in casting his suits until they had begunto show a suspicion of wear. In outward relations he was a kind, touchy, companionable soul; inwardly he was one who suffered acutely from lackof companionship and conversation, not because he had not plenty ofpeople to talk to, but because so many things came into his head that hemust not say, while the correct substitutes for them only occurred tohim later. And thus it came about that a good deal of his intercoursewith humanity was limited to a pleasant expression of face, wearinggenerally, especially when it smiled, a wistful note of interrogation. 

To present this face to the public in the regulation doses which wereconsidered inducive to loyalty, he had sat thirty-nine times for hisportrait to popular rather than famous painters, and to commerciallysuccessful photographers more times than any one could count. Andpainters and photographers alike had agreed that he was a steady and apatient sitter. They all liked him. He himself preferred thephotographers; they came more often but they took less time and did notrequire the give-and-take of artificially made conversation. They werealso more amenable to criticism, and kept behind the scenes for"touching-up" purposes wonderful anonymous artists who gave no troublewhatever, requiring no sittings and yet producing results that for tactand skill combined with accuracy could not be beaten. Occasionally, after having sat for his portrait to one of the painters, the King wasadvised to bestow on him a knighthood or an order. In his heart ofhearts he would have much preferred knighting a photographer; but forsome reason which was beyond him to discover this was not considered thecorrect thing, and the knighthoods went accordingly to the people whogave him the most trouble and the least satisfactory results. 

It had never been the King's lot to be handsome; but now the approachesof age were giving to his countenance a dignity which in youth it hadlacked. This was part and parcel of a certain mental obtuseness orobstinacy: when his Majesty did not understand, majesty became sedentaryin his face. Often when it was the duty, or the device, of hisministerial advisers to confuse his mind with explanatory details aboutthings which lay far beyond it, they would presently become aware thathe did not in the least understand what they were saying, or that suchunderstanding as he possessed at the beginning had become darkened byjudicious counsel. This stage of the reasoning process was marked by agentle access of majesty to the royal countenance; and when it appearedministers were informed that, for the time being, their object wasattained. When, however, the King did understand, or thought that hedid, he was less majestic and more troublesome, and had to becircumvented in other ways; and a good deal of this history will betaken up with the circumventions practised by an astute Cabinet upon amonarch who was brought by accident to imagine that he really didunderstand the position of ignominy combined with responsibility inwhich the Constitution had placed him. 

II

John of Jingalo had been in harness all his life: he had never knownfreedom, never been left to find his own feet, never been taught tothink for himself except upon conventional lines; and these had kept himfrom ever putting into practice the rudimental self-promptings whichsometimes troubled him. He had been elaborately instructed, but noteducated; his own individual character, that is to say, had not beenallowed to open out; but a sort of traditional character had been slowlysqueezed into him in order to fit him for that conventional acceptanceof a variety of ancient institutions (some moldering, some stillvigorous) which, by a certain official and ruling class of monetarilyinterested persons, was considered to be the correct constitutionalattitude. Monarchy, that is to say, had been interpreted to him by thosewho sucked the greatest amount of social prestige and material benefitfrom its present conditions as a "going concern"; and in that imposedinterpretation deportment came first, initiative last, and originalitynowhere at all. 

In many respects, indeed, his training had been like that of a younggirl whose parents have determined, without leaving her any choice inthe matter, that matrimony is to be her single aim and the sphere of thehome her outward circumference. Like a young girl whose future is thuscontrolled he had acquired a pleasant smattering of several socialaccomplishments; he had learned to speak three languages with fluency, to draw, to dance, to ride, to behave under all likely circumstanceswith perfect correctness, and to walk down the center of a large roomwith apparent ease. He had been trained, for review purposes and for thefinal privilege of carrying a cocked hat as well as a crown upon hiscoffin, in a profession which he would never be allowed to practise;and, having been "brought out" with much show and parade at an earlyage, had been introduced to a vast number of very important people, anddragged through a long series of social functions, which, howevercrowded, gave always a free floor for his feet to walk on and neverpresented a single back to his view. But as a result of all thesecrowds, with their bewildering blend of glittering toilet, deferentialmovement, and flattering speech, he knew no more of the inner realitiesof life than the young girl knows of it from a series of dances, flirtations, and afternoon teas. This polite and decorous, yet dazzlingmask had been drawn between him and the actualities of existence, presenting itself to view again and again, and concealing its essentialsameness in the pomp and circumstance with which it was attended. Atthese functions thousands of brilliant and distinguished people hadbowed their well-stored brains within a few inches of his face, hadexchanged with their monarch a few words of studied politeness andcompliment, now and then had even laid themselves out to amuse him, butnever once had they imparted to his mind an arresting or a commandingthought, never once endeavored to change any single judgment that hadever been formed for him. Not once in all the years since he came toman's estate--except occasionally with his wife and on one isolatedoccasion with his father--had he ever found himself involved so deeplyin argument, or in any difference of opinion, as to be forced to feelhimself beaten. That single discussion with his father had been closedperemptorily--parental and regal authority combining had cut it short;and as for his wife--well, she was dear, amiable, and, within herlimits, sensible; but intellectually she was not his superior. Thusthere had come to him a good deal of social discipline, experience of akind, but of education in the higher intellectual sense scarcely any. Hehad merely been taught carefully and elaborately to take up a certainposition, and in a vast number of minutely differing circumstances(mainly of social formality) to fill it or seem to fill it "as one tothe manner born. "

In addition he had been trained, on strictly impartial and noncommittallines, to take an interest in politics; to have within certain narrowand prescribed limits an open mind--one, that is to say, with itsorifice comfortably adapted to the stuffing process practised on kingsby the great ones of the official world; and when his mind would notopen in certain required directions, well, after all, it did not muchmatter, since in the end it made no practical difference. 

Under these circumstances he would have been a mere social and officialautomaton had not certain defects of his character saved him. Thoughtimid he was impulsive; he was also a little irritable, rathersuspicious, and indomitably fussy in response to the call of duty. Temper, fuss, and curiosity saved him from boredom; he wasconscientiously industrious, and though there was much that he did notunderstand he managed to be interested in nearly everything. 

In the fiftieth year of his age, this monarch, amiable, affable, and ofa thoroughly deserving domestic character, was destined to be thrustinto a seething whirlpool of political intrigue in which, for the firsttime, his conscience was to be seriously troubled over the part he wasasked to play. And while that wakening of his conscience was to causehim a vast amount of trouble, it was to have as enlarging and educativean effect upon his character as her first love affair has upon a younggirl. From this moment, in fact, you are to see a shell-bound tortoiseblossom into a species of fretful porcupine, his shell splinteringitself into points and erecting them with blundering effectivenessagainst his enemies. And you shall see by what unconscious andsubterranean ways history gets made and written. 

III

And now let us turn to the Queen. In her case less analysis is needed:one had only to look at her, at the genial and comfortable expression ofher face, at the ample, but not too ample, lines of her person, to seethat in her present high situation she both gave and found satisfaction. She did, with ease and even with appetite, that which the King, with somuch anxious expenditure of nervous energy, was always trying to do--herduty. She had a position and she filled it. She was not clever, but herimperturbable common-sense made up for what she lacked intellectually. No one, except the newspapers, would call her beautiful; but she wascomely and enjoyed good health, and she had what one may describe as agood surface--nothing that she wore was thrown away on her, and anychair that she occupied, however large, she never failed to adorn. Thereyou have her picture: you may imagine her as plump, as blonde, asgood-tempered, and as well-preserved for her age as suits yourindividual taste--no qualifying word of the chronicler of this historyshall obstruct the view; and you may be as fond of her as you like. 

The Queen was the head of Jingalese society, and of its charities aswell. Her influence was enormous: at a mere word from her organizationssprang into being. Without any Acts of Parliament to control or guidethem--merely at the delicately expressed wish of her Majesty--thousandsof charming, wealthy, and influential women would waste spare hour uponhour and expend small fortunes of pocket-money in keeping uncomfortablethings comfortably going in their accustomed grooves. It was calculatedthat the Queen's patronage had the immediate effect of trebling thesubscription list of any charity, while the mere withdrawal of her namespelt bankruptcy. Her Majesty was patron to forty-nine charities andsubscribed to all of them. For the five largest she appeared annually ona crimson-covered platform, insuring thereby a large supply of silkpurses containing contributions, and a full report in the press of allthe speeches. It was her rule to open two bazaars regularly each summer, to lay the foundation-stones of three churches, orphanages, or hospitals(whichever happened to require the greatest amount of money for theircompletion), to attend the prize-giving at the most ancient of thenational charity schools, and every winter, when distress andunemployment were at their worst, to go down to the Humanitarian Army'ssoup-kitchen, and there taste, from a tin mug with a common pewterspoon, the soup which was made for the poor and destitute. This lastperformance, which took so much less time and trouble than all the rest, proved each year the most popular incident of her Majesty's useful andvariegated public life, for every one felt that it provided in thenicest possible way an antidote to the advance of socialistic theories. The papers dealt with it in leading articles; and the lucky casuals whohappened to drop in on the day when her Majesty paid the surprise visitarranged for her by her secretaries would report that they had nevertasted such good soup in all their born days. 

It may truthfully be said that the Queen never spent an idle day, andnever came to the end of one without the consciousness of having donegood. All the more, therefore, is it remarkable that, as the outcome ofso much benevolence and charity, the Queen knew absolutely nothing ofthe real needs and conditions of the people, and that she knew stillless how any alterations in the laws, manners, or customs of the countrycould better or worsen the conditions of unemployment, sweated labor, orpublic morality. Her whole idea of political economy was summed up inthe proposition that anything must be good for the country which wasgood for trade; and it may certainly be said that for the majority oftrade interests she was as good as gold. Without caring too much fordress (being herself wholly devoid of personal vanity) she ordereddresses in abundance, and constantly varied the fashion, the color, andthe material, because she was given to understand that change andvariety stimulated trade. Her most revolutionary act had been toreadopt, one fine spring morning, the ample skirt of the crinolineperiod in order to counteract the distress and shortage of work causedin the textile trade by the introduction and persistence of the "hobbleskirt. " As a consequence of this sudden disturbance of the evolutionarylaw governing creation in the modiste's sense of the word, there was asharp reaction a year later, which--after the artificial stimulus of theprevious season--threw more women out of employment than ever; newfancy-trades had to be learned in apprenticeships at starvationwages--with the result that wages had to be eked out in other ways. Butof all this her Majesty heard nothing. It never occurred to anybody thatthese ultimate consequences of her amiable incentive to industry couldpossibly concern her; and the Queen, finding that people no longer knewhow to adapt themselves to the long, full skirts of their grandmothers, accepted without demur the next wave of fashion that swept over Europefrom London _via_ Paris. 

The Queen never herself opened a paper. Extracts were read out to hereach day by one of her ladies; these being selected by another ladyappointed for the purpose as those most likely to interest the royalmind. It was made known in the press that her Majesty never read thedivorce cases; neither did she read politics or the police news. Nocontroversial side of the national life ever entered her brain--untilsomehow or another it was reached by the dim uproar of the WomenChartists' movement. She expressed her disapproval, and the page wasturned. 

Her instinctive tastes stood always as a guide for what she should betold; and experience limited her inquiry. In all her life her influencehad never been used for the release of an unjustly convicted prisoner, the abatement of an inhuman sentence, or the abolition of any abuseestablished by law. Queens who had done these things in the past weremedieval figures, and such interference was quite unsuitable for a royalconsort under modern conditions. Had Philippa of Hainault lived in thesemore enlightened times she would have been forced to let the Burghers ofCalais go hang and restrict herself to making provision for their widowsand orphans; for to arrest any act of government had long since ceasedto be within the functions of a queen. 

Like her husband, this royal lady was surrounded by officialdom, or, rather, by its complementary and feminine appendices--the wives anddaughters of the aristocracy, of politicians, of ecclesiastical andmilitary dignitaries: these to her represented the sphere, activity, andcapacity of her own sex. Other women--pioneers of education and ofreform, rescue-workers, organizers, writers, orators, had--the majorityof them--lived and died without once coming in contact with the officialleader of Jingalese womanhood; for they and their like were outside theofficial ranks, and stood for things combative and controversial anddangerously alive, and only a few of them had been brought to Court intheir venerable old age, to be looked at as curiosities when theirfighting days were over and their work done. 

On the governing boards of the hospitals to which the Queen gave herpatronage there was not a single woman--or a married one either; butwhen her Majesty visited the wards she was very nice to the nurses. Shewas, in fact, very nice to everybody, and everybody was very nice toher. 

IV

A king and a queen take so long to describe that the reader will havealmost forgotten how we left them at the breakfast table. But the Queenhad her letters and the King his newspapers, and there, when we returnto them in the historic present, they still are. 

Yes, there they sit, an institutional expression of the nation's generalcomplacence with the state of civilization at which it has arrived, interpreting in decorous form the voice of the articulate majority--theinarticulate not being interpreted at all. There they sit, he with hisnewspapers, she with her letters: the King a little anxious andperturbed, the Queen not anxious or perturbed about anything. 

She was still enjoying her superfluous correspondence, he studying in avague distrustfulness the various organs of public opinion which layaround him, doubtful of them all, yet wishing to find one he could relyon. For now they were all very full of the approaching constitutionalcrisis, and were adumbrating in respectful, yet slightly menacing terms, what the King himself would do in the matter. Whereas what he actuallywould do he had not himself the ghost of a notion, --did not yet know, infact, what legs he had to stand on, having no information upon thatpoint beyond what the Prime Minister had chosen to tell him. 

And being puzzled he wanted to talk, yet not directly of the matterwhich perturbed his mind; but somehow by hearing his own voice he hopedto arrive at the popular sentiment. It was a way he had; and the Queen, who was often his audience, knew the preliminary symptoms by heart. Sowhen presently he began crackling his newspaper and drawing a series ofaudible half breaths as though about to begin reading, his wiferecognized the sign that here was something she must listen to. She putdown her letters and attended. 

"I see, " said his Majesty, culling his information from the openingparagraph of a leading article, "I see that the Government is losingpopularity every day. That Act they passed last year for thereinstitution of turnpikes to regulate the speed of motor-traffic isproving unpopular. "

"Is it a failure, then?" inquired the Queen. 

"On the contrary, it is a success. But the system was expected to payfor its upkeep by the amount of fines it brought in, whereas the resulthas been to make the conduct of motorists so exemplary that the measurehas ceased to pay. Unable to escape detection, 'joy-riding' has becomepractically non-existent, motor-cars are ceasing to be used for breachesof the peace, and the trade is going down in consequence by leaps andbounds. The fact is you cannot now-a-days put a stop to any grave abusewithout seriously damaging some trade-interest. If 'trade' is to decidematters it would be much better not to legislate at all. "

"My dear! wouldn't that be revolutionary?" inquired the Queen. 

"Keeping things as they are is not revolutionary, " replied his Majesty, "though it's a hard enough thing to do now-a-days. "

"But, " objected his wife, "they must pass something, or else how wouldthey earn their salaries?"

"That's it!" said the King, --"payment of members; another of thoseunnecessary reforms thrust on us by the example of England. "

"Ah, yes!" answered his wife, feeling about for an intelligent ground ofagreement, "England is so rich; she can afford it. "

"It isn't that at all, " retorted his Majesty; "plenty of other countrieshave had to afford it before now. But it was only when England did itthat we took up with the notion. We are always imitating England: theattraction of contraries, I suppose, because we are surrounded by landas they are by water. Why else did they start turning me into acommercial traveler, sending me all over Europe and round the world tovisit colonies that no longer really belong to us? Only because they aredoing the same thing over in England. "

"They saw that you wanted change of air, " said the Queen. 

"Change of fiddlesticks!" answered the King; "I consider it a mostdangerous precedent to let a sovereign be too long out of his owncountry. It makes people imagine they can do just as well without him!"

The Queen looked at her husband with shrewd and kindly furtiveness. Shehad a funny little suspicion that the ministry did at times greatlyprefer his absence to his presence: and that "change of fiddlesticks"was really their underlying motive. About this monarch she herself hadno illusions: he was a dear, but he fussed; and when once he beganfussing he required an enormous amount of explanation and persuasion. Even she, therefore, was not at all averse to letting him go on theseState outings in which she need not always accompany him. They gave himsomething fresh to think about, and to her a time of leisure when sheneed not pretend to think about anything she did not understand. 

"Of course, " went on the King, "it makes good copy for the newspapers. The press is powerful, and governments are obliged now-a-days to throwin a certain amount of spectacle to keep it in a good temper. We aresent off to perform somewhere, and after us come the penny-a-liner andthe cinematograph. "

"Oh! my dear, much more than a penny-a-liner, " corrected the Queen; "Iheard of one correspondent who makes £5, 000 a year. And think how goodfor trade! Besides, do not we get the benefit of it?"

"Benefit!" exclaimed the King irritably, "where is the benefit to us ofjournalists who describe State functions as though they were jewelers'touts and dressmakers rolled into one? The vulgarity of people's presentnotion of what makes monarchy impressive is appalling. Listen to this, my dear! This is you and me at the Opening of Parliament yesterday. " Heunfolded his paper and read--

"'The regal purple flowed proudly from the King's shoulders; above theirthree ribbons of red, green, and gold, the Orders of his ancestorsburned confidingly on the royal breast. The Queen's diamonds weresupreme; upon the silken fabric of her corsage they flashed incredibly;one watched them, fire-color infinitely varied, infinitely intensified, like nothing else seen on earth. As she advanced, deeply bowing to rightand left, parabolas of light exhaled from her coronet like fallingstars. When King and Queen were seated, their State robes flowing inpurple waves and ripples of ermine to the very steps of the dais, thepicture was complete. Single gems of the first water glistened likedewdrops in the Queen's ears, while upon her bosom as she breathed thethree great Turgeneff diamonds caught and defiantly threw back thelight. They became the center of all eyes. '

"I call that disgusting!" said the King. "Why diamonds should burnconfidingly on my breast, and flash incredibly on yours, I'm sure Idon't know. But there we are: a couple of clothes'-pegs for journaliststo hang words on. "

The Queen had rather enjoyed the description, it enabled her to seeherself as she appeared to others. 

"I don't see the harm, " she said; "we have to wear these things, so theymay as well be described. "

"I wish some day you wouldn't wear them!" said the King. "Then, insteadof talking of your trinkets and your clothes, they would begin to payattention to what royalty really stands for. "

The Queen was gathering up her letters from the table: she smiledindulgently upon her spouse. 

"Jack, " said she, "you are jealous!"

"I wish, Alicia, " said the King testily, "that you would not call me'Jack'; at least, not after--not where any of the servants may come inand overhear us. It would not sound seemly. "

"My dear John, " said the Queen, "don't be so absurd. You know perfectlywell that it's just that which makes us most popular. People are alwaystelling little anecdotes of that kind about us; and then, think of allthe photographs! If people were to talk of you as 'King Jack, ' it wouldmean you were the most popular person in the country. "

"I wonder if they do?" murmured the King. "I wonder!" He felt remotefrom his people, for he did not know. 

The Queen noticed his depression; something was troubling him, and beinga lady of infinite tact, she abruptly turned the conversation. "What areyou doing to-day, dear?" she inquired brightly. 

"I have a Council at eleven, " moaned the King, "and I really must getthrough a few of these papers first. It gives me a great advantage whenBrasshay begins talking--a great advantage if I know what the papershave been saying about him. To-day it's the Finance Act. By the way, Charlotte was asking me yesterday to raise her allowance. Is there anyreason for it?"

"A little more for dress would now be advisable, " said the Queen. "Shehas lately begun to open Church bazaars: I thought they would do for herto begin upon. And the other day she laid the foundation-stone of adogs' orphanage--very nicely, I'm told. "

"Of course, " said the King, "she's old enough, and it is quite time Iasked for a definite grant from Parliament. But if one did that now theywould probably not raise it afterwards. Very much better to wait, Ithink, till we have made a really brilliant match for her; then, for thesake of its financial prestige, the nation will do the thinghandsomely. "

"She has got an idea she doesn't like foreigners, " said the Queenreflectively. 

"She will have to like some foreigner!" said the King. "As the onlydaughter of a reigning monarch she must marry royalty, and we haven'tany one left among ourselves who is eligible. Charlotte must get to likeforeigners. Max has no objection to foreigners, I hope?"

The Queen gave her husband a curious look. 

"From what I hear, " she murmured, "I should say none: but it is not forme to make any inquiries. "

"Dear me! is that so?" said the King. "Well, well! When did you hearabout it?"

"Only yesterday; but it has been going on a long time. "

"I suppose, " sighed his Majesty, "I suppose one couldn't expect it to beotherwise. Well, I must speak to him, then; and we shall really have toget him married to somebody. The religious difficulty, of course, narrows our choice most unfortunately; and when we happen to be on badterms both with Germany and England, through trying to be friendly toboth, why, really there is hardly anybody left. "

"I hear, " remarked the Queen, "that the Hereditary Prince ofSchnapps-Wasser is returning from his three years' exploration ofcentral South America this autumn. Wouldn't he be worth thinking about?"

"You mean for Charlotte? But I expect he will be wanted at the PrussianCourt. "

The Queen shook her head. "Oh, no! He is out of favor there. They havenever forgiven him his description of the Kaiser's oratorio as 'MosesAmong the Crocodiles. ' That is why I thought he might not be averse tolooking in our direction. He used to be a nice boy; he is handsomeaccording to his portraits, and Charlotte is not without her taste foradventure. "

"That doesn't solve the problem about Max, " said his Majestydiscontentedly. "And, by the way, where is Charlotte?"

"She has gone to stay with Lady--oh, I have forgotten her name--the onewho had a fancy for history and took a diploma in it. They are openingthat new college for women, with a Greek play all about the Trojans, andCharlotte particularly wanted to go. "

"H'm?" queried the King; "rather an advanced set for Charlotte toconsort with--just now, I mean, --don't you think? There might be some ofthose Women Chartists among them. "

"Oh, no!" replied her Majesty; "they are all quite respectable, --ladiesevery one of them. I took care to make inquiries about that. "

And then, quite contentedly, she made a final gathering of hercorrespondence, and sailed off for a preliminary interview with her twoindispensable secretaries; while the King, selecting three out of thepile of newspapers, carried them away with him to his study. There was asentence in one of them which he particularly wanted to read again. Andwith this vacating of the breakfast-chamber we may as well close thechapter. 

CHAPTER II

ACCIDENTS WILL HAPPEN

I

The sentence which had attracted the King's attention, coming as it didfrom the newspaper on whose opinions he most frequently relied, ranthus--

"In this developing crisis the Nation looks with complete and loyalassurance to him who alone stands high and independent above allparties, confident that when the time for a final decision has arrivedhe will so act, within the recognized limits of the Royal Prerogative, as to add a fresh luster and a renewed significance to that supremesymbol and safeguard of the popular will which, under Divine Providence, still crowns our constitutional edifice. "

The King read it three times over. He read it both standing and sitting:and read in whatever attitude it certainly sounded well. As a perorationits rhythm and flow were admirable, as a means of keeping up the courageand confidence of readers who placed their reliance mainly upon literarystyle nothing could be better; but what, by all that was constitutional, did it mean?--or rather, how did it mean that he, the high andindependent one, was to do it? Point by point its sentiments wereunexceptionable; but what it actually pointed to he did not know. "Addluster?" Why, yes, certainly. But was not that what he was already doingday by day on the continuous deposit system, even as the oyster withinits shell deposits luster upon the pearls which a sort of hereditarydisease has placed within its keeping? "Renewed significance?" But inwhat respect had the significance of the royal office become obscured?Was anything that he did insignificant? "Symbol and safeguard of thepopular will?" Yes: if his Coronation oath meant anything. But how washe, symbol and safeguard and all the rest of it, to find out what thepopular will really was? No man in all the Kingdom was so much cut offfrom living contact with the popular will as was he!

The King was in his study, the room in which most of the routine workof his daily life was accomplished--a large square chamber with threewindows to one side looking out across a well-timbered park toward adistant group of towers. But for those towers, so civic in theircharacter, it might well have been taken for a country view; scarcely aroof was visible. 

Upon a large desk in the center of the chamber lay a pile of officialletters and documents awaiting his perusal; and he knew that in theadjoining room one of his private secretaries was even now attending hiscall. But from none of his secretaries could he learn anything about thepopular will. 

He walked to a window and stood looking out into the soft sunlit air, slightly misty in quality, which lay over the distances of his capital. Away behind those trees, beneath those towers, sending toward him aceaseless reverberation of bells, wheels, street cries, and all thecountless noises of city life, went a vast and teeming population of menand women, already far advanced on the round of their daily toil. He wasin their midst, but not one of them could he see; and not one of themdid he really know as man to man. Everything that he learned about theirlives came to him at second or at third hand; nor did actual contactbring him any closer, for wherever he moved among them they knew who hewas and behaved accordingly. For twenty-five years he had not walked ina single one of those streets the nearest of which lay within a stone'sthrow of his palace. As a youth, before his father came to the throne, he had sometimes gone about, with or without companions, just like anordinary person, taking his chance of being recognized: it had notmattered then. But now it could not be done: people did not expect it ofhim; his ministers would have regarded it as a dangerous and expensivehabit, requiring at least a trebling of the detective service, and eventhen there would always have been apprehension and uncertainty. He wasKing; and though, whatever might happen to him, his place would beautomatically filled, and government go on just as before, yet, as anational symbol, his life was too valuable to be risked; and so onascending the throne he had been forced, as his father before him, toresign his personal liberty and cease to go out in the happy, unpremeditated fashion of earlier days. 

He had long since got over the curious home-sickness which thisseparation had at first caused him, and as an opening to personalenjoyment the impulse for freedom had long since died within him; buthis heart still vaguely hungered for the people who called him theirKing; and looking out into the pale sunshine that was now thinlybuttering the surface of his prosperous capital, and listening to theperpetual tick and hum of its busy life, he knew that for him it was andmust remain, except in an official sense, an unknown territory. And yetout there, in that territory which he was unable to explore, the thingthat is called "the popular will" lived and moved and had its being!Dimly he dreamed of what it might be--a thing of substance and form; butthere was none to interpret to him his dream--except upon officiallines. 

Before his eyes, a salient object in the heavens surpassing the stonyeminences which surrounded it, rose the tall spire of the twin Houses ofParliament. Upon its top swung a gilded weathercock; while about aportion of its base stood a maze of scaffolding, the façade of thebuilding having during the last few months been under repair. Thereseemed, however, for the moment, to be no workmen upon it. Presently, ashe gazed vacantly and without intent, something that moved upon theupper masonry engaged his attention. Slowly along its profile, out ofall those hidden millions below, one of his subjects, a single andminute representative of the popular will, emerged cautiously into view. 

The King was gifted with good sight; and though the figure appeared butas a tiny speck, it was unmistakably that of a man bearing a burden uponhis back and ascending steadily toward the highest point of all. In aword it was a steeplejack. As the name passed through the King's mind itevoked recollection; and he said to himself again, "I wonder whetherthey call _me_ Jack, --I wonder. "

With a curious increase of interest and fellow-feeling he watched thedistant figure mounting to its airy perch. And as he did so a yetfurther similitude and parable flashed through his mind. For the man'spresence at that dizzy height he knew that the Board of Public Works wasresponsible: as a single item in the general expenditure the weathercockof the Palace of Legislature had had voted to it a new coat of gilt, andthis steeplejack was now engaged in putting it on. He was there in thewords of a certain morning journal, "to add fresh luster to that supremesymbol of the popular will which crowned the constitutional edifice. "

As the words with their caressing rhythm flowed across the King's brainhe discerned the full significance of the scene which was being enactedbefore him. This weathercock--the highest point of the constitutionaledifice--requiring to be touched up afresh for the public eyes--wastruly symbolical of the crown in its relation to the popular will;twisting this way and that responsive to and interpretative of outsideforces, it had no will of its own at all, and yet to do its work it mustblaze resplendently and be lifted high, and to be put in working trimand kept with luster untarnished it required at certain intervals theattentions of a steeplejack--one accustomed to being in high places, accustomed to isolation and loneliness, accustomed to bearing a burdenupon his back before the eyes of all: one whose functions were ratherlike his own. 

He saw that the steeplejack had now reached the point where his work waswaiting for him, work that required nerve and courage. He wonderedwhether it were highly paid; he wondered also by what means the manslung himself into position, and by what process the new gold had to beapplied so that it would stick. Perhaps he only polished up what wasalready there, coated and covered from view by the grime of modernindustry. If so, how did he scrape off the dirt without also scrapingoff the gold? Perhaps, on the other hand, all the old gold had to comeoff before new gold could be put on. He wondered whether the man everforgot his perilous position, whether habit did not make him sometimescareless, whether he ever felt giddy, and how far the exploit was reallyattended by danger to one possessed of skill and a cool head; and as hethought, putting himself in the man's place, his hands grewsympathetically moist. 

Well, he was wasting time, he must really get to his own work now; thatsecretary would be wondering what had become of him. He glanced awayover the distant roofs that here and there emerged above the trees, andthen for a last look back again. And as he did so all at once he startedand uttered an acute exclamation of distress. A dark speck had suddenlydetached itself from the ball upon which the vane stood, and could nowbe seen glissading with horrible swiftness down the slope of the spire. It fell into the scaffolding, zigzagged from point to point, anddisappeared. There could be no mistake about it, it was the man himselfwho had fallen: that single and minute expression of the popular willhad passed for ever from view; and the smooth and equable hum of theunseen millions below went steadily on. 

II

Fleeing from the sight still registered upon his brain the King rang forhis secretary. A figure of correctitude entered. 

"There has been an accident, " said his Majesty. "Over there!" Hepointed. "A steeplejack has fallen. "

The secretary slid respectfully to the window and looked out. To thatpolite official gaze of inquiry the scene of the tragedy returned ablank and uncommunicative stare. 

"Poor wretch!" murmured the King. "I actually saw him go! Ring up, andinquire at the Police Center; though, of course, the poor fellow must bedead!"

The secretary sped away on his errand, and the King, moving back to thewindow, gazed fixedly at the spire, as though it could still in some wayinform him of the tragedy consummated below. Then he returned to hisdesk and looked distractedly at his papers, but it was no use--back hewent to the window again. 

Presently the secretary returned and stood drooping for permission tospeak. Permission came. "The man is dead, your Majesty. He was killedinstantly. "

The King gave a sigh of relief. "Of course, " he murmured, "from such aheight as that!" He stood for a while still cogitating on the sad event:then he said, with that considerate thoughtfulness which habit had madea second nature, "Be good enough to find out whether the poor fellow wasmarried. If so let a donation be sent to his widow, --whatever the caseseems to warrant--more if there should happen to be children. "

Over his tablets the secretary bowed the beauty of his person like arecording angel. Then he paused that the heavenly measure might be takenwith accuracy. 

"Shall it be five pounds, sir?" he inquired. 

"Better make it ten, " said the King; "I believe that pays for a funeral. In sending it, you might explain that I had the misfortune to be aneye-witness. "

The secretary cooed like a brooding dove. Of course everybody wouldunderstand and appreciate. He made a memorandum of the ten pounds andclosed up his tablets. 

Meanwhile the King went on thinking aloud. "I wonder, " he said, "whetherthey take proper precautions in a trade like that? I would like to lookit up. Find me the 'ST' volume of the _Encyclopedia Appendica_. "

And when the volume was brought to him the King sat down and read allabout steeplejacks and climbing irons, and cranks, and pulleys, and allthe other various appliances requisite for the driving of that dreadfultrade; read also how the men were inclined to prime themselves for thetask in ever-increasing measure, and so one day having over-primed to befound at the bottom instead of at the top, knowing nothing themselves ofhow they got there. It was all very interesting and very apposite, andrather pathetic; and when he had done he turned over the pages backwardtill he came from steeplejacks to "Statesmen" and "Statecraft" and"Statutes" and the affairs of State in general (it was from the_Encyclopedia Appendica_--a presentation copy--that he got most of hisinformation upon practical things); and in these articles he became soabsorbed that he quite forgot how time flew, until his chief secretarycame formally to announce to him that the hour for appearing in Councilhad arrived. 

This announcement, be it observed, was made by no ordinary workingsecretary, but by the chief of them all, the Comptroller of hisMajesty's household, a retired general who had passed from the militaryto the civil service with a record brilliantly made for him by othermen--adjutants and attachés and all those indefatigable right-handassistants of whom your true diplomatist forms his stepping-stones topower. General Poast and the Prime Minister shared between them theordering and disposal of the King's public services to the Nation, whileover other departments impenetrable to the Premier the hand of theComptroller was still extended. Though personally the King ratherdisliked him, he had become an absolutely indispensable adjunct to thedaily life--so smooth in its workings, yet so easily dislocated--of theRoyal Household; also, as a go-between for ministers whose intercoursewith the Crown was purely formal, he had proved himself a very efficientimplement when on occasion it became necessary to circumvent or reduceto reason the King's characteristic obstinacy in small matters ofdetail. He might, in fact, be regarded as the keeper not so much of theKing's conscience, as of his savoir faire, and of that tact for whichRoyalty in all countries is conspicuous. Everything that related to theremembering of names and faces, of dates, anniversaries and historicalassociations, all those small considerate actions of royal charity whichrobbed of their due privacy have now become the perquisite of the press;all these things stood ranged under minutely tabulated heads within theComptroller-General's department. He was, literally, the King'sRemembrancer; and so, on this occasion also, he had come as intermediaryto remind his Majesty that the hour for the Council was at hand. 

But the Council was one of those functions in which it was heldnecessary that the part played by the King (albeit no more than a silentpresidency at a Board where others spoke) should wear an appearance ofimportance. And so the announcement made by the Comptroller was merelypreliminary to another and more flourishing announcement by an usher ofthe Court. Two lackeys threw open a door--other than that through whichthe General had just entered, and a bowing official, beautifully dressedand waving a fairy-like wand, announced from the threshold, "YourMajesty's Council, now in attendance, humbly begs audience of yourMajesty. "

III

Then followed a pause. The Comptroller-General with head deferentiallybent waited to catch the royal eye. The King graciously allowed hisroyal eye to be caught; and the Comptroller-General, interpreting thesilent consent of that glance, uttered with due solemnity thetraditional form of words indicative of the royal pleasure. "His Majestyhears, " he lowed in the correct "palace accent": and the usher bowed andretired. 

All this helped, of course, to make the act of presiding in Council seemhighly important and consequential to any monarch susceptible toceremonial flattery. Whether it had originally been so devised may bequestioned, for monarchs of old had needed no such ceremonial backing totheir very practical incursions into ministerial debate. What we have tonotice is that the ceremony had survived, while the other thing--thepractice of substantial interference--had become obsolete. 

The King passed from his private apartments to broad corridors andportals where resplendent footmen stood in waiting, where everythingworked with silent and automatic precision to prepare the way for hisfeet, signaling him on from point to point as though he were a sort ofspecial train for which the line had been expressly cleared and allother traffic shunted. And yet when he came to the small anteroom whichopened directly into the Council Chamber he felt for all the world likea timid bather about to unbutton the door of his bathing-machine andstep forth into a strange and hostile element. That moment oftrepidation was one he never could get over, --to face his Council ofMinisters was always a plunge; for here truly he felt out of his depth, aware that politically he was no swimmer. And now for a couple of hourshe would have to endure while, thoroughly at home in their own element, twenty stout aquatic athletes tumbled around him. 

The door was thrown open; and with an air of calm self-possession hewalked to the head of the table about which his ministers stood waiting. "Be seated, gentlemen, " he said, embracing in a single bow theobeisances of all; and like slow waves they closed in on him, subsidingin large curves and soft fawning ripples of hand-rubbing around theempurpled board at which nominally he was to preside. 

When all were seated in order, he signed for the Prime Minister to openthe proceedings, and thereafter had scarcely to speak; for at a King'sCouncil only general reports were presented, no discussions took place, no fresh proposals were mooted; and so he sat and heard how thisdepartment or that was extending its beneficent operations, howstatistics were completing to their last decimal places theprognostications of experts, and how along with these things imports andexports were balancing, trade declining, education advancing, andstrikes growing every day more formidable and more popular. 

It was only this last point that really interested him; for here heseemed to get a dim rumor of something that was part at least of thatpopular will which it was his duty to symbolize and to safeguard. Butthese official advisers of his were all for putting strikes down, andyet while putting them down they seemed to wish to curry favor with thestrikers themselves. For on the one hand there was trade declining, ifthe strikes were not put down, to support fresh taxation, on the otherthe Labor Party, eighty strong, declining, if the strikes were put down, to support the Government. And with the Finance Act coming on thequestion was whether to accept an increasing deficit in the revenue or adeclining majority in the Legislature. This could be read vaguelybetween the lines of the report presented by the Minister of theInterior. But all this time not one word was said about the comingconstitutional crisis which was in everybody's mind. That had beenthoroughly discussed by ministers sitting in real Council elsewhere, aCouncil at which the Head of the Constitution had not been present, andabout which he would hear no more than the Prime Minister chose to tellhim. 

And so, smoothly, equably, and uneventfully the Council reached itsconclusion; ministers one after another closed up their portfolios, andsitting mute in their places respectfully waited the royal word ofdismissal. 

Then the King rose: and all around the board the fawning ripples ofhand-rubbing ceased, and the slow curving wave of the ministerial bodyreceded to a respectful distance; while his Majesty passed forth to theadjoining chamber, there to give, as was customary, separate audience tothose ministers who had any special memoranda to submit requiring theroyal endorsement. 

On this occasion he found his Comptroller already awaiting him, apologetic for what might seem intrusion on territory belonging moreproperly to the Prime Minister. Under the correctness of his deportmentit was clear that urgency impelled. 

"I have come, sir, " he said, "to submit to your Majesty, before thematter goes further, a certain difficulty which has arisen in connectionwith your Majesty's gracious donation to the widow of the unfortunateworkman who----" He paused. 

"You mean the steeplejack?" queried the King. 

The Comptroller-General bowed assent. "Your Majesty ordered inquiry tobe made. "

"I did. Has it been found whether he had a family?"

"A large family, sir: a wife and seven children. "

"Ah, " said the King, "then you would suggest that ten pounds is notquite----? Well, make it twenty. "

"That, sir, is not the difficulty. The fact is we have discovered thatthe man was what in the industrial world is known as a 'blackleg. ' Asyour Majesty may be aware there is at this moment a strike in thebuilding trade: and this man was working against the orders of hisUnion. Under those circumstances a donation from your Majesty becomespointed. "

"Pointed at what?"

"At the Trades Unions, sir. "

"But what, " cried the King, astonished, "have a widow and children to dowith the Trades Unions?"

"The man was working against orders, your Majesty. "

"But at somebody's orders, I suppose? Anyway, it was for theGovernment. "

"Oh no, sir!" Correctitude protested against so dangerous animplication. 

"But surely! Wasn't he there at the orders of the Board of Works?"

"At the orders of the contractor, your Majesty. "

"Who was under contract with the Board to complete by a certain date. "

"That, sir, cannot be denied. "

"Well, really then, " said the King, "from what department does thisobjection to the donation emanate?"

"From no department, your Majesty. The objection is on general groundsof policy. "

The King's pride and modesty were becoming a little hurt; he was annoyedthat so small a matter of private charity should be thus canvassed andbrought within the range of politics. Subconsciously he had also anotherand a more symbolic reason which helped him to show fight. 

"Really, my dear General, " he said, "I think we are discussing thismatter very unnecessarily. The widow is still a widow, and the children, who you tell me number seven, are orphans; and surely at his death a manceases to be either a blackleg or a trades unionist. He is not workingagainst orders now, at any rate. Make it twenty! make it twenty. " (Hisutterance grew hurried; a way he had when crossed and anxious not tohave to give way. ) "I can't hear anything more about it now: I haveBrasshay waiting to see me. " And as at that moment the Prime Ministerwas announced, the Comptroller-General, for the present at any rate, "made it twenty" and retired. But he did so with a wry and a determinedface. 

As for the King he was thoroughly put out; the steeplejack was byassociation beginning to assume in his mind a very particularimportance; he had become a symbol not merely of the sovereign himself, but of that act of statesmanship which he had been adjured to undertakeby his favorite newspaper. This man, his prototype, had failed to add incompleteness that luster which he had set out to add; had even died inthe attempt; and here, in seeking with all his sympathies aroused toprovide for the widow and children, the King was finding himselfthwarted, and thwarted, too, on purely political grounds. Well, itshould be a test: he would not be thwarted. The Cabinet couldn't resignon this; so he would do as he liked! And under the table, on a soft deepcarpet of velvet-pile he stuck his heels into the ground and felt verydetermined. 

And then he found that he must attend to something else, for the PrimeMinister was speaking, and now at last was speaking on a very importantmatter. 

IV

"Your Majesty, " said the Prime Minister, "the Bishops are blocking allour bills; the business of the country is at a standstill. "

"Blocking?" queried the King; for he did know a little of contemporaryhistory at all events. 

"Amending, " corrected the Minister. "Amending on lines which we cannotpossibly accept. "

"Some of them seemed to me quite excellent amendments, " said the King. "But, of course, I don't know. "

"They express, sir, no doubt, a point of view--quite an estimable pointof view, if it were not a question of politics: they reflect, that is tosay, the mind of the ecclesiastical side of the Spiritual and JudicialChamber. Your Majesty's House of Laity sees things differently: I ambound, therefore, to submit to your Majesty certain important proposalsfor the relief of the impasse at which we have now arrived. As no doubt, sir, you are aware, we have the Judges, the Juridical half of theChamber, for the most part with us, since for the last few years theirappointment has been entirely in our hands. But the Bishops, with theexception of one or two, are obdurate and immovable. We select the mostliberal Churchmen we can find: but it is no use; each new Bishop, adopted by Dean and Chapter, becomes when once seated in the UpperChamber, merely a reflection of those who have gone before him: theJuridical minority is swamped, the Spiritual element remains supreme, and we have no chance of obtaining a majority. "

"It is only because you will try to do things too fast!" said the King;but the Prime Minister continued--

"And now, sir, our one opportunity has come. The Bill for dividing thedioceses and doubling the number of the Bishoprics has just passed intolaw. I flatter myself that when the Prelates assented to that Bill theydid not realize how its powers might be directed. It is the proposal ofyour Majesty's advisers to nominate to those Bishoprics only FreeChurchmen, men whose political views coincide with our own. "

"Free Churchmen!" cried the King, startled; "but they are outside theEstablishment altogether. "

"Merely on a point of Church discipline, " answered the Prime Minister. "They are ministers properly ordained. When they seceded over the'Church Government Act' they carried their full Canonical Orders withthem: only as they had no Bishops they have become a diminishing body. Their beliefs, or their disbeliefs (for on many points the churches aremerely maintaining an observance of definitions which their intellectsno longer really accept)--their professed beliefs, then, shall Isay?--in all matters of doctrine are not more heterogeneous than thosewhich distract the councils and the congregations of the Establishment. It is only on matters of administration and Church discipline that theyfundamentally differ. We count upon the Free Church Bishops to give us amajority both on the secularization of charities and the opening of thetheological chairs and divinity degrees of our Universities to all sectsand communities alike. After that we shall be in a position to dealwith State Endowment and with Education generally. "

"But will the Chapters, under such circumstances, accept the Crown'snominees?" inquired the King. "And even if they do, may not the Bishopsrefuse to consecrate them?"

"The right in law of a Dean and Chapter to reject the Crown's nomineeand to substitute one of their own has already been decided againstthem, " said the Prime Minister. "As for the consecration, if the Bishopsrefuse their services we have an understanding with the exiledArchimandrite of Cappadocia to see the whole thing through for us. "

"Good Heavens!" cried the King, "a black man with two wives. "

"His orders, " said the Prime Minister, "are perfectly valid, and arerecognized not only by us but by Rome. Only last year the Bishops weremaking quite a stir about him; there was even a proposal that he shouldassist at the next consecration so as to clear away all doubts in theeyes of Romanists as to the validity of our own orders. It would, therefore, be a measure of poetic justice if now----"

"I don't think we ought to do it, " interrupted the King. 

"If the Bishops give way in time, sir, it will be unnecessary. "

"Will you consent to my seeing the Archbishop about it?" inquired theKing, much perturbed. 

"Sir, I have already seen him. "

"Well, what did he say?"

"He said a good many things, and said them very well. His generalimpression seemed to be that we should not dare to do it. That is wherehe is mistaken. "

"You have to consult me also, " remarked the King. 

"Sir, that is what I am now doing. " The Prime Minister bowed with theutmost deference. 

"You put me in a great difficulty!"

"I am sorry that your Majesty should make difficulty, " retorted thePremier dryly. 

"You seem to forget, " pursued the King, "that I am sworn to maintainboth Church and Constitution as established by law. "

"Sir, we propose nothing unconstitutional. "

"Free Churchmen are not constitutional, they have no standing. "

"They have a right to their opinions like all the rest of your Majesty'ssubjects. "

"Not to be made Bishops. "

"That merely legalizes their position. "

The King shook his head. "I don't like it, " he said; "I don't like it!And if you won't let me consult the Archbishop how am I to know what Iought to do?"

"If as advisers to the Crown we have had the misfortune to lose yourMajesty's confidence, " said the Prime Minister suavely, "I hope yourMajesty will not hesitate to say so. But I am bound to inform you, sir, that should your Majesty be unable to accept the advice now offered, itwill be the most painful duty of your Majesty's ministers to tendertheir resignation. "

"I observe, " retorted the King tartly, "that whenever you beginreminding me of my 'Majesty' you have always something unpleasant tospring on me! You are treating me now just as you have been treating theBishops; you will not listen to advice; no, you will not acceptamendments, you behave as though you were already a single ChamberGovernment. You ought to accept amendments! I don't like Free ChurchBishops. If they want to become Bishops they can go to the Archimandritefor themselves. I suppose you are making it worth his while?" he addedsuspiciously. 

"Doubtless there will be an arrangement, " answered the Premier smoothly. "There again the Archbishop has already helped us. Less than a year agohe made representations to us on the subject, recommending theArchimandrite for a State pension. "

"And pray, will that appear in the estimates?"

"There is no reason why it should not appear. "

"I have noticed, " commented the King, "that if people do an unscrupulousthing in the full light of day, it takes a certain appearance ofhonesty. "

"A very statesmanlike observation, your Majesty, " smiled the PrimeMinister. "In this matter I may say we are without scruple because ourcase is unanswerable. "

"You shall have my answer, " said the King, "when I have had more time tothink about it. "

With which oblique retort to the Prime Minister's assertion he rose, andthe interview terminated. 

V

By this time he was thoroughly tired: he had done a hard morning's work;not only had he been harassed and annoyed, but he had been thinking agreat deal more than he usually thought, and his brain ached. But evennow his troubles were not ended; just as he turned to go the Minister ofthe Interior craved audience; and at his first word the King'sirritation grew afresh, for here was dismissed controversy cropping upagain. 

While the King was receiving the Prime Minister his Comptroller-Generalhad not been idle: indeed he never was idle. He had gone straight to theMinister of the Interior and had reported to him the failure of hisefforts, for it was this minister who had in the first place come tohim. The steeplejack had fallen, so to speak, right into the middle ofhis department; and with the King's donation coming on the top thecatastrophe bulked large. For, be it known, on the order of the day forthe morrow's sitting of Parliament was a motion of the Labor Party, directing censure on the Government for having brought pressure to bearon contractors and caused work to be continued upon Government buildingswhen Labor and Capital were at war. It was nothing to Labor that thehire of the scaffolding used in the repairs was costing the country aconsiderable sum of money while it stood uselessly waiting about thewalls of the Legislature; blacklegs had gone up on it and blacklegs hadbeen pulled down from it; and one particular blackleg had gone up on itand had come down without any pulling whatever--an accident over whichLabor was savagely ready to exult and say, "Serve him right!" And howwould it be if they saw in their morning papers, on the very day whenthe motion was down for debate, that the King had gone out of his way tomake a handsome donation to the widow? The Minister of the Interiorsimply could not allow it; yet now word had come to him that his Majestypersisted in his intention. So when the Prime Minister came out theMinister of the Interior went in and put his case to the King, as I haveput it here to the reader--only far more persuasively, and ornately, andat very much greater length. He also added to what has already been setforth, as a point making the man a less worthy object of compassion, that according to latest accounts he had gone to his work under theinfluence of drink. 

"So do all steeplejacks, " said the King, and quoted the _Encyclopedia_:"It is only when they are drunk that they can do it. _I_ know. " He spokeas though he had tried it. 

Before the minister had done the King was really angry. "Mr. Secretary, "said he, "I don't care how many strikes there are, or how many TradesUnions, or how many motions of censure from the gentlemen of the LaborParty: they may motion to censure _me_ if they like! The man is dead, and I was unfortunate enough to be a witness of his death. He died in anattempt to do a laudable action. " (Here the King was tempted to quotethe peroration from his favorite newspaper, but he checked himself: theminister would not have understood. ) "His wife, " he went on, "is now awidow, and his children are orphans; and if that twenty pounds may notgo to them, then I am not master of my own purse-strings, or"--he addedby way of finish--"of my own natural feelings and emotions as anordinary human being. "

And before that burst of eloquence the Minister of the Interior wasabashed into silence, and retired from the royal presence discomfited. 

The King's argument had heated him, like the royal furnace ofNebuchadnezzar, seven times more than he was wont to be heated. He soseldom argued with anybody, still less with his ministers: and here hehad been arguing with one or another of them for half the morning. Healmost felt as if something had happened to him; a touch of giddinessseized him as he turned to retire to his private apartments; and thethought struck him--if he was as much upset as this over a smallside-issue, what would he be like when he had done adding that luster tothe constitutional edifice which the nation in its crisis wouldpresently be demanding of him? The wear and tear were going to beconsiderable. 

Circumstance had departed as he retraced his steps to the domestic wing. The lackeys, having done their ceremonial duty, had disappeared: he wasfree to go unobserved. As he ascended the marble staircase which ledfrom the great hall toward the private apartments he was still thinkingof the steeplejack, the man who somehow seemed now to be an emblem ofhimself. This man, set to the superfluous task of regilding theweathercock of the Legislature, doing it in defiance of master craftsmenand fellow-workmen, lured to do it because the cost of the hiring of thescaffolding had become an expensive charge on the Board of Works, andthen, after the custom of the Trade, primed, emboldened, and made drunkto do it, drunk to a point which had brought him to destruction--yes, hewas like that man; his temptations, his perils, his essentialsuperfluity were all the same. As he went up the stair he tried toimagine he was the man himself, going up and up, a solitary and upliftedfigure, fixing his thoughts on things above in order that he mightforget the gulf which yawned below. He took his hand from thebalustrade, and gazing upward at the gilt and crystal chandeliersuspended from the dome above, so entirely forgot his surroundings forone moment that, missing a step, he lost balance backwards and fell withamazing thoroughness down the full flight of steps till he reached thebottom. 

CHAPTER III

WILD OATS AND WIDOWS' WEEDS

I

Bump! bump! bump! went his head. Through a confused vision of stars, veined marble, stained glass, and flying stair-rails he saw his legstrail helplessly after, close in above, fling violently across him feetforemost, and dash out of view. In other words, having reached thebottom of the grand staircase he had turned a complete and homelysomersault. 

For awhile he lay half stunned, unable to move. Something hadundoubtedly happened to his head, but he was still conscious. Cautiouslyhe turned himself over and looked round. No one was about; no one hadseen this ignominious downfall of Jingalo's topmost symbol on the toohighly polished floors of its own abode; and nobody must know. It wasnot the right and dignified way for a royal accident to happen: fallingdown-stairs suggested the same failing as that to which steeplejackswere prone. 

He picked himself up, and aware now of a sharp pain in the middle of hisspine as well as at the back of his head, crawled slowly and in arather doubled-up attitude toward the royal apartments. 

As he moved cautiously along the private corridor, he met the Queencoming from her room, dressed for going out. She detected at once hispainful and decrepit attitude. "What is the matter, dear?" she inquired. 

"Nothing, nothing, " mumbled the King, "only a touch of sciatica. " And ashe did not encourage her impulse to pause and make further inquiries, she let him go past. 

He went into his room, and sat very carefully down, for he was stilluncertain whether some vertebral bit of him was not broken. Then he puthis hand to the back of his head and felt it. Yes, undoubtedly somethinghad happened; at contact with his finger it made a sound curiously likethe ticking of a clock, and under the scalp a portion of bone seemed tomove. And yet he was not threatened with unconsciousness; on thecontrary he felt very wide awake: shaken though he was, ideas positivelybubbled in his brain, his whole being effervesced. For a moment a fearflickered across his mind that he was going mad. But if so it was awholly pleasurable sensation, for though his fancy went at a gallop, itwas orderly, logical, and consecutive, not like madness at all. Hedismissed the notion; but further reflection confirmed him in hisdetermination not to tell anybody; he did not want to explain how he hadwalked upstairs fancying himself a steeplejack. It would have soundedstupid. 

Then all at once he felt very sick and giddy, and going to the couch helay down on it, and there, finding relief in the horizontal position, hefell fast asleep. 

When he awoke an hour later his head, except for an extreme localtenderness, felt all right again; but when he tested it the faintticking sound was still there. His mind was now calm; his thoughts nolonger went at a gallop, but they seemed--what was the word?--freer, more articulate, more at his beck and call; and in spirit he was farless harassed and anxious. Altogether he felt that he possessed himselfmore than he had ever done before: his mental views had become moreopen. 

Then he remembered that he wanted to see his son Max, and talk to himabout certain matters; and so, after a few more tentative touches to theback of his head to find if it was still ticking--which it was--he wentinto his study, and sending for one of his secretaries, got a messagedespatched. And only when he was well on in the routine of hisafternoon's labors did he recollect that he had not lunched. 

That break in the regularity of his habits seemed almost an adventure;but as he did not now feel hungry he plodded on, for this was his day ofthe week for signing accumulated arrears of documents, and severalhundreds awaited him. So for a couple of hours he worked as regularlyand monotonously as a bank-clerk, and while he was signing the lessimportant papers, and passing them to one of his secretaries to beblotted and sorted, another read out to him those of which he wished tolearn the contents. 

This duty was generally performed by the Comptroller-General himself;but to-day he was missing, and the King, left to make his own selection, was rather startled to find what a number of really important documentshad been left over for this day, devoted to what may be described asroutine signatures. As a rule it was the Comptroller who, out of hislong experience, selected those documents which must be read and, onlyafter due consideration, signed. Now, by some accident, he had beenprevented from attending, and here was a crowd of important documents, the terms of which the King had never heard. He began to wonder. Atleast ten or a dozen were strange to him: he ordered them to be setaside. And now very dimly, very gradually, he began to suspect hisposition, and to perceive that without watchfulness he might very easilybecome less a conscious instrument of Government than a mere mechanism. What if he had become that already?

II

And then it grew dusk. The King dismissed his secretaries, and withoutturning on the light sat and thought alone. The effervescence had allgone from his brain, melancholy ruled him; and as he sat ruminating uponthe past and his own present position his mind became obsessed by allthe historical characters who had preceded him in the exercise of thoseroyal functions now grown so exiguous in his hands, who had sat andlabored at Statecraft in that very room, some of them, perhaps, in thevery chair in which he was now seated. 

They became almost present to his consciousness. How would they havebehaved in the present situation? How would they have set to work to addluster to that supreme symbol which still crowned the constitutionaledifice?

He could imagine his own father opposing over a considerable period theweight of his personal prestige to the importunacy of ministers, sayingwith stately ease: "We will speak of that, gentlemen, some other day, "and so calmly turning from the subject in dispute--not solving it, butat least imposing delay as the penalty which ministers must pay for adifference of opinion. That policy of quiet procrastination no ministerof his time would have dared to withstand without first making for it acertain time-allowance. So much at least would have been secured, not ofright, but through the weight of a stronger personality. 

And what about others before him? Slowly there dawned upon the King'svision--clear as though he had seen her but yesterday, the regalpresence of a certain ancestress who more than any other had made themonarchy what it now was--an almost miraculous survival from the past. It was the old Queen Regent, the lady who for the last twenty years ofher consort's reign, when his wavering mind had failed him, had ruledher ministers with a rod which was not of iron, but which, none theless, they had feared, and sought by many devious ways to evade. Out ofsome book of memoirs a vision of something that had taken place in thatvery room rose up before him. Around her a ring of Bishops, crowding theroyal hearth-rug, each standing defenseless with deferential stoop, tea-cup in hand; and she, seated before them with plump hands folded inher lap upon a lace kerchief, or tapping now and again upon the arms ofher chair to give emphasis, was laying down her word of law, and puttingan end to revolt in the Church. 

"I won't have it!" she cried. "I won't have it! This nonsense has got tobe put down!"

And what could a Bishop do with a tea-cup in his hand? There she had gotthem, six or eight chosen Prelates, every one of them in a defenselessposition; how could they argue an affair of State so? What could they dobut assent to the incontrovertible statement that "nonsense" must andcertainly should be put down--though knowing all the time that theparticular "nonsense" in question, being a thing inbred in the minds ofmen, could not be put down by any act of Parliament and would persisteven to the breaking-up of Church unity? And so a perfectly ineffectiveChurch Government Act had passed into law, causing its honest opponentsto secede, while its far more numerous dishonest opponents had remained;and the Queen Regent, having for the time being asserted her authorityin the Church, had passed on the actual solution of the problem to latertimes. 

Later times: the King's brain ceased to visualize, he came back tohimself and to the accumulated problems now pressing for solution. Yes;for the monarchy, not only as she had made it, but as it had now become, that great little lady was almost equally responsible. Her genius hadonly arrested its decay by bottling it up in the clear preservative ofher own virtues. It now stood out more conspicuously than ever, asurvival from the past: it had not really moved on. Had it, under thatpreserving process, become more brittle? With a more open mind he wasbeginning to suspect that the ancient institution was crumbling in hishands; that a creeping paralysis had seized hold of it. Why? What had hedone? Was simple honesty the last and fatal touch that had called thesesymptoms of death to light? Had he been too human for an office withwhich humanity was no longer compatible? It seemed a confounding chargeto one whose soul was filled with a social hunger which ever wentunsatisfied, whose official isolation from his people was a dailyobsession. His doubt was whether he had been human enough? As hecogitated on the matter the suspicion grew in him that he had only beenhuman domestically; outside his domesticity he had resigned his humanityand become an automaton, a thing in leading-strings. He had allowedconstitutional usage, aye, and constitutional encroachments also, tocrush him down. In constitutional usage he was as harnessed andbedizened as the piebald ponies who drew his state-coach when he wenteach year to open or shut the flood-gates of legislative eloquence. Constitutional usage, determined for him by others, was the bearing-reinthat had bowed his neck to that decorative arch of mingled condescensionand pride with which he received deputations, addresses, ambassadors. Constitutional usage had put a bit in his mouth and blinkers upon hiseyes, so that now, even in his own Council Chamber, he was not expectedto speak, was not expected to see unless his attention were speciallyinvited. More and more the critical and suspensory powers of the Crownwere coming to be regarded as out of place, a straining of the RoyalPrerogative. The growth of the ministerial system had gone on; and he, shut off from growth in its midst, was being robbed of strength day byday. And all this was being done, not in the eyes of his people, butsecretly, under smooth and respectful formalities, by a Cabinetinsidiously bent on acquiring as its own that of which it robbed him. Inthis unwritten and unnoticed readjustment of the Constitution nothingwas being passed on to the people's representatives. They knew nothingabout it; keeping all that to itself, the Cabinet, like the grim wolfwith privy paw, "daily devoured apace, and nothing said. "

So far (barring the quotation from Milton, a purely literary adornmenton the author's part), so far he had got with drifting and despondentthought, when again that small regal presence, of low statute but ampleform, became clearly defined, and he heard the soft staccato voicesaying sharply: "I won't have it! I won't have it!"

The blood of his ancestors thrilled in his veins. There and then heformed a resolution--neither would he! He moved to his desk and sat downto write; and even as he did so material for the breaking of thatresolve presented itself, --the Comptroller-General, calm andself-possessed, glided into the room. 

He had a communication to make: the story did not take long to tell. Hehad been extending his inquiries--further and more particular inquiriesinto the life and domestic relations of the unfortunate steeplejack; andhe had discovered, oh, horror! but just in time, that the woman who hadlived with him was not his wife. 

"But you told me they had seven children, " said the King. 

"That is so, Sir, " replied the Comptroller-General; "it has been arelationship of long standing. Morally, of course, that only makes thematter worse. "

The King did not know why morally the permanence of that arrangementshould make it worse. It was a statement which he accepted withoutquestion; it came to him with authority from one whose guidance in suchmatters he had ever been accustomed to follow and find correct. Beforethe weight of the moral law, he bowed his head and gave up the ghost ofthe dead steeplejack. The widow and the seven orphans passed out ofexistence; they ceased any longer to be mouths and hearts of flesh, andbecame instead abstractions to be set in a class apart--one not eligiblefor rewards. To such as these no public declaration of the royal bountycould be made. 

"Very well, " said the King despondently, "strike off the memorandum! Thetwenty pounds need not go. "

An hour later the Queen came in and found him sitting alone andmiserable in his chair. She spoke to him, but he did not answer. Then asshe drew nearer, to find out if anything were really the matter, hismisery found voice. 

"I can't move! I am unable to move!" he moaned. 

"What is it, dear?" she inquired, "sciatica?"

His answer came from a source she could not fathom. 

"No one, " he murmured in a tone of deep discouragement, "no one willever call _me_ 'Jack. '"

III

Three hours later, after dinner, the King and his son, Prince Max, weresitting together in the same room. The King, feeling considerably betterfor a good meal, had given Max one of his best cigars, and having goneso far to establish confidential relations, was now trying to summon upcourage to speak to the young man as a father should. 

But here, as elsewhere, he was met by the old difficulty--he and his sonwere not intimates. They had drifted apart, not for any lack of filialor paternal affection, but simply because in the round of their officiallives they so seldom met privately; and since the Prince had acquired anestablishment of his own the King knew little of what he did with hisdaily life beyond the records of the Court Circular. 

Max was now twenty-five; he was taller and darker than his father, morehandsome and more self-possessed. In his appearance he combined thepolish of a military training with the quiet air of an amateur scholar;his forehead was prematurely, but quite becomingly, bald, his mustachewell groomed, his figure slight but athletic. He had inherited hisfather's full lips, but the glance of his eye was of a keener andshrewder quality, and it might be suspected that the eye-glasseswhich he occasionally put on were assumed more for effect than fornecessity. Above all, he possessed what the King conspicuouslylacked--self-assurance, and with it a sort of moral ease as though anyerror he might fall into would be taken rather as an experience toprofit by than as an occasion for self-reproach. His face showed as hetalked that quality of humor which enables a man to laugh at his ownenthusiasms, and one could not always be sure whether he were serious ormerely indulging in dialectics. To any one out of touch with hisintellectual origins, he was a man difficult to know; and the King, being in that matter altogether at sea, knew really very little abouthim, and was in consequence a little afraid of him. 

That fact made a frontal attack difficult; nevertheless, having screwedhimself up to speak, he began abruptly. 

"Max, " said his father, "have you ever thought about marrying?"

Max smiled a little bitterly. "I started thinking about it, " he said, "when I was seventeen; and off and on I have thought about it eversince. " Then he added rather coldly, as though to warn off merecuriosity, "Why do you ask, sir? Has any proposal been made?"

"Well, " said his father, "we might certainly arrange something. I feel, indeed, that we ought to--at your age. I only wanted first to know howyou felt upon the matter. You see, " he added, hesitating, "people arebeginning to talk; and it won't do. "

This oblique and cautious reference to his son's private life marked anew stage in their relations: it was actually the first occasion, in alltheir intercourse as father and son, upon which the sex-question hadever been broached between them. It was no wonder, therefore, that sofar they had been rather strangers to each other. Now, however, havingdecided to speak, the King also decided that he must go on andinterfere. It required some moral courage; for he had never failed torecognize his son as the stronger character, and, especially inintellectual matters, his superior. 

"I have been told that you have been keeping a mistress, " he said, avoiding the young man's eye. 

"That, " answered Max, "would, I suppose, be the generally receivedphrase for it. "

"Who is she?" queried the King, pushing hazardously on, now that thedanger-point had been reached. 

"Do you wish to meet her?"

Parental dignity was offended. 

"That is a suggestion you ought not to make. "

"Then, my dear father, why inquire after her? She and I suit each other:to you she is nothing. "

"How long has this been going on?"

"We have lived together for five years. "

The King recalled a phrase that he had recently heard authoritativelyspoken--"a relationship of long standing. Morally, of course, that onlymakes the matter worse. "

"H'm!" he said aloud. "You started early, I must say!"

"You, sir, at that age were already a father, " said Max correctively. 

The King made an interjectory movement, but the Prince went on. "I wastwenty, and I was still virginal. To speak frankly, I was amazed atmyself, perhaps even amused. Yes, even now I am inclined to think that, among princes, my record must have been exceptional. This lady, to whomI owe nearly the whole of my domestic experience, saved me from anadventuress----"

The King lifted his eyebrows. 

"One, " went on the Prince, "who would have wrung from me in a singleyear far more, from a merely monetary point of view, than the wholeexperience has yet cost me. "

The King was slightly bewildered. "This person, " he said tentatively, "is not, then, of the adventuress class?"

"Nor was that other: by class she was one of the highest of ouraristocracy. I believe that when she is received at Court it is correctetiquette for you to kiss her upon the cheek. The lady who did actuallybefriend me was her companion and secretary, an Austrian by birth. Shehad divorced her husband and possessed only a small annuity on which shewas unable to live independently in the style to which she had becomeaccustomed. Yet for the first year of our liaison she would accept fromme no provision, and we saw each other but seldom. Strange as it mayseem she taught me the value and the charm of conjugal moderation andfidelity. Just now she is receiving a visit from her son, on leave fromhis military services abroad; and respecting the ordinary moralconventions, which happen also to be hers, I do not go to see her whilethe son's visit is being paid. Yet I apprehend that he cannot be inignorance of the facts. "

"She has a grown-up son?" queried the King, still a little puzzled; andMax smiled. 

"A polite way, " said he, "of inquiring as to her age. Yes: she is on theverge of forty, and assures me that she will soon be showing it. You maybe interested also to hear that she is a Roman Catholic, has attacks ofdevoutness which occasionally prescribe separation, and has twicethreatened, not in anger but with a most sincere reluctance, to break upour peaceful establishment. I recognize that in the end her love for herChurch will probably prove stronger than her love for me--at all eventsin practice. I have, indeed, some apprehension that her son's visit mayresult in a turning of the balance, since he has now inherited hisfather's property and can give his mother the position she has a rightto expect. If that should be so, you will find me very attentive to anyoffer of marriage that any Court of western civilization (which nowincludes Japan) may have to make. Have I said, sir, all that you wish toknow about my feelings in the matter?"

"What I don't understand, " said the King, "is your idea about themorality of all this. "

"Really, " replied the Prince, "I hardly know that I have any. It hasgone on so long; and anything that is regular and of long standing tendsto produce a moral feeling. "

This arrested the King's attention. "You think so?" he interrogated; butMax waived any decisive pronouncement. 

"Perhaps, " said he, "I do not quite know what morality means. I fancysometimes that its full meaning may be sprung upon me when I find myselfin love; or, if I am not destined to undergo that experience, on the daywhen I learn that I am to become a father without having intended it. Morality arises out of the proper or improper performance of socialobligations; and I have sometimes wondered whether society's most insanetreatment of illegitimacy would not have compelled me into a misalliancewith my 'mistress, ' as you call her, had she ever----"

"Max!" cried the King, "you are outrageous!"

"Is that really how it strikes you?" inquired his son. "I feared, rather, that it was an inexpugnable remnant of my religious training. Ifthe notion is anarchic I can feel more at home with it. But do notforget that I am a doctor of divinity. "

"You!" exclaimed the King. 

"Had it escaped your recollection, sir? I confess that sometimes itescapes mine. Yes: I became a D. D. Before I was sent down from College. "

"You were not 'sent down'!"

