Part 8

"I would speak to her, Count; do not wait, you need repose. Goodnight."

He looked at me for a moment, and then bowed.

"Good night, your Majesty," he said and left me.

I do not know what impulse urged me to push the door quietly open, and enter; not curiosity, God knows. I think it was just the desire to try and comfort this poor lady.

She was kneeling beside the bed on which the body lay, a fragile figure in black, her head buried in her arms, sobbing as though indeed her heart was broken.

As I approached, she raised her tear-stained face to mine; and I saw that it was still comely, though haggard and weary.

"Who are you?" she said quietly.

"A friend of your Majesty's," I answered.

"'Majesty,' I never was that, since my husband was never really the King."

"Nevertheless, madame, if you will permit, I will address you so; for you, by your acts, have proved yourself a Queen."

She had risen to her feet, and stood looking at me intently.

"Are you the King?" she asked.

"So people have acclaimed me to-day, madame."

"Could you not leave me to my grief, in the midst of your joy?"

"God forbid that I should intrude, madame, on grief such as yours, were it not for the great desire I have to aid, and if possible comfort you; but see," I drew a curtain on one side, making the light of early dawn visible to her, "the night is nearly spent." I dropped the curtain again. "Your Majesty, will you not permit me to escort you to your room, or call one of your ladies, for, next to God, surely one of your own sex could best comfort you?"

"God," she said, "do you believe then in God?"

"Surely, madame."

"Is that why you came in to me here?"

"I had not thought of it, but probably it was His doing, for I think that all kind thoughts are His, and all the pity within me woke at the sound of your weeping."

"Then may He be praised," she said, "that Rudarlia will once more have a merciful King."

"You love Rudarlia, madame?"

"Ah yes, so much, perhaps my sorrow to-night is more self-pity at thought of leaving than sorrow for my dead husband, for I had wept all my tears for him years ago." She spoke with a little dry huskiness that sounded strangely pathetic.

"Leave Rudarlia, that would be your wish, would it not, to return to your own country, away from sorrowful sights and remembrances?"

There was tragedy in her reply:

"My own country, where is it? My father is dead. I had no friends before I married, I was too young; and the few of my countryfolk who accompanied, and remained with me, are gone."

"Then, madame, remain here, where you will be always an honoured guest. The people love you, I know; and you can devote your time happily to whatever you desire, without hindrance. It shall be my pleasure to see that everything you may wish for shall be yours, and I shall hope to have gained a friend."

"Your Majesty," she said, "what can I say, how can I accept, how can I?"

"By saying, madame, that you will stay. It will be our part, after that, to show you that Rudarlia remembers those who loved her, even in the midst of their own unhappiness."

"Oh, how can I?" I heard her murmur, "how can I, I, the wife of the usurper?"

"Madame, your husband's sins must be answered for by himself; you, however, have never been associated with him in the minds of the people. Only by your goodness, kindness, and charity, are you judged by them; even my mother, who has, God knows, suffered greatly at Ivan's hands, will never think of you except with loving thoughts, as one who was sinned against. I can answer for her, as justice has been ever dear to her. Come, madame, decide as we wish it, and let me see you smile at thoughts of happiness to be."

She looked up at me, and I saw her bravely struggling with her tears.

"May God bless you, as you deserve; I will do as you will."

"That is right, madame, and now permit me."

I raised her hand, and pressed it to my lips; and, retaining it in mine, led her gently from the room, back to her own apartments, where her ladies were waiting.

*CHAPTER VIII*

That night, for the first time in my life that I can remember, I dreamt of my father. Presumably, the excitement of the day had affected my nerves; but this dream was so vivid, that I can recall it even now: I seemed to be in a vast, ruined cathedral, walking round and round, seeking some means of egress; and, finding none, sat down on the bottom step of the stairway which led to the top of a frightfully high tower.

I felt unutterably despondent, for I knew that outside everything I wanted was awaiting me, and yet I could not name any one thing.

