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Full text of ""Temporal power"; a study in supremacy"

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"TEMPORAL POWER" 



MARIE CORELLI'S ROMANCES 

The Master-Christian 

A Romance of Two Worlds 

Vendetta 

Thelma 

Ardath 

The Soul of Lilith 

Wormwood 

Barabbas 

The Sorrows of Satan 



"Temporal Power" 



A STUDY IN SUPREMACY 



BY 

Marie Corelli 

Author of 

" The Master-Christian," " Thelma," "Barabbas," 
" Ardath," " The Sorrows of Satan," &c. 



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NEW TORK 

Dodd, Mead and Company 

1902 



Copyright, 1902, 
By Dodd, Mead and Company. 



First Edition Published August, 1902. 



SBntbcrsifg IJkrsa : 
John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U. S. A. 



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CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PACK 

I. The King's Pleasaunce i 

II. Majesty Considers and Resolves .... 13 

III. A Nation or a Church? 27 

IV. Sealed Orders 41 

V. "If I Loved You!" 51 

VI. Sergius Thord 69 

VII. The Idealists 85 

VIII. The King's Double 103 

IX. The Premier's Signet 121 

X. The Islands 139 

XI. "Gloria — In Excelsis ! " 153 

XII. A Sea Princess 169 

XIII. Secret Service 184 

XIV. The King's Veto 19 s 

XV. "Morganatic" or — ? 213 

XVI. The Professor Advises 227 

XVII. An "Honourable" Statesman 234 

XVIII. Royal Lovers 245 

XIX. Of the Corruption of the State . . . 256 

XX. The Scorn of Kings 276 

XXI. An Invitation to Court 302 

XXII. A Fair Debutante 3 X 9 

XXIII. The King's Defender 34° 



CHAPTER 

XXIV. 

XXV. 

XXVI. 

XXVII. 

XXVIII. 

XXIX. 

XXX. 

XXXI. 

XXXII. 

XXXIII. 

XXXIV. 



Contents 

PAGE 

A Woman's Reason 363 

"I say — 'Rome'!" 380 

" One Way — One Woman ! " 395 

The Song of Freedom 412 

"Fate gives — the King!" 431 

The Comrade of his Foes 451 

King and Socialist 473 

A Vote for Love 481 

Between Two Passions 494 

Sailing to the Infinite 513 

Abdication 533 



s 



"TEMPORAL POWER" 



CHAPTER I 

THE KING'S PLEASAUNCE 

IN the beginning," so we are told, " God made the 
heavens and the earth." 
The statement is simple and terse ; it is evidently in- 
tended to be wholly comprehensive. Its decisive, almost 
abrupt tone would seem to forbid either question or ar- 
gument. The old-world narrator of the sublime event 
thus briefly chronicled was a poet of no mean quality, 
though moved by the natural conceit of man to give un- 
due importance to the earth as his own particular habi- 
tation. The perfect confidence with which he explains 
' God ' as making ' two great lights, the greater light to 
rule the day, the lesser light to rule the night,' is touch- 
ing to the verge of pathos ; and the additional remark 
which he throws in, as it were casually, — ' He made the 
stars also,' cannot but move us to admiration. How child- 
like the simplicity of the soul which could so venture to 
deal with the inexplicable and tremendous problem of the 
Universe ! How self-centred and sure the faith which 
could so arrange the work of Infinite and Eternal forces 
to suit its own limited intelligence ! It is easy and natural 
to believe that ' God,' or an everlasting Power of Goodness 
and Beauty called by that name, ' created the heavens and 
the earth,' but one is often tempted to think that an alto- 
gether different and rival element must have been con- 
cerned in the making of Man. For the heavens and the 
earth are harmonious ; man is a discord. And not only is 
he a discord in himself, but he takes pleasure in producing 
and multiplying discords. Often, with the least possible 



2 "Temporal Power' 

amount of education, and on the slightest provocation, he 
mentally sets Himself, and his trivial personal opinion on 
religion, morals, and government, in direct opposition to 
the immutable laws of the Universe, and the attitude he 
assumes towards the mysterious Cause and Original 
Source of Life is nearly always one of three things ; 
contradiction, negation, or defiance. From the first to the 
last he torments himself with inventions to outwit or sub- 
due Nature, and in the end dies, utterly defeated. His 
civilizations, his dynasties, his laws, his manners, his cus- 
toms, are all doomed to destruction and oblivion as com- 
pletely as an ant-hill which exists one night and is trodden 
down the next. Forever and forever he works and plans 
in vain ; forever and forever Nature, the visible and ac- 
tive Spirit of God, rises up and crushes her puny rebel. 

There must be good reason for this ceaseless waste of 
human life, — this constant and steady obliteration of 
man's attempts, since there can be no Effect without 
Cause. It is, as if like children at a school, we were set 
a certain sum to do, and because we blunder foolishly 
over it and add it up to a wrong total, it is again and 
again wiped off the blackboard, and again and again re- 
written for our more careful consideration. Possibly the 
secret of our failure to conquer Nature lies in ourselves, 
and our own obstinate tendency to work in only one 
groove of what we term 'advancement,' — namely our 
material self-interest. Possibly we might be victors if 
we would, even to the very vanquishment of Death ! 

So many of us think, — and so thought one man of 
sovereign influence in this world's affairs as, seated on the 
terrace of a Royal palace fronting seaward, he pondered 
his own life's problem for perhaps the thousandth time. 