"Not ostensibly, sir; I should have been. I left to take up mymilitary--accomplishments, for I may not call them 'duties. ' But you canhardly forget that I am the only man who ever dared to screw up theMaster of Pentecost in his own rooms. While my associates were screwingup the Dean, I was screwing up the Master; it was one of my earliestattempts to be companionable with my fellow-men. "

The King sympathized, but was puzzled. "Do you mean--with the Master?"

"No, sir, with my fellow-students, those of my own years, amongst whom Ihad been placed. But I found that it was impossible. They, for thelesser offense, were actually 'sent down'; I, having finished my thesisand obtained my doctor's degree, was merely passed on at a slightlyaccelerated pace to receive fresh honors. That gave me a lesson which Ihave never forgotten; no honor that has come to me have I ever fullyearned; and no disgrace that I have earned has ever been visited upon mefor the public to know. There in a nutshell you have the moral trainingof the heir to a modern throne. What chance, then, have I to knowanything about morality?"

"My dear son, " said the King, "don't say these dreadful things. Even ifthey are true, don't say them. They do no good. "

But though he deprecated having to meet such thoughts clothed in theflesh of speech, he was really very much interested to find that Max hadthem; he was seeing his son in a new light. And meanwhile the Princewent on--

IV

"I often think, sir, of those two medieval institutions which we havenow lost--I suppose irrevocably--the whipping boy and the court jester. What a pity that they cannot be revived! The whipping boy, a device toput princes on their honor to be neither negligent nor wanton in thefulfilment of their duties; and the jester to break us of our tooself-conscious airs and exhibit to us our follies. See what we have doneinstead! When our growing sense of priggish decorum and our dishonestceremoniousness of speech made the jester a figure no longer possible, we substituted for him the poet-laureate!--not to persuade us of ourfollies, but to chant our undeserved praises. And alas, how much moreridiculous, at certain times, he has made us appear--nay, be! With whatlecherous sweetness or ponderous grief he has put us to bed with ourwives or our ancestors, with what maudlin sentiment he has crooned overus in our cradles! And how poor a show we present when poetry thus triesto make our ordinary human doings appear so different from those ofother men! England set us that bad example; and, as usual, we followedher. Only think how far more resplendent might have been her history hadthe Court of St. James's continued and developed the institution of thejester and let the laureateship go. If Pope could only have had theteasing of Queen Anne, and Swift the goading of the earlier Georges; ifJohnson could have bumbled gruff wisdom into the ears of number three;and, following upon these, could Sheridan, and Hook, and Carlyle, andSidney Smith (I pick up names almost at random) have had a reallyassured position and full plenary indulgence as commentators on theCourt and aristocracy of the Regency, and of the early Victorian periodwhich culminated in that middleman's millennium, the Great Exhibition, with its Crystal Palace so shoddily furnished to celebrate theexpurgation of art from industry. If only that could have been allowed, think how England might have been standing now--honest in her faults asin her virtues, a beacon light to the whole world. But there! it is nouse wishing such saving grace to a rival nation, when we are so out ofgrace ourselves. "

Prince Max paused for breath. "And then the whipping boy, " he went on, "think of him!"

"Yes, Max. I am thinking of him a good deal!" said the King, in a tonewherein sarcasm and indulgence were pleasantly blended. 

"You mean that I myself need the discipline?" smiled Max, "that mypolitical ideas are even worse than my morals? Well, here is what youshould do. Choose for me an exemplary young priest of the EstablishedChurch, let him be gentle and comely to attract the hearts of women, athletic and erudite to command the respect of men; and when I become acause of scandal or forget what is due to my position, let him be set tostand in the old stocks at the doors of the Cathedral on a given day, for a given number of hours; let it be announced in the Court Circularthat he is there to do penance for my sins, and let it be my privilege, if penitent, to come in person after the first hour and release himbefore the eyes of all. What more effective form of control could youdevise for me than this? How could I remain impenitent and unsubmissivewhen for my faults an innocent man stood exposed in contumely to thepublic gaze? Sir, you would have me exemplary in a week, or a fugitivefrom that country which set so high a standard of honor for its princes. As it is, our whipping boys go unlabeled with our names; and ouroffenses are expiated by countless thousands who know not for whose sinsthey suffer. "

"Max, " said his father, "you sound as if you were quoting from somebook. "

"I am, " answered the Prince; "it is one that I am writing myself, thatbeing the only form of free action that is left to me. At the thresholdof manhood I recognized what my fate was to be, and that I was notreally intended to do anything. That is why I talk. Activity isnecessary to me. To keep myself in physical vigor I run about and play;to keep myself in mental vigor I read, I examine life, and I propoundtheories. This book which I am now writing would probably excite nocomment if published anonymously, but will be regarded as revolutionarywhen it is known to have been written by the heir to a crown. "

"Do you mean to publish it, then?" cried the King in awestruck tone. 

"Certainly, " answered the Prince. "Has not the nation every right toknow the opinions of its possible future King? Never shall it be saidthat Jingalo accepted me blindly under the dark cover of heredity. "

At this news the King looked really aghast. "And you propose, while I amspending myself in trying to add luster----" he began, then checkedhimself; "you propose to publish a work which may destroy the confidenceat present subsisting between the sovereign and the people?"

"Would not false confidence be a worse alternative, sir?" inquired Max. 

"But you are doing it in my time, " said the King plaintively; "it is myreign you are disturbing, not your own. I don't think you have anyright. "

"My dear father, " answered the Prince, "the more impossible I provemyself to be, the more popular you will become. "

But the King was not to be consoled by that prospect; he was working notfor himself alone--not for himself, indeed, at all. 

"Max, " he said earnestly, "believe me, monarchy, even at the presentday, is of the greatest social and political value. Unsettle it in thepublic mind, and you unsettle the basis of government and the sacrednessof property; everything else goes with it. The hereditary principle hasin its keeping all that makes for stability, continuity, and tradition;nothing can adequately take its place. "

"Do not forget, sir, " said his son, "that if we follow our heredity backfar enough, ours is an elected monarchy. And if once you admit electionyou must admit also the right of the to-be-elected one to offer orrefuse his candidature. The nation cannot play fast and loose, as it hasdone, with the principle of male primogeniture, and at the same timeimpose upon us, its candidates for election, an unavoidable obligationto accept the burden of heredity. No; let us have the matter quiteclear. If the people--as they have done by others in the past--claim theright to reject me, should I prove myself an outrageous and impossiblecharacter, I equally claim the right to reject them; and I must see themcapable of making a reasonable use of my services before I will consentto be made use of. "

"Well, " said the King, breathing in resignation, "I suppose I ought notto mind too much. 'After me the Deluge, ' is a wise enough saying whenone has no power to prevent it. "

"'After me the Deluge, '" said Max, "has come down to us with a muddledapplication. If monarchy would only adopt it as its motto, monarchywould be good for another thousand years. Louis XV said it; and LouisXVI failed to give it effect. Had he but placed himself at the head ofthe Deluge, in the very forefront of its rush and roar, waved his hat toit and cried: 'After me!' like a captain to his company, and started offat a gallop, it would have obeyed and followed him. 'After me theDeluge!' should be the rallying cry of the monarchy for the renewal ofits youth, not the quavering note of its dotage. That is the motto I amgoing to put on the title-page of my book. "

"Good gracious!" cried the King. 

Max was pleased to see what an impression he had made: he did notusually get so good a listener. "And to think, " said he, "that all thistalk came of your having asked me a question on a matter that is alreadyfive years old. I am sorry to have taken up so much time explainingmyself. "

"On the contrary, " said the King, "I am glad. Five years? Yes, I am veryglad to know that. " He got up and moving to the table made a call on hisprivate telephone. "Would you mind waiting a few minutes, " he went on, "perhaps I shall need your countenance. "

A secretary answered the call; and presently the Comptroller-Generalhimself appeared to learn the royal pleasure. 

"I am sorry, my dear General, " said the King, "to trouble you at so latean hour. But about that matter of the widow--who is not a widow. I wishfifty pounds to be sent to her--anonymously. Yes, fifty pounds. Will yousee that it is done to-night?"

Turning to Max he said, as though referring to conversation alreadypassed, "You have effectually interested me in her case. "

Max saw that he was being used as a pawn in a game he did notunderstand, and held his tongue; and the Comptroller-General, findinghimself dismissed, retired to do for once as he was told. 

And so, by the inglorious device of anonymity and lavishness combinedthe King maintained his point, and sent his gift to the relief of onewho was, as a matter of fact, just as legally a widow as any other youor I may like to name. 

John of Jingalo had not yet broken the official leading-strings, but onthis occasion he had circumvented them. Flushed with his triumph, hebade his son an affectionate good-night. "Come and talk to me again, " hesaid. "I don't agree with anything you say, but you help me to think. "

It was a sign of progress. Hitherto he had relied, with a far greatersense of security and comfort, on those who had enabled him not tothink. Consultation with Max, insidious as the drug-habit, and assecretively employed, was henceforth to count for much in thedevelopment of the Constitutional Crisis. Hereditary monarchy hadconceived the idea of turning its hereditary material to account. Nodoubt the Cabinet would have objected, preferring to keep its victim incomplete mental isolation; but at present, the Cabinet did not know. 

CHAPTER IV

POPULAR MONARCHY

I

That talk with Max formed the preliminary to a month of the moststrenuous verbal and intellectual conflict that the King had ever known. Outside all was calm: the Constitutional Crisis was in suspension; byagreement on both sides hostilities had been deferred till trade shouldhave reaped its full profit out of the Silver Jubilee celebrations. Thepapers spoke admiringly of this truce to party warfare as "instinctiveloyalty" on the part of the people, "expressive of their desire to dohonor to a beloved sovereign in a spirit undisturbed by the contendingvoices of faction. "

There was no "instinctive loyalty, " however, within the Cabinet! Whilestreets were decorating and illuminations preparing, ministers weregiving his Majesty a thoroughly bad time. 

In a way, of course, he brought it upon himself, for at the very nextCouncil meeting after his conversation with Max he did a thing which, sofar as his own reign was concerned, was absolutely without precedent: heopened his mouth and spoke;--objected, contended, argued. And at thesound of his voice uttering something more than mere formalities, ministers sat up amazed, most of them very angry and scandalized at sounexpected a reversion to the constitutional usages of a previousgeneration. 

Not a word of all this leaked out. The whole thing was an admirableexample of that keeping-up of appearances on which bureaucraticgovernment so largely depends. And it was, if you come to think of it, avery deftly arranged affair. There was the whole country bobbing withloyalty, enthusiasm, and commercial opportunism; the Cabinetunencumbered for a while by any parliamentary situation that could causeanxiety, and correspondingly free to direct its energies elsewhere; andthere within the Council, and without a soul to advise him, was theKing, scuffling confusedly against the predatory devices of hisministers. The poor man's knowledge of the Constitution was but scanty, and his powers of argument were feeble, for from the day of hisaccession the word "precedent" had governed him. Yet he had an idea, afeeling, that he was now being forced into a wrong position; theconstitutional breath was being beaten out of his body, and he wouldpass from his levees, from his receptions of foreign embassies andaddresses of loyalty and congratulation, to a conflict in Council whichreminded him of nothing so much as a "scrum" upon the football field. Through one goal or another he was to be kicked--the exercise of theCrown's prerogative to nominate Free Church Bishops, or the refusal toexercise it. And whichever expedient he was driven to in the end, heknew that on one side grandiloquent words would be written about hisfine instinct for the constitutional limitations or powers of monarchy, and on the other, pained, but deeply respectful words of regret that hehad been so ill-advised by his ministers--or by others. Whichever sideloses, it is the football which wins the game. That, however, is merelythe spectator's point of view. The football only knows that it has beenkicked. Yet the King was well aware that in Parliament at any rateappearances would be kept up; and that whatever corner of the field hegot kicked to, the blame for it would be laid, ostensibly, on others;though, as a result, the monarchy to which it was his bounden duty to"add luster" would be either strengthened or weakened: and what courseto take he really did not know. 

His mind, in consequence, was greatly troubled. Being of conservativeinstincts he believed that, in the main, the Bishops were right and thePrime Minister wrong. The Prime Minister had been harassing the countrywith general elections; and the country had had about as many as itcould stand: yet without a fresh election no other ministry waspossible. And now, at a moment when the country was bent on profiting bythe revival in trade which the approaching celebrations had stimulated, nothing would be so unpopular as a fresh ministerial crisis; and hecould have no doubt that, whatever the papers might pretend to say, theodium of that crisis, if due to his own action, would fall eventuallyupon himself. 

And the Prime Minister knew it! Yes, just at that juncture, resignation, or the threat of it, had become an absolutely compelling card; and hewas playing it for all it was worth. Free Church Bishops were to bepromised for the ensuing year, or the Ministry would be bound to feel, here and now, that his Majesty's confidence in it had been withdrawn. 

Resignation, aimed not against any opposing majority in Parliament, butagainst the demur and opposition of the Crown itself--that fact in allits political significance, with all its possible developments of dangerfor the State and of humiliation for the monarchy, was daily pressingits relentless weight against the King's scruples. The more unanswerableit seemed the more angry he became, the more keenly did he feel that hewas being unfairly used. And then, one day, as he sat thinking at hisdesk, all at once a new thought occurred to him, throwing a queerradiance into his face, of joy mixed with cunning. And then, gradually, it faded out and left a blank; the old expression of anxiety anddistrustfulness returned. He shook his head at himself, scared that sucha thought should ever have come into it. "No, no, it wouldn't do!" hemuttered. "Impossible. "

All the same he got up from his desk, and in deep cogitation beganwalking about the room. The carpet with its rich variegated pattern, like Max's conversation, helped him to think; until certain deliveriesof a royal courier from abroad came to divert his attention to moreparticular and family affairs. 

Nevertheless his mind had again reverted to its vetoed notion when, anhour later, on his way to the Queen's apartments he met the PrincessCharlotte tripping gaily along the corridor. She stopped to give him her"return home" embrace. "How well you are looking, papa!" cried she, admiring his flushed countenance. But the King, though he smiled, remained preoccupied with the embryos of statecraft. 

"My dear, " he said abruptly, "do you think that I am popular?"

"Why, yes, papa, of course!" she said, opening sweet eyes at him. "Doesn't everybody cheer you when you go anywhere?"

"I think, " said her father dubiously, lending his ears in fancy to thesound, "I think that crowds get into the habit of cheering, --not becausethey care for me, but just because there are a lot of them, and theylike to hear the sound of their own voices. "

"But sometimes you have quite small crowds, " said his daughter, "andstill they cheer. "

"Yes, yes, " he allowed, "so they do. Yes, even the nursemaids, I notice, wave their handkerchiefs when I ride by them in the park. And I daresaysome of them do it because they are sorry for me. "

"Sorry for you, papa?"

"My dear, wouldn't you be sorry to have to be King now-a-days? It's nofun, I can assure you. "

"I wouldn't like to be King always, " said Charlotte, with honesty; "butyou know, papa, with all the Silver Jubilee celebrations coming on youare quite immensely popular. "

"Ah!" said the King. "Thank you, my dear, that is what I wanted toknow. "

He went on to the Queen's apartments, and Princess Charlotte stoodlooking after him. "Poor dear!" she said to herself. She was sorry forhim too--very sorry just now; for she had a secret growing within hersomewhere between heart and head which, if he knew of it--and some dayhe would have to know of it--would cause him a great deal of worry. 

This young woman with her growing secret was at that time twenty-three. 

II

The Princess Charlotte had a way of drawing in a breath as if to speak, and then bottling it. This little performance was at times very tellingin its effect--it spoke volumes: it told of a long training inself-repression which still did not come quite naturally: it told ofinward combustion, of a tightly cornered but still independent mind. Ladies-in-waiting had seen the Princess run out of her mother's presenceto tabber her feet on the inlaid floor of the corridor, thence to returnsmooth, sweet-tempered, and amiable; for between Charlotte and the Queenthere were temperamental differences which had to declare themselves orfind safety through emergency exits. 

The Princess had no such difficulties with her father, forimperturbability was not one of his characteristics, andimperturbability was the one quality in a parent which the Princesssimply could not stand; it made her feel powerless; and to feelpowerless toward one's intellectual inferiors is, to certaintemperaments, maddening. Charlotte had long since been brought torecognize that her mother, in her own dear way, was quite hopeless: butshe was able with astonishing ease to get upon her father's nerves andto trouble his conscience; for while the Queen remained impervious toall influences outside the conventions of her training and her habits, the King was as open to new scruples of conscience as a sieve is to thewind--fresh ideas rattled in his head like green peas in acullender--when he shook his head it seemed to shake them about, and allthe larger ones came uppermost; and the Princess Charlotte had in recentyears acquired a habit of entangling her father, with the most engagingsimplicity, in moral problems for which constitutional monarchy couldfind no answer. 

She was evidently interested in politics, and when of late the King, wishing to check so dangerous a tendency, had sought to know the reasonwhy, she had answered with perfect frankness: "Max says" (for to her, also, Max, the man born to inaction, had been talking), "Max says he isnot sure if he means to come to the throne. If he doesn't, it is just aswell I should know something of the business. "

The young lady had a most disrespectful way of talking about themonarchy as "the business, " and did not say it as if in joke. 

"Are you going to business to-day, papa?" was actually the phraseuttered in all seriousness, which had met him one of the days when hewent down to open Parliament. But though she spoke thus gracelessly ofan important State function she attended it herself with grace, andbehaved well. 

The Princess Charlotte had learned many things alien to her nature; butshe had never learned that correctitude of deportment which is supposedto accompany all those born in the regal purple from the cradle to thegrave. She substituted for it, however, something much more individualand charming. Tall and abundantly alive, she moved in soft rushesrather quicker than a walk; and her manner of swimming down a room, withswift invisible run of feet, and just three long undulating bows on thetop of all--those three doing duty for so many--was a sight on thedecorum of which Court opinion was sharply divided. Yet every oneadmitted that though she might lack convention or anything in the leastresembling "the grand manner"--she had a style of her own; manyalso--even those who disapproved--admitted her charm. As she talked toher chosen intimates, her two hands would go out in quick bird-likegestures of momentary contact, while her brightly moving face gave aconstant invitation to the free entry of her thoughts. Barriers she hadnone. A dangerous young person for getting her own way; for in theprocess she often got not only her own but other people's as well. 

At the moment when she makes her introductory bow from the pages of thishistory her main and consuming desire was to secure the ordering of herown dresses; and to obtain that preliminary measure of independence forthe expression of her own character she was prepared, in the face ofmaternal opposition, to go to considerable lengths. 

The King when he met her in the corridor was, as we have said, preoccupied with affairs of State. But his preoccupation was partly puton with intent for the concealment of other thoughts. The sight of hisdaughter at that moment, embarrassed him--gave him, indeed, almost asense of guilt, for he held in his hand a letter from the HereditaryPrince of Schnapps-Wasser accepting the circuitously worded proposal, with all its delicate adumbrations of yet other proposals to follow, that he should visit the Jingalese Court early in the ensuingyear--immediately, that is to say, upon his return from South America;and though in his reply the veiled object of that visit was notmentioned there was a touch here and there of compliment, of warmth, ofa wish that the date were not so far off, which indicated "a coming ondisposition. "

And so, under the bright eyes of his daughter, the King was conscious ofa sense of guilt, in that he was concealing from her something in whichher future was very greatly concerned. It seemed hardly fair thus to bepushing matters on without letting her know: and yet--what else could hedo? So, covering his affectionate embarrassment in inquiries abouthimself, he shuffled past; and when he had gone a little further, turnedto take another look at her, and found, startled, that she too waslooking at him. There, at opposite ends of the long corridor, father anddaughter stood interrogatively at gaze, each feeling a little guilty, each wondering what, at the dénouement, the other would say. Then thecharming Charlotte blew him a kiss from her hand, and his Majesty didlikewise; and, off to the fulfilment of her destiny went the Princess;and off to his fulfilment of her destiny went he; each quite sure intheir two different ways that they knew what was best for her. 

III

The King found the Queen at her knitting, very placid and contented andwell pleased with herself, for she had just been giving Charlotte a mildtalking to. Charlotte had come home with adjectives in her mouth ofwhich the Queen did not approve, and with enthusiasms that wentriotously beyond bounds. She had talked of some Professor's translationof a Greek play as "glorious"; and of the play itself--a play all aboutexpatriated women who, their proper husbands having been killed in asiege, were forced to accept at the hands of their enemies husbands of aless proper kind--she had talked of that play as "the most immense, immortal, and modern thing in all drama. "

"I told her, " said the Queen, "that she was talking about what shedidn't understand; but she answered that she had seen it three times. _I_ said, that to go and see the same play three times--especially aplay with murders in it--showed a morbid taste. She didn't seem to mind:'Then I _am_ morbid, ' was her reply. And when I said, 'That comes ofmaking friends with these intellectual women, ' she only laughed at me. Ishan't let her go again, it is doing her harm; she has far too manyideas, far too many: and where she picks them all up I'm sure I don'tknow; she doesn't get them from me!"

And then the conversation--though Charlotte remained its subject--tookanother turn, for the King put into his wife's hand the letter he hadreceived from the Prince of Schnapps-Wasser, and immediately hercomments began. 

"He writes a nice hand, " she said, "and expresses himself very well. Speaks of writing a book on his travels; he must be clever. Well, at allevents, it's very evident that he means to come, and wants to. We mustask him to send his photograph. I think, my dear, we have made a verygood choice, and Charlotte may consider herself very fortunate. But whata pity he's not coming sooner. Well, Charlotte must wait, that's all!"

And so in her own mind the matter was settled, and only the usualdetails waited to be arranged. She handed the letter back to him. 

"Of course, " she said, "before he comes Charlotte must have a biggerallowance. " She became meditative. "By the way, you had better leave itin my hands; don't give it to Charlotte herself. She wheedles you, Iknow; but she has ideas about dress which I am not going to encourage;she makes herself far too noticeable as it is. Somebody has been talkingto her about 'national costume' and the folly of fashions; and sheactually said just now that she wanted to have some kind of dress thatshe could wear three years running! I told her that fashions were madeto be followed, and that it was her duty to follow them. Oh, she wasquite sweet about it, and said she supposed I knew best, which of courseis true. But she had a sort of 'I'll ask papa' look in her eyes thatmade me suspicious. She went out just before you came. "

"I met her, " observed the King. 

"And she said nothing?"

"Not a word about her dress allowance. "

"Ah, that's all right, then: she takes what I tell her sometimes. " Thenwith a quick glance the Queen asked abruptly: "Have you seen Max?"

"I fancy I may be seeing him this evening, " returned the King casually, for he wished to conceal even from his wife the importance he had begunto attach to his son's visits. 

"Something is happening, " said the Queen pointedly; "at least, so I aminformed. That--that person I told you about--she isn't there now. "

"However do you come to know that?" inquired the King, surprised; buthis question was ignored. 

"She has gone abroad, " went on his informant. "Had you said anything toMax?"

"I did speak to him. "

"Then it seems to have had its effect. "

The King very much doubted whether the effect was any of his doing; buthe held his peace. 

"Now we must find somebody for him, " continued the dear lady, coveringthe past in a tone of charitable allowance. 

"I think that Max will find somebody for himself. "

But this was not to her taste at all. "How can he, " she objected, "unless we send him abroad? I'm sure there's nobody here. "

But the King had come recently to know more about Max than his wife did. "Max will find somebody for himself, " he repeated; "and if he thinks itworth while, he will go all round the world on a wild goose chase tolook for her. "

IV

Could the King only have known it, Max had already found his choicenearer home. His domestic arrangements having been temporarily disturbedby a certain lady's departure to visit her son on his estates, he hadgone off on a spurt of social curiosity to inspect the slums of hisfather's capital, and on the third day of his investigation had spied, under a nursing sister's habit, and above a gentle breast bearing anivory cross, the face of his dreams. Having taken scientific steps todiscover whether that particular garb entailed celibate vows, andlearning that it did not, he had industriously run its wearer to saintedearth--had, that is to say, pursued her to a top-floor tenement andthere found her upon her knees with sanitary zeal scrubbing dirt fromthe boards of poverty; and poverty upon its bed whimpering with rage andfeebly cursing her for thus coming to disturb its peace. Thus they hadmet, and very promptly and practically had the wearer of the habit madehim pay the price for his intrusion by setting him there and then towork of a kind he had never tackled before. 

Who she was, and all the sacred dance that she led him on holy feet, before she gave him that reward which was his due, will be told in thelater pages of this history. For the present Max had hardly any idea howpure and deep a Jordan he was about to be dipped in, or how thorough ascrubbing he himself was to receive. His voice was still like therollings of Abana and Pharpar, when he came on this next evening todiscourse up-to-date wisdom in his father's ears; not a hair of hiswell-groomed head showed the ruffling of perturbed thoughts within, norwere his self-confidence and easy satisfaction in the moral and mentalliberties wherein he ranged at large in any way diminished or disturbed. 

When they had settled down to their talk, the King confidentiallybroached the proposed visit of the Hereditary Prince of Schnapps-Wasserand its intended significance. Max did not seem particularly impressed. "What does Charlotte say about it?" he inquired casually. 

"Charlotte does not say anything. How should she? She does not yetknow. "

Max smiled. "It will be time, then, to talk about it when she does. "

"But there is really nobody else; and Charlotte must marry somebody. "

"Has she said so?" inquired Max. "My own impression is that she willhave to get through at least one good healthy love affair of her ownbefore she settles down to anything you or the Courts of Europe canprovide. After that--if you let her plunge deep enough--you won't haveany trouble; she will marry anything you offer. Of course, if you reallybelieved in monarchy as a principle, and not as a mere expedient--adivine institution, and not as the last ditch in which the oldclass-barriers have to be maintained--you would let her marry any oneshe chose. It would do the monarchy no harm, and might do it good. "

The King shook his head. "It's no use talking like that, " said he. "Weare not free, any of us. The more other ranks of society have becomemixed, commercially mixed--for you know it is money that has doneit--the more we must maintain ours. Royalty must not barter itselfaway. "

"But you _do_ barter it, " said Max, "for rank if not for gold. And theone is really as base as the other. The great game for royalty to playnow-a-days is courageous domesticity. "

"There are limits, " replied his father. "We must maintain our position. "

"That is just where you make the mistake, " retorted Max. "You and mydear mother are always ready to play the domestic game where it is notimportant. You allow photographs of your private life to be on sale inshop-windows; charming private details slip out in newspaper paragraphs;one of you behaves with natural and decent civility to some ordinarypoor person, and news of it is immediately flashed to all the press. Twoyears ago, for instance, when you were triumphantly touring the UnitedStates you arrived by some accident at a place called New York; andthere, early one morning, having evaded the reporters, you stood lookingup at the sky-scrapers when you trod on an errand-boy's toe, or knockedhis basket out of his hand; and having done so you touched your hat andapologized--you a King to an errand-boy! And immediately all America, which yawps of equality and of one man being the equal of any other, fell rapturously in love with you! You, I daresay, have forgotten theincident?"

"Quite, " said the King. 

"But America remembers it. When you left, with all the locusts of thepress clinging to the wheels of your chariot, they dubbed you 'conquerorof hearts'; and it was mainly because you had knocked over an errand-boyand apologized to him. Now you do these things naturally; but they areall really part of the business: your secretaries report them to thepress. "

"What?" exclaimed the King, startled. 

"Why, of course! The errand-boy didn't know you from Adam, and no onebut your private secretary was with you at the time; at least, so Igathered: it was before breakfast and you had given the detectives theslip. Well, then, merely by letting your human nature and your sense ofdecency have free play you help to run the monarchic system--you almostmake a success of it. But you stop just where you ought to go on. Youare natural--you are yourself--where there is no opposition to yourbeing so. If you would go on being natural where there _is_opposition--where all sorts of high social and political reasons step inand forbid--you would find yourself far more powerful than theConstitution intended you to be, for you would have the people with you. There is a mountain of sentiment ready to rush to your side if you onlyhad the faith to call it to you. Have you not noticed, whenever a royalengagement is announced, how every paper in the land declares it to be areal genuine love-match? And you know--well, you know. I myself canremember Aunt Sophie crying her eyes out for love of the Bishop ofBogaboo whom she fell in love with at a missionary meeting and wasn'tallowed to marry; and six weeks later her engagement to PrinceWolf-im-Schafs-Kleider was announced as a sudden and romanticlove-match! Why, he had only been sent for to be looked at when theBogaboo affair became dangerous; and so Aunt Sophie was coerced intothat melancholy mold of a jelly which she has retained ever since. 

"Now that is where my grandfather showed himself out of touch with thespirit of the age. Had he allowed Aunt Sophie to marry the Bishop and goout during the cool months of the year to teach Bogaboo ladies the useof the crinoline--it was just when crinolines were going out of fashionhere, and they could have got them cheap--he would have done a mostpopular stroke for the monarchy. "

"But you forget, my dear boy, " said the King, "the Bogaboos were at thattime a really dangerous tribe--they still practised cannibalism. "

"Yes, they still had their natural instincts unimpaired; the Christiansubstitute of gin had not yet taken hold on them, and their nationalinstitution still provided the one form of useful martyrdom that wasleft to us. Had Aunt Sophie, or her husband, been eaten by savages therewould have been a boom in missions, and both the Church and the monarchywould have benefited enormously. Royalty must take its risks. Kings nolonger ride into battle at the head of their armies: even the cadets ofroyalty, when they get leave to go, are kept as much out of danger aspossible. But if royalty cannot lead in something more serious than thetrooping of colors and the laying of foundation-stones, then royalty isno longer in the running. 

"Now what you ought to do is--find out at what point it would break withall tradition for you to be really natural and think and act as anordinary gentleman of sense and honor, and then--go and do it! TheGovernment would roll its eyes in horror; the whole Court would be incommotion; but with the people generally you would win hands down!"

"Max, you are tempting me!" said the King. 

"Sir, " said his son, "I cannot express to you how great is my wish to beproud of your shoes if hereafter I have to step into them. Could you notjust once, for my sake, do something that no Government wouldexpect--just to disturb that general smugness of things which is to-dayusing the monarchy as its decoy?"

The King gazed upon the handsome youth with eyes of hunger andaffection. "What is it that you want me to do?" he inquired. 

Max held out his cigar at arm's length, looked at it reflectively, andflicked off the ash. 

"Don't do that on the carpet!" said his father. 

Max smiled. "That is so like you, father, " he said; "yes, that is youall over. You don't like to give trouble even to the housemaid. Now whenyou see things going wrong you ought to give trouble--serious trouble, Imean. You ought, in vulgar phrase, to 'do a bust. '

"When I was a small boy, " he went on, "I used to read fairy stories andlook at pictures. And there was one that I have always remembered of aswan with a crown round its neck floating along a stream with its beakwide open, singing its last song. To me that picture has ever sincerepresented the institution of monarchy going to its death. The crown, too large and heavy to remain in place, has slipped down from its headand settled like a collar or yoke about its neck. Its head, inconsequence, is free, and it begins to sing its 'Nunc dimittis. ' Thequestion to me is--what 'Nunc dimittis' are we going to sing? I do notknow whether you ever read English poetry; but some lines of Tennysonrun in my head; let me, if I can remember, repeat them now--

 "'The wild swan's death-hymn took the soul Of that waste place with joy Hidden in sorrow: at first to the ear The warble was low, and full, and clear; And floating about the under-sky, Prevailing in weakness, the coronach stole Sometimes afar, and sometimes anear; But anon her awful jubilant voice, With a music strange and manifold, Flow'd forth on a carol free and bold; As when a mighty people rejoice With shawms, and with cymbals, and harps of gold!'

"That, my dear father, is the song I wish to hear you singing--that Iwant to take up, I in my turn after you. I want your voice now to beawful and jubilant, and your carol to be 'free and bold' like the carolof that dying bird; and the sound of it to be like the rejoicing of amighty people on a day of festival. "

The King shook his head. "My dear boy, " he said, "I don't understandpoetry; I never did. "

"Well, " said the son, "let me interpret it then into prose. Monarchy asan institution is dying, and it can either die in foolish decrepitude, or it can die mightily, merging itself in democracy for a final blowagainst bureaucratic government. All that is written in my book. That iswhy I am now able to express myself so well: these periods are largely amatter of quotation. The right rôle for monarchy to-day is, believe me, to be above all things democratic--not by truckling to the ideas of thepeople in power--the 'ruling classes' as they still call themselves--butby daring to be human and natural, and to refuse absolutely to bedehumanized on the score of its high dignity and calling. 

"If, for instance, I came to you to-day and said I wanted to marry oneof my own nation--say even a commoner--in preference to the daughter ofsome foreign princeling, let me do it! It breaks with a foolishtradition--largely our own importation when, as foreigners, we wereseeking to keep up our prestige--it may annoy or even embarrass theGovernment. Well! have they not annoyed and embarrassed you?"

The King nodded sympathetically, but in words hastened to correcthimself. "One has often to make sacrifices in defense of aninstitution, " he said. "That is a duty we both owe. "

"Why, " inquired the Prince, "should I make sacrifices to an institutionI do not really approve? Why should I pretend to love some foreignprincess if I have given my heart to one--I cannot say of my ownrace--for I remember that we are an importation--but of the country ofmy adoption? Do you really suppose that because it annoys the PrimeMinister and disturbs his political calculations, an alliance withinthose artificially prohibited degrees imposed on royalty will lessen theinfluence of the Crown by a straw's weight, or quicken its demise by anhour? This country, like all civilized countries, is moving towards someform of republican government. If we are sufficiently human, if we showourselves determined to call our souls our own--it is not merelypossible, it is probable, that when the change comes we shall be calledon by popular acclaim to provide the country with its first President. If we did we could secure for that presidency a greater power andprestige than any bureaucratic government would willingly concede. Itmay be that the real counter-stroke to the present increase of Cabinetcontrol can most effectively be administered by a monarch who is not toocareful to preserve the outward forms of monarchy. When that is done, byyou, or by me, or by one who comes after us, I am confident that therewill be the sound of a people's rejoicing. "

"You have strange ideas, " said the King, "for one who calls himself amonarchist. "

"I am a republican, " said the young man. 

The King stared at him as though at some strange animal. "You don't sayso!" he murmured half aghast. "Supposing the Prime Minister were to findout. "

"He will soon, " said the Prince. "I shall be sending him a copy of mybook on the day of publication. "

The King shook his head warningly. Then he smiled, a shy nervous smile. "It would be very awkward, " he said slowly, "very awkward indeed, if youhappened to come to the throne just now. I really don't know whatBrasshay would do. But it's too late for me to begin that sort ofthing--far too late now. "

CHAPTER V

CHURCH AND STATE

I

All this while other swan-songs were in preparation to be forced downother throats (and thence presently to be rejected); forced with thatgentle air of persuasion which rears its lying front over all forms of"peaceful picketing. " Starvation and stuffing were the two methods to beemployed. 

While the Government was picketing the King with threats of withdrawalfrom office, and the Labor Party the Government with threats of anational strike, the Government was preparing to picket the Bishops by aprocess of forcible feeding--a plethora of their own kind be thrust uponthem--of their own kind but of a very different persuasion. And now atlast the Bishops understood that the doubling of their dioceses was buta device of Machiavellian subtlety for the halving of theirtemporalities. 

The Bishops had just opened their holy mouths to protest when theapproach of the Jubilee festivities shut them up. The Church of Jingalowas on a tight and established footing, and had to conform to thecommercial, conventional, and constitutional requirements of its day;for you cannot, if you are by law established, play fast and loose withthose institutions on which a nation bases its prosperity. So even whenthe Government proposed the creation of demi-mondain bishops, and thesetting up of what amounted to a second establishment in the upperchamber of its spiritual spouse, the outward proprieties were stillobserved, and the sanctities of national interests respected. It is truethat the Bishop of Olde, lifting from his bed a burden of ninety years, climbed up into the central pulpit of his diocese to preach a sermonwhich was ecstatically applauded by all Churchmen, and committedthereafter to the keeping of a carefully selected few. It won for himthe affectionate nickname of "Never-say-die" and put his followers intoa hole from which they never afterwards emerged. And so the Bishopsentered into the loyal silence of the Jubilee truce with a flush ofconscious rectitude upon their faces; while behind closed doors thePrime Minister and the Primate Archbishop of Ebury had met to talkbusiness, to drive conditional bargains, and to kill time till suchother time as seemed good to them. 

They met at the town-residence of the one Bishop of the Establishmentwho had lent a favorable ear to the Prime Minister's proposals. Boycotted by his brother Bishops this solitary pelican in piety wasstill on terms of official acquaintance with his titular head. Placinghis well-stored nest at the disposal of the two combatants, he retiredfor a discreet week-end into the wilderness; and the Prime Minister andthe Archbishop, after announcing in the press that they also had goneelsewhere, came together by appointment for the indication of ultimatumsand the fixing of dates when ju-jitsu was to commence. 

When the Prime Minister arrived his Grace the Primate, attended by hischaplain, was already in the house. An ecclesiastical butler carriedword to the chaplain, and the chaplain carried it to the oratory. 

The Archbishop finished his prayer; it served the double purpose ofstrengthening him in his resolve to present a firm front that for thetime being could do no harm, and of keeping his opponent waiting. Theeffect did not quite come off. Under that enforced attendance, the PrimeMinister had turned his back on the door, and wrapt in contemplation ofthe book-shelves stood as though unaware that the Primate had made hisstate entry. It was a pity that he should have missed it. 

The Archbishop came into the room bearing in his hands a large Bible, subscribed for and presented to him by a general assembly of Churchclergy and laity when the constitutional crisis first began to loomlarge. It was fitting, therefore, that it should now accompany him tothe field of battle. Corners of silver scrollwork, linked together bybands and clasps of the same metal, adorned its surface, and over theglowing red of its Venetian leather binding, lambs, lions, eagles, doves, and pelicans stood lucently embossed, bearing upon theirwell-drilled shoulders the sacred emblems and mottoes of theecclesiastical party. More important and more central than these showedthe proud heraldic bearings of the metropolitan see of Ebury, crownedwith a miter which its occupant never wore, and a Cardinal's hat forwhich he was no longer qualified. 

All these collective sources of inspiration the Archbishop bore inmonstrant fashion with hands raised and crossed, and, moving to thestrategic position he had previously selected, set down upon the tablebefore him. While thus designing his way he exchanged formal salutationwith his antagonist. 

"And now, sir, " said he, bowing himself to a seat, "now I am entirely atyour disposal. "

"And I at yours, " said the Prime Minister. 

But the Archbishop corrected him. "I am here, I take it, rather to beinformed of the latest novelties in statecraft than to admit that anyfresh standpoint upon our side has become possible. " Slowly and solemnlyhe rested his hands upon the presentation volume as he spoke; acrossthat barrier, representative of the spiritual forces at his back, hissmall diplomatic eyes twinkled with holy zeal. He was an impressivefigure to look at, and also to hear: over six feet in height, with darkhair turned silver, of a ruddy complexion, portly without protuberance, and with a voice of modulated thunder that could fill with ease, twicein one day, even the largest of his cathedrals. As a concession to theworld he wore flat side-whiskers, as a concession to the priestly officehe shaved his lip. By this compromise he was able to wear a cope withoutoffense to the Evangelicals, --his whiskers saving him from the charge ofextreme views. Under his rule, largely perhaps because of thosewhiskers, peace had settled upon the Church; and in consequence it nowpresented an almost united front to its political opponents. 

All his life he had been accustomed to command. Even in the nursery, asthe eldest child and only son of his parents, he had ruled his fivesisters with that prescriptive mastery which sex and primogenitureconfer. At school he had pursued his career of disciplinarian first as"dowl-master, " then as captain of teams, then as prefect with powers ofthe rod over senior boys his superiors in weight. Continuing at theUniversity to excel in games, he became at twenty-four a class-master inJingalo's most famous public school. Marrying at thirty a lady of title, he acquired the social touch necessary for his completion, and fiveyears later was appointed Head. Left a disconsolate widower at the ageof forty-seven, he drew dignity from his domestic affliction, received abelated call to the ministry, took orders, and became Master ofPentecost, only on the distinct understanding that a bishopric ofpeculiar importance as a stepping-stone to higher things should be hisat the next vacancy. The vacancy occurred without any undue delay; andfrom that bishopric, after three years of successful practice, he passedat the age of fifty-five to the crowning grace of his present position. Thence he was able to look back over a long vista of things successfullydone and heads deferentially bowed to his sway--deans, canons, priests, sisters--a pattern training for a humble servant of that Master whoseCross, as by law established, he was now helping to bear. Even the PrimeMinister, facing him with all his parliamentary majority at his back, knew him for a redoubtable opponent. This fight had long ago beenforeseen by the Church party, and it was for the fighting policy he nowembodied that Dr. Chantry had received nine years previously his "call"from collegiate to sacerdotal office. A large jeweled cross gleamed uponhis breast, and a violet waistcoat that buttoned out of sight betokenedthe impenetrable resolution of his priestly character. 

"And now, sir, I am at your disposal, " said he; and sat immovable whilethe Prime Minister spoke. 

II

The Prime Minister's argument ran upon material and mathematical lines;he imported no passion into the discussion, --there was no need. He hadat his disposal all that was requisite--the parliamentary majority, thepopular mandate, and, so he believed, the necessary expedient under theConstitution for bringing the Church to heel. Episcopalianism no longercommanded a majority of the nation; Church endowments had thereforebecome the preserves of a minority, and scholarship by remainingdenominational was getting to be denationalized. Having laid down hispremises he proceeded to set forth his demands. Henceforth theUniversities were to be released from Church control, all collegiate andother educational appointments to be open and unsectarian, scholarshipsand fellowships, however exclusive the intentions of their piousfounders, were to follow in the same course; degrees of divinity were tobe granted irrespective of creed, and chairs of theology open to allcomers. 

At this point the Archbishop, who had hitherto sat silent, put in aword. 

"That will include Buddhists and Mohammedans. Is such your intention?"

The Prime Minister corrected himself. "I should, of course, have said'all who profess themselves Christians. '"

The Archbishop accepted the concession with an ironical bow. 

"Unitarians and Roman Catholics?"

"That would necessarily follow. "

"I am ceasing to be amazed, " said his Grace coldly. "We, the custodiansof theological teaching, are to admit to our endowments the two extremesof heresy and of schism. "

"If both are admitted, " suggested the Prime Minister, "will they nottend to correct each other? We study history by allowing all sides to bestated, and we admit to its chair both schools, the scientists and therhetoricians. Why, then, should not theology be studied on the samebroad lines?"

"Will the chair of theology become a more stable institution, " inquiredthe Archbishop, "by being turned into a see-saw?"

The Prime Minister smiled on the illustration, but his answer was edgedwith bitterness. 

"That is a way of securing some movement at all events, " he remarkedcaustically. 

"The Church, " retorted his Grace, "denies the need of such movement. Herfirm foundations--we have scriptural warrant for saying--are upon rock. She is neither a traveling menagerie, a swingboat, nor amerry-go-round. "

"Yet I have heard, " said the Prime Minister, "that she takes a ship tobe her symbol, and one, in particular, very specially designed to be atraveling menagerie--containing all kinds both clean and unclean. "

"The unclean, " said the Archbishop, "were by divine dispensation placedin a decisive minority. "

"Yet they shared, I suppose, the provisions of the establishment?"

"They did not, I imagine, sit down at the table with the patriarch andhis family. "

"Perhaps the dogs ate of the crumbs?"

"It is not 'crumbs' that you are seeking, " said the Archbishop withasperity. "From our chairs of theology we dispense to the Church thebread of wisdom from which she draws sustenance; and you ask us to letthat source of her intellectual life become infected with microbes, --ata time when latitudinarian doctrines are sapping the unity of the Churchand weakening her discipline, to allow their establishment as aprinciple in our centers of learning and in our seats of divinity! Whatclaim to denounce heresy and schism will be left to the Church if in hervery government heretics and schismatic teachers receive posts ofinfluence, emolument, and authority? To what extremes may not the mindsof our students be led, to what destruction of ecclesiasticaldiscipline?"

"If you will admit free teaching in the Universities, " explained thePrime Minister, "we shall not seek to touch your theological seminaries, or to invade your orders by an infusion of fresh blood. "

"Invade our orders?" cried the Primate. "That you cannot do; no Bishop'shands would bestow them!" and he drew back his own with a declamatorygesture. "You yourself are not a Churchman, and you do not perhaps knowwhat to us the Church means. We hold in sacred trust the power of theKeys--if we surrender those we surrender everything. "

"They are in a good many hands already, " remarked the Prime Ministerblandly. "Episcopal power is not limited to the Church of Jingalo. " Andthen for the first time, as a pawn in the political game, theArchimandrite was mentioned. The Archbishop could not believe his ears. "You would not dare, " he said. 

"I am sorry, " replied the other, "that you should be under any suchmisapprehension. Let me remind you that only a year ago you yourselfrecommended him for an honorary benefice--a church that had not aparish. "

"Yes, honorary; not with administrative powers. "

"Yet I fancy it was devised in order that at a later date you mightemploy him--merely by accident as it were--for confirming the validityof your orders. "

"While your device, " said the Archbishop, "is to use him as a means forplacing schismatics in a position of control and authority. Sir, I sayto you that you would not dare. The nation will not allow it. "

"Time will show, " replied the other smoothly. 

"Ah!" cried the Archbishop passionately; "you trust to time; I to thepower of the Eternal. If such an attempt is made to violate the body ofour Mother Church then I pronounce sentence of excommunication upon allwho take part in it. "

"It would have no legal effect, " said the Prime Minister. "You miss thepoint in dispute. We have not to discuss matters of faith and doctrine, but only of government. If you prefer--if you will give us yourco-operation and consent--we are ready at any time to offer you thealternative of disestablishment. It is a solution which for the moment Ido not press; but undoubtedly it would leave the spiritualities of theChurch more free. Your real fear, I have gathered, is that it wouldprepare the way for extremes of doctrine, which you yourself cannotcountenance. The Church Triumphant, I am told, would run the risk of alarger recognition than is allowed to it under present forms; and thelimitations imposed by a State connection are your most hopeful means ofretarding doctrinal development. Is not that so?"

"We have not to discuss matters of doctrine, " countered the Archbishopstiffly, "but only of government. Our concern is not with the Church'steachings but with her powers for enforcing them upon her own members. "

"Including, " commented the Prime Minister, "what you have called 'thepower of the Keys. ' That power you seek to extend over temporalities towhich we claim access; and to retain it you have in the past usedpolitical means; we are using them to deprive you of that power. Irecognize that had your Grace occupied to-day the position of advantagewhich is now mine, you would have used it--and with justification--forthe strengthening of your order; from the popular verdict you would havehad authority to deliver sentence against me. Upon the same ground I nowtake the only sure means that are open to me to strengthen my own orderand to safeguard its future liberty. "

"What is your order?" smoothly inquired his Grace. 

"My order is the representative system, which voices the popular will. "

"Mine, " said the Archbishop in richly reverberating tones, "is divinerevelation, which voices the will of God. "

"You claim a closer acquaintance with that Authority than I, " remarkedthe Prime Minister. "Yet I, too, have faith in the efficacy of itsworkings. "

"We base our faith differently, " retorted his Grace. "I have myprinciples; you, as you have just boasted, have your opportunity. I donot think that opportunities are of the same eternal character asprinciples. To-morrow your opportunity which now seems to give youpower, may disappear. My principles will remain. "

"I shall always respect them, in their proper place. As an adornment tothe Church I am sure they will continue to shine. In the State they havebecome an excrescence and an impediment. "

"You are pushing your definition of impediments rather far when you plana new thoroughfare, giving strangers the entrée to church premises. "

"It is really your definition of 'premises, '" said the Prime Minister, "over which we are chiefly at issue. What right has the Church to regardas strangers any who are baptized Christians?"

The Archbishop seized his advantage exultingly. "I will only remindyou, " said he, "of the Church Government Act--a measure of no ancientdate--by which Parliament forced the Church to expel from benefice thosewho would not accept her discipline in matters of outward observance. You yourself voted for that measure. "

The Prime Minister had to acknowledge the stroke; but he made light ofit. "I think that measure has already become obsolete. It was not putvery thoroughly into practice even at the beginning. "

"Let Parliament, then, admit its error, " said the Archbishop, "andabolish the act and the principle which it enshrines before proceedingwith other acts diametrically opposed to it. While the law claims a holdover the Church, the Church claims to hold by existing law. "

"I may possibly, then, satisfy your Grace, " insinuated the Premier, "ifpresently I propose the restoration of certain Free Church ministers byepiscopal consecration to the fold from which they were expelled. "

The Archbishop rose to his feet, and raising the presentation Bible highover his head brought it down upon the table with a bang. Theninstantaneously conceiving his mistake, he laid his hands over it in theact of blessing. 

"Never!" he said firmly and solemnly, with ever deepening inflection oftone, "never! never!"

"It is a measure that might be avoided, " conceded the Prime Minister. "The alternative is before you. We have made you our offer. "

"You have offered, " said the Archbishop, "an alternative which I am notable to discuss. Roman Catholicism and Unitarianism in alternate dosesis the price you ask us to pay. The Church of Jingalo will acceptneither the Triple Crown nor an untriune Divinity as its guide. " He drewhimself to his full height. "That, sir, is her answer. "

"So you really think, " inquired the Prime Minister, "that yours and theChurch's voice are one?"

"The blood of her martyrs, " said the Archbishop, "has stained the verysteps of that throne from which under divine Providence I amcommissioned to speak with authority. I call on them to witness thatnever in her hour of need shall the Church surrender her divine missionto preach only pure doctrine and to defend the faith committed to thesaints. "

"I thought, " said the Prime Minister, "that, officially at least, youdid not invoke the dead. "

"Sir, we have no need. Their record is our inheritance. It is they whoinvoke us from an imperishable past. "

"Our discussion, then, seems to be at an end. We have gone back into themiddle ages. "

The Prime Minister, having got very much the answer he expected, hererose and began buttoning his coat. "Well, Archbishop, " said he, as hethus trimmed himself to give a neat finish to the discussion, "before wepart I will put the question quite frankly: Is it to be peace or war?"

"I am a servant of the Church Militant, " answered his Grace. 

And then they compared notes and settled dates as to when war was to bedeclared. Jingalo was about to exhibit to the world the continuity ofher institutions, and with her mind thus carried back to ancient timesmodern controversy was an anachronism. 

It was on those historic grounds that they arranged their armistice; butRecording Angels are more truthful than Archbishops or Prime Ministers;and the Recording Angel, having listened to their conversation, was ledto set down upon his tables this notable memorandum--that on no accountwere popular pageantry or trade interests to be disturbed during sogolden an opportunity as the Silver Jubilee. While that was going ondefense of Church and State must be relegated to obscurity. 

III

All this had taken place before the truce actually began (see, in fact, Chapter II). How much, or rather how little the King had heard of it wealready know. How little the truce brought benefit to him we shall learnmore fully in later chapters. Still for the moment he was not withoutcomfort, for he had got Max to talk to. Every evening that they spenttogether much talk went on; and the King sat infected and edified whileMaxian oratory flowed. 

"How is it, " inquired his father, "that you have been able to think ofthese things? I see them when you tell me; but how did they ever come toenter your head?"

"For some years, " answered Max, "I had the advantage of being youryoungest son. Until I was twenty, two lives stood between me and thesuccession, and while Stephen and Rupert were drilling I managed to geteducated. "

"Poor Rupert!" murmured his father, "he would have made a much betterKing than either of us. "

"I don't think so, " said Max. "He would merely have kept the monarchy toits old lines--that means sticking in a rut. If the monarchy is to meananything it will have to move, not merely with the times but ahead ofthem. "

"How can it move ahead of them?"

"How otherwise can it lead? That is what the heads of the privilegedclasses never seem to understand. Look at the Bishops! See what aspectacle they have made of themselves, all through not leading. "

"Ah, yes, " sighed the King; "I thought you'd be against the Bishops. "

"Against them?" cried Max, "of course I'm against them! The Bishops area set of prehistoric remains: and even if they were all up to date, acombined house of Bishops and Judges with full legislative powers isantediluvian (I'm speaking of the Deluge now in the sense in which LouisXV spoke of it)--it's an eighteenth-century arrangement. 

"Yes, I'm against the Bishops, but I'm much more against the Cabinet. The Cabinet is seeking to control not only the Upper but the LowerChamber as well, it is fighting the Bishops merely to delude the people;and there are the Laity so stupid, or so lazy, or so corrupt that theywon't see it. Every one knows that the Government sells honors for partypurposes, and then covers it up by pretending that contributions to theparty funds are 'public services. ' Everything now is to be had for aprice, a Chancellery at so much, a Knighthood at so much more; an Orderof the this, that, or the other, in exact proportion to its prestige orits rarity. Last year they had a debate on it in the House, a debatewhere, between them, the corruptors and the corrupted were in amajority! And they solemnly took a vote on it, and declared that therewas no corruption, though everybody knew it to be a fact. The Oppositionlay low because they mean to do exactly the same when their time comes. Oh, and it's not only the House of Laity: I daresay a bishopric has gotits price if we only knew!"

The King would have rejected such a suggestion as fantastic only a monthago; but now with the Archimandrite in his mind he began to besuspicious. What price, monetary or political, might not the FreeChurchmen be paying for their bishoprics, what secret bargain of whichit was no one's duty to inform him? He lashed at his own impotence, forthe ignominy of his position increased with his growing consciousness. Here was the Prime Minister respectful but compulsive, able to threaten, to browbeat, to dictate terms; but he himself had no counter means toextract from that minister on what terms he was consenting to do thesethings or what price he was paying to get them done. Howconstitutionally was he to obtain knowledge of anything? And still, piling up the accusation, the voice of Max went on. 

"I presume, " said he, "that quite lately a list of Jubilee honors hasbeen submitted to you for approval. What does your approval mean? Is asingle one of them your own selection? Do you know what the majority ofthem are for?"

The King shook his head. "Mostly they are political, " said he. "TheGovernment has the right; I have no call to interfere. Isn't it perhapsbetter that I should not interfere?"

"It may be arguable, sir, that the uncomfortably high position to whichwe are born cuts us off from the more strenuously fermenting issues ofthe political game, and from the malignities and hypocrisies of thatparty system of which, as a nation, we pretend to be so proud, and aresecretly so much ashamed. It may be well that some single authorityshould stand removed from and above party, if in the hands of thatauthority there is also left power of sentence and dismissal, power alsoto withhold unmerited reward. But that power you are no longer expectedto exercise, --it lies like a china nest-egg never to be hatched, butonly to promote the laying of other eggs. 

"Yet while your prerogatives have been thus diminished, the claim thatyou shall act with judicial impartiality has increased, and has become afetter. To oppose any course of ministerial action to-day is byimplication to ally yourself with the other side. You are in theposition of a judge whose directions the jury has authority to ignore, and from whose hands all power of imposing a penalty has practicallybeen withdrawn. And these changes have been thrust upon the monarchy bythe will, not of the people, but of that class or section which in theevolution of our political system happened at the time to be the rulingone. At one period it was the Church, at another the army, at anotherthe landlord or the capitalist; it was never that latent force lying inthe future, that peace-loving, industrial democracy which to-day we arestill striving to hold back from its aim. These ruling powers of thepast have now concentrated on the Cabinet as their last line of defense;and so at the present day it is the Cabinet which has the largestcontrol not only of patronage (much of it corruptly applied), but ofcertain penalizing devices by which monetary pressure can be broughtupon those who thwart its will. By its practical usurpation of theCrown's right to decree a general election, and by its control of theparty funds, from which parliamentary candidates are subsidized andassisted to the poll, it is able to hold over the heads of itssupporters a financial threat to which very few can remain indifferent. And this is how our so-called popular chamber is manipulated and run. The power of the purse (I speak now of the moneys voted for publicservice) lies almost entirely in the hands of those who themselves havethe largest monetary interest for keeping away from their constituenciesand maintaining their leaders in power; and as a consequence theMinistry's evasion of all regulations and safeguards, its increasingseizure of parliamentary time, its postponement of finance to a date ineach session when the legislature's energies are exhausted, have becomemore and more corrupt in character. Why, the very minister whose duty itis to see that members are constant in their voting and their attendanceis the one with whom lies, if not the distribution of patronage, atleast its recommendation. He is the go-between, and they know it. Howlikely, then, are the rank and file to throw their Government out ofoffice when the immediate result will be not only to transfer thesebribes to the hands of their political opponents but to inflict uponthemselves the cost of a contested election which privately they cannotafford, and to face which they are accordingly obliged to go, cap inhand, to the very men they have voted from power, but who still haveabsolute control of the party organization and its funds?"

Here Max stopped to take breath. 

IV

"But can you suggest any other way?" questioned the King. "Surely wemust have party?"

"I have no reason to suggest it, " answered his son, "it stands writtenin history. Under our more ancient Constitution the House of Laity camepledged from its electorate to criticise, and to control (by the givingor withholding of supply) the acts of a separate and administrativelyindependent body. Now Government is carried on by an administrativebody, which, though nominally dependent, has at its back a majority ofthe elected pledged _not_ to criticise. And the difference between thetwo systems is as the difference between darkness and light. That bodyis now forcing the monarchy also into the same non-critical attitude, orat least is securing that the criticism shall be impotent of result. AndI have the right, sir, to ask what are you doing to-day to preserve forme the powers which you inherited?"

"To tell you the truth, my son, " answered the King, "it is only latelythat I have begun trying to find out what those powers are. It seems astrange confession to make after twenty-five years; but it is true. WhenI came to the throne, at a moment of great political changes, I wasentirely uninstructed and quite naturally I made mistakes, lettingthings go when I was told to. From that false position successiveministries have never allowed me to escape; they have kept me (I haveonly just found it out) as uninstructed as they possibly could. Theyburden me with routine work, they busy my hands while starving my brain. One of their little ways--done on the score of relieving me ofunnecessary trouble--has been to submit in large batches at intervalsimportant documents requiring my assent, smuggling them in under coverof others. And when I find it out, they plead unavoidable delay andurgency, as though it were quite an exception. But I tell you it hasbeen going on, oh, dear me, yes, for a long time now; and the Generalhas known of it as well as any of them! The other day I made one of mysecretaries go through the entries, and I find that in the last year Isigned sixty Acts of Parliament and about fifteen hundred other Statedocuments, besides mere commissions, titles, diplomas, and all that sortof thing, and I tell you that I haven't a ghost of a notion of what morethan a dozen were about! They don't give me time to digest anything; andyou are quite right, it's a system!"

"Well, " said his son, "at least they don't treat you much worse thanthey do the people's representatives. It has become their regular plannow to bring in six bills all rolled into one, in a form far too big andcomplicated ever to be properly discussed. They insert a lot ofunnecessary contentiousness at the beginning, and all the reallyadministrative part--the machinery which provides them with politicalhandles throughout the country, and which they call the non-contentiouspart--at the end; and then--on the score of it being non-contentious, and because by the time they get to it the mind of the legislature isexhausted--then they shut it down with the closure. One result is thatwe have laws on the statute-book which don't even make grammar. Onlylast session the Minister of Education got a bill sent up to theSpiritual Chamber with three split infinitives in it. "

"What is a split infinitive?" inquired his Majesty. 

"Merely a grammatical error for which in your day school-boys used to bewhipped. You were not. It's important, because when lawyers get on tothe interpretation of the law, loose syntax gives them theiropportunity; they make fortunes out of the grammatical errors ofParliament. And, of course, it was a lawyer who drew up this bill. "

"Do you mean that some one paid him to put in the split infinitives?"inquired the King anxiously. 

"That was quite unnecessary; the thing paid for itself; good draftingis never to the legal interest. But what I wanted to say was this: here, in a House of educated men dealing with education, nobody troubled tocorrect the grammar of the thing. That to my mind stands out as a moralportent of the first magnitude. The Bishops quite rightly sent it backagain, but for the wrong reason. Their reason was pure blindobscurantism; if they had returned it because of its split infinitivesand its slovenly drafting, and requested that it should be put intodecent Jingalese so that they might pretend to understand it they wouldhave had all the enlightened educationalists in the country with them. As it was they were against them. It is curious how the SpiritualChamber always seeks its popularity among the fools instead of the wise. It treats democracy like a dog with a bad name, and yet it is to thedog's tail that it pins its faith: and so it wags with the tail. "

The King was not happy at hearing the Bishops so abused; and now a wordhad fallen from his son's lips which enabled him to change the subjectto a point which more immediately concerned him. 

"Max, " said he, "answer me truly, I don't want flattery. Do you thinkthat _I_ am popular?"

The young man viewed his father leniently, indulgently even; the worn, fussy, over-anxious face appealed to his sense of pity. "Oh, yes, Ibelieve so, " he said. "They think you are trying to do your best and allthat sort of thing. You don't enthuse them as my grandfather used to do;but, then, he had the grand manner, and the grand way of speaking as ifhe were an oracle. You have put all that aside--except when you makespeeches which have been written for you by your ministers. Well, decentpeople respect you for it; but it has its drawbacks; the crowd prefersthe other thing occasionally;--it likes still to pretend, at moments ofceremony, that it believes in divine right and the hereditary principle, and so forth; and where it likes to pretend, the press and theGovernment are always ready to play into its hands. Yes; it's amixture; you must attend sometimes to the unrealities, --then, with yourreal moments, you get your effect. "

"Your grandfather, " said the King, "never talked to me about anything. He didn't like the idea of being succeeded, hated to think of a timewhen affairs would have to go on without him. I fancy that he ratherdespised my mental capacity, or else thought that by just looking at himI should learn. So he never talked to me--not on these subjects I mean;and I am still not sure whether I ought to talk to you. I don't reallyknow where State secrets begin and where they end, or whether I have theright to say anything of what goes on in Council to a single livingsoul. I wanted to consult the Archbishop the other day--merely to hearhis statement of the case from his own side--but I was not allowed. I amthe most solitary man in my kingdom; and am kept so, in order that I mayremain powerless. "

"As Charlotte would say, " observed Max, "we haven't taught each otherthe business. And yet, isn't it strange? Here are we, a long-establishedfirm ('limited, entire, ' I suppose we should describe ourselves), existing upon the hereditary principle, and yet not allowed to extractany of its living values. As detached forces we succeed each other uponthe throne, each in turn reduced in power and initiative by our officialtraining and our inexperience. When shall we learn to organize our laborand combine like the rest of the world?"

"I think we are combining now, " said the King. 

"Yes, " said Max, "I really believe we are--'John Jingalo and Son'--hownice and commercial that sounds!"

"I only hope the Prime Minister won't hear of it. "

"I hope he will, " said Max. 

CHAPTER VI

OF THINGS NOT EXPECTED

I

"Charlotte!" cried the King, aghast, "what on earth is the meaning ofthis?"

"What is it, papa?" inquired the Princess innocently. 

His Majesty shook at her the paper he had just been reading. "You havepromised a hundred pounds donation to the Anti-vivisection Society! Hereit is in large headlines: 'The Princess Royal supports theAnti-vivisectionists!'"

"Well, so I do. "

"But you mustn't, " said her mother. 

Princess Charlotte made a face--rather a pretty one. 

"I can't help having my opinions, mamma. "

"Then you mustn't express them--not publicly. "

"If I am not to express them, " argued the Princess, "why do you send meinto public at all? Isn't laying foundation-stones and opening bazaars apublic expression of opinion? Don't I go because you approve of them?"

"That is a very different matter, " said her mother. "Good objects likethose no one can possibly object to. "

"But I think anti-vivisection a good object. "

"I don't care what you think, " said her father, "you are perfectly freeto think as you like. What I want to know is--who do you suppose isgoing to pay that hundred pounds?"

"You are, papa. " She smiled on him sweetly. 

"Indeed, your father will do nothing of the sort!" interposed the Queen, while the King was still opening his mouth in wonder at the suggestion. 

"If he will only make me an allowance, he needn't, " said Charlotte; andwhile her parents were giving weight to that pronouncement she went on. 

"I am going to promise a hundred pounds to every deserving charity yousend me to; and if you leave off sending me, I shall write and offer it. It will be in all the papers--it will become the recognizedthing--people will begin to look for it, --me and my hundred pounds. Andas soon as it is the recognized thing, you know quite well, papa, thatyou will have to pay. "

"Why do you disapprove of vivisection?" inquired her father, findingthis frontal attack unmanageable. 

"Just a fellow-feeling, I suppose, through being myself a victim. Oh, Idon't say there's any torture involved, but now and again mamma gives mean anesthetic, and when I wake up I find something has been done that Idon't like--something vital taken off me. "

"Nonsense!" said the Queen, "I never do anything of the kind. "

But this statement corresponded so startlingly to his Majesty's ownexperience that he began to pay closer attention. 

"When have I done it?" demanded the Queen. 

"The last time was when you sent me to spend three weeks with AuntSophie in order to develop a taste for foreign missions. It didn'tsucceed. And when I came back you had changed my suite of rooms withoutasking me; and I was done out of my balcony!"

"I found her, " the Queen explained, "going down by the balcony in theearly morning, while the gardeners were still about, to gather flowers. "

"I didn't talk to the gardeners. "

"You went out when I told you not to. "

"You see!" appealed Charlotte, "she does vivisect me. Last time AuntSophie was the anesthetic: sometimes it's even worse. You don't hear ofthese things, papa, because I don't often complain; but there they are. And mamma is so pleased with herself about it--that's what tries me!"

"Charlotte, " said her father, "that's not pretty--that's notrespectful. "

"No, but it's true. "

The Queen attempted a diversion. "Why do you want an allowance? I giveyou pocket-money, and you get all the dresses you need. "

"I get a great many more, " admitted Charlotte; "but I don't get one thatI really like. "

"That shows your want of taste. "

"Of course, I haven't your taste, mamma, you can't expect it; and what'stoo good for me doesn't suit me. "

But this obliquity of speech missed its point, for of her own taste theQueen had no doubt whatever. 

"But, my dear child, " interposed the King, "do try to be reasonable!Whatever allowance we made you, you couldn't go on giving a hundredpounds to every charity. You'd have all the benevolent societies in thekingdom flocking about you; life wouldn't be worth living. "

"Oh, I know that, papa, " said the Princess, "I'm not charitable in theleast. I'm only doing it to bring pressure on you; I haven't any otherreason whatever. "

At this brazen avowal the Queen gasped; but his Majesty became moresympathetic. 

"I wanted, " she went on, "to do it as nicely and respectably aspossible, and I thought to give you away in charity was better thangambling or anything of that sort. Not that I haven't been tempted; foryou know, papa, I could quite easily lose you a hundred pounds at everytea-party I go to. But now, if I'm asked to a bridge-table, all I cansay is, 'Papa won't make me an allowance, so I can't play for money. '"

"Surely you don't say that!" cried the Queen in horror. 

"No, " answered the Princess slyly, "but I can say it. And, of course, Ishall have to say it to the charities and the anti-vivisectionists ifpapa doesn't pay up. There'll be headlines about that, too, " she addedreflectively. "You see, I am in the business now that I've begun helpingat sales. "

The King got up from his seat, and began to pace the room. For the firsttime he had discovered in his daughter's character a resemblance to Max, and much as he was beginning to love certain mental values which his sonpossessed, it rather frightened him to see them cropping up in hisdaughter. 

"Charlotte, " he said, in a tone of affectionate appeal, "when have Iever denied you anything that was right and reasonable?"

"Never, dearest papa, never!" said his daughter. "And I'm sure you arenot going to begin now. It's too late, " she added mischievously. 

Yes. It was too late. The King knew it. He had known it from the momentthe discussion started. Even the Queen was beginning to know it. Charlotte, sweet, smiling, and determined, held them in the hollow ofher hand. Newspaper headlines, if properly manipulated, will defeat inits own domestic circle any monarchy that is now existing. 

So the long and short of it was that the King promised Charlotte herallowance; and the Queen sat by and heard, and did not object. And asthe Princess passed out to follow her own avocations, whatever theymight be, she gave each of her parents the nicest kiss imaginable, thanking them quite humbly for that which they had been powerless towithhold. 

The King looked enviously on that bright presence as it flitted away, calm, wilful, and self-possessed; and much he wished that he couldconduct his own affairs with the same gay insouciance, and emerge withas much success. Max might be able to manage it, but not he. 

The Queen's voice broke in on his deliberations. 

