Part 6

At our little station, I found Bauen waiting; but he could give us no reassuring news, the best being that he was still alive.

My mother was in the bedroom when I arrived; and, after kissing her, we stood together, hand in hand, gazing down upon what had been such a magnificent specimen of manhood, but which was now the mere husk of what had been.

He lay without movement, it seemed as though even then he might be dead. As we stood silently, with all our nerves taut and overstrung, I prayed that he might open his eyes once more, and speak to me. I think my prayer was heard, for, just as Mr. Neville came in and stood by us, the dying man's eyes opened, and, perfectly conscious, he tried to smile at Mr. Neville. Then to my mother he murmured two words, full of love and pride, "My wife." When they rested on me, as I stood swallowing down my tears, he said, "Why, Victor, my boy." His eyes closed for a moment, then opened again. "God save your Majesty!" he cried; the next moment he was gone.

Stunned by the suddenness of his departure, I turned to my mother, who was standing quite still, with the tears streaming down her cheeks. I put my arms round her, but she broke away and flung herself down with her arms around the dead man's neck, and cried as though her heart were broken.

Her grief, or rather the greatness of it, surprised me, for in all my life until then I had never seen my mother give way. I had had no idea that her feelings for my stepfather had been so strong; she had always appeared so calm and cold that I had never given her credit for any deep feelings, much as I loved her. Her grief for some time was so overpowering that I could do nothing; but presently, as her sobs grew less racking I took her in my arms and did my poor best to console her. Then little by little she seemed to regain control over herself, and I persuaded her to go to her own room.

I returned to the bed-side, and all alone stood there, indulging my sorrow. I registered a vow, as I gazed down at the now peaceful face, that I would do all that I could to live a life as free from stain as his had been, and to try and act in a way which would have given him pride in me.

I think the three most miserable days of my life were those that followed my stepfather's death. He was buried on the third day. How unhappy I was then, both on account of the loss we had suffered and other things which followed.

Mr. Smith attended the funeral. I felt no surprise at his appearing just before we left the house; it had seemed part of the mystery of my life that he should be there. I did not think of our last meeting, nor of how he could have come so quickly on our tracks, nor did I wonder at the first words I heard him speak to my mother: "It is time."

Usually I should have pondered deeply on such things, but now I was too unhappy.

I was alone in my study, that room which had been my nursery; and I sat by the window wondering, for I had heard as though in a dream that my stepfather had been an enormously wealthy man, and had bequeathed me all. How much it was the solicitor could not tell me, but in England alone he had invested something over ten millions of pounds, and I understood that there was more than that sum invested about the world. It was stupendous, and though I did not realise it, although I did not understand what my power in the world would be, I groaned at thought of the endless labour such a vast inheritance would involve.

Heart-sick and weary, I looked out over the sunlit river and recalled the events of the last few days, sorrowing at the thought that I could never discuss with my stepfather those things of which I had been full: our meeting with Quarovitch, the incident of the brigands, my fight with Goltz, and finally my little friend of the riverside, the girl whose name even I did not know.

My stepfather's last words came to my mind: "God save your Majesty!" What could they mean? I supposed that it was some memory of the past, for I knew he had been in the diplomatic service.

There was a tap at the door, and Mr. Neville entered. My stepfather's death had affected him very much, for a great friendship existed between the two. He came to me and placed his hand upon my shoulder.

"Victor, my dear boy, I hate to disturb you, but your mother has asked me to fetch you; it appears that the time has come when you are to be told all those things which have so puzzled you. It seems hard that it should have come just now, but who knows? It may be for the best. Your future may offer many hard and hateful features; but when it is a case of duty, you, I know, can be depended on. Always remember that you will have people who love you to help and direct you, and over them all is our Maker."

We descended together; but, when we came to the door of the room where my mother and Mr. Smith were sitting, he turned and would not have entered, had not my mother insisted upon his being present. I bent to kiss her as I passed, and her arms went round my neck, as she returned the caress, murmuring:

"My boy, my dear boy."