" What is the use of thinking?" asked a wit at the 
court of Louis XVI. " It only intensifies the bad opinion 
you have of others, — or of yourself ! " 

He found this saying true. Thinking is a pernicious 
habit in which very great personages are not supposed to 
indulge ; and in his younger days he had avoided it. He 
had allowed the time to take him as it found him, and had 
gone with it unresistingly wherever it had led. It was the 
best way ; the wisest way ; the way Solomon found most 
congenial, despite its end in ' vanity and vexation of 



The King's Pleasaunce 3 

spirit.' But with the passing of the years a veil had been 
dropped over that path of roses, hiding it altogether from 
his sight ; and another veil rose inch by inch before him] 
disclosing a new and less joyous prospect on which he 
was not too-well-pleased to look. 

The sea, stretching out in a broad shining expanse op- 
posite to him, sparkled dancingly in the warm sunshine, 
and the snowy sails of many yachts and pleasure-boats 
dipped now and again into the glittering waves like white 
birds skimming over the tiny flashing foam-crests. Daz- 
zling and well-nigh blinding to his eyes were the burn- 
ing glow and exquisite radiance of colour which seemed 
melted like gold and sapphire into that bright half-circle 
of water and sky, — beautiful, and full of a dream-like 
evanescent quality, such as marks all the loveliest scenes 
and impressions of our life on earth. There was a subtle 
scent of violets in the air, — and a gardener, cutting 
sheafs of narcissi from the edges of the velvety green 
banks which rolled away in smooth undulations upward 
from the terrace to the wider extent of the palace pleas- 
aunce beyond, scattered such perfume with his snipping 
shears as might have lured another Proserpine from Hell. 
Cluster after cluster of white blooms, carefully selected 
for the adornment of the Royal apartments, he laid beside 
him on the grass, not presuming to look in the direction 
where that other Workman in the ways of life sat silent 
and absorbed in thought. That other, in his own long- 
practised manner, feigned not to be aware of his depen- 
dant's proximity, — and in this fashion they twain —  
human beings made of the same clay and relegated to the 
same dust — gave sport to the Fates by playing at Sham 
with Heaven and themselves. Custom, law, and all the 
paraphernalia of civilization, had set the division and 
marked the boundary between them, — had forbidden the 
lesser in world's rank to speak to the greater, unless 
the greater began conversation, — had equally forbidden 
the greater to speak to the lesser lest such condescension 
should inflate the lesser's vanity so much as to make him 
obnoxious to his fellows. Thus, — of two men, who, if 
left to nature would have been merely men, and sincere 
enough at that, — man himself had made two pretenders, 
— the one as gardener, the other as — King ! The white 



5> 



4 " Temporal Power 

narcissi lying on the grass, and preparing to die sweetly, 
like sacrificed maiden-victims of the flower-world, could 
turn true faces to the God who made them, — but the 
men at that particular moment of time had no real fea- 
tures ready for God's inspection, — only masks. 

" C'est mon metier d'etre Roi ! " So said one of the 
many dead and gone martyrs on the rack of sovereignty. 
Alas, poor soul, thou would'st have been happier in any 
other ' metier ' I warrant ! For kingship is a profession 
which cannot be abandoned for a change of humour, or 
cast aside in light indifference and independence because 
a man is bored by it and would have something new. It 
is a routine and drudgery to which some few are born, 
for which they are prepared, to which they must devote 
their span of life, and in which they must die. ' How 
shall we pass the day ? " asked a weary Roman emperor, 
" I am even tired of killing my enemies ! " 

' Even ' that ! And the strangest part of it is, that there 
are people who would give all their freedom and peace of 
mind to occupy for a few years an uneasy throne, and 
who actually live under the delusion that a monarch is 
happy ! 

The gardener soon finished his task of cutting the nar- 
cissi, and though he might not, without audacity, look 
at his Sovereign-master, his Sovereign-master looked at 
him, furtively, from under half-closed eyelids, watching 
him as he bound the blossoms together carefully, with the 
view of giving as little trouble as possible to those whose 
duty it would be to arrange them for the Royal pleasure. 
His work done, he walked quickly, yet with a certain 
humble stealthiness, — thus admitting his consciousness 
of that greater presence than hrs own, — down a broad 
garden walk beyond the terrace towards a private en- 
trance to the palace, and there disappeared. 

The King was left alone, — or apparently so, for to 
speak truly, he was never alone. An equerry, a page-in- 
waiting, — or what was still more commonplace as well as 
ominous, a detective, — lurked about him, ever near, ever 
ready to spring on any unknown intruder, or to answer 
his slightest call. 

But to the limited extent of the solitude allowed to 
kings, this man was alone, — alone for a brief space to 



The King's Pleasaunce 5 

consider, as he had informed his secretary, certain docu- 
ments awaiting his particular and private perusal. 

The marble pavilion in which he sat had been built by 
his father, the late King', for his own pleasure, when 
pleasure was more possible than it is now. Its slender 
Ionic columns, its sculptured friezes, its painted ceilings, 
all expressed a gaiety, grace and beauty gone from the 
world, perchance for ever. Open on three sides to the 
living picture of the ocean, crimson and white roses 
clambered about it, and tall plume-like mimosa shook 
fragrance from its golden blossoms down every breath 
of wind. The costly table on which this particular Maj- 
esty 'of a nation occasionally wrote his letters, would, if 
sold, have kept a little town in food for a year, — the rich 
furs at his feet would have bought bread for hundreds of 
starving families, — and every delicious rose that nodded 
its dainty head towards him with the breeze would have 
given an hour's joy to a sick child. Socialists say this 
kind of thing with wildly eloquent fervour, and blame all 
kings in passionate rhodomontade for the tables, the furs 
and the roses, — but they forget — it is not the sad and 
weary kings who care for these or any luxuries, — - they 
would be far happier without them. It is the People who 
insist on having kings that should be blamed, — not the 
monarchs themselves. A king is merely the people's 
Prisoner of State, — they chain him to a throne, — they 
make him clothe himself in sundry fantastic forms of at- 
tire and exhibit his person thus decked out, for their 
pleasure, — they calculate, often with greed and grudging, 
how much it will cost to feed him and keep him in proper 
state on the national premises, that they may use him at 
their will, — but they seldom or never seem to remember 
the fact that there is a Man behind the King ! 