"Jack, " said she, "we must get her married. "

It was her Majesty's remedy for that new portent, the revoltingdaughter. And there and then she started to discuss ways, means, anddates for bringing the wished-for affair to a head. The dear lady wasalready exuberantly hopeful. A carefully selected portrait of theHereditary Prince of Schnapps-Wasser now stood on the central table ofher boudoir, and only two days ago she had spied Charlotte looking atit. A fine, adventurous figure, it stood out prominently from all theuniformed splendors surrounding it. "Who is this person in fancycostume?" Charlotte had asked, and the Queen, alive in certainfundamental instincts, had cleverly informed her that it represented onewho had been driven by his musical taste to a three years' wandering inthe wilderness, and who, though still sadly under a cloud, was nowobliged to return to his princely duties. Charlotte did not know, as shelooked with amused pity on that sunburnt visage of adventurous youth, that she was gazing on the remedy for her own ailments, nor did she orany one else guess to what surprising results the attempted applicationof that remedy would lead. 

It was quite sufficient for the Queen's gentle lines of diplomacy thatCharlotte now knew who he was, that he was presently returning toEurope, and would, on his way or soon after, present himself at theCourt of Jingalo. In another quarter her Majesty was less contented, shehad not yet found any one good enough for Max; and as the quest addedgreatly to her daily correspondence, she felt it as a burden and ananxiety, for she did not want to hear of another case of morals. 

II

To the King, on the other hand, Max had become a very real and positiverelief. The "Max habit" had grown and flourished exceedingly; and asthis history deals largely with the mental developments of King John ofJingalo we must follow him to his hours of training and set down theirrecord wherever we can find room for them. 

His Majesty told Max of the Charlotte affair that same evening. 

Max chuckled. "So Charlotte is not to disapprove of vivisection?" hecommented. "How very characteristic that is of the way we have to avoidgiving countenance to any movement or change of opinion till it isbacked by a majority. "

"Is it not our duty to avoid all matters of controversy?"

"If it is we do not act on it. There is much controversy to-day on thesubject of vivisection; but that did not prevent you quite recently frombestowing a high mark of favor on its foremost exponent. What you darenot do is bestow a similar mark on one who is opposed to it. Your favorsgo only to those who represent a majority; minorities are carefully shutaway from your ken. You are taught to believe that they are unimportant. Whereas the exact opposite is the truth; for it is always the minoritieswho have made history and brought about reform. "

"Are you still quoting your book at me?" inquired the King. 

"I am always quoting it, " said Max, "or, rather, I am composing it. Yes;this is the beginning of a chapter which I am about to put together withyour help and assistance. "

"Make it a mild one!" entreated his father. 

"I assure you, sir, that throughout I am understating the case. We havealready discussed the question of a monarch's relation to the politicaland religious controversies of his day. Is he any more truly in contactwith the national life on its intellectual side? The only occasion onwhich I meet at your Court any representatives of literature, or art, iswhen popular authors and dramatists have come among a miscellaneousgathering of pork butchers, politicians, stock-brokers, bankers, andother prosperous tradesmen to receive at your hands the now somewhattarnished honor of knighthood. They come in a strange garb hired for theoccasion, and they go again. How much have we ever troubled ourselvesabout the value and quality of their work, or as to why they wereselected? Are they the men, think you, who will be reckoned a hundredyears hence the artistic and literary giants of their day? I doubt ifanybody thinks so except themselves. Is it not rather because by winningcontemporary popularity they represent the trade values of theirprofession, something that can be made to pay, and which, when it doespay, invites public recognition and encouragement? We give smallpensions to the specially deserving, I know, to save them from theextremes of poverty and ourselves from disgrace; but to those pensionsdo we ever add a title? No; titles are the reward of prosperity. "

"But, my dear Max, " said the King, "how do you expect me to judge ofsuch things? I should only make mistakes. "

"You have for your advisers, " answered his son, "some twenty men drawnfrom all departments of life; ought you not to be able to rely on them?When you came to the throne one of our greatest literary men laybed-ridden, dying quietly of old age. He had received a State pension, for he was poor; he was a giant whose work was done; and he had never inall his life been to Court. Did it occur to you to go and pay this oldman reverence? Did it occur to any of your advisers to suggest that youshould? Yet in the past kings have done these things, and history hasremembered to praise them for doing it. No, sir, we are out of touchwith all the really great things that are going on around us inliterature and art; for whenever anything new is really great itinevitably divides opinion; and wherever opinion is sharply or at allevenly divided we are out of place. You are under exactly the sameorders as those which Charlotte received from my mother--you must not godown into the garden while the gardeners are actually at work; only whenthey have finished you may come and gather the results. You are run bythe State merely to give prestige to the established order, and you mustnot support things that are not already popular. "

"You are mistaken, Max, " said his father, in despondent protest. "Nothing whatever prevents me; only I haven't anything to take hold of. "

"Yet I have been credibly informed, " replied Max, "that when you go tosee a so-called problem play of the more intellectual kind, it isarranged for you to go in Lent, for the simple reason that during thatperiod of fasting it is against etiquette for the papers to make anyannouncement of the fact. "

"You don't say so!" exclaimed the King. 

"You were not aware of it, then? Yet it is all arranged for you by theComptroller-General. Tell him that you wish to go and see _The GaudyGirl_ presently, on its five hundredth performance, and he will raise nodifficulty whatever. Tell him that you intend to be present at aperformance of _Law and Order_, a piece that has managed to hold onthrough thirty performances in spite of the many interests opposed toit, and difficulties will immediately occur to him. Your going wouldrevive the fortunes of that play; and as it makes a very direct attackupon our present judicial system, you can have nothing to do with it. Yet I hear that as a result of its production modifications in ourcriminal procedure have already been discussed. "

"Max, " said the King, "you are quite unfair! Our last State performancewas of a play that attacked the very things you are always talkingabout, money-lending, gambling, commercial greed, and the rest of it;and it was the Comptroller-General himself who selected it. "

"There!" exulted Max, "now you have given me an example, and I will tellyou what happened. You had as your guest the king of a countrypossessing a real school of drama which is affecting the whole of theEuropean stage. What did we do in his honor and for the honor of ourdramatic literature? We chose a play of sixty years ago--our worstperiod--a piece of clever bombastic fustian mildewed with age; and wechose it merely because it contained the greatest possible number ofsmall 'effective' parts in which 'star' actors could strut across thestage, make their bow before an extremely distinguished audience, andspeak their lines in the ears of royalty as the accepted representativesof modern drama. And how they did speak them! How they clung to theirentries and exits, how they gassed, and gagged, and threw in fresh'business' to extend the all too brief time of their appearing; and whatan abysmally boring performance the whole thing was! Over a score ofthese leading actors and actresses had appeared in a similar galaperformance on the occasion of your coronation, twenty-five years ago. Most of them are now living on their past reputations, but they havebecome established; and so that woeful exhibition of utterly used-upmaterial was royalty's public recognition of drama in this country!There, then, you have our connection with art! What good do you supposewe do by countenancing performances like that? We are merely employed toflatter the popular choice and to fatten out the drama in its mostcommercial connection. All that was done to suit the managers. It gave apleasant little fillip to the star-system on which most of our theatersare now run; every theater contributed its quota and secured itsproportion of reward. "

"I was under the impression that they all gave their services. "

"Just as you gave yours. You were all busily engaged in making eachother popular, and in maintaining your prestige; and you were all verywell paid for your trouble. "

"But what else do you expect me to do?" exclaimed the unhappy monarchirritably. "All this destructive criticism of yours is so easy; but whatdoes it lead to? Nothing!"

"Revolution, " declared Max, "peaceful, bloodless revolution! Wheneverany matter is submitted to you over which you have control and adeciding voice, do the unexpected, and you will nearly always be right!That is the biggest revolution in this unwritten Constitution of oursthat I can suggest. Do it, and then watch the results. "

"But, for instance, do what?"

"Well, go for a beginning to the very plays your Comptroller refrainsfrom recommending or tries to dissuade you from. Oh, you won't come uponanything shocking; quite the reverse. That play, _The Gaudy Girl_, whichI spoke of just now, is about to be revived in a new form--withadditions. No doubt it will draw enormously; and as a fortune has beenspent on it you would do a popular thing by attending the firstperformance. It is a risky and indecent piece, but no one will object, on that score, to its receiving the royal patronage. "

"How possibly can it be indecent, " protested the King, "when it hasalready run for five hundred nights at one of our leading theaters?"

Max smiled. "Father, " he said, "in all your life have you ever once beenin a crowd--formed part of it, I mean? Well, then, how can you tell? Ihave. There is plenty of indecency in a Jingalese crowd--especiallyindecent suggestion; and it is crowds the theaters have to cater for. "

"Still, they have the Censor to reckon with. "

"The Censor!" exclaimed Max. "Have you ever asked the Lord Functionary, who controls him, to show you the text of the plays he passes?--or gonefurther in order to compare them with those he does not pass? Till youhave, you know nothing about the Censor's protective powers. He merelyprotects the existing order of things, like yourself; whatever is payingand popular it becomes his duty to countenance. Well, all that isstrictly within your own department, for the supervision of the moralsof the stage is still a royal prerogative outside parliamentary control. And I tell you this--that if you were to begin exercising yourprerogative conscientiously you would get into more intimate touch withthe popular will than would suit the calculations of your ministers. Asfor the Lord Functionary, he would probably resign. He might be glad ofthe excuse. Just now there is a considerable row on, and he findshimself in hot water. When you see him you had better ask him about it;and as he is technically the keeper of your conscience you really have aconcern in the matter. What has he been doing? Oh, merely drawing theusual invidious distinction between adultery treated seriously andadultery treated as a joke. Under this latter and more popular form itis now occupying with success half the theaters in Jingalo. And if youwant to see the deeps open, and understand what they contain, --well, there you have your cue: follow it! Only do that, and you will lightsuch a candle--Ah! now I am quoting from English history; and as I amonly concerned with that of Jingalo--I perceive that my present chapterhas come to an end. May I take another cigar?"

III

All this time the King had sat cautiously imbibing the stimulus of hisson's words. They sent a curious glow through his system; for theytouched on the very point which was now daily engaging histhoughts--how, in connection with his own ministerial problem, to do thething which Brasshay did not expect without thereby involving theprestige of the monarchy in ruin. He looked at his son, so full ofself-confidence, so easy and unconcerned in the opinions of others, andvery greatly he envied him. 

"Max, " he said slowly, "you are a very dangerous character. "

And Max was flattered, as your man of words and not of deeds always isflattered when the attributes which belong by rights to his betters areascribed to him. 

Nevertheless, in this instance the epithet was well earned, for thesesecret potations of Max were having their effect upon the King's brain;they reproduced in facsimile the cerebral excitement which had followedupon his fall, and touching the same spot kindled in him a curiousmental ardor, which sent him to his Council a different personaltogether, one whom his ministers were finding it difficult torecognize and still more difficult to reconcile to their plans. Onlywhen the effects had died down towards the end of each day did the Kingbecome himself again. Obstreperous till noon, he would then quiet downby degrees till, at six o'clock, his spirits had reached a strange nadirof depression. Had Brasshay only caught him then, in that period ofreaction, he would have found him unformidable as of old; but Brasshaydid not know. And then, night after night, came Max with his tangle ofwords and whipped him into fresh revolt. 

He still carried the memory of that last conversation--that chapterwhich Max had composed into the echoing cavities of his brain--when henext encountered the Lord Functionary. 

Certain questions of court etiquette and procedure having been disposedof: "By the way, " said his Majesty, "I was told yesterday that you arebeing criticised--in the play department, I mean. "

The Lord Functionary had been spending sleepless nights in a scramblingattempt to acquire a literary education; but his own royal master wasthe last person to whom he would give himself away; so he only smiledwith that air of deference and self-complacence which all courtofficials know how to combine. "I have heard rumors of it, sir, " hereplied, in a tone of easy detachment. 

"Who are making the complaints?"

"Certain members of Parliament, I believe. They have constituents tosatisfy; and under a democracy, of course, autocrats can never doright. "

"Are you the autocrat?" inquired the King. 

"At your Majesty's disposal, " returned the Lord Functionary with a bow. 

"Then you are not responsible to Parliament?"

The Lord Functionary smiled, with a touch of disdain. "I should not beholding office if I were, " said he. 

"Then you are not under the Prime Minister, either?"

"No more than your Majesty, " said the magnificent one blandly. "In theorder of precedence I am, indeed, several degrees above him. It is, ofcourse, a Government appointment; but while I hold it my discretionarypowers are unlimited. "

This seemed a very great person, and the King looked on him with envy. 

"To whom, then, are you actually responsible?" he inquired. 

"To you, sir. "

"To me alone?"

"My official title would make it indecent for me to consult any one butyour Majesty. "

"Ah, yes, you keep my conscience for me, don't you?" said the King. Maxwas right, then; here was something still left for him to do. Headdressed himself to the previous question. 

"What exactly is the trouble?"

"A self-advertising minority, sir, has been persistently submittingplays which it was quite out of the question to pass. Being annoyed, they are now attacking the plays which _have_ passed. "

"I should like, " said the King, "to see some of these plays; to be intouch, if I may so put it, with my own conscience. Would you be goodenough to send me three of those you have not passed, and three of theothers which are now being attacked. I would like also, " he added, "tosee _The Gaudy Girl_ in its new version. "

The Lord Functionary raised his pale eyebrows. 

"May I be allowed to know why, sir?" he inquired. 

"Just curiosity, " said the King. "I thought of going to see it, and Iwanted first to be sure that there was nothing--nothing, you know----"

The Lord Functionary's face became wreathed in smiles. 

"Why, certainly, sir. I will see that a copy is sent to your Majesty atonce. It is, of course, work of a very light and frivolous kind--but itis popular and it does no harm. " Then, as by an after-thought, theofficial countenance grew grave. "Was her Majesty also intending to bepresent?" he inquired. 

The King, discerning that a negative was invited, gave the requiredassurance. "As a matter of fact, " said he, "it was the Prince who askedme to go--suggested it, that is to say. " And immediately officialconfidence was restored, for to the Lord Functionary Max as a reformerwas still unknown, while his taste for frivolous diversion was moreeasily assumed. And so in due course a copy of the play reached theKing's hands. 

Perhaps it was through mere inadvertence that the other six did notaccompany it. The King noted the omission; but when once he started toread the single play which had reached him he forgot all about theothers, for he found that his hands were full. At one stroke of thescythe he had reaped a plentiful harvest. 

Here was a play on the very eve of production, reeking with thesniggering improprieties which the keeper of the King's conscience hadpermitted to become the popular vogue. Suggestions and innuendoes towhich the ordinary theater-going public had now grown accustomed, struckhis inexperienced Majesty as bold and glaring novelties. The merecheapness of the wit he passed uncritically by, but the indecencieswere so bare and bald that even he, with all his innocence andinexperience, could not fail to understand them. The explanation, ofcourse, was easy; this new version of an old and accepted play hadreceived the official sanction through oversight. Providence had senthim to the rescue in the nick of time; and delighted to have foundsomething which his hand really could do, he took up the blue pencil andset to work. 

Snatches of dialogue, half lines of lyric--especially when it came tothe last verse--here, there, and everywhere he scored them through witha ruthless hand; and with a renewed sense of usefulness, and aconscience well at ease, he returned the much deleted copy to the LordFunctionary. 

Before long that official visited him, presenting a grave countenance. He was by no means enthusiastic over the royal handiwork; the productionwas about to take place; the play had already practically beenlicensed--silence up to so late a moment having virtually given consent;and--most difficult point of all--these things which the King was nowruling out had almost all of them been in the previously acceptedversion. 

"Then I suppose, " said his Majesty, "that nobody really reads theplays?"

"Oh, yes, sir, they are always read, " corrected the Lord Functionary, "but our readers have necessarily to go upon certain lines. They areguided by precedent and custom, which it would be highly inadvisable todisturb. "

So he pleaded that the _status quo ante_ might prevail; and yet, man toman, he could not defend what the King showed him. 

"Could you, " inquired his Majesty indignantly, "read such things aloudto your own family? Could you comfortably, if I called upon you to doso, read them aloud to me?"

"The drama, " explained the Lord Functionary, "is so different fromanything else; it has not to observe the same conventions. In lightcomedy, especially, these things really do not count. People nevertrouble to think about them--they mean nothing. "

"In that case, " said the King, "no one will mind your cutting them out. "

The Lord Functionary seemed not so sure, --his assurance went, in fact, in quite an opposite direction. He pleaded hard for the trade interestswhich he stood to represent. The play was in an advanced state ofrehearsal; many thousands had been spent upon it; and, seeing that itwas but a revival, no doubt about the new version passing had existedanywhere. 

But to all his entreaties the King remained adamant. 

"In this matter, " said he, "you have to consult my conscience. "

The point could not be further argued. 

"It is very unfortunate, " said the Lord Functionary in acid tones. 

"I must insist, " said his Majesty, "that you see to these omissionsbeing made. " And the Lord Functionary bowed his pained body over thehand which the King graciously extended. 

"Your Majesty must be obeyed, " said he. 

It was a phrase that the King very seldom heard; it gave him a taste ofpower. 

"Max, " said he to his son, upon their next meeting, "I have been doingas you advised. And I do believe you are right. "

"What did I advise?" inquired Max, assuming forgetfulness. 

"That I should 'do a bust' was, I think, your expression; somethingunexpected. "

"And how have you done it?"

"I have censored _The Gaudy Girl_. "

Max whistled. 

IV

The sibilations of that whistle were prophetic of atmosphericdisturbance to come. In a week the storm broke. 

The King happened to be away, paying a visit of complimentary inspectionto frontier fortresses and heard nothing about it. But on his return Maxcame to him charged with tidings. 

He stood over his father and looked at him with a note of satiricalapproval in his eye, which did not inspire the King with any confidence. 

"Sir, do you know what you have done?"

His Majesty denied the impeachment. "I haven't done anything. Not yet. "

"You have revolutionized the drama! Even now, at this very moment, thegreat heart of Jingalo is throbbing from plushed stalls to gallerystair-rail. Because of you _The Gaudy Girl_ is playing its third nightto an accompaniment of hilarious riot and uproar such as have not beenknown in our dramatic world since the public was forced to give up itsright to free sittings. "

The King was startled; some alarm crept into his voice. "Do you meanthat I have done harm?"

"Not in the least; no, quite the reverse. But you have certainly doubledthe play's fortune. The run is going to be tremendous. "

His Majesty felt flattered; had he not reason? For this surely must meanthat he had rightly interpreted the public taste, and that what thepopular will really wanted was a pure and carefully expurgated drama. 

But Max speedily undeceived him. 

"What happened, " said he, "is this. The Lord Functionary obeyed yourorders, and less than a week ago word went to the management, happilyengaged with its finishing touches to the play. Your share in thebusiness, of course, was not mentioned; your cuttings had become theofficial act of the department. What that meant, you can perhaps hardlyconceive. Here was popular musical comedy censored as it had never beencensored before. Time was too short for negotiation; besides the wholething was too drastic for half measures to be of any avail. Dullness, decorum, and disaster stared the management in the face. Suddenlyperceiving that its strength lay in submission, it accepted thesituation like a man, and in all Jingalo to-day, no hand is raised forthe censorship. You have given it the _coup de grâce_--it will have togo; for you have enlisted the managers--the trade interest against it. "

"I?" exclaimed the King. 

"Its moral position, as I told you, " went on his son, "had recently beenshaken by the attacks of the intellectuals--a camp, however, so much inthe minority that hitherto its hostility has not been seriouslyregarded. But now Jingalese drama, as a great commercial enterprise, aninterest wherein hundreds of thousands of pounds are yearly invested, has been touched on the raw, and Jingalese drama has risen and shakenitself in wrath. The press, which depends on it for advertisement, has, of course, rushed to its assistance, and condemnation of the censorshipnow figures in stupendous headlines on all the posters. Leadingarticles, interviews, and indignation meetings are the order of the day;I wonder you can have missed them. "

"I have been busy with other things, " explained the King. 

"Well, if you are not too busy to-night, I invite you to come and seeyour handiwork. "

"I can hardly do that, " said the King, "under the circumstances--if, asyou say, there is disturbance going on. "

"It is disturbance of a very unanimous kind, " said the Prince; "thepublic is enjoying itself thoroughly. Did I not the other day advise youto reach out a fearless hand to democracy? Well, you have done so; andthe dear, good beast has given you its paw. "

"I don't think I can go. "

"Then you will never understand. But, indeed, sir, I think that youshould. I have taken a box under a private name and we can gounobserved; the play has already begun; and if you will keep to the backno one will know that you are there. Besides it is Lent, a season whenthe incognito of your visits becomes a recognized rule. Do you think youare justified in missing so vivid an interpretation of the popularwill?"

The King's hesitation ended. "I suppose I must go on doing theunexpected, " said he, "now that I have once begun. "

"You could not make a better rule, " said Max. 

And so, quite unexpectedly, and to the extreme bewilderment of adetective force taken suddenly by surprise, the King found himself inthe theater where performance number three of _The Gaudy Girl_ was goingon. 

The house was packed, tumultuous, and excited. As he entered thesheltering gloom of the box his Majesty recognized the words of theplay, remembered, too, that a censored passage lay close ahead. It came. 

A sumptuously bosomed figure stepped into the limelight and sang. In thesecond verse she threw out a rhyme that seemed to clamor for itspair--threw it out as the angler throws out his fly for the fish that issure to rise. The King held his breath as the blue-penciled passage drewnear. The voice quavered and broke; singer and orchestra stopped dead. The house roared. "Go on!" cried encouraging voices from gallery andpit. "Go on! Go on!" And the singer thus emboldened, and accompanied byone small piping flute, a ridiculous starveling of sound after all theblare that had preceded it, sang with a modest and deprecating air aline which fell very flat indeed--a mere nothing tagged from a nurseryrhyme--obviously an importation. Stalls, pit, and gallery rocked andshouted with laughter. "Try again!" roared the crowd; and with small, frightened mimminy-pimminy tones the singer tried again. This time asnippet from the national anthem served her turn--but it was no good, the audience would have none of it; in a crescendo of uproarious demandit invited her to try again. Patient as a cat waiting for its chin to bestroked the conductor sat with extended baton. Down to the footlightsshe minced, delicately as Agag to the downfall of his hopes, thrust outan impudent face, and waggled it. "I can't! You know I can't!" sheremonstrated in a shrill cockney wail. And straight on the anticipatedword the house roared its applause. Off pranced the singer to her encoreon cavorting toes, down flourished the conductor's baton in a crash ofchords, and away to its fortunes sailed the play, more than ever aconfirmed triumph in the popular favor. 

"You see, " whispered Max in the parental ear, "you see now what you havedone. "

"It's a perfect scandal!" exclaimed the King, much put out, for hecould not but feel that he was being mocked. 

"Not at all, " said Max. "All the scandal has been eliminated. "

"It ought to be put a stop to!"

"A law doesn't exist. "

"This holding authority up to ridicule!"

"When authority has made itself absurd, could you wish it a better fate?To my mind, you have done a noble work. "

"But this, " said the King, "this is not what I intended at all. "

Max smiled indulgently. 

"So much the better, " said he. "The unexpected is just as good for you, sir, as for others. "

Then the King drew back again into his corner, to prepare himself forfresh shocks as the play went on. 

The managerial device was simple, effective, and very easy tounderstand; and from start to finish it was played with littlevariation, though with ever-increasing success. Here and there, wherefor a long period no blue-penciled passage occurred, imaginarycensorings had been inserted merely to whip curiosity, with the resultthat the atmosphere of innuendo and suggestion was greatly increased. Indeed, the whole piece reeked of it, new situations had been evolvedwhich the play had not previously contained; and a stimulated audiencesat metaphorically with its eye to an eye-hole from which the key hadbeen accommodatingly withdrawn. 

And then came the sensation of the evening. 

Whether in the course of the performance the King had become sointerested as to forget his caution, or whether between the acts toomuch light had penetrated the box at the back of which he had beensitting, it is now impossible to say. Just before the fall of thecurtain he and the Prince got up and left, and traversing the stillempty corridors unrecognized, returned to their carriage and the care ofthe anxiously waiting detectives. But somehow, as the play ended, awhisper got round from the stage and, like an electric flash, throughthe whole theater the fact of the royal visit became known. 

Instantly, with cheer upon cheer, the audience broke into loyal andexcited plaudits. The orchestra struck up the national anthem. Handsdown popular opinion had won; for in this matter of "the new censorship"as it was called--in this attack upon the interests and liberties, notof a foolish minority, but of a sacred and freedom-loving public, Jingalo and its monarch had joined forces, and bureaucracy wasdethroned. 

The next day it was on all the posters; newspapers celebrated the eventin flaring headlines--"THE KING CONDEMNS THE CENSOR!" And beforethe week was over, the Lord Functionary had resigned his high office ongrounds of health. 

The King was much puzzled over the whole affair; and his advisers didtheir best to keep him mystified. Both the Prime Minister and the lateLord Functionary himself earnestly assured him that his conscientiousinterference had had nothing whatever to do with the latter'sretirement; for at this juncture it would never have done for themonarch to suppose that he held so much power over the official lives ofhis ministers. Quite by accident he had come in contact with that greatunknown quantity "the popular will, " and, without in the least realizingwhat he was about, had first touched it on the raw, and then tickled it;and the "dear good beast, " as Max phrased it, recognizing only thesecond part of his performance, had turned rapturously round and givenhim its paw. 

The King had his scruples; he did not like thus to win popularity byaccident, and yet, the more he looked into it, the more he saw this fora fact, that by committing a popular _faux pas_ he had secured far moreconsideration from his ministers than by doing the correct thing. 

John of Jingalo did not yet understand that his correctness of conductwas one of the chief factors relied on by a bureaucratic government forreducing him to political insignificance. He had yet to learn that asubmissive and well-behaved monarchy was essential to its veryexistence. 

CHAPTER VII

THE OLD ORDER

I

All this, the reader will remember, had taken place in Lent. The Kinghad done something which according to the accepted canons was quiteincorrect; he had been to a frivolous but popular play during thepenitential season and it had got into the papers. But instead of beingblamed for it he had gained enormously in popularity. 

Now had his Majesty been merely aiming for this, as politicians aim forit (deserting principles for party, or party when its principles becomea hindrance), he might have followed the lead given him by the people ofJingalo, and, recognizing that the Church Calendar had lost its holdupon the popular imagination, might thenceforward have secularized hisconduct, and paved the way in Court circles for that separation ofChurch and State which his ministers were itching to bring about but didnot yet dare. 

But John of Jingalo had all the defects which belong to a conscientiouscharacter. He had not gone to the play for amusement, it had not amusedhim, he did not at all agree with the public's attitude towards it, andyet he was reaping the benefit; he was standing in a glow of popularapprobation under false pretenses; and the more he thought about it theless he liked it--it gave him a bad conscience. 

Yet, in spite of that, he could not but recognize that he had touchedpower; under a misapprehension the people had responded to him as neverbefore; he had done what they regarded as a sporting thing in sendingunpopular officialdom to the right-about; it was even possible thatamong theatrical circles when the exploit was talked of he was now knownas "good old King Jack. " All the same he did not feel that he had beengood, and he wanted to make amends. 

The highly colored conversations of Max, the talk about whipping-boysand Court jesters, and all those ancient divinities which had oncehedged a King but were now mere barbed wire entanglements, had turnedhis attention toward certain medieval institutions the practice of whichhad lapsed, or had become reduced to a mere shadow of their formerselves. And with a conscience ill at ease over the damage he had wroughtto a season which he still regarded with a certain conventionalreverence, his thoughts lighted upon Maundy Thursday, then less than afortnight off. 

He remembered having once watched from a private gallery in the royalchapel the impoverished ceremony which now did shabby duty for the oldsymbol of kingly humility and service. He had seen the vicarioussacrifice of silver pennies doled out by his almoners to a duplicateddozen of old men and women who had lost their better days incircumstances of the utmost respectability; and shocked at the povertyof the display he had been glad to learn that a more Christian gift oftea, clothes, snuff, and tobacco was added outside the Church door whenthe ceremony was over. But even so its ritual had not attracted him: ithad lost its human values, and seemed to have been kept in life merelyfor archeological association. 

Now on looking into the matter once more (the _Encyclopedia Appendica_gave him the required information) he was astonished to find that theold foot-washing ceremony of Holy Thursday was originally the chieffunction at which every year the Knights of the Holy Thorn were bound, if not unavoidably prevented, to appear and do service. Nay, when heturned to it, he found that it still stood so expressed in the Charterof the Order, and that each new Knight, upon admission thereto, sworesolemnly to keep and observe the same--so help him God--faithfully untohis life's end. 

If he had had any doubt before, the terms of that oath, which he himselfhad taken--probably without understanding it since it had been read tohim in Latin--were sufficient to decide him. Without loss of time hesent word by his Comptroller-General to the Prime Minister that heintended in the following week to revive the full ceremony and to recallthe Knights of the Thorn to the duties they had so long neglected. Theceremony, as of old, was to take place in public at noon outside thedoors of the metropolitan cathedral. 

"The King is going off his head, " said the Comptroller-General by way ofpreface to the announcement with which he was charged; and the PrimeMinister was ready to agree with him when he heard it. 

"Preposterous!" he exclaimed. 

"He has got chapter and verse for it, " lamented the Comptroller-General. 

"Can't you persuade him that it's a forgery?"

"It's in the oath, " replied the other; "you yourself have taken it. "

"Oh, yes, the form; but the ceremony--the accompanying service, Imean--was cut out of the Church Prayers at the time of the Reformation. It has become illegal. "

"Inside a church, yes; not outside. At least that is his contention. Oh, I have already done my best! He got quite excited when I ventured todiscuss the matter, --asked me if I understood the nature of an oath, andwhether I had ever taken one. "

"Is he much set on it?"

"I have had to write to the Archbishop. "

"What do you think he'll say about it?"

"Ordinarily he would oppose it as savoring of Rome; under presentcircumstances my impression is that he will welcome it as giving theChurch an added importance. You don't like it?"

"Of course, I don't. "

"Then you had better see the King yourself. You have only a week left;and he has already begun looking at the weather-glass and wondering ifit's going to be fine. "

"That's just like him!" said the Prime Minister. 

"Yes, and he's getting more like himself every day. My part is not asinecure, I can assure you. "

Accordingly the Prime Minister went over to the Palace and saw the King. Informed as to what line of argument had already been tried and failed, he approached the matter from a new standpoint: he spoke in the name ofProtestantism. This ceremony had only survived in Catholic countries; inJingalo the Reformation had killed it, and it had gone with gravenimages, the invocation of saints, and the worship of relics to the limboof forgotten foolishnesses. 

"The Charter of the Holy Thorn has not gone, " said the King. 

"Nor has your Majesty's title to the Crown of Jerusalem; but who everthinks of enforcing it?"

"I am willing to resign it any day, " replied his Majesty. "I can also, if you think it advisable, abolish the Charter of the Holy Thorn and theKnighthood with it. But I don't think the Knights would quite likethat. "

"If it comes to a question of liking, " said the Prime Minister, "I donot think they will quite like washing beggars' feet in public. "

"Oh, I do the washing and the drying, " said the King. "They only carrythe basins and put on the boots. I have looked up the whole ceremony;it's very impressive. You have only to read it and you will becomeconverted: it is so symbolical. "

The Prime Minister objected that though in its origin the ceremony mighthave had symbolic meaning and beauty, its performance now-a-days wouldbe looked upon as a mere form and superstition, contrary to the spiritof the age. 

This reminded the King of a certain "maxim. "

"'The spirit of the age, '" he quoted, "'is the industrious collection ofbric-à-brac--good, bad, and indifferent': this one happens to be good, and has been neglected. And talk about forms and ceremonies!--what canbe more formal, superstitious, and idiotic than the procession of Courtfunctionaries and King's Musketeers (with the Dean of the Chapels Royalcarrying a candle) which, on every ninth of November--the anniversary ofthe Bed-Chamber Plot--comes to look under my bed to see whetherassassins are not lurking there? On one occasion I was laid up withinfluenza, but I had to submit to that form and superstition because ithad become traditional. And all the papers gloated over the fact, andcalled it 'a link in the chain of monarchy, ' though as a matter of factthe conspiracy in question had been got up against that branch of thesuccession which we afterwards succeeded in dethroning. All the personalinconvenience I had to endure on that occasion was as nothing incomparison to the satisfaction which the public got out of it. No, Mr. Prime Minister, if you are going to do away with things because they areforms and superstitions, then I institute the Order of the New Broom, and I make you the first Knight of it; and the rest of your life willhave to be spent in sweeping. " ("And oh!" thought the King, feelinghimself in form, "I only wish Max could hear me now!")

Failing in his personal appeal the Prime Minister turned on theDepartments, and the King fought them one by one: the Board of Workswhich wanted to have the roads up; the Clerk of the Weather who saidthat a depression unsuitable for open-air gatherings was crossingEurope; the Chief of the Police who said that so large an open space wasbad for a crowd; the Minister of Public Worship who wished everything tobe done--if done at all--indoors and unobtrusively, by preference in oneof the Royal Chapels: the effect, he said, would be more reverent. Andwhen all these in turn had failed, the Prime Minister asked for aCouncil on the subject, and was told it was none of the Council'sbusiness. 

"I am Grand Master in my own Order, " said the King, "and you, as one ofits Knights, in any matter pertaining to the Order owe me yourunquestioning obedience. "

That was unanswerable; he did. And so the King got his way. 

II

The revival proved a tremendous success, although it did not reproducethe medieval conditions in their entirety. 

The twelve old women were left out; it was not considered decent for theKing to wash their feet in public and the Queen absolutely refused to doso. Instead they were invited to take tea at the Palace, and afterwardswere all presented with foot-warmers. 

In other directions also invidious distinctions were attempted, and acertain amount of controversy was raised. The Bishops made a scramblingand desultory fight for it that, as the steps of the Cathedral were tobe used, all the washen beggars should be actual communicants of theEstablished Church; but the demand died down when it was found that sucha breed did not exist; and a rush of undesirables to the altar in orderto qualify could hardly be welcomed as a tolerable solution. 

There was a tussle, too, among the Knights of the Thorn as to how manytowel-bearers there should be (the towels remaining perquisitesafterwards); but the King and his Master of Ceremonies--the delightedMax helping them--were able to settle matters to the generalsatisfaction, and, by allowing a towel to each foot and twelve cakes ofsoap, provided a sufficient number of souvenirs to go round. 

And so the day came, the weather was fine, and the attendant crowdrapturous. The King and his Knights, in nodding plumes and robes ofthorn-stamped velvet, made the show of their lives; organ music rolledfrom within, bands played without, and massed choirs sang like angelsfrom the parapets and galleries above the west doors of the Cathedral. 

And when their ordeal by water was over, then the twelve beggars--all ofguaranteed good character although not actual communicants--receivedwith delight each a new pair of shoes and stockings, which they wereable to sell at fabulous prices, immediately the ceremony was over, tocollectors of curiosities, chiefly Americans. And that same night twelvevery happy beggars, all more or less drunk, made their appearance on thelargest music-hall stage in the metropolis, where the whole scene waselaborately re-enacted in facsimile, followed by a cinematograph recordof the actual event. 

The King was a little disappointed at these modern developments, theyseemed to take away from the penitential character of the performance, and rather to weaken than restore in the public conscience the dueobservance of Lent. 

Max, however, assured his father that he had made the greatest hit ofhis life; his personal popularity had been greatly enhanced. Whatpleased him better was that in feeling for the public pulse, by thelight of his own conscience, he had proved that he was right and thePrime Minister wrong. 

Yet, though ostensibly in the wrong, the Prime Minister had really beenright. He had reckoned that the move might prove a popular one--for themonarchy; and though a dull average of popularity for that ancientinstitution suited his book for the present, he did not wish, in view ofcertain eventualities, to see it greatly increased, and still less didhe wish the King to discover that by acting in opposition to hisministers he might gain in popular esteem. 

As one of the Knights of the Thorn he himself had been obliged toattend the ceremony; and by some it was noticed that, as he stoodholding a golden ewer in his two hands, he looked very cross. Butall the other Knights of the Thorn--those who had towels and soap asperquisites--enjoyed themselves thoroughly and were already lookingforward to a repetition of the performance next year. Even in theircase, then, the King had proved to be right, --forms and ceremoniesaccompanied by fine clothes were still popular things; the Order of theNew Broom would not be yet. 

III

And then, with blare of trumpet and clash of drum, with troopings andmarchings, with garlanded streets and miles upon miles of cheeringpeople, came the great Jubilee festivities. Silver was the note of thedecorations--silver in the midst of green spring. The Queen herself woresilver gowns and bonnets of heliotrope, and the King a uniform whereinsilver braid formed the becoming substitute for gold. Corporations camecarrying silver caskets; army pensioners and school-children, fêted atthe public expense, received white metal mementoes which, while new atany rate, looked as real as any coin of the realm. For a whole week thepiebald ponies really worked for their living, grumbling loudly betweenwhiles in their stalls; for a whole week "loyalty" was the note on whichthe press harped its seraphic praises of monarchy and nation; and for awhole week people actually did drop politics, reduce their hours oflabor, and run about enjoying themselves. 

The poet laureate published an ode for the occasion; he remarked on thepassing of time, said that the King had acquired wisdom andunderstanding, but that the Queen did not look a day older; said thatthe trees were green on that day twenty-five years ago when the Kingascended the throne, and that they were green still; said that cows ategrass then, and were eating it now without any decrease of appetite;said, in fact, that nothing sweet, reasonable, or beautiful had reallychanged at all, and that the monarchy, taking its constitutional day byday, was the national expression of that unchangeableness. 

The day after the appearance of his poem he received that titularrecognition for lack of which a poet laureate must feel that he haslived in vain. And then, all this unchangeableness of things having beenthus ratified and sealed with the official seal, the King, hisministers, and the whole political world advanced to the edge of changessuch as the country had not seen the like of for the last hundred years. 

CHAPTER VIII

PACE-MAKING IN POLITICS

I

Inside the Council, meanwhile, curious and uncomfortable things had beenhappening. The King's talkativeness had steadily increased; no one couldreduce him to reason. 

"He reminds me, " said one of his ministers irritably, "of theschool-boy's story of the tea-kettle which discovered locomotion. Offboiled the lid: 'Why!' cries the observant inventor, 'put that uponwheels and it would go!' So he put it upon wheels and it went. He isexactly like that tea-kettle on wheels, miraculously set going withoutany inside reason to guide him! In my opinion before long there willhave to be a regency. " He tapped his skull meaningly, but in the wrongplace: he should have tapped the back of it. 

"What? Prince Max!" ejaculated his auditor; "I should hardly call that aremedy!"

"Nothing can be worse, " declared the other, "than things as they are!"

In that he made a mistake; they were going to be much worse. The King'snew mental activities were only just getting into their stride; and froma very unexpected quarter he was about to receive aid. 

At the Council board, where the King had now found voice, one alone sathumorously interested and amused--the Minister of Fine Arts. He was notan artist himself--had he been he would never have been allowed tooccupy that position; he was a Professor of History, Teller by name, and more than any of his fellow-ministers he studied life. Nothinginterested him so much as the human machine; and to see this ratherhumdrum monarch suddenly developing into a tea-kettle on wheels, as hiscolleague had so happily phrased it, filled him with profound interestand an underlying sympathy. 

Dimly the King had become aware that somewhere in that body of adroitshufflers who were supposed to minister to his constitutional needs theconfused cry of his conscience had evoked an echo. He saw under a highbald forehead kindly eyes watching him; and it was a kindly voicecharged with considerateness which one day, over a matter in which timepressed, begged for a further interview. 

International exhibitions had become the vogue; and in putting on itspeace paint for the Jubilee, Jingalo had determined to maintain itsprestige among the nations by holding a conversazione of the Arts. Inmatters of that sort his Majesty had no particular taste; but in an artexhibition it was his duty to be interested. If need be he would openit, and would say of art and of its relations to the national lifeanything that the commissioners required of him. He would also lend anypictures from the royal collection which did not leave too obvious a gapupon the walls. All this was a mere matter of course; but the occasionbeing important--one of the great events indeed of the Jubileefestivities--it was expected of him that he should give a rather specialconsideration to the final plans. 

Though wearied by the circumlocutions of his Council which had lastedthroughout the morning, he named an hour, and at six o'clock receivedhis minister in private audience. 

The Professor began to explain matters in the usual official tone, butbefore long perceived that the attention paid to him was merely formal. The King sat depressed, listless, and cold. This renewal of the officialroutine found him mentally fagged out; it was evident that his thoughtswere elsewhere. 

Making the matter as short as he could in decency, the Professor foldedhis memoranda and returned them to his pocket. 

Recalled to himself by the ensuing silence the King spoke--

"I really don't know enough about it to say anything, " he murmured. "Nodoubt you have arranged everything for the best. " But still he remainedseated as though the interview were not ended, and the minister hadperforce to remain seated also. 

"I fear that to-day we have wearied your Majesty, " he said at last tofill up the pause. "The Council is sometimes very trying. "

The King lifted forlorn eyes in a sort of gratitude upon this, the leasttroublesome of all his ministers. "You, at least, " he answered, "havenot to reproach yourself, for I noticed that you did not speak. "

"I was listening, " answered the Professor; "I was much struck by yourMajesty's line of argument. "

"You agreed?"

"I cannot separate myself from my colleagues, " returned the ministercautiously; "but I recognized the strength of your Majesty's case. Onits own premises, if well put, it becomes unanswerable. "

"I hardly thought that I had put it well. " The King's voice showeddespondency. 

"To be perfectly frank, sir, " said the Professor, tempering the amiabletwinkle of his gaze with a deferential movement of the head, "you didnot. The historical argument requires a knowledge of history. "

"You remind me of another of my deficiencies, Professor. "

"It is shared, your Majesty, by nearly the whole of the Cabinet. Veryfew of us, sir, knew anything more of it than you; and those of us whodid were intent on concealing our knowledge. "

"Very considerate, I am sure. "

"Not at all, sir: our knowledge would have given strength to yourargument. "

The King sat up a little at this confirmation of his suspicions. "Do youmean, then, that my ministers make it a part of their duty to concealfrom me the truth?"

"Some truths, sir, " submitted the Professor, "may have undue weightgiven to them, which it then becomes a councilor's duty to correct. After all, history is only history; if at times we cannot break from itwe shall never get anywhere. "

"Yet all to-day, " protested the King, "history, precedent, and theConstitution are the words that have been drummed into my ears, for allthe world as though I, and not you, were the preacher of subversivedoctrine. "

"Your Majesty will remember that in this country we have had threesuccessful revolutions against the Constitution. In one the monarchy wassuccessful, in two the people. "

"Is that said as a warning?"

"By no means, sir; merely to show that precedents lie on both sides likedry bones in the wilderness. But it requires the power of a prophet tocall those dry bones to life. At present I see no prophet in Israel. "

"Yet every member of the Government prophesies. "

"I noticed, sir, that you did not. Never once did you pretend to knowwhat the future would bring forth: you only pointed to the past, deducing therefrom your duty, as you conceived it, to the Constitution. Conditionally that commanded my respect. "

"Surely, " said the King, "I am bound, whatever the conditions, to holdsacred a trust which has been committed to me by inheritance. "

The Professor bowed. "With your Majesty, " he assented, "the hereditaryprinciple must naturally be strong: it is implanted in your blood. Ihave no such impulse in mine. My father was born in a workhouse. "

"That is very remarkable, " said the King. "To have attained to yourpresent position, your life must have been full of interest andadventure. "

"Full of interest--yes. Adventure--no. Very plodding, very uneventful, almost monotonous apart from mental happenings. Now and then an unsoughtstroke of fortune. That is all. "

"How did you ever get into the Cabinet?" inquired the King, in a tonethat betrayed a sort of puzzled respect. 

"Merely to fill a gap in a ministry whose days were numbered. Then anunexpected turn of the wheel kept us in power, and I remained. It was aninglorious arrival, but I found I could be of use: a sort of connectingline between incompatibles. I am not unpopular with my colleagues, andleft alone in my department, I go my own way. "

"And what is your way?" inquired the King, still searching for guidance. 

"I do nearly everything as my permanent officials tell me, recognizingthat while ministers come and go permanent officials remain and acquireexperience from both sides. On the other hand, I use my own discretionin the hastening or suspension of the superannuation clause; I promoteby results and not by seniority. My department, in consequence, is themost efficient in the whole Civil Service, and I have less work to dothan any other minister. Thus I am left with more leisure and energy todevote to the consideration of policy, and affairs in general. "

"And do you approve, " inquired the King, "of the present policy?"

The minister paused. "I think the pace is about right, " he saidreflectively. 

"The pace?"

"Yes; government to-day, sir, is largely a matter of pace, the actualmeasures do not so much matter. Modern democracy is making for somethingof which we are all really--the governing classes I mean--profoundlyapprehensive: and the problem now is to let it come about without actualcatastrophe. When I used the word 'pace, ' I had a certain graphicillustration in my mind--an incident I once heard from the manager of arailway--the recountal of which will show your Majesty what I mean. 

"A passenger train, before arriving at the head of a long, evenlygraded declivity, had taken on three or four good trucks heavily laden. Owing to some carelessness in the coupling these wagons became detachedon the very crest of the descent, and falling to the rear came almost toa halt. Not quite: sluggishly at first they began to move, and gatheringimpetus from sheer weight followed in the track of the proceeding train. Halfway down the declivity, the engine-driver discovered his loss andthe danger that threatened him. Looking back, he saw in the distance thewagons weighted by the labor of men's hands drawing nearer with a speedthat grew ever more formidable. His one chance, therefore, of avoiding acatastrophe was to put on pace in the hope of arriving at more levelconditions before the impact took place. Yet he must still limit himselfto a speed which enabled the train to keep to the rails on a certainsharp curve which lay ahead. That was the problem which theengine-driver set himself to solve: up to a certain point the more pacehe could allow the greater his chance of safety, beyond that point a newdanger arising out of pace lay ahead of him. "

The minister paused. 

"What happened?" inquired the King. 

"He negotiated the curve with success, and had got so far ahead thatwhen the wagons finally overtook him their impetus had been diminishedby the more level conditions of the road, and the impact was but slight. Only the guard's van was smashed, and the guard himself rather badlydisabled. "

"And what happened afterwards to the guard and the engine-driver?"inquired his Majesty, much interested. 

"The guard was pensioned for life: the engine-driver was promoted. "

"And whose fault was it--the guard's?"

"Well, not exactly, " replied the Professor; "the careless coupling wasdone by others, but the guard had the right, which he had not chosen toexercise, to refuse to accompany any train in which his van was not putlast--so as to embrace the whole combination. At least, he had thetechnical right. "

"I suppose he did not wish to give trouble, " said the King meditatively. 

"Very likely; for, of course, had he exercised his right the whole trainwould have been delayed by the extra shunting. "

"And he in consequence a less acceptable servant to his employers. "

"No one could have blamed him. "

"Not for excess of caution?" queried the King. "Did you not yourselfsay that on those lines government would become impossible? You haveto run your railway system, it seems, with a certain risk ofaccidents--otherwise you would never be up to time. "

"That is so, " said the Professor. "In every political crisis it is pacemore than principle that I find one has to consider. If it is solved insuch and such a way, our pace will be so and so, and the question--willit take us safely over the curve? If it is solved in another way so thatthe pace slackens, those wagons in the rear may be down upon us. "

"And the guard, whose control, while the train makes its running, is butnominal, is then the first to suffer!" He saw himself in the man'splace. "Poor glow-worm!" he cried, "he may change the green light in histail to red--or was it red to begin with? but it is no use! Thoseproletarian forces descending upon him from the rear are quite blind intheir purpose: it is merely dead weight and impetus that send themalong. " And then he pulled up abruptly, astonished to find that he wastalking in Max's manner. Was it so catching?

"Not wholly blind, sir, " said the Professor; "believe me, they meanwell--mainly to themselves, no doubt: that is only human nature. Everybody in the community, whether energized or sluggish, has some weightattached to it; and the more that bodies can agree to combine thegreater is their weight politically. One has to recognize that consensusof opinion carries with it a certain moral as well as physical force. Out of that springs the evolution of our governing system. "

"Only I, " said the King, "in the nature of things have always to standalone. "

"Sir, you have all history!" said the Professor. 

"Which, as you have reminded me, I do not know. "

"May I inquire, sir, whether you have a real wish to know?"

"Why, naturally!" exclaimed the King. Whereupon the Professor, as thoughlaying aside something of his officialdom, took up an easier attitudeand addressed himself to the point. 

"It would, I think, sir, be quite compatible with my duty to mycolleagues were I to send your Majesty a few volumes of constitutionalhistory with certain appropriate passages marked. It would interest mevery greatly to hear the argument developed on the lines you havealready laid down. The history I would venture to send is a thoroughlyreliable and standard authority, written by an eminent jurist to whosewords we later historians still bow. As I said, sir, _pace_ is to-daythe thing which really matters; beyond a given pace we, certainly, arenot able to go. Luckily for our present plans there is no source fromwhich any forcing of the pace seems probable. I do not think this or anyother ministry dare attempt it. Speaking for ourselves any increase ofthe present pace would, I conceive, become a grave embarrassment. If, therefore, your Majesty has been apprehensive of our adopting anyincrease of speed, I think you may be reassured. After theconstitutional readjustment our pace is scarcely likely to growdangerous. "

The Professor had managed to indicate that these were--if so it might beallowed--his last words. The King rose. 

"I shall be much obliged, Professor, " said he, "if you will lend me thebooks you have mentioned. When may I look for them?"

"Sir, " said the Professor, in smooth matter-of-fact tones, "it sohappens that I have them with me in my carriage. I will have themconveyed to your Majesty immediately. "

And therewith he bowed over the King's hand and departed. 

II

Left to himself the King stood considering for a while. He was pleased, but puzzled. What had this man, wise and kindly, been telling him? Whatadvice were his words intended to convey? He was quite sure now thatthis minister had come and talked to him for a purpose: and what he hadmainly talked about was "pace. " It was "pace" that mattered. That wasall very well, but with pace he himself had nothing to do--except in anegative sort of way. He, occupying the position of guard with brakes tohis hand but no steam-power, could only cause delay; he had no means, and no object that he could see, for accelerating matters. Besides, hadnot the Professor said that in his estimation the pace was about right?All his efforts to secure delay would--he was already aware of it--failof their effect; ministerial resignation threatening, he would have togive in. The alternative, the mad alternative that had for a momentoccurred to him--no, it would not do! The results might be tootremendous, might lead even to revolution and a republic, and so he gavethe problem up. And then a pile of six large volumes "with ProfessorTeller's humble duty" was brought in and set down before him; and Johnof Jingalo sat down to read the marked passages. 

It was a reading that for its completion extended over many days. 

What first attracted his attention, however, was a chronological seriesof plates, showing the map of Europe in all its political changes fromthe tenth to the twentieth century. This was, in fact, a key to thewhole work, for as the author rightly pointed out in his openingparagraph the history of Europe was inextricably bound up in the historyof Jingalo, and the one could not be properly studied without someunderstanding of the other. 

These maps of Europe he turned from century to century; and there, as hemarked their many variations, there always to be recognized was Jingalooccupying its proud historical position--so often challenged, yet stillon the whole unchanged. It had found room to live and breathe, not byits own strength, but by a careful adjustment of the political balancebetween others, and a neutralization artfully and sometimestreacherously contrived of greater forces than its own. It had forneighbors two great military states and several smaller ones; and had atsome time or another been at war with nearly all of them. Often--generally in fact--it had come out of those wars more vanquishedthan victorious (though Jingalese school-books carefully concealed thefact): it had lost, for proof, more territory than any other power inthe world except England, and yet, like England, cherished the curiousconviction that it had won all the really important battles and dictatedeach peace upon its own terms. Having been wholesomely driven out ofFrance in the fifteenth century, it had captured and carried away withit as trophy the order of the White Feather, with its proud motto, "J'ysuis, j'y reste. " In the eighteenth century it had adopted by compulsionfrom Germany an alteration in its law of regal inheritance, and hadmarked its adhesion to the new formula by the institution of the orderof the Dachshund, with the obsequious motto, "Das ist mir ganz Wurst, "popularly mistranslated by the wags of the day into, "That is the worstfor me. " Beaten by the infidel in the Crusades it had joined thenceforthto its regalia the holy crown of Jerusalem; and having thrown over thePapacy at the time of the Reformation, had added to its armorialbearings the Keys of St. Peter, and to its royal claims and titles theKingship of Rome. A frequent and murderous deposition of its kings hadbut accentuated its devotion to the monarchic system: while its solemnconfirmation of each fresh breach of continuity had stood to reaffirmits general belief in the hereditary principle, and in divine providenceas controlled by Act of Parliament. The only other country in the worldwhich had acted with such scrupulous inconsistency, unrepentant andunashamed, was England. It was no wonder, therefore, that in theirhistory the two countries had much in common; and it must have beenthrough sheer inadvertence, in view of their rival claims to be theconstitutional pace-makers of Europe, that while they had often stoodbadly in the way of each other's interests they had never yet fallen toblows. 

International politics, however, were not for the moment the King'schief concern, and he turned back from the pages of Europe to study indetail the constitutional history of his own country and the powers itstill reserved for its kings. 

While he pursued these studies, many things new and strange presentedthemselves to his gaze. There were, he discovered, powers of the Crownstill extant, though lapsing through gradual desuetude, of which he hadnever dreamt, and as to the existence of which no one had made it hisduty to inform him. Some of them had been in regular practice less thanforty years ago; they were becoming obsolete merely because the advisersof the Crown wished it. Just as the House of the Laity was now fallingmore and more under the control of a Cabinet whose powers waxed as theother's waned, so the King himself was in the hands of those whoseinterests were to conceal from him the powers he possessed. 

He came on a page where the right of royal initiative in Council hadbeen thoughtfully underlined by the Professor; and he discovered withastonishment that a whole series of constitutional questions layaltogether outside the competence of ministers to deal with until theyhad been first formally submitted to the King himself. Under thisheading he found that no financial proposal touching on Crown lands, oron grants to the royal family, could become a matter of ministerialdiscussion without his consent first given; no proposal to alter theroyal line of succession or the oath taken by the King at hiscoronation; no change of definition in the articles or creed of theEstablished Church; no alienation of Church lands; no fresh institutionof any rank, title, order, or degree, nor the abolition thereof; noalteration in the laws governing the right of the voteless to petitionthe King against the acts of his ministers; no subsidy or treaty of war, and no surrender, barter, or exchange to a foreign power of any partwhatsoever of the King's dominions; no appointment to a foreign embassy;no elevation of a commoner to rank or title; no issue of royal patents;no free pardons for criminals, and no change in the composition ofeither of the two Houses of Parliament. All these things must beformally submitted to the will of the Crown before being entered asitems of the ministerial policy. 

"My word!" cried the King, perceiving for the first time howunconstitutionally that word had been set at naught. He could hardlybelieve his senses. Here under his nose, all these weeks lèse majestéhad been rampantly disporting itself; and he knew nothing of it!Possibly the Prime Minister knew nothing of it either; had not theProfessor said that many of his colleagues were as ignorant ofconstitutional history as the sovereign himself? But some knew--somemust know! And the King, who but a few hours before had believed himselfthe most helpless of emblems, a mere ornamental topknot to theconstitutional edifice, now found himself armed with weapons offar-reaching precision that would enable him to carry war into theenemy's country. Metaphorically he clapped his wings and crowed. Yes, itwas as though that weathercock, to which hitherto he had likenedhimself, that toy of chance, swung this way and that upon a pivot withno will of its own, had suddenly taken to itself life and wing andpower, and quitting its stake had descended into the arena with beak andclaw stiffened for the fray. That board of tormenting ministers was nowin his power--for a time at any rate. 

In his excitement he got upon his feet and trotted about the room, andpausing now and again he gazed ahead with a gloating eye on a wholeseries of ministerial councils to come. For this monarch, you mustremember, had been departmentalized all his life, and to that extentdehumanized; and it was only in a departmental way that he recognizedhis opportunity. The power to strike which he now visualized camethrough no intellectual enlargement, no opening up of moral vistas, butonly through the discovery that he had on his side a mass of red tapethe existence of which he had not previously suspected. In similartrammels to those which had so long hampered and restricted his ownmovements it was now possible for him to entangle the goings of hisministers. A hundred and one things had been done which were not merelyout of order but--oh, blessed word!--unconstitutional; and inconsequence the poor dear man's mind was in a welter of delight. At lasthe had a weapon to his hand whose reach and mechanism he couldmanipulate. "Oh, dear me, yes!" he said to himself, and said it severaltimes. 

When a character of childlike simplicity has got hold of a loaded gun, it has a natural instinct to let it off. The actual direction, and whatthe target is to be, are not so important as the delightful sense ofhearing the gun go off, --of proving by actual demonstration that itreally was a loaded and dangerous thing, capable of causingconsternation. John of Jingalo was simple, and when he got up from hisfirst solid reading of the Professor's volumes he felt that he was wellprimed; and his instinct was to let himself go, to spread himself, toattack his enemy with extended front so that they would not know whereto have him. Half-a-dozen small tags of red tape gave him a far greatersense of resource and opportunity for aggression than any one good pieceof measurable length capable of being well wound and knotted. Hispowers, such as they were, were largely imitative; and now for someweeks the wordy Max had been coaching him. The Professor had suppliedhim with the material, Max with the method for applying it; theProfessor had given him his head, Max had given him his tongue. Lookingforward to the exercise of his new-found powers he meant, in a word, tobe voluble; and when in later chapters he becomes yet more surprising, let the reader remember that fortuitous crack at the back of his skullthrough which the windows of his head were open and his brain-pan aplace of draughts wherein any winds of doctrine might blow. A word ofopposition, a mere gust of excitement, were now quite enough to set himgoing, and once started he was very difficult to stop. 

For much the same reason, having once started to prance up and down thecarpet--that carpet so variegated and Maxian in its pattern--he found itvery difficult to sit down again; and would not have done so had not themeasured striking of the clock upon the chimney-piece reminded him thathe was expecting a visit from Max. Then a curious change came over hisdeportment; he stood considering, glancing from the telltale volumesupon the table to the door through which he was presently expecting hisson to enter. Then with a secretive look and a shake of the head, "Oh, dear me, no, " he murmured very softly; and taking up the books he putthem away in a drawer and locked it, and, when presently Max came in, said nothing of his new discovery, but sat docile and listened, whilethe other drew out the shining length of his vocabulary, making wordssound like deeds. 

Not for nothing was John of Jingalo the son of his father, not fornothing a descendant of kings who so far as they consciously achievedpower had always held it possessively and exclusively, withholding thekey from their heirs. Post obits were not popular in that royal House ofGanz-Wurst which for two hundred years had ruled over Jingalo. 

CHAPTER IX

THE NEW ENDYMION

I

Readers who have hearts will remember that while these things weretaking place in the political world, something of more intimate andpersonal concern had happened to Prince Max. That young man, whose headwas so crowded with ideals for others, had discovered--or glimpsed, itwould be more correct to say--an ideal of his own, in the shaping ofwhich he had nothing whatever to do. Goddess-like she had descended uponhim from skies in which previously he had held no faith at all; and evenyet it was a tussle for his conscience to accept anything coming fromthat quarter as really divine. He was agnostic; he did not like theChurch, and he rather despised that attitude of mind which acceptedmiracle as a directing power in human affairs, and looked to an unseenworld for the inspirations of life. It was as though some modernEndymion gazing up at the round and prosaic surface of the moon, andrefusing to admit that there entered into its composition anything evenof so low a vitality as green cheese--it was as though such an one hadseen the affirmed negation suddenly take to itself life and form, anddisclose from afar a whole heaven of thoughts, beauties, and aspirationswhich he had not believed existent. And then, having seen that graciousform so well defined that it must for ever remain imprinted upon hisconsciousness, he had watched it steal from him into obscurity, wilfullyconcealing its whereabouts, though ever since the silver haze of thathidden presence had permeated his world. 

Concealment and flight are, we know, the very arrows of love whendirected with subtle intent against the hunter's heart in man; and theyare scarcely less powerful to kindle his ardor when undirected andwithout purpose, or, as in this case, of a purpose wholly negative andwithout lure. 

His lady had disappeared, because in very truth parting was her intent;and in haunting for a while the dark and crooked ways which her feet hadblessed, he had but the poor satisfaction of knowing that he wasdepriving of her ministrations lives inconceivably more miserable thanhis own. That consciousness when it came touched him in a point ofhonor, and forced him to relinquish the quest; but there remained withhim thenceforth a maddening sense that if, accepting his withdrawal, shehad resumed her avocations, he now knew daily where she was, and hadonly to break with his scruples in order to find her. 

They had met less than half-a-dozen times; and he, driven by his mentalpugnacity to test so unreasonable an apparition, had spared neitherhimself nor her. The sincerity of her faith had angered him, thoughanything else, had he detected it, would have destroyed his dream; andwhen he had scoffed she had not troubled to rebuke him, had only glancedat him amused, not with pity or condescension or kind Christian charity, but with a very friendly understanding and often with what seemedagreement. He was astonished to find that a rippling sense of humorcould go hand in hand with a blind gift of faith, and to hear sayings asbold as his own uttered as though they were the merest common-sense. "Why yes, of course, " she admitted, in answer to one of his tirades, "ifyou want envy, hatred, and uncharitableness in a concentrated form youwill find them in the Church; that stands to reason. " And when heinquired why, she answered, quite simply, "Because a bad Christian isSatan's best material. "

Nor had she any illusions about that particular branch of the Churchmilitant for which she labored; she regarded it rather as a half-bakedbody of territorials than a regular army equipped for the field. Stillit served a purpose, gave useful occupation to many, and stood for thetime being against unreasoning panic or callous desertion of duty; norwould she surrender its few poor healing virtues for any of the nostrumshe sought to set in their place. "It does more than you with all yourtalking, " she said quietly, and, as they passed by, took him into amission church where he might see--a small corrugated iron hut, set downin the midst of slums. Under the scent of incense the smell ofdisinfectants was strong; near a stove sat a lay reader, and about her adozen poor weary women plying needle and thread. Two or three of themheld children at the breast; in a pen near by lay half-a-dozen othersasleep. Over the stove was a large boiler supplying hot water to poorparishioners; away by a small side altar knelt a single figure inprayer. Brightly colored "stations of the Cross, " and something upon thealtar that looked like a large tea-cozy, before which burned a light, told how here the law was systematically broken, and that the "nonsense"inveighed against by the old Queen Regent had not yet been put down. 

"That is the bit of Christianity I work for, " she said as she led himout again, "a sort of mother-hen whose cluckings, scratchings, andincubations are run in a parish of five thousand half-starved people onless than £300 a year. Have you anything better to show?"

"I want revolution, " he said. 

"Choose your own time, " she answered mildly. "Here every day we arefacing a far worse thing. "

"Making it endurable, " he objected. "These people are patient because ofyou and your like. "

"Impatience would only make it harder for them, " she returned. "Youcan't argue with them; they haven't the brains. "

"Not in working order, I admit. "

"Meanwhile they have to live. "

"And when you help them to that end--are they at all grateful?"

"A few; yes, that is one of the hardest things we have to bear, --we whoare living stolen lives; for whether we will it or not our vitalitycomes from them; daily we drain it from their blood, and nothing we cando will stop it. "

"Are you in need of money?"

"Always; but five million pounds given us to-morrow would not go to theroot of this. "

"What would?"

"Nothing but true worship. "

"You worship an alibi, " said Max. 

"What nearer divinity has brought you here?" she inquired. And he, tooconscious of the personal motive, forbore to explain. 

At their fifth meeting she told him quite frankly that he wasinterfering with her work, that she could not have him accompanying her, waiting for her, picking her up as if by chance. 

"If you want to do work you must find it for yourself; you will if youare sincere, " she said in answer to his request that she wouldcommission him. 

"But may I not be your follower?" he pleaded, choosing the word for itsdouble sense. 

"Lay sisters don't have followers, " she replied. "They don't go with thecostume. "

"Then why wear it? Will you turn away a disciple for a mere matter ofdress?"

"My dress, " she said, "is of more use and protection to me than anythingyou can do or than money can buy. You have politicians who say thatsociety is built upon force. My dress is the work of women; thousands oflives have made it what it is, and it will take me safely into slumswhere no policeman dare go alone. When your politicians can come here incoats of a similar make, then they will have begun to solve the problemswhich they are so fond of talking about. Now, will you please to walk onthe other side of the road?"

He took her hand, saying earnestly, "When are we to meet again?"

She shook her head at him, smiling. "Truthfully I haven't time for you, "she said, "and I can't make promises. "

And then, just for once--for it seemed his last chance--Max fell intosentiment. 

"One I want you to make, " he insisted. 

"What is that?"

"That you will pray for me!"

"Now you are asking for luxuries, " she smiled; "you don't believe inprayer. But I will. " Then, nodding confidently, she added, "And it willdo you good. "

And then, as he still lingered, with quiet business-like demeanor shecrossed the street and disappeared. 

It was true that in thus seeking her intercession Max had asked for aluxury. He did not believe in prayer any more than he had ever done; buthe did very much like the idea of being prayed for by the woman heloved. Once, for a brief moment, he had seen her kneel before an altarempty to him of meaning; and as he then watched the serene joy andbeauty of her face had realized with a jealous envy how in an instantall thought of him had passed from her mind. So in asking her to prayfor him he had merely sought to penetrate by subtlety the unbelievableworld of her dreams. And then, even as he reveled in the vision, the oddthought occurred in what terms would he obtain introduction? Once, whenfor the repayment of a borrowed cab fare she had asked his name andaddress, he had told her who he was, and she had not believed him; had, indeed, herself tantalized him in return with an address as littleprobable as his own. If, therefore, she prayed for him in words howwould they run, or, if in thought, what character would it assume? "Thatman, " "that nice man, " "that talkative man, " "that person who calledhimself Prince Max, " "the tall stranger, " "the man whom I sent away, ""the man who emptied my bucket, " "the man who brought in the bed, " "theman who waited for me at corners, " "the man who wanted to be myfollower. " All these variant products of a brief acquaintance, though hedwelt on them as luxuries, failed to give him satisfaction, they formeda fretful and at times a tormenting accompaniment to his unapportioneddays. At his hours of rising and setting the thought would insistentlyrecur to him: "Now, perhaps even now, she is praying for me. " Andstraightway he would return to the task of trying to realize the natureof her prayer and with what label she pigeoned him in the columbarium ofher soul. 

Whether or no it could be said that this was "doing him good, " he hadcertainly begun to apprehend the power of prayer; that dove-like spiritwith overshadowing wing had found means to ruffle very considerably theeven current of his existence. Even had he wished to he could not gether out of his thoughts. Fantastic and prosaic statements of hisidentity kept leaping into his mind. "The man with his trousers turnedup" was one of them. Yes, he had done that in order to make theirimmaculate cut less noticeable; he had dressed as badly as he knew how, and yet--she might possibly be praying for him as "that well-dressedperson. " It was a ghastly thought, and he had brought all this purgatoryupon himself merely by asking for a "luxury, " for something in which hedid not really believe. And then, at the thought of her deep sincerity, his mind revolted from all these bywords and subterfuges. "Oh!" he criedto himself, "she knows, she knows, she must know!"

And, of course, as a matter of fact she did. She knew that she had alover, a young man who had nicknamed himself, --clever and handsome, evidently with time and money to spare, probably of some socialposition, and with an undeniable likeness to a Prince whom she only knewby his photographs. And for this young man, who on five or six separateoccasions had so hindered her with his attentions, she had a deep andimpulsive liking which, as it ran counter to her plan of life, she didnot choose to encourage. 

But if Max could only have known he would have been comforted: sheprayed for him every day, morning and night, and taking him at his word, though not in the least believing it, it was as "my Prince Max" that shebegged heaven to look after him. And when in her orisons that nymphremembered him she smiled a little more than was her usual wont--fortruly he had amused her. In spite of dignified air and polished speechesand a belief in himself that never failed, she had discerned thestripling character of his soul; and greatly would Max have beensurprised, and perhaps also a little shocked, could he have learned thathe ranked in her mental affections as "rather a dear boy"; for it iswoman's way to claim the privilege of a motherly regard without anyseniority in age, and with a good deal of feeling that mere "mothering"will not satisfy. 