I sat down on a low settee by her side, and waited for her to speak.

Inwardly, I was a mass of nerves. I had waited so long to hear all I was now to be told; I felt strangely nervous, as though evil was coming. How would the revelations affect my life?

"I think you had better speak, Count," said my mother.

"One minute," I said. "Tell me your name first, please, Mr. Smith."

"Count von Zeula."

"Thank you." I nodded, well satisfied, for the name was well known to me. Many things had been done for Rudarlia, by men bearing that name, during some hundreds of years.

"I shall want all your attention, Victor, as what I have to tell you may come as a shock, and first I must relate a little story, a story which at the time of its happening was in everybody's mouth. It is a story of misery.

"Twenty years or so ago, a good King sat upon the throne of Rudarlia; he was loved by the greater part of his subjects, and in return he dedicated his life to their welfare, whole-heartedly and devotedly.

"Unfortunately, there were men, nobles, who found that his rule was injurious to their interests, these interests being the right to fill their exchequers from the pockets of the lower classes.

"They conspired with the next heir to the throne, who was more to their liking.

"Then the King married, and his wife gave birth to a son, amid the joyful acclamations of the nation.

"The conspirators redoubled their activity. They bought over a few officers, and some hundreds of the private soldiers. They waited a favourable opportunity, working secretly all the while; then raised a scare of war. The loyal officers in immediate attendance on their Majesties were sent away. The King reviewed a regiment, an assassin shot him dead."

Mr. Smith brushed a hand across his eyes, was silent for a moment, and then continued:

"That night a cry was raised that justice had been done, for they swore the dead King had meant to betray them to their fancied enemies.

"The next step was to incite the lowest class of the people, urging them to attack the King's Palace where the Queen and her child lay. Sweeping into the Royal apartments, they shot them both, presumably; then, frightened at their own atrocity, they ran away. The next day, Ivan was proclaimed King; he had been waiting just over the border.

"A rumour got abroad that some miscreant had set fire to the bedchamber of the Queen, when she had been murdered. This was not so--it was I who set the bed on fire to burn the bodies on it."

"My God!" I said.

"They, however, were not the remains of the Queen and her child, the King, but those of a groom's wife and offspring, whose lives were unfortunately sacrificed to save the Royal Mother and the baby King. No one looked too closely into the matter, a few of the royal jewels were there, and the Queen's clothing, also the charred bodies; but the Queen herself and her child were in safety."

"Is the child alive?" I cried breathlessly.

"He is," said Mr. Smith gravely.

"And you are working for him. Oh, thank God, I can see the way clearly now; let me do something to help."

"Eh?"

"Ever since I first went to Rudarlia, I have been trying to find some way out, and could discover no plan to work on, for Ivan's heir, they say, is as bad as he is--but now--a King of Merlin's blood. Oh, thank God! Tell me the groom's name, is he alive?" In my excitement I had risen and was bending over him.

I looked into his eyes as his face was raised to mine; they were full of tears.

"His name, Victor, is Bauen."

"Bauen--Bauen!--our Bauen?"

"Your Bauen."

"Then why is he here, what does it mean?" I looked at my mother, her face was buried in her hands.

"It means," said Mr. Smith, rising from his chair, "that you are the King of Rudarlia; and I, your very humble servant."

He seized my hand and kissed it.

*CHAPTER VI*

"'You are the King of Rudarlia,'" I repeated.

I looked at him blankly, he kept his eyes fixed on mine; at my mother, her face was buried in her hands, and I saw her shake with sobs; lastly I turned to Mr. Neville, and to him I held out my hand.

"Tell me that it is not true, tell me-- Oh, my God!--can't you? won't you say he is joking?" My voice, which was hoarse, cracked with the strain of keeping from screaming.

"It is true, Victor."

"Then nothing on God's earth shall make me take the throne--nothing--I swear that I----" I leaned against the table for support. "Mother--mother, is this what you have kept from me, this awful thing? Can't one of you speak?--am I to be hurled into a throne?--My God--I won't, I won't."