It is not easy to govern nowadays, since there is no real 
autocracy, and no strong soul likely to create one. But the 
original idea of sovereignty was grand and wise ; — the 
strongest man and bravest, raised aloft on shields and 
bucklers with warrior cries of approval from the people 
who voluntarily chose him as their leader in battle, — 
their utmost Head of affairs. Progress has demolished 
this ideal, with many others equally fine and inspiring; 
and now all kings are so, by right of descent merely. 



" Temporal Power 



>> 



Whether they be infirm or palsied, weak or wise, sane or 
crazed, still are they as of old elected ; only no more as 
the Strongest, but simply as the Sign-posts of a tradi- 
tional bygone authority. 

This King however, here written of, was not deficient 
in either mental or physical attributes. His outward look 
and bearing betokened him as far more fit to be lifted in 
triumph on the shoulders of his battle-heroes, a real and 
visible Man, than to play a more or less cautiously inac- 
tive part in the modern dumb-show of Royalty. Well- 
built and muscular, with a compact head regally poised on 
broad shoulders, and finely formed features which indi- 
cated in their firm modelling strong characteristics of 
pride, indomitable resolution and courage, he had an air 
of rare and reposeful dignity which made him much more 
impressive as a personality than many of his fellow-sov- 
ereigns. His expression was neither foolish nor sensual, 
— his clear dark grey eyes were sane and steady in their 
regard and had no tricks of shiftiness. As an ordinary 
man of the people his appearance would have been dis- 
tinctive, — as a King, it was remarkable. 

He had of course been called handsome in his child- 
hood, — what heir to a Throne ever lived that was not 
beautiful, to bis nurse at least? — and in his early youth 
he had been grossly flattered for his cleverness as well as 
his good looks. Every small attempt at witticism, — every 
poor joke he could invent, adapt or repeat, was laughed 
at approvingly in a chorus of admiration by smirking hu- 
man creatures, male and female, who bowed and bobbed 
up and down before the lad like strange dolphins disport- 
ing themselves on dry land. Whereat he grew to despise 
the dolphins, and no wonder. When he was about seven- 
teen or eighteen he began to ask odd questions of one of 
his preceptors, a learned and ceremonious personage who, 
considering the extent of his certificated wisdom, was yet 
so singularly servile of habit and disposition that he might 
have won a success on the stage as Chief Toady in a bur- 
lesque of Court life. He was a pale, thin old man, with a 
wizened face set well back amid wisps of white hair, and 
a scraggy throat which asserted its working muscles vis- 
ibly whenever he spoke, laughed or took food. His way 
of shaking hands expressed his moral flabbiness in the 



The King's Pleasaunce 7 

general dampness, looseness and limpness of the act, — 
not that he often shook hands with his pupil, for though 
that pupil was only a boy made of ordinary flesh and 
blood like other boys, he was nevertheless heir to a 
Throne, and in strict etiquette even friendly liberties were 
not to be too frequently taken with such an Exalted little 
bit of humanity. The lad himself, however, had a certain 
mischievous delight in making him perform this courtesy, 
and being young and vigorous, would often squeeze the 
old gentleman's hesitating fingers in his strong clasp so 
energetically as to cause him the severest pain. Student 
of many philosophies as he was, the worthy pedagogue 
would have cried out, or sworn profane oaths in his 
agony, had it been any other than the ' Heir- Apparent ' 
who thus made him wince with torture, — but as matters 
stood, he merely smiled — and bore it. The young rascal 
of a prince smiled too, — taking note of his obsequious 
hypocrisy, which served an inquiring mind with quite as 
good a field for logical speculation as any problem in 
Euclid. And he went on with his questions, — questions, 
which if not puzzling, were at least irritating enough to 
have secured him a rap on the knuckles from his tutor's 
cane, had he been a grocer's lad instead of the eldest son 
of a Royal house. 

' Professor," he said on one occasion, " What is 
man ? " 

" Man," replied the professor sedately, " is an intelli- 
gent and reasoning being, evolved by natural processes of 
creation into his present condition of supremacy." 

" What is Supremacy?" 

" The state of being above, or superior to, the rest of 
the animal creation." 

" And is he so superior? " 

" He is generally so admitted." 

" Is my father a man? " 

" Assuredly ! The question is superfluous." 

" What makes him a King ? " 

' Royal birth and the hereditary right to his great 
position." 

' Then if man is in a condition of supremacy over the 
rest of creation, a king is more than a man if he is al- 
lowed to rule men ? " 



8 "Temporal Power" 

" Sir, pardon me ! — a king is not more than a man, but 
men choose him as their ruler because he is worthy." 

"In what way is he worthy? Simply because he is 
born as I am, heir to a throne ? " 

" Precisely." 

" He might be an idiot or a cripple, a fool or a coward, 
— he would still be King?" 

" Most indubitably." 

; ' So that if he were a madman, he would continue to 
hold supremacy over a nation, though his groom might be 
sane? " 

' Your Royal Highness pursues the question with an 
unwise flippancy ; " — remonstrated the professor with a 
pained, forced smile. ; ' If an idiot or a madman were un- 
fortunately born to a throne, a regency would be ap- 
pointed to control state affairs, but the heir would, in 
spite of natural incapability, remain the lawful king." 

" A strange sovereignty ! " said the young prince care- 
lessly. " And a still stranger patience in the people who 
would tolerate it! Yet over all men, — kings, madmen, 
and idiots alike, — there is another ruling force, called 
God?" 

' There is a force," admitted the professor dubiously — 
' But in the present forward state of things it would not 
be safe to attempt to explain the nature of that force, 
and for the benefit of the illiterate masses we call it God. 
A national worship of something superior to themselves 
has always been proved politic and necessary for the 
people. I have not at any time resolved myself as to why 
it should be so; but so it is." 