II

Another lady, as to whose movements and plans Prince Max could not yetbe indifferent, had meanwhile returned home, and he had been to see her. 

The Countess Hilda von Schweniger had sent word that she had seriousthings to say to him; it was only thus that he received notice of herreturn. She had a tender weakness for talking seriously at intervals, for the periodic workings of her conscience were ever open to view. Butwhatever special seriousness of purpose was now perturbing her, thismatter-of-fact return to the roof they shared seemed to give itcontradiction, --did not at least suggest that any immediate breach intheir present relations was to be looked for from her. 

And so Max went to the interview wondering how he was going to behaveover this new fact which had so largely entered his life; whether he wasgoing to "behave well"--whether indeed it were possible at the same timeto behave well and be honest and above-board. He was, in fact, upagainst the usual difficulty of the man who, having run domesticity on atemporary basis, has discovered grounds for wishing to exchange it for amore permanent one. And as he put his latch-key into the garden door ofthe quiet tree-shadowed house which for five years he had regarded ashis second home, he uttered to himself a kind of a prayer that hisrelations with a good woman would not now have to be less honest thanformerly. 

It was evident that she had been on the lookout for him; a French-windowin a creeper-covered veranda opened as he advanced, and graciousdomesticity stood smiling in the green-lighted shade. 

She laid her hands on his shoulders as she kissed him. "Well, monPrince, " she said, "are you glad to see me again?"

He took in all the pleasant and familiar appeal of her face beforeanswering. "Yes, I am, " he said, "very. "

"That's true--really true?"

And at that challenge he gave a funny little duck of the head, known toher of old, and kissed her again. 

She turned quietly and walked away into the room. 

"I came back just to hear you say that, " she murmured in a moved tone, and stood waiting with her face away from him. 

The heart of Max was wonderfully relieved: gladdened also, for as helooked at her he realized that she remained dear to him. With her oldsimple directness she had let him know what was in her mind, and by herclean brevity of speech had already, in this their first momenttogether, saved him from the trap into which he might have fallen. Notthat the ordinary male temptation to let her resolution stand as coverto his own did not for a moment occur to him. Nay, he could even suggestgood reasons; for was not this the kindest reward now left within hispower--to let her think that the wish was not shared--to show even alittle resentment and reproach? Max, the satirical critic of humannature, could see clearly the attractiveness of such a course, --knewhimself a sufficiently good actor to play the game at least well enoughto satisfy his artistic taste. But he did not yield to the temptation;had he done so he would have formed a more moral emblem for theedification of my readers than I am now able to provide; and they mustface instead the uncomfortable fact that out of this long and immoralliaison between a prince and his mistress certain moral values heldgood, and that being in need of a sincere friend and confidante he foundit in the woman from whom he was about to separate. 

He crossed to her side, and taking her hand kissed it with morefrequency and fervor than he had kissed her face, and heard then herbreath struggling against tears. She reached up her other hand and beganstroking his head; and it is life's truth that these two still foundattraction and comfort the one in the other. 

"Then you are going back again?" whispered Max. 

She nodded, saying "yes" afterwards on a catch of breath. 

"When?"

She looked at him wistfully. "I didn't want to go--yet. "

"Why should you?"

"It wouldn't worry you?"

"Not at all. Very much the reverse. "

"I should want to see you, though. "

Max smiled. "You mean, then, shouldn't _I_ worry _you_----"

"I suppose I did mean that, " she said, viewing him speculatively. 

Then Max was tempted to show off. "Who gave me my first lesson in notworrying?" he asked. 

"Oh, yes, " she admitted, "but then, you see, I was yours. It has to bedifferent now. "

"I want it to be different too, " he said; and as by that statement hewished to convey important inner meanings, he spoke solemnly. 

She looked at him radiant, half incredulous--the pious wish shining inher eyes. "Oh, Max!" she cried amazed, "has it come to you too, then?Has Our Lady----"

But Max shook his head. "Your Lady is not my lady, " he gently confessed. 

"Oh!" her voice went down into the deeps of despondency. "Oh! is thatwhat you mean?"

A solemn nod from Max informed her that it was. 

"You always told me that it would happen some day. "

"I hoped I should have gone. "

"And I, " said Max, "am glad that you have not. Selfish of me, isn'tit?" Then he kissed her hand again. 

She began a homely mopping of her face. 

"Then it doesn't matter how I look now?" she commented, and paused. "Howam I looking?"

"Well, and as dear as ever, " he replied. 

"That isn't what I wanted to know. You know it isn't. "

"You are looking, " he said, "just two evening moons older than when Isaw you last. "

"What have evening moons got to do with it?"

"They are your most becoming time. "

She took the compliment with a sigh and a smile; then with an air ofresignation sat down. 

"Who is she?" she asked abruptly. 

"I haven't a ghost of a notion. We haven't been properly introduced, shehasn't encouraged me, I haven't said a word, and I'm not to go near herany more. "

This for a start. The Countess Hilda became deeply interested, and verymuch alarmed. "Then it isn't a princess?" she cried in consternation, "she isn't royalty?"

"Oh, no, " said Max, "far from it. She is what you call a sister ofmercy, and 'sister'--horrible word--is the only thing I am allowed tocall her; she is a sealed casket without a handle. "

"Oh, Max, " cried his Countess, "don't do it, don't do it; it'swickedness! _I_ didn't matter; but this--oh, Max, you don't know what agrief and disappointment you'll be to me if you----"

"Dearly beloved friend, " interrupted Max, "do give me credit for amorality not very greatly inferior to your own. After all I am yourpupil. "

"But you can't _marry_ her?" cried the Countess. 

"Saving your presence, I mean to, " asseverated Max. 

"You! Where will the Crown go?"

"Charlotte will have three inches taken out of its rim and will fit itfar better than I should--that is if anybody is so foolish as to objectto my marrying where I please. "

"Then in Heaven's name, " cried the Countess, "why in all these yearshaven't you married me?"

Max smiled; they were back into easy relations once more. This was thelady with whom he had never spent a dull day. 

"I did not wish to give you the pain of refusing me, " said he. "Had Iasked you you would have said that I was far too young to know my mind, and that you yourself were too old. "

"Yes, I should, " she admitted, "but you should have left me to say it. "Then she returned to her original bewilderment. "But, my dear boy, ifshe is a sister of mercy she has taken vows. "

"Oh, no, we don't do that in Jingalo. No Jingalese Church-woman maythrow away her whole life on so problematical a benefit as a religiousvow of celibacy. She may lease herself to Heaven for a given number ofyears, but freeholds are not allowed. "

"And you call that a Church!" cried the Countess. 

"Well, " said the Prince, "I think that in this case she has got hold ofa scientific point worth keeping. Seven years ago I was not, sciencetells me, the man that I am now; and seven years hence I shall be yetanother. What right has my past man to bind this present 'me' in whichhe has no particle of a share?" And Max, having taken wing on a freshnotion, was off into flight when the Countess brought him to earth. 

"And how long is your next lease going to be?" she inquired dryly, "ifseven years is all you can answer for?"

"My next man will renew, " said Max confidently. 

"Sisters of mercy don't accept tenants on those terms, " she retorted. And then, seeing that he looked at her with a benevolent eye, added, "Oh, yes, I know that I did, but that isn't the sort of mercy you arelooking for now. You'll find, Max, that you need a religion in order tobecome a freeholder. Mark my word! There! I couldn't have put it betterthan that! And now as I've come to the end of _my_ lease I had betterretire and see to dilapidations and repairs. "

She left him smiling; but he knew, in spite of her brave face andjesting words, that there was still trouble of spirit to be gonethrough; and the repairs took some time. 

III

In the days that followed, Max, now launched on his new quest, had asgood and sympathetic a listener as lover could wish. And while theCountess thus paid penance and endured some purgatory for a five years'breach with her own conscience, she found compensations, as all sensiblygood women will when they come on logical results of their own making. In our conventional readiness to reverence the mother and disown themistress as social institutions, we are apt to ignore, as though themere suggestion were an impiety, the fact that in their instincts andaffections they have often much in common. It is one of Nature's kindestand wisest economies; yet perhaps the woman treasures it secretly, because it is a quality of her sex scarcely to be understood by men. Thechaste mistress sleeps in many a mother's breast, ready to welcome inher grown son that touch of the lover which nestles before it takesflight; and in the unchaste mistress, homely of heart, there is oftenmore of the mother than her paramour has wit to discern. 

The Countess Hilda, cut off from home ties and kindred in the very primeof her maternal powers, had cast her eye on Max with a possessive butwith no predatory aim; and in her own illicit fashion, contrary to somequalms of conscience and the strict dictates of her creed, had motheredhim through the dangerous years with as little damage to his moral fiberas seemed reasonably possible. And now, not without some pangs ofmaternal jealousy, but with none of the baser kind, she listened whilehe sat at her feet and talked of the woman he loved. But the real priceto be paid, as she clearly saw, lay still in the future and in all thosepossibilities of beautiful domestic possession wherein she could have nopart. Left to herself she sometimes wept in woeful abandonment at thethought that she and his children must for ever remain strangers; andthen she dried her eyes and sat eager and attentive to learn what mannerof woman their mother would be, if Max had his present will. 

"I met her, " said Max, "or rather found her again, washing the floor ofa single-room tenement on a 'four-pair back' to the accompaniment ofscreams from its enraged occupant. And when, as a means of introduction, I tendered assistance, she sent me down to the basement to refill herbucket, --offered me a child's head to wash, and then as an alternativebade me bring in a mattress from a second-hand dealer who had neglectedto send it. I went. Required to give proofs of my honesty by a shopmanwho rightly regarded all strangers with suspicion, I deposited thevalue, which I forgot afterwards to reclaim, and set off with my load. Before I reached the first corner I made the humiliating discovery thatI did not know how to carry it. I was bearing it embraced like an infantin arms, but owing to its size my arms would not go round. Twice itunrolled itself and lay like a drunken thing in the gutter; smallchildren stood round and laughed at me. From one of them came thesewords of wisdom: 'Lor', 'e's only a gentleman, he don't know nothing!'On my second attempt, not seeing well where I was going, I stumbled intoan apple-stall; and immediately I, heir to a throne and engaged in acharitable action, found myself regarded as a criminal lunatic by peoplequite obviously my superiors in all honest ways of earning a living. Asmall boy took pity on me and offered to carry it on his back--anydistance for a penny. That taught me; I gave him the penny and put itupon my own, and having disentangled myself from the crowd in which forfoolishness I had become conspicuous, found with relief that thenceforthno one took any notice of me. The old scriptural act of a man carryinghis bed struck nobody there as absurd; the streets of our sweatedquarters are far more genuine and human than those in which we paradethe clothes they make for us. Ah, yes; that statement, at which you showsome incredulity, is directly pertinent to my story; for it was anendeavor to trace my clothes to their origin--over the many impedimentsand difficulties placed in my way--that had led me into those slums. Iwon't go into that just now, though it had an important connection withour future acquaintance. 

"By the time I returned with the bed to the four-pair back attic I hadreceived a better lesson in human values than in any previous half-hourof my existence. I was then given other commissions, and these withoutany word of apology; as I had volunteered so I was to be used withoutscruple or mercy, just as a millionaire's motor-car is used at electiontimes, till scratched, battered, broken down, it creeps from the fray. 'We are all sweated workers here, ' she said to me afterwards, and then Isaw her uses of me explained; anything which came to that mill came tobe ground, and the chaff to be cast out. I submitted to her test, and inthat first day saw her only by glimpses; but in accompanying her back tothe Home from which she emanated I told her why I had come--said that Iwished to have a clear conscience and wear clothes upon my back in whichthere was no element of sweating. She told me it was quite impossible, impossible, that is to say, unless I controlled every stage ofmanufacture from the raw material to the finished article; and eventhen, I was warned, the paper cover, the cardboard box, and the stringwith which it was tied, would all be sweated products. And when I askedwhat I could do to help matters, she bade me go with empty pockets andsee as much of the life as possible for myself, and make others likemyself see it also. That is what she had been doing to me--rubbing mynose into it before I should get tired and run away. Even whileaccepting it she showed a fine indifference to my money. 'Don't let thatsalve your conscience, ' said she, 'we can make it useful, but it won'tchange matters. ' And had I given her a million pounds I do not think shewould have thanked me any more. "

All that Prince Max narrated of his charitable adventure would take toolong to tell here. One thing the Countess noted, as a point well scored, he had begun to learn humility; his offers of service had been rejectedas of little use, his company as a hindrance, his new lady had left himto feel small, and he had not resented it, had indeed owned that herjudgment on him was just. He had also put himself to her test ofsincerity and failed. "I tried to go on with it, " he confessed, "but itwas no good. What my father says is quite true--we can't really get atthe lives of these people, we are too cut off. We make use of them, theyof us; but we are still hiding from each other round corners, or walkingon opposite sides of the street. She, having become one of them, meantme to see that. "

"But she doesn't know who you are. "

"She knows what kind I am; it's all the same. "

"You didn't cross after her?"

"How could I? It wouldn't have been manners. "

"She presumed on your having them, then?"

"She has a generous nature. "

"And then, for whole weeks, you did much more than cross after her; youhunted for her, lay in wait for her, doing nothing all the time. My deargrown-up man, wasn't that rather childish?"

"What else could I have done?"

"Made her miss you. "

"Well, as we haven't seen each other since, it comes to the same thing. "

"But she knows you've been there; she would have thought much more ofyou if you hadn't been. "

"Why?"

"It would have made her more repentant. Now she only thinks that you'vetired of it. "

"Ah, well, she promised to pray for me, " said Max. 

"Oh, I pray for you, my dear, " sighed the Countess; "not that I supposethat does any good!"

And therein may be discerned a difference between the two women who mostconcerned themselves for the good of Max's soul; for the other had beenquite confident that her prayers would do good. And it is curious howoften those who have faith prove to be in the right. 

IV

Max had given up the quest, but he had not given up hope. Though lovehad humbled him, he yet believed in his star, and reminded himself thatthe world was small. 

In the late spring the Jubilee celebrations took up some of his time;maneuvers followed. He went and played at soldiering for the publicsatisfaction; then returned to his more private and serious avocations, put the finishing touches to his book, and began to receive proofs fromthe foreign printing-house to which through the Countess's hands he hadentrusted it. She herself with kind, charitable intent stayed on; morethan ever now he needed some one to talk to and--he did not worry her. Others were trying to worry him. The Queen, after voluminouscorrespondence, had found and offered him choice of two Germanprincesses whose photographs said flattering things of them; and, whenhe declined both propositions, had looked at him very sadly indeed--hadalmost broached the unmentionable subject. "Oh, Max, what are we to dowith you?" she sighed; for she was still keeping herself badly informedof his goings-on. "That woman is back again, " she informed her husband;"I really think we ought to consult the Archbishop. "

The King saw no hope in that. "You must leave Max to take his own time, "he said. He did not just then want to worry about Max, since he waspreparing to plunge on his own account. "Alone I did it, " was to be hisboast, and he knew that if once he resumed fathering Max, Max would befathering him, and his small spurt of initiative would be over. 

But all that must be kept for another chapter. This one belongs to Maxand his love affairs, past, present, and future; and it is still Max andhis fortunes that we are following as we step back into the limelight ofpublicity. 

At the first Court following on the Jubilee celebrations the Bishopsappeared in force. It was their final demonstration of loyalty to thethrone before the political battle joined, for they were now preparingto reject, just as a last fling, the whole of the Government's program, and then to see what the country thought of it. 

As a bilious man sticks out his tongue toward the glass in order to knowwhether he looks as he feels, so the Bishops were sticking out theirtongues toward the country in the hopes of looking as brave as they werepretending to be. And they came to Court that they might advertise theirattitude. 

They came in silken court-cassocks, preceded by their croziers andfollowed by their women-folk, a nice expression of that ecclesiasticaland domestic blend on which the Church of Jingalo prided itself. TheseChurch ladies were moral emblems in another respect as well: they hadthe privilege of appearing at Court functions more highly dressed--thatis to say, less denuded--than others of a more aristocratic connection. The sacred and unfleshly calling of a bishop threw a protecting mantleover the modest shoulders of his wife and daughters; and these did notgo unclad. In accordance with Pauline teaching they were covered in theassembly, expressing in their own persons that "moderation in allthings" which was the accepted motto and policy of the Church. 

The Archbishop of Ebury was there also; his crozier was different inshape from the rest, and as an addition to his silken cassock he wore atrain. He was accompanied by his daughter. Daring in her assertion ofthe vocation which had withdrawn her from the gaieties of life she worethe gray robe of a little lay-sister of Poverty. 

"His Grace the Archbishop of Ebury, Prince Palatine of the SouthernSees, Archdeacon of Rome, Vicar of Jerusalem, and Primate of all theChurches, " so, upon entry to the Presence, his full and canonical titleswere proclaimed by an usher of the Court. 

After so high a flourish more impressive in its way was the simpleannouncement that followed: "Sister Jenifer Chantry. "

Dignity led, quiet unassuming modesty came after; indifferent to hersurroundings, obedient to the call of duty, she advanced in her father'swake toward the royal circle. They bowed their way round; and there, suddenly before him, Prince Max beheld the face of his dreams. 

The eyes of the beloved met his; and he, struggling desperately toconceal his excitement and emotion from those who stood looking on, sawhimself recognized without shock or quiver of disturbance. Noheightening of color belied that look of quiet assurance and peace; withdisciplined ease, perfect in self-possession, she courtesied and passedhim by. And suddenly it seemed to him that all the air was filled with astrange humming sound, soft yet penetrating, like the populous murmur ofa summer's day. Above the rustle of robes, the patter of feet, thesubdued murmur of voices, and the regulated tones wherein Court usherswere announcing fresh names, that high vibratory note went on; elatedand thrilled he listened to it and wondered, not knowing its cause--thequickened murmur of his own blood at the touch of Love's index fingerupon his heart. 

Now at last he knew who she was; now he could find her again onunforbidden ground, follow her where she had no excuse to hide, and press against all obstacles for an earthly fulfilment ofthat unpractically directed thing called prayer. For now itshould not be only her prayer for him, but his for her; her veryname--Chantry--expressed the need he had of her. She was the shrinewithin which his soul kneeled down to pray--not to any God, but to lifeitself. Here was the matrix from which all his desultory and scatteredforces had been waiting to receive form and direction; to his own smallfragment of that general outpouring which we call life, purpose anddestiny had come. He with his adventurous theories, she with her patientand unflinching practice, how gloriously together they could tumble oldmonarchy to the dust and build it anew. For the first time in his lifehe felt almost fiercely desirous to step into his father's shoes. Strange that such sudden ambitions should be sprung on him by contactwith a heart which apparently held none. 

All this while he was returning the bows of bishops and their wives. They flowed by in solid file forty or fifty strong; for this was ademonstration with political import behind it, this was going to be inall the press to be understanded of the people; the Bishops about tofight for their own order were passing before the steps of the throne toindicate in dumb show that allegiance to Crown and Constitution whichanimated their hearts. 

And then, gorgeous in cloth of gold and high funnel-shaped hat, introduced by the Minister of Public Worship but unaccompanied by histwo black wives, came the Archimandrite of Cappadocia--a counterdemonstration; and after him, forty Free Churches divines, all in blackgowns, silkened for the occasion, but unenlivened by the moral emblemsof their domesticity; a queer somber tail they seemed to that greateastern bird of Paradise under whose wing they would presently acquirethe right to wear feathers as fine as his own. 

Most of them had never been at Court before, and in consequence were notso well drilled as the Bishops. Some of them bowed too often, and toohurriedly, and before they need, beginning with the Lord Functionarywhom they mistook for royalty; and they walked out sideways instead ofbackwards, reactionary methods of progress not being in their blood. Still, taking them for all in all, they were a very learned-lookingbody, and their presence in such uncongenial surroundings showed thatthey meant business. 

And deficiency in their demeanor was quite covered by the deportment ofthe Archimandrite. In the new robe presented to him for the occasion bythe Prime Minister (for the moth had got into his own) he looked superb, and behaved with a majesty beside which Jingalo's home-bred royalty sankinto insignificance. Max frankly recognized his superior, and bowed low. "This is a descent of the spirit, Archimandrite, " he said, as theytouched palms; and as he did so a queer breath of eastern spices blewover him, for the man of God was chewing them. 

And so, in this great overt act of respectful homage to the throne fromboth sides, the truce came to an end and the signal for fight was given. More important to Prince Max was the fact that it had revealed to him acertain lady's identity. 

CHAPTER X

KING AND COUNCIL

I

During the weeks of the Jubilee recess the King had spent his sparemoments in taking notes, and priming himself on fresh points ofconstitutional usage. 

The Comptroller-General was greatly puzzled to see writing going on dayafter day in which neither he nor any of the secretaries were invited totake part. He was more puzzled still when, by means available to him, he obtained access to what the King had actually written. 

After a single reading he felt it his duty to report to the PrimeMinister. 

"He seems to be writing a history of the Constitution, " said theGeneral. "Where he gets his facts from I don't know, but they don't seemto have come from you; quite the other side I should say. "

On this note-taking, so voluminous that it resembled the writing of ahistory, the King was getting into his stride, and was discovering howvery much better all these years he could have made his own speeches, had he only been allowed to. He had within him the gift of expression, though not the power of condensing it; he had industry, a good case, andnow at last behind his back an unimpeachable authority. And so, at itsnext meeting he came down into Council stuffed full of facts andphrases, and quite determined that before things went any further hisMinistry should hear them. 

The constitutional crisis had reached a head as soon as Parliament againmet. The defiant action of the Bishops had thrown the Government'sprogram so much into arrears that a drastic quickening of the pace hadbecome necessary; and if, in spite of scare and warning, the Bishopsmeant to go on doing as they had hitherto done it was evident that theirconstitutional powers must be limited. The Archimandrite and the FreeChurchmen between them might supply the Government with a bare workingmajority; but that alone would not be sufficient to make legislationfruitful between then and the next general election. Unless theGovernment, after striking the blow, could come before the countrybearing its sheaves with it, there was a very serious chance that itspatriotic intention of continuing in power would be frustrated; and evena Government busily engaged in marking time to suit its own bureaucraticinterests must appear to have covered the ground mapped out for it. 

For this reason Cabinet ministers had been meeting and deciding on agood many things behind the King's back; and the "Spiritual LimitationsBill"--all the world has since heard of it--was the device they hadadopted as most suitable to their needs. They proposed to bring itforward in a late winter session. 

On the day before Council a draft of the proposed bill reached the handsof the King; and his Majesty on reading it and after referring onceagain to certain passages in Professor Teller's books of history, smiledgleefully and rubbed his hands; for though he had the heart of avegetarian he was beginning to scent blood and rather to enjoy the smellof it. 

II

The Council was already standing about the board when the King entered. Having bowed them to their seats he formally called on the PrimeMinister to read the presented draft. This was done, and through thewhole of it without a word of interruption his Majesty sat quiet and asgood as gold. 

Polite exposition was about to follow; but as the Prime Minister essayedan enlargement of his text his flight was stayed. 

"Gentlemen, " said the King, "I am dissatisfied with my position. "

All turned amazed; the Professor with less amazement than the rest, forhe observed, as confirmation of his suspicions, that the King's handrested upon a bulky pile of manuscript. 

"In this bill, " said his Majesty, "you are proposing to remodel aConstitution that has lasted in an unwritten form for five hundredyears. I see in your proposed emendations that the Crown is frequentlymentioned, but its powers are nowhere defined--unless that constantlyrecurring phrase 'on the advice of his ministers' is a definition whichyou wish to see indefinitely extended. Otherwise there is no openindication that the Crown's powers are affected. But the question ofconstitutional rights as between the Bishops and the Laity to-day mayto-morrow be a question involving the Crown also; and if you now mean toimpose limits on one branch of the legislature, you must extend yourdefinitions to cover the whole ground. I require, gentlemen, if thismatter is to be carried any further, that my own powers and prerogativesshall be as accurately defined and set as much on a working basis asthose of your two Chambers. "

"'Working basis' is distinctly good, " murmured Professor Teller, andlooked admiringly at the King, whom the Prime Minister hastened toreassure. 

"Your Majesty's powers, " said he, "are in no way touched. At no singlepoint of our proposals is any limitation suggested. "

"Oh, I daresay not, I daresay not!" replied the King, "but though itisn't there in the text it is between the lines; yes, written withinvisible ink which will be plain enough to read presently. What I amthinking about is the future. You may be perfectly right as to thewisdom of change; but we must have chapter and verse for it. We can'ttreat these matters any longer as an affair of honor. It used to be: nowit isn't. Honor to-day is not a help but an impediment; I've found thatout. To me it has lately become a question--a very gravequestion--whether I can in honor accept the advice of my ministers; andI do not intend to leave so disquieting a problem for my son to solveafter me. There, now you have it!"

The King panted a little as he spoke, like a dog that has begun to feelthe pace of a motor-car too much for him. 

"I'm sorry that your Majesty has found any reason to complain, " said thePrime Minister in a tone of grieved considerateness. 

"I am not complaining, " answered the King, "I'm only saying. And what Isay is, let us have chapter and verse for it from beginning to end. Define the powers of the Crown as they exist to-day--but as they won'texist to-morrow unless you do--and your proposals shall have my mostsympathetic consideration; but not otherwise. "

"Surely the question your Majesty raises, " interrupted the PrimeMinister, "is an entirely separate one. "

"No doubt you would treat it so, " replied the King. "Oh, yes--break yoursticks one at a time as the wise man did in the fable!"

A breath of protest blew round the Council board. What would he beaccusing them of next?

"I daresay you don't mean it, " he went on; "but it will be said, at somefuture day, that you did. And either you do mean it, or you don't; so ifyou don't what can be your objection to having it put down in black andwhite? I'm sure I have none. I have got everything written out hereready and waiting. " And the King fingered his manuscript feverishly. 

"One very obvious objection, " interposed the Prime Minister in alarm, "is that there is no demand for it in the country. No politicalsituation has arisen--the matter is not in controversy. "

"You must pardon me, " said the King, "we are in controversy now. Thoughthe country knows nothing about it, my position is affected; the demandis mine. "

"It is quite impossible, your Majesty, " said the Prime Minister, with abrevity that was almost brusque. "It would entirely confuse the issue inthe public mind. "

"Direct it, I think you mean. "

"In a most dangerous and inadvisable way. "

"Dangerous to whom?" the King inquired shrewdly. 

"The functions of the Crown must not be involved in party politics. "

"Though party politics are involving the functions of the Crown? Oh, yes, Mr. Prime Minister, it is no use for you to shake your head. Icontend that, without a word said, this bill does directly undermine mypowers of initiative and independence. You deprive the Bishops of theirright to vote on money bills; very well, that will include all royalgrants, whether special or annual, --maintenance, annuities, and all thatsort of thing. At present these are fixed by law and cannot be disturbedwithout the agreement of both Houses. That is my safeguard. But infuture you leave the Bishops out, and you have me in the hollow of yourhand. Oh, gentlemen, you need not protest your good intentions: I ammerely putting the case as it will stand supposing a--well, asocialistic Government, bent on getting rid of the monarchy altogether, were to succeed you. Where should I be then? That is what I want you toconsider. Oh, you don't need two sticks to beat a dog with! If you meanthat, let us have it all said and done with, --put it in your bill; andif the country approves of it, well, if it approves of it, I shall bevery much surprised. "

The Prime Minister rose. 

"Does your Majesty suggest, " he began, "that any such idea----"

But the King cut him short. "Oh, I don't know what your ideas were; thisisn't an idea, it's a bill. "

The Prime Minister sat down again; all the Council were looking at himwith mildly interrogating eyes, wondering what they should do next. TheKing had often been voluble before, but this time he was reasonablyarticulate; and as his pile of manuscript indicated he had come armedwith definite proposals. 

"I am asking for safeguards, " said the King. "How do I know, how do anyof us know, at what pace things may not be moving a few years hence? Itis the pace that kills, you know; yes, very important thing--pace. " Hiseye caught a friendly glance; it twinkled at him humorously; he appealedto it for support. "Yes, Professor, have you anything to say?"

The Professor rose and bowed. "I am only a listener, your Majesty, " hesaid, and sat down again. 

"Pace, " said the King again, having for a moment lost the thread of hisdiscourse. Then, having clung to that anchor to recover breath, oncemore he plunged on. 

"If any royal prerogatives still exist, " said he, "if I am to be stillfree to act upon them, then I want to be told what they are, and to havethe country told also; yes, before any more of them become obsolete! Atpresent it seems to me that anything of that kind is obsolete when itbecomes inconvenient to the party in power. "

Once more a respectfully modulated wave of protest went round the board. 

"Oh, yes, gentlemen, I have become quite aware from what has recentlytaken place that an unexercised authority, if not set down in black andwhite, comes presently to be questioned as though it did not exist. Ifthe title-deeds are missing, then you are no longer on your ownpremises. Well, for the future, I want to be upon mine. And here youcome to me with this bill, and not a single one of you has seen fit toadvise me as to how my own position is affected by it; no, I have had togo to other sources, and find out for myself. "

At these words the Prime Minister saw an opening, and also a possibleexplanation of the manuscripts which lay under the King's hand. He puton a bold front and spoke without waiting for the royal pause. 

"Have I, then, to understand, " he inquired, "that your Majesty'sadvisers have lost the benefit of your Majesty's confidence?"

"By no means, " replied the King. "If I am not confiding in you now, Idon't know what confidence is. I am putting all my difficulties beforeyou, and asking for your advice. But I don't want to have it in ahole-in-corner way, a bit at a time, first one and then another. We arein Council, and it is from my whole Council that I want to know howthese difficulties are to be met. When I am alone I can get anybody toadvise me, go to whomsoever I like; there is no difficulty about that. "

The Prime Minister bristled; he seemed now to be on the track. "I mustask further, then, " said he, "whether upon this question of a newwritten Constitution your Majesty has thought fit to consultothers--those, that is to say, who are politically opposing us?"

Under an air of the deepest respect a charge of unconstitutional usagewas clearly conveyed. 

"Oh, you mean the Bishops?" said the King. "No; since all this troublebegan I have been deprived of the consolations of the Church; not asingle one of them has dared to come near me, except in an officialcapacity. Though, as I say, I have the right to consult any one. "

The Prime Minister raised his eyebrows, in order, while formallyagreeing, to make denial visible. 

"Of course if your Majesty informs us of it, " he said, "we shall knowwhere we are. "

"That is what I am saying, " persisted the King. "If we all consult aboutit, then you know where you are, and I know where I am. There are thetwenty of you, and here am I, and this is the first time that we haveexchanged a word on the subject. Isn't it unreasonable to expect me tocome to you with my mind made up on a thing I knew nothing about tillyesterday? Why, it was only then I discovered that for you to discusssuch a bill among yourselves, without having first sought mypermission--a bill affecting the Constitution and the powers of theCrown--was in itself unconstitutional. "

What on earth did he mean? Ministers looked at each other aghast. 

"There!" cried the King, "you are all just as surprised as I was. Thatis why I say we must get it put into writing. You didn't know that youwere interfering with royal prerogative. No more did I: we had forgottento look up history. Now I've done it, and I daresay that as an historianProfessor Teller will be able to inform you whether I am right?" Andhere with a flourish the King named his authority. 

"Your Majesty has stated the constitutional usage with accuracy, "acknowledged the Professor. "Whether usage is decisive remains aquestion. "

"There!" said the King triumphantly. "That is what happens if things arenot actually set down in law. Now you see my point. "

The Prime Minister's brow grew dark. 

"I think, your Majesty, " said he, "that this is hardly a question we candiscuss in Council. "

"In a way you are right, " acknowledged the King; "it should not havebeen discussed here, as I said just now, without my permission. But asit has been brought forward we either do discuss it and all that I haveto propose in the matter, or I rule it out of order; and we will passon, if you please, to the next business. "

The King had finished; he leaned back in his chair; and the PrimeMinister, collecting authority from the eyes of his colleagues, stood upand spoke. 

"I think your Majesty hardly recognizes, " said he, "that we cannotlegislate on a matter as to which there is no public demand. In regardto the status of the Crown no political situation has arisen such aswould justify your Majesty's advisers in adopting a course which mightseem to indicate a lack of confidence. Under representative governmentno ministry can propose legislation which has only theory to recommendit. If your Majesty will allow me to make my representations in private, I think I shall be able to show that the course we propose is the onlypractical one. I would, therefore, most respectfully urge that for thepresent the points your Majesty raises may be set aside. "

It was as direct a challenge of the royal will as one minister couldwell make in the presence of others; never before had a difference ofopinion stood out so plainly for immediate decision under the eyes of awhole Cabinet. 

The King heard and understood: it was a crucial moment in the exerciseof his partially recovered authority; twenty pair of eyes were lookingat him, curiously intent, one pair benevolently anxious. The PrimeMinister was fingering his brief, ready to go on with the interrupteddisquisition; he even looked surreptitiously at his watch to indicatethat time pressed. 

That little touch of covert insolence was sufficient; by a sort ofinstinct the incalculable values of heredity, training, and positionasserted themselves. The King's lips parted in the shy nervous smilewhich charmed every one. "Mr. Prime Minister, " he said, "I am perfectlywilling to meet you at any future time you may like to name. " He took upthe agenda paper as he spoke and turned to the Minister of the Interior. "The Home Secretary, " said his Majesty, "will now read his report. "

Before they knew where they were the Council had passed on to itsaccustomed routine. 

III

Nobody looked at the Prime Minister's face just then; for the moment hehad been beaten, though the person who appeared least aware of it wasthe King. 

But, of course, it was for the moment only. And when at a later hour ofthe day, with mind made resolute, the Prime Minister sought his promisedinterview, the monarch was no longer at an advantage. Dialectically hecould not meet and match his opponent, and he had no longer that subtleadvantage which presidency at a board of ministers confers. Speaking asman to man the head of the Government did not feel bound to observe thattradition of half-servile approach which in the hearing of othersfetters the mouths of ministers. 

The Jubilee celebrations were now over, the Parliamentary vacationapproached; and what before had been mere talk and threat could now beput into instant action. And so when he had given the King his run, andlistened to the royal obstinacy in all its varying phrases ofrepetition, contradiction, reproach, till it reached its final stage ofblank immobility, he formally tendered the Ministry's resignation. 

The King sat and thought for a while, for now it was clear that one wayor the other he must make up his mind. All those strings of red tape, which he had meant to tie with such dilatory cunning hung loose in hisgrasp; to a Cabinet really set on resignation he could not apply them. Just as his hands had seemed full of power they became empty again. Heknew that at the present moment no other ministry was possible, and thata general election was more likely to accentuate than to solve hisdifficulties; and so in sober chagrin he sat and thought, and the PrimeMinister (as he noticed) was so sure of his power that he did not eventrouble to watch the process of the royal hesitation resolving itself. 

When after an appreciable time the King spoke he seemed to have arrivednowhere. 

"This is the fifth time, " he said, "that you have offered meresignation: and you know that I am still unable to accept it. "

The Prime Minister bowed his head; he knew it very well, there was noneed for words. 

"And you know that I am still entirely unconvinced. "

"For that, " said the minister, "I must take blame; since it shows thatmy advocacy in so strong a case has been very imperfect. "

"Oh, not at all, " said the King. "I think you have shown even more thanyour accustomed ability. "

"That is a compliment which--if it may be permitted--I can certainlyreturn to your Majesty. "

"I have felt very strongly upon this matter, " said the King. 

"We all do, sir--one way or the other. With great questions that isinevitable. "

"You admit it is a great question?"

"I should never have so troubled your Majesty were it a small one. "

The King's thoughts shifted. 

"What a pity it is, " said he, "that I and my ministers have never beenfriends. "

"Have not loyal service and humble duty some claim to be so regarded?"inquired the Prime Minister. But the King let this official veneer ofthe facts pass unregarded. 

"It would have helped things, " he went on. "As it is, when I differ frommy ministers I am all alone. It is in moments of difficulty like thisthat the head of the State realizes his weakness. "

"There again, sir, you do yourself an injustice. "

"Ah, that is easily said. But what does my power amount to when all isdone? Perhaps at the cost of constant friction with my ministers I havebeen able to delay things for a while--given the country more time tomake up its mind; but then, unfortunately, it was thinking of otherthings, and I myself provided the counter attraction. What I was tryingto do in one way I was rendering of no effect in another; all that Iintended politically has been swamped in ceremony. "

"Your Majesty was never more popular than to-day, " observed the PrimeMinister. "That in itself is a power. "

The King paused to consider; then he said, "If I am prepared eventuallyto give way, what time of grace can you allow me?"

"We must have our bill ready for the winter session, sir. "

"Will you allow me till then?"

"If I may know what is in your Majesty's mind. "

"What is in my mind is that the country should know what it is about. This bill has not yet been seen; by the public nothing is known of it. Well, that is what I ask: put it before the country, let the terms of itbe clearly stated, and if, when we come to the winter session, you arestill determined that it must form part of your program, then, "--theKing drew himself up and took a breath--"then I will no longer stand inyour way. "

The Prime Minister bowed low to conceal his proud sense of triumph. 

"I have your Majesty's word for that?"

"To-day is the 27th, " said the King, "you can claim the fulfilment ofthat promise in four months' time. "

"And till then?"

"Till then, " said the King slowly, "this question is not again to comebefore Council. I hold to my point that its introduction without myexpress consent was unconstitutional, and to maintain the Constitution Iam bound by oath. "

The Prime Minister yielded the point readily, seeing in it the effort ofdull obstinacy to score a nominal triumph. "There is, however, theaccompanying condition, " said he, "necessary for the success of ourscheme; and to that I must once more refer. In order to pass our bill weshall need the consecration of at least fifty new Bishops, nominated bythe Government; to that, also, your Majesty has hitherto been opposed. "

"Oh, you mean the Free Churchmen?" queried the King. "Ah, yes, and theArchimandrite. "

"In that matter, " replied the Prime Minister, "I have some reason tobelieve that the Bishops will eventually give way. "

The King felt himself a little more alone. "Yes, " he said, "I daresaythey will; I shouldn't wonder at all. "

"Then over that, too, I may look for your Majesty's consent?"

The King repeated his former word. "I shall not stand in your way, " hesaid; and again the Prime Minister bowed low. 

"I have to thank your Majesty for relieving me of a great difficulty. "

"Oh, no, why should you? You have not persuaded me in the least; youhave merely forced me to a certain course, in which I still cannotpretend that I agree. "

"I shall always recognize that your Majesty has acted on the highestmotives, both in opposing and in ceasing to oppose. "

"I shall ask you to remember that, " said the King. 

"There shall never be any misunderstanding on my part, " replied theminister; and applying a palm to the hand graciously extended as thoughits mere touch had power to heal, he took his leave, and the fatefulaudience was over. 

For a long time after, the King stood looking at the door out of whichhe had gone. 

"I think there has been a misunderstanding, though, " he said to himself, with a slow, faint smile, "and I don't think it is mine----" He paused. "Perhaps, though, I had better write down exactly what I said. " Andgoing to his desk he made there and then a careful memorandum of hiswords. 

He read them over, and once again he smiled. He was still quitecontented with what he had done. "And I wonder, " he said to himself, "what Max would say if he knew?"

There was a great surprise waiting for Max, and well might the Kingwonder what that interesting young man would make of it. Yes, it wasjust as well that Max should not know anything about it beforehand; Maxmight run away. 

CHAPTER XI

A ROYAL COMMISSION

I

While the King and the Prime Minister had thus been giving each othershocks of a somewhat unpleasant character, Prince Max had received a farpleasanter one. Only a week after the holding of the King's court thelady of his dreams had written asking for an interview. 

The letter was not dated from the Archbishop's palace, but from the Homeof the Little Lay-Sisters; and it was thither that he repaired, in orderto forestall her humble yet amazing offer to wait upon him. 

In the bare, conventual parlor, with high walls that echoed resoundinglyand boards that smelt of soap, they met once more face to face andalone. She courtesied low, addressed him formally as "sir, " and thankedhim with due deference for coming; otherwise there was no change in herdemeanor. The flat-frilled cap showed within its border a delicateripple of hair, and above the fair breastplate of linen the face shonewith tender warmth like a white rose resting upon snow; and as her lipsmoved in speech he re-encountered with a fervor of delight that curiousquality of look which had ever haunted his dreams--a communicativenessnot limited to words. Though it remained still her whole face spoke tohim; lips and eyes made music together--a harmony of two senses inalliance, as into morning mist comes the yet unrisen light and thehidden singing of birds. 

And yet all the while she was but saying quite ordinary things, makingbrief the embarrassment of this their first meeting since their relativepositions had become explained. 

"I have taken you at your word, sir, " she began. "When we last met youasked if you could not be useful. Now you can. "

"Your remembrance makes me grateful, " said the Prince. 

"Perhaps I ought not to be so confident, " she went on, "since the ideais only my own. It came from something I heard my father saying; and ashe strongly disapproves of women taking part in politics it was no usesaying anything to him. "

"Oh, politics?" That explanation rather surprised him. 

"Sometimes--just now and then, " explained Sister Jenifer, "politics dotouch social needs: and to their detriment. "

"My acquaintance with politics, " answered the Prince, "isvery--Chimerical, " he added after a pause, pleased to have found theterm. 

"Yes, " she smiled, "I have heard you. You are full of happy ideas, manyof them somewhat contradictory; but you have not yet fallen into anygroove. To you freedom means rebellion; you represent no vestedinterest. "

"Is that my certificate of character?"

"I had not finished, " she said. "I was keeping the best to the last. Youhave a great position and an open mind. "

"An important combination, you think?"

"An unusual one. "

"And so you have an unusual proposition to make to me?"

"Yes, I suppose you will think so. There is a brand I want plucked fromthe burning--a Royal Commission saved from becoming merely official anduseless. "

"What is its subject?"

"All this!"--she made an inclusive gesture--"slums, the conditions ofsweated labor, the daily material which we have to work on. "

"About which you have taught me that I know really nothing. "

"You said you were anxious to learn. At least half of that Commissionwill be anxious not to learn--or not to let others. "

"Then you ought to be on it. "

"No woman is on it. "

"You wish them to be?"

She threw out her hands. "What would be the use? Their voices would haveno weight. "

"Whose would?"

"Yours, " she said; and, eyeing him full, stopped dead. 

"You wish me to go upon that Commission?" cried Prince Max. 

"Yes. "

"In spite of all my ignorance?"

"The sittings do not begin till late autumn; between now and then youcould get more actual knowledge--brought home and made visible to you, Imean--than most of those who will form its majority. "

"Then you think I could be of use?"

She looked at him, silent for a moment. "I think you have a mind capableof taking fire, when it learns the facts. "

"Facts only deaden some people, " said he. 

"Yes; that is what crushes us here. We have such mountains of facts todeal with. "

"And you want fire to come down from those mountains and consume me?"

She nodded prophetically. 

"I know you wouldn't run away. "

"I am trying to feel the call, " said Max a little skeptically. And intruth he was of divided mind, not because he had any doubt of hisability, but because the temptation to insincerity was so strong. Thiswould give him the very opportunity he sought--through a vale of miseryhe beheld the way to his own Promised Land; but was it fair that heshould take advantage of it without a heart of pity and conviction? ThisPrince of ours rather prided himself on his conscientious scruples. 

"Will you tell me from the beginning, " he said at last, "what put thisthought into your mind? I seem to be getting it only by fragments. "

"Three days ago, " she answered, "I heard my father talking with othersof the projected Commission. They were dissatisfied at the Church notbeing sufficiently represented--so insufficiently, indeed, that theytook it as an intentional slight, part of the Government's policy fordepriving the Bishops of all standing. It was held that furtherrepresentation was imperative. "

"What?" exclaimed Max; "am I to represent the Bishops, then?"

She shook her head, laughing. "Oh, no!" she answered. "They found someone very much better for themselves. That is the really immediatedanger. They are afraid that the Commission as it stands will issuefindings of a one-sided and party character, and that any minorityreport, unless it obtained the chairman's signature, would have noweight. Their main hope, therefore, is to secure a chairman of highstanding on whose help they can rely, and it is thought that theGovernment could not oppose the nomination of a member of the RoyalFamily. It would appeal to popular sentiment; and subject to hisMajesty's assent, his Royal Highness the Duke of Nostrum has expressedhis willingness to serve. "

Max had no great opinion of the collaterals of his grandfather--this oneleast of all. "Oh, ye Heavens!" he exclaimed. "For what use these bonesof my ancestors? Why, with him to direct its deliberations, theCommission will run on into the next century, and its report be onlyapplicable to the last!" Then, as he took stock of the situation, "Andare you expecting me to head the minority report instead of him?" heinquired. 

"It is not their report I am concerned about, " she answered, "and forparty I care little; it is the majority I fear. On paper the Commissionlooks as if it meant business; Church and property have been squeezedinto one small corner, but the trade-interest is very strong; it isthere in concealed ways which outsiders cannot recognize, for even overour public and medical departments--and still more in the press--it hasnow got control. I can give you instance after instance of men known asphilanthropists whose riches come from sweated labor, and whosemunificent charities form not one tithe of their inhuman profits drainedfrom the lives of the very poorest. Some of them, great advertisers, areto sit on this Commission, and all the press, irrespective of party, will praise their appointment; while to defend their interests otherswill be attacked. The Government may be quite ready as a temporaryexpedient to make scapegoats of the property-owners, but it is not soready to antagonize trade. I believe, sir, that on this Commission thereal source of evil will never be traced; we shall hear of the grindingmiddleman and the rack-renter, but nothing dangerous to these magnates, or to the trade-system itself--unless----" She paused, and left silenceto carry her message. 

"Unless, " supplemented Max, "some one thoroughly indiscreet occupies thechair?"

"Somebody, " she replied, "whose minority report of one would attract allthe attention it deserved. "

"Oh, you think----?" His mind sparkled at the prospect: to be in aminority of one had a peculiar fascination for him. 

"Yes, I think it may come to that, " she said, "if you will honestly openyour eyes. "

"Then you cannot promise me the support of the Church?"

She shook her head as though that were the last thing possible. 

"I am to be all alone?" His tone invited commiseration, while his brainsoared with the dreams of a hashish-eater. 

"I think about three may be with you, not more, " she said, letting himdown to earth again. 

"Why are you so confident about me?"

Her gentle gray eyes met his with friendly understanding. 

"When I found out who you were, " she said, "I saw"--then shehesitated--"I saw that you had the rare gift of doing naturally what onewould never expect. "

"In what way?"

"To begin with, in coming here at all. And then you did things which, Iimagine, no prince ever did before, and did them quite easily--'forfun, ' I suppose you would say. Well, if you could do all that for fun, what might you not do when you became serious? A man who doesn't mindbeing laughed at--whatever his position--is very rare. "

"Ah!" cried Max, "but now you are giving me more credit than I deserve. You set me to do ridiculous things for you--ridiculous, I mean, in onedressed as I was for fashion and not for use--I was aware of it; butnobody was aware of me. When I come here into these poor streets, I amso unexpected that nobody recognizes me. If they thought that they did, they would not believe their eyes. In that alone there is a sense ofenlargement and liberty which those who have not to live in our positioncan hardly realize. It was like holiday; I felt as though I had been letloose. "

"And so became more yourself?"

"I cannot say; but I was happy while I was here. Why did you send meaway?"

"For the same reason that I now ask you to come back. I wanted you to beof use--independently. "

"Yet here I am dependent upon you again. "

"No; you have this in your own hands: it is your position. "

"That secures the chairmanship? But am I at all likely to be accepted?"

"From what I hear, nobody suspects you of taking any great interest inthe life of the poor. They have therefore no reason to be afraid ofyou. "

"I see, " said Max. "As a figure-head chairman I might even be valuable. "

"Very, I have no doubt. "

"Part of the game?"

"Royalty and Trade are supposed to be natural allies, " remarked SisterJenifer. 

Max was startled at her discernment. "Oh, but that is true!" he cried. "How wonderful, then, that you should be able to trust me at all. "

This set her smiling. "I had the advantage to begin with of not knowingwho you were. "

"And that gave you a start. "

"No, finding you out gave me the start. "

"You certainly have not lost time. "

"That I cannot say, till I have your answer. " There was no temporizinghere. 

Max thought for a while, then drew breath and spoke. "I want you quiteto understand, " he said, "that if I take up this work it will be verylargely for a personal reason. I daresay I shall, as you say, 'takefire' when I know more about it; but at present I am not so moved. Commissions do not attract me; and what I undertake I shall do solely onfaith--faith in you. Are you content that it should be so?"

"For a beginning, yes. "

"Very well; something else follows. I shall need you for my guide. "

"I am always here at certain hours, " she said. "But there are others whoknow far more than I. "

He let that point go unregarded. 

"Then I may come to you for help?"

"Always, if really you need it. "

"My needs shall be as real as I can make them, " said Max. "How am I tobegin?"

She named one or two books. "If you follow up what you read there, " shesaid, "you will find most of it practically demonstrated in thisdistrict alone. For instance, we have a strike on just now among ourtailors and shirt-makers; the men have made the women come out withthem; they did not want to--women can exist under conditions where mencannot. Go and mix with them, be among them for hours, attend theirstreet-corner meetings; you will hardly hear two ideas of any practicalvalue, but you will get many. It isn't theory that is wanted, --it isthat the life which thousands are living should be known and realized. When the eye has seen, the heart follows. All we really want isbrotherhood; but how are we to bring it about?"

"From that I am furthest away of all, " said Prince Max. 

"No, no, " she cried; "that is the great mistake! If kings are not thevery symbol of our community then they have no value left. May I tellyou two of the most kingly things I ever heard done in the present day?The one was by the old King of Montenegro, the smallest of the BalkanStates. He found that his chief gentry were becoming lazy, too proud toput their hands to labor--making idleness a class distinction. He satdown in the courtyard of his palace and began to make shoes, and went onmaking them daily while he held his Court and administered justice; andso the new folly died. "

"And the other?" inquired the Prince. 

"It may seem far-fetched in the present connection, " said she, "yet asan expression of the real kingly instinct it has all that I mean. Someyears ago the heir to the English throne--the one who died young--wentout to India. One day he was holding a durbar of Indian chiefs, and theywith their retinues stood drawn up in parade ready to offer homage as hepassed along their ranks. Opposite was a great crowd of natives watchingthe spectacle, and at a certain point in that crowd stood, as a mereonlooker, one whom Britain had defeated and driven into exile, the oldAmeer of Afghanistan. Just before he rode down the Prince heard of it, and had the man pointed out to him; and when he came there he wheeledhis horse about and gave the full royal salute. And through all thatgreat multitude went a thrill because the kingly thing had been done, and all had seen it. "

Tears glistened in her eyes as she spoke. "He was rather a dull youngman, " she went on, "so one has been told, but that was better thanbrains, for that was the touch of human kindness done in the grandmanner which royalty makes possible, and ought to make natural--donewith a pride which has its place beside the humility of St. Francis. "

"Well, well, " said Max, "put me in touch then, and I will see what I cando. But I haven't the grand manner, you know. "

II

The King was considering the request of his revered uncle, the Duke ofNostrum, to preside over the Commission on slums, when Max came, askingalso to be made useful. 

"What, you too?" cried his Majesty; "isn't one of us enough?"

"Quite, " said Max. "I want to be that one. "

"What are your qualifications?"

"Willingness, " said Max, "a brain capable of taking fire at facts, agreat position, and an open and rebellious mind. I am quoting fromauthority; I was given my certificate yesterday. "

To his Majesty this was merely the voice of Max at his flightiest. "Well, " he said, "your Uncle Nostrum happens to have come first. "

"Do you always grant first applications?"

"He has had much more experience. "

"Of slums?" inquired Max. 

"Of commissions, and all that sort of thing. He has sat on them. "

"So he has--the elephant! And they have died the death. "

"He works, " said the King, "and you don't! You only talk. "

"I only talk!" cried the injured Max; his voice went up to Heavenappealing against parental injustice. "Has he ever in his life been downinto the slums and spent whole days there, as I have? Has he carriedbuckets for washing-sisters of charity, as I have; and borne upon hisback the beds of the dying, as I have?"

"You?" cried the King with incredulity. 

"I do not publish these things upon the housetops, " said Max, "but inthe secrecy of your chamber and in strict confidence I tell you thatthey are true. And while I, for many anxious weeks, have been toiling toqualify for this post, he, this Nostrum, this patent-drug from our royalmedicine-chest, this soporific sedative----"

"Max, Max!" reproved his father. 

"He rushes in where an angel has feared to tread, and filches from memy reward!"

"My dear boy, are you serious?" cried the King. 

"I was never more serious in my life, father, " replied his son. "But inorder to arrest your attention I have to be theatrical. Now if you willreally believe what I am going to say I will drop play-acting. I have, as I tell you, been down into our slum districts, I have been among theslum workers, means have been offered me for studying these problems atfirst hand, and I am prepared, --from this week on when Parliament rises, and the metropolis empties itself of pleasure, and you have gone sadlyto your annual cure at Bad-as-Bad, --I am prepared to devote the whole ofmy time and energy to qualifying for this post; and with Heaven helpingme, I will make it the most astonishing and effective Royal Commissionthat ever sat down believing itself on cushions to find that it was on ahornets' nest. "

"You are becoming theatrical again, " said the King. 

"No, no, " said Max, "but my brain is taking fire; an angel warned me ofit in a dream, and behold it has come true. I have been seeing things. "

"Your Uncle Nostrum won't be pleased, " remarked the King. 

"He never is, " said Max. "Discontent is his prevailing virtue. Givehimself something to be discontented about, then he can go down to hishouse justified. "

"The Prime Minister has already recommended him, " went on the King, "atleast, said he would not oppose; but I don't know what he'll say tothis. "

"Nor do I, " said Max, "and I don't care; neither do you. "

The King opened his eyes as though he had been surprised in somesecret--how did Max know that? And then his mind traveled a few monthsfurther on; yes, it was quite true, he did not now care in the least. What he had made up his mind to do had released him from all ministerialterrors; and as he contemplated the relief in his own case his thoughtsturned to that bright youth over whose head so unlooked-for a fate wasnow impending; how dramatic it would be! And here was Max, allunbeknownst, harnessing himself to the wheels of State, pledged, unableto run away. It was just one more turn in the toils which asimple-minded man of gentle and retiring character was able to windaround the scheming lives of others. By at last daring to be himself hehad become a power. 

"Very well. I will see that it is arranged, " he said. "Yes, it isperhaps time you had some experience in presiding over--over boards andall that sort of thing. I shan't last for ever; I don't feel like it. "And he shook his head sadly, for he liked to be sorry for himself;nothing helped him more to bear up under the troubles of life. 

"My dear father, " said Max, with some fondness of tone, "you know thatthe prospect of going for your cure always depresses you; but as youinsist on doing it you must pay the penalty. And when you are takingthose waters which so upset your digestion, and deprive you of the fleshwhich nature meant you to wear, then think of me--not talking anylonger, but really up and doing--preparing myself at last to follow inyour footsteps. Now in this land of Jingalo, in the very heart of itssocial and commercial system, I am going to make history. "

"Oh, you think so?" said the King to himself. "Young man, before youhave much more than begun, you may have to come out of it! You can't dothat sort of thing when you are in my shoes. "

And then he bade Max a benevolent good-bye and went off to his cure; andMax, assured of his seat upon the forthcoming Commission, went off tohis. 

III

"How am I to dress for this business?" Max had inquired; it was one ofthe first practical problems to be solved, and an important one. 

"If you don't mind, " said Sister Jenifer, "you had better dress like aSocialist. Wear a very soft hat, a very low collar, and a very red orgreen tie, done loose in the French fashion, and nobody will wonder atyour looking clean, or at your asking questions. Young Socialists comehere to study the social problem and to show themselves off, and in avague sort of way the people have begun to understand them; and thoughthey look upon them as cranks, they don't any longer think they areinspectors or charity agents--the two things you must avoid. "

"Dress, " said Max, "has a very subtle effect upon the character. At afancy-dress ball, last season, I wore a Cardinal's robe--there is aportrait of one in the British National Gallery rather like me--and ittook me a month to get rid of the effects. If I turn into a Socialist, therefore, it will be upon your advice. "

"As far as politics go it matters very little what you turn into, " saidSister Jenifer. 

"What a statement!" exclaimed Max. 

"It is perfectly true, " she said. "At present what we are fighting isignorance and indifference; in comparison to that the mere theory ofgovernment doesn't matter, for nothing is going to succeed while onehalf of society neither knows nor cares how the other half lives. Yourpoliticians are welcome to any theories they can find tenable, if onlythey will face facts. "

"What are your own politics?"

"I haven't any; I haven't room for them. My only aim is just to get thatone half of the community to come and look with understanding at theother half; and then service, I know, would follow. It won't until theydo. "

"Well, you are making me look, " said Max. 

"Yet I have not been able to make my father. "

"Has he never been here?"

"He has opened churches. "

"Well, you believe in prayer. "

"That depends on how you define it. "

"I wanted to ask you that. You are only a lay-sister; but some of youhave taken vows--for a period, at all events. "

"That is all the Church allows; but it makes little difference sincethey can always renew. "

"Those who have taken vows--do they give themselves entirely up toprayer?"

"No, but they entirely depend upon it. "

"Depend--how?"

"They could not do their work without it. You asked me for definition: Ican only give you example. Some of our sisters quite literally cannotface what they have to do except after prayer; otherwise their fleshwould revolt. "

"Is it such horrible work?"

"They will not tell you so; but I know that it must be. You see I amrather an outsider. My father only allowed me to come here on certainconditions; and with the inner side of our work here I have nothing todo; I understand nothing about it. "

Her face flushed slightly under his gaze, the faint, troubled flush ofmaidenhood which apprehends an evil of which it may not know theconditions; and he saw by swift intuition that this sincere spirit wasashamed of its own ignorance. His mind darted a guess that he had beforehim, in fact, an inexperience of life underlying intimate acquaintancewith grief and poverty which he would not have believed to be possible. And oh, sexually, how it redoubled her beauty and charm! Yes, he couldnot deny that so unnatural a combination attracted him, and yet itenraged him also. A few moments ago he had heard from this woman's lipsa declaration that no help could come till half and half made up onewhole in knowledge and understanding; and yet there she stood--if hisguess was right--hesitant and bashful on the borders of that greatcentral problem about which parental authority had decreed she was toknow nothing; an example set before him of that idealistic waste ofwomanhood which is for ever going on, and which for bad practicalreasons society is always encouraging. For depend upon it the practicalsocial result is what we men are really afraid of--not lest our womenshould lose either modesty or charm, but lest with knowledge they shouldapply themselves too ruthlessly to practical ends, and set upon theircharm a price which hitherto we have avoided having to pay. And as he somoralized upon the relations of sex, a sentimental desire grew in him tokneel down there and then at her feet and tell her how good a young manfrom his point of view he had always been--and how bad a one from hers. 

For the time being he resisted that temptation; other things that he wasnot yet sure of must come first; for before we can allow the beloved tothink ill of us at all she must first think far better of us than wedeserve. Then for the letting-down process there is a safe margin left, and confession becomes a luxury with no danger involved; since to seehimself retrospectively pardoned by a heart virginally pure has surelyrestored to many a weary and disillusioned sensualist a better opinionof himself than he could ever have hoped to refurbish by his ownefforts. That, oh ye men about town, is a good woman's mission in life;that is what she is for--when the watch has run down she winds it upagain and sets it domestically ticking. And that she may continue to doso, let us keep her from all knowledge independently acquired. When weourselves bring her the evidence, having first packed her fond jury of aheart, then we can also dictate verdict and sentence, and the world willrun on in the grooves to which we have accustomed it. 

All of which is a digression, and not in the least intended as beingapplicable to Max, unless, indeed, some reader of virulent morals sochooses to apply it; for far be it from this historian to prevent anyreader forming his or her own judgment on the facts set forth. And if toany of these Max appears as one whose springs have run riotously downand now need setting up again--if his seems to be a heart that has neveryet ticked domestically, because it had not been legally registered, Ican at least promise them this--that before they come to the end of thishistory they will have an eminent ecclesiastical authority agreeing withthem, and expressing their sentiments with an eloquence which I cannothope to rival. And so having done with digression, let us return to thesocial education of Max, now trying to become acquainted with the loweststratum of all. 

IV

After a few weeks he began to distinguish in the squalor of the facesthat surrounded him the separate causes of their malady--to know drinkfrom disease, dissipation from destitution, the drug-habit from hunger. Complexion and facial expression stood more than dress as an indicationof trade, habit, and environment; from physiognomy he began to learnhistory, and from Monday's streets a commentary on the linked sweetnesslong drawn out of Jewish followed by Christian sabbath. He became inuredto smells, to the breathing of foul atmosphere, to contact with foulbodies, to a nakedness of speech such as he had not dreamed of, to aclass-hatred that struck from eye to eye like murder, to an apathy ofdead hopelessness that revolted him yet more. From Sister Jenifer helearned the hardest lesson of all, that to understand social conditionshe must refrain from gifts of charity. And so, afraid of his ownfrailty, he came to his district with empty pockets, and going hungryhimself spent hours among sale-dens, pawn-shops, the alleys wherehalf-starved middle-men received the piece-work of sweated labor, andthe black staircases where rent-collectors, hard-driven by competingagencies, plied a desperate piece-work of their own. 

In every place he visited cleanliness was discouraged, and the watersystem seemed a mere after-thought. In most cases the taps were buttonsrequiring continuous pressure, and then yielding only an exiguoussupply; a kettle took nearly a minute to fill, so that while one tenantdrew service others stood waiting. He spoke indignantly of it to SisterJenifer. What were the sanitary authorities doing? he asked. 

"Oh, yes, " she said, "those buttons are a new device; the old taps weretaken away--they became too dangerous; these poor people found a way ofturning them to effect. "

"You mean they stole the fixings?"

"No; though they used to do that now and then. But this was at the laststrike which happened to come during a drought. One of their leaderssaid to them: 'Take all the water you can; drain the city dry, make therich give up their baths, --then perhaps they will attend to you. ' Theyactually had the power; they organized the whole of the workingdistrict, and one night they turned on all the taps, the streetfountains as well. And we, because at last they were taking their fullshare, were threatened with a water famine! Yes, if they had thosetenement baths which the last Housing Commission recommended they couldrun us dry as their leader proposed, --hold the whole city up to ransomand dictate terms. As it was even those taps proved dangerous, so wegave them buttons instead; and of course the death-rate has gone up. "

"And now the next strike has come. "

"Ah, yes, but this is not such a large one and so, as it isn't reckoned'dangerous, ' the Government doesn't interfere, and no one outsidetroubles about the rights of it. "

They were moving on the outskirts of a crowd in the center of which ademonstration of strikers was going on. Gaunt, hungry, apathetic facesformed the bulk of them; in their midst a man with a big voice talkedheroically of the rights of labor and prophesied victory. They stood tolisten for a while, then moved on. At the corner of a side-street whichthey crossed stood a smaller group; a woman, her hat tied round with amotor-veil, stood waving her arms from an orange-box. 

"Who are those?" inquired Max. 

"Women Chartists, " said Sister Jenifer. 

"What are they doing here?"

"They go wherever they can get a hearing. "

Max stopped to listen a little satirically; he had never heard a womanspeaking in public before. Presently he turned to his guide and foundthat her eye was on him. "Shall we go on?" he said. 

"This does not interest you, then?"

"It is a subject about which I know nothing. "

"But you came to learn. "

"Well, --is that woman telling the truth?"

"No, not exactly. "

"Does she know what she is talking about?"

"Not as well as she ought to. "

"Then, isn't that sufficient?"

"You have listened to men here whose statements were just as wide of themark, and whose proposals were just as useless. "

"Yes, so you warned me; but what I find instructive is not the speakerbut the crowd. "

"You have a crowd here. "

"A much smaller one. "

"So you are for the majorities?"

Max acknowledged the stroke. "Very well, " he said; "let us go back. "

"No, I only wanted you to notice the crowd. Did they seem interested?"

"They listened. "

"That is something, is it not, when she was talking of things that totheir minds hardly concerned them?"

"But you say she was not telling the truth. "

"She was ignorant, and she exaggerated; but for all they know what sheis saying might be gospel. "

"Is that how you would have it preached?"

"If gospels had to wait for the wise and prudent, " said Jenifer, "theywould wait till eternity. That woman was speaking not for an institutionbut for a movement. "

"Do not such exaggerations condemn it?"

"By no means; if some did not exaggerate none of us would get ahearing--especially if we happened to be in a minority; and reformersalways are. "

"Though I embroider it for myself, " said Prince Max, "from others Iprefer to get plain truth. "

"Plain truth, " she replied, "is only that manner of dealing with athing--with some wrong, say--which makes it plain to people that thewrong exists. Short of that you haven't got truth into them. "

"Now you are preaching pragmatism, " said Max. 

"Do you suppose, " she went on, "that to that dull, sunk, slow-wittedcrowd we have been looking at, a mere niggardly statement of factswould make the truth plain, or stir them to any action or feelingfor others? That woman on some points over-stated her case quiteridiculously--especially as to the benefits and rewards which thewomen's Charter would bring--but the effect upon her hearers fell farshort of what the real facts justify. Oh, people have to be bribed evento do no more than open their ears to the truth. "

"By false promises of reward? Yes, you have the Church with you there. It deals with our ordinary everyday morality, in very much the same way. Tells a maximum of untruth so that a necessary minimum may spring out ofit. How many Christians to-day really believe in the doctrine of hell?"

"Surely, " she said, "to see the light of its fires in so many faces isproof enough. "

"That is not the doctrine, " said the Prince, "and you know it. Hell hereand now may be very real; but it is not what your Church preaches. Manyof those lit-up faces that you speak of are aglow with mere lustfulenjoyment. But the Church does not teach that men can make the mistakewhen in hell of actually believing themselves in Heaven; that would betoo dangerous. Turn on that tap, and the jasper sea in which your angelstake their baths will run dry. "

She looked at him half quizzically. "And what is your doctrine?" sheinquired. "When you are enjoying yourself--saying things like that, forinstance, hoping to hurt--do you ever think that you are in hell?"

"No, " said Max, "I do not make enjoyment the test. Just now, forinstance, I rather feel that I may be at the gates of Heaven; but I amnot, therefore, superlatively happy. Can you promise me that theheavenly road is one of pure happiness?"

"To any one who accepted absolutely the Divine Will it must be. "

"The Divine Will, " said Max, "gave me my body and my reasoning power. You must not ask me to forfeit them. I agree with that old collegiate (adoctor of divinity like myself) to whom one of more austere piety haddeclared 'abject submission' the only possible attitude of the creaturetoward his Creator. 'No, no!' protested the Doctor, with outrageddignity, 'deference, but not--not abject submission!' Deference is all aman can honestly promise so long as reason remains to him; abjectsubmission is fit only for lunatic asylums. "

"And yet, " she retorted, "abject submission to antecedents is all thatscience can infer when once it starts to investigate the springs ofaction. "

"That is not to deny reason; that only conditions it. I wanted you toaccuse me of blasphemy; but as you do not give me my legitimate openingsI have to make them for myself. To me the abrogation of reason, on anypretense, is the most rooted blasphemy of which the mind of man iscapable. Some modern Romanist penned once a hymn which had in it theseor like words for its refrain--

 'And black is white, And wrong is right, If it be Thy sweet Will. '

That, to my mind, is a blasphemous utterance, for it juggles with thefundamentals of all morality. The person who adopts that attitude as anact of surrender to earthly love is a sensualist. It is a form ofsensualism rampant in women; and men encourage it by bestowing upon itthe names of womanly virtues. To adopt a similar attitude in spiritualmatters seems to me sensualism none the less. And what a hot-bed forthat sort of sensualism the Church has always been and still is!"

His ugly talk roused her spirit of resistance. 

"How can it be sensual, " she protested, "when it results in self-denialand self-sacrifice?"