I collapsed into a chair, and buried my head in my arms; that this should have come to me, that my life should be suddenly cropped of its freedom, that I should be bound hand and foot-- Oh, my God, hadn't there been some other way to try me?

I looked up, and found that I was crying; damn the tears! I brushed them away, and caught Mr. Smith's eye; he was looking at me sadly as though ashamed of my behaviour.

I felt suddenly as though ice had been placed on my spine, and shivered. Was this the best I could do? My dead stepfather, what would he have thought? What did Mr. Neville think?

I remembered Colonel von Quarovitch, and his ragged troops. Those other brave men turned into brigands by oppression. The gathering of gentlefolk in Mr. Smith's house. Mr. Smith himself, who had planned and plotted so many years for me. And lastly my mother; what could she be thinking of her son? I felt Mr. Neville's hand on my shoulder, and gave a weak little laugh.

"I'm a pretty spectacle for a King," I said quietly, "a most noble and worthy specimen. Mother dear, look up--it's all over, you shall never hear another kick from me. And you, Mr. Smith, you acclaimed me as King. Very well, I will be King; such a King as you may wish--with God's help--and--and--all of you might forgive me for being such a rotter."

Mr. Smith seized my hand again and kissed it. Tears were running down his cheeks; and they were not unmanly. My outbreak had unnerved him, for he had no doubt seen the edifice of his building fall in ruins before him; but it had been the sudden relief at hearing my acceptance which had caused the tears.

"May God bless your Majesty!" he said.

My dear old tutor's arm was round my shoulders, and I heard him murmur:

"My boy, my boy, I am proud of you."

I bent over my mother.

"Mother dear, don't cry, or I shall think you cannot forgive me. I will be King, and will try to rule as my father did."

She looked up then and smiled.

"I'm crying now because I am so happy."

None of us spoke for a few minutes; perhaps we needed the time to pull ourselves together. I did for one, then I said:

"Now that I have settled that I am going to be King, it might be advisable for Mr. Smith to give us any information on the subject which he thinks fit; but first I should like to know why he wished us to remain in Rudarlia?"

He considered a little before saying:

"Because the time is at hand: Ivan is on his deathbed. You must be there to take his place when he dies; I have everything arranged; they trusted me to produce the King."

"And will no one think that I am an impostor?"

"I fancy not; several of us have known of your identity, they have worked with me. There are thousands of people who will know your mother, and there is Bauen; I do not think there are many who will deny his testimony, once his part of the affair is known; also, you have on your arm a mark, which will be recognised by the doctor who attended at your birth."

"When will it be necessary for us to depart?"

"To-morrow. It was your wounding Goltz which put the finishing touch to him; they say his rage was terrible. They told him the whole affair had been arranged by me. He was very ill before, but that finished him."

"But to-morrow, is it absolutely essential that we should go so soon?"

"Quite, you must meet the leaders of the party as soon as possible; you may be assured that Ivan's sycophants will not allow Prince Alexis to remain in ignorance of his cousin's state. In all probability he will be in Karena before us."

"If he is, we must turn him out as quickly as he came."

"We will," said Mr. Smith with emphasis.

And there we left it for the time. I took Mr. Neville away for an hour, up to my room, where we sat by the window in the chairs which I had left so willingly, to hear those things which I now wished unheard. We looked out on the river, and the sight of the sparkling water brought back to me the last afternoon I had spent in Garace, and the girl; I sighed, and turned to my companion.

"My dear old friend," I said, "you will understand me when I tell you that the news this afternoon has completely thrown me off my balance; that all my plans have come down with a smash; that the idea of kingly power has no charm for me; that I would sooner be a subaltern in the Rudarlian army, with a frayed cap, than wear all the kingly regalia. My life in England has taught me the joys of freedom too well; I tell you candidly, that I fear the future. I dread it, the more so now, as in all probability I shall have to make a marriage that will be to the benefit of the state, and I had other dreams."

