Chapter 29

_The scene changes to the room of Act I_.

BARONET HOTHAM _comes in cautiously through the centre door, followed by_ KAMKE.

HOTHAM.

A hall with four doors? Quite right. The Princess' room there? And the Queen's here? Thanks, good friend. [KAMKE _goes out_.] Baronet Hotham is preserving his _incognito_ to the extent of becoming entirely invisible. I've smuggled myself into the country from London--by way of Hanover--as if I were a bale of prohibited merchandise. [_Wipes his forehead_.] The deuce take this equestrian official business, where a man needs have the manners of a dandy with the unfeeling bones of a postilion. For four days I've scarcely been out of the saddle. [_He throws himself into a chair_.] Gad! if the nations knew how a man has to win his way through to the Foreign Office by years of courier-riding, they'd not think it strange that their statesmen, grown mature, seem disinclined to trip the light fantastic. Faith, it weighs one's pocket heavily, this carrying a kingdom about with one. [_He slaps his right coat-pocket_.] Here lies the crown of England. [_Now the left coat-pocket_.] Here the crown of Scotland--and here, in my waistcoat pocket, is Ireland. What shall I take from herein exchange? [_He looks about_.] Is the gilding real? It looks deuced niggardly and close-fisted. There's space enough in these great halls, but I'll wager there are many mice here. It's as quiet as an English Sunday. [_Rises_.] There's some one coming.

[_Rises_ PRINCE _opens the centre door, then halts on the threshold as if in despair_.]

HOTHAM (_in surprise_).

Well?

[_The_ PRINCE _comes down a step and claps his hand to his forehead_.]

HOTHAM.

I believe he's writing verses.

[_The_ PRINCE _moves as before, toward the_ PRINCESS' _door, then sees_ HOTHAM.]

PRINCE.

What? Who--who is this I see?

HOTHAM (_surprised_).

Do my eyes deceive me?

PRINCE.

Hotham! Is it possible? You here in Berlin, friend?

HOTHAM.

Why, what is the matter, Prince?

PRINCE.

Think of meeting you--you dear, excellent fellow--and just at the very moment when my despair threatened to overcome me! Is it really true? Where do you come from? From Paris?

HOTHAM.

I've just come from England, Prince, with the very best greetings from our mutual friends and a special commission to capture you and bring you back to the race-track, to the hunting field, and the boxing ring, which you so enjoyed.

PRINCE.

Alas, Hotham--all those pleasures are over for me!

HOTHAM.

Has your father cut you off from the succession?

PRINCE.

Ah, do not touch that sensitive wound! Fetch me, instead, the Empire of Morocco.

HOTHAM.

You are ill of a fever, Prince, or else you need a friend to aid you with his sane mind.

PRINCE.

Hotham, you are a genius--many an intrigue of your country's foes will be shattered against that brain of yours. But you cannot help me.

HOTHAM.

I wish that I could, Prince. I am so deeply in your debt for a hundred good services rendered me during your sojourn in England. It was your influence that put me in touch with our leading statesmen; you opened the diplomatic career to me. To you I owe all that I am and have--my brain is at your service, let it think for you; my arm is at your service, let it act for you.

PRINCE.

Hotham, I'm in a most peculiar situation--

HOTHAM.

I will devote my very life to your service. What would I be without you? To you I owe this flattering mission, to you I owe my very presence here.

PRINCE.

Yes--why _are_ you here?

HOTHAM (_looks about_).

It is an affair of the greatest secrecy. But if you desire I shall not hesitate to tell you what it is.

PRINCE. (_absently_).

I am not curious. Will it keep you here long?

HOTHAM.

That depends upon circumstances--circumstances of a most delicate nature.

PRINCE.

An affair of honor?

HOTHAM (_low_).

It concerns a possible marriage contract--between Princess Wilhelmine and the Prince of Wales.

PRINCE (_as if beside himself_).

You? You are the ambassador of whom the King spoke to me just now?