"Self-sacrifice, " he replied, "may be merely sensualism in its intensestform; it is peculiarly a woman's temptation; the scientific name for it(since you throw science at my head) is 'negative egoism. ' You yourselfare quite capable of it; for you cannot get rid of the results of yourtraining all in a day. "

She did not flinch from his attack. 

"What do you know of my training?" she asked. 

"I know this: here are you the superior of any Bishop on the bench nowpreparing to play injured martyr at the loss of his politicalprivileges; and what position of authority and influence has your Churchto offer you--you and the thousands like you whose practical humanityalone has made its antiquated forms still possible? Yes, you are itslife-preservers, and they tuck you away into subordinate positions andback slums where nobody hears of you. And you have been trained to thinkthat it is right!"

"The training was all my own, " she said. "I tucked myself. "

"Wastefully, under parental conditions--you yourself have owned it. "

"There is always more work than one can do. "

"There is much more work that you could do; but here, what is yourchance? Has it not struck you--if you had only the position given you, what a power you might be, in that direction, I mean, of bringing thetwo halves of society face to face, which you say is your main object?If that position were offered you would you accept it as a thing sent toyou from God, or would you----?"

And then Max stopped abruptly, for he realized that in another moment hewould have been offering her the succession to the throne, and he feltthat the street was not exactly the right place for it. Not that heminded making the offer anywhere; but she, self-sacrificingly, mightrefuse; and a crowded street was not the place where he could tackle arefusal of the throne to advantage. It was not like an ordinaryproposal; there were too many points to urge and objections to be met;while a certain amount of preliminary incredulity was almost inevitable. She might know that he loved her still; but it would take a considerableamount of knowing that he also wished her to sit with him upon thethrone; nay, for that matter, to sit with him off it, if Court etiquetteand the fates so ordained. And if they did so ordain, where would thatgreat position be which he was proposing to offer?

And so as Max has ended his declaration abruptly let us also end thechapter abruptly, and wonder what the next, or the next but one may haveto bring forth. 

CHAPTER XII

AN ARRIVAL AND A DEPARTURE

I

Bad-as-Bad was a hardy annual which grew high up among the hills andpine-forests on the borders of Schafs-Kleider and Schnapps-Wasser. Withits roots extending into both States it flourished exceedingly for threemonths of each year. During the winter it was bottled up in its nativepasses by snow, and for at least five months no visitors venturedthither to expose their constitutions to the rigors of its climate or ofits waters. But in another bottled-up form, of a more portablecharacter, it made a great trade and reputation for itself throughoutEurope; and during the three summer months crowned heads visited it inturn (often by careful diplomatic arrangement when they or theircountries happened not to be on good speaking terms), and drew afterthem a steady influx from that class of their communities on which atown composed almost entirely of hotels can most safely flourish. 

The medicated springs, to which so many came but for which nobodythirsted, rose in Schnapps-Wasser territory; and being the property ofthe reigning house brought to it a huge revenue. Every red-stamped labelbroken so carelessly in the restaurants and sanatoria of Europe meanttwopence halfpenny to the princely pocket of its highly descended ruler. And it was upon these proceeds that the young heir had absented himselffor three years and fitted out an expensive expedition of asemi-military character to the unexplored wilds of South America. 

Behind his back local warfare had gone on. Not for nothing had he said"crocodiles" to those orchestral scramblings in the bass of animperially inspired oratorio; and Schafs-Kleider, receiving certainmysterious grants in aid (for its own funds were nil), had started tosink shafts at a lower level on the outskirts of the town; and aftermany failures had secured at one point a trickle of water which tastedsuspiciously like the real article, and was declared by interestedexperts to be chemically the same. 

News had gone out to the Prince in the wilderness that by thisearth-stroke his revenues from the retail business might presently bevery seriously affected. 

His remedy had been simple; he had directed the town authorities to layout a new cemetery at a strategic point on the slopes lying towardsSchafs-Kleider; and though it had little actual effect upon the chemicalproperties of this new breach in his patent it created a prejudice inunscientific minds, and the Schafs-Kleider variant of the Bad-as-Badwaters failed to "catch on. " And thus it came about that on returningfrom his three years' exile Berlin had not restored him to favor, andhe, one of the richest and least encumbered princes in Europe, was moreor less going a-begging--an easy prey to the match-making net which, byassiduous correspondence, his aunts and others had prepared for him. 

Bad-as-Bad, though economically its most important asset, was not thecapital of the principality; but when the Prince arrived at Schnapps, thirty miles distant, Bad-as-Bad fired off a salute from a toy cannon inthe gardens of the municipality, and hoisted the royal ensign on theflag-staff beside the kiosk. The principality having been without itshead for three years had recovered it. 

On hearing that salute her Majesty, Queen Alicia of Jingalo, at onceknew what it referred to. "Ah!" she remarked, in a tone of completesatisfaction, "that means that the dear Prince has arrived. What adistance he has been! I was afraid we might miss him. " And as she spokeher glance traveled across to her daughter Charlotte, and in the peaceand plenitude of her domestic musings she smiled with more meaning thanshe was aware of. Princess Charlotte caught sight of that smile, andsitting observant saw presently that her mother was studying her withsome attention. 

"You are looking very well, child, " remarked her Majesty. "I am surethat the place suits you. "

"Getting out of the place suits me, " said the Princess. "I like thehills, and the forest. Three miles away one meets nobody, except thepeasantry. "

"Well, be sure you don't overdo it; and don't let your face get toobrown. Remember that sort of thing doesn't go with a low dress. "

"But I am not wearing low dress while I am here. "

"You may be before we go. We may have to give a dinner in the Prince'shonor; or he in ours. Now he has arrived he is sure to come over and seeus. What very nice-sized countries these principalities are! I wish wehad them everywhere, then being kings and queens would be really notrouble whatever. If Jingalo had only been smaller how much younger itwould have made your father; and, besides, it would have got rid of allthat socialist element. "

How it would have done so the dear lady did not stop to explain; sherattled on merely because she had become aware that Charlotte waslooking at her with a suspiciousness that was rather disconcerting. Inher heart of hearts she was a little bit afraid of Charlotte, or of whatCharlotte might do. She had not the key to her character; and when thePrincess took advantage of a so-called holiday and a change of localityin order to develop new habits and drop certain conventions--especiallyconventions of dress--her Majesty became uneasy. But just now she wastrying for special reasons to drive with a light rein; she wantedCharlotte to enjoy herself, to feel that in this place she could havethings more her own way than was customary, and so develop associationswhich would draw her back to the locality. So far the quite unusualexperiment of accompanying the King to his cure had been a success; thepeople of Bad-as-Bad were delighted at the compliment of receivingJingalese royalty in the form of a family party; all the aunts and otherfemale relatives of the absent Prince had been most pleasant andattentive; and Charlotte herself had responded to the release accordedher from Court etiquette by becoming wonderfully well and looking reallyvery handsome. 

One day, quite unbeknownst to her mother, she had gone right up theinside of the green copper spire of the old Rathhaus, and there seatedwithin its perforated cupola had drunk from a glass of native wine, andthrown the rest of it, glass and all, down the spire--an ancient customwhich, as she only heard afterwards, entitled its performer, though ofoutside extraction, to make her own selection and marry locally. 

"So now you have become a native of us, " said a chuckling oldMargravine, great-aunt to the Prince, when informed of the exploit byone of her grand-nephews who had mischievously lured Charlotte on. "Nowyou cannot go back!"

For these small princelings were ready enough to make a Jingaleseprincess feel at home in their midst. But the whole thing, in view ofits local color, was rather precipitate and indecorous; and when theQueen heard of it, and of its special application, from the oldmatch-making Margravine with whom she had shared confidences, she wasaghast. "Charlotte, " she cried, "whatever did you do that for?"

"I did it for fun, mamma. "

"But, my dear, it was such a very--forward thing to do!"

Why it was so "forward" Charlotte afterwards found out; for the momentshe only thought that she had broken the maternal conventions; thingswhich she did not hold in much regard. 

II

Bad-as-Bad had now been in the enjoyment of its Jingalese visitors forover a month. The town prided itself on knowing how to behave toroyalty; and every day when the King went down to take the waters, orstrolled in the municipal gardens, people pretended not to look at him;and only when he was not actually there did the conductor of the famousband, in the ranks of which operatic first-fiddles kept themselves inpractice during their summer holidays--only then did the conductor throwout a delicate compliment, for chance ear-shot, by performing, withvariations such as were heard nowhere else, the National Anthem ofJingalo. But each day the musical program was submitted for hisMajesty's approval; and if he or the Queen made any suggestion--as itwas always hoped they would--then so surely as they approached the kioskthe strains of that particular selection were heard, telling them thatBad-as-Bad was always in attendance upon their wishes, always anxious togive them pleasure, always appreciative of their presence in its midst. 

Every day the King paid for his six glasses of water at thefountain-head; every day he bought a buttonhole from the prettyflower-seller in peasant costume who was not herself a peasant at all;every day he bought a Jingalese newspaper at the garden kiosk, and satunder the shade of the trees reading it; and nobody, looking at him, would know that even there he was assiduously followed, ringed round andwatched by six detectives, nor could they have any idea how carefullythe bona fides of each newly arrived visitor was examined, inquiredinto, and verified all the way back along the route from place ofarrival to place of origin; nay, how thoroughly the luggage of any whowere in the least suspicious was searched behind their backs in order todiscover whether they had any political opinions likely to provedangerous to a King taking his holiday. 

When the Queen drove out little girls sometimes threw flowers into hercarriage, but never often enough to make it a nuisance or to seemmechanical; and when they happened to be very small the Queen would stopand ask them their name and their age and how many brothers and sistersthey had; and then a silver coin would pass to the hands of the patientlittle sentinel. And when the Queen had driven on, a large she-bear orelder sister would come out of the wood and devour it. But everybodywould hear about the domestic inquiries and the gift, and would say whata really nice lady the Queen was. That is always the great surprise ofthe common people when they meet royalty. 

But what pleased the inhabitants of Bad-as-Bad most of all was when theQueen came out and sat upon her balcony in the cool of the evening andknitted, --doing it, as someone who watched her through opera-glasses wasable to affirm, in the German manner. It was even asserted that shecould turn a heel and narrow at the toes without either looking orinterrupting the flow of her conversation; and we who have had thecobbling habits of a king of Montenegro held up to us for admiration, must we not think that this also was a most queenly act and an exampleto all haus-fraus?

Princess Charlotte (the reason for whose being with her parents on thisoccasion was beginning to leak out) was more elusive in her habits andwas seldom on view. She never took the waters, nor sat in the balcony tolisten to the band; but kept unheard-of hours--early in the morning, late in the evening--slipping out by back ways and going off on long dayexpeditions with only one of her ladies. One day she even got lost andspent the night at a hill-chalet. On a lake she had been seen rowing:some said that far out from shore she had actually bathed, but that wasnot possible; probably she had only fallen in. 

The Queen kept what count of her she could, and now and then wouldcounsel moderation, or would try to impose it by getting some of themore elderly gentlemen-in-waiting to join her expeditions. They camehome limping and exhausted; in her pursuit of health and vigor Charlottewas ruthless. 

"They shouldn't come, " she said. "If they do, and find it too much forthem, they can sit down at the boundaries and wait for us. "

And so she went her own way quite happily, till suddenly there came anupheaval and all semblance of moderation was thrown aside. The cause ofthis upset was the calculated indiscretion of a Berlin newspaper whichhad caught Charlotte's eye. There set forth was the story of her ascentof the Rathhaus spire, there also the local custom with its meaningcarefully explained, there pointed inquiry as to its particularapplication if certain rumors were true; and then followed thecircumstantial evidence. 

The Princess flamed into her mother's presence, paper in hand. "Is thistrue?" she demanded. 

"Dear, dear, " said the Queen, having read no further than thepreliminary anecdote; "well, you shouldn't do such things!" Then shecame upon commentary and surmise, with dates, chapter, and verse. It didnot amount to very much, but such facts as there were to go upon wereinsidiously underlined, and the Prince of Schnapps-Wasser was named. 

"Oh, dear, " she complained, "I do wish these papers would not be soprevious and officious and meddlesome and pretending to know so much. "

"But is it true?" demanded Charlotte. 

"Is what true?"

"Is it true that you have brought me here to meet him; that we have beenwaiting for him to come; that some one has sent him my photograph andthat he----Oh, it is unbearable!" She broke off and snatched at theoffending paper, that she might once more sear her vision with itstriangular allusions. 

"You oughtn't to read such tittle-tattle!" said her mother. "Why can'tyou leave the papers alone?"

It was nothing much in itself, the usual coinage of the societyjournalist intelligently anticipating events. It pointed with sleekpleasantry to the fact that the Prince of Schnapps-Wasser, returning tohis inheritance after long exile, would find greeting awaiting him froma royal house which had apparently been very anxious to make hisacquaintance. Then followed an account of the visit and prolongedsojourn at Bad-as-Bad of the royal family of Jingalo; the beauty of thePrincess was spoken of, her accomplishments, her exploits in climbingand walking; it was rumored that even in South America her photographhad been seen and admired. It was known that the Prince had arrivedunexpectedly at his port of departure, and finding a boat on the pointof sailing had gone on board. Was it the knowledge that only till acertain date----? The rest we need not set down here. As though it wouldhelp her to blot out the record with its attendant circumstances, Princess Charlotte tore the paper into little pieces. 

"My dear, don't be so violent!" said the Queen. 

"I have been brought here so that he may come and look at me!" cried thePrincess, white with wrath. The Queen took up her knitting. 

"Nothing of the sort; you were brought here to be with us and to be keptout of mischief. "

"Why are we staying a fortnight longer than we intended to?"

"I don't know what you mean by 'we'; I intended to stay till your fatherhad completed his cure. This year it has taken longer. "

"It hasn't! He is putting on weight again; only yesterday he told me so. You can't get more cured when that has begun, because it means that youare acclimatized. "

"It's no use your talking as if you were a medical authority, my dear, and offering your advice, for we shan't take it. "

Charlotte opened her mouth and bottled a breath before she next spoke. 

"Who sent him my photograph?"

"Gracious me, child, anybody can get your photograph. Isn't it in allthe shop-windows?"

"Not in South America. "

"Oh, yes; they are getting quite civilized over there now. "

Charlotte struck at a venture. 

"_You_ sent it; you know you did! Yes, and then he sent you that thingof himself. "

"My dear Charlotte, " said the Queen composedly, "you needn't getexcited; these little exchanges do sometimes happen quite naturally inthe course of correspondence, and I have a great deal of correspondenceas you know. Now do forget everything that foolish newspaper has beensaying, and look at the thing sensibly. Isn't it my duty to give youevery chance of meeting those--those whom it is suitable for you tomeet? Are you always going to begin by saying you won't know people?"

"Begin what?" Charlotte shot the question; the Queen turned it aside andwent on. 

"Now here is a case: this young man who has been away three years amongsavages--I wonder he wasn't eaten by them--running into all sorts ofdangers and doing a lot of foolish brave things that he needn't havedone; and then his uncle, the Prince, dying behind his back andeverything left to a regency waiting his return. Isn't it quite natural, seeing how things are, that he should be wishing to settle down? Now Iam going to be quite frank with you. He has seen your photograph, Iknow; but I didn't send it to him, and he didn't send me his. We heardthat he intended coming to see us--to Jingalo, I mean--and after that Igot it; as a matter of fact his aunt, the Margravine, sent it to me; andI, in exchange, sent her yours. "

"Ah! so that was why she came to see us directly we got here, and whyshe looked at me so, and kept asking me so many questions about myself. I couldn't understand it at the time--her being so curious. But youknew, yes, you knew!"

"Well, what if I did?"

"Oh!" cried the Princess, "why, why was I born?"

And then her indignation broke loose, and she became, as the Queenafterwards remarked to her husband when describing the scene, "mostunreasonable, and more violent than any one could believe. "

After about ten minutes of it her Majesty rose quietly from her chairand rang the bell. 

III

A message came to the King that her Majesty wished to see him. 

When he arrived in the Queen's boudoir he found his wife sitting in allher accustomed composure; and yet somehow the scene suggesteddisturbance. Away from her mother at the furthest window stoodCharlotte, a charmingly disheveled figure; flushed and bright-eyed shewas looking out over the Platz and mopping vehemently at her nose with ahandkerchief. 

"Don't do that there!" remarked the Queen, "any one might see you. "

"Why shouldn't they? They'd only think that I had a cold. "

"It isn't the time of the year for colds. Either leave off, or come awayfrom the window. "

"There, you see!" cried Charlotte, stung to fresh exasperation, "I can'teven stand where I like now!"

"What is the matter?" inquired the King. 

"Tell your father what you have been saying, " said the Queen, finding itbetter that the culprit herself should explain. 

"I don't know what I've been saying. "

"I should think not; it didn't sound like it. Now that you've got bothparents to listen to you, talk to them and tell them your mind. "

This threw Charlotte into a fresh paroxysm. "Oh, why did I ever haveparents?" she cried. 

"Yes, that appears to be the trouble, " said the Queen. "John, this is arevolting daughter. I've heard of them, and now I've got the thingbrought home to me. Look at her!"

"What are you revolting about, my dear?" inquired the King kindly. 

"Everything!" exclaimed Charlotte. 

"Quite true, " said the Queen, "everything. "

"Well, begin at the beginning. " And Charlotte screwed herself up tospeak. 

"I came to talk to mamma about something, " she said, "something thatmattered very much. I suppose you know about it too. "

The Queen gave her husband an informing look. 

"And what do you think she did?" Charlotte continued. "First she told menot to be foolish; and after that, to everything I said she wenton--just as if she didn't hear me--knitting, knitting!"

"She says, " interrupted the Queen, "that she is not going to marryanybody, and particularly not the Prince, because she hates him. I sayhow can she know when she hasn't seen him. "

"I won't marry him!" cried Charlotte, "I've seen his photograph. "

"Yes, and you liked it, " said her mother. This did not improve matters. 

"But nobody is forcing you to marry him, " said the King. "I don't knowwhy it has even been mentioned. " And, seeking a clue, he cast a troubledglance at the Queen. 

"It's in all the papers!" retorted Charlotte, indulging in poeticlicense. "And you know it! Yes, he is coming here to look at me, to seeif he likes me, and to see if I can pretend to like him. But I won't belooked at, it's an indignity I won't stand. I'll not even see him!"

"But why ever not?" exclaimed her father. 

Charlotte wriggled with impatience. 

"Oh, can't you see? Supposing he comes and does look at me; and thengoes away without--without caring!--That's what you are asking me to putup with. For me to know, and for him to know, and for him to know that Iknow! How would you like it yourself?"

"I tell her she is very ridiculous, " said the Queen. "A Princess can'tmarry a mushroom. Does she want to fall in love with her eyes shut. Something has to be done beforehand, or we should never be anywhere----"

"I don't want to be anywhere, " said the Princess. 

"Outside a lunatic asylum, " said her mother, completing the sentence. 

"My dear child, " put in the King, "don't you see that nothing is reallysettled--and will not be until you agree to it?"

"Then why did you ever tell him anything about it? Why couldn't we havejust met? It's this picking of us out beforehand behind our backs, andthen telling us of it; that's what I can't stand!"

"My dear, nobody is forcing you, " repeated the King persuasively. 

"Then I won't see him. "

"I tell her she must, " remarked the Queen in a tone of comfortablefinality. 

"Mamma, will you stop knitting!" cried Charlotte. "You treat me as if Iwere an insect!"

"You have got the brains of one, " retorted her mother. "John, will youplease speak to her? Perhaps you can understand what it all means; Ican't. She has been talking Greek to me--something or other about theTrojans. "

"Yes; the Trojan women, " corrected Charlotte. 

"She says she's like one of them!"

"So I am. "

"I don't know which one, you mentioned so many. "

"All of them. Yes, papa, they had to go and live with foreigners--menthey had never seen. "

"Don't say 'live with'; it's an objectionable term. "

"Die with them, then: some did! One of them killed a king in his bath;at least his wife did, but it's all the same. "

"Yes; she began quoting some verses to me about that bath affair, " saidthe Queen. "And I must say they didn't sound to me quite decent. "

Charlotte was quite ready to repeat it. 

"Oh, don't quote poetry to me!" begged the King. "I don't understandit. "

"And I try not to, " said the Queen. So Charlotte's quotation was ruledout of the discussion. 

"Don't you think, my dear, " persuaded her father, "that meeting himhere, as it just so happens, will seem sufficiently accidental?"

"Not after we've waited for him all this time; not after I climbed upthat spire and threw my cap at him without knowing it, " said thePrincess. "Oh, you don't know what that paper has been saying!" And shepointed to the bits. 

The King stooped and began gathering them up. 

"It's all nonsense, John, " said the Queen. "Don't indulge her by payingany attention. "

And at that renewed proof of her mother's imperviousness of mindPrincess Charlotte ran out of the room. 

"Leave her alone!" remarked the Queen, sure of her own sagacity, "she'llcalm down. My belief is that she really likes him. _I_ saw her lookingat his photograph; it wasn't only once, either. "

IV

Three days later the King and Queen of Jingalo were at home by specialappointment to receive a call of ceremony. The streets of Bad-as-Badwere hung with flags--here and there of the two nationalities, side byside, their corners (delicate symbol!) tied together by a knot of whiteribbon. 

Grooms of the Chamber had donned full Court dress for the occasion, anda complete staff of servants, equerries, attachés, and ministers inattendance lined the route from the portico of the converted hotel whichserved as the King's villa to the large private apartment where theactual meeting took place. 

"His Royal Highness, Grand Duke and Hereditary Prince ofSchnapps-Wasser, " pronounced the Master of Ceremonies in that awestrucktone which is exclusively reserved for the introduction of crowned headsor territorial princes; and a youthful giant, six feet four in height, entered the room, struck his heels together with military precision, andbowed low. 

He wore his own clothes--one of his own uniforms, that is to say--andthe King of Jingalo wore one of his, for they had not hitherto exchangedregiments in token of peace and amity--a matter to be put right on afuture occasion. 

The Prince wore sky-blue trimmed with sable, and brightened with silverfacings; tunic and trousers of an extremely tight fit set off a muscularframe. From his shoulders, presumably in case of accident, hung an extratunic; but the other extra did not show. Boots reaching to the thighsand a head-dress of almost equal height borne upon the arm, completedthe splendor of his array. Bowing his way in, he had so martial an airthat the Queen's heart was quite won by it, and she regretted thatCharlotte, belated in her attendance, had not been there to see. 

The Prince uttered with correctness, though in a rather heavy Germanaccent, the formula of royal greeting; and throughout the interviewcontinued to speak in Jingalese. As soon as the doors wereclosed--leaving only royalty, he dropped into homelier speech. "I hopethe cure has done you no harm, " he said, "that it has not too greatlydiverted your digestion; some people are much upset by it. "

The King and Queen hastened to reassure him. Bad-as-Bad, its air, itswaters, and its society had treated them in the handsomest waypossible. "We are quite sorry, " said the Queen, "that so soon we shallhave to leave. "

The Prince glanced round before asking abruptly: "And the Princess--sheis still here?"

"She will be here presently, " answered the Queen, "I am expecting herany moment. She goes on long walks, " she added, by way of explanation. 

"Ah, good!" commented the Prince. 

Many minutes went by, conversation alternately flowed and halted. Theywere all conscious of an impediment, for still the Princess did notappear; and at last her Majesty was impelled to send one of her ladiesto make inquiry. "She takes such very long walks, " explained the Queenonce more. 

"Ah, good, very good indeed, " remarked the Prince in a spirit ofacceptance. 

And then, after a little more waiting, the lady came back to say thatthe Princess could not be found; she and one of her ladies had gone outtogether. 

"How very forgetful of her!" exclaimed the Queen. 

Just then, very discreetly, but with a look full of meaning, a privatesecretary came and put a telegram into the King's hand. Excusing himselfto the Prince he opened it; it was postmarked from the station office atSchnapps, and it read thus--

"I have gone home. Charlotte. "

It was no use; the surprise of it was too much for him. "She has runoff!" he ejaculated; the compromising phrase had slipped out before hewas aware. 

"Who?" cried his wife, though knowing quite well. 

"Charlotte; she has gone home. "

Husband and wife stared at each other mute and amazed; while the Princesat trying with amiable look to excuse himself for being there. 

Then the Queen did her best to cover matters; but it was not a greatsuccess. "I knew that she wanted to get home, " she murmured. "And she isso impulsive; sometimes there is no holding her at all. "

"I must apologize, " said the King. "This is really quite unaccountable. "

The Prince's eye flashed with a curious light; he smiled good-humoredly. 

"I think it is very interesting, " said he. "When will it be allowed thatI shall see her?"

CHAPTER XIII

A PROMISSORY NOTE

I

On their return to Jingalo the Princess heard from her parents how badlyshe had behaved. 

"But I had to do it!" she protested. "After what that paper had said, and all the other things, how else could I show that I hadn't come onpurpose?"

"And pray, do you always mean running away from him?" inquired theQueen. 

"I shan't go to Bad-as-Bad again, I know that. "

"But if he comes here. "

"Why, are you going to ask him?"

"He has asked himself, " said her father. 

"Oh!" This came as a surprise. 

"But, of course, " he continued, "if you mean to go on being rude to him, it wouldn't do. "

"I have never been rude to him!" protested Charlotte. "I only refused tobe trapped into meeting him. I shouldn't have minded if it had just beenby accident; but it wasn't. "

"I'm afraid it can never be by accident now, " replied her father. "Butyou needn't be here when he arrives, or when he goes; though in betweenwhiles, of course, you would have to meet him. And then--well, if youwanted to see more of each other--he might come again. "

Charlotte showed her distaste for any temporizing of that sort. "Theonly difference I can see, " she remarked, "is that first you were foroffering me to him openly and now I'm to be a sandwich. "

"You are not to be anything you don't like, my dear, " said her fatherwith gentleness. "But you know, child, we have not the whole world tochoose from; being kings and queens and princesses doesn't make life afairy tale. "

"But it does, when we have to end by marrying princes. That's the botherof it. "

"Well, I am trying to make it easier for you. Oh, I admit the drawbacks;but why make them out worse than they are?"

Charlotte's moods always softened under her father's cajolery; not thatshe was more fond of him than of her mother; but these two had moreground for mutual sympathy and understanding; and pity for his vaguelyharassed countenance was never far absent from her heart. 

"I am having just now, " the King went on, "a very trying and disturbingtime--in ways that I don't want to talk about. Do try, child, not to addto my anxieties. "

Charlotte, feeling compunction working within her, thought hard for awhile. "Before he comes----" she said, and stopped. "Papa, when does hecome?"

"Not till after the winter session has opened--perhaps about Christmas. "

"Well, before he comes, then, I want to go away quite by myself forthree weeks or a fortnight, and then--I'll think about it. If, when thetime comes, you want me to see him I will, and I promise not to be rudeto him. But he shan't think that I have been waiting for him, or that Iwant to have anything to do with him; I shall make that quite plain. "

"Then I do hope that you know what not being rude means, " put in theQueen; "for I must say that doesn't sound like it. "

"Oh, I will provide a safe margin, " replied Charlotte. "He shall havenothing to complain of. If I do see him I will be as nice to him as everI can; much nicer than you have been to me!"

"Now, my dear, don't begin scuffling again!" said her fatherdeprecatingly. "Very well; that's settled then. "

"And you will give me that fortnight?"

"Longer, my dear, if you wish. "

"No, " said the Queen, "a fortnight is quite enough, if she means tospend it pretending to be a Trojan woman. "

"If I stay away longer than a fortnight, " said Charlotte, "you can sendand fetch me. " Then she turned to her father. "I am very sorry, papa, ever to have to pain you: but you don't know how dreadful it feels ifone isn't allowed to be oneself. "

"Oh, don't I?" exclaimed his Majesty. "My dear, if you knew what being aking was really like--but there, we won't talk politics now! By the way, as you came back before we did, do you happen to know what has become ofMax?"

"I haven't seen him, " said Charlotte with a certain air of discretion;"but I had a line from him in answer to one I wrote on my arrival: andhe does seem to have been doing something at last. "

"What has he been doing?"

"Getting his head broken. "

"Good gracious!" exclaimed the Queen. "However did he come to do that?"

"He says he was working among the strikers and got hit. Nobody knowsabout it, and he doesn't want it known. He writes that he is being verywell looked after at some private nursing place. "

"Did he give you the address?" inquired her Majesty suspiciously. 

"No; he said he would be home in a day or two, and then we might allcome and see him. "

"So this is what goes on while I am away!" complained the Queen, asthough her being at home might have prevented it. "And I wonder how itwas we didn't hear the news. To think of poor Max getting hit like thatand the papers saying nothing about it!"

II

Later in the day the King heard more of the matter from theComptroller-General. It had not been kept out of the papers quite ascompletely as it should have been. There were rumors, allusions; butnone of the leading dailies had said anything. 

"I gather, sir, " said the General, "that the Prince has been preparinghimself very thoroughly for the work of the coming Commission, makingpersonal investigations, mixing daily with the people in the verypoorest districts. Of course it was the duty of the detective service toknow of it and to take what steps they could to insure his safety. I amtold that what actually happened was that on one occasion his RoyalHighness went to the aid of the police, hard pressed by a gang ofrioters; and he was injured in the general mêlée. It all took place in amoment and of course no one had any idea that he would involve himselfin it. When he was picked up by the detectives he gave a certainaddress. " Here the Comptroller assumed an air of the utmost discretion. "To that address he was taken; and there I believe, sir, still remains. "

"Dear, dear, " said the King, "very distressing, very unfortunate. I hadhoped all that was over. "

"There is no reason, sir, to doubt that he has been properly lookedafter; certificated nurses have been in attendance, and at no time wasthere any danger. "

"And how much of this has got into the papers?"

"Nothing, sir, as to the origin of the affair; but there have been someinterrogations as to his Highness's present whereabouts, and an idea isabroad that he is not where the Court circular continues to say he is. Of course, when such rumors creep out there are also undesirablesuggestions, which it would be well to put a stop to as soon aspossible. I am glad to hear from your Majesty that the Prince intendscoming back into residence. I have been in communication with hissecretary, but I have not that gentleman's confidence and he has told menothing. "

"Well, " said the King, "at all events the cause of it all--however muchthe result of indiscretion--was quite reputable. "

"Oh, quite. "

"Commendable even. "

"I am told that his Highness showed great dash and determination. " Yetwhatever he had been told, there was embarrassment in the General'smanner. 

"Very well, then, " said the King, "if there is any moretittle-tattle--in the press, I mean--you might let the facts be known;surely they ought to strike the popular imagination; and I'm sure thepolice need all the support we can give them just now. "

The General hesitated. 

"Would not that tend somewhat to prejudice his Highness's position as animpartial head of the Commission? Talking to the workers themselves, before the sittings have yet begun, has a certain air of _parti pris_. Some of the Commission, I fear, would not like it. "

"To tell the truth, " said the King, "I very much doubt whether thePrince will serve upon that Commission at all. He will probably becalled elsewhere. "

The Comptroller seemed considerably relieved. "Ah, that, of course, entirely removes the difficulty. I am afraid, sir, things are in a verydisturbed state; so many people with new ideas are airing them just now;sympathy is being shown for criminals, and respect for government is notincreasing. I know that the Prime Minister is getting very anxious; hehopes that to-morrow he may see your Majesty. "

The King did not welcome the news; during the past few months he hadquite lost any remnant of liking that he might once have had for thehead of his Government. But when the Prime Minister arrived theyexchanged the usual compliments and each was glad to see the otherlooking so well after change of air and occupation. In the PrimeMinister's case, however, that was already over; politicians were inharness again to their respective departments, and on reopening hisportfolio he had found a pack of troubles awaiting him. 

The nuisance of Jingalese politics was this, that the politicalsituation never would keep itself within the bounds of the ministerialprogram; and to-day not only had certain voting interests becomeobstreperous, but other interests which had not the vote wereobstreperous also. In these last few months, while its rulers had beentaking their well-earned rest, Jingalo had remained agog, obstinatelyprogressive on foolish lines of its own; nothing any longer seemedcontent to stay as it had been: movement had become a craze. 

Under his monarch's eye the Prime Minister thumbed his notes. He spokeof falling revenue, stagnation of trade, strikes, and the increase ofviolence. Police had actually been killed and the riot leaders were ontrial. Presently he came to lesser matters. 

"Sedition, " said he, passing them in review, "is now openly preachedevery week in the _Women's War Cry_. "

"Why do you not suppress it?" inquired the King. 

"It is difficult to do that, sir, without disturbing trade. The paper ishighly offensive and seditious; but it has an enormous advertisinginterest at its back, and so we don't like to touch it. Whenshop-looting began three years ago as a form of political propaganda itwas noticed that those firms which advertised in the _Women's War Cry_escaped the attentions of the rioters. Immediately the rush to advertisein its pages became tremendous--especially as further loots were thenthreatening. It has now some forty pages of advertisement and can affordin consequence to retain upon its staff the best journalists andcritical writers of the day. Its _War Cry_, printed separately, insertedas a loose supplement, and with the statement 'given gratis' stampedacross it in red ink, occupies a comparatively small portion of itsspace; all the rest is advertisement and high-class journalism. Thecirculation has gone up by leaps and bounds, and the profits are veryconsiderable. If we prosecuted we might only find that in law the twoportions were wholly distinct and independent of each other (I am toldthat they have even different printers), and the failure of the Crown'scase would be a blow to the prestige of the Government; while if wesucceeded altogether in suppressing it we should be more unpopular withthe great middle-class trade interests than we are already. "

"Why should you try to be popular?" inquired the King. 

"A Government cannot exist upon air, " remarked the Prime Minister; "and, after all, we do endeavor to deal fairly by all the interests which goto make up the prosperity of the country. "

"You mean the trade prosperity?"

The Prime Minister did; but he did not like it to be stated thus baldly. "I was only wondering, " went on the King, "what price you were preparedto pay for it. We must tolerate sedition, it seems; must we also, in thesame interest, encourage disease?"

"I fear that I do not follow your Majesty's argument. "

"I was merely recalling what the Prince told me for a fact just before Iwent abroad. He had been informed of it by a social worker who gave himchapter and verse. Two years ago the medical profession published a bookexposing all the fraudulent patents and quack medicines which occupy solarge a space in the advertising columns of our newspapers. The book wasput authoritatively upon the market, and, as I understand, wasadvertised in all the leading papers. When the paid-for advertisementsterminated not a single paper would renew the contract. The holders ofthose quack medicines and patents had found means to shut down (so faras the advertising of it was concerned) a scientific work whichthreatened to diminish their profits. That is why I ask what price weare prepared to pay for the protection of trade interests. "

"I should like to be assured of the truth of that statement, with allrespect to your Majesty, before I pass any comment. "

"You can write to the College of Medicine if you really wish for thefacts. I myself made very much the same query, and was shown as proof aletter from its president to one of the medical journals. "

But even this did not induce the Prime Minister to regard the mattervery seriously. "After all, sir, " said he, "viewed in a certain light itis only a method of trade competition; for when the sales of patentmedicines decrease no doubt the doctors begin to profit. "

"The State has thought it worth while, " said the King, "to give to themedical profession a certificated monopoly. Is it outside its provinceto warn the public against charlatans?"

"Is not charlatans an extreme term? I believe, sir, that many of thesepatents are quite excellent and in their first effects a stimulant tohealth; and in these days when 'suggestion' and 'faith-healing' are somuch talked of it is an arguable proposition that those drugs which giveto mind and body a certain preliminary incentive afford the bestleverage for faith to work on. Of course there are a great many matterswhich need control, supervision, and reform; vested interests do tend tocreate abuses; but I must remind your Majesty that in the pushing of itsreforms the Government has not been quite a free agent. In many respectswe have been greatly hindered; that is still the crux of the politicalsituation. "

"Ah, yes, " said the King, "you do well to remind me. You are, I take it, now engaged in educating the country; the terms of your proposals arebefore it. May I ask whether your anticipations of popular support haveproved correct?"

"We find no reason to alter our opinion as to the necessary solution. "

"Or as to your determination to proceed with it?"

The Prime Minister was very urbane. "Your Majesty has been good enoughto indicate a date when all difficulties will be removed. "

It was a sufficient statement of what was in store. 

"Thank you, " said the King, "I did wish to know. Have you done well atthe by-elections?"

"Beyond the inevitable tear-and-wear due to our period of office we havenothing to complain of. "

"I have been longer in office than you, " said the King, smiling rathersadly, "and I suppose that in my case the inevitable wear-and-tear hasbeen proportionately greater. You will make allowances, therefore, if Ihave been slow in arriving at my conclusion. After the date we agreedupon I think you will have no ground for complaint. "

"I hope your Majesty has never regarded as a complaint the advice whichI have felt bound to offer. "

"There is a complaint somewhere, " said the King; "perhaps aconstitutional one. All I wanted to avoid was quack remedies. "

He was rather pleased with himself at thus rounding off the discussion:for while reiterating his promise he had indicated that his own opinionwas quite as unchanged as that of his ministers. And so with a littletime still left in which to turn round he bethought him of the dutywhich lay on him to set his house in order against future events. Andthen it struck him how very important it was that Max should now "settledown" and eliminate for good and all certain elements from his life. Yes, it had become quite necessary that Max should marry. 

III

Max was back again in his proper quarters, and the Queen had been to payhim a visit of motherly condolence. She, too, was set upon eliminatingfrom his life those things which ought not to be in it; and finding himstill rather feeble from the blow that had fallen on him, and with ahead still bandaged, she thought it a seasonable opportunity to presshim in the way he should go. But she was not one of those who have anytaste for probing into young men's lives; she had an instinctive feelingthat such a line of ethical exploration lay entirely beyond her; and sowhen she approached the subject her touch was only upon the surface. 

"Max, my dear, " she said fondly, "I do wish you would marry. "

Max smiled at her with filial indulgence, and then, perceiving thatthere might be entertainment in a conversation well packed with doublemeanings, he fell in with her suggestion. 

"I wish I could, " he said, "but there are difficulties that you don'tunderstand. "

"Oh, yes, I think I do, " she answered. "Of course with us there arealways difficulties. The choice is so limited. "

"I should rather incline to say that it is fixed. "

"You mean just to the two I told you of? But you wouldn't have either ofthem. "

"Perhaps _I_ ought to say that _I_ am fixed, then; I can't very well seemyself changing. "

"Oh, no, Max, no! Don't say that!" cried his mother, alarmed. "It is sovery important that you should marry. And people are beginning to expectit. "

"Yes, but as I say, there are difficulties--religious ones. "

This was strange news for the Queen. Had Max a conscience then? It was aportent for which she had not been prepared. 

"Of course, " she said, "I don't want to ask questions. "

"Perhaps you had better not. "

"But I do want you to settle. "

"I am settled, " said Max. 

It was dreadful to hear him say so, and a horrible idea that he hadcontracted a secret marriage with that foreign woman crossed her mind. Was this the difficulty that she did not understand? She grew timorous, afraid that he was going to tell her something--set before her somemoral problem which she could not possibly solve. What if he were tryingto entrap her, to lure her into taking sides with him over something noKing or Government could countenance? From such a danger as that all herconventional femininity gathered itself in a panic-stricken bundle andfled. 

"Max, dear, " she said, "I would much rather you didn't tell me. "

"I quite agree, " he replied. 

"But----" She paused, searching her mind for succor; and then, havingfound it, "Why not see the Archbishop about it?" she urged; "I am surehe could remove all your difficulties. "

Max almost jumped out of his skin before he perceived how guileless hadbeen his mother's remark. But the opportunity was certainly not to bemissed. 

"I should be delighted to see him, " he said. "Indeed, I think he morethan any one might solve my difficulty. "

"Then you shall!" cried his mother, and fondly believed that, withoutbecoming entangled herself she had wrought a good work and providedmeans to a solution. The Archbishop would, of course, be able to solvefor him any difficulties of conscience, and to put such things as--well, anything he might have done in the past--in its right and proper place. 

Her Majesty had a great belief in archbishops. At the hands of one shehad been confirmed, it had taken two of them to marry her, and by one oranother each of her four children had been well and truly baptized. Theyhad also preached sermons of eloquent optimism over the two who had soprematurely died. And since she regarded all that they had done for heras eminently successful in result, they stood out in her world as themost efficient aids to the spiritual etceteras of life; and if any moraldifficulty dimmed for a moment the clear horizon of her soul she wouldturn to the nearest archbishop for advice and encouragement. 

And so the Archbishop came to see Prince Max in his convalescence, andsat by his side and talked to him, and tried by various diplomaticshifts to draw his confidence in the salutary direction desired by herMajesty; for he and the Queen had held conversation together on thematter. And Max, lying back at ease upon his cushions, and pretending tobe a little further from complete recovery than he really was, examinedthat face of stern ecclesiastical mold, and seeking therein for somelikeness to his beloved found none. 

Nevertheless he listened respectfully without protest to the voice ofthe Church, when at last the Archbishop started to deliver his charge:he heard how necessary it was for the nation that those who were itsrulers should set before it an example of regular family life, and howinexpedient it was for that example to be too long delayed; he heard ofduty as though it came by inheritance to the accompaniment of a positionand a title, and of many other things that he had heard tell of beforeand profoundly disagreed with; but for once he was not argumentative. Helet the Church speak to him and advise him to do the thing he waslonging to do, and to leave that life which (without a word said on thematter) he was known to have been leading in the past. And when theArchbishop had quite done and taken his departure, then Max rose up fromhis bed of sickness and went down to Sister Jenifer and, presenting toher gaze a broken and a contrite head and a rather pallid countenance, spoke as follows: "I have been having a talk with your father, OBeloved, and he tells me that I ought to marry you. "

IV

On the next day Max received a visit from his father. 

"Well, " said the King, wishing to bestow commendation on a woundhonorably come by, "you have been on the side of law and order for onceat any rate. "

"I?" cried Max. 

"I hear that you assisted the police. "

"On the contrary, " said Max, "I went to rescue a poor youth from theirclutches. "

"Good gracious me!" cried the King, horror-struck. 

"Oh, they were quite right to arrest him, but having arrested him, theyproceeded to assault him; and when I interfered they assaulted me. Andhad I not been the person I am, with detectives at my heels to vouch forme, I should have been doing a fortnight hard for interfering with thepolice in the execution of their duty. "

"But I heard it was a beer-bottle thrown by one of the rioters!"

"Oh, no; a truncheon, --having I believe your image and superscriptionstamped somewhere upon it. Your own mark, sir. " And Max pointed to thescar upon his head. "When I, in turn, have to wear the crown its rimwill probably rest on that very spot. What a coincidence that will be!"

"Max, this is really too bad of you!" said his father. 

"It comes of trying to mix with the people. "

"Well, you shouldn't; for we can't do it. "

"Not without paying the price. I have, and it was worth it. "

"What good has it done you?"

"Can you not see how it has steadied me? You behold here a reformedcharacter who is now only waiting for his father's blessing to lead agood and holy life ever after. Oh, yes, I know what you have come about, sir; my mother has been at me, the Archbishop has been at me, --you haveall of you been at me one time or another; and so far as I am concerned, if we can only agree upon who the lady is to be, I am ready to marry herto-morrow. "

Then, perceiving a terror in his father's eye (for the Queen hadbreathed in his ear some word of her apprehensions), Max, divining itscause, spoke to reassure him. "No, " said he, "it is not the Countess;she had thrown me over, and is now only a second mother to me. This waslargely of her mending. " He again pointed to the scar. "Can such thingsbe done, you wonder, in a second establishment? Well, remember it is nowonly a mausoleum. For three weeks I have lain there like a mummy with myhead swathed in bandages. "

"Max, I wish you would not talk like that, " said the King. "I wanted tospeak seriously to you. "

"And I to you, " answered Max. "But when I start I shall only shock youmore. "

"Well, we had better get it over, then. Say the most serious thing youhave to say, and be done with it!"

Then Prince Max drew a bold breath. "Conditionally upon your consent, sir"--he began--"(I myself regret the condition, but on that point thelady is adamant)--I say all this in order to let the whole case bestated before giving you the necessary shock----"

"Oh, go on!" groaned the King. 

"Conditionally, then, I am already engaged to be married. "

The King's mind went vacuously all round the Courts of Europe, andreturned to him again empty. 

"Whom to?" he inquired. 

Max made his announcement with stately formality. 

"The lady who honors me with her affection is the daughter of ourPrimate Archbishop. "

"Good Heavens!" cried the King. "Does _he_ know of it?"

"No more than the babe unborn; two days ago he sat there telling me itwas my duty to marry; and I thinking of his daughter all the time. "

"Impossible!" exclaimed the King. 

"I knew you would say that, --so did she. That I believe is why she gaveme her consent. "

"Then she does not really----"

"Love me? Very much, I believe. But her life is a strange mingling ofsincerity and self-sacrifice; and it will in some strange way give heralmost as much joy to have owned that her heart is utterly mine, andthen to be irrevocably parted, as it would to share all the splendor ofmy fortune as heir to a throne. "

"You know, Max, that it is quite impossible. "

"Yes; by all the conventions of the last three hundred years, so it is. That is why I trust that you will rise to the occasion, sir, and do whatis not expected of you. To allow your son and heir to marry the daughterof the great political antagonist of your present Prime Minister initself creates an almost impossible situation--for party politics, Imean. But as party politics have already created an almost impossiblesituation for monarchy, the best thing to do is to have a return hit atparty politics. I believe that the monarchy will survive. "

"No, no, Max, " said the King, "this won't do. "

"You know that it would greatly upset the Prime Minister. "

"I have other ways of doing that, " said the King. 

"Without upsetting yourself?"

This gave his Majesty a little start. "It depends what you mean byupsetting; perhaps it would upset you much more. But there, we won'ttalk about that!" For this was danger-point, and having touched it, hehurried cautiously away from it. Then he returned to the originalcharge: "Whatever put the idea into your head?"

"A vision of beauty that I had not believed to be possible. "

"Is she so very beautiful, then?"

"You have seen her, sir, and you have not remembered her. I did not meanthat sort of beauty. "

"Ah, then, you are really in love. "

"Ludicrously, " confessed Max. 

"My dear boy, I am very sorry for you. "

"Oh, you need not be, sir; I am quite sure of myself at last; and byrefusing to marry anybody else I have only to wait and you will have toyield to my request. "

"You may have to wait a long time, " began the King, and then he stopped;for looking into the future he saw Max in a new light, that same fiercelight which had beaten upon himself for the last twenty-five years, preventing him from doing so many things he had wished to do. It wouldprevent Max too. 

"But I want your consent now, father, " said the young man; and there wassomething of real affection in his voice. 

"Why can't you wait till I am dead?"

"That would be selfish of me. Do you not want to see me happy first?"

But to that the King only shook his head. 

"It won't do, Max, it won't do. The Archbishop wouldn't like it either, "he went on, trying to get back to the political aspect again. "It wouldbe terribly damaging to him. With a connection like that, leadership ofhis party would become impossible. "

"Have we to consider the political ambitions of an archbishop?"

"You would have to get his consent. "

"I don't think so. All she bargained for was yours. I told her I wouldget it; and she did not believe me. "

"You make me wish that I were altogether out of the way. "

"Quite unnecessary, I'm sure. "

"Ah, but if you were in my position then you'd see--then you'dunderstand. You couldn't do it; you simply couldn't do it. "

The King was now saying what he really believed, and at the sound of hisown voice telling him he realized that all he had to do was to temporizeand time would bring its own solution. If Max were King he could no moredo this thing than he could fly. Why, then, should he trouble himself?

To cover his change of ground he continued the argument, and on everypoint allowed Max to beat him (he could not probably have prevented it, but that was the way he put it to himself), and finally, when he feltthat he could in decency throw up the sponge, he let Max have hisway--or the way to it, which was the same thing. 

"Well, " he said, "I can't give you my consent all at once. I must havetime to turn round and think about it; you must have time too. Butif----" here he paused and did a short sum of mental arithmetic. "Yes, "he went on, "if in two months from now you find me still upon thethrone--and I'm sure I don't know that you will with the way things aregoing and all the worry I've had--but if you do, and are still of thesame mind about it, then you may come to me and I will give you myconsent. "

A quiet, rapturous smile passed over the face of Max. "May I have thatin writing, sir?" he said. 

The King was rather taken aback, and a little affronted. "Do you doubtmy word?" he demanded. 

"Not in the least, but it is your consent I have to get. You might havea stroke, or lose your memory; you might even die, and there should I beleft stranded. My love is so great that I can let it run no risks. Andtherefore, sir, if you will be so good, a promissory note to take effectin two months' time. "

"You won't tell your mother?" said the King, halting, pen in hand. 

Max shook his head sagely. "Nobody shall know, " said he. "No filtercould contain such news as this. " He took the precious document from theKing's hand, folded it, and put it away. 

"By the way, sir, " he said, "in a week or two I shall be sending you mybook. "

"I am afraid it is going to shock people, " said his father. 

"Not nearly so much as this. " Max touched his breast pocket and smiled. "I will confess now, sir, that I really had hardly a hope: if I said sojust now, I lied. And if a son may ever tell his father that he is proudof him, let that pleasure to-day be mine. "

They parted on the best of terms. "I wonder, " thought the King tohimself, "whether he will be quite so pleased and proud two monthshence. "

His countenance saddened, and he sighed. "Poor boy, " he said. He wasvery fond of Max. 

CHAPTER XIV

HEADS OR TAILS

I

It is no use pretending that all history is equally interesting, eventhough the facts which it contains are necessary for an understanding ofwhat follows. And I am well aware that much of this history so far hasbeen very dull. We have been exploring interiors, moldy institutions, cast-iron conventions, and one poor human mind, --with a tap on the backof its head as an incentive--wriggling to find a way out. But from thispoint on you see him wriggling no more; the slow wave of his resolve hascrept to its crest and now breaks into foam. 

A month has now passed by; and four weeks hence the enamored Max will becoming for his answer--Max asking for the impossible thing. Like the manwho set fire to the tail of his night-shirt in order to stop thehiccoughs, so now John of Jingalo had at his heels that terror of hisown planting driving him on. Perhaps nothing else would have given himthe courage. 

The day for the last Council meeting had arrived, the last before theclosing of that long session of Parliament which, beginning in February, had run on at intervals into November. Then only a brief month, and thewinter session with the new Government program would open. 

It was to this Council that the Cabinet's latest scheme for squeezingthe Bishops out of the Constitution was to be presented; and for that tobe possible, since he was so great a stickler for constitutionalpropriety, the King's consent had been necessary. A few days before, therefore, the Prime Minister had once more formally submitted thequestion; and the King had given his leave. "Produce what you like, Mr. Premier; I will no longer stand in your way. "

The brief autumn session was closing with a clangor of agitation whichhad not been heard in Jingalo for half a century at least. Everybodyoutside the machinery of party was profoundly dissatisfied with theparliamentary system and with all its doings and undoings; and thisgeneral dissatisfaction was being quaintly expressed by a refusal to letParliament rise. The Women Chartists were battering at its closed doors;and from peep-holes and other points of vantage within, smiling andindifferent legislators saw those bruised bodies, those strangelyobsessed minds, those indomitable spirits carried off to magisteriallack of judgment and to prison. 

With a good deal more concern they saw strikes breaking out in their ownconstituencies, and riot becoming the normal accompaniment of theindustrial demand for better conditions. Three strike leaders were inprison under sentence of death for having killed by purposeful accidenta few over-zealous policemen; and from great working centers over ahundred miles away thousands of men were marching to demand remittanceof the death penalty. 

The Government was, in consequence, in a great hurry to get the sessionclosed. It was an undignified scramble of the red-tape worms of variousdepartments to be well out of the way before those slow, heavily shodfeet of labor arrived upon the scene. At every town they came to theystopped, made inflammatory speeches, gathered funds and adherents, andthen, a swelled body of discontent, marched stolidly on toward thecapital; and this not from one point alone but from half-a-dozen atonce. If there was not to be conflict between the police and theseconverging forces, appeasement of some sort must be devised, or officialvacuum must be there to meet them. 

And behind all this was the ministerial fear that, if they were notquick about it, it would be impossible to close Parliament with dueceremony. The Lord High Functionary had put it bluntly to the PrimeMinister. "If those men get here we can't have out the piebald poniesand the state coach; they wouldn't stand it. "

And as the piebald ponies and the state coach were necessary for theprestige of the Government and for proof that the King and his ministerswere working amicably together, therefore the red-tape worms were allwriggling their level best under pressure from above, and in the smallhours every morning millions of public money were being voted into thehands of the Government by an obedient majority of sleepy legislators, bound by party loyalty neither to criticise nor to control. 

It was in the midst of affairs thus disarranged that on a morning threedays before the rising of Parliament the Royal Council met, and awaitedwith official calm the advent of its titular head. 

Since his outbreak of a few months ago the King had once more becomeamenable to that deferential guidance which was his due; and now wordhad gone round that all further opposition was to be withdrawn, and theMinistry to have its way. 

And so the _pièce de résistance_ is at last in full brew and we see thetwenty cooks of the national broth waiting without any trepidation ofspirit for the royal flavoring to arrive. And they talk among themselvesin carefully modulated tones; for it is not etiquette, when the doorsare thrown open to the royal presence, that the King should hearconversation going on. 

The Prime Minister enters a little later than the rest, carrying hisbrief, and moves to his place near the head of the board through acircle of congratulatory looks and smiles. For all know that in thislong bout with titular kingship, obstinate for the preservation of itsrights, the representative of Cabinet control has won, and that a newand very comfortable stage in the subservience of monarchy toministerial ends has been attained. 

And how quietly this important little bit of constitutional revolutionhas been carried through!--without any passing of laws or petition ofrights, merely by internal pressure judiciously applied. And Jingalo, that well-represented State governed by the popular will, knows nothingof what has been done; like a body in absolute health it is unconsciousof the working of those vital functions so necessary for itsconstitutional development. Oh, admirable popular will! in searching foryour whereabouts and to come into touch with you, old monarchy has hadyet another tumble--and at the right and preconcerted time will reachthe ground without any outward revolution at all. 

If these or suchlike thoughts were in the mind of the Cabinet, just thenthey were diverted by the sound of opening doors; and there entered, notthe King himself, but a Court functionary in full dress attended by twoothers, and bearing before him on a crimson cushion a sealed document. 

A few eyebrows went up; what revival of old forms was this? Thefunctionary advanced and with a low bow presented the document not tothe Prime Minister, but to the Lord President of the Council. "By hisMajesty's gracious command, " said he, "a message from his Majesty theKing to his faithful people. "

Then, with another bow, the Court functionary withdrew. 

The Lord President looked at the seal in some embarrassment, for he didnot quite know how to break it; it was very large, some three inchesacross, and was composed of a wax of specially resistant quality. 

"Cut it!" said the Prime Minister, and to that end he presented hispocket-knife. 

The document was opened; and the Lord President and Prime Minister, glancing together at its contents, suddenly went white. 

"Gentlemen, " said the Lord President (his voice and hands trembled as hespoke), "his Majesty the King abdicates!"

II

Around that ministerial board it would have been amusing to an impartialonlooker to see how many mouths of grave and reverend Councilors didactually open and drop chins of dismay. A gust of horror andastonishment blew round the assembly; it was a word unknown in theJingalese Constitution; no place had been there provided for it, --it hadnever been done. Strictly speaking--legally speaking, that is to say--itcould not be done. Kings had been deposed, exiled, their heads cutoff--all without their own consent--but never without the consent ofParliament, or of some portion of it at all events. Yet nothing whatevercould prevent it; for clearly on this point the King could insist; but, if he did, the Constitution would be in the melting-pot, and theconsequences could not be foreseen. What right had this pelican in pietyto go pecking his own breast and shedding the blood of his ancestors?Viewed in any constitutional light it was a revolutionary and bloodydeed. 

The Prime Minister was not slow to see its bearing on the wholepolitical situation and on the fortunes of his ministry. 

"Gentlemen, " said he, "if this abdication is allowed to take effect, ourplans are defeated and the Government must go. "

"You mean we shall have to resign?"

"We cannot even do that; we are forestalled. Though not yet publiclyannounced this is an absolute abdication here and now. " And then thatall might hear, the Lord President proceeded to read out the terms. 

"WE, John, by the Grace of God, King of Jingalo, Suzerain of Rome, Leader of the Forlorn Hope, and Crowned Head of Jerusalem, do herebysolemnly declare, avow, render, and deliver by this as Our own act, freely undertaken and accomplished for the good, welfare, comfort, andsuccor of the Realm of Jingalo and of its People, that now and from thisday henceforward. WE do utterly renounce, relinquish, and abjure allclaim to rank, titles, honors, emoluments, and privileges holden by USin virtue of OUR inheritance and succession as true and rightfulSovereign Lord of the said Realm of Jingalo. And for the satisfying ofOUR Royal Conscience and the better safety and security of those thingsaforetime committed to OUR trust and keeping, under the Constitution ofthe said Realm of Jingalo; to the preservation whereof WE are bound byoath, therefore WE do now pronounce, publish, and set forth, that itmay be known to all, this OUR ABDICATION, made in the 25th year of OURreign and given under OUR hand and signet----"

Then came date and signature; and following these the old form of mixedGerman and Latin, without which no State document was complete--"Der Rexdas vult. "

When the reading ended there was a short pause. Here at all events, intheir very ears, history was being incredibly made. 

"Remarkably well drawn, " observed Professor Teller, admiringly: "copied, you may be interested to learn, from the actual instrument wrung byParliament out of King Oliver the Second under threat of torture fourhundred years ago. As legal and regular a form, therefore, as it wouldbe possible to devise. "

"You mean we shall have to recognize it?"

"If we recognize anything at all. "

"Gentlemen, " said the Prime Minister, "it must not be recognized; itwould mean for us not merely defeat but disaster. As against the Bishopswe have a certain amount of popular opinion to back us; but if once itappears that dislike for our policy has driven the King into abdication, then our ruin will be immediate and irremediable. We have to recognizethat during the past year his popularity has greatly increased, whileour own, to say the most, is stationary. "

"Yes, and he knows it!" said the Minister of the Interior, bitterly. 

"I call it a treacherous and a cowardly act!" exclaimed the Secretaryfor War. 

"He is trying to bully us!" said the Commissioner-General. 

"I should say that he is succeeding, " remarked Professor Teller in a drytone. "Had we not better recognize, gentlemen, that his Majesty has madea very shrewd hit? Can we not--compromise?"

"Impossible!" asseverated the Prime Minister. "It is too late. "

Professor Teller leaned back in his chair and let the discussion flowon. His attitude was noticeable; he was the only minister who was takingit sitting down. 

"When does this abdication take effect?" asked one. "I mean, how longcan it be kept from the press?"

"Who knows? If his Majesty has done one mad thing he may have doneanother. "

"I must see him at once, " said the Premier, "this cannot be allowed togo on. "

"You will have to take a very firm tone. "

"I would suggest that we all send in our portfolios. "

"We have tried that once; he would not accept them now, and we have nopower to make him. "

"No; that is the damnable thing! That is what makes his position sostrong. "

"Do you think he knows?"

"Of course; why else has he done it? It's really clever; that's what Ican't get over, he has done a clever thing!"

"Who can have put it into his head?"

"It is the most unjustifiable stretch of the royal prerogative that everI heard of. "

"There's no prerogative about it; it's sheer revolution and rebellion. "

"An attack on the Constitution, I call it. "

Thus they talked. 

"Strange!" murmured Professor Teller, irritating them with hisphilosophic tone and his detached air, --"strange that when it threatensitself with extinction monarchy becomes powerful. "

"It is no question of extinction, " said the Prime Minister tetchily; "weshould still have his successor to deal with; and Prince Max, I can tellyou, gentlemen, is a very dark horse. You all know what happened threemonths ago; and now, within the last week, we have learned that he ispublishing a book--a revolutionary book with his own name to it. You maytake it from me that if he comes to the throne our present scheme forthe evolution of the Cabinet system will be over. Anything may happen!Read his book and you will understand. "

"Has any one yet seen it?"

"A privately procured copy has been shown me; it was by the merestchance we heard of it. I could only read it very hurriedly in the smallhours; it had to go back where it came from. "

"Is it a serious matter?"

"Perfectly appalling. "

"And are you going to allow it to be published?"

"How can we prevent? It is being printed abroad. "

And then spoke the Prefect of the Police, holding technical place uponthe Council as Minister of Secret Service. 

"Over the present edition, gentlemen, you may make your minds quiteeasy. I have received intelligence that last night the establishment atwhich it was being printed was burned to the ground. "

The Premier cast a keen and confidential glance at his colleague. 

"How much does that involve?" he asked. 

"Only the insurance company, I should suppose. "

"I meant of the book?"

"Oh! everything except the manuscript. There will be no publication thisyear at any rate. "

"I make you my compliments, " said the Prime Minister, "on theparticularity and speed with which your department has become informed. That at all events gives us time. "

"And meanwhile?"

"I must see the King immediately. It is no use our remaining here todiscuss a situation that is not yet explained. The first thing to findout is whether this has gone any further; but I do not think his Majestyreally means it as anything more than a threat. "

"Had you no hint that it was coming?" inquired the Commissioner-General. 

The Prime Minister was on his way to the door. "No, " he said; "not aword. " And then he paused, as the particular meaning of a certaincarefully chosen and repeated phrase flashed on him for the first time. "He said to me yesterday--repeating what he said four months ago when wetendered our resignations--'I will no longer stand in your way. ' And nowI suppose we have it. "

"Good Heavens!" cried the Minister of the Interior, "does he call thisnot standing in our way?"

The Prime Minister cast an expressive glance at his chagrined andembarrassed following--a glance of self-confidence and determination, one which still said "Depend upon me!"

But only from one of his colleagues was there any look of answeringconfidence, or speech confirming it. 

"When you are disengaged, Chief, may I have a few moments?"

It was the Prefect who spoke, a man of few words. 

Eye to eye they looked at each other for a brief spell. 

The Prime Minister nodded. "Come to me in two hours' time, " he said. "Weshall know then where we are. " And so saying he left the room. 

III

In the next two days a good many things happened; but carried through inso underground and secret a fashion that it is only afterwards we shallhear of them. And so we come to the last day of all; for on the morrowParliament closes and when that is done the King's abdication is tobecome an acknowledged and an accomplished fact. 

It was evening. His Majesty had just given a final audience to the PrimeMinister; the interview had been a painful one, and still the ground ofcontention remained the same. But the demeanor of the head of theGovernment had altered; he had tried bullying and it had failed; now inprofound agitation he had implored the King for the last time towithdraw his abdication, and his Majesty had refused. 

"I will close Parliament for you, " he said, "since you wish it; it willbe a fitting act for the conclusion of my reign. But my conscienceforbids any furthering on my part of your present line of policy; and asI cannot prevent that obstacle from existing, in accordance with mypromise I remove it altogether from the scene. "

"But your Majesty's abdication is the greatest obstacle of all, it is aprofound upheaval of the whole constitutional system; and its acceptancewill involve a far, far greater expenditure of time than we are able tocontemplate or to provide for. I am bound, therefore, to appeal from theletter of your Majesty's promise (which no doubt you have observed) tothe spirit in which as I conceive it was made. "

"When I made it, Mr. Prime Minister, I had no spirit left. Nothingremained to me but the letter of my authority, and even that was dead. Itold you that I would no longer stand in your way, and I will keep myword. "

"By throwing us into revolution!"

"By throwing you upon your own resources. You have been working veryassiduously for single chamber government, you may now secure it in yourown way. "

"Your Majesty takes a course entirely without precedent. "

"What?--Abdication?"

"Against the wish or consent of Parliament. "

"Ah, yes, " said the King, "that is precisely the difference. Abdicationshave, like ministerial resignations, been forced upon us--I mean onkings in the past--at very unseasonable times and in most inconsiderateways; and we kings have had to put up with it. Mr. Prime Minister, it isyour turn now; and I only hope that you may find as clean a way out ofyour difficulty as I had to find when four months ago you threatened mewith a resignation which you knew I could not accept. "

The Prime Minister's face became drawn with passion; but there was nomore to be said after that. "Is that your Majesty's final word?" heinquired. 

"I hope so, " said the King, rising and making a formal offer of hishand. 

And so the interview ended. 

Left alone the King felt badly in need of comfort, for now in the hourof triumph depression had begun to enter his soul. He did not likehurting people even when he was not fond of them; and on the PrimeMinister's face as he went out he had seen something like tragedy. "Ishe going to cut his throat?" he wondered; but, no, it was not the lookof a beaten man--rather that of a gambler prepared to make his lastthrow. 

The King had already made his own--he had nothing more to do; and now hewanted companionship, some one to humor him with more understanding andsympathy than his own wife could supply. And it so happened that justthen his only two possible comforters were away. Max had gone to theRiviera to recruit before the regular sittings of the Commission began, and Charlotte three days ago had taken that leave of absence which hadbeen promised her; for in less than a month's time the Prince ofSchnapps-Wasser would be paying his promised visit. 

As he could not have the society he craved he chose solitude, andwandered out into the deepening dusk of the November garden; and there, gazing up through its now thinned foliage at the quiet and misty heavensabove him, thought of steeplejacks and the death of kings, and how atthe root of every great downfall in history there had probably been somepoor human heart like his own, conscious of failure, longing for thekindred touch which pride of place makes so impossible. And yet he knewthat he had brought himself to a better end than, with all the defectsof his qualities, he could ordinarily have hoped to secure; perhaps thisdramatic taking of himself off (which he felt in a way to be so out ofcharacter) would help Max to make something out of the situationstartling and unexpected. But Max would have to give up the idea ofmarrying the Archbishop's daughter. 

The quiet, dusky paths had led him to a point where high walls carefullyshrouded in creepers shut off the royal stables from view. Throughcircular barred grilles he could hear the noise of horses champing intheir stalls; and the comfortable sound drew him round to the entrance. Opening a wicket, he stood in a dimly lighted court, but the buildingssurrounding it contained plenty of light, and in the harness rooms abrisk sound of furbishing went on. 

Turning to the left he passed into the largest stable of all, a spaciousand well-aired chamber of corridor-like proportions divided up intostalls. To right and left of him stood the famous piebald ponies, lazily munching fodder and settling down to their last sleep before theunusual exertions which would be required of them on the morrow. 

But these pampered minions did not know as he did what the morrow had instore: how, for the sake of effect, they would be harnessed to a hugeobsolete coach weighing a couple of tons, each clad in an elaboratecostume of crimson and gold weighing by itself considerably more than afull-grown rider. To the King this presumed ignorance of theirs was amatter for envy; he knew his own part in the affair well enough; thethought of it oppressed him. 

He walked down the double line--twelve in all--pausing now and then totake a closer look and judge of their condition, but keeping always at arespectful distance, for he was aware that almost without exception theywere an ill-tempered crew. Contemplating the astonishing rotundity oftheir well-filled bodies, the spacious ease of their accommodation, theoutward dignity of circumstances, and the absolute lack of freedom whichconditioned their whole existence, he was struck with the resemblancebetween himself and them; and recalling how, with a similar sense ofkinship, St. Francis had preached to the lower forms of life he toobecame imbued with the spirit of homily and prophecy, though it did notactually find its way into words. 

"You and I, little brothers"--so might we loosely interpret themeditations of his heart--"you and I are much of a muchness, and cansing our 'Te Deum' or our 'Nunc Dimittis' in almost the same words. Weare both of a carefully selected breed and of a diminished usefulness. But because of our high position we are fed and housed not merely incomfort but in luxury; and wherever we go crowds stand to gape at us andapplaud when we nod our heads at them. We live always in the purlieus ofpalaces, and never have we known what it is to throw up our heels in agreen pasture, nor in our old age are we turned out comfortably tograss--only to Nebuchadnezzar by accident came that thing, and he didnot appreciate it as he should have done. Never shall we go into battleto prove that we are worth our salt, and to say 'Ha, Ha' to the fightingand the captains; nor is it allowed to us to devour the ground with ourspeed: whenever we attempt such a thing it is cut from under us. Littlebrothers, it is before all things necessary that we should behave; forbeing once harnessed to the royal coach, if any one of us struck work orthrew out our heels we should upset many apple-carts and the machineryof the State would be dislocated. Let us thank God, therefore, that longhabit and training have made us docile, and that our backs are strongenough to bear the load that is put upon them, and that if one of usgoes another immediately fills his place so that he is not missed. "

In a vague, unformulated way this was the homily which arose from hismeditations; and if he thought at all specially of himself and presentcircumstances, it was merely as an insignificant exception which provedthe general rule. 