He looked at me quickly.

"Is there anyone?" he asked.

I felt myself growing red.

"It may be only calf-love, but I don't think so, yet I have only seen her once. I don't even know her name, but the moment I saw her I knew that I loved her."

"Tell me about it," he said.

I had half feared that he would laugh at me, but he only looked rather sad and decidedly sympathetic. So emboldened, I blurted out in a shamed way the story of my meeting with the girl.

He listened in silence until I had finished, then he held out his hand to me.

"My boy," he said, "a very similar thing happened to me when I was about your age. I thought that I had lost all interest in life when she married some one else; unluckily, I had nothing in my life to fill the gap; I let myself become a mere machine in my work. I was morose, refusing to look for help to the quarter from which real assistance can come; I mean from God. And then one day, when I was thinking of all my misery, the thought flashed over me that perhaps it was a trial, perhaps I was being tested; and that idea won the day. I believed then, as I do now, that, no matter what trials come to us, there is thought and purpose behind them.

"Our finite minds cannot hope to understand the workings of an infinite one, so my advice to you is this: do with all your might those things that you think it your duty to do, and leave the results to God. Man cannot be infallible. You will make mistakes; profit by them; try to forget your own sorrows in healing those of your country.

"In time you will be able to look at everything with a fresh sense of perspective.

"Love, if it should come to you with your marriage, will, I daresay, be of inestimable value to you. What you feel now may be more the feelings of sexual attraction than the fuller love of comradeship and mental sympathy; love does enter Royal marriages, in spite of the cynics."

"I will try to think as you suggest," I said. "But there are other things of which I wish to talk to you. To begin with, will you come with me to Rudarlia, will you continue to be my friend and adviser as you have been up to now? I know that once I am on the throne I shall always have to have Rudarlians about me; but my own private friends they cannot object to. As my private secretary, you will always be near me to help and advise. Will you come?"

"It may cause jealousy."

"I can't help it if it does. After Ivan and his many mistresses, they will have to allow me one man friend; and I believe they will be pleased to."

"Then I will come."

"Now one thing more, will you stay here and look after my mother until she can come to Rudarlia?"

"Of course I will, if she wishes it."

We sat up until three in the morning discussing ways and means; but made no attempt to listen to more than a bare outline of what Mr. Smith had arranged. It would all have to come out gradually, in time I should no doubt learn how he had worked so successfully; he stuck to the principal things and nothing could side-track him. I slept for two hours, and then went to see Bauen.

It was a great day for him; he was to come to Karena with us. He had been looking forward for twenty years to seeing me upon my throne.

I believe that his soul was wrapped up in one idea, that of doing his duty to my family. I doubt if any man, noble or commoner, had ever served a Royal family with such self-sacrifice and devotion.

He had given his wife and only child, to save my mother and myself; and had exiled himself for twenty years from friends and country, to continue in our service. God bless him.

We, that is Mr. Smith and I, spent the day with my solicitor, attending to some of the business entailed by my inheritance. Then, in the evening, we embarked on the journey which would bring either a crown or death to me.

I say "death" advisedly; for, should anything have gone wrong with Mr. Smith's plans, it was hardly likely that Alexis and his followers would allow me to live.

I am glad to be able to feel that the thought of danger rather pleased me than otherwise.

We had cabled to Carruthers to meet us at Ruln, a frontier post, much farther south than Melanov.

We did not waste a moment of the time our journey consumed. Mr. Smith was instructing me in the education of a King.

At Ruln we had two hours to wait, according to the time-table; but, by lavish bribery, Mr. Smith secured a special to take us as far as the junction, at Katalona.

Leaving Bauen in charge of the luggage--which was light--we went in search of Carruthers.

We found him seated upon a bench, the picture of glumness.

"Hullo, Splosh!" he cried, his face lighting up at sight of us. "What a forsaken place this is. I've been here five hours, and only spoken to one man, who thinks he came from 'the thigh of Jupiter,' to judge by his side. Look, there he is."