HOTHAM.

Has the King been informed already?

PRINCE.

Then you--you are that irresistibly clever diplomat whom they are awaiting with open arms?

HOTHAM.

Does the King really look with favor upon this marriage with the Prince of Wales?

PRINCE.

Horrible! I picked this man for a genius from among a thousand others. I took him from Paris, and put him into English diplomacy and now I must suffer because he does honor to my judgment. Let me tell you, then, my friend, that the King and the Queen, quite ignorant of their mutual agreement, are both heartily desirous of this marriage and all of its implications. But you are to know also that Princess Wilhelmine, the unhappy sacrifice of your political ambitions, is loved by a prince who cannot compete in power or position with your Prince of Wales, but who in devotion, love, passion so far outdistances all and any crowned suitors for the hand of this angel as heaven, nay, as paradise, outdistances earth--and that this prince is--myself.

HOTHAM.

This is indeed a discovery I did not dream of, and I must, unhappily, add not a pleasant one. But if you ask in due form, why should they not grant you the hand of the Princess?

PRINCE.

Grant it to me? A petty German sovereign When they have the choice of future Kings and Emperors? Speak of me to the Queen and you will discover that she invariably confuses Baireuth with Ansbach.

HOTHAM.

The discovery is all the less pleasing in that I, as envoy of my government, must do all I can to bring about the marriage.

PRINCE.

Of course, you must justify my recommendation.

HOTHAM.

And yet I take the liberty of suggesting that possibly--under certain conditions--this marriage with England might not come about. Of a truth, Prince, take courage! Circumstances might arise which would not only give me the right, but would even make it my duty to give up all thoughts of the match.

PRINCE.

You revive my very soul.

HOTHAM.

Your Highness, it is not the Prince of Wales whom I represent here. The English nation, the cabinet, the Houses of Parliament send me. You are aware, Prince, your sojourn in England must have made it plain to you that the house of Hanover was called to the throne of England under conditions which make it the duty of that house to subordinate its own personal desires to the general welfare of the nation. Whether or not the Prince of Wales feels any personal interest in his cousin is of little moment. Parliament takes no cognizance of whether they love each other or not. The Prince of Wales, as future King of England, will contract any matrimonial alliance that is suggested to him as necessary to the national welfare. An alliance with the dynasty of the rising young kingdom of Prussia seems, under the present political constellation, to be the most favorable.

PRINCE.

And this holds out some hope for me?

HOTHAM.

There lies no hope in this unfortunate mission of mine, but in one of its clauses which states that the marriage, if all else be favorable, may be concluded only on this condition [_looking about cautiously_]: that certain English manufacturers shut out by Prussia be readmitted into the country [_softly_] on acceptable terms.

PRINCE.

And into this--this mercantile scheming you would mingle a question of love--an affair of the heart?

HOTHAM.

I am here to speak for the hearts of our merchants, hearts that beat warmly for the throne, but still more warmly for their balance-sheets. If our factories have nothing to hope for, then, Prince [_takes his hands_], my protector, my patron, then I am all yours. And you shall see that I have other talents besides those of diplomacy.

PRINCE.

Talents to awaken a hope on which the bitterest disappointment must follow.

HOTHAM.

Wait, Prince, wait and trust--

PRINCE.

To the counting-room?

HOTHAM.

Why not? And when, in case the King will not agree to the new treaties, I have devoted myself entirely to your cause, when you under stand that my heart beats high in gratitude to a Prince whom I met by mere chance and who has been my benefactor--when you have finally won the heart and hand of the Princess, then all I shall ask of Your Highness, as a German sovereign at the Diet of Regensburg, in Germany's very heart, is merely your assistance in obtaining from the German Empire some little concession for our harmless, innocent--manufactures.

KAMKE (_opens the door to the right_).

HOTHAM.

Everything else later. For the present--trust me. Over there are the Queen's apartments. Farewell. [_He goes out_.]