As he strolled back again he stopped at the door and spoke to the man incharge. 

"They all seem very fit, Jacobs, " said he. "They do you credit, I mustsay. "

"Fit they are, your Majesty!" said the man, beaming with satisfiedpride; "and so they ought to be, considering the trouble we've took with'em. We've been polishing them like old pewter for days. Ah! they knowwhat's coming; and you can see 'em just longing for it. "

"Oh, they like it, do they?"

"Believe me, your Majesty, they couldn't live without it. It's in theblood--been in 'em from father to son. Why, if we didn't take 'em out tohelp us open and shut Parliament and things of that sort, they'd thinkwe was mad. "

This was a new point of view; the King listened to it with respectfulinterest, and then a fresh thought occurred to him. 

"Jacobs, " he said, "did one of them ever refuse to go?--on a publicoccasion, I mean. "

"Well, yes, your Majesty, it did once happen; before my time, though. One of 'em--ah, it was at a funeral, too--he stuck his heels into theground and couldn't be got to start, not for love or money. "

"Which did they offer him?"

"Ask pardon, your Majesty?--Oh, just my manner of speaking, that was. Wouldn't go except on his own terms. "

"And what were they?"

"Well, your Majesty, he was a clever one, you see, he was; they aren'tgenerally. But he, he'd got a taste for his own set of harness--knew itby the smell, I suppose, and when they come to put it on him a bit of itbroke, and he wouldn't wear anything else. That's how it all comeabout. "

"They tried, I suppose?"

"Oh, they got it on him; and they got him out, before all the crowd, with the guns going and the handkerchiefs a-waving--Ah, no; but that wasa funeral though--there weren't no handkerchiefs that day. Well, therehe was; and when he felt they was all looking at him, and theperishables kept waiting behind----"

"The perishables?"

"The corpse, sir;--then he wouldn't move. "

"Very embarrassing, I must say. "

"You see, your Majesty, they couldn't beat him in public--not as hedeserved; 'twouldn't have been respectful to what was there. They had todo that afterwards. But, believe me, he stopped the whole show fortwenty minutes and more; and they never used _him_ again. "

"What became of him?"

"Oh, he was just kept, in case; but he weren't never used--he wasreckoned too risky after that. Oh, and he felt it too; I haven't a doubtbut he did. They don't like only to be one of the extras, they don't. "

"What does that mean?"

"Why, you see, sir, there's always four extras here, in case ofaccident; and believe me, your Majesty, when the four extras to-morrowfind 'emselves left out they'll squeal for hours, and it won't be safeto go near 'em, not for days. Blood's a wonderful thing, sir, wonderful!And they know, just as well as you or me. "

"And what becomes of them when they grow old?"

"Well, sir, they make saddle-cloths of 'em for the band of theforty-ninth Hussars. Your Majesty may have reckonized 'em; most peoplethink it's giraffe skin, but it's really our old ponies. "

"So they come in useful even at the last?"

"Oh, yes, sir, they ends well, one can't deny that; and they have to bein pretty good condition too. So they aren't none of 'em what you mightcall really old. "

"Very interesting, " said the King. "What a great deal there is in theworld that one doesn't know till one comes to inquire. "

"About horses? Your Majesty's right there!" said the man; and his tonespoke volumes of the things which would never be written, but whichthose who had the care of horses knew. 

As the King moved away from that brief colloquy, one phrase inparticular stuck in his mind. "He was reckoned too risky after that. "Was that, he wondered, what the Prime Minister was thinking about himnow; had he, indeed, proved himself too risky for future use? If sothere would be no yielding at the eleventh hour; and perhaps it was aswell that to-morrow would see him harnessed to the royal coach for thelast time. 

CHAPTER XV

A DEED WITHOUT A NAME

I

The King and Queen sat in their state coach responding with low bows tothe plaudits of the crowd. Their velvets and ermines lay heavy uponthem, for although it was now November, the day was close and warm, andthere seemed to be thunder in the air. 

The King, in this his Jubilee year, had resumed wearing his crown ongreat State occasions, for he found that the people liked it. He hadworn it at the Foot-washing; and every one then admitted that it gavethe true symbolic touch to the whole ceremony. And now for the lasttime he was wearing it again. 

Artistically he was right; a cocked hat, of nineteenth-century pattern, does not accord well with robes in the style of the sixteenth. In somecountries that mistake is made by royalty out of compliment to the army;but if on these State occasions sartorial compliments are to be paidirrespective of the general effect, then surely your monarch should weara wig as representative of the law, lawn-sleeves in honor of the Church, and divide the rest of his person impartially between the army, thenavy, and the doctors. Thus all the great professions would receivetheir due recognition, and we should presently find so symbolical acombination just as harmonious and dignified, and as pregnant withmeaning, as we do the heraldic quarterings by which the mixed blood ofancestry is so proudly displayed. We can get accustomed to anything ifthere is a good reason for it; but when we cease to be reasonable, beauty should be our only guide. In this case reason as well as beautyhad induced King John of Jingalo to reject the cocked hat and to resumethe crown. 

The royal coach had already borne its occupants along two miles of theroute; and continued exercise was making them warm. 

"Good Heavens!" exclaimed the King, "it's very stuffy in here; I feel asif I were in a furnace. Why did you ask to have the windows closed, mydear?"

"It makes one feel so much safer, " said the Queen, keeping herstereotyped smile, and sweeping a bow as she spoke. 

"Safer from what?" Here his Majesty responded to a fresh burst ofcheers. 

"Accidents, " replied his consort; "one never knows. "

"Glass, my dear, does not protect one from the accidents of Kings. Glasscan't stop bullets, you know. "

"I didn't mean that sort of accident; and I wish you wouldn't talkabout them just now. "

"You always take out an umbrella when you don't want it to rain; and ifone talks about accidents then they don't happen. At least that hasalways been my experience. What sort of accident do you mean?"

"Dust, and microbes, and infection, and all that sort of thing. Theremust be a lot of it about in so large a crowd; I wonder how many peoplewith measles. "

"What an idea!" exclaimed the King: "people with measles don't come outto see shows. "

"Oh, yes, they do, --nursemaids especially. They all catch it from eachother in the public parks; at least so I've been told. And whenever Isee a perambulator now, I think of it. "

"There are no perambulators here to-day, " said the King, "so you needn'tthink about measles. Smallpox if you like; though it strikes me that allI have yet seen are remarkably healthy specimens--considering how manyof them there are. " And he bowed to the healthy specimens as he spoke. 

"Very enthusiastic, " murmured the Queen appreciatively. 

"Yes; I wonder if presently they will be as enthusiastic about Max. "

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, nothing. I was only thinking ahead, in quite a general sort of way. We seem lately to have become quite popular. "

"I think we have always been. "

"Yes, you have, my dear; about myself I was not so sure. Well, it's verygratifying to come upon it just now. "

His Majesty felt a little guilty, for he had not yet told the Queen ofwhat lay ahead; it was so much better that she should not knowbeforehand what she would never be able to understand. 

Then for a while they relapsed into silence, each attending to whatCharlotte would have described as their "business"--a carefullyregulated succession of bows accompanied by a smile which never quiteleft off. 

Presently the King spoke again. "By the way, where has Charlotte goneto?"

"Well, I hardly know, " said the Queen. "She wrote to me from her firstaddress--that college place; but said she was going on elsewhere, and Ithought you settled that we were to leave her alone. "

"I think she ought to have waited till to-morrow. As Max is away, she atleast should have been here. "

"So I told her; but she said she had a very particular engagement whichshe must keep; and I could see that, relying upon your promise, shemeant to have her own way, so I said nothing. "

"I hope they are going to like each other, " said the King, his thoughtscarrying on to the meeting which was now near. 

"She and the Prince? Oh, yes, I think there's no doubt about it. Strange, wasn't it, that her running away actually pleased him?"

"I suppose it was so very unusual. We don't as a rule get people to runaway from us. It's generally all the other way. Look at this crowd! Iwonder how the police manage to keep them back. "

Smiling and bowing, the Queen replied: "They are so well behaved; andsee, how patient. Many, I daresay, have been here for hours. Doesn'tthat show loyalty?"

"It isn't all loyalty, my dear; they like the whole spectacle, thetroops, the coach, the piebald ponies. Last night I went to look atthem; four of them have been left out. "

"What a strange thing to do. "

"But some have to be. "

"No; going to see them, I mean. "

"Well, I don't know; they play a very important part in the proceedings, and in a way they are heroes, for wherever they go with us they shareour danger. I heard quite a lot of interesting things about them. "

At this moment they were approaching a part of the route which separatedthem for a while from the popular plaudits. In the forefront was a deeparchway, and beyond it was a brief stretch of road shut in by hoardingsand dominated by high masts of scaffolding, behind which new Governmentbuildings were in process of erection. Across each front to left andright a few strings of bunting fluttered to give festive relief; forhere there were no stands filled with spectators, no pavements linedwith shouting crowds; and behind the palisades work had been knocked offfor the day. The cry of the populace lulled down to a mere murmur, andthe trampling of the hoofs echoed strangely as they passed under thevaulted arch and along the walled-in track with its huge baulks oftimber on both sides supporting the growth of stone walls. 

Ahead stood a wide gateway opening by a sharp turn into Regency Row, whose broad thoroughfare of cream-tinted façades, now bright with flags, formed an ideal rallying-ground for the sightseeing multitude. 

"Now there, " said the King, pointing ahead to a high triangular buildingfacing the gates through which they were about to emerge, "there is theplace that I always think a bomb might be thrown from with muchcertainty and effect, plump into the middle of us, just as we areturning the corner. "

"I do wish you would leave off talking about such things, " said theQueen reproachfully, "or wait till we are safe home again. How can Ikeep on smiling, if you go putting bombs into my head?"

"I was only saying, my dear----"

Suddenly, from behind, an amazing detonation seemed to strike at thesmalls of their backs, throwing them half out of their seats. The glassslide upon the Queen's side of the coach ran down with a crash, and oneof the large gilt baubles from its roof toppled and fell into the road. At the same instant a great blast and swirl of smoke blew by, shuttingfor a moment the outer world from view. Then loud cries, hullabalooings, shoutings--a scramble and clatter of hoofs as though three or fourhorses had gone down and were up again--a capering flash of pink silkcalves--as the six footmen exploded upon from the rear sought safety infront where the eight piebald ponies were all standing on end with menhanging on to their noses. And then further disorder of a less violentkind, runnings to and fro, and from the crowd waiting ahead a vast andtumultuous cry rather jovial in its sound. 

The King had risen from his seat, and trying to look out and see whatwas going on behind had put his head through the glass, his crown actingas a safe and effective battering ram. 

"I do believe there has been an attempt, " he said, drawing his head inagain. "That certainly sounded like a bomb; not that I have had muchexperience of such things. "

Then he did what he should have done at first, and let down the glass. 

"I am going to faint, " sighed the Queen, sinking back in her seat. 

"Nonsense!" said the King sharply. "Pull yourself together, Alicia! Youare not hurt. "

"I think I am, " she said. But the sharp tone acted as a tonic, and shesettled herself comfortably in her corner and began quietly to cry. 

There was still plenty of confusion going on. The piebald ponies hadbeen brought to a standstill, and some of them were now showing temper. A voluble and excited crowd was trying to break through the police linesand grasp the whole situation at a run. Troops were coming to therescue; horsemen from the rear dashed by. Then a staff officer gallopedup to the coach window, and reining a jiggetty steed saluted withagitated air and a rather white face. 

"The danger is over, your Majesty, " he gasped, a little out of breath, "only a few horses are down; no one is killed. "

The King nodded acceptance of the news; and as he did so noticed a tinyfleck of blood upon the officer's cheek--no more than if he had cuthimself in shaving. It seemed to give the correct measure of thecatastrophe, and to assure him more than words could have done that thedamage was really small. 

Except for that one moment when he had impulsively put his head throughglass, the King had kept his wits and remained calm; and now his royalinstinct told him the right thing to be done. 

"If you want to manage that crowd, " he said, "we had much better driveon. Until we do they may think that anything has happened. Tell them tostart, and not to drive fast. "

The officer went forward bearing the royal order. 

"Alicia, " said the King, "there really is nothing to cry about; the mostimportant thing is to show the people that we are not hurt. Pullyourself together, my dear. There! now we are starting again. And if youthink you can manage it, stand right up at your window and I will standat mine; then nobody can have any doubt at all. "

He removed some shattered glass from her lap as he spoke, and gave anencouraging squeeze to her hand; and as the coach moved forward theystood up and confidently presented themselves to the public gaze. 

Sure enough that sight had a magical effect equal to the controllingforce of a thousand police. The crowd recovered its wits and alloweditself to be shoved back into place. Out through the gates sallied thepiebald ponies; and from end to end all Regency Row broke into a roar. Ahead went the troops and the police, pressing back the once moreamenable crowd; men and women were weeping, moist handkerchiefs wereecstatically waved, quite new and reputable hats were thrown up intoair, and allowed to fall unreclaimed and unregarded. And truly it was asight well calculated to stir the blood, for there, emerging unhurt fromdust and smoke, from rumor and sound of terror, came the monarch and hisQueen standing upon their feet and bowing undaunted to a furore ofcries. 

Through all that vast multitude word of the outrage had sped, like ablack raven flapping its wings, charged ominously with tidings of death;and as confusion had spread wide nothing more could be heard, till oncemore a resumption of the processional movement was seen. Then camewhite-faced footmen quaking at the knees; after them eight piebaldponies rather badly behaved and requiring a good deal of holding in; andthen Royalty, itself smiling and quite unharmed. And straightway theordinary loyalty of a sightseeing Jingalese crowd was merged in apassionate and tumultuous cry of jubilant humanity; and the royalprocession became a triumphal progress. 

II

The Queen was still crying a little when they reached theirdestination; but she was very happy all the same, for she felt thatbetween them they had risen to the occasion and had passed exceedinglywell through an ordeal that falls only to few. 

And now at the House of Legislature itself a strangely informalreception awaited them. Word of what had happened had gone in to the twoChambers, and human nature proving too strong, rules and regulations ofceremony had been dispensed with, and out had streamed judges, prelates, and laity in full force, to attend upon their own front door-step thebelated arrival of their mercifully preserved Sovereign and his Queen. 

And when they did arrive, the whole House of Laity there assembled brokeinto cheers; and not to be behindhand in demonstrations of loyalty, theJudges and the Bishops cheered too--a thing that none of them had doneindividually for years; and in their official and corporate capacity, judicial and ecclesiastical, never in their lives before. 

Then as spokesmen for their respective parties, for Ministerialists andfor Opposition, came the Prime Minister and the Archbishop, giving voiceto the thankfulness that was felt by all. 

The Archbishop performed his part the better of the two; for between himand his sovereign there were no strained relations; he was also oncloser terms of reference to the Powers above; and so, while givingearthly circumstances their due, he rendered grateful thanks to aBeneficence which had guided and directed all. The Prime Minister didnot. 

The King, in recalling afterwards the happy impromptus of that scenewhen Prelates and Laity were vying with each other in the expression oftheir relief, remembered how once or twice the Prime Minister had haltedand gone back to the repetition of a former phrase, like one who havinglearned a lesson had momentarily lost the hang of it. 

The circumstance did not greatly impress him at the time, he was readyto make allowances, for between him and his minister the situation wassomewhat embarrassing. They had parted with unreconciled views, and byno stretch of terms could their relationship any longer be regarded asfriendly. All the same, on such an occasion it was incumbent upon thePrime Minister to say the correct thing, and he had said it: he haddescribed the outrage as "a dastardly attempt, " and the immunity of hissovereign as "a happy and almost miraculous escape" for which none hadmore reason to be thankful than himself and his colleagues; he had alsosaid that the passionate attachment of the people of Jingalo to theperson of their ruler had now been made abundantly evident, and hetrusted might ever so continue. 

Later in the day, when the short ceremony of Parliament's closing wasover (for it was impossible under the circumstances to return to stiffformality, no one being in the mood for it), later in the day, he againpresented himself, and besought a private audience. And then--while oncemore repeating what he had said previously, almost in the samewords, --he showed that he had something very serious of which to deliverhimself. 

He began with a great parade of leaving the matter to the King'sdecision only; his duty was merely to state the case as it would strikethe world. 

"We are in your Majesty's hands, " he said, "and I have no wish to revivea discussion in which your Majesty has by right the last word. I haveonly to ask whether the circumstances of the last few hours have in anyway affected your Majesty's decision. "

As usual this formal insistence upon his "majesty" aroused the King'sdistrust; with his ministers in privacy he always disliked it. But allhe said was: "Why should it?"

The Prime Minister pursed his lips and elaborately paused, as thoughfinding it difficult to express himself. Then he said--

"After an attempted assassination so nearly successful, abdication wouldhave a different effect to what your Majesty presumably intended. "

"How?" inquired the King. But though he asked he already knew; andmentally his jaw dropped, as a new apparition of failure rose up andconfronted him. 

"It might seem to reflect upon your Majesty's personal courage: aboutwhich, I need hardly say, I myself have no doubt whatever. "

"I see, " said the King. His voice sounded the depression which had againbegun to overwhelm him. 

"I have no wish to press your Majesty, " the Premier went on; "but at thepresent moment we are still under orders that to-morrow the definite andirrevocable announcement is to be made public. "

Again he paused; and the King did not answer him. 

"I wish to ask, therefore, whether it is your Majesty's wish that theannouncement of the abdication shall be postponed?"

"Yes, " said the King, and his words came slow, "I suppose that it mustbe--as you say--postponed. "

"Does your Majesty wish to suggest any later date?"

The King thought for a while before answering. 

"Is there any reason that I should?" But though he thus spoke totemporize over the position in which he now found himself, he knew thathis opportunity was gone never to recur. 

"Merely for our own guidance, " explained the Prime Minister. "There isto be a special Cabinet meeting to-night. "

"What are you going to discuss?"

"Should your Majesty remain, it will be our duty to present an addressof loyal congratulation immediately on the reassembling of Parliament;and that, under the new circumstances, must take place almost at once. In any event some address will, of course, have to be moved; but if whathas happened to-day is followed by an abdication, then regrets and deepgratitude for all the gracious benefits of the past would have to beadded, and the whole form of it most carefully weighed and considered. Imay say, therefore, that we are even now awaiting your Majesty'sinstructions. "

"And you can do nothing till I decide?"

"Nothing practical, sir. "

Their eyes met with a lurking watchfulness; and it was not difficult foreach to read something of the other's thought. The King knew that behindall that aspect of deference and humility lay a sense of triumph, almost malignant in its intensity. He knew that circumstances had beatenhim; and that the bomb of some wretched assassin had made his abdicationimpossible. The Prime Minister had said that he had no wish to presshim; but what a pretense and hypocrisy that was, when that very nightthe Cabinet would have to meet and register its decision in one of twoalternative forms totally distinct. Yes; the Ministry had him now in acleft stick; and no pressure was to be put upon him only because therewas no possibility for his decision to be delayed. 

Defeat, following upon the terrific events of the day, filled his brainwith weariness. At the moment when he had hoped to be free of hispersecutors he had come once again to a blank wall. Further progress wasbarred, further thinking had become useless, events must take theircourse; once more he felt himself the sport of fate--a mere chipfloating with the stream. 

"Very well, Mr. Prime Minister, " he said with resignation, "theAbdication is withdrawn. "

He sighed deeply; and then (when left alone to his cogitations), forsuch weak comfort as the mere saving of his face could lend, thisthought occurred to him, --"What a good thing that I told nobody aboutit. " Even Max did not know. 

And so in the year of his Jubilee, and the plenitude of his popularity, John of Jingalo continued to reign; and was, in consequence, the mostsaddened and humiliated monarch who ever bowed his head under a crownand resigned his freedom to a mixed sense of duty and a fear of whatpeople might say. 

CHAPTER XVI

CONCEALMENT AND DISCOVERY

I

There was plenty of hue and cry to discover the perpetrator of theoutrage, but nothing came of it. From somewhere in that labyrinth ofunfinished building and scaffolding fenced in by high hoardings a bombhad been thrown of insufficient power to do much damage to anybody. ThePrefect of Police, riding in close attendance on the royal carriage, hadhimself vaulted the barrier, on the side whence it had seemed to come, and reported that he had found no trace of any one. Pieces of the shellhad been collected upon the spot, they had not flown very far, nor werethey much broken; and experts of the detective department had been busyputting together the bits. 

The whole performance turned out on investigation to have been so feebleand amateurish that suspicion rapidly descended from the moreexperienced practitioners of anarchy, imported from other countries, tohome-products of later growth--strikers made desperate and savage by therecent sentences upon their leaders, or, as some would have it, theWomen Chartists, hoping by an attack upon royalty to bring a neglectfulministry to its senses. As there were no real clues except those whichindustriously led nowhere and which the police seemed delightedly tofollow, everybody was free to lay the charge against any agitatingsection of the community which they happened to regard with specialdisfavor; and for that reason the Women Chartists did, in fact, get mostof the blame. 

But in the process they also reaped a certain advantage; the meresuspicion, though malice directed it, was good for them. Had it beenpossible to convict them, their cause would have gone down for anothergeneration; but there was really nothing to catch hold of, and the powerof any organization to commit such an outrage without being detected--tobreak the glass of the King's coach and make the eight piebald poniesrise up on end in horror--was a power which raised them greatly in theeyes of all law-abiding people; it suggested an unknown potency formischief far more ominous than had discovery and conviction followed. And so, while squibs and crackers were being thrown at them and shambombs hurled into their meetings to show how greatly the law-abidingpeople of Jingalo disapproved of them for incurring suchsuspicion--politically, the unjustly suspected ones moved a littlenearer to their goal. 

As for the King and Queen, they were simply inundated with telegrams andletters of congratulation. In many instances the loyalty shown wasextraordinarily touching: one instance will suffice. Every schoolboy inevery public school in Jingalo contributed a penny from his pocket moneyto a congratulatory telegram sent in the name of the school; and when, as sometimes happened, the school numbered over six hundred boys thetelegram had necessarily to be lengthy, and proved a severe tax upon theliterary ability of its senders. 

Amid all this influx--this passionate outpouring of loyalty to a Kingwho had stood only a few days before within an ace of abdication, therewere of course messages of a more intimate and personal kind. Everycrowned head in Europe had written with that fellow-feeling which onsuch occasions royalty is bound to express. "I know what it is likemyself, " wrote one who had had six attempts made on him; "but I havenever had it done to me from behind. How very devastating to the nervesthat must be!" The Prince of Schnapps-Wasser wired that he could find nolanguage to express himself, but hoped in a few weeks' time to come andshow all that he felt. Max after a brief wire had flown back to town;and his obvious perturbation and demonstrative affection had made it ahappy meeting. 

But, while all these messages flowed, there was one inexplicablesilence. Charlotte neither wrote nor telegraphed; nor did she returnhome. That portent dawned upon their Majesties as they breakfasted latethe next morning with correspondence and telegrams piled up beside them. 

"What can have become of Charlotte?" cried the Queen. "She must _know_!"

"If she knew, she would be here, " said the King, confident in hisdaughter's affection. 

They stared at each other in a surmise which turned gradually to dismay. This unfilial silence upon their escape from the bomb of the assassintold them with staggering certainty that Charlotte was missing. 

"She has run away!" cried the Queen. 

"But she must be somewhere, " objected the King; "and wherever she is shewould surely have heard the news. "

"She may be quite out in the country, " suggested the Queen, picking uphope. 

"Still she has friends who must know where she has gone. "

"It's incredible!" cried her Majesty; "heartless, I call it. "

"No, no, she simply doesn't know!" said the King; of that he was quitecertain. "We are sure to hear from her in the course of the day, " hecontinued reassuringly, "meanwhile we shall have to make inquiries. "

But the day went on, and no sign from Charlotte; nor did inquiries bringdefinite news up to date. She had arrived with her expectant hostess onthe day appointed; but after staying only one night had gone elsewhere, and from that point in place and time no trace of her was to be found. 

Before the day was over the King and Queen had become terribly anxious, and by the end of the week they were almost at their wits' end. 

And here we get yet another instance of the drawbacks and dangers whichattend upon royalty. Had Charlotte belonged to any ordinary rank oflife, it could have been announced that she was missing; her descriptioncould have been issued to the press, and search for her made reasonablyeffective. But, as things were, this could not be done, Charlotte wasimpulsive and did indiscreet things; and until one knew exactly what itportended, to publish her disappearance to all the world would have beentoo rash and sudden a proceeding. Once that was done there could be nohushing up of the matter; all Jingalo, nay, all Europe, would have tohear of it, including, of course, the Prince of Schnapps-Wasser; and so, at all costs of private strain and anxiety, it was necessary to concealas long as possible that the Princess was not where she ought to be, andwas perhaps where she ought not to be. 

Now please, do not let my readers at this point think that it wasCharlotte who had thrown the bomb. Even for the sake of literary effect, I would not for one moment deceive them. It was not Charlotte; Charlottehad nothing to do with it, and did not even know of it. And yet--I willgive them for a while this small problem to grapple with--Charlotte wasquite well, was in possession of all her senses, was thoroughly enjoyingherself, and was not outside the land of her inheritance. Mostemphatically she had not run away. 

And there for the moment we will leave the matter, and attend to thingsmore important. 

II

The King had caught sight in the newspaper of something which annoyedhim very much; annoyed him all the more because it seemed to betokenthat the moment his abdication was withdrawn the old ministerialencroachments on the royal prerogative had begun again. 

"We are officially informed, " so ran the paragraph, "that the Ministerof the Interior has advised his Majesty to grant a reprieve to the threestrike leaders now lying under sentence of death for their part in therecent riots and police murders. It is understood that the sentenceswill be commuted to penal servitude for life. "

And this was the first the King had heard of it!

He sent at once for the Home Minister; and within an hour that greatofficial stood before him. 

"Mr. Secretary, " said the King sharply, as he laid the offendingparagraph before him, "since when, may I ask, has the Crown'sprerogative of mercy become the perquisite of the Home Office?"

"I do not think, sir, " submitted the Secretary with all outwardhumility, "that any such change has come about. In this case thecircumstances were special and very urgent. "

"Why, then, was I not consulted?"

"There was hardly time, your Majesty. "

"I was here. "

"I apprehended that the recent event--so very upsetting to yourMajesty----"

"Come, come, " interjected the King, "if I was able to read my speechimmediately after it--as I did--I was quite able to attend to otherbusiness as well; and you ought to have known it. "

The King did not thus usually speak to one of his ministers; but, havingjust had to face so heavy a defeat of his plans for honorableretirement, he was the more bent on asserting himself. 

"Your Majesty will pardon me, it had to be issued to the press without amoment's delay. We had received information which made the matter ofgreat urgency. "

"I will hear your explanation, " said the King coldly; and the Secretarywent on. 

"You are doubtless aware, sir, that about these sentences there has beena very considerable agitation among the workers; and the utter failureof the strike has not improved matters. "

"I am aware of that, " said the King. 

"It had always been my intention, as soon as the march of strikers hadbeen dispersed in an orderly manner, to recommend the exercise of theroyal clemency. It was in fact merely a matter of hours, whencircumstances forestalled us. The session closed before any of thestrike marchers could arrive upon the scene; and then came the eventwhich diverted popular attention. It was for that reason, I presume, that only yesterday certain of the men's leaders made very inflammatoryspeeches--of a kind which it would be extremely difficult for theauthorities to overlook or make any appearance of yielding to. Onespeech in particular, calling upon the hangman to refuse to perform hisduty and threatening his life if he did so, was of a peculiarlyseditious character; for I need hardly point out that if thatfunctionary is not protected in the fulfilment of his official dutiesthe downfall of law and order has begun. It was absolutely necessary, therefore, to forestall any reports of that speech in the metropolitanpress. For a few hours we were able to keep back the news; yourMajesty's clemency was announced in the late issues of all the eveningpapers, and the 'Don't Hang' speech was not reported till this morning;and thus, coming after the event, has fallen comparatively flat. I thinkthat now your Majesty will understand the position. "

The Secretary had finished. 

"And that is your explanation?" queried the King. 

The minister bowed. 

"I have to say that it does not satisfy me. "

The minister lifted sad eyebrows, but did not speak. 

"You tell me that for many days this recommendation of mercy has beenyour fixed intention. Why, then, did you not consult me? Why did youassume that, at a moment's notice, I should be able to fall in with yoursuggestion; why, even, that I should think the dispersal of certainriotous assemblies a convenient signal for the exercise of the royalprerogative?"

"I have merely followed, sir, the ordinary course of procedure observedin my department. "

"Until, being unexpectedly pressed for time, you departed from it. Afterall the telephone was between us; I was here. I might not have agreed:but at least I should have been consulted!"

The minister pursed his lips; to this sort of hectoring he had reallynothing to say. It did not comport with his official dignity. 

The King rose. "Mr. Secretary, as I have already said, your explanationdoes not satisfy me. I shall communicate my sentiments to the PrimeMinister. "

His Majesty did not extend his hand; but by a motion of the head showedthat the interview was over; and there was nothing left for the Ministerof the Interior to do but retire from the room. 

And the next day he retired from office; for though the Prime Ministerurged many things in his defense, and more particularly themisapprehension which his present retirement might cause, the Kingremained obdurate; he was bent upon making an example. In the greatpolitical game he had miscalculated and lamentably failed, but red-tapewas still his cherished possession; and you can do a good deal withred-tape when you have an unquestioned authority to fall back upon. Professor Teller's volumes of Constitutional History still lay upon aretired shelf in the royal library (indeed it was from one of them thathe had extracted with slight changes his formal pronouncement ofabdication); and if he could not get anything else out of his ministershe was determined to secure official correctness. Though they slightedhis opinion, they should recognize his authority; punctiliousness atleast they should render him as his one remaining due. 

And so when the Prime Minister urged how small and accidental was theomission, his Majesty remarked that it was one of many; and when heargued how any delay might have proved dangerous, the point at whichdelay had begun was again icily indicated. More pressingly still did heinvite the King to consider in what light, if unexplained, thisresignation would be popularly regarded; would it not be taken as anadmission of blame by the head of the Home Department for the occurrenceof the late outrage?

"Very likely, " assented the King; "after all it took place onGovernment premises. " Whereat the Prime Minister, looking somewhatstartled and distressed, inquired whether any such imputation of blamehad been his Majesty's ulterior motive for his present action. 

"I have no motives left, " said the King wearily; "I am merely doing myduty. "

In which aspect he was proving himself a very difficult person to dealwith. "I am not arguing, I am only telling you, " was an attitude whichput him in a much stronger position with his intellectual superiors thanany attempt at converting them to his views. From this day on he stoodforth to his ministers as a rigid constitutional reminder; and with sixvolumes of the minutiæ of constitutional usage at his fingers' ends theamount of time he was able to waste and the amount of trouble he wasable to give were simply amazing. 

The Prime Minister had been quite right; the resignation of the HomeSecretary caused just that flutter of unfavorable suspicion which he hadexpected. For some reason or another he was extremely distressed by it, and begged from his Majesty the grant of a full State pension to theretired minister. But the King would not hear of it. "It is not myduty, " he said, "to grant full pensions to those who fail in theirofficial obligations. Where I am more personally concerned I have notpressed you; I have not asked for the resignation of the Prefect ofPolice, though I think I might have some reason to show for it. Heprevented nothing, and he has discovered nothing. Do you expect me toopen Parliament for you again next week, with the same ceremony, alongthe same route, and at the same risk?"

He was assured that every precaution would be taken. 

"I hope so, " he said in the tone of one who very much doubted whetherthe ministerial word was now worth anything. 

Under this harassing and unhandsome treatment the Prime Minister wasbeginning to show age; and the coming session gave no promise that hiscares in other respects would be less heavy than before; the WomenChartists were threatening a bigger outbreak in the near future, andLabor was now claiming to be freely supported from the rates either whenout of work or when on strike. And when the Address to the Throne wasbeing moved Labor and the Women Chartists would be in renewed agitation, asking for things which would make party politics quite impossible, andwhich it was therefore quite impossible for party politics to grant. Ifthe Government had not still got that thoroughly unpopular House ofBishops to sit upon and coerce, things would be looking very blackindeed. 

III

And meanwhile where was the Princess Charlotte? Seven horrible days hadgone by; and the inner circle of the detective force had been runningabout in padded slippers, so to speak, giving an accurate description ofa lady whose name nobody knew, and who had been last seen in thevicinity of a college for women. Very privately and confidentially thetitled lady who was the head of that institution had been interviewed;but her information was limited. 

"She came to me only for one day, " said the Principal, "though I thoughtshe was intending to stay a week. I hardly know when I missed her; shehad laid it down so very emphatically that she was to be left free andtreated without ceremony, that really I did not trouble to look afterher. Whenever she was here her Highness always mixed quite freely withthe students; I know that with some of them she had made friends. Theyare far more likely to know what her plans were than I am. "

Further inquiry in the direction thus indicated had to be carried onelsewhere, since the students had now separated for the vacation; andwherever inquiry was made the same stealthy secrecy had to be adopted;nobody must be allowed to suppose that the Princess Royal of Jingalo wasmissing. And so--on a sort of all-fours not at all conducive tospeed--the quest went on. 

On the fifth day, however, some relief had arrived to reduce theparental anxiety to bearable proportions. A letter, dropped fromnowhere, bearing the metropolitan postmark, came to the King's hands. Itgave only the barest, yet very essential information. 

"Dearest papa, " it ran, "I am quite well, and enjoying myself. I shallbe back in a fortnight. "

News of the arrival of this letter was immediately conveyed to theConstabulary Chief; and after three days of deep cogitation the absenceof all reference to the outrage and to the risk run by those near anddear to her seemed to strike him as peculiar, and supplied him with whathitherto the police had lacked--a clue. And after two more days ofstrenuously directed search it bore fruit. 

Late one afternoon the King was sitting at work in his study when hisComptroller-General entered hastily and in evident excitement; forthough the King was then busily engaged in writing he presumed tointerrupt, not waiting for the royal interrogating glance to give himhis permission. 

"I beg your pardon, sir, " he said, in a tone of very urgent apology. 

"Well, well?" said the King rather testily, for he did not like hiswriting-hour to be thus disturbed, "what is it?"

"The Prime Minister wishes to see you, sir, on a matter of extremeurgency. "

The King had so long been pestered by ministers on matters which theyconsidered urgent and which he did not, that he had little patience forsuch pleas, coming at the wrong time. 

"What about?" he inquired curtly. 

The Comptroller-General, who was supposed not to know, replieddiscreetly but in a tone of veiled meaning, "Something in the HomeDepartment I believe, sir. Just now, while there is no chief secretary, the Prime Minister himself is seeing to matters. "

"Dear, dear!" sighed his Majesty, "I do wish he would manage to get hisurgent business done at the proper time!"

"I think, sir, " said the General, "that this matter is one of sufficientimportance to justify a suspension of the ordinary rules. " He paused, asthough about to say more, but thought better of it; after all the matterdid not lie within his department. 

"Very well, " said the King, "let him come in, then!" And in due coursethe Premier entered. 

It was evident at a glance that he was the bearer of important, nay, even alarming, intelligence; his eye was startled and anxious, hismanner full of discomposure, and without waste of a moment he openedabruptly upon the business which had brought him. 

"I have come to inform your Majesty, " said he, "that we have at lastdiscovered the Princess Charlotte's whereabouts. "

"Oh?" said the King, excluding from his tone any indication of gratitudeover the too long delayed discovery. "And pray, where is she?"

"I regret to say, sir, that her Royal Highness is at this moment inStonewall Jail. "

"Good Heavens!" exclaimed the King, startled out of his coldness. "Whatever took her there?"

"She was taken, sir, in a 'Molly Hold-all'[1] along with several others. And she has been there for the last ten days. "

[Footnote 1: Jingalese equivalent for "Black Maria. "]

"Yes, yes; but what I want to know is what has she been doing? In thiscountry one doesn't get put into prison for nothing, I should hope. "

"The charge, sir, was for assaulting the police. No doubt there has beena very regrettable mistake; there was, unquestionably, in themagistrate's court, some conflict of evidence. "

"Assaulting the police!" exclaimed the King petulantly. 

"But what else are the police there for?--when there's trouble, I mean. And how many of them did she assault, pray?"

"I believe only one, sir, " replied the Prime Minister; "at least onlyone of them gave any evidence against her, and there were five witnessesto say that she did not assault him. The magistrate who convicted, however, accepted the constable's evidence; he is, I believe, ratherhard of hearing; and I am told that he thought the witnesses in herfavor were all giving evidence against her. If that is so, itsufficiently accounts for the conviction. On the other hand there can beno doubt that the Princess did intend to get arrested. "

"When did all this take place?"

"In the course of the last Chartist disturbances, three days before therising of Parliament. Some sixty or seventy women then caused themselvesto be arrested, and it seems that the Princess was one of them. "

"She must be mad!" exclaimed the King in bewilderment. "Whatever couldhave induced her?"

"Was your Majesty aware that she had any leanings towards politics?"

"She has ideas, " said the King, "like other young people; but she isgenerally very busy changing them; and, beyond a notion that a womanought always to have her own way, and never be asked to do what shedoesn't want to do, she----" And then it began to dawn upon him--thoughonly darkly--what Charlotte was really after: she was demonstratingmadly, extravagantly, her claim to personal freedom. And to prove howmuch she meant it she had gone to these wild lengths. Well might herfather, in his essentially middle-aged mind, wonder what the youngergeneration was coming to. 

"Poor dear silly child!" he exclaimed in fond irritation. "Why evercould she not have waited?"

That was a question the Prime Minister could not answer. 

"Well, well, " he went on, endeavoring to be philosophical over thebusiness, "she has had her lesson now; and after all there is no realharm done. "

"Your Majesty must pardon me; it has become a very serious matter, " saidthe Prime Minister gravely. 

"Why? Who knows anything about it? Who need know? She wasn't sentencedin her own name, I suppose?"

"Certainly not, sir; had she been recognized the thing could never havehappened. She must to some extent have altered her dress and herappearance: as to that I have no particulars. The name she actually wentin under was Ann Juggins. "

"Preposterous!" exclaimed the King. "And supposing that were to comeout!"

"That is the trouble, sir. Without the full and immediate exercise ofyour authority, I fear it may. As a matter of fact, that is why shestill remains where we found her. "

"Oh! Stuff and nonsense!" cried the King. "You don't come for myauthority in cases of this kind. Let her out, let her out! and saynothing more about it!"

"The Prefect, sir, has already been to see her, and she refuses to belet out; that is to say, declares that if she is not allowed to serveher full sentence she will make the whole of the affair public. "

"Public?"

"Name and all. There was her ultimatum; she made a special point of it. Her Highness seems somehow to be aware that the name is an impossibleone, a weapon against which no Government department could stand. Theword 'Juggins, '--only think, sir, what it means! Here we have aridiculous, a most lamentable blunder committed by the police, sufficient of itself to cause us the gravest embarrassment; and then tohave on the top of it all this name with its ridiculous associationrising up to confound us. We should go down as 'the Juggins Cabinet';the word would be cried after us by every errand-boy in the street--theGovernment would become impossible. "

The King did his best to conceal his delight at the predicament in whichCharlotte's escapade had, by the confession of its Chief, placed theCabinet. This tyrannical Government, in spite of its large majority, itsstrong party organization, and its bureaucratic powers, was unable tostand up against ridicule; a mere breath, and all its false pretensionsto dignity would be exposed, and its dry bones, speciously clad instrong armor, would rattle down into the dust. 

And if he chose to use this knowledge suddenly gained, what a power itwould give him! Yes; he had only to send for Charlotte and bid her cry'Juggins, ' and that which, with so many months of anxious toil and withthreat of abdication, he had failed to bring about, would immediatelyaccomplish itself in other ways. But unfortunately the King was a man ofscrupulous conscience, and was bound by his ideas of what became amonarch and a gentleman. He may have been quite mistaken in regarding asunclean the weapon with which Heaven had supplied him; but as he did soregard it, one must reluctantly admit that he was right to throw itaside. 

"Well, " he said, when the Prime Minister had finished, "she must be madenot to tell, that's all!"

"I fear, sir, she is very determined. "

"Determined to do what?"

"To serve out her sentence. "

The King sat and thought for a while. He knew his Charlotte better thanthe police did; and, besides that, during the past week he had quitemade up his mind that the Prefect of Police was in some matters ablunderer. "I wonder how he tried to get her out, " he meditated aloud. "Did she send me any message?"

"Nothing direct, sir, that I know of; but I take it that her ultimatumwas also directed against any possible action on the part of yourMajesty. She was quite determined to do her full time; said indeed thatyou had promised her a fortnight. What that may mean, I do not know. "

"Oh, really!" cried the King, "the folly of the official mind is pastall believing, --especially when it concentrates itself in the policeforce! Let somebody go to that poor child and tell her that her fatherand mother have had a bomb thrown at them, and are trying to recoverthemselves in the grief caused by her absence! And then unchain her (youkeep them in chains, I suppose?), open the door of her prison, and seehow she'll run! And tell the Prefect, " he added, "that I cannot presenthim with my compliments. "

The King was quite right. In case Charlotte should refuse to believe theofficial word, she was shown a newspaper with lurid illustrations; andwithin an hour's time she was back at the palace, weeping, holding herfather and mother alternately in her arms, and scolding them for all theworld as though they had been guilty of outrageous behavior, and notshe. 

And, after all, it was a very good way of getting over the preliminariesof a rather awkward meeting. 

IV

But when the first transports of joy at that reunion were over, they hadto settle down to naughty facts and talk with serious disapproval toCharlotte of her past doings. And as they did so, though she still wepta little, the Princess observed with secret satisfaction that she had atany rate cured her mother of one thing--of knitting, namely, while adaughter's fate was being dangled in the parental balance. 

From that day on when Charlotte showed that she was really in earnestthe Queen put down her knitting; and those who have lived under certaindomestic conditions where tyranny is always, as though by divine right, benevolent, wise, self-confident, and self-satisfied to the verge ofconceit, will recognize that this in itself was no inconsiderabletriumph. 

Charlotte was quite straightforward as to why she had done the thing;she had done it partly out of generous enthusiasm for a cause which shedid not very well understand, but to which certain friends of hers hadattached themselves with a blind and dogged obstinacy (two of thosefriends she had left in prison behind her); but more because she wishedto supply an object lesson of what she was really like to the Prince ofSchnapps-Wasser. 

She insisted that he was to be told all about it. And the Queen was indespair. 

"Tell him that you have been in jail like a common criminal forassaulting the police? I couldn't, it would break my heart! I should dieof the shame of it. "

"Very well, " said Charlotte, "I will tell him myself, then; you can'tprevent me doing that! No, I'm not going to be headstrong, or foolish, or obstinate, or any of the things you said I was: now I've made theexhibition of myself that I intended making, I'll be a lamb. If I likehim enough, and if he likes me enough, I'll marry him. But I shall haveto like him a great deal more than I do at present; and he will have towant me very much more than it's possible for him to do until he hasseen me----"

"Oh, don't be so conceited, my dear!" said the Queen, her good-humor andconfidence beginning to be restored as she watched the fair flushedface, and those queer attractive little gestures which made herdaughter's charm so irresistible. 

"Before anything will induce me to say 'yes, '" concluded Charlotte. 

And then, as though that finished the matter, and as though her ownnaughty doings were of no further interest, she cried: "And now tell meabout the bomb!" And the Queen, who still liked to dwell upon thatepisode of sights, sounds, and sensations, strangely mingled andtriumphantly concluded by a popular ovation such as she had never metwith in her life before, started off at once on a detailed narrative, corrected now and then by the King's more sober commentary, and aided bythe eager questions of her daughter, who sat in close and fond contactwith both of them, mopping her eyes alternately with her mother'shandkerchief and her own. 

"Oh! why wasn't I there?" she cried incautiously, when word came of thegreat popular reception crowning all. 

"Ah! why weren't you?" inquired the King waggishly. And when he had madethat little joke at her, Charlotte knew that all her naughty goings offand goings on were comfortably forgiven and done with. 

"But you know, papa, " she said later, when for the first time they werealone together, "I have found out quite a lot of things that _you_ knownothing about: quite dreadful things! And they are going on behind yourback, and women are being put into prison for it. "

All this was said very excitedly, and with great earnestness andconviction. 

"My dear, " said the King, "it's no use your talking about those WomenChartists to me. "

"But I'm one of them, " said Charlotte. 

"Nonsense; you are not. "

"I am. I signed on. I couldn't have gone to prison for them if Ihadn't. "

"Do any of them know who you are?" cried the King, aghast. It was adisturbing thought, for what a power it would be in their hands, and hehad always heard how unscrupulous they were. 

"Only one or two, " declared Charlotte, "and they won't tell unless Itell them to. They are wonderful people, papa!"

The King sighed; for the very name of them had become a weariness tohim. The whole agitation, with its dim confused scufflings against lawand order, and its demonstrations idiotically recurring at the mostinopportune moments, had profoundly vexed him. Years ago he had receivedthe bland assurance of his ministers that the whole thing would soon diedown and cease; but it was still going on, and was now taking to itselfworse forms than ever. 

"What is it that they want?" he exclaimed, not quite meaning it as aquestion; rather as expressing the opinion that the subject was ahopeless one. 

"They want a great many things, " said his daughter; "they've got whatthey call 'grievances'; I know very little about them; they may be rightor wrong--that isn't the point. The only thing that concerns you, papa, is that they want to come and see you; and they are not allowed to. "

"Come and see me?"

"Yes; bring you a petition. "

"What about?"

"To have their grievances looked into. "

"_I_ can't look into their grievances. "

"No; but you can say that they shall be. "

The King shook his head. Charlotte did not know what she was talkingabout. 

"Yes, papa, that is the position. Of course you haven't the right tomake laws or levy taxes, but you can send word to Parliament to saysomething has got to be considered and decided. And about this, Parliament won't consider and won't decide. And that is why they aretrying to get to you with a petition; so that you shall say that it isto be looked into. "

"But I can't say that sort of thing, my dear. "

"Yes, you can, papa! It's an old right; the right of unrepresentedpeople to come direct to their sovereign and tell him that his ministersare refusing to do things for them. And your ministers are trying tokeep you from knowing about it, to keep you from knowing even that youhave such a power; and by not knowing it they are making you break yourCoronation oath. Oh, papa, isn't that dreadful to think of?"

"My dear, if that were true----"

"But it is true, papa! These women are trying to bring you theirpetition, and they are prevented. The ministers say that you havenothing to do with it; so they go to the ministers--they take theirpetition to the ministers, and ask them to bring it to you, so that youmay give them an answer. Have any of them brought you the petition, papa?"

The King shook his head. 

"You see, they do nothing! And so the women go again, and again, andagain, taking their petition with them; and because they are trying toget to you--to say that their grievances shall be looked into, andsomething done about them--because of that they are being beaten andbruised in the streets; and when they won't turn back then they arearrested and sent to prison. "

By this time Charlotte was weeping. 

"They may be quite wrong, " she cried, "foolish and impossible in theirdemands; they may have no grievances worth troubling about--though ifso, why are they troubling as they do?--but they have the right, underthe old law, for those grievances to be inquired into and considered anddecided about. And Parliament won't do it; it is too busy about otherthings, grievances that aren't a bit more real, and about which peoplehaven't been petitioning at all. But you, papa (if that petition came toyou), would have the right to make them attend to it. And they know it;and that's why they won't let you hear anything about it. "

The King's conscience was beginning to be troubled. He had no confidenceeither in the good sense or the uprightness of his ministers to fallback upon; and he saw that his daughter, though she knew so little aboutthe merits of the case, was very much in earnest. She had caught hishand and was holding it; she kissed it, and he could feel the droppingof warm tears. 

"Very well, my dear, " he said, "very well; I promise that this shall belooked into. "

"Oh, papa!" she cried joyfully. "It was partly for that--just a little, not all, of course--that I went to prison. "

"Then you ought not to have been so foolish. Why could you not have cometo me?"

"I don't think you would have attended; not so much as you do now. "

And the King had to admit how, perhaps, that was true. 

"Well, my dear, " he said again, "I promise that it shall be seen to. No, I shan't forget. "

And then she kissed him and thanked him, and went away comforted. Andwhen he was alone he got down the index volume of Professor Teller's_Constitutional History_, and after some search under the heading of"Petitions" found indeed that Charlotte was right, and that the power tosend messages to Parliament for the remedying of abuses was still hisown. 

CHAPTER XVII

THE INCREDIBLE THING HAPPENS

I

Since the break-up of his plans the King had been finding consolation inhis son's book, an advance copy of which had reached him while Max wasstill abroad. Consolation is, perhaps, hardly the right word; it haddistracted him in more ways than one; partly, and in a good sense, fromhis own personal depression over things gone wrong, but more with ascared apprehension of the terrible hubbub that would arise when itscontents became known. The title, _Government and the Governed_, wassober enough, and the post-diluvian motto once threatened by Max hadbeen omitted; but the contents were of a highly revolutionary character, and the bland "take-or-leave me" attitude of the author toward thepublic he would some day be called upon to rule was on a par with thatstatement of her prison doings which Charlotte was preparing for thedelectation of Hans Fritz Otto, Prince of Schnapps-Wasser. In neithercase did it seem likely that such a confession would draw partiestogether. 

And so before the King had even finished reading he felt it his duty towrite imploring his son not to publish. 

Before an answer could reach him important events supervened. Thereverberations of the bomb brought Max flying back to the bosom of hisfamily; and then the Charlotte episode had followed, over which Max hadnot been at all sympathetic, for in spite of his emancipated views aboutthings in general, he had still the particular notion that revolutionbelonged only to men, and that women, incapable of conducting itefficiently, had far better leave it alone. 

And so it was that only when things had begun to resettle themselves wasany fresh reference made to the book's forthcoming publication. 

As soon as the subject was broached Max presented a face of politeastonishment. 

"I thought you knew, sir, " he said. 

"Knew what?"

"The most important event in recent history; I even thought you mighthave instigated it. "

"I don't know what you are talking about. "

"Then I must break the news. My book has been burned to the ground. " Hespoke as though it had been an edifice. "I am told, for my consolation, that it burned extremely well--'fiercely, ' the papers said--and gave thefiremen a lot of trouble. Your letter and the news reached me almostsimultaneously; I knew, therefore, that you would be glad. "

"No, no, don't say 'glad, '" protested the King; "in a way I am sorry, even. I only wanted it to be anonymous. One can do things anonymously. How did it come about?"

"It was the work of an incendiary. "

"How do you know that?"

"There was absolute proof, --something which refused to burn, --a box ofmatches made in Jingalo, or some other fire-resistant of a similar kind. The perpetrator got off. Yes--the House of Ganz-Wurst certainly seems atthe present moment particularly to attract the attentions of theseobscurantists in politics. Who knows whether the hand which threw thebomb at you had not already been dipped in the petrol which had given soflaming an account of my claims to authorship?"

"What are you going to do about it?"

"Reprint, I suppose, as soon as I can afford it, or do you still wish menot to? You hold almost the only copy that is left. "

The King shook his head. "As I told you, Max, I think publication wouldbe very unwise; you would be sure to regret it afterwards. Rememberthat some day you will come to the throne; and what you think you can donow you can't do then. All at once it becomes impossible. "

And then the King gave a queer consternated gasp, for he himselfremembered something--something he had conditionally promised, believingthat the conditions would never be fulfilled; and now fate had broughtthem about; and if Max so willed it a thing would presently be takingplace much more disturbing to the institution of royalty than thepublication of a mere book. 

To the King's last remark Max merely replied: "At present, sir, it isyou who are upon the throne and not I--a circumstance over which I havevery particular reasons for being glad. And now, sir, something has justoccurred to me: do not think that I am going to anticipate the date youfixed, that is not till next week, but when all is settled, as it sosoon will be if I remain of sane mind, then I will present all thepreserved copies of my book to the lady whom you so disapprove of, andshe shall do with them exactly as she wishes--order a new edition, orput them on the fire to help her make soup for the poor. That is alittle device of mine, sir, for bringing her into your good graces; forif I know anything of her mind she will maintain that to publish such abook without a full intention of putting its principles into practice isa mere parade of insincerity and foolishness. And so--from your point ofview--she will be saving the monarchy from a danger which no one elsecan avert; for I am not prepared to surrender my power to do mischiefinto any hands but hers. A copy of the book, you may be interested tohear, has already gone to her; and her silence about it warns me thatthe epoch it so strenuously makes for is not the one that she desires. "

"You are still talking like a book, Max, " said the King sarcastically, wishing to divert discussion for the time being from that which he wasreferring to. 

"Ah, yes, " said Max; "as a bird who mourns his mate. Why, for a while, should I not indulge my grief? I shall never write another; all I had itin me to say was said there. In future--though you may hear in my voicean echo of that lost romance--I am going to be a man not of words but ofdeeds. "

The King smiled. 

"You look incredulous, sir; but I have already startled that Commissionyou put me on, and compelled it to include in the scope of its inquirythings which it did not want to inquire into at all. Believe me, sir; ifwe get before us all the evidence that I intend we shall find ourselvesforced into making a very unpopular report--far more unpopular than mybook would have been, and far more subversive of the established orderof things than at present you can have any idea. Even your coats, sir--exorbitant though their price now is--are going to cost you more asa result of this Commission, unless we can so arrange that in future alittle less shall be paid for the 'cut' and a little more for the needleand thread that join the cuttings together. I am going to have it saidin this report of ours--for I have discovered it to be a fact--that thevery clothes which are your daily wear (and mine) are put together bymen and women paid at something less than twopence-half-penny an hour. And I am going to get it put in that scandalously personal way (yourclothes and mine--the clothes we go to open Parliament in, and set thefashions in, and when we have worn them some half-dozen times hand on tocharity), I am going to have it thus put that all may be conscious andashamed when they see us so exhibiting ourselves, and no longer think awell-cut coat under modern commercial conditions a fit adjunct forroyalty. That, sir, will do a great deal more harm to 'trade' than mybook would have done. The public conscience does not like to have thesethings brought home to royalty itself; we and the 'social evil' are inno way to be connected with each other, lest it should be seen that wehelp to make its ways easy. Only the other day I was credibly informedthat a man who headed with twenty thousand pounds the list of a charitybearing my mother's name, has been allowed by the police to get out ofthis country scot free--though guilty of infamous conduct, --merelybecause the contribution of that tainted donation to a royal fund wouldnot have 'looked well. '"

"Oh, stop talking to me, Max!" cried the King, made irritable by hisincreased sense of helplessness. "Go and do what you like, say what youlike, report what you like; you've got the Commission to play with; runit for all it is worth; but for Heaven's sake let me have peace for awhile! Why should you trouble me? You know that I can do nothing. "

"You have done a great deal, " said Max, whose admiration for his fatherhad grown very considerably during the past year. 

"I have missed doing a great deal; but of that you know nothing, and I'mnot going to tell you. " And then he could stand it no more. "Do youimagine I should have made you that idiotic promise, " he cried, "if Ihad supposed for a moment that I should still be here when you came toclaim it?" And so saying he got up and, diplomatic in retreat, hurriedout of the room. 

Max, left to his own surmisings, opened wide and wondering eyes. "Did hethrow that bomb at himself?" he murmured in astonishment. "It looks verymuch as if he did. "

II

Parliament opened again without any difficulty in the middle ofDecember; and the enormous popularity of the King and Queen was greatlyenhanced by the circumstance of their reappearance within so short atime for an occasion so closely similar. Only another bomb could haveincreased the favorable impression made upon the populace by theiraffable return to the charge--if a slow walking-pace may be sodescribed--within three weeks of the attempted outrage. 

As the Prime Minister had promised the police spared no pains to insuretheir safety, and behind the hoardings of the new Government officesdetectives were packed like herrings in a barrel, with special eye-holesbored through so that they might note the actual passing of the royalcarriage, and have it well under observation at the point of dangerwhich was, presumably, that at which the last explosion had occurred. Then the whole police force held its breath, and the coach got pastwithout any difficulty; and immediately the waiting multitude in RegencyRow became violently demonstrative as though some great acrobatic feathad been achieved. And the piebald ponies came stepping likerope-dancers each held by a groom; and everything--except the fresh bombfor which so many stage preparations had been made--went off with allthe success imaginable. 

The King did not read his own speech: he had a sore throat for theoccasion, and only with his ears did he swallow the bitter pill of thatforeshadowed scheme which he had so long and vainly resisted; for now hewas bound by his own promise, and could no longer "stand in the way. "

And so, by the mouth of the Lord High Commissioner, the Bishops heardunder its smooth-sounding title the plan for their approaching doom readout from the steps of the Throne, and as soon as the King and the Queenhad retired, budding members on the ministerial side in both Housesrose up to congratulate the Cabinet and the country on those wise andstatesmanlike proposals, and hardened veterans upon the other, theArchbishop included, rose up to condemn them. And after that, for threeor four days a general wrangling--all leading to nothing--went on. 

But while Parliament talked vacuously within, outside came rumblings ofstorm; the discontent of certain sections of the community withconditions unsettled or unattended to was gathering to a head. And onthe third day after the session had opened, Charlotte said to her fatherwith rather a tragic look, "Papa, do you know what is going to happento-night?" And then she told him. 

It was those Women Chartists again. 

The King had been true to his word, he had made inquiries; in a way hehad even "looked into the matter, " and had received from the right andofficial quarter bland assurances that there was nothing in it--merely ageneral obstreperousness and a wish to cause trouble to the police. Buthis conscience, which so often ran away with him, was still troubled;and so when the evening came he sent once again for the newly appointedHome Minister; and in reply to rather anxious questions was givenconfidently to understand that the police arrangements were quiteadequate for the occasion, that everything would be done as quietly andas leniently as possible; and that no edge of the disturbance would inany case be allowed to overflow in the direction of the royal palace. Ashe listened to the cocksure tone of this new minister, and the almostpatronizing air with which he exposed his official fitness for the postso recently conferred on him, the King ceased to ask questions--let theman talk himself out, --and then, when silence seemed to give consent, got rid of him. 

It was now time that he should go to dress for dinner, but the motiveforce was absent. He stood for a while considering, then went to thewindow, and opening it let in the distant hum of the city traffic. 

All sounded as usual, pleasant, busy, peaceable. Yet if what hisdaughter told him was true, within half-an-hour those quietly-soundingstreets would be thronged with thousands upon thousands waiting for thearrival of the women to claim their old historical right of petition;and serried lines of police--thousands of them also--would be standingto bar their way, whatever direction they might go in quest of thegoverning authority. And in the hands of these women would be petitionspersonally addressed to himself; yet never had any minister put to himthe question whether he would be willing to receive them and hear whatthey had to say; such an idea seemed not to have entered their heads--orwas it the fear lest such a reception might give the cause too great animportance in the public eye? Here, once again, then, proof met him ofthe conspiracy of modern government constantly going on to bring aboutdisconnection between the Crown and the real life-needs and aspirationsof the people. Suffocating traditions closed him round making a cypherof him--to himself a scorn and a derision, and a monster unto many--justas much, by this denial of petition, a breaker of his Crown oath asthose who in the past had paid penalty for it with their lives!

There outside, in the nipping wintry air, he could hear the sounds of aliberty he no longer shared: the trotting of cab-horses, the cry ofnewsboys, the whiffle and hoot of motor-cars. Up through the bare treesof the park swam a soft radiance of light from the lamps below, andemergent like a full moon on a misty sky the face of the greatParliament clock dawned luminous to his gaze. 

So long he stood, and listened, and waited, that before he closed thewindow again the clock had told the three-quarters to eight. Then hehesitated no more; passing out of his study and down to a lower corridorhe came presently to the cloak lobby, and selecting a rough full-lengthovercoat, a motor cap, and from a drawer a pair of clouded snow-glasses, arrayed himself in these, and with flaps drawn down and coat collarturned high, passed out by a small side-entrance which led on to theterrace. 

Chill air and a bosom of darkness received him; through the thickbarrier of trees skirting the walled precincts scarcely a light winked;only the large domed conservatory behind him threw a pale radiancebefore his feet as he crossed the terrace and moved off by a windingpath in the direction of a small postern concealed in shrubbery. 

As he quitted the grass, the sound of his own footfalls upon firm gravelmade him guiltily afraid; and it was not without some moral effort thathe, a king in his own domain, kept himself from stepping backsecretively to the turfed edge. Suppressing the inclination, heproceeded at a smart pace, and coming presently to the door with aslip-latch on its inner side he opened it and passed through. 

At the sound of opening a policeman stationed outside turned and stoodpassively regarding him; his muffled appearance seemed sufficiently inkeeping with the uses to which this particular exit was put by others toawaken neither suspicion nor surprise. With a half-waggish air ofrespect the man touched his helmet. "Good-evening, sir, " said he, asthough there subsisted between the habitués of that door and himself asort of understanding. 

To make a quicker escape from the man's scrutiny and the glare of thelamp commanding the entrance, the King crossed the road, and took up hiscourse along the more dimly lighted footway on the further side. At thishour the park row in which he found himself was almost deserted; now andagain single pedestrians went by, and as he received from none of thesemore than a cursory and inattentive glance, his sense of incognitoincreased, and he stepped out more confidently to the task that layahead. 

Presently he was passing along the palace front and under theeyes of sentries standing motionless at their posts; and againhe had satisfaction in perceiving that as he went by there was noinclination on the part of any one of them to present arms. Heglanced up at the palace façade, with its windows softly lightedthrough blinds. He could pick out his own sitting-room, and theQueen's, where probably she was now reading the note he had sent toinform her that urgent business called him away. There were thelights of the smaller dining-hall, within which a table richly adornedwith gold and silver plate stood even now waiting its twenty accustomedguests--the minister-in-attendance and the higher permanent officials ofthe Court. No one else from outside was coming to-night except PrinceMax. That was fortunate, Max would take his place. 

As soon as he was outside the borders of the park the King quitted themain thoroughfare for narrow and dimly lit alleys, avoiding the streetsof wide pavements and shops which had scarcely yet begun to close; andbefore long found that he had lost his way. 

The fact was sufficiently absurd; here within a stone's throw of his ownpalace, and stretching almost to the doors of the House of Legislaturewhereto he went in so much state every year, lay an unknown territorywhich he had never thought to explore. The intricacy of back streets wasquite unknown to him, and he seemed at almost every corner to bestepping into yards and cul-de-sacs, from which he had perforce to turnback again. In a short time all sense of the points of the compass wasgone. 

A small ragged urchin asked him the time, and that casual touch ofcommunalism made him feel more at home. He took out his watch--it wasalready five minutes past eight: over those high narrow streets, withtheir thin strip of sky, the big clock of Parliament had boomed the hourand he had not heard it. Away scurried the urchin as though already latefor something, excitedly calling on others to follow; and the King, withthe presumption that these running feet would be sure to lead him in thedirection where he wished to go, followed them round two corners. Afterthat all trace of them was gone. 

A sound of shrill singing now struck his ear. He was in a narrowasphalted way surrounded by workmen's tenements. Right in the middle, occupying the place of the non-existent traffic, ten or a dozen childrenwere dancing a sort of figure, and singing the while. As he drew near hecaught snatches of the words. 

Of an elder child, who stood looking on, he stopped and asked the way. She told him, gesticulating as to which corners he was to pass, pointingall the time to the promised goal. Incautiously he dropped a coin intoher hand; and, as kings do not carry coppers, immediately there was acry. The singers stopped and surrounded him, stretching up clamorouspalms; a whole dozen were now feverishly anxious to show him every stepof the way. 

"It's the 'Chartises' as you want to see, arn't it, mister?" inquiredone. "I'll show you where they go; I know all of 'em. "

The King pressed hurriedly on, hoping to get rid of them; but hisflustered air appealed to the tormenting instincts of youth, and toldthem that here they had got some one capable of being worried intosurrender. Still clamoring and thrusting up hands for backsheesh theykept pace with him. A few of them started singing again, and the restjoined in: perhaps singing was what the gentleman liked best--and so abetter way for gaining their end. The shrill voices fell into chorus;and to a queer lilting tune the words rang clear. 

 "Come to me Quietlee, Do not do me an injuree! Gently, Johnnie of Jingalo. "

"What's that?" cried the King, stopping short in his amazement; "what'sthat you say?" A new bewilderment seized on him. It wasimpossible--quite impossible that the children should know who he reallywas, yet there were the words with their implied accusation, as thoughpersonally directed at him, and at him alone. 

The small street singers, taking the inquiry for an encore, sang itagain; and this time the words had a curious flirtatious meaning whichmade them even worse. What was he being charged with?

"Where did you get that from?" he inquired, hot of face. 

"One of the Chartises taught it us, " said a child more ready of speechthan the rest. "They all sings it now. It's one of their songs, thatis!" So with reduplicating speech she conveyed intelligence to his mind. 

Never before had any word of poetry struck him a blow like this. He hadsaid that he did not understand poetry, but here was meaning only tooclear; in this song--so gentle, pleading, and pathetic in character, he, John of Jingalo, stood publicly accused of all the injuries that werebeing done to women in that necessary defense of law and order againstwhich, petition in hand, they were so obstinately setting themselves. What was all his popularity worth, if by the mouths of little childrenhis name was to be thus cried in the streets? It was scandalous, indecent; and yet--was it altogether without justification?

To be rid of his small tormentors and free for his own meditations, hetook the most practical means that suggested itself. 

"There, there!" he cried. "Run away, run away, all of you!" and throwinga random coin into their midst moved hastily away. Behind him as he wenthe heard battle royal being waged; liberal though the donation, andsufficient to distribute sustenance to all, each was now claiming it asher own perquisite. 

And so at his back the shrill sounds of wrath and contention went ontill they became merged in a louder roar, the origin of which waspresently made apparent. 

He turned a corner and saw before him a huge crowd, and Regency Rowpacked with seething humanity from end to end. 

III

For the first time in his life the King formed part of a crowd, and knewwhat it was like to feel his body and limbs packed in by the bodies andlimbs of others and to have the breath squeezed out of him. In thiscrowd the proportion of men to women was as ten to one; from thephysical point of view, therefore, the chances for these conflictingwomen were nil. All the same they were there in large numbers, and notfor the first time; many of them were already sufficiently well known tothe police. 

A curiously corporate movement possessed this crowd; when it shifted atall it shifted in large sections--three or four hundred at once; a wholestreet-width of men driving forward at a lunge, before which thestrongest barrier of police momentarily gave way. And wherever this kindof movement went on a few women formed the center of it. 

Small bundles of humanity, they shot by in the grip of that huge force, mischievous and uncontrolled; tossed, tousled, and squeezed, shedding asthey went small fragments of their outer raiment, lost momentarily toview in the surging mass of men, cornered, crushed back, held down aswithin a vise--emerging again like popped corks followed by a foamingrush of shouting youths, jeering or cheering them on; and still throughall that pressure obstinately retaining their human form, and enduringwith a strange silence what was being done to them by this great roaringmob which had come out "for fun. "

Some went their way wide-eyed, with terror in their looks, yet still setto their end; some with rigid faces and eyes shut fast, as thoughscarcely conscious--their souls elsewhere, submitting passively to thebuffetings of fate; and a few--strangest sight of all--smiling tothemselves, almost with a look of peace, as though in the very violenceby which they were assailed they discerned a triumph for their cause. 

And with all the screwing, pushing, and wrenching, the driving forwardand the hurling back, scarcely one woman's arm was raised, except nowand again to protect her breast from the lewd or wanton assaults of thecrowd. Some held, tight clasped in their hands, crumpled bits ofpaper--the petition, presumably, over which all this troublearose--stained, torn, almost illegible now, useless, yet still a symbolof the fight that was being waged. Now and then above the turmoil, inthe dimness that lay between the lighted streets and the crowningdarkness of night, went sudden flashes like sheet-lightning in storm;and at the stroke horses plunged, and youths screamed, facetiouslyimitating the voice of women. It was the work of photographers, securing, from some point of vantage overhead, flashlight records forthe delectation of the music halls. Again and again, with pistol-likereport, the monstrous dose was administered, the night took it at agulp, and the rabble responded with noise and shoutings. 