' Then man, despite his ' supremacy ' must have some- 
thing more supreme than himself to keep him in order, if 
it be only a fetish wherewith to tickle his imagination ? " 
suggested the prince with a touch of satire, — " Even 
kings must bow, or pretend to bow, to the King of kings ?" 
' Sir, you have expressed the fact with felicity ; " re- 
plied the professor gravely — " His Majesty, your august 
father, attends public worship with punctilious regularity, 
and you are accustomed to accompany him. It is a rule 
which you will find necessary to keep in practice, as an 
example to your subjects when you are called upon to 
reign." . 



The King's Pleasaunce 9 

The young man raised his eyebrows deprecatingly, with 
a slight ironical smile, and dropped the subject. But the 
learned professor as in duty bound, reported the conver- 
sation to his pupil's father ; with the additional observa- 
tion that he feared, he very humbly and respectfully 
feared, that the developing mind of the prince appeared 
undesirably disposed towards discursive philosophies, 
which were wholly unnecessary for the position he was 
destined to occupy. Whereupon the King- took his son 
to task on the subject with a mingling of kindness and 
humour. 

" Do not turn philosopher ! " he said — " For philoso- 
phy will not so much content you with life, as with death ! 
Philosophy will chill your best impulses and most gener- 
ous enthusiasms, — it will make you over-cautious and 
doubtful of your friends, — it will cause you to be indif- 
ferent to women in the plural, but it will hand you over, 
a weak and helpless victim to the one woman, — when she 
comes, — as she is bound to come. There is no one so 
hopelessly insane as a philosopher in love ! Love women, 
but not a woman ! " 

" In so doing I should follow the wisest of examples, — 
yours, Sir ! " replied the prince with a familiarity more 
tender than audacious, for his father was a man of fine 
presence and fascinating manner, and knew well the ex- 
tent of his power to charm and subjugate the fairer sex, 
— " But I have a fancy that love,  — if it exists anywhere 
outside the dreams of "the poets, — is unknown to kings." 

The monarch bent his brows frowningly, and his eyes 
were full of a deep and bitter melancholy. 

"You mistake!'' 1 he said slowly — "Love, — and by 
that name I mean a wholly different thing from Passion, 
 — comes to kings as to commoners, — but whereas the 
commoner may win it if he can, the king must reject it. 
But it comes, — and leaves a blank in the proudest life 
when it goes ! " 

He turned away abruptly, and the conversation was not 
again resumed. But when he died, those who prepared 
his body for burial, found a gold chain round his neck, 
holding the small medallion portrait of a woman, and a 
curl of soft fair hair. Needless to say the portrait was 
not that of the late Queen-Consort, who had died some 



io "Temporal Power' 

years before her Royal spouse, nor was the hair hers, — 
but when they brought the relic to the new King, he laid 
it back with his own hands on his father's lifeless breast, 
and let it go into the grave with him. For, being no 
longer the crowned Servant of the State, he had the right 
as a mere dead man, to the possession of his love-secret. 

So at least thought his son and successor, who at times 
was given to wondering whether if, like his father, he had 
such a secret he would be able to keep it as closely and as 
well. He thought not. It would be scarcely worth while. 
It can only be the greatest love that is always silent, —  
and in the greatest, — that is, the ideal and self-renounc- 
ing love, — he did not believe ; though in his own life's 
experience he had been given a proof that such love is 
possible to women, if not to men. When he was about 
twenty, he had loved, or had imagined he loved a girl, — 
a pretty creature, who did not know him as a prince at all, 
but simply as a college student. He used to walk with 
her hand in hand through the fields by the river, and 
gather wild flowers for her to wear in her little white 
bodice. She had shy soft eyes, and a timid, yet trusting 
look, full of tenderness and pathos. Moved by a romantic 
sense of honour and chivalry, he promised to marry her, 
and thereupon wrote an impulsive letter to his father in- 
forming him of his intention. Of course he was sum- 
moned home from college at once, — he was reminded of 
his high destiny — of the Throne that would be his if he 
lived to occupy it, — of the great and serious responsibili- 
ties awaiting him, — and of how impossible it was that the 
Heir-Apparent to the Crown should marry a commoner. 

" Why not?" he cried passionately — " If she be good 
and true she is as fit to be a queen as any woman royally 
born ! She is a queen already in her own right ! '' 

But while he was being argued with and controlled by 
all the authorities concerned in king's business, his little 
sweetheart herself put an end to the matter. Her parents 
told her all unpreparedly, and with no doubt unnecessary 
harshness, the real position of the college lad with whom 
she had wandered in the fields so confidingly ; and in the 
bewilderment of her poor little broken heart and puzzled 
brain, she gave herself to the river by whose flowering 
banks she had sworn her maiden vows, — though she 



The King's Pleasaunce 1 1 

knew it not, — to her future King ; and so, drowning her 
life and love together, made a piteous exi': from all diffi- 
culty. Before she went forth to die, she wrote a farewell 
to her Royal lover, posting the letter herself on her way 
to the river, and, by the merest chance he received it 
without a spy's intervention. It was but one line, scrawled 
in a round youthful hand, and blotted with many tears. 