A dissipated looking young man, of about my own age, had slouched out on to the platform, followed by a couple of older men, both of whom were muffled up in overcoats, in spite of the fact that it was a warm evening.

I heard Mr. Smith draw in a hissing breath, and turned to where he had been standing.

"Hist! don't look my way, I am just in the doorway to your left; walk towards me, and stop opposite. I don't wish to be seen--that is Prince Alexis."

"Who?" asked Carruthers.

"An enemy, old man, you shall know everything in a little while."

I looked with interest at my rival, though I took good care not to allow him to see it.

If ever a man of his age had vice written clearly upon his face, he had; and I thought to myself that it would go even worse with Rudarlia under his rule than under Ivan's, should he ever come to the throne. There was cruelty, craftiness, and gross sensuality in his countenance.

Luckily, after walking up and down the platform two or three times, in close conversation with his companions, he disappeared once more into the miserable room. As he did so, an official approached and, with many bows, informed us that our special was waiting, a few yards down the track, with our baggage on board.

Mr. Smith kept his face turned away, as we passed the window of the room where Alexis was sitting. In ten minutes, we were a mile or more away from Ruln.

The pace at which we were travelling caused the single coach to rock and rattle horribly; so much so, that it was necessary for Carruthers to sit very close to me to hear what I said, as I had to speak in a low tone.

He was amazed and delighted that, as he expressed it, his old Splosh was going to be a King.

Then the silly fellow insisted upon kissing my hand and generally playing the fool; I think he did it to keep my spirits up.

Mr. Smith looked on with a grim smile. I fancy he thought that stern realities would come soon enough.

There was a basket of provisions in the carriage; and, when we had finished our meal, he advised me to try to sleep. I took his advice, and slept like a log until he awoke me with the news that we were just getting into Katalona.

Two soldiers were lounging upon the platform as we alighted. I noticed that they saluted as we passed them, and then followed us at a little distance.

In less than an hour the car in which we had driven from the junction pulled up at Mr. Smith's house.

The driver followed us in.

Without speaking, Mr. Smith led the way into a room fitted up as a library; it was still dark, so he switched on the electric light. At the same moment, three other men entered the room. Bauen had come in with us.

He assisted me to remove my covert-coat; then, bowing deeply, stood back.

Mr. Smith advanced a step towards me.

"Your Majesty," he said, "would you remove your coat, and show your right arm to these gentlemen?"

Without a word I did so.

Just above my elbow, I have three small red marks. They are triangular in shape; birthmarks, I think they are called.

The three men came nearer, and I held out my arm for their inspection.

The first to examine it was a white-haired old man, who trembled violently as he bent over. He seized my hand and kissed it.

"God bless your Majesty."

The other two did the same.

"Count Belen and Count von Maark will be here to-day, if further testimony is needed; we have here, as well, Bauen, the groom," said Mr. Smith.

"No further identification is necessary," declared the old man, and bowing the three withdrew.

Mr. Smith had prepared me for this, so I was not surprised, but I did not know who these three men were, and asked him.

"The white-haired one was the doctor who attended your Majesty's mother, at the time of your birth; the other two are Prince von Venoff and Baron von Casile."

He bowed as he spoke. I glanced round, as I was surprised at his ceremonious behaviour: the driver of the car was still in the room.

"Surely, Count," I said, "there is some one here whom I should know?" And I smiled towards the man.

"May I present, to your Majesty, Colonel Woolgast, who commands the body-guard?"

The Colonel bent to kiss my hand, but I prevented him; seized his instead, and shook it.

"Until I am King," I said, "I will shake your hand and call you 'Colonel'; when I am King, you shall kiss my hand, but I will call you 'General.'"

He became red with pleasure; and, by the twinkle in Mr. Smith's eye, I knew that I had done right to make a friend of this man.

Colonel Woolgast having left the room, I turned to Mr. Smith.

"Have you done anything about Prince Alexis?" I asked.