The genial voice of a mounted policeman working his way through thecrowd sounded humanly above the din. 

"I'm coming! I'm coming! I'm coming! I'm coming!" There was a touch ofhumor in the cry; for it was like the voice of a showman advertising hiswares to a pack of holiday-makers anxious to buy; and wherever he wentpleasantness reigned, and an element of good temper and consideratenessmingled itself with the crowd. 

"Oh! I'm coming! I'm coming! I'm coming!" Away he went on hisdisciplined errand of mercy, a man of kindliness, good counsel, andunderstanding, carrying out his orders in as human a way as waspossible. 

"Now then! Now then! Now then! I'm coming. Oh, I'm coming!"

The roaring multitude swallowed him; his cry grew faint, merged in thegeneral din. 

By the gradual compression and movement of the multitude toward somefancied center the King had been borne a good many hundred yards fromhis original point. Presently he found himself in a large open space, with its low-railed inclosure guarded by police. Here the crowd wasdenser than ever and its sway harder to withstand. A woman's form wasdriven sharply against him. To avoid elbowing her off he offered theshelter of his arm; and she, finding herself up against something notimmediately repellent, stayed to breathe. He saw the sweat pour from herskin, and as she panted in his arms she had the rank scent of a creaturewhen it is hunted. Yet in her face there was no fear at all, only thewhite strain of physical exhaustion nearing its last point. 

"Are you hurt?" he asked. 

She shook her head. 

"The police; are they treating you properly?"

"I have nothing to complain of, " she said. 

"Won't you go home? You must see it is no use. "

She turned away as though she had not heard him, and threw herself oncemore against the barrier she was unable to overcome. Into the shock ofit she went, with "nothing to complain of, " forgetful of self, forgetfulof all but her blind unreasoning determination to gain her end. Herpassive yet battling form was borne away from him in the huge eddies ofthe crowd. 

"Hot work!" said a voice at his side; a little man, with keen, appetizedface, ferreting this way and that, was hurriedly taking notes as thoughhis life depended on it. The King looked at him in surprise, andwondered what it meant. 

"Got any news?" inquired the man, still scribbling at his notebook. 

"What kind of news?"

"I'm not particular; anything suits me. I'm the Press. "

"The Press?"

"Yes, reporter. " And, as one proud of his great connection, he named theKing's favorite journal. 

Never it is to be hoped to his dying day did that poor penny-a-linerknow what a piece of news he allowed in that moment to slip by--newswhich to him would have meant almost a fortune; and here he was actuallyrubbing shoulders with it; and making no profit. 

"How many arrested?" he inquired. 

"I don't know. "

"Any of the leaders yet?"

"I have not heard. "

Unprofitable company; the man moved away. They were separated by afresh movement of the crowd. 

A royal mail-van drove through the square, the police with difficultymaking way for it. And the crowd, mistaking it for something else, rushed off to gaze and cheer excitedly at the prisoners within. Thepostman who sat mounting guard over the netted window at the rear smiledwittily at the popular error which made him for a few brief moments soconspicuous a figure. No doubt the incident gave the newspaper-man somecopy, and the van, having contributed its share to the generalamusement, rolled on its way. 

Again the crowd made a rush; on the other side of the square a woman hadmanaged to get arrested, and a strong body of constables was escortingher across to the police-station. Captors and captive walked quickly, anxious to get the thing through. The woman had a scared yet triumphantlook in her eyes: she had succeeded in making the police do what theydid not want to do; and now for a fortnight, or a month, or for twomonths--according to what these men might swear to, or the magistratethink--she and a few score of others would find in a criminal cell thattemporary goal at which they had aimed; and the press would quiet thepublic conscience by saying that they had done it "for notoriety. "

Always friendliest when it saw a woman actually under arrest, the crowdbroke into applause--dividing its cheers impartially between prisonerand police. For this was what it had come out to see: this was why ithad paid tram-fares from distant slums, sacrificing its evening at the"pub" and its pot of beer. These men of hard toiling lives and dullimagination were there to see women of a class and education superior totheir own break the law and get "copped" for it, just like one ofthemselves. 

"Quite right too! teach them to be'ave as they ought to, " was thecomment passed here and there--though as a matter of fact it had alreadybeen abundantly proved that it taught them nothing of the kind. Butthat, after all, is "Government" as understood by the man in the street;he is still the intellectual equal of the rustic, or of the child, who, smiting the reptile upon the head, "learns him to be a toad"; and it isdown to his imagination that modern government has to play. And so, toambiguous cheers uttered by rival factions, the triumphal procession ofprisoner and escort passed on its way. 

"Three cheers for the Women's Charter!" cried a voice somewhere in thecrowd; and there went up in response a genial roar, half of derision, half of sympathy. 

"Give 'em hell!" cried a wild little man, his face contorted with rageand the lust which finds satisfaction in a blow. He went fiercely on, butting his shoulder against every woman he met. Nobody arrested him;nobody cried "shame. " "Give 'em hell!" he cried. 

"They're getting it!" laughed a pale youth with an underhung jaw. 

Wherever the eye turned hell could be seen having its will, and derivinga curious satisfaction from its momentary power to do foul things underthe public eye. 

"Oh, save me! save me! save me!" whimpered a woman's voice. Down in thegulf below, buried under the shoulders of men, a small elderly figurewas clinging to the King's arm. 

"Oh, can't you do anything for me?" wailed the poor little Chartist, with nerve utterly gone. 

"Why don't you go home?" inquired the King kindly. 

"I want to go home!" she said. "Take me!"

"The first thing, then, is to get out of this crowd. Keep hold of myarm. "

"No!" A perverse tag of conscience held her back. "I don't want to! I'vegot a petition; it has to go to the King. Oh, if he only knew!"

"Give it to me! I will see that he gets it. "

"You? You'd only throw it away when my back was turned. "

"No; I promise you I would not. Give it me! It shall really go to him. "

"You are not making fun of me?"

"Indeed I am not. Here, where is it? Give it to me, quick!"

She put the precious crumpled document into his hand. Poor namelesssoul, unconscious of what she had achieved--"I hope I've done right, "she said. 

A fresh movement of the crowd drove them against the railings. Theelderly little woman cried out like a frightened child. 

"Oh, oh! They are killing me!"

The King lifted her up and put her over into free space on the otherside. 

"Here! none of that!" cried a big voice beside him. A rough hand seizedhold of him and wrenched him back; he turned round and found himself ina policeman's charge. Then another came and took hold of him on theother side. 

Incredibly the thing had happened: he was arrested. Triumphantly, through a roaring, eddying crowd, the strong arm of the law bore himaway. 

CHAPTER XVIII

THE KING'S NIGHT OUT

I

The King sat in a large square chamber with barred windows, awaiting histurn to be attended to. 

The crowd of prisoners seated on benches round the walls had becomeattenuated; only about a score of them now remained. Women had beendealt with first, the residuum were men; the general charge againstthese was pocket-picking. 

He had been sitting there for hours. It was now one o'clock. 

"Now then, you!" said the voice of the sergeant in charge. His turn hadcome. 

In an adjoining room he found his two accusers awaiting him. He was ledup to a table where sat an official in uniform making entry of thenames. A charge-sheet, nearly full, was spread on the table before him. 

The policeman who had made the arrest gave in the charge. 

"Name?" said the sergeant-clerk sharply, suspending the motion of hispen. 

The King, still wearing his cap, took off his snow-glasses and turneddown the collar of his coat. 

It was no use. The officer looked at him without recognition. 

"Name?" he said again; and the policeman upon his right, giving the Kinga rough jog, said, "Tell the sergeant your name!" And so, it appeared, the useless formality must go on. 

The King gave the two essentials--first-christian and surname--out of along string of appendices for which half the sovereigns of Europe hadstood as godfathers. 

But the three words "John Ganz-Wurst" meant nothing to the official ear. Over the patronymic he paused in doubt when only halfway through. "Spellit!" he said, and, at the King's dictation, altered his V into a W. 

"Foreigner?" he grunted; Jingalese names he could spell properly. 

"Of foreign extraction, " said the King, "my great-grandfather came overto this country and was naturalized. "

"Oh, we don't want to hear about your great-grandfather!" said thesergeant, cutting him short. 

At this moment one of the higher inspectors came into the room. 

"Address--occupation?" went on his interlocutor, busy with his form. 

The King named the dwelling from which he emanated. 

"Come, come!" said the official voice, "no nonsense here! What address?"

The inspector was now looking at the prisoner. He touched the sergeantupon the shoulder, and made a gesture for the two constables to standback. 

"Will you please to come this way, sir?" he said, in a tone of verymarked respect. 

The King followed him to an inner room. 

The inspector closed the door. "I beg your Majesty's pardon, " he said. "This is a most regrettable occurrence. Fortunately, none of those menknow. "

The King smiled. "I tried not to give myself away before I was obligedto, " he said. 

"Your Majesty must think we are all quite mad. "

"Not at all. So far as I know, every man I have encountered has merelydone his duty. Your methods of arrest are a little--arbitrary, shall Isay?"

"That is unavoidable, sir, when we have large crowds to deal with. "

"I can understand that. A woman was being crushed; I helped her to getover the railings. I suppose that was wrong?"

The inspector smiled apologetically. "Men have been fined for it, beforenow, sir, " said he. 

"Very well, I will pay my fine, " smiled the King. "And then, if youdon't mind, I will go home. "

His Majesty's kindly humor won the inspector's gratitude. "I'm sure it'svery good of your Majesty to treat the matter so lightly. "

"It was entirely my own fault, " said the King. "How was I to berecognized?"

"You took us off guard, sir. We were not informed that your Majestywould be going anywhere to-night. "

"Is that the rule?"

"It is always our business to inquire. "

"I should not have told any one. "

"It would still, sir, have been our business to find out. "

"You surprise me!" said the King. It had never dawned upon him that hewas so watched. "And so to-night, for the first time, I gave you theslip?"

"I take the blame, sir, " said the inspector; his voice was grave. 

"Why should you? No harm has been done. The only question now is how amI to get back?"

"I can get you a cab, sir, at once. Or would your Majesty rather I sentword to the palace?"

"No, certainly not. If I have not been missed, nobody need know. "

"Your Majesty was missed by us four hours ago. That is what brought mehere. "

"You come from the palace?"

"Yes, sir. As head of the special department, I have to be there everynight. "

"I'm sorry to have given you so much trouble. "

"Oh, not at all, sir. "

And then, a cab having been summoned, he led the way out. 

No one was by; the street had not a soul in it, and the King knew thatonce more foresight and care were watching over him. 

"I have paid the cabman, sir, " said the inspector, as he closed thedoor. "And, sir, would you kindly say where he is to go?"

There was a hint of discretion in the man's tone. 

"Ah, yes, " said the King, "to be sure--yes. Tell him to stop at the parkgates. "

The inspector, saluting, gave the required direction, and the cab droveoff. Arriving a few minutes later at his destination, the King got out, and passed in through the gates. 

The palace was now shrouded in gloom; only in the guard-room, within thehigh-railed quadrangle, a light still burned. Dimly through the night asentry could be seen pacing up and down. 

By a subconscious instinct the King was returning along the same routethat he had come. Only as he approached the postern in the wall did itoccur to him that it would almost certainly be locked; and yet for noother door had he a key. Attended constantly by servants, and leading ascrupulously regular life, requiring neither secret passages nor latehours, he had never possessed a latch-key of his own. 

How, then, was he to get in now without attracting attention?

Having come so far, however, he went forward on chance and tested thedoor. The attendant policeman was no longer there, the road-lamp hadbeen turned low, giving only a glimmer. 

He tried the handle, but found that it would not respond. A figureglided forward and inserted a key. "Allow me, sir, " came the inspector'svoice. 

"You?" exclaimed the King, surprised. 

"It was my duty to see your Majesty safe home. "

"Very kind of you, I'm sure. " He passed in, and the inspector followed. 

"Pardon me for asking, sir. Was this the way your Majesty came out?"

"Yes. "

"Ah, that accounts for it! We never thought of your Majesty coming thisway, and the man put here was only on beat, not on point duty. "

"He was here when I came out, " said the King. 

"He did not report, sir. "

"Are they all bound to?"

"Oh, yes, sir, of course we have to know. "

The King smiled. "I suppose he did not recognize me. Remember, I was notquite myself. "

"All the same, sir, he should have known. It's what he is trained for. "

The King's surprise grew. "I never guessed that I had to be guarded likethis. "

"Of course, sir, we try to keep it out of sight as much as possible. Itisn't pleasant always to feel yourself watched. "

"I make you my compliments, " said the King; "I had not the remotestidea. Whereabouts are we now?"

The walls of the palace loomed black above them; the night was dark. 

"Small stair entrance on the north side, sir. If your Majesty is withouta key----"

"I have no key at all. "

"Then kindly allow me, sir. " And again to the inspector's pass-key adoor opened. 

The King entered, and the inspector still accompanied him. "There may beothers locked inside, " he said, by way of explanation. 

They passed through a short corridor and ascended stairs; a smallelectric pocket-lamp of the inspector's showing them the way. Threedoors he unfastened in turn. Having opened the last he switched on thelight, then respectfully drew back, presuming to come no further. "Thisis where your Majesty's private apartments begin, " said he; anindication that his task as conductor was over. 

"Ah, yes, " replied the King, "now at last I know where I am. Till thismoment I felt myself a stranger. I have to thank you, Mr. Inspector, forthe kind way in which you have done me the honors of my own house; and, "he added, "of the police-station. "

"I am very sorry, sir, that any such thing should have happened. I canpromise it won't occur again. "

"No, " said the King, smiling, "I suppose not. But pray do not be sorry!I have seldom spent a more interesting time; or--thanks to you andothers--had more things given me to think about. "

The inspector did not reply; he stood looking down, pensive andresigned--tired, perhaps, now that the anxieties of the last few hourswere over. 

"Good-night, " said the King. 

"Good-night, sir, " replied the inspector. He withdrew and the King heardhim locking the door after him. 

II

The King went into his study, turned on a light, and sat down. He had, as he had told his guide, many things to think about. It was no usegoing to bed, for he knew that he could not sleep. 

These last few hours had been the most wonderful, and the mostcrowded--yes, quite literally the most crowded--that he had everexperienced. At last he had really taken part in the life of his people, and had come into direct contact with things very diverse andcontradictory, representing the popular will. He had talked with streeturchins, and visionaries, had rubbed shoulders with men of brutal habitand vile character, --with knaves, cowards, fools; he had been shut upwith drunkards and pickpockets, policemen's thumbs had left bruises uponhis arms, and all his mind was one great bruise from the bureaucraticpolice system which had him fast within its grip. 

Now at last he knew that he knew nothing; for only now did he realizeit. To what was going on outside his ears had been stopped with officiallies; morally, intellectually, and physically he was a prisoner, just asmuch as when, to the cry of "Old Goggles, " from a jeering crowd, he hadmarched captive to the police-station. He knew now that even his privatelife was watched and spied on--always, of course, with the mostbenevolent intentions. This was the price he paid for modern kingship;and what was it all worth?

Out of his pocket he drew a small sheet of crumpled paper. In order toget this to him, a poor, timid woman had gone out into a raging crowd, had borne its brutality for hours, and then, a piteous bundle of brokennerves, had by sheer accident accomplished that which hundreds ofothers, braver, abler, more confident, and more deserving, had tried todo and failed. Morally this small slip of paper had upon it the blood, and the tears, the sweat, the agony, and the despair of all the rest;and only by accident had he ever come to know of it!

Here, almost within a stone's throw of his palace, he had seen somethingtaking place which to-morrow the papers would deride, and of which theofficial world would deny him all cognizance. Whether these women hadtruly a grievance, any just and reasonable cause for complaint, he didnot know. But he knew now that, with the most desperate earnestness andconviction, that was their belief, and that in getting their petition tohis hands they saw the beginning of a remedy. 

He spread out the paper before him, and for the first time read thewords--

"Humbly showeth that by your Majesty's Ministers law and justice aredelayed, and prayeth that your Gracious Majesty will so order and governthat your faithful subjects' grievances may forthwith be sought andinquired into, and remedy granted thereto by Act of Parliament. And yourpetitioners will ever pray. "

That was all. What the grievances might be was not stated. He knew thatto hear argument for or against a given case was outside the functionsof the Crown; but he knew equally well that to order inquiry to be madelay still within his right, though every minister in the Cabinet exceptone would seek to deny it to him. And so he sat looking at the crumpledsheet which meant so much to so many thousands of lives; and slowly thenight went by. 

Long before the first chitter of awakening birds, and before the firsthint of light had crept into the east, he heard outside the slow stir ofthe city's life breaking back from short uneasy slumber. With stiffenedlimbs he got up from his chair, for the room had grown cold and his bodyached with all the strain and exertion it had so recently undergone. Slowly he moved off towards his own sleeping apartment, in case theQueen, when she awoke, should send to inquire after him. And on his way, as a short cut, he crossed the minstrel gallery, which divided one fromthe other the two state drawing-rooms, --a broad half-story colonnade, with central opening and corners draped into shade. 

Halfway across this elevation he paused to look down into the vastchamber below. At some point among its chandeliers burned a smallpinhole of light that revealed in a strange dimness various forms offurniture, showing monstrous and uncouth in their night attire. Night-gowns rather than pajamas seemed the general wear; only a few legswere to be seen. In this, its sleeping aspect, the place was certainlymore harmonious and more chaste than by day; mirrors and pictures loomedfrom the white walls with a mystery that would disappear when thelusters contained their light; and the King lingered to take in thepleasant strangeness of it all, and to wonder what was this new qualitywhich so attracted him. 

As he did so his ear caught from without a faint reverberation ofmuffled sound; even and regular in its beat, it drew near. 

At the far end a door was thrown open; a flush of light entered thechamber, and there came following it a troop of men wearing feltslippers and long linen aprons, and bearing upon their shoulders brooms, feather-heads, wash-leathers, brushes, dusters, steps, vacuum-cleaners, and other mysterious instruments of an uninterpretable form. 

With the regularity and precision of a drilled army, and with no wordspoken, they moved forward to the attack. Curtains were drawn, cordspulled, blinds raised, steps mounted. Lusters jingled to the touch offeathers, cornices shed down their minute particles of dust to theCharybdian maw of traveling gramophone. Over the carpet metalliccow-catchers wheezed and groaned with a loud trundling of wheels, anddeparted processionally to the chamber beyond. Then by a triple process, simultaneously conducted, the furniture-sheets were lifted, drawn off, and folded; a large wicker-table on wheels received and bore them away. A cloud of light skirmishers followed after; and over every cushion andseat and polished surface plied their manicurist skill. Then astorming-party escaladed the gallery from below and the King, to avoidthe embarrassment of an encounter with a body of servitors who had notthe pleasure of his acquaintance, was at last obliged to retire. 

But what a wonderful machine had been here revealed to hisgaze--manipulated without a word, marshaled by signs, and composedentirely of strangers! And to think that all this insect-like marvel ofindustry, so expeditious, and done on so huge a scale, had been going ondaily under his own roof, and he had known nothing of it! So this washow his palace was cleaned for him, and why it never showed a sign ofwear or the marks of muddy boots? Yet never before had any thought onthe matter occurred to him. And what if some fine day those insects, fired by revolutionary zeal, had taken it to heart to rise up in theirdozens by those escalading ladders to the first story and rush theprivate apartments, and murder him in his morning bath or in his bed!What a surprising and unexplained apparition it would have been! Butnow, and for the future, he would know that daily about this time alarge ant-like colony was running about under him, very strong of arm, very active of leg; and what protection, he wondered, from peril ofsudden inroad was that search under his bed on the ninth day of everyNovember? Did that really meet and counter modern methods of conspiracyand assassination, or the growing dangers of labor unrest? He very muchdoubted it. 

And so, with his head very full of the wonder, the order, and theunderlying disturbance of it all, he passed on to his own inner chamber, and had now something to tell the Queen as to how their immediatedomestic affairs were conducted which should entirely put aside allawkward questions as to what he had been doing the evening before andwhere he had spent the night. 

But, as a matter of fact, sleek officialdom had sheltered the Queen fromall anxiety, and she had not a notion that the King had been anywhereexcept to some consultation with ministers, and thence late to bed. 

In order that his valet might find him there he got into it, and when, acouple of hours later, he greeted her Majesty he found that sanguinemind looking eagerly ahead and concerning itself very little over thingswhich were past. 

"Remember, my dear, " she said, looking up from her letters, "that inthree days' time the Prince of Schnapps-Wasser comes. I do hope, whilehe is here, that you will be fairly free. "

"Not so free as I thought I should be, " said the King, and he sighedheavily. 

III

His Majesty had a good many things that day to discuss with the PrimeMinister when at a later hour they met. He began on the matter which wasmost regular and formal; had he been at all likely to forget it theQueen's observation would have reminded him. 

"By the way, Mr. Premier, " he said, "as you already know, the Prince ofSchnapps-Wasser arrives in a day or two; and there are certain possibleeventualities arising out of his visit which we must be prepared for. Hitherto the Princess Charlotte has had no definite grant made to her. While she was still living with us, without an establishment of her own, I preferred to let the matter stand over. But now--well, now a changemay be necessary. "

The Prime Minister's face beamed with congratulatory smiles. "YourMajesty may be sure that the matter shall have immediate attention. "

"There will be no difficulty?"

"Oh, none whatever. "

"I will leave all question of the amount to be discussed later. Ibelieve that it is etiquette, in the case of a reigning Prince, for himalso to be consulted. "

"That is so, sir. "

"The Prince himself is very wealthy; and I think that you will find himdisinterested. Still there is, of course, a certain balance to beobserved. "

"Oh, quite. "

"I leave the matter, then, entirely in your hands. "

The Prime Minister bowed. 

And then the conversation changed. 

"You know what happened to me last night, I suppose, " said the King. 

"Ah, yes, indeed, sir! You will pardon my silence; I was most horrified. But I thought that perhaps your Majesty did not wish to speak of it. "

"On the contrary, " replied the King, "I have got a great deal to say. "And then, with much detail and particularity, he narrated hisexperience--all those hours which he had spent in the crowd; and thePrime Minister listened, saying nothing. 

"Well, " said the King, when he had done, "that is what I have seen; andyou cannot tell me it is something that does not matter. "

"By no means, sir; I admit that it is very serious. "

"I was never told so before. "

"We did not wish unnecessarily to trouble your Majesty. This is hardly acase for Cabinet intervention; the Home Office does its duty, takespreventive measures as far as is possible, and puts down thedisturbances when they arise. "

"Yes, yes, " said the King, "but is nothing going to be done?"

The Prime Minister raised his eyebrows, as though asked to reply oncemore to a question already answered. 

"Everything possible is being done, sir. "

"Legislatively, I mean. "

"Oh, sir, " exclaimed the head of Government in a tone of the mostdeferential protest, "that surely is a matter for the Cabinet. "

"Quite so, " said the King. "That is why I ask. "

So then the Premier explained circumstantially and at great length why, in that sense, nothing whatever could be done. We need not go into ithere--those who read Jingalese history will find the Prime Minister'sreasons published elsewhere; and it all really came only to this: "It isthe duty of a government to keep in power; and if it cannot do justicewithout endangering its party majority, then justice cannot be done. "

You could not have a more satisfactory, a more logical, or a moreunanswerable argument than that. And at all events--whether you agreewith it or not--it is the argument that all ministers act uponnow-a-days, even when, in the House of Legislature which sitssubservient to their will, there is a majority ready and waiting whichthinks differently of the matter, but fears to act lest it should losetouch with the loaves and fishes. For now it is on the life not of aParliament but of a Cabinet that losses are counted. And the reason isplain; for every member of a Cabinet has to think of saving for himselfsome £5, 000 a year together with an enormous amount of departmentalpower and patronage; while an ordinary private member of Parliament hasonly his few hundreds to think about and his rapidly diminishing rightto any independence at all. The life and death struggles of a ministryare bound, therefore, to be more desperate, more unscrupulous, and morepecuniarily corrupt than those of any other branch of the legislature. And, of course, when we put all the leading strings into fingers sobuttered with gold, political corruption is the necessary and inevitableresult, and such incidental things as mere justice must wait. 

But the Prime Minister did not explain matters to the King in suchplain and understandable terms as these; and, as a consequence, hisexplanation being incomplete, his Majesty's mind remained unsatisfied. 

"Very well, " said he, when the ministerial apologia was concluded; "Iwill consider what you say, and when I have quite made up my mind I willsend a message to Council with recommendations; I still have that rightunder the Constitution. "

The Prime Minister stiffened. Here was conflict in Council cropping upagain; it must be put down. 

"That right, sir, " said he, "has not been exercised for nearly a hundredyears. "

"I beg your pardon, " said the King, "I exercised it only two months ago, when I sent in the message of my abdication. "

"Which your Majesty has been wise enough not to act upon. "

"Which, nevertheless, you were forced to accept, and would have had togive effect to, ultimately, by Act of Parliament. "

That was true. 

"By the way, " went on the King, "arising out of that withdrawal of myabdication which you say was so wise, there has come a difficulty I hadnot foreseen. Believing that by now my son would be upon the throneinstead of me, I gave my consent to his marriage with the daughter ofthe Archbishop. Yes, Mr. Premier, you may well start: I am just as muchperturbed about it as you; for the Prince now comes to me and claims thefulfilment of my promise. "

"Impossible, sir!" exclaimed the Prime Minister. 

"That is what I tell him. He does not think so. "

"But, your Majesty, this is absolutely unheard of. The whole positionwould be intolerable!"

"I indorse all your adjectives and your statements, " said the Kingcoldly; "but the fact remains. "

"Then, sir, I must see the Prince, immediately. "

"It is no use, no use whatever, " replied his Majesty. "Besides--thematter is still rather at a private stage. You had much better wait tillthe Prince comes to you; otherwise he may accuse me of having beenpremature. "

"But what does the Archbishop say?" cried the Premier, aghast. 

"That is the point; I believe he does not yet know. Technicallyspeaking, the engagement is scarcely a day old. The Prince's noteclaiming my promise reached me only this morning, and I imagine it isonly now that the Archbishop will have to be informed. Hitherto thematter has been in suspension. You will understand it was dependent--onmy abdication, I might say. "

"In that case, sir, the conditions are not fulfilled. "

"I fear they are, " said the King; "the Prince has my promise in writing;and abdication is not mentioned. You see, it was the bomb that made allthe difference. Very provoking that it should have happened just then;it upset all my plans!"

The Prime Minister began to look very uncomfortable. 

"Oh, no, " went on the King, observing his change of countenance, "don'tthink that I am blaming you. What you said was quite true; abdicationafter that became impossible; I am only saying it as an excuse for theposition in which I now find myself. It was not I who made the mistake, it was that poor misguided person who threw the bomb; he ought to havekilled me. I am confident that, had the Prince been actually on thethrone, the situation would have been radically altered, that he wouldnot have persisted--that he would have seen, as you say, how impossiblethe position would be. Very unfortunate--very--but there we are!"

"But again I say, sir, that even now, though the Prince is not on thethrone--and long may your Majesty be spared!--the whole thing isabsolutely and utterly impossible. "

"I quite agree, " said the King; "but that is the situation. Before now Ihave found myself in similar ones, and have tried to get out of them;yet I have seldom succeeded. "

"But this, sir, " persisted the Prime Minister, "is politicallyimpossible. Things could not go on. "

"And yet, Mr. Premier, you know that they will have to; that is the veryessence of politics. "

"I tell your Majesty that rather than admit such a possibility theMinistry would resign. "

"Very well--then it must, " said the King. "But you will find that thePrince will not regard my inability to secure an alternative Governmentas any reason why he should not marry the lady of his choice. I may aswell tell you, for your information, that he has revolutionary ideas, and this is one of them. "

"I am confident, " exclaimed the Prime Minister, with a gleam of hope, "that the Archbishop himself will forbid it. "

"Very likely, " replied his Majesty; "but I am not sure that he willsucceed. I wish he could; but from all I hear the lady herself is of arather determined character. Women are very determined now-a-days. "

He thought of Charlotte and sighed; and yet, in his heart, he could nothelp admiring and envying her. 

"We will talk of this all again some other time, " he went on, tired ofthe profitless discussion. "After all the marriage is not going to takeplace the day after to-morrow. "

"Sir, " said the Premier, "over a matter of this sort any delay isimpossible--the risk is too great. I must see the Prince myself. "

"Very well, " said the King, "do as you like. After all I ought to beglad that it is with the Prince you will have to discuss the matter, andnot with me. "

And he smiled to himself, for he very much liked the thought of thePrime Minister tackling Max. 

CHAPTER XIX

THE SPIRITUAL POWER

I

But the Prime Minister, though he lost no time, was unable to catch hisquarry. Prince Max had gone out; and his secretary could give noinformation as to his whereabouts. "His Highness told me that he had avery important engagement; he did not say with whom. " To apprehensiveears that phrase sounded ominous; and fearing what risks delay mightentail the Premier drove down to Sheepcote Precincts, the archiepiscopalresidence; and there for three mortal hours he and the Archbishop satwith heads together (yet intellectually very much apart) discussing whatwas to be done. 

It was during those three hours that his Grace of Ebury performed hismost brilliant feat of statesmanship, and redeemed that local off-shootof the Church of Christ over which he ruled from the political sloughwhereinto it had fallen. To him solely--by means of his daughter, thatis to say (but in politics women do not count)--is due the fact that theChurch of Jingalo still stands on its old established footing, and thather Bishops have a decisive modicum of political power left to them. 

The Archbishop was, in his heart of hearts--that last infirmity of hisnoble mind--quite as much horrified at the news as the Premier had been. But scarcely were the dread tidings out of the minister's mouth when, perceiving his opportunity, he rose to it as a fish rises to a fly, andpretended with all due solemnity to be rather pleased than otherwise. Though his daughter's elevation to princely rank and to the prospect offuture sovereignty would assuredly seal his political doom, he professedpresently to see in it a fresh stepping-stone to influence and power, or, as he conscientiously phrased it, to "opportunities for good. " Hisapproach to this point, however, was gradual and circuitous. 

"Of course it is a great honor, " he began, deliberately weighing theproposition in earthly scales, and seeming not wholly to reject it. 

"That goes without saying, " replied the Prime Minister, "and hardlyneeds to be discussed. Our sure point of agreement is that it must notbe. "

His Grace lifted his grizzled eyebrows in courteous interrogation, andbeginning delicately to disentangle the gold strings of his pince-nezfrom the pectoral cross to which like a penitent it clung, said, "Ofcourse I perfectly understand how great a shock this has been to you. Tome also it comes as an entire surprise: my daughter has told me nothing, and therefore--in a sense--I can say nothing till I have seen her. "

"You have influence with her, I suppose?" said the Premier. 

"Oh, undoubtedly. "

"I am confident, then, that your Grace will use it to the right end. "

"It has never been my habit, I trust, to neglect my parentalresponsibilities, " replied his Grace. 

"I was thinking, rather, of your responsibilities to the State. "

"Those, too, I shall have in mind. There is also the Church. "

The Prime Minister was puzzled. 

"This matter does not seem to impress your Grace quite as it does me. Ishould have thought there could be no two opinions about it. "

"That was too much to hope, surely? Our points of view are so verydifferent. "

The Premier felt that plain dealing had become necessary. "It would makequite untenable your position as leader of a party, " he remarked grimly. 

"I was not concerned about myself, " replied his Grace with wonderfulsweetness. "As for that, I am growing old. "

"But surely you agree that the thing is wholly impossible?"

"Impossible is a strong word. "

"That it would profoundly alter the constitutional status of the Crown?"

"Possibly. I think not. "

This slow weighing of cons in the balance was having a devastatingeffect upon the minister's nerves; he got upon his feet. 

"Does your Grace mean to tell me that this thing is even conceivable?"

"Conceivable? I wish you would state to me, without any fear of offense, the whole body of your objection. I recognize, of course, that the RoyalHouse, in the direct line, has made no such alliance for over twohundred years, --never, in fact, since it ceased to be of pure nativeextraction. I also admit that for myself as a party politician (if youimpose upon me that term) it is inconvenient, destructive even tocertain plans which I had formed. But putting myself altogether aside, and allowing that for a precedent we have to go very far back into thepast, what real objections have you to urge?"

The Prime Minister was beginning to get thoroughly uncomfortable. 

"It is a breach--a fatal breach to my mind, " said he, "in that castedistinction which alone makes monarchy possible under modern conditions. I mean no personal disrespect to your Grace: were it a question of myown daughter, I should take the same view. It disturbs a tradition whichhas worked well and for safety, and has not been broken for hundreds ofyears. But most destructively of all it threatens that aloofness fromall political entanglements--that absolute impartiality between partyand party--which to-day constitutes the strength of the Crown. "

"I might be quite prepared, " said the Archbishop slowly, "in such anevent, to withdraw myself from all political action of a partycharacter. "

"You cannot so separate yourself from the past, " objected the PrimeMinister. 

"I do not see the difficulty. You yourself, in a long and varied career, have twice changed your party, or deserted it. If that can be done withsincerity, it is equally possible to become of no party at all. "

The Prime Minister flushed at this attack on his past record, and struckback--

"Not for an Archbishop, " he said, a little sneeringly. "The Churchnow-a-days has become not merely a part of our political system, but astereotyped adjunct of party, and a very one-sided one at that. "

"To answer such a charge adequately, " replied his Grace, "I should beforced into political debate foreign to our present discussion. Whatconcerns me here and now is that something has taken place--pregnant forgood or ill--which you regard as impossible, and which I do not. Ineither case--whatever conclusion is reached--I am called upon to make asacrifice. Of that I do not complain, but what I am bound to consider, even before the interests of the State (upon which we take differentviews), are the interests of the Church. When we last met you werepreparing to do those interests something of an injustice: and your morerecent proposals do not induce me to think that you have changed yourmind. If the Church is to lose the ground she now holds in the State shemust seek to recover it elsewhere. I cannot blind my eyes to the factthat, in the high position now offered to her, my daughter will be ableto do a great work--for the Church. "

"I believed that you had no sympathy with the intrusion of women intothe domain of politics. "

"Not into politics, no; but the Church is different. We have in ourSaints' Calendar women--queens some of them--who were ready to lay downtheir lives for the Church, and to secure her recognition by heathenpeoples and kings. Why should not my daughter be one?"

He spoke with an exalted air, his hand resting upon his cross. 

"Your Grace, " said the Prime Minister in a changed tone, "may I put onevery crucial question? Have you a complete influence over yourdaughter?"

"That I can hardly answer; I will only say that she is dutiful. Never, so far as I am aware, has she questioned my authority, nor has shecombated my judgment in any matter where it was my duty to decide forher what was right. "

On this showing she seemed a very estimable and trustworthy youngperson; and with a sense of encouragement the Prime Minister went on--

"Then upon this question of her marriage with the Prince, would she, doyou think, be guided by you?"

"She would not marry him without my consent. "

"And your consent might be forthcoming?"

"Under certain circumstances, I think--yes. "

"And as the circumstances stand now at this moment?"

The Archbishop paused, and looked long at the Prime Minister beforeanswering. 

"How do they stand?" he inquired. 

II

That evening when Jenifer returned home the Archbishop was waiting herarrival. The door of his private library stood ajar. "Come in, my dear, "he called, hearing her step in the corridor, "come in; I wish to speakto you. "

She entered with a flushed face. "_I_ wanted to speak to you, father, "she said. 

He saw that she was come charged for the delivery of her soul, andperceiving what a strategic advantage it would give him to hear thestory first from her own lips, he waived his prior claim. "Very well, mydear, " he replied, "for the next hour I am free, and at your disposal. "

"It may take longer than that, " she warned him; "I have something totell you that seems to me almost terrible. "

"Anything wrong?"

"Oh, no, but so tremendous I hardly know how to begin. " Her breastlabored with the burden of its message, but in her face was a look ofdawn. 

"Has it to do with yourself?"

"Yes, papa. I am engaged to marry Prince Max. "

The Archbishop paused for a moment, thinking how best to avoid anyappearance of foreknowledge. 

"My child, " he said, "what Prince Max do you mean?"

"The only one that I know of, " she answered. 

"You mean the heir to the throne?"

"Yes, papa. "

"You say you are engaged to him?"

"Yes. "

"With whose knowledge, may I ask?"

"The King knows; he has just given his consent. That is why I am tellingyou now. "

"Why only now?" There was reproach in his tone. 

"Until we had his consent we were not engaged. "

"And now--being engaged--you come for mine?"

"No, papa; only to let you know. " She paused. "Of course I should beglad of your approval. "

The Archbishop sat silent for a while. "How long have you known PrinceMax?" he inquired at last. 

"About six months. "

"Is not that rather a short time?"

"Yes. "

"For so important a decision, I mean. "

"Yes; it is, I know. "

"For learning a man's character, shall I say?"

"Some characters one learns more quickly than others. I know him, papa, better than I do you. "

"That may well be, youth does not easily understand age. And so myquestion remains: Do you know him well enough to marry him?"

"I want to marry him, " she said. 

"You know there are objections?"

"Oh, yes. "

"Very serious ones. "

"Yes, I told him; I said it was quite impossible. He said he could getthe King's consent. I did not think so: I felt sure, indeed, that hecould not. But to-day he came and showed it to me in writing--a promisemade conditionally more than two months ago. "

"Conditionally?"

"Yes; it named a date. That is why until to-day there was nothing that Icould tell you. "

"Not even the fact that he had asked you to marry him?"

"I could not wish that to be known, if nothing was to come if it--not byany one. "

"It would have been better, my child. "

"No, papa; why should you, or any one, know what I had had to give up?"

"Of course, it would have been painful; that I can understand. "

"I can smile at it now, " she said; "but at the time it was terrible! ForI found, then, how much I loved him. "

The Archbishop withheld all speech for a moment, then said tenderly--

"I am very sorry for you, my child. "

"Ah, but there is no need to be now!" she cried joyfully. 

Once more he paused; then he repeated the words. 

There was quick attention then in her look, but she showed no fear; andhe shifted to easier ground. 

"Tell me, " he said gently, "how all this came about. How did you come toknow the Prince?"

"Only by seeing him at the Court; then I recognized that we had metoften before, when I had not known who he was. "

"Why should he have concealed it?"

"He did not; one day he told me, and I would not believe him, it seemedso unlikely. Neither did he believe me when I told him who I was; hesaid that the facts were incompatible, and that mine was the moreunlikely story of the two. "

"Did you--did you begin liking him very soon?"

"I began by almost hating him. He used to scoff at everything, he seemednot to believe in anything that was good. Almost the first time that wemet he told me that the dress I wore was 'provocative'--'a lure ofSatan's devising' he called it, and said that nothing tempted men morethan for women to wear what he described as 'the uniform of virginity. 'He declared that it was because of my dress that he got lost followingme through the slums. "

"Did not that warn you what sort of man he was?"

"No; for it was not true. We just happened to meet, and he helped mewhen I was single-handed. He confessed afterwards that he had saideverything he could to shock me--to put me to the test. He has grown updistrusting all religious professions. "

"A scoffer? Did not even that warn you?"

"No; under the circumstances it seemed the most natural thing; it showedme that he was honest. "

These sounded dreadful words to the Archbishop, coming from hisdaughter's lips; he felt that, in passing from theory to practice shehad become shockingly latitudinarian in her views; and again, cautiousand circumspect, he shifted his ground. 

"My dear, " he said, "you do realize, I suppose, that from a worldlypoint of view the Prince has committed a very grave indiscretion. "

She smiled. "He tells me so himself; it rather pleases him. But now theKing has given his consent. "

"Yes, nominally he has, " replied the Archbishop. "But in that there is agood deal more than meets the eye. When his Majesty first gave thatpromise he never intended that it should take effect. "

She paled slightly at his words, and he saw that only now had he scoreda point. 

"Why do you think that?"

"I do not think it, I know; but I am not at liberty to reveal secrets ofState. Let us put that aside, I cannot give you proof; if you wish todisbelieve it, do. But now I come to my main point. There is a side tothis question about which you know nothing, but you know that in theState to-day the Church has her enemies. This indiscretion on the partof the Prince, supported by a promise from which the King cannot inhonor withdraw, has suddenly put into my hands a great opportunity whichmust not be missed. "

"Into _your_ hands, papa?"

"Under Providence, yes; I say it reverently. You are my daughter, andin service and loyalty to the Church you and I are as one. "

She looked at him steadfastly, but did not respond in words. 

"A great opportunity, " he said again; "a great power for righteousness, to save the Church in her dire need. That is a great thing to be able todo--worth more than anything else that life can offer. To you, mydaughter, that call has come; how will you answer it?"

Her face had grown white, but was still hard to his appeal; he had notwon her yet. 

"Yes, " she said, "I do partly understand. I will do all for you that Ican. "

"Then you will release the Prince from his bond. "

"He does not ask to be released. "

"That may be. "

Then there was silence. 

"My dear child, " murmured the Archbishop; there was emotion in hisvoice, and putting out his hand he laid it upon hers. 

She drew herself gently from the contact. 

"Only if he wishes it, " she said. 

"He will not wish it. "

"Then he has my word. "

"Your life contains other and holier vows than that, my child. "

She did not seem to think so. "Father, " she said, "this is the man Ilove!"

"That I realize, " he replied gravely. "The question is which do you lovebest, --him or the Church?"

Jenifer opened her eyes in a limpid and childlike wonderment. How couldhe ask a question the answer to which was so obvious? "Why, him!" shecried; "there is no possible comparison!"

The Archbishop was deeply shocked as well as nonplussed at such ananswer coming from his daughter; and meanwhile with clear sincerity ofspeech she went on--

"You mean the Church of Jingalo--do you not, papa?"

Of course it was the Church of Jingalo that he meant, but it would notdo at this juncture to say so. His daughter might be one of thosedreadful people who believed that the Church would get value out ofdisestablishment. 

"I meant the Church of our fathers, " said he, "the faith into which youwere baptized, --the spiritual health and welfare of the whole nation. "

"I do not think that by marrying the Prince I shall do it any harm. I amsure that he means none. "

Her idea of the power of Princes struck him as curiously feminine; howlittle she understood of politics!

"It is rather a case, " said he, "of harm that you cannot prevent, exceptin one way. What have you in your mind? Is it the wish to sit upon athrone?"

"Oh, no!" she said; "I shall never like being queen. " Then, after apause, she added honestly, "All the same, I could do things, then--things which I have longed to do; and I know that he would letme. "

Her face glowed at the prospect; and suddenly she turned upon him a fulllook of self-confidence and courage, and there was challenge in hertone. 

"I know far more about the poor than you do, father, " she said, "andmuch more of their needs. If I were queen I would have a house downamong the slums; and I would never spend Christmas, or Easter, or GoodFriday in any other place. " Her voice broke. "I would try--I would try, "she said, "to set up Christianity in high places. That has been mydream. "

"Have you told your dream to the Prince?"

She smiled tenderly, and with confidence. "He is already helping tomake it come true. I asked him to be upon the Commission. That is why heis there. "

"You?"

The Archbishop was now realizing that he knew very little about hisdaughter, and she not only amazed him, she frightened him. For the firsttime he feared that he might lose the great stakes for which he wasplaying; and one thing was essential--this woman, this domestic pawnwhich he held in his hand, must never be allowed to become queen. 

And so with great pain he forced himself, and spoke on. How right he hadbeen when he told the Prime Minister that in one way or anothersacrifice would be required of him! For now he was going to sacrificehis most sacred conventions, his ideal of how an unmarried woman shouldbe trained. 

"My child, " he said, "do you think that you know this man?"

"Yes; I know him better than any one else in the world. "

"Do you also know his life?"

Jenifer's look turned on him a little curiously. 

"I know, " she said, "that he is not really a Christian. "

"Ah!" he exclaimed, in a sort of joy, decorously flavored with grief, "that I did not know! Of course that explains everything. The restinevitably follows. "

"What follows?"

"No man who is not a Christian leads a life that will stand lookinginto. " And then, avoiding her eyes, he spoke of things which he knew;some of them in certain quarters were almost common property; of othershe had only recently become informed. 

And as he spoke he felt, with a strange oppression, the heart beside himgrow dumb. For this woman, with her clear and gracious understanding ofso many human ills and weaknesses, had been kept in one matter, the mostimportant of all, with the mind of an undeveloped child. Evil things sheknew of--they had an existence, a place, and a name--but for her noreality except in their awful results. All that she had hitherto seen of"irregular living" bore the stamp of betrayal and disease, a thing moregrossly criminal than anything else in the social body. She did not knowhow that body was permeated, and how no class and no ordinary standardof morality was free from the taint. 

And now she heard that the man she loved had been keeping that thingcalled "a mistress"--housing her in luxury, visiting her day after day, not very greatly troubling himself whether the fact remained secret orbecame known. Then dates were mentioned; and she was given to know howthose visits had still gone on while her lover had been offering her thedevotion of his heart. It was there, after his recent accident, that hehad gone to be nursed. 

The Archbishop was extremely well informed, and he told nothing whichhe did not absolutely believe to be true. And now at last all theadvantage was on his side, for ignorance left her almost withoutdefense; with no sense of proportion she stood looking out into anon-dimensional world. 

Dimly her mind made a struggle to escape. 

"But what, what does it mean?" she asked. "There must be some reason forit. Is it a kind of disease?"

"A corrupt nature, " said her father solemnly; "these are what the Churchcalls in her teaching 'the sins of the flesh. '"

She shuddered, for to her by religious training "flesh" had come to havea dreadful sound. In her spiritual world she pictured it as a shop hungwith butcher's meat; yet why it was dreadful she did not know. 

"Tell me, " she murmured with pained speech, still trying for a way out, "it isn't--natural, is it?"

"That doctrine is preached by some, " said her father; "Christianityforbids any such view. "

"He said, " she went on, "he said this, when he first asked me to marryhim: 'I have done some natural things which you would hold to be wrong. I have loved, ' he said, 'for mere comfort, not for honor or life. ' Heasked me if I understood; I said 'Yes. ' 'That is my confession, ' hesaid. 'I have been, ' he said, 'no better than others; I hope not worse. 'And that was all. I thought he meant that he had been selfish andworldly. Is that other thing what he really meant?"

"No doubt. "

"But he _told_ me, " she said, and looked at him with a forlorn hope. 

"It was the best thing that he could do for himself; no doubt he guessedthat eventually you would come to know. "

She stood thinking back into the past. 

"After he had told, he kissed me, " she said; "he had never done thatbefore. " Her lips trembled and the tears ran down her face. 

"You know enough now, my dear. That will not happen again. "

"I still love him, " she said, as though confessing to shame. 

The Archbishop had sufficient wisdom to accept the statement withoutprotest. "It would be hard for you to do otherwise, " he said. "The heartcannot change all at once. "

"I believed that with him I could do good. "

"Can you believe that now?"

"I don't know. "

"That sort of life enters the blood, " said her father, "taints it, makesevil that which would otherwise be holy. "

"You mean----?"

"I speak of marriage; the drawing together of two into one. "

"It still is marriage. "

"Its mystery has been profaned. Marriage then, coming after, may be onlya reminiscence of sin. "

She stood looking at him, her face very pale. 

"I shall still have to ask him if it is true. "

The Archbishop resigned himself to what he could not avoid. "If youmust, " he said. And then, thinking forward to what might possiblyhappen, he added: "It was my duty to tell you everything. "

"Yes, " she replied, "but you did not mean to tell me at first. "

"I hoped that I might spare you, " he explained. "These are not thingsthat one speaks of willingly; if they can be avoided it is better thatthey should not be known. "

She gave a gesture of impatience, pressing her hands against her eyes. 

"Do not say anything more to me, " she said, and her voice soundedhopeless and dead. "Not now. "

And then, very slowly, she turned and went out of the room. 

The Archbishop told himself that he had done his duty. Personalaggrandizement, great opportunities of power and social position he hadput away, he had done a true and holy thing. And so he sat down andwrote to the Prime Minister. 

CHAPTER XX

THE THORN AND THE FLESH

I

The next day Prince Max received a letter written by the hand which hadbecome for him the dearest in the world. It was very simple andstraightforward and methodical: it began with the word "Beloved" andasked whether certain things were true. It seemed, then, that for thefirst time his confession was understood. Not a single one of thequestions put to him contained anything that was untrue, but they didnot go much into detail, and no commentary was made upon the factsindicated. 

Max sat down and wrote a very beautiful letter in reply, and got noanswer. 

For three days he put up with this rebuff to his honesty of characterand his literary ability; then not finding his lady where he expectedher to be, he went and called upon her father. 

The Archbishop was out; but Max, not to be denied, sat down and waitedfor his return. He waited for over two hours. It was getting towardsdusk when his Grace entered, a reverend, high-shouldered figure, showinga stoop and beginning now to look old. 

The Archbishop's very formal greeting told Max that here was the enemy. This did not at all dismay him; at that time, indeed, he was full ofconfidence. The temporary separation between himself and his beloved, brought about in a conventional way which he thoroughly despised, wasfor the moment a hindrance; but it had not yet taken to itself thecolors of doom. He knew that Jenifer's heart was entirely his, and thatthey, with their common honesty, had only to meet again to be made one. What he wanted to know, therefore, was not so much the opinion ofJenifer's father about himself and the engagement, as to find out herpresent whereabouts. From the first moment of their meeting he knew thathe did not stand in the Archbishop's good graces; but that hardlyconcerned him; and so it was almost without circumlocution that he askedfor Jenifer's address. 

The Archbishop, by a simultaneous depression of the head and raising ofthe eyebrows, managed to convey his just sense of the honor which wasbeing done him and the liberty that was being taken. 

"I wrote the other day, " explained Max, "asking her to arrange a timewhen I might come and see you. In strict etiquette I believe that yourGrace ought first to call upon me; but we have so few precedents to goby. She has, I trust, done me the honor to tell you that we areengaged?"

"I have been informed of the circumstance, " replied the Archbishop withstately formality. 

The Prince took the matter boldly in hand. "From your manner I have topresume that we have not the happiness of your consent?"

"My consent was not asked. "

"Had it been?"

"I could not have given it. "

"That I think, " said the Prince, "would have been the perfectly correctattitude until such time as the King gave his. It is for that we havebeen waiting; had it not been so I should have come to you earlier. "

"Early or late, my answer to your Highness would always be the same. "

"May I ask upon what grounds?"

"I would ask, sir, in return, upon what grounds is it suitable that youshould marry my daughter?"

"It so happens, " replied Max, "that I am in love with her. "

"What precisely, sir, to your mind does the phrase 'being in love'convey?"

The Prince saw that the tussle was coming; he gathered his thoughtstogether, then said, "An intense personal desire to endow a certainwoman with motherhood. "

The Archbishop flushed: sharp enmity showed itself in his eyes; he madea gesture of repulsion. 

"Ah!" cried Max, "does that shock the Church?"

The challenge went unanswered; instead came question. 

"Have you not had this desire before--in other directions?"

"Never!" exclaimed Max. "No, never!"

The Archbishop eyed him keenly. "You have had experience. "

"I have lived my life openly, " said the Prince. 

"I was aware of that, " returned his Grace. "Need I trouble your Highnesswith any further grounds for my refusal? Not with my consent shall mydaughter marry a libertine. "

"Great Judge of Heaven!" cried Max, springing to his feet. "Hark to thisold man!"

"Don't shout, " said the Archbishop; "He hears you. "

Max's scorn dropped back like a rocket to earth. 

"Yes, " he retorted, "no doubt! The question is, are you capable ofhearing Him?"

"I am always ready to be instructed, " replied his Grace sarcastically. 

"I must remind you, " said the Prince, "that as a Doctor of Divinity Ihave some claim. Yes, " he went on in answer to the Archbishop's look ofastonishment, "though you have forgotten the circumstance, you yourselfdubbed me Theologian by hitting me over the head with a GreekTestament. "

The Archbishop accepted the reminiscence. 

"In that case, " said he, "I bow to your Highness's authority. "

"Yes: you were a shepherd of that fold, yet you let me in? I was theclever one of my family; and the title was given me when, with threelives standing between, there was little likelihood of my becoming Headof the Church. Was I to wear it, then, as an ornament, or as an amuletto guide me into right doctrine? Whatever faith I still hold, I fear methat miracle has not been wrought. "

"In these days, " said the Archbishop, "faith itself is the greatmiracle. "

"That people should have any faith in the Church is indeed a miracle, "said Max. "Yet I suppose it is but another instance of how easily theworld accepts what it finds. I myself remain outwardly a Churchman;merely because it seems to me hardly to matter, and because any overtact on my part would hurt those whom I love. And what spiritualexperience have I acquired as the result of my outward conformity? Ihave found the pulpit the most polished of all social institutions: andnever once have I heard from it any word troublesome to a consciencewhich has still, I can assure you, its waking moments. The eloquencethat flows from it never trespasses beyond the bounds of politeconversation; and as regards 'unpleasant subjects' it deals faithfullyonly with the lives of those who do not form the bulk of itscongregations. If it dealt faithfully with them, those politecongregations would get up and walk out. "

"I do not think, sir, that your experience puts you in a position toknow how the Church deals with the consciences of the faithful. "

"You mean, " said Max, "that in the ears of royalty uncomfortablesubjects are avoided? That merely indicates the system. As the snailwithdraws first his horns into his head, then his body into his shell, so your Church adapts itself to its surroundings. Let me give you a casein point--it touches on our present discussion. I have heard oftenenough the cheaper forms of prostitution decorously alluded to; but whendid I ever hear dealt with, either for approval or reprobation, theestablished practice among the unmarried youth of our aristocracy ofkeeping mistresses?"

"I think, sir, that you must have been often inattentive. The virtue ofpurity is, I am sure, constantly inculcated by our clergy. "

"In such a form, " replied the Prince, "that we need not apply it toourselves. The betrayal of innocency, yes, I have heard of that, forthat only touches a small minority. But these mistresses whom most of uskeep are no more innocent than ourselves, nor are we more innocent thanthey. And yet, while to them all social entrances are barred, we men areallowed to go in free. "

"Society cannot act on mere rumor and suspicion, " said the Archbishop. 

"In the woman's case it does, " replied the Prince. "And I wonder whetherit has ever occurred to any one to connect that fact with thecheapening of our modern definition of chivalry. Are you everchivalrous; am I?"

"Charity is a greater thing than chivalry. "

"I am not so sure of that, " said the Prince. "You had forgotten just nowthat I was a Doctor of Divinity; have you also forgotten that we sharethe honors of one of the most ancient knighthoods in the world?"

"Will your Highness be so good as to explain?"

"Your Grace will perhaps remember--since you officiated upon theoccasion as prelate of the Order--my investiture rather more than twoyears ago as a Knight of the Holy Thorn?"

The Archbishop bowed assent. 

"Your discourse upon that occasion was both learned and eloquent; but itdid not really touch the subject that had brought us together. "

"How would you define the subject?" inquired his Grace. 

"The subject on which I hoped to be instructed, " said the Prince, "wasthe real meaning of Chivalry as expressed in the Order of the Thorn, andthe reason why I was deemed worthy to be made a knight of it. There hadalready been some comment owing to the fact that the honor was notconferred immediately on the attainment of my majority. Perhaps myshortened career at college had something to do with it--perhaps thefact that I had brothers who were older and worthier than myself. I amnot in the least blaming my father for the delay; rather am I nowinclined to be grateful. But that year the death of my two brotherscreated more than a vacancy: and any further postponement would, Isuppose, have made the omission too pointed. I stepped into those deadshoes. "

"What a talker the man is!" said the Archbishop to himself. Butetiquette held him bound, and there he was obliged to sit, lookinginterested and attentive, while Max went on. 

II

"For some reason or another--perhaps because it was the one thing forwhich, in spite of legitimate expectations, I had been kept waiting--Iconceived for the honor, when it was bestowed on me, a sentimentalregard which I did not experience toward my other titles. They had alldropped upon me without any merit on my part; for this one honor I feltin some curious way that I was not worthy. It may have been that feelingof unworthiness which made me, before the date of my investiture, studythe history of the Order and the legend of its origin. I had hoped thatyou would touch upon that legend, and give it some modern application. Iwonder now whether your Grace is aware of the legend; or whether I, indeed, am not the only Knight of the Order who has troubled to thinkanything about it. "

"I fancy, " said the Archbishop, "that the legend you refer to has aflavor of medieval Romanism that would hardly commend itself to modernears. "

The Prince smiled bitterly. "Your Grace persuades me, " he said, "to tellthe story myself. At the point where it does not commend itself I shallbe glad to hear your criticism. 

"The Founder--or ought I not rather to say the first Knight?--of theOrder was (if the story be true) a certain ancestor of our royal housewho had spent the greater part of his life in wars of unjust aggression. To atone for them--or for other things which weighed more heavily on hisconscience--he went late in life on a crusade to the Holy Land; andafter being there handsomely trounced by the infidel, was returning indejection to the sea-coast with the mutinous remnant of his following, when the founding of the Order of the Thorn occurred to him. 

"It occurred to him thus: this at all events was his own account of it. He had become separated from his company of knights, darkness was comingon--when, as he spurred his tired steed with little mercy for itsexhausted condition, he passed by the roadside a beggar who cried out tohim for charity. But the charity asked for was not alms, but only thewithdrawal from the mendicant's foot of a thorn which troubled him. 

"My ancestor, softened by some accent of gentleness or patience in thesuppliant's voice, dismounted to do the service required of him, and inthe growing darkness drew out the thorn. But when he had got it freefrom the flesh it seemed no more a thorn but an iron nail; and the woundout of which he had drawn it shone with celestial radiance. Then wasfounded the Order. The Mendicant bade him bind the Thorn upon his heelin the place of his spur, so that whenever thereafter he should betempted to goad or oppress whether man or beast the Thorn should remindhim of pity and mercy. I wait for your Grace's criticism of thatlegend?"

The Archbishop made no reply: with a courteous gesture of the hand heinvited the Prince to continue. 

"I hoped, " said the young man, "to be instructed in the connectionbetween that Founding and the continuance of the Order. You spoke ofchivalry and loyalty; but the chivalry which you invited us to emulatewas merely the physical daring of our ancestors as proved in war(wherein I am no longer allowed to take part); and the loyalty was to aform of monarchy which modern conditions now threaten with change. AndI, looking at all my brother Knights around me, and at myself, wonderedby what right we wore that iron thorn upon our heels. 

"Among us--I need not mention names--were men whose lives were far morenotoriously evil than mine--men whose wealth had been gained for them bythe grinding of sweated humanity; men who received enormous rents fromhouses not fit for human habitation--men who opposed every act ofremedial legislation which disturbed their own vested interests, and whodid these things with an untroubled conscience because the conditionsthey fought for were all the outcome of custom or of law. 

"And I remembered that some day I should be required to become theirGrand Master--the titular head of that dead Order of Chivalry; and Iwondered what would happen if I acted honestly upon my conscience andrefused. "

"Yet you say, sir, that for this Order, of which you now speak soslightingly, you had sentiments of reverence?"

"For the Order--yes; but none for the men--including myself--who make upits membership. "

"Surely, " said the Archbishop, "your Highness must admit that they areall men of mark; many of them have spent their lives in the publicservice--leaders of the people in peace and war. You cannot regard thesethings as nothing. "

"For these things they already have their titles, " said the Prince, "their state-pensions, or the wealth personally acquired on which theirpower and influence are based. Has the Order of the Thorn ever once inits history been given to a man because he was conspicuously good, orgentle, or forbearing, or unselfishly thoughtful for others? Has it everonce been given to a successful philanthropist who was not also of highlineage and title? I have looked through the lists; I can find none. Your Grace is the only one among us whose profession is to serve Godrather than to be served by men. "

The Archbishop glanced uneasily at the Prince; but there was no sarcasmin his look or tone. Max was never more of an artist than in hisadaption of manner to theme. Sadly, almost dejectedly he went on. 

"And now let us come to myself. It seems that I am not accounted worthyto receive your daughter's hand in marriage. In a certain sense I admitit. That he is unworthy seems true to every man who ever loved a womanwell; and perhaps the woman feels the same of herself. But I do notadmit that the reasons for your judgment are just. You deny me my claimbecause, during my early manhood, I have had illicit connection with onewoman. Tell me--do you propose that your daughter shall ever marry atall?"

The Archbishop looked at the Prince with a half-pitying surmise and drewhimself up as though he had some statement to make. Then putting theinclination aside he said: "That is for her to choose. "

"From her own rank in life?" persisted Max, --"not limited, I mean, tothe clerical profession?"

"I impose no limits on my daughter's freedom, " said the Archbishop. 

"And do you mean to tell me, " inquired the Prince, "that of everysuitor for your daughter's hand--lawyer, soldier, politician, man ofletters--you will make it your business to inquire--and will expect tobe told the truth--whether they have not at some period of their careerhad illicit connection with women?"

"I could recommend no suitor, " said the Archbishop, "who had been at solittle pains as your Highness to avoid the setting of a bad example toothers. "

"Is it, then, merely secrecy that you advocate?"

"A respect for moral observances is in itself a ground ofrecommendation, " answered his Grace; "though at times a man may fallshort of what he knows to be right. "

"You mean, " said the Prince, "that I have flagrantly committed myself inthe upkeep of an establishment, where others have only paid anextravagant price for a night's lodging?"

"Your Highness puts the matter in a way that makes it impossible for meto discuss. "

"I beg your pardon; I really was trying to be delicately indirect. Butthat you should beg off discussion because my way of putting thingsseems to you indelicate is yet another count in my quarrel with yourestablished ministry. You seem to me to be amateurs where you ought tobe professionals. How can you possibly deal with poor weak humanity inkid gloves? Like the surgeon before he can hope to bring healing in hiswings, you too must be anatomical in your researches. It is theanatomical your civil churchmen fight shy of. Well, I will endeavor toget at the matter from another and a more accessible side. Your Graceis, I take it, a man of the world?"

The Archbishop was inclined to demur; humbly but firmly he deprecatedthe imputation. 

"But surely!" protested the Prince, "had you not been, you would not nowbe in the place which you occupy; every one knows that an Archbishop'sappointment is political. I ask you then, as a man of the world, how--short of a miracle--could you expect a man in my position andcircumstances to have kept a technically unblemished record? Surroundedwith luxuries from my birth, disciplined by no real hardship, having tomake no struggle for my existence; brought up to eat meat and drinkwine; athletic, but without any reason or opportunity for leading astrenuously athletic life; with brains, but with no compulsion to usethem; passed, for the perfecting of my education, from one privilegedgrade to another; from the University to the Army, and from thence tosport and the race-course; from where on God's earth, in this moderncurriculum for kings, was the idea to have occurred to me that I shoulddo this thing, in attempting to do which your early hermits wenthullabalooing to the desert?

"I am now nearly twenty-six. My father, for reasons of State, married attwenty-one: I, for similar reasons, have been kept unmarried, nosufficiently eligible partner could be found for me. And I solved thetime of waiting by contracting a non-legal conjugal relationship with awoman for whom I had a very real affection, who was considerably mysenior in years, and who knew quite well that the arrangement could onlybe temporary. My Lord Archbishop, I ask you--could you in mycircumstances have shown a better, a more blameless record? I was evenpunctilious enough to tell your daughter--an excessive scruple, Ithink, --she did not understand. "

"She understands now, " said the Archbishop. 

"And who is it, " inquired the Prince sharply, "who has thus playedbo-peep with her intelligence--first shutting and now opening her eyes?"

"When evil is encountered, " said his Grace, "instruction has to beextended. "

"And still you have stopped halfway, just at the point where it servesyou best. What does her pure soul know of these problems which to herare only a few hours old?"

"She is a daughter of the Church; and she knows what the Church's answerhas always been. "

"She knows, then, " said Max, "what no school of historians has yet beenable to decide! See over in England to-day how the Church, clinging toits establishment, has to dodge and shuffle over the changes in themoral law arising out of national habit. Is the Church of Jingalo sogreatly superior, think you, that it can boast?"

At that moment a clock upon the chimney-piece intoned the hour; and theArchbishop, reduced to extremity in order to get rid of hisdistinguished but unwelcome visitor, permitted himself to throw aninvoluntary glance in the direction of the sound. 

The Prince, perceiving the indication, rose at once to his feet. 

"Pardon me, " he said, "for having kept you so long. "

"Pardon _me_, " returned his Grace; "unfortunately I have to dine. "

"Of course. I ought not to have forgotten. "

"I mean that I have guests. "

"They shall not be kept waiting by me, " said the Prince. He moved to thedoor. Then he stopped. 

"Your Grace, " he said, "I know that we cannot be friends, still----"

He paused; and there was silence. 

"I greatly wish to see your daughter. Surely you cannot deny me thatright. "

"_I_ cannot, " said the Archbishop. "She does. "

This pulled Max up with a jerk: not that he yet believed it, however. 

"Where is she now?" he inquired. 

"She has joined the Sisterhood of Poverty. To-day she entered herprofession. "

The Prince choked. 

"That is horrible!" he said. "You mean she has taken vows?"

The Archbishop of Ebury bowed his head. "For the remainder of _my_ lifeat all events, " he said in a stricken tone. "She will not return here. My house is left desolate to me--because of you. "

"You still have guests, " said the Prince. 

"That is an unworthy gibe, " retorted his Grace. "My work has still to goon. "

"I beg your pardon, " said Max. 

"I have written to her, " he added after a pause; "and she has notanswered. Will your Grace be good enough----"

"I do not think she will. She prays for you. If you came, I was to tellyou that. "

Again there was silence for a time. 

"When I was a child, " said the Prince, "I had an old nurse, who wheneverI did anything wrong--as whipping was not allowed--used to go down onher knees and pray for me; and she always did it against a blank wall. Isuppose it helped her. That has always remained my vision of prayer. Andnow I shall always think of your daughter with her dear face turned to ablank wall, praying for you and me--her murderers. "

He went out. 

"Upon my word!" thought the Archbishop, "that is a dangerous man to beheir to a throne. "

CHAPTER XXI

NIGHT-LIGHT

I

And meanwhile the Prince of Schnapps-Wasser had arrived; and Max, instead of pursuing his own love-affair, ought to have been busyentertaining him. 

The first meeting between Charlotte and her suitor had been tactfullyarranged; they had met riding to a review of troops in the great Fieldof Mars which occupied a central space in the largest of the royalparks. The Princess had a healthy taste for riding in thoroughly coldweather; she also particularly disliked to be in a carriage when thoseround her were on horseback; and so, by following her own taste, whenthe Prince met her she was looking her very best. Down a white-frostedavenue of lindens she and her escort came trotting to thesaluting-point; and there, once more in his sky-blue with its sable andsilver trimmings, the Prince was presented, and opening upon her mildblue eyes that looked curiously light in his bronzed and ruddycountenance, with dutiful promptness he fell in love with her. 

By a little quiet maneuvering and attendance to other matters theKing left them side by side for a while. Troops stood massed in thedistance waiting the signal to advance. 

"Do you like soldiers?" inquired the Prince. 

"It rather depends upon the uniform, " replied Charlotte. 

"Oh! Do you like mine?"

She looked at it, and smiled; for there were no sky-blue tunics inJingalo; and such cerulean tones on a man were to her eyes a littleincongruous. 

"It would be rather trying to some complexions, " she observed. "But youlook very well in it. "

"Ah! I have been abroad, " he explained. "That has given me the colors ofa Red Indian. "

"You look just as if you had dropped from the sky, " she said, smilingstill at him. 

"Oh, no, not this sky!" and he cast up a grudging glance at the opaquegrayness overhead. "Here you seem to have a sun that looks only theother way. "

She threw back a light remark, while her eye strayed over the field. Presently he returned to the subject. 

"So you only like soldiers because of their uniforms?"

"And when they ride well. I like drums too, " she added. 

"Ah! good! I can play on the drum. It is my one instrument. "

"Does it require much practice?"

"Oh, yes; it is very difficult--to play well. But it has been veryuseful to me. I took a drum with me to South America. That is music thatthe natives can understand, it can make them afraid; and when one is allby oneself in the forest, then it helps that one shall not feel lonely. One night when I had no fire left, I was saved my life from wild beastsjust by beating at them with my drum. It is funny that you should likedrums. "

"I like something with them as well, " said Charlotte. 