" Sir my love ! forgive me ! " 

It would be unwise to say what that little scrap of ill- 
formed writing cost the heir to a throne when he heard 
how she had died, — or how he raged and swore and 
wept. It was the first Wrong forced on him as Right, by 
the laws of the realm ; and he was young and generous 
and honest, and not hardened to those laws then. Their 
iniquity and godlessness appeared to him in plain ugly 
colours undisguised. Since that time he had perforce 
fallen into the habit and routine of his predecessors, 
though he was not altogether so ' constitutional ' a sov- 
ereign as his father had been. He had something of the 
spirit of one who had occupied his throne five hundred 
years before him ; when strength and valour and wit and 
boldness, gave more kings to the world than came by 
heritage. He did unconventional things now and then ; 
to the grief of flunkeys, and the alarm of Court parasites. 
But his kingdom was of the South, where hot blood is 
recognized and excused, and fiery temper more admired 
than censured, and where, — so far as social matters went, 
— his word, whether kind, cold, or capricious, was suffi- 
cient to lead in any direction that large flock of the silly 
sheep of fashion who only exist to eat, and to be eaten. 
Sometimes he longed to throw himself back into bygone 
centuries and stand as his earliest ancestor stood, sword 
in hand, on a height overlooking the battle-field, watching 
the swaying rush of combat, — the glitter of spears and 
axes — the sharp flight of arrows — the tossing banners, 
the grinding chariots, the flying dust and carnage of men ! 
There was something to fight for in those days, — there 
was no careful binding up of wounds, — no provision for 
the sick or the mutilated, — nothing, nothing, but ' Vic- 
tory or Death ! ' How much grander, how much finer 
the old fierce ways of war than now, when any soldier 
wounded, may write the details of his bayonet-scratch or 



12 "Temporal Power' 

bullet-hole to the cheap press, and the surgeon prys about 
with Rontgen-ray paraphernalia and scalpel, to discover 
how much or how little escape from dissolution a man's 
soul has had in the shock of contest with his foe! Of 
a truth these are paltry days ! — and paltry days breed 
paltry men. Afraid of sickness^afraid of death, afraid of 
poverty, afraid of offences, afraid to think, afraid to 
speak, Alan in the present era of his boasted ' progress ' 
resembles nothing so much as a whipped child, — cower- 
ing under the outstretched arm of Heaven and waiting in 
whimpering terror for the next fall of the scourge. And 
it is on this point especially, that the monarch who takes 
part in this unhesitating chronicle of certain thoughts and 
movements hidden out of sight, — yet deeply felt in the 
under-silences of the time, — may claim to be unconven- 
tional ; — he was afraid of nothing, — not even of him- 
self as King! 



CHAPTER II 

MAJESTY CONSIDERS AND RESOLVES 

THE little episode of his first love, combined with his 
ungovernable fury and despair at its tragic conclu- 
sion, had of course the natural result common in such a 
case, to the fate of all who are destined to occupy thrones. 
A marriage was 'arranged' for him ; and pressing reasons 
of state were urged for the quick enforcement and carry- 
ing out of the ' arrangement.' The daughter of a neigh- 
bouring potentate was elected to the honour of his 
alliance, — a beautiful girl with a pale, cold clear-cut 
face and brilliant eyes, whose smile penetrated the soul 
with an icy chill, and whose very movement, noiseless 
and graceful as it was, reminded one irresistibly of slowly 
drifting snow. She was attended to the altar, as he was, 
by all the ministers and plenipotentiaries of state that 
could possibly be gathered together from the four quar- 
ters of the globe as witnesses to the immolation of two 
young human lives on the grim sacrificial stone of a Dy- 
nasty ; and both prince and princess accepted their fate 
with mutually silent and civil resignation. Their por- 
traits, set facing each other with a silly smile, or taken in 
a linked arm-in-arm attitude against a palatial canvas 
background, appeared in every paper published through- 
out the world, and every scribbler on the Press took 
special pains to inform the easily deluded public that the 
Royal union thus consummated was ' a romantic love- 
match.' For the People still have heart and conscience, 
— the People, taken in the rough lump of humanity, still 
believe in love, in faith, in the dear sweetness of home 
affections. The politicians who make capital out of popu- 
lar emotion, know this well enough, — and are careful to 
play the tune of their own personal interest upon the 



1 4- "Temporal Power 1 

gamut of National Sentiment in every stump oration. 
For how terrible it would be if the People of any land 
learned to judge their preachers and teachers by the lines 
of fact alone ! Inasmuch as fact would convincingly 
prove to them that their leaders prospered and grew rich, 
while they stayed poor ; and they might take to puzzling 
out reasons for this inadequacy which would inevitably 
cause trouble. For this, and divers other motives politic, 
the rosy veil of sentiment is always delicately flung more 
or less over every new move on the national debating- 
ground, — and whether marriageable princes and prin- 
cesses love or loathe each other, still, when they come to 
wed, the words ' romantic love-match ' must be thrown in 
by an obliging Press in order to satisfy the tender scruples 
of a people who would certainly not abide the thought of 
a Royal marriage contracted in mutual aversion. Thus 
much soundness and right principle there is at least, in 
what some superfine persons call the ' common ' folk, — 
the folk whose innermost sense of truth and straight- 
forwardness, not even the proudest statesman dare 
outrage. 

But with what unuttered and unutterable scorn the 
youthful victims of the Royal pairing accepted the news- 
paper-assurances of the devoted tenderness they enter- 
tained for each other ! With what wearied impatience 
both prince and princess received the ' Wedding Odes ' 
and ' Epithalamiums,' written by first-class and no-class 
versifiers for the occasion ! What shoals of these were 
cast aside unread, to occupy the darkest dingiest corner 
of one of the Royal ' refuse ' libraries ! The writers of 
such things expected great honours, no doubt, each and 
every man-jack of them, — but apart from the fact that 
the greatest literature has always lived without any offi- 
cial recognition or endowment from kings, — being in 
itself the supremest sovereignty, — poets and rhymesters 
alike never seem to realize that no one is, or can be, so 
sickened by an ' Ode ' as the man or woman to whom it 
is written ! 

The brilliant marriage ceremony concluded, the august 
bride and bridegroom took their departure, amid franti- 
cally cheering crowds, for a stately castle standing high 
among the mountains, a truly magnificent pile, which had 



Majesty Considers and Resolves 15 

been placed at their disposal for the ' honeymoon,' by one 
of the wealthiest of the King's subjects, — and there, 
as soon as equerries, grooms-in-waiting, flunkeys, and 
every other sort of indoor and outdoor retainer would 
consent to leave them alone together, the Royal wife 
came to her Royal husband, and asked to be allowed to 
speak a few words on the subject of their marriage, ' for 
the first and last time,' said she, with a straight glance 
from the cold moonlight mystery of her eyes. Beautiful 
at all times, her beauty was doubly enhanced by the regal 
attitude and expression she unconsciously assumed as she 
made the request, and the prince, critically studying her 
form and features, could not but regard himself as in 
some respects rather particularly favoured by the political 
and social machinery which had succeeded in persuad- 
ing so fair a creature to resign herself to the doubtful 
destiny of a throne. She had laid aside her magnifi- 
cent bridal-robes of ivory satin and cloth-of-gold, — 
and appeared before him in loose draperies of floating 
white, with her rich hair unbound and rippling to her 
knees. 

"May I speak?" she murmured, and her voice 
trembled. 

"Most assuredly!" — he replied, half smiling — "You 
do me too much honour by requesting the permission ! " 

As he spoke, he bowed profoundly, but she, raising her 
eyes, fixed them full upon him with a strange look of 
mingled pride and pain. 

' Do not," she said, " let us play at formalities ! Let us 
be honest with each other for to-nio-ht at least ! All our 
life together must from henceforth be more or less of a 
masquerade, but let us for to-night be as true man and 
true woman, and frankly face the position into which we 
have been thrust, not by ourselves, but by others." 

Profoundly astonished, the prince was silent. He had 
not thought this girl of nineteen possessed any force of 
character or any intellectual power of reasoning. He had 
judged her as no doubt glad to become a great princess 
and a possible future queen, and he had not given her 
credit for any finer or higher feeling. 

' You know," — she continued — " you must surely 
know — " here, despite the strong restraint she put upon 



i 6 "Temporal Power' 

herself, her voice broke, and her slight figure swayed in 
its white draperies as if about to fall. She looked at him 
with a sense of rising tears in her throat, — tears of 
which she was ashamed, — for she was full of a passionate 
emotion too strong for weeping — a contempt of herself 
and of him, too great for mere clamour. Was he so much 
of a man in the slow thick density of his brain she 
thought, as to have no instinctive perception of her utter 
misery ? He hastened to her and tried to take her hands, 
but she drew herself away from him and sank down in a 
chair as if exhausted. 

'You are tired!" he said kindly — "The tedious 
ceremonial — the still more tedious congratulations, 
— and the fatiguing journey from the capital to this 
place have been too much for your strength. You must 
rest! " 

" It is not that ! " — she answered — " not that ! I am 
not tired. - — but — but — I cannot say my prayers to- 
night till you know my whole heart ! " 

A curious reverence and pity moved him. All day long 
he had been in a state of resentful irritation, — he had 
loathed himself for having consented to marry this girl 
without loving her, — he had branded himself inwardly 
as a liar and hypocrite when he had sworn his marriage 
vows ' before God," whereas if he truly believed in God, 
such vows taken untruthfully were mere blasphemy ; — 
and now she herself, a young thing tenderlv brought up 
like a tropical flower in the enervating hot-house atmos- 
phere of Court life, yet had such a pure, deep conscious- 
ness of God in her, that she actually could not pray with 
the slightest blur of a secret on her soul ! He waited 
wonderinglv. 

" I have plighted my faith to you before God's altar 
to-day," she said, speaking more steadily, — " because 
after long and earnest thought, I saw that there was no 
other way of satisfying- the two nations to which we be- 
long, and cementing the friendly relations between them. 
There is no woman of Royal birth. — - so it has been 
pointed out to me — who is so suitable, from a political 
point of view, to be your wife as I. It is for the sake of 
your Throne and country that you must marry — and I 
ask God to forgive me if I have done wrong in His sight 



Majesty Considers and Resolves 17 

by wedding you simply for duty's sake. My father, your 
father, and all who are connected with our two families 
desire our union, and have assured me that it is right and 
good for me to give up my life to yours. All women's 
lives must be martyred to the laws made by men, — or so 
it seems to me, — I cannot expect to escape from the gen- 
eral doom apportioned to my sex. I therefore accept the 
destiny which transfers me to you as a piece of human 
property for possession and command, — I accept it 
freely, but I will not say gladly, because that would not 
be true. For I do not love you, — I cannot love you ! I 
want you to know that, and' to feel it, that you may not 
ask from me what I cannot give." 

There were no tears in her eyes ; she looked at him 
straightly and steadfastly. He, in his turn, met her gaze 
fully, — his face had paled a little, and a shadow of 
pained regret and commiseration darkened his handsome 
features. 

" You love someone else? " he asked, softly. 

She rose from her chair and confronted him, a glow of 
passionate pride flushing her cheeks and brow. 

" No ! " she said — "I would not be a traitor to you in 
so much as a thought ! Had I loved anyone else I would 
never have married you, — no ! — though you had been 
ten times a prince and king ! No ! You do not under- 
stand. I come to you heartwhole and passionless, without 
a single love-word chronicled in my girlhood's history, or 
a single incident you may not know. I have never loved 
any man, because from my very childhood I have hated 
and feared all men ! I loathe their presence — their looks 
— their voices — their manners, — if one should touch 
my hand in ordinary courtesy, my instincts are offended 
and revolted, and the sense of outrage remains with me 
for days. My mother knows of this, and says I am ' un- 
natural,' — it may be so. But unnatural or not, it is 
the truth : judge therefore the extent of the sacrifice I 
make to God and our two countries in giving myself to 
you ! " 

The prince stood amazed and confounded. Did she 
rave? Was she mad? He studied her with a curious, 
half-doubting scrutiny, and noted the composure of her 
attitude, the cold serenity of her expression, — there was 



i 8 "Temporal Power' 

evidently no hysteria, no sur-excitation of nerves about 
this calm statuesque beauty which in every line and curve 
of loveliness silently mutinied against him, and despised 
him. Puzzled, yet fascinated, he sought in his mind for 
some clue to her meaning. 

" There are women " she went on — " to whom love, 
or what is called love, is necessary, — for whom marriage 
is the utmost good of existence. I am not one of these. 
Had I my own choice I would live my life away from all 
men, — I would let nothing of myself be theirs to claim, 
— I would give all I am and all I have to God, who made 
me what I am. For truly and honestly, without any affec- 
tation at all, I look upon marriage, not as an honour, but 
a degradation ! " 

Had she been less in earnest, he might have smiled at 
this, but her beauty, intensified as it was by the fervour of 
her feeling, seemed transfigured into something quite 
supernatural which for the moment dazzled him. 

" Am I to understand — " he began. 

She interrupted him by a swift gesture, while the rich 
colour swept over her face in a warm wave. 

"Understand nothing" — she said, — "but this — that 
I do not love you, because I can love no man ! For the 
rest I am your wife ; and as your wife I give myself 
to you and your nation wholly and in all things — save 
love! " 

He advanced and took her hands in his. 

' This is a strange bargain ! " he said, and gently kissed 
her. 

She answered nothing, — only a faint shiver trembled 
through her as she endured the caress. For a moment or 
two he surveyed her in silence, — it was a singular and 
novel experience for him, as a future king, to be the law- 
ful possessor of a woman's beauty, and yet with all his 
sovereignty to be unable to waken one thrill of tenderness 
in the frozen soul imprisoned in such exquisite flesh and 
blood. He was inclined to disbelieve her assertions, — 
surely he thought, there must be emotion, feeling, pas- 
sion in this fair creature, who, though she seemed a 
goddess newly descended from inaccessible heights of 
heaven was still only a woman ? And upon the whole he 
was not ill-pleased with the curious revelation she had 



Majesty Considers and Resolves 19 

made of herself. He preferred the coldness of women to 
their volcanic eruptions, and would take more pains to 
melt the snow of reserve than to add fuel to the flame of 
ardour. 

' You have been very frank with me," he said at last, 
after a pause, as he loosened her hands and moved a little 
apart from her — "And whether your physical and mental 
hatred of my sex is a defect in your nature, or an excep- 
tional virtue, I shall not quarrel with it. I am myself 
not without faults ; and the chiefest of these is one most 
common to all men. I desire what I may not have, and 
covet what I do not possess. So! We understand each 
other ! " 

She raised her eyes — those beautiful deep eyes with 
the moonlight glamour in them, — and for an instant the 
shining Soul of her, pure and fearless, seemed to spring 
up and challenge to spiritual combat him who was now 
her body's master. Then, bending her head with a grace- 
ful yet proud submission, she retired. 

From that time forth she never again spoke on this, or 
any other subject of an intimate or personal nature, with 
her Royal spouse. Cold as an iceberg, pure as a diamond, 
she accepted both wifehood and motherhood as martyr- 
dom, with an evident contempt for its humiliation, and 
without one touch of love for either husband or children. 
She bore three sons, of whom the eldest, and heir to the 
throne was, at the time this history begins, just twenty. 
The passing of the years had left scarcely a trace upon 
her beauty, save to increase it from the sparkling lumi- 
nance of a star to the glory of a full-orbed moon of loveli- 
ness, — and she had easily won a triumph over all the 
other women around her, in the power she possessed to 
command and retain the admiration of men. She was one 
of those brilliant creatures who, like the Egyptian Cleo- 
patra, never grow old, — for she was utterly exempt from 
the wasting of the nerves through emotion. Her eyes 
were always bright and clear ; her skin dazzling in its 
whiteness, save where the equably flowing blood flushed 
it with tenderest rose, — her figure remained svelte, lithe 
and graceful in all its outlines. Finely strung, yet strong 
as steel in her temperament, all thoughts, feelings and 
events seemed to sweep over her without affecting or dis- 



20 "Temporal Power" 

turbing her mind's calm equipoise. She lived her life 
with extreme simplicity, regularity, and directness, thus 
driving to despair all would-be scandal-mongers; and 
though many gifted and famous men fell madly in love 
with their great princess, and often, in the extremity of a 
passion which amounted to disloyalty, slew themselves 
for her sake, she remained unmoved and pitiless. 

Her husband occasionally felt some compassion for the 
desperate fellows who thus immolated themselves on the 
High Altar of her perfections, though it must be admitted 
that he received the news of their deaths with tolerable 
equanimity, knowing them to have been fools, and as 
such, better out of the world than in it. During the first 
two or three years of his marriage he had himself been 
somewhat of their disposition, and as mere man, had tried 
by every means in his power to win the affection of his 
beautiful spouse, and to melt the icy barrier which she, 
despite their relations with each other, had resolutely kept 
up between herself and him. He had made the attempt, 
not because he actually loved her, but simply because he 
desired the satisfaction of conquest. Finding the task- 
hopeless, he resigned himself to his fate, and accepted her 
at the costly valuation she set upon herself; though for 
pastime he would often pay court to certain ladies of easy 
virtue, with the vague idea that perhaps the spirit of jeal- 
ousy might enter that cold shrine of womanhood where 
no other demon could force admission, and wake up the 
passions slumbering within. But she appeared not to be 
at all aware of his many and open gallantries ; and only 
at stray moments, when her frosty flashing glance fell 
upon him engaged in some casual flirtation, would a sud- 
den smarting sense of injury make him conscious of her 
contempt. 

But he could reasonably find no fault with her, save the 
fault of beimj faultless. She was a perfect hostess, and 
fulfilled all the duties of her exalted position with admi- 
rable tact and foresight, — she was ever busy in the per- 
formance of good and charitable deeds, — she was an 
excellent mother, and took the utmost personal care that 
her sons should be healthily nurtured and well brought 
up, — she never interfered in any matter of state or cere- 
mony, — she simply seemed to move as a star moves, shin- 



Majesty Considers and Resolves 21 

ing over the earth but having no part in it. Irresponsive 
as she was, she nevertheless compelled admiration, — her 
husband himself admired her, but only as he would have 
admired a statue or a painting. For his was an impulsive 
and generous nature, and his marriage had kept his heart 
empty of the warmth of love, and his home devoid of the 
light of sympathy. Even his children had been born more 
as the sons of the nation than his own, — he was not con- 
scious of any very great affection for them, or interest in 
their lives. And he had sought to kindle at many strange 
fires the heavenly love-beacon which should have flamed 
its living glory into his days ; so it had naturally chanced 
that he had spent by far the larger portion of his time on 
the persuasion of mere Whim, — and as vastly inferior 
women to his wife had made him spend it. 

But at this particular juncture, when the curtain is 
drawn up on certain scenes and incidents in his life- 
drama, a change had been effected in his opinions and 
surroundings. For eighteen years after his marriage, he 
had lived on the first step of the Throne as its next heir ; 
and when he passed that step and ascended the Throne 
itself, he seemed to have crossed a vast abyss of distance 
between the Old and the New. Behind him the Past 
rolled away like a cloud vanishing, to be seen no more, — 
before him arose the dim vista of wavering and uncertain 
shadows, which no matter how they shifted and changed, 
— no matter how many flashes of sunshine flickered 
through them, — were bound to close in the thick gloom 
of the inevitable end, - — Death. This is what he was 
chiefly thinking of, seated alone in his garden-pavilion 
facing the sea on that brilliant southern summer morning. 
 — this, — and with the thought came man}' others no less 
sad and dubious, — such as whether for example, his 
eldest son might not already be eager for the crown ? — 
whether even now, though he had only reigned three 
years, his people were not more or less dissatisfied under 
his rule? 

His father, the late King, had died suddenly, — so sud- 
denly that there was neither help nor hope for him among 
the hastily summoned physicians. Stricken numb and 
speechless, he kept his anguished eyes fixed to the last 
upon his son, as one who should say — " Alas, and to thee 



22 "Temporal Power' 

also, falls this curse of a Crown ! ' : Once dead, he was 
soon forgotten, — the pomp of the Royal obsequies merely 
made a gala-day for the light-hearted Southern populace, 
who hailed the accession of their new King with as much 
gladness as a child, who, having broken one doll, straight- 
way secures another as good, if not better. As Heir- Ap- 
parent the succeeding sovereign had won great popu- 
larity, and was much more generally beloved than his 
father had been,  — so that it was on an extra high wave 
of jubilation and acclamation that he and his beautiful 
consort were borne to the Throne. 

Three years had passed since then ; and so far his 
reign had been untroubled by much difficulty. Difficulty 
there was, but he was kept in ignorance of it, — troubles 
were brooding, but he was not informed of them. Things 
likely to be disagreeable were not conveyed to his ears, — 
and matters which, had he been allowed to examine into 
them, might have aroused his indignation and interfer- 
ence, were diplomatically hushed up. He was known to 
possess much more than the limited intelligence usually 
apportioned to kings ; and certainly, as his tutor had said 
of him in his youth, he was dangerously " disposed 
towards discursive philosophies." He was likewise ac- 
credited with a conscience, which many diplomats con- 
sider to be a wholly undesirable ingredient in the moral 
composition of a reigning monarch. Therefore, those 
who move a king, as in the game of chess, one square at 
a time and no more, — were particularly cautious as to 
the ' way ' in which they moved him. He had shown 
himself difficult to manage once or twice ; and interested 
persons could not pursue their usual course of self-ag- 
grandisement with him, as he was not susceptible to flat- 
tery. He had a way of asking straight questions, and 
what was still worse, expecting straight answers, such as 
politicians never give. 

Nevertheless he had, up to the present, ruled his con- 
duct very much on the lines laid down by his predeces- 
sors, and during his brief reign had been more or less 
content to passively act in all things as his ministers ad- 
vised. He had bestowed honours on fools because his 
ministers considered it politic, — he had given his formal 
consent to the imposition of certain taxes on his people, 



Majesty Considers and Resolves 23 

because his ministers had judged such taxes necessary, — 
in fact he had done everything he was expected to do, 
and nothing that he was not expected to do. I te had not 
taken any close personal thought as to whether such and 
such a political movement was, or was not, welcome to 
the spirit of the nation, nor had he weighed intimately in 
his own mind the various private interests of the members 
of his Government, in passing, or moving the rejection 
of, any important measure affecting the well-being of 
the community at large. And he had lately, — perhaps 
through the objectionable ' discursive philosophies ' be- 
fore mentioned, --come to consider himself somewhat of 
a stuffed Dummy or figure-head ; and to wonder what 
would be the result, if with caution and prudence, he were 
to act more on his own initiative, and speak as he often 
thought it would be wise and well to speak? He was but 
forty-five years old, - — in the prime of life, in the pleni- 
tude of health and mental vigour, — was he to pass the 
rest of his days guarded by detectives, flunkeys and 
physicians, with never an independent word or action 
throughout his whole career to mark him Man as well 
as Monarch ? Nay, surely that would be an insult to the 
God who made him ! But the question which arose in his 
mind and perplexed him was, How to begin ? How, after 
passive obedience, to commence resistance? How to 
break through the miserable conventionalism, the