Then I saw some one near me, and I called to him to ask his assistance in escaping; he did not answer, but just pointed up the stairway. So I started to ascend; it was weary work, as the steps appeared never to end, and I toiled laboriously up, up, ever up. Once I despaired and started to descend, but there stood my father pointing and smiling, so I turned again and resumed my interrupted ascent. I was just about to relinquish it for good, when I woke.

It appears strange to me now, when thinking of it, that my father never said a word to explain, and that all my effort apparently led nowhere.

It was Bauen's entrance that had awakened me; and in a very short time I had dressed, breakfasted, and was once more ready for work.

I found Mr. Smith in the great study, where the evening before I had signed so many papers; as we were alone we chatted in a friendly way, for I don't think ceremony was to the liking of either of us.

"Well, Prince," I said, "the first thing I wish is for you to have the necessary papers made out confirming you in that title."

"It can wait, Victor."

"Not a day, I wish it done at once."

"Very well," he replied, laughing.

"And now, I suppose, I have to incur danger of writer's cramp, eh?"

"For a good many days to come, I am afraid."

"You know I saw Ivan's wife last night?"

"Yes."

"Well, she wanted, or rather she did not want to leave Rudarlia, so I asked her to stay. Of course, her financial affairs will be my concern privately."

"I thought you would."

"Are you against it?"

"No. I think she is a good woman, and her life has been very miserable."

He smiled slightly.

"How have I amused you?"

"Because I knew last night, when you left me, that it was to comfort her. Victor, my boy, you must not allow your pity to sway you always. In this case it is all right, but many times it is a fault, in a king. People attribute it to weakness, unfortunately."

"Very well, I must remember, but I do so hate to see misery."

"I know you do, Victor, but you must always think of the cause and effect, especially the effect your attitude towards it may have. It is difficult to be a good king and also follow the doctrines of Christ, for His teaching was more for the individual life than for the king of a nation, the people of which do not themselves follow His doctrines strictly."

"True," I agreed. "It seems to be almost impracticable in the present state of the world."

"And the longer you live, the more convinced you will be that the Gospel which has it that He said, 'I come not to bring peace, but a sword,' is nearer the mark."

"Then must I be severe?"

"No, but just. That is the greatest of all things, and will lead to the greatest good of the people; not the greatest good of the greatest number, for that is a doctrine I do not hold with."

"How so?" I said, for this remark had surprised me.

"For this reason: the greatest good of the greatest number necessitates the sacrifice of the few; now it is my opinion that the minority are of the most good to a state, for as a rule it is comprised of the more intellectual, artistic, and finer grades of mind. These people are the natural leaders; and, if by legislation you injure that minority, you do harm in the long run to the majority, for the great mass look to the few for ideals. Mind you, I do not deny that, in some cases, injustice is done by, and for the few, but those cases are, or ought to be, judged by a different scale of values."

"Give me an instance."

"An instance? Well, look at England. By taxing the upper classes, enough money is raised to miseducate the masses. The result is that those professions which depend more or less upon education are lowered, vulgarised, by the demand of vulgar minds.

"Literature, which should be one of the great uplifting influences, is becoming every day more and more adapted to the commoner mind, under the name of progress. Progress it is, but in the wrong direction, for it serves to bring all to a dead level of mediocrity; and I maintain that a few lofty minds, leaders in the world of thought, are infinitely more prolific of true progress than smart mediocrity."

I had paused in my writing to listen to my companion, for I had never heard him in this vein before; but his arguments needed thought, and I told him so.

"Thought! why, of course they do. Think over them whenever you can; and, in thinking, apply the principle to all different cases."

"I will; but just now I could not think clearly, for I fancy I hear sounds that indicate more cheering crowds outside."

"A sound that Ivan never heard," said Mr. Smith.

"And which reminds me, that I wish to see Prince Alexis before he leaves for the frontier."

"You will not, I hope, delay his departure," said my companion slyly.

"On the contrary, I shall expedite it."

"You wish to see him alone?"

"If you please, when I have finished these," and I touched the papers before me. "But I wish to know what you think of this scheme of mine. There are, I have heard, a number of poor wretches in prison for non-payment of taxes. I propose to release them at once, and if possible to place them back upon the land. To do this, it will be necessary to dispossess a number of people who bought the various farms for little over the sum wanted to pay the taxes.

"Now these people took advantage of Ivan's overtaxation to invest their money in property, which to my mind was not the State's to sell. Therefore, they made a bad bargain; but, as I wish to be just, I propose paying them the purchase money, plus five per cent., plus a fair amount for any improvements. That is my idea. What do you think of it?"

Mr. Smith thought for some time.

"I see exactly what you wish, but there are difficulties, very great difficulties. To begin with, you would have to create a number of officials to deal with each claim separately, which is bad, for anything that leads to a bureaucracy is pernicious in a monarchy; besides which, you will make enemies of the men you dispossess. Again, it will be necessary to sift to the bottom the reasons there were for the taxes not having been paid. It might also encourage the recipients of your favour to object to all taxation, whether just or not."

"Your reasons may be sound," I said, "but I will try to upset them. First, you object to the creation of an army of officials. Now that is an extreme argument, I think, for there are records in each district of sales of land, and these can be seen with little trouble. I proposed offering a little extra payment to the permanent officials in each district, and doing the business gradually. To my mind, it is necessary to know much more about the land and its productive qualities than we do, for I have read reports dealing with the subject; so a few extra men would not be amiss to inquire into our whole system of agriculture.

"Secondly, you contend that I shall make enemies. I do not agree; these people will get back more than they paid, for something which was distinctly in the nature of a gamble. Those are the two most important reasons against; the other involves too much human nature for me to argue about until I have more knowledge of Rudarlians."

"We are a Parliament in ourselves, Victor, and your answers need leisure for contemplation. However, I see you have finished, so I will give orders for Prince Alexis to be brought to you."

"Thank you, Prince; don't forget about your title. I have just thought of a new role for you: Prince von Zeula, Bear-leader to the King."

"It is a title that does me honour," he said, and smilingly withdrew.

Colonel Woolgast ushered in Prince Alexis, and stood as though he expected to have to re-escort the prisoner.

"I will ring, Colonel," I said, touching a small silver bell upon my desk, "if you will remain within hearing."

He cast an anxious glance at me; and the next moment I was alone with the man to whom my coming must have been a terrible blow.

"There is a chair behind you, Prince," I said.

With extreme sullenness he took the seat indicated.

My impression of the man did not improve with further acquaintance.

For some little time we looked at each other in silence, he with looks full of hatred and malicious curiosity, while I was quite frankly interested in him. I wondered how anyone could, by vice, so debase himself, until his very being radiated nauseating vibrations; more especially as he had thought one day to be a king, a person set on a pinnacle for all to see, a leader and chief among men.

I found that, whenever his eyes met mine they turned aside, cold and crafty.

"Prince," I said, "to you, no doubt, I am a very pernicious being, most probably you loathe me with all your heart. You think that I have cheated you out of a throne, yet consider a moment, and you must see that it is not so. Ivan was never King, since I was alive; you were never the heir. I presume you will not deny that?"

"I do deny it. You are an impostor, I know it."

"I am the King."

"By might, not right."

"By both, Prince: by right, on account of my birth which has been proved without shadow of doubt; by might, because the people of Rudarlia loved my father as much as they detested Ivan."

"Your proofs, what proofs have you?"

"That is the business of those who have them in their possession," I replied.

"They will not satisfy me, however."

"What would? Rudarlia? You would not be King for a month; people do not talk kindly of you, Prince, they liken you to Ivan, in your ways of life."

"What are my ways of life to you?"

"Nothing, you have to answer for them yourself; but, if you had succeeded in gaining the throne, they would have meant much, not only to me but to all Rudarlians."

"You mean?"

"That there is only a certain amount of juice to be obtained from any orange; Ivan sucked this one dry."

"Dry? not so dry that I could not have obtained more from it."

"I doubt if you could have obtained a penny. The people are ruined, absolutely. You would not have dared to tax the nobles, for you would have made enemies of Ivan's friends."

"Well, I am in your power, Impostor; what do you intend?"

"You are in my power, you and your friends," I repeated this slowly and emphatically, for I had seen a look in his eyes that I did not like, the look of one who stores up malice for the future. "I do not think you would be regretted, whatever I decided to do, even by your friends in Bornia, for instance."

He leant forward in his chair, and lowered his voice.

"See," he said, "let us understand each other. I know that you are an impostor, just a pawn in Zeula's game. I know you for the Englishman who wounded Goltz; so why keep up the farce? You will have to remain King, of course, but there will be rare pickings. Now, I can help you if you consent to work with me. This is what I propose: you must insist on my having a good pension, and my debts paid. I, on my part, will keep mum about you, and accept you as my sovereign; I never wanted to be King, but I want the money badly. Who the devil would want to live in Karena? Not I for one.

"Another thing, I will give you some ideas for putting on the screw; a friend of mine and I have worked out several ways, while awaiting Ivan's death. What do you say?"

I was too sick mentally to answer him, the callousness of his proposition had almost numbed me. I was an impostor to him, and yet he would sell what he fancied to be his birthright, for a pension and payment of his debts.

I groaned inwardly at what would have happened to Rudarlia under his rule, and yet I was inclined to let him unburden himself of these schemes of taxation. I fancy that my mind was fascinated by the loathsomeness of his, almost like a rabbit in the presence of a snake. I wished, however, to hear more, so, feigning an interest which disgusted me, I pretended to think over what he had said; and then I too leaned forward in my chair.

"You have interested me," I said, "in spite of your affirming that I am an impostor; but you must let me know more of your ideas. That is essential, for you will not wish me to speak to and consult Zeula, will you?"

I saw his evil face light up, and I read his thought: that I was willing to be his tool.

"Is it likely that I should tell you, without security?" he asked, with a twisted kind of smile.

"Why not? Your ideas would be no use to me without your aid; if I played you false, you could always expose me, couldn't you? For, mind you, it will be a dangerous game to play, Zeula is no fool."

"Bah!" he snapped his fingers, "that for Zeula. He must do what we want; he dare not let me expose the game, I have too much power."

"Of course," I said, and wondered what this power could be. "And yet, until I know how to raise the money, I don't see how I can act."

He pondered a moment, and then with an oath, burst out:

"Very well then, I will tell you, but, by God, if you play me false!--but there, you dare not. Now listen. You and I must make enough in ten years to satisfy us, as after that things will be different, for this reason: Bornia."

"What has Bornia to do with it?"

"Everything. I am much in request at the Court." He chuckled. "King George has four daughters, and none of them married yet." He looked at me with a leer.

"Go on," I said, "tell me the plan."

"All in good time, Impostor, all in good time. Bornia wishes very much to own Rudarlia."

"What?"

"Strange, isn't it? Nevertheless a fact, and they want it without fighting. That is where we come in. Every time an official dies or vacates his post, you will fill it with one of my friends--they will be naturalised, of course, to avoid detection--for each post so filled, Bornia will pay. Do you see?"

"Yes, yes, go on."

"We will work it, so that in ten years' time Rudarlia will be full of Bornians, even the army. Then what I should have done, and what you will have to do, is to abdicate. Our officials will at once invite King George to occupy the throne. There, that is the big scheme. Now for another. You did not know, perhaps, that there were minerals in this country? There are, but not in paying quantities, on Royal land too. We will get some expert to boom the thing up to the skies; the nobles and shopkeepers will invest, unwisely but well for us, eh?"

"Have you any more schemes?"

"That will do to commence with, Impostor; when we have things fixed up, I'll tell you more."

"Have you more as good as the ones you have told me?"

"Oh, plenty. Well, what do you say?"

"What do I say?" cried I, my temper getting the better of me. "I say that you are the biggest cur unhung, that you have the vilest mind that ever man possessed, and that I feel disgusted with myself for ever having even spoken to you. You low brute, listen to me. I am not an impostor, whatever you may think; I am the son of Merlin I. Hold your tongue, or I'll forget that I am the King--silence, I say. I had proposed to pay your debts, to give you a pension, as you did no harm yesterday, but now I tell you that not one penny do you get from me, you cur."

I was standing over him; and he shrank back into his chair, his coward lips quivering with fear.

"Your Majesty," he quavered.

"'Impostor' you called me a moment ago; you have changed quickly."

"I did not mean it, your Majesty."

"Good God! Haven't you one redeeming feature, are you such a coward too?"

He did not answer but looked at me imploringly.

"You need not be afraid, I won't touch you. I hoped you would have one manly attribute, but it appears you are absolutely despicable; you are so low in all your thoughts that I almost pity you. Is there any way in which you could be helped to realise what a vile thing you are, I wonder--I suppose not?"

He still sat white-faced and quivering, and made no answer. As I looked at him, I felt my loathing and disgust turn almost to compassion--he was so hopeless, so contemptible. My anger, too, had passed.

"How much do you owe?" I said.

"Eh?"

"How much do your debts amount to?"

The crafty look returned to his face, and with it a faint expression of hope.

"My debts?"

"Yes, how much would cover them?"

"I don't quite know."

"You know perfectly, tell me at once."

"At least thirty thousand pounds. It is the Jews--it was fear of them that made me think of the plans I suggested to your Majesty."

"You need not lie to me."

"It's true," he said eagerly. "They were pressing me hard, and I had to plot and scheme to raise the money."

"And you thought that Rudarlia was yours to barter?"

"I could think of no other way, and I knew that Ivan had had his share."

"So you imagined you could finish her ruin. My God! how low you are. I suppose the thought of trying to put her on her feet again never entered your head."

"I was to marry one of George's daughters, and then, of course, I should have done what I could."

"She is well out of it; for I presume that, now, you will no longer be a desirable match?"

"I suppose not."

Again I caught a crafty gleam in his eye.

"Prince Alexis," I said, "listen to me, you have a little, very little, of the same blood as mine; for that reason alone, I intend to pay your debts to the amount of thirty thousand, no more. Had you shown one spark of feeling for Rudarlia, I should have given you a pension. As it is, I shall not; but, that you may have a clean start, I will give you another thirty thousand in addition. Take my advice and invest it; try and live decently and honourably."

He would have taken my hand in the extravagance of his joy; but I avoided it. It was one thing to give alms to a blood relation, but another to take the hand of a vile cur such as he was.

I wrote then and there a cheque for the promised amount, and handed it to him.

"You may refer your Semitic friends to me. The sum of thirty thousand will not be increased by a penny."

"And am I free to go when I will?" he asked.

"You will be escorted to the frontier, and will remain on the other side. Should you return under any circumstances, you will meet with different treatment."

I rang the bell, and Colonel Woolgast appeared.

"You will conduct Prince Alexis to his room, Colonel, and return to me as soon as possible."

I sat staring from the window waiting for his return. I was uncertain, in my mind, about the wisdom of the course I had adopted with Alexis.

He was capable of any villainy, any crime, but I had given him the money with an object; I wished to gain time. It ought to last him for a year or eighteen months; and much could be done between now and then.

I had had suspicions before that Bornia had covetous designs with regard to Rudarlia.

Well, we would see. Thank God, my stepfather had made it possible for me to do much, without fresh taxation.

I was just thinking of the degraded spectacle Prince Alexis was, almost ashamed of myself for having allowed him even to suggest the things he had, when I heard a woman's voice raised in altercation with the guardsman outside the door. To my amazement she spoke in English.

"I want to see His Majesty, I tell you."

I heard the sentry explain, in Rudarlian, that it was impossible for her to have audience with me.