"Ah, " grunted the Prince, "that depends. There is some music in theworld that ought never to be allowed. "

"Well, there is some of ours, " said the Princess, as the massed bands ofthree regiments sent forth their blast. "How does that strike you?"

The Prince listened with the ear of a connoisseur. "For you here, thatis good, " he said judicially; "but you are not a musical nation. Andthere is a man there that is playing his drum as it ought not to beplayed. "

And then his formal duties called him away. This was their firstexchange of compliments. Old Uncle Nostrum, who had kept within ear-shot, reported to the King that things had gone sufficiently well. There wasno secrecy about the intended affair in the royal circle now; everybodyknew of it. 

And that evening, at a State ball given in the Prince's honor, thedestined pair met again. 

Nothing very much happened at the ball. The Prince danced once withCharlotte and once with the Queen, and with nobody else; while Charlottedanced nearly the whole evening; and Max, moving about with a pensiveand preoccupied air, danced with nobody. But the only reason why thisball has to be mentioned is because of something that happenedimmediately after, quite unconnected either with the about-to-be-linkedor the about-to-be-separated lovers--something which takes us back tothose underground workings of the body politic which his Majesty wasonly now beginning fully to apprehend. 

State balls end punctually, and as it were upon the stroke; as soon asthe royal countenance is withdrawn they come to an end. And so withinhalf-an-hour of the retirement of the royal party all the great suite ofchambers was empty, and in less than an hour light and movement hadceased in all that part of the palace wherein the royal family resided. 

But the King, hindered during the day by constant attendance upon hisguest, had some papers to look through before his next meeting with thePrime Minister. He went into his study, switched on the light, and foran hour sat at work. Outside traffic died away; the sense of silencegrew deep; the whole palace became permeated by it. Wearying for bed, having got through his last batch of papers, the King looked at theclock; it was half-past one. 

Just as he was getting up from his seat the mere ghost of a sound caughthis ear. The door, silent on its hinges, had softly opened; and withinits frame stood a figure in dark civil uniform who gave the militarysalute. 

II

"Mr. Inspector!" cried the King in surprise, recognizing the face. 

"I beg your Majesty's pardon. "

"Ah! You came to see that everything was safe? This time you were alittle too early. Still, as you are here, I should rather like to knowhow far those keys do allow you to penetrate?"

"Everywhere, your Majesty. "

"You mean, even to the private apartments?"

Apparently he did. 

"Do you often have occasion to use them?"

"Not after to-night, your Majesty--never again. "

"Oh, do not suppose that I am objecting, if it is really necessary. "

"I give these keys up to-morrow, sir, " said the man. "I ought to havegiven them up to-day; but I wanted to see your Majesty. "

The King drew himself up; this seemed an intrusion. 

"You could have asked for an interview, " he said. 

"I could have asked to the day of my death, sir; you would never haveheard of it. "

"You could have written. "

"Does your Majesty think that all letters personally addressed are evenreported to your Majesty?"

"I suppose not all of them, " said the King after considering the matter. 

"Not one in a hundred, sir. "

"Still, any that are important I hear of. "

"Mine, sir, would not have been reckoned important, " said the manbitterly. 

The King looked hard at him, not with any real suspicion, for hisstraightforward bearing inspired liking as well as confidence. But herewas a man whose measure must be carefully taken, for he was certainlydoing a very extraordinary thing. 

"And have you something really important to tell me?"

Their eyes met on a pause that spoke better than words. 

"Yes, " said the man. Quietly he shut the door. 

"Won't you come nearer?" said the King, for the depth of a large chamberdivided them. But the disciplined figure kept its place. Slowly butwithout hesitation he gave what he had to say. 

"I am dismissed the force, " he began; "but that's not important--atleast only to me--though I suppose that's partly why I'm here, for a manmust fight when his living is taken from him. I am dismissed becauseyour Majesty got out of the palace the other night without my hearing ofit. "

The King breathed his astonishment, but said nothing. 

"I admit I ought to have known, but the man we had on duty at that doordidn't know your Majesty--at least not so as to be sure. I asked himyesterday who it was went out, and he said--well, sir, he thought it wasone of the palace stewards. They use that door a good deal at night, soI'm told. "

"That he did not recognize me was, of course, my own doing, " said theKing. 

"I know that, sir, " replied the man, "but in the detective force wecan't afford to make those sort of allowances. The consequence is--I'mout of it. "

"I'm sorry, Inspector. What do you want me to do?"

"Well, sir, I'm here because I know something that I can't tell toanother soul on earth. If I could have gone to them with it, I needn'thave troubled your Majesty. But, so happens, I haven't got the proof. "

"Are you going to ask me to believe you without proof?"

"Your Majesty can get the proof--or see it anyway. It's there at Dean'sCourt. "

"Dean's Court? What is that?"

"Where the police museum is, sir. The proof of what I'm going to tellyour Majesty lies there. "

This was getting interesting. "Pray go on, " said the King. 

"That bomb, " said the man, "the one that was thrown at your Majesty theother day--all the pieces of it are in the museum now. "

He paused, then added--

"They have gone back to the place they came from. "

It was evident then, from the man's tone, that to his own mind he hadstated the essential part of his case. 

But the King, his brain working on unfamiliar ground, missed theconnection. 

"I do not quite understand, " he said. 

"No, sir? Well, then, it's like this. After the bomb was thrown, we wereput on to the ground, and the public were kept off. All the piecespicked up were brought to me. It must have been a very mild sort ofcharge, sir, nothing much besides gunpowder I should say; no slugs noranything. Most of the shell I was able to put together again. It wasblackened all over, partly by fire, partly new painted I think, but, under the black, I found lettering and numbers, all quite faint. I'vegot them here. " (He drew out a pocket-book as he spoke. ) "D. C. M. 5537. "

He closed the book with a snap as though clinching an argument. 

"The bomb that had that number on it, " said he, "came from Dean's CourtMuseum; it's been there fifteen years. I've been in to look; that numberis missing now. You'd have thought, sir, they might have been morecareful than that!" He spoke with professional contempt for a job thathad been bungled. 

The solemnity of the man's manner, and the queer mystery of it all senta cold sensation through the King's blood; he felt now that he was upagainst something dangerous and sinister. 

"What do you mean me to understand from all this?" he asked?

"Well, sir, " said the man, "it doesn't need me to tell your Majestythat when anarchists or any of that sort want to do a bit ofbomb-throwing they don't go to our police museum for their materials. But that's not all. They found out, down at head office--after it wasover, only then--that the local authorities had given permit for acinematograph record to be taken from a stand just opposite, overlookingthe new buildings, so as to get the procession as it came along underthe arch. And so, as it happened, those films had got the whole thingrecorded. We only heard of it when they were announced to be shown atthe theater that night. I was sent down to get hold of them, and Ibrought them back with me. 

"I've been through every one; most people wouldn't see anything. Thepoint where the bomb went off was about fifty yards away; and thosefilms give a view that just takes in a bit of the palisade. At number139 you see an arm come up, and a face just behind it, very small, underthe scaffolding; you'd hardly know it was there. But if that were putunder a good microscope I shouldn't be surprised but what it could berecognized. "

By this time the King's understanding had become clear; he saw where theargument was leading. 

"Before I could do that, " the man went on, "they were locked away. Ididn't say anything about it--didn't point it out to them, I mean--forI'd begun to have a feeling that things weren't all right; and I daresaythey haven't noticed what _I_ noticed. If they have, number 139 and theten plates following will be gone. Whether they have or not--that's myproof. "

The King was now following the man's narrative with tense interest;every moment its import grew more clear; yes, clearer than day, sharpand bright as a rocket shot up against the blackness of a midnight sky. 

The inspector paused for a moment and wiped his hand over dry lips; inthe telling of that tale his face had grown white. 

"Whom do you mean by 'they'?" inquired the King. 

The man hesitated. "Well, your Majesty, I'd rather not say. "

"I ought to know. "

"Oh, yes, sir, I can't deny that! But, there, I've got no proof--so it'snot the same thing. But I do say this, your Majesty, that to be able tolay hands on those things in the first place, and now to keep themlocked away, needs somebody higher up in the department than I'd like toname. If I may leave it at that?"

"That will do, " said the King. 

"Your Majesty sees I couldn't safely go to anybody else with that proof;either it would be somebody who couldn't get at it before it wasdestroyed, or it would be those who had the whole thing in their ownhands. "

"I quite see that, " said the King. 

"That's all I had to say, then, sir. "

"I am very much in your debt; I shall not forget what I owe you. Thereis one question I want to ask--you say that the charge must have been avery feeble one?"

"Yes, sir, much less than an ordinary shell. "

"What do you deduce from that fact?"

"Well, your Majesty, I should say that killing had never been intended. "

"That it was only done to frighten some one?"

"That is about it, your Majesty. "

"Thank you; that is what I wanted to know. And if you will leave me yourname, I think I can promise that you shall be at no disadvantage after Ihave gone into the matter. "

"I am much obliged, your Majesty. " The inspector came forward, drew outa card, and respectfully presenting it, retired again. 

"Then, for the present, that is all, " said the King. "It is now nearlytwo o'clock. You can, I believe, let yourself out?"

And in the light of a gentle, half-quizzical smile from the royalcountenance, the inspector withdrew. 

"What an amazing thing!" said the King to himself. "And oh! if it istrue!"

III

He knew that it was true; for in a flash he had seen the meaning of it. And instead of angering him, it filled him with an almost intoxicatingsense of power. For it meant that the Prime Minister, or theGovernment, could not do without him, he had been necessary to theirplans. 

He could not distinctly see why, whether it were a fear of Maxsucceeding to the throne at such a juncture or of popular resentment atthe sovereign being driven to so desperate a remedy for his griefs, orfear merely of the damage that might be done to the monarchical systemwhile bureaucracy was still depending upon it as a cloak forconstitutional encroachments--whether one or all of these fears impelledhis minister, the King did not know; but he saw clearly enough that toforce him into withdrawal of his abdication the Prime Minister hadadopted a desperate and almost heroical remedy. 

He bore the man no grudge; the more he envisaged the risks, the more headmired and respected him. Feebly though the bomb had been charged, carefully though directed by slow underhand bowling only at the legs ofhorses, at a moment when the royal carriage had actually passed, still abomb is an incalculable weapon--pieces of it fly in the most unexpecteddirections; and it was evident that for the execution of thisministerial veto on the Crown's action it had been necessary to risk thelives not merely of a picked body of troops, but of several high courtofficials and staff-officers riding in close attendance upon the royalcoach. And a child in politics could see that if all this risk had beenrun to make abdication impossible, then abdication had been the rightcard to play. 

And now that game was over, and another had begun, and if, in a certainsense, the leading cards had reverted to the ministerial hand, the Kinghad the advantage of knowing what they were; and by leading off inanother suit he might prevent the Ministry from playing them till toolate for effect. 

It was necessary, however, first to get his proofs. They lay at Dean'sCourt under official lock and key; and the hand which held that key was, for all he knew, the same which had thrown the bomb in order tofrighten him. How, then, was he to get at it?

A brilliant idea occurred to him; so simple and easy that withoutworrying himself further he went to bed and slept upon it. And nextmorning, at their first meeting, he said to the Prince ofSchnapps-Wasser, "Would you not like to come and see our police museum?Just now it contains some rather interesting exhibits--especially for uspersonally--that bomb, you know. " And he proceeded to give details. "Theactual pieces are all there, and a whole set of photographs, showing howthe explosion took place. "

Her Majesty, hearing of the project, backed it warmly. 

"You will find it quite an intellectual treat, " said she, "our policeare such intelligent creatures. I went all over the museum myself once;and it felt exactly like being in a kaleidoscope--everything sowonderfully arranged. "

"Ah, yes, " said the Prince, "that should be very interesting. "

And so, though it was not in the day's program, quite at an early hourthe King and his guest drove down together to the Prefecture. 

The Prefect himself had not arrived, but they saw one of the highpermanent officials; and stating the purpose of their visit wereformally handed over to the Superintendent of detectives. The departmentwas his. 

"Mr. Superintendent, " said the King, "we come upon you by surprise; areyou sufficiently prepared for us?"

The Superintendent declared that his department was ready at all hours. 

"I wanted to show the Prince some of your relics, " his Majesty went on, "particularly those connected with the recent outrage. "

Of course the Superintendent was delighted; he led the way into themuseum; and before long the Prince of Schnapps-Wasser became very muchinterested in all the things that were shown him. 

Case after case was opened; and the King, seeing how smoothly matterswere shaping, made no hurry toward the attainment of his goal. 

Presently, pointing toward a case that stood in a window recess, theofficial remarked with a smile, "There lies your Majesty'sdeath-warrant--what is left of it. "

The case was opened; the King took up the fragments. 

"Very interesting, " he said. "There are also some photographs showingthe actual event, are there not?"

"They are here, your Majesty. " The Superintendent produced a small boxwith numbered slides. 

"Very interesting, " murmured the King again as he continued to handlethe shards. 

Presently he detected in one of these a faint trace of figures andlettering; he laid it to one side, took up the films, and began toexamine them. Film after film he held up to the light; the scale wasvery small. Unable to decipher them in detail he sought only for theidentifying numbers under which they stood catalogued. 

After a while he came to the one he was in search of; that and the othertwo or three which immediately followed it he selected for closerscrutiny. Two of them he handed to the Prince. "This is just before, " hesaid by way of explanation. "It was from behind those palisades that thebomb was thrown after our coach had passed. "

"Here your Highness can see the actual explosion taking place, " saidtheir guide. 

"Ah, very good! Very interesting!" murmured the Prince, with cordialappreciation. "That seems to have gone off quite well. "

The King meanwhile had re-collected the four innocuous-looking films andset them apart from the rest. "And have you been quite unable, " heinquired, "to trace the bomb to its origin, or to discover anything asto who threw it?"

"No trace at all, sir. The whole thing is a perfect mystery. "

"Remarkable!" said the King. 

And then with the leisurely air of a collector of curios he took upagain the four films and the shard bearing the faint trace of figures, and before the astonished eyes of the Superintendent put them into hisbreast-pocket. 

"I will keep these as a souvenir, " he observed. "They will always be ofgreat interest to me. "

"I ask pardon, your Majesty, " replied the official a little stiffly, "but it is against all regulations for anything to go out of this museumwhen it has once been catalogued. "

"Ah, yes, " retorted the King, smiling pleasantly, "but then it isagainst all regulations for bombs to be thrown at the royal coach when Iam in it; so you must allow, for once, this small breach that I make inyour chain of evidence. There is plenty of material for conviction stillleft, should you ever discover the criminal. "

"I am afraid, sir, " said the Superintendent, speaking gravely, "thatthis will get me into trouble with the Prefect. May I express a hopethat your Majesty will reconsider the matter?"

"Oh, no, not at all!" said the King. "Tell the Prefect that theresponsibility rests with me. The Prince here is witness that I robbedyou and that you were helpless. Lay all the blame upon me without anyscruple! And if it is a very grave breach of the regulations--well--youcan inform the Prime Minister; and then, no doubt I shall hear of it. "

The Superintendent stood mute; he had made his protest, and he could notpretend that he was satisfied. 

"By the way, " went on the King, "I have a very particular request tomake which I think concerns your department. In connection with acertain incident that took place the other night--and which shall benameless--one of your special inspectors has been dismissed, I hear?"

"That is so, your Majesty. "

"Well, I do not wish to interfere in anything that makes for efficiency;but I have to request--will you please to make a particular note ofit--that he shall be retired on a full pension. "

For a moment the official hesitated. "May I ask why, sir?"

"Because practically I have promised it. It is either that or Ire-engage him for my own personal service. He is a man whom I havetrusted in matters of an exceedingly confidential character. Pray see toit. "

The head of the department could hold out no longer. "It shall be asyour Majesty wishes, " said he. 

"Very well, " said the King. "Please report when you have seen the matterthrough. And now, Prince, I think that we have exhaustedeverything--including, I fear, your patience, Mr. Superintendent. What avery criminal part of society you have to deal with! I hope that theinfluences of the place are not catching. "

"As to that, sir, I can hardly say, " replied the other with a wry smile. "Your Majesty has just committed a robbery which I shall have to report;the first that has ever taken place in this department. "

"Oh, surely not quite the first!" protested the King. 

Then he checked himself. "Well, if that is so, you can but take out anorder for my arrest. And you will find, " he added slyly, "that I amalready well known to the police. "

And so saying, he and the Prince took their departure. 

IV

But if the King was satisfied with his morning's exploit--a raid sosuccessfully conducted--he had harassment to face before the day wasover. His message to Council, on the matter of the Women Chartists andtheir grievances, was received by the Prime Minister not only withdisfavor but with a clear though respectful intimation that it would notbe allowed to effect the ministerial program. 

"I must remind you, Mr. Prime Minister, " said his Majesty, "that theConstitution gives me this right. "

"That, sir, I do not question. But it gives to us also a discretion asto when time can be found for attending to it. "

"Well, " said the King, "you may fix your own date within reason. "

"I can fix no date, your Majesty. "

That was flat, and the monarch could not help showing his annoyance. 

"If you think that that answer satisfies me, " he said, "you aremistaken. "

"I fear, " replied the Prime Minister, "that it is often my duty to giveyour Majesty dissatisfaction. "

"Well, well, " said the King, "we shall see!"

He had drawn out of his pocket a small shard and was toying with it ashe spoke. 

"By the way, " he said, considerately changing the subject, "I was at thePrefecture this morning; I took the Prince to see the museum. "

"So I was informed, sir. "

The Prime Minister showed no discomposure; his demeanor was whollyurbane and conciliatory. 

"I brought away with me a small memento, " went on the King. 

"I was told of that too, sir, " replied the Premier, smiling. "It was alittle irregular; but if your Majesty wishes for it I do not think therecan be any real objection. "

"Really, " thought the King to himself, "is he going to pretend that heknows nothing about it?" Yet the good face which his minister put uponthe matter did not fail to win the King's admiration; he respected theman's courage and ability to brazen the thing out. The Superintendent, he judged, was not actually in the secret; but of the Premier he was nowquite sure. That air of calm was just a little bit overdone. "I supposehe thinks that I can't do anything, " mused the King. "Well, well, weshall see. "

And then he inquired whether the Prime Minister had interviewed PrinceMax. 

"I have not, sir; but I have seen the Archbishop. "

"You have been talking to the Archbishop about it?" cried the Kingsharply. 

"At great length, sir, " replied the Prime Minister. 

"Then I must say that you have taken a most unwarranted liberty! Youhave gone entirely beyond and behind my authority. No, it is no use foryou to protest, Mr. Premier; I did consent that you should speak to thePrince; but beyond that--until it had been thoroughly discussed withhim--what I communicated to you was entirely confidential and private. "

"An affair of such importance, sir, cannot possibly be private. "

"It can have its private preliminaries--otherwise where would bediplomacy?"

"The Prince might any day have taken overt action--he might even haveannounced the engagement. "

"He might, but he did not! And without even seeing him you have beenbehind his back and discussed it with the Archbishop! And pray, withwhat result?"

"At present, sir, I am not in a position to say, but I have good hopes. We are still in correspondence. I assure your Majesty that my conscienceis clear in the matter. "

"Your conscience, Mr. Prime Minister, has an easy way of clearingitself; you lay the burden of it on me! Yes, this is the second bombthat has been dropped upon me from Government back premises, and I amtired of it; I am not going to stand it any longer! In this matter ofthe Prince's engagement you and I were in entire agreement; but now youhave so acted that you have endangered the relations--the very friendlyand affectionate relations--between the Prince and myself. I hardly knowhow I shall be able to look him in the face. I give him my consent; andthen I suddenly turn round and I work against him; I go behind his back, yes, I steal a march upon him--that is how it will appear. And if he soaccuses me, what am I to say?"

"I appreciate your Majesty's feelings; but I say, sir, that anysacrifice was necessary to prevent so dangerous a proposal from goingfurther. "

"No!" cried the King, "no! not of straightforward dealing and of honor!That is what comes of being mixed up in politics. People forget whathonor means, their sense of it becomes blunted. Unfortunately mine doesnot! Mr. Premier, you have profoundly distressed me; you have made myposition extremely difficult. And I do not think that you had any excusefor it. "

The Prime Minister had never seen the King so disturbed and agitated. Hemoved quickly up and down the room beating the air with his hands; andwhen his minister endeavored to put in a word he threw him offimpatiently, almost refusing to hear him. 

"No, " he said, "no, you had better leave me! With the Prince I must makemy peace as best I can. With you I no longer intend peace; it has becomeimpossible! I have my material; and now my mind is made up, and I meanto use it! Yes, Mr. Prime Minister, you can go!"

And thereupon they parted. 

V

Max was far gentler to his father than the King could have hoped. Theydid not meet till the next day; and for the first time in his life theKing found him utterly cast down and dejected. 

"Oh, do not blame yourself, " he said in answer to his parent'sexplanations and apologies; "I do not suppose that what you have donemakes any real difference. I have spent my life despising convention, occasionally defying it, and now it has overthrown me. Yes, sir, that isthe true solvent of the situation; my morals have been weighed in thebalance and found wanting. "

"Dear me, " said his father, "is that so? Well, well!" and he sighed. 

"Of course, sir, I cannot expect you to be sorry about it. "

"I am sorry, my dear boy--very sorry. Don't think because I have stillto be King that I have not the feelings of a father. Ah, if you onlyknew how hard I have tried to get out of it all, you would believe whatI say. "

"Out of what?"

"Being King at all. Yes, Max, I have yet another confession to make; Imeant to conceal it from you, but now I would rather that you knew. Perhaps you will think it wasn't quite fair; I intended to leave theresponsibility of all this to you; and--well, it so happens that whenyou asked me I had determined to abdicate. "

Max opened his eyes. 

"I actually did abdicate. And then the bomb came, and that made itimpossible. And so--here I still am; and that is how you got myconsent!"

"You abdicated?"

"Yes, my boy, I really did. And if that bomb had not happened I shouldhave been off the throne and you would have been on it. So now, Max, Iam going to tell you everything. " And he did, from beginning to end. 

And when it came to giving Max the actual proof, he got up and unlockeda drawer, and handed out of it the shard and the four films for him tolook at. 

"Take a magnifying-glass, " said the King. "The face and the raised armare behind the palisade to the right. "

"I can't see them, " said Max. 

"Very small, " said the King; "a man with a dark beard. "

Max continued to look without result. "I can't find it, " he said. 

"Well, look at the figures and lettering on the shard; you can seethose. "

"No, " said Max, "I can't. "

The King came impatiently across and took them off him. Then, as heexamined them, he saw that the shard and the four films had beenchanged. 

He had his souvenir; but the incriminating evidence was gone. 

CHAPTER XXII

A MAN OF BUSINESS

I

While these events of political moment were going on, Prince Hans FritzOtto of Schnapps-Wasser had been busy planting himself in the goodgraces of the Princess Charlotte. They rode, they skated, they lunched, they played billiards together; and so easy did their relations to eachother become that the Queen ceased to have any anxiety as to the future, and left the entire conduct of the affair to Providence. 

Charlotte all her life had been quick and impulsive in her decisions;her hatreds and her affections had always been precipitately bestowed, and while her conduct was seldom reasonable, her instincts weregenerally right. So now--when a most crucial question was coming to herfor decision--for she no longer needed to be informed of the Prince'smind in the matter--she did not allow its serious character to weighupon her spirits or make her less ready and spontaneous in the bestowalof her liking. On the contrary, if anything, it hastened her verdict ofapproval. "I do believe that I am going to fall in love with him!" shesaid to herself after an acquaintance of only twenty-four hours; andhaving so determined, she set forth with all speed to study"philosophically, " as she phrased it, this huge healthy natural specimenwhich fortune had thrown in her way. "For if I don't take aphilosophical view of him now, " she said to herself, "I shall never beable to do it afterwards. "

The effort to do so rather amused her; she was not in love with him butshe liked him more than a little. She had not yet, however, put him tothe test by revealing the awful fact that she had been in prison as acommon criminal; and before doing so (a little nervous as to the result)she took such opportunity of survey as was left to her, studied him upand down, noticed his ways, demeanor, habits, and wondered to herselfwhether in three weeks' time she would be so infatuated with this greatcreature as not to know where divinity ended and mere earthly claybegan. 

She had plenty of material to go upon: he was as naïve in therevelations of his own character as in his half-bewildered admirationfor the swift mercurial motions of her livelier temperament. 

For a while, at the beginning of their acquaintance, some question as tothe degree of her sincerity seemed to trouble him. 

"How much of what you say do you really mean?" he inquired. 

"Oh, it varies!" she answered. "I talk so as to find out what I think. Don't you? Some things one can't judge of till one hears them spoken. "

"That seems funny to me. "

"Why? You are fond of music: don't you find that sound is veryimportant? Can you _think_ music without ever hearing it?"

"Sometimes, " he said. 

"But only the airs. "

"Oh, no; sometimes I can think like an orchestra, when I know all whatis in it. "

"You must be very musical. "

"Yes; that is my misfortune sometimes. The world has so much ugly soundalready; and then some people go out of their ways to make more. "

"Ah, yes, " she smiled, "I remember you were a musical critic once. "

He let that go; and turning the conversation abruptly, as was his wont, to more personal ends, said--

"Tell me, do you like my name?"

"Schnapps-Wasser?" Shaping the word elaborately, she made a wry faceover it. 

"No--not that; my own name. "

"But you have three. "

"Yes; Hans, Fritz, Otto. Which of them you like best?"

"Fritz suits you best. "

"Then will you always call me it?"

"Prince Fritz, Prince Fritz?--sounds like a robin, " she said, trying itin musical tones. 

"No, just Fritz; no more, only that. "

"Wait till I have known you a few more days; then we will see. "

"But I shall already be nearly gone by then, " he protested. "I am onlyhere such a short time. "

"Perhaps some day you will come again. "

"Ah! Again!" He sounded unutterable things, as though upon that wordhung his whole fate. Anything might happen to him before they met again. 

"I have a secret, " he said; "I want to tell it you. "

"Are you sure you can trust me?"

"When I have told you it, you can tell anybody. "

"Then it can't be much of a secret. "

"Oh! You think?" He opened his big childish eyes at her and nodded hishead solemnly. "This secret has been with me thousands and thousands ofmiles. Every time I shot off my gun, every day I went 'tramp, tramp'through the forest walking on snakes, every time I fought for my life Ihad this secret of mine to live with. "

"You had better not tell it then; it may lose its interest. "

"I want it to interest you. "

"It does, " said Charlotte, "very much. "

"Huh! You do not know what it is. "

"That is why; it is much more interesting not to know. "

"Ah, you are playing at me! But what I go to tell you is no joke. "

"I was not laughing, " she said. 

"No; only 'chatter, chatter'!"

"You know where I have been?" he continued. 

"I know the continent. "

"Yes;--you are right; that is all anybody knows about it. Well, insideof it there is a country as big as this Jingalo of yours; and itbelongs really to nobody. I have been all over it. "

"The people are very savage, are they not?"

"Savage?--oh, no. They are very fierce and proud, and strong; they arealso the most wonderful artists. You call that to be a savage?"

"Artists?"

"Yes; look at that. "

As he spoke he drew up his sleeve almost to the elbow, exposing asunburnt arm, smooth, fine of texture, and enormously muscular. Over itsbrawny mold, with scaly convolutions elaborately tattooed, writhed adragon in bright indigo. 

"Oh, how beautiful!" exclaimed the Princess. Marveling at the clearintricacy of its detail, she stooped to examine it more closely. 

Prince Fritz turned his arm this way and that, displaying it. He snappedhis fingers: flick went each separate muscle, the dragon became alive. 

"What do you think?" he inquired, smiling with childish vanity and thedelight of feeling upon his skin the warmth of her breath. 

"It is very beautiful, " she murmured again, her admiration dividedbetween the scaly dragon's wings and the splendidly molded limb. 

"I have them far more beautiful upon my legs, " said the Prince. 

"Dragons?"

"Yes; but oh! quite different; more--how do you say?--'bloodthirsty' youcall it? Here and here"--he went on, indicating the locality--"I havetwo. One of them is climbing up and the other is climbing down; and theyare both biting on my knee-cap with their teeth--like mad. "

"They must be quite wonderful. "

"They are all that! When I look at them I am lost with admiration ofmyself. " Then he gazed speculatively into her eyes and speaking indull, soft tones of Teutonic sentiment, said confidentially, "If youwill marry me, you shall see them some day. "

Charlotte's laughter rang loud. "Do you think I should marry you forthat?"

A wistful, rather nonplussed expression came into the Prince's face. 

"I do not know, " said he, "why women marry at all; they are sowonderful, so beautiful, so good all by themselves; we men are notbeautiful at all--not our bodies nor our hearts. And I--oh, well!"--hedrew down his sleeve as he spoke, --"I have nothing more beautiful tooffer you than those--my dragons. If you do not want them, why shouldyou want me?"

"But women don't marry dragons!" objected Charlotte, scarcely lesspuzzled than amused. 

"Oh! Do they not? I think you are wrong. Many of them marry only becausethe man they marry makes them afraid. I have seen it done in the countrywhere I come from;--Germany I mean--and everywhere here it is the same. I am not a dragon myself; but if you are that sort of woman, these mighthelp you to pretend. Do you not think you could be afraid of me enoughto marry me?"

This was strange wooing. 

"I am not afraid of you at all, " said Charlotte; "but I like you--verymuch. "

"Ah, then you want me to be quite another person? Very well, that makeit so much easier. Then now I will tell you what I am really like; andyou will try not to laugh, will you not?"

Charlotte composed her countenance to as near gravity as was possible, and the Prince went on. 

"I am just one little child that has lost its way through having grownso big and strong. And I want some nice, kind woman, that is moresensible than I, to be a mother to me--to take me in her arms and let mecry to her when I am afraid. Herr Gott! I am so frightenedsometimes--how I have cried! Of the dark night, of loneliness, of thestillness when there is no noise near, but only _that_, something far, far away, that comes! Everything frightens me when I am alone. Fighting?No, I am not afraid of that; it is this wait, wait, wait--for what? AndI want to have one woman just at my heart, and her voice at my ear, andchildren--yes, plenty of them; and when I have plenty children, then Ishall not be afraid of loneliness any more. "

"But if you so dislike it, why did you go away into the wilds?"

"Ah! I had to run away from the music. That was awful! And then--haveyou lived in a German town?--that is awful too. Do not think that I amasking you to live in a German town? No: I could not be so cruel. So nowI tell you my secret. "

"You mean the dragons?"

"The dragons? No, no! They go with me, --they are part of me, they are'in the know': but they themselves are not the secret. That is much, much bigger thing still!"

He paused, and she saw his blue eyes looking far away, as though he hadforgotten her presence. 

"Well?" she said encouragingly, "you are going to tell me, are you not?"

"Oh, yes! That is what I am come for. " His tone was quite business-likenow. 

"That big country I told you of--it belongs to nobody. You know thatthose North Americans say that nobody from Europe is to have it, thoughthey do not use it themselves. Well, I am going to have it. "

"You?"

"Schnapps-Wasser, --me, with my water-bottles. I have turned them into acompany; and they are going to give for it--well, never mind how much. But with what my bottles bring me I can make that country so that nopower in the world can prevent it from being a great country to itself. "

"But you say it has no coast?"

"No--just like Jingalo; that is what makes it strong. If I were foolish, if I were only going there to make money, I should try to get sometreaty, some concession, some sort of trade-monopoly--rubber, or gum, orniggers' blood, it is all the same thing--I should try to get that fromthe Brazils or the Bolivias or whoever thinks that it is theirs to sell. I am not such a fool: I do not want to trade, if I have got the people. They are strong, they can run, they live clean lives--nobody has spoiledthem; they do not want to be rich; they are still a wonderful people;they know a leader when they have found him. And when they gave me thesedragons that I have on me, then I became their King. That is my secret. Now!"

"But if I were to tell people _that_----"

"Pooh! They would not believe you. 'Mad, ' that is what they would say. 'Don't marry that man, he is mad!' And besides I am not King as we talkof kings here in Europe; they would not pay taxes to me or anybody, butI can show them what to do. That country on the map may 'belong' toanybody--the United States may write 'Monroe'--one of their big'bow-wows' that was--they may write 'Monroe' all round the coasts ofSouth America and at every port that they like to stick in their noses;but they cannot get there to say that the people living on that landshall not become great and strong in their own way, without any one elseto say about it. To those men outside I shall only look like a traderwhat is too stupid to trade with them; but all my trade will be among myown people. That country can live on itself; there, that is my secret!It wants nothing, nothing from outside at all; and the people wantnothing either. They have great high plateaux where they can live cool;and they have all the brains and the blood that they want to makethemselves a great nation. I have drilled them; ah, but not Germanfashion, no! They are much too splendid for that. Every man is an armyto himself. They do not fear, for in their religion it is forbiddenthem. But if you can think of Bersaglieri--which are the best troops inEurope--able to climb like monkeys, to swim like fish, to go along theground like snakes, and to get all by different ways to the same placein the dark with their eyes shut, though they have never been therebefore--for that is how it seems--well, that is what my army is going tobe like. I have ten thousand of them drilled already; in a year I shallhave them armed; and I tell you that at six hundred miles from thenearest coast nobody will be able to beat them. "

"No, perhaps not with armies, " said Charlotte; "but what aboutcivilization itself--all the evil part of it, I mean? How are you goingto keep that out?"

"Civilization will find us a bad bargain, " said the Prince, "we shallnot trade: that is to be our law. I have told them how dreadfulcivilization has become, and they are afraid of it; they will not touchit with a pair of tongs. Traders may come to us; they shall get nothing, and we shall get nothing from them. Only the King, with those that hehas for his Council, shall choose what is to bring in from outside; andthat will not be for trade at all. 

"Well, now you know! And it is to be Queen of that country, but never towear any crown, that I ask if you are going to marry me?"

"It would be rather a big adventure, would it not?" said Charlotte. 

"Of course! I thought that is what you like. "

"Yes, so it is. But what about papa? I don't know what he would say ifhe knew. "

"Do you always tell him what you do, beforehand, to see if he shallapprove?"

"I've not done lately, " said Charlotte. And then she saw that a suitablemoment for her own confession had arrived. She had very small hope ofshocking him now; but she did her best. 

"Do you know that I have been in prison?" she said. 

"No. Who was it that put you there--your papa?"

"I put myself. "

"Did you get the keys?"

"I made them arrest me. "

"How?"

"I took a policeman's helmet from him, and ran away with it. At leastthat is what he said afterwards: I don't know whether it was true. "

"Beautiful!" exclaimed the Prince in ravished tone. He did not turn ahair; it was merely as though he were listening to some fairy tale. 

"But very likely it was!" persisted Charlotte, anxious for the worst tobe believed; and then she gave him a full account of the whole thing. 

"And what for did you do it?" he inquired when she had finished. 

"Because they had told me that you were coming, and I had promised notto run away. "

"I do not understand?"

"Well, I didn't know what you were like; and I didn't want you to thinkI was a bit anxious to meet you. --That was all!"

"That was all, was it?" Enlightenment dawned on him; he beamed at herbenevolently. 

"And I wanted to see, " she continued, "whether you would be shocked: atleast, I wanted to give you the chance of being. "

"Well, you have given it me, and I am not; I am delighted. The morewomen can do that sort of thing the better--pull men's heads off, Imean. "

"Goodness me!" exclaimed Charlotte, "but I'm not going on doing it. "

"Why not? A good thing done twice is better. "

The simplicity of his approval left her without words. 

"In that country where you and I are going to, " went on the Prince, imperturbably, "the women can fight just as well as the men. They aretrained to wrestle; and before they allow to marry they must havewrestled off on to his back a man as old as themselves. "

"But the men?" cried Charlotte, astonished. "How can they stand beingbeaten by women?"

"Pooh, that is nonsense!" said Fritz; "men do not mind being beaten bywomen unless it is that they despise them. In that country the womanthat has thrown most men is the one that they are most anxious tomarry. "

"I have never thrown any one yet, " said Charlotte reflectively. 

"You!" Peaceful of look he eyed her wonderingly. "You have thrownsomething much stronger than a man, " he said--"you, a princess, that hasgone to prison!--and for that silly notion of yours that you could shockme. Ha!"

"I did it for other reasons, too. "

"Quite like; people may have a lot of reasons they can make upafterwards for doing wise, brave, foolish things like that!"

"But I did think, " insisted Charlotte, "that those Women Chartists wereright. "

"I do not care whether they are right or wrong;--that is not my concern. They may be just as foolish as you, or just as wise--what difference tome? But when I go to think of you sitting there in that common prisonall those ten days with everybody looking for you--looking, looking, andnot daring to say one word--so afraid at what you had done--oh, that ismarvelous! That is to be a King! That is power!"

Charlotte had become very attentive to her lover's praise. "You thinkthey were really afraid, then?" she inquired, "afraid that it should beknown. "

"You ask them!" replied Fritz, "and see if they do not all cry 'Hush'!"

And then in his usual abrupt way he returned to matters more personal tohimself. 

"Well, what are you going to say to me? For the last hour I have beenasking you to marry me, and you have said nothing; only just 'wriggle, wriggle, ' talking off on to something else. "

"Wriggling is one way of wrestling, " said Charlotte. Her eye playedmischief as she spoke. 

"Just waggling the tongue!" retorted Fritz with genial scorn. "Throw aman with that?--you cannot throw me!"

"But I must throw somebody, or else I shall not be qualified. The womenof that wonderful country of yours would look down on me. "

"Throw me!" The Prince opened his arms, smiling. "I will let you!" hesaid. 

"And despise me afterwards! No, Mr. Schnapp-dragon, I shall choose myown man, and throw him in my own way. "

"And if you succeed?"

"Then--yes, then I will marry you. "

"And if you fail?"

"Then I won't. "

"H'm!" observed the Prince in easy-going tones, "you must have been verysure of him before you would say that!"

Charlotte opened her mouth to rebuke that brazen remark; and then shutit again. 

"When do you do it?" went on Fritz, equable as ever. "Before I go?"

Charlotte pretended to temporize. "Well, perhaps to-morrow, " said she. 

And sure enough, to-morrow it was. 

II

Nobody in Jingalo knows to this day what finally induced the PrimeMinister to concede so unexpectedly that preliminary point of vantage--amere foothold among the interstices of the ministerial program--whichthe Women Chartists had so long and vainly striven for. What use theymade of the opportunity thus accorded has now become a matter ofhistory: we need not go into it here. 

No royal message to ministers in Council assembled worked that miracle;for, as we shall see in another chapter, the King's mind was destined atthis point to be suddenly distracted in quite other ways; and when hewas again able to turn his attention anywhere but to himself he foundthat and other matters which had disturbed his conscience tending withcomparative smoothness toward a solution in which he personally had hadlittle share. 

But though Jingalo knows nothing of these inner workings of history, wepeering behind the scenes may note how, when bureaucracy is bent onkeeping up appearances, fear of scandal can become more potent toconstitutional ends than love of justice. 

Never in his long career had the Prime Minister known so flagrant aninstance of blackmail unpunishable by law as that which the PrincessCharlotte sprung on him when, in brief interview, she dictated the termson which alone the Ann Juggins episode was to be allowed to sink intooblivion. And perhaps one can hardly wonder, under the circumstances, that even then he did not feel secure, and was anxious to see soincalculable a "sport" or variant of the royal breed removed to a safedistance. For even though he might rely on her word as to the past, where was his guarantee that she might not do the same thing again?

"That Prime Minister is very anxious to get rid of you, " said PrinceFritz when at a later date he and the Princess began once more tocompare notes as to future plans, when in fact the joyful news of theirengagement was about to be publicly announced in a general uproar ofthanksgiving. 

"Oh, yes, " went on Fritz, enjoying the retrospect, "one could see thatquite well. He was putting on my boots for me all the time, and waswilling to pay a good deal more for the accommodation than he hadexpected me to ask. "

"Pay?"

"Yes, dearest; but it all goes into your pocket, not mine. It is theprice he pays for your character; that is all. "

"But what has my character to do with him?"

"Your character, beloved, " said the Prince, turning upon her an adoringgaze, "leaves him with no moment in which he can feel safe. He thinksthat you have 'a great vitality, ' but here not enough scope. And heseems that he cannot govern this country so long as you stay in it. Ithink him very wise. Shall I tell you what I did?"

"Well?"

"I made a bargain. "

"About me?"

"Of course about you, beloved--for you; who else except would I bargainfor? Besides was it about anything but your business that he and I werehaving to seek each other? Well, because you so frighten him now he paysrather more to get rid of you; and you, oh my dear heart's beloved, youwill get more. That is all that your Fritz had to do yesterday--and hehas done it. So now!"

And then, well pleased with himself, the practical Fritz let hisromantic side appear again, and for two minutes or so he lived up to thesky-like blueness of his eyes and the childlike gentleness of his face, and because his heart was very full of love he talked his own nativeGerman, and not Jingalese any more. 

And these two sides of him are here given so that the reader, if kindlyanxious about Charlotte's future, may trouble about her no more; forwhen your idealist is also a very practical man of business he can, upto the capacity of his brain-power, go anywhere and do anything, andeven in a land that is outside Baedeker will assuredly find his feet. Not for nothing had Prince Hans Fritz Otto of Schnapps-Wasser turned hisbottled industry of home-waters into a company. 

In tentative motherings of her gigantic babe, Charlotte had forgottenall about money and business affairs when once more the practical man inhim came out of childish disguise to make an inquiry. 

"Beloved, " said he, "tell me--was he that man?"

"Which man?" inquired Charlotte innocently. 

"The one that you wrestled with?"

Charlotte nodded; a smile flickered over her face. 

"And you got him down?"

"Yes. "

"Quite down?"

"As flat as he could go. "

"And that is why you marry me?"

The two lovers exchanged sweet looks of candor and honesty. 

"Yes, " said Charlotte, smiling, "that is why. "

"O Beloved, " murmured the infatuated Fritz, "how beautifully you do telllies. "

CHAPTER XXIII

"CALL ME JACK!"

It was noticed when the King came down to the first Council of the newsession that his face was flushed and his manner strangely discomposed. He barely returned the respectful greetings of his ministers, and bypostponement of the customary invitation to be seated, kept them out oftheir chairs for quite an appreciable time. Standing awkwardly aboutthe board they looked like a group of carrion crows awaiting thesymptoms of death before descending to their meal. To none did he accordany word of personal recognition. 

Even when proceedings had commenced it was evident that his attentionconstantly wandered, only returning by fits and starts at the call ofsome chance phrase on which now and again he would seize, remarking in atone of irritation, "And what does this mean, please?" And thereafter hewould require to be instructed at some length, as though he hadforgotten all current or preceding events. 

In consequence of this the formal reports of the various departmentsbecame a lengthy business; and the really important matters, to discusswhich the Council had been specially called, were proportionallydelayed. 

Presently the word "strikes" caught his ear. 

"Ah, yes, what about those strikes?" he inquired. 

"They are still going on, your Majesty. "

"Yes, _I_ know that! Why are they going on--that's what I want to know?The strike you are talking about was practically over more than a monthago; why has it begun again?"

"They have secured fresh funds, sir, and other trades have joined in. "

"Is it the other trades that are finding the funds?"

"Not entirely, sir; large contributions are now coming in from abroad. "

"From abroad?" interjected the King irritably, "where are they gettingfunds from abroad?"

"From England, sir. "

"From the Government, do you mean?"

"Of course not from the Government, sir. "

"Well, explain yourself, then! Don't call it England if it isn'tEngland. "

"I might almost say that it is England, sir, since a judicial decisionis the immediate cause of it. Labor in that country has just won a veryimportant action for damages arising out of a Crown prosecution. It hasnow been decided that the Crown is responsible for the torts of itscivil and military agents. The unions in consequence are flush withfunds, and a portion of the Court's award, amounting to £50, 000, hasbeen handed over to the strike fund in this country. "

"And this subsidy from a foreign and a so-called friendly Power ishaving the effect of prolonging our industrial conflicts, and is doingdamage to our trade?"

"Undoubtedly, sir, it has that effect. "

"Well, and has nothing been said about it--to the English Government, Imean?"

"It is not a direct act of the Government, sir. "

"I don't need to be told that, " said the King. "Neither was it a directact of the Government when a party of English undergraduates climbed tothe top of our embassy and hauled down the national flag becauseJingalese had been made a compulsory substitute for Greek at theiruniversities. But for that the English Government apologized, publiclyand privately, and all round. Do they apologize for this? Do they offerto compensate us for the loss it is to our trade and the correspondinggain to theirs? Have they been asked to apologize?"

"Certainly not, sir. "

"And pray, why not?"

By this time, around the ministerial board, much open-eyed interrogationwas going on. Where, they seemed to be asking, was this glut of foolishinterrogations going to end? But still the minister under examinationendeavored to answer as though the questions were reasonable. 

"There would be no chance, sir, of obtaining any redress. "

"Yet this is doing us infinitely more harm?"

"It is merely a development, sir, of that new thing called'syndicalism. ' It is cropping up everywhere now. "

"It may be new as it likes, " protested the King. "All I say is that asit stands it is a casus belli. You say it is cropping up; all the morereason why it should be put down! What else is government for? Takecattle disease; you put that down, you do not allow that to be imported. Why should you allow syndicalism to be imported either?"

The Council sought resignation of spirit in sighs and looked to itsChief in mute appeal. 

"How would your Majesty propose to prevent the importation of ideas?"inquired the Prime Minister dryly, in a tone that tried to be patient. 

"Don't tell me, " said the King, "that a syndicalist subsidy to Labor of£50, 000 is only an idea. But you are quite right, Mr. Prime Minister; inthe past countries have gone to war largely over the importation ofideas, as you call them, either religious or social; that is why theyfailed. England went to war with France at the end of the eighteenthcentury merely because France was importing revolutionary ideas intoEngland. Was she able to prevent it? No; she only got the disease in amuch more virulent form herself, and has been running tandem to it eversince. It is no use going to war for sentimental reasons; you must do itfor business reasons, and you must do it in a business-like way. "

"Merely as a matter of business, sir, " said the Prime Minister, hishopefulness now on a descending scale, "war with England would cost usconsiderably more than the loss of trade occasioned by this subsidywhich you complain of. "

"Not a bit of it!" retorted the King, "not if you went the right way towork. The Chancellor was saying just now that we should have to devisesome fresh taxes. Well, put a tax on Englishmen; quite enough of themcome here to make it worth while. Every summer the place is alive withthem!"

"I am afraid, sir, " said the Prime Minister, sighing wearily, "that themost favored nation clause stands in the way of your Majesty's brilliantsuggestion. "

"Not if we do it openly as an act of war, " explained the King; "then itbecomes a war tax. That's what I mean when I say conduct your wars onbusiness lines. Don't tax yourself, tax your enemy! England is the onecountry we can fight on our own terms. She can't get at us. We are aninland power; there isn't a coast within three hundred miles of us; andDreadnoughts can't walk on land, you know. They really can't!" he added, as though there might be some doubt among those who had not yet giventhe matter their consideration. 

"I assure you, gentlemen, that war on England, if scientificallyconducted, would be a profitable thing. I've been reading a book by aman named Norman Angell, who says that war doesn't pay. Well, the reasonfor that is we don't conduct our wars on the proper lines. Now if wemade war on England----"

"Your Majesty, " entreated the Prime Minister, "may we proceed tobusiness?"

"If we made war on England, " persisted the King, "we should not have tosend out a single regiment, or impose any extra taxation on ourselves;in fact we should save. We should simply raise our railway and hoteltariffs fifteen or twenty per cent. To all Englishmen, except childrenin arms; children up to thirteen half price. There's the whole thing ina nutshell; no difficulty, no difficulty whatever. "

At this point, to the Premier's annoyance, Professor Teller took up thequestion with a humorous appreciation of its possibilities. 

"But, sir, " he inquired, "how should we know that they were Englishmen?They might disguise themselves as Americans. "

"They couldn't!" said the King. "An Englishman trying to talk Americanmakes as poor an exhibition of himself as an American trying to talkEnglish; and besides, you don't know the British character! Penalizethem in the way I am suggesting and they would flaunt their nationalityin our faces; they would wear Union-jack waistcoats and carry in theirpockets gramophones which played 'God save the King' when you touchedthem. They would make a point of showing us that they didn't caretwopence for our fifteen per cent. ; in fact, their Tariff Reformerswould applaud us--they would put it in large headlines in all theirnewspapers, and call it an object lesson and would demand a generalelection on the strength of it. "

"But supposing, sir, " inquired the Professor, "that they did not come atall? We have to remember that we live largely by our tourists; and if weeliminate the English tourist----"

"Better and better, " said the King. "Think how popular we should be withthe rest of Europe! No English? The Germans would simply flock to us;our hotels would be crammed; we should be turning away money at thedoor. "

The Prime Minister tapped wearily upon the table; all this was suchutter waste of time; and he began to think that the King was sointending it, and was bent upon making a royal Council a constitutionalimpossibility. 

But in some curious magnetic way other members of the Cabinet were nowbeginning to be infected. The idea tickled their national vanity; andthough it was all put in a very amateurish way, many of them saw wellenough that for war to be retained as a solution of internationalproblems something on these lines would have to be done for it. Syndicalism was merely a showing of the way. 

"But, your Majesty, " inquired the President of the Board of Ways andMeans, "might not England retaliate by declaring a Tariff war on us?"

"She might, " said the King; "but not with the Liberals still in power;they couldn't reduce themselves to absurdity in that way. Still, supposing our declaration of war threw the Liberals out, what could theothers do? Our trade in English goods comes to us mainly through Franceor Germany; and our own return trade is chiefly limited to our nativecrockery, toys, wood-carving, and needlework, supposed survivals of ourpeasant industries, which, as a matter of fact, are nearly all of themmanufactured for us in Birmingham, the home of Tariff Reform. In thatmatter, by the taxing of articles which are only nominally made inJingalo, English trade would suffer more than ours; and there might, inconsequence, come about a real revival of our native crafts (anadvantage which I had not previously thought of)--lacking our usualsupply of the bogus article we should at last become honest in ourprofessions and truthful in our trademarks. Let the Minister for HomeIndustries make a note of it. "

"The prospect your Majesty holds out is certainly alluring, " replied theminister thus appealed to; "but if war is to teach us moral lessons, surely we ought to have moral reasons for engaging in it as well asbusiness ones. "

"Well, if you want them, you've got them!" said the King. "If moralreasons were to count we ought to have been at war with England any dayfor the last fifty years. England has become--if she has not alwaysbeen--a center of infection to the whole of Europe. Every disastrousexperiment on which we have embarked has come from her. By her grossmismanagement of established institutions--the Church, the Peerage, theArmy, Land, Labor, Capital--the whole system of voluntary service andvoluntary education--she has driven the rest of Europe intorevolutionary changes for which there was no necessity whatever. Inavoiding the woeful example she has set us, of always standing still onthe wrong leg, we have run ourselves off both our own. And now she isnourishing syndicalism like a bed of weeds, and sowing the seeds of itinto her neighbors' territories. If you are looking for moral excusethere is no end to it; I preferred, however, to put it to you as abusiness proposition. "

"I must assure your Majesty, " said the Prime Minister, "that yourMajesty's present advisers have no intention whatever of makingthemselves responsible for a war on England, however advantageous thecircumstances may seem. "

He might as well have spoken to the wind; with an increasing volubilityof utterance the King went on--

"If it were decided, " said he, "that an actual invasion of England wereadvisable, I have three separate plans now forming in my head, allequally feasible and promising, and all capable of being put intooperation at one and the same time. Each one, in fact, would serve todivert attention from the others. "

It may be noted that at this point Professor Teller suddenly ceased tobe amused; his look of half-quizzical detachment becoming changed to oneof gravity, almost of distress; his Majesty's "pace" had apparentlybecome too much for him. 

"We know, for instance, " pursued the King, "that if we succeeded ineffecting a landing the German waiters would rise as one man and join usas volunteers. Germany would, of course, officially disown them, whilefor the purposes of the war we should give them letters of Jingalesenaturalization on their enlistment; these, which they would carry intheir knapsacks, would prevent them from being shot in the event oftheir being taken prisoners. Our own army of twenty thousand pickedJingalese sharp-shooters would go to England disguised as tourists. Eachin his bag would carry a complete military outfit; our new uniforms areso like those of the English territorials that they would arouse nosuspicion at the Customs House, and even when worn only experts wouldknow the difference. At a given signal----"

There the Prime Minister, having extracted a look of despairingencouragement from the Council, got upon his feet. 

"I have to ask your Majesty, " he said very resolutely, "that we may nowbe allowed to proceed to the business for which we have been calledtogether. "

"At a given signal----" went on the King. 

"I must protest, your Majesty. "

It was quite useless. 

"At a given signal--I will give you your signal, Mr. Prime Minister, when you may throw your bomb; yes, for I have seen you preparing it!--ata given signal when the King and his Parliament were assembled togetherin one place, some of our forces would mingle with the crowd; othersemerging from places of concealment would form into ranks and advancefrom various quarters upon Westminster. Then, before any one was aware, we would cable our declaration of war, rush the House, seize the headsof the Government, carry them off to the topmost story of the clocktower, garrison it from basement to roof, and there, with the King andhis whole Cabinet in our hands, stand siege till the rest of the nationsued for peace. "

Once more the Prime Minister endeavored to interpose; he was borne down. 

"They could not blow us up, " went on the King, "without blowing ourprisoners up also; they could not starve us out, for the King and hisCabinet would perforce have to share our privations. We should have inour possession not only the whole personnel of the Government, but thatsupreme symbol and safeguard of the popular will which crowns theirconstitutional edifice. And, gentlemen, you may think me as mad as youlike--you may arrest me, you may take me to the police-station, you mayrob me of all the evidence of conspiracy I have against you, and you maycall me Jack--jack-of-all-trades, master of none--Jack, plain Jack----"

The Prime Minister and Council sprang to their feet. Consternation wasupon the faces of all. 

"But nothing! nothing!" he went on, "no power on earth--except it were awhole army of steeplejacks----"

At that word the flow of his eloquence ceased; his mouth remained openbut no sound came from it. Suddenly his staring eyes puckered andclosed, wincing as from a blow; and his face flushed to a fiery red, then paled. 

He gave a short cry, threw out an arm feebly; wavered, toppled, crumpledlike a thing without bone, and fell back into his chair. 

"My God!" muttered the Prime Minister. "Oh, great Heaven!"

Some one, more nimble of wit than the rest, dashed out of the room toseek aid. All the others, impressed with a true sense of incompetence, stood looking at their fallen King. Not one of them knew how to handlehim, whether it were best to lay him down or leave him alone. Firstaid--even to their sovereign lord--had formed no part in the educationof these his counselors. 

The Prime Minister did the one thing which he knew to be correct--andwhich could not possibly do harm; he felt the King's heart. But nobodyfor a moment supposed him to be dead; unconscious though he lay, hisheavy breathings could be seen and heard. 

CHAPTER XXIV

THE VOICE OF THANKSGIVING

I

For three whole weeks thereafter--if the papers were to be believed--theentire nation hung upon the bulletins which were issued hourly from theroyal palace. The King's illness gave the finishing touch to hispopularity; devotion to affairs of State had brought on brain-fever, andthe more desperate the symptoms of the illness could be made to appear, the more sublime became the moral character of its august victim, andthe more deeply-rooted the affection of his people. 

Professional vanity had also to be flattered; and during those fiercefluctuations of hope and despair, Jingalo's topmost place in the worldof medical science became vindicated to the meanest intelligence. If bya scientific miracle the King's life was to be saved, Jingalesedoctoring, and no other doctoring in the world would do it. 

Nobly the press performed its task of giving to every factor in thesituation its due prominence; even the Church got its share; and whenfavorable bulletins became the order of the day, their origin wasgenerously ascribed, even by the ministerial press, almost as much tothe prayers of the people publicly offered as to the skill of the sixbest medical authorities. But when all was said and done it was to theKing's marvelous constitution, his patient courage, and his quietsubmission to the hands of his nurses (foremost of whom was her Majestythe Queen), that the praise was chiefly due; for it was necessary, inorder to complete the situation, that the loyalty so nobly tenderedshould be nobly earned. 

And nobly tendered it certainly was. Never could the nation have had sogood an opinion of itself as during those dark weeks when, taught byits press the meanings of the various symptoms, it sat by the King's bedfeeling his pulse, holding his breath, and scarcely daring to raise anyvoice above a whisper. Various sections of the public were informed intheir daily journals how they and other sections were behavingthemselves; how business men went to office almost apologetically, andonly because they could not help themselves; how nursemaids hushed thevoices of their charges as they wheeled them past the precincts of thepalace for their morning's airing in the royal park; and how Jingaloonly consented to its accustomed portion of beer in order that it mightdrink to the King's health and his quick recovery. 

Every week in the streets at the back of the palace fresh straw was laiddown, not so much for the benefit of the sufferer (whose room was toofar away for any sound of traffic to disturb him), but as a stimulus topopular imagination. The men who laid it down performed their task asthough the eye of the whole nation were upon them; and even upon theStock Exchange one learned that the rise and fall of prices were but theharmonious accompaniment of a stupendous national anxiety. 

All these things Jingalo was told by its newspapers, and some of themwere true; and in the reading and the doing of them how Jingalo enjoyeditself! It had never had such a time of feeling good, unselfish, andthoughtful on a large and homogeneous scale, without having to doanything particularly unpleasant in return. The theaters suffered, butnot nearly so much as the charities; for though Jingalo was still abledecorously to amuse itself--and did so at her Majesty's special request, for the sake of trade--it could not have its heart successfully wrung byhuman compassion in more than one direction at a time--at least, not tothe same extent. And so, charitable appeals had to wait till a liveliersense of gratitude prompted by the King's recovery should revive them. 

In the conduct of human affairs association plays a very curious part. When a man is shouting for joy he can scatter largesse with a free hand, but he cannot loosen his purse-strings while he is holding his breath;and even when it is only being held for him by a sort of hypnoticsuggestion, his nature is still undergoing a certain impedimentalstrain. 

And as a visible embodiment to all this strain of calculation andsuspense, small crowds could be seen standing constantly at the gates ofthe palace, waiting for bulletins and watching with a curiousfascination the flag that so obstinately continued to float mast high. They watched it as a crowd watches for a similar sign outside the wallsof a jail: not that they wanted it to fall--but still, if it had to, they dearly wished that they might be there to see. Thus, even in theirgriefs, did the sporting instincts of the Jingalese people rise to thesurface and bring them a consolation which nothing else could afford. 

My readers will give me credit, I trust, for not having sought to imposeon them that fear of impending doom, that apprehension of what the nexthour might bring forth, on the strength of which the Jingalese press sosedulously ran its extra editions from day to day. I have never for amoment pretended that the King was going to die, seeing, on thecontrary, that he was destined to make a complete recovery. But he wasnot to be quite the same man again--not at least that man whom we haveseen in these pages bumping his way conscientiously through a period ofconstitutional crisis. For when the six Jingalese medicos came to puttheir heads together over him, they found in the back of his head asmall dislodgment of bone, rather less than the size of a florin, andprotruding almost an eighth of an inch from the surface of the skull. Great was their speculation as to how such a thing could have come aboutwithout their knowing it--for here, of course, was the root of the wholemischief. This fracture, brought about perhaps by some flying fragmentof bomb, unnoticed in the excitement of the moment and afterwardsignored, had evidently been the cause of the brain-fever; and when acause of this sort is discovered nothing is easier for medical sciencethan to put it right again. 

And so, seeing that the bone was out of place, they put it back justwhere it ought to be, that is to say, where it had been. And as soon asthat was done, and the right pressure once more restored to the King'sbrain, then his temperature went down, his delirium abated, and hismind, as it gradually came back to him, recovered the dull, safe, andretiring qualities which had belonged to it a year ago; and with its oldconstitutional balance restored to it, it became once more contentedwith its limitations and surroundings, and made a very quiet, happy, andpeaceful convalescence. And though on his recovery the King stillremembered the events of the past months they appeared to him rather inthe light of a bad dream than as a slice of real life. 

The Prime Minister came to see him on the very first day when he wasallowed to sit up and receive visitors, and they met without any sign ofconstraint or enmity. 

"Well, Mr. Prime Minister, how are things going?" inquired the King. 

"Very well, indeed, sir, " replied the minister, "now that your Majestyhas taken the necessary step to relieve us of all anxiety. And, though Ihave not come on this occasion to intrude politics, it may interest you, sir, to hear that on the question of the Spiritual Chamber, theArchbishop and I have come to an arrangement, and the necessarylegislation is to be carried through by the consent of both parties. "

"Very gratifying, I am sure, " said the King. "How did it come about?"

The Prime Minister hesitated. "Well, sir, " he said, "there were severalcontributing causes: I need not go into them all. The one thing, however, which made some modification of our plans clearly necessary wasthe death of the Archimandrite of Cappadocia. After that our proposedconsecration of Free Churchmen to the new bishoprics ceased to bepossible. No doubt your Majesty will feel relieved. "

"Yes, I am, " murmured the King mildly. 

And so was the Prime Minister; for that event, happening so fortuitouslyat the right moment, had saved his face; his political retreat wascovered, partly at any rate, by the death--in a queer odor of sanctityall his own--of that exiled patriarch of the Eastern Church. 

His exit, though opportune, had not been dramatic; attention being atthe moment otherwise directed. His two wives nursed him devotedly to theend, and wrapped him for burial in the magnificent cape which in hisbrief day of political importance the Prime Minister had given him. Veryquietly and unostentatiously he was laid to rest under the rites of analien Church--for his own would have none of him; nor was there any oneleft to say of him now, in the land of his exile and temporaryadoption, "Ah, Lord, " or "Ah, his glory!" Only in his duplicateddomestic circle was he in anywise missed; polities had shifted theground from under him, and he had become negligible. 

II

The King's recovery was the event of the new year, not only giving it anauspicious send-off, but lending thereafter a peculiar flavor to thewhole social calendar. For months, addresses of congratulation keptcoming in from all the societies and public bodies in the kingdom, andat every philanthropic function in which any member of royalty took partduring the next twelve-month it gave pith to all the speeches andfocussed the applause. Its influences extended to every department ofpublic life; it affected politics, trade, public holiday, art, science;it invaded literature, increased the circulation of the newspapers, andlent inspiration even to poetry. 

And those being the facts, how useless for satirists and cynics topretend any longer that monarchy as an institution was not firmly andinextricably imbedded in the very life and habits of the Jingalesepeople?

Even at the universities the theme chosen for the prize poem that yearwas the King's recovery from sickness; and though the prizes were few anunusually large number of the rejected poems, owing to the popularity oftheir subject, were published in the local newspapers. Perhaps only afew of them were good, but one at least achieved success, and wasrecited at all charity bazaars, concerts, and theatrical entertainmentsgiven in the ensuing year. One couplet alone shall be here quoted, portraying as it does in graphic phrase the national suspense duringthose weeks of prolonged crisis when telegram after telegram continuedto pour monotonous negation on the hopes of an expectant people--

 "Swift o'er the wires the electric message came, He is no better: he is much the same!"

Even amateur reciters could make an effect out of lines like that. Manyof them did, and on one occasion the Princess Charlotte was aconspicuous member of the touched and attentive audience. It was adifficult moment for her, but with the help of a handkerchief sheconcealed her emotion, and the papers referred to it appreciatively as atouching incident. 

The joy-bells that rang for a King's recovery, rang also for the publicannouncement of a royal betrothal. Prince Fritz had returned to theenchantment of his Charlotte's society at the earliest possible moment, and was in consequence one of the royal family group which went in stateto the Cathedral to return thanks for the sovereign's restoration tohealth. 

Across that bright scene we have to note the passing of one shadowwhich, though not of impenetrable gloom, should not fail to enlist theequable sympathy of kindly hearts. Max still moved upon the public stagewith a pensive and a chastened air. In the last month he had maturedvisibly, yet he did not mourn as one without hope, for he rememberedthat in the Church of Jingalo virginity could only vow itself for alimited number of years, and he knew that time could bring wisdom toinexperience, and make conspicuous the virtue of a heart that would nottake "no. " Also he had certain fireworks up his sleeve whose brightness, when they were let off, would penetrate even to the most cloistralabode--he had, that is to say, his Royal Commission to work on, and thepreparation of a minority report which could not fail, when it wasdivulged, to startle the world. He was even beginning to have hopes thatthree or four others would sign it; for to be in a minority with royaltyhas its charm. 

But though he still believed in the future he was for the moment in verysolitary plight. His Countess, to whom alone he could go for comfort inhis grief, had cried over him and kissed him with all the motherlykindness imaginable; and then, disturbed by the very depth of her pityand afraid of what might come of it--her heart being but tenderclay--had suddenly packed up her traps and flown, leaving, if you wouldlike to know, most of her jewels behind her. And Max, sending after herwith his own hands those souvenirs of the past, had added a few tenderwords of regret and thanks which to her dying day that good womancherished and said her prayers over. 

III

The Thanksgiving was a very splendid affair; but the people who liked itleast were the piebald ponies. Never in their lives did they so narrowlyescape a hugging at the hands of the great unwashed; and this unwelcomedemonstration as directed against them was quite without reason orexcuse. They had not had brain-fever, or bones put back into place, ormade miraculous recoveries from anything; and they practically said asmuch when resenting the liberties that were taken with them. All theyknew was that they were doing rather more than their usual tale of work;and in consequence they were a little cross. Nothing serious happened, however, and while waiting at the Cathedral doors they were given sugarwhich quieted them down wonderfully. 

Inside the Cathedral all that was great and good and noble in Jingalohad assembled to celebrate the occasion; and in its midst, still lookingrather frail and delicate after his illness, sat the King with the RoyalFamily. To right and left of him sat judges, bishops, lords, ladies, members of the House of Laity, staff officers, diplomatists, mayors, andcorporations, heads of public departments, all very gorgeously arrayedin their official uniforms; and there amongst the rest sat a compactbunch of prominent Free Churchmen in black gowns--their chances ofepiscopal preferment flown. 

With triumphant suavity the Archbishop of Ebury conducted the service, assisted by deans, chapters, bishops, and a dozen cathedral choirs. Something in G was being intoned; the Archbishop was in splendid voice. 

He asked that the King might be saved; and, man and boy, the twelvechoirs were with him. 

He asked a blessing on the Church; and his prayer was seconded. 

He implored wisdom for Cabinet ministers; that, it was agreed, would addto the national satisfaction. 

"In our time, O Lord, give peace!"

Peace: the echoes of that blessed word thrilled down the vaulted aislesof the Cathedral. 

Put into another form that might mean, "After our time, the deluge. " Butthe better word had been chosen: "Peace. "

To the King's ear it came with all the softness of a caress; he welcomedit, for it meant much to him. And thinking of all that was now happilypast he rubbed his hands. 

The watchful reporters in the press-gallery above took notes of that; tothem, whose duty that day was to interpret all things on a high andspiritual plane, it betokened the stress of a fine emotion, and in theirgrandiloquent reports of that solemn ceremony they set it down so andpublished it. 

Yet as a matter of fact, the King had only rubbed his hands. And, trulyinterpreted, his thoughts ran thus--"Peace? Well, yes, I think that nowI have earned it! Here am I, still King of Jingalo, alive and in myright mind. During the last few months I have abdicated--put myself offthe throne, and been blown on to it again by a bomb engineered by my ownPrime Minister; I have been arrested, I have been locked up in a policecell, I have committed robbery, and in my own palace been robbed again. My daughter has been in prison for ten days as a common criminal; my sonseriously assaulted by the police, and for about four monthssurreptitiously engaged to the daughter of an Archbishop; while arevolutionary and seditious book written by him as a direct attack onthe Constitution and on society has been providentially burned to theground--that also, probably, at the instigation of my ministers. Andthough all this has been going on in their midst, making history, bringing changes to pass or preventing them, the people of Jingalo knownothing whatever about it. What a wonderful country is the country ofJingalo!"

And at that happy conclusion of the whole matter the King had rubbed hishands. 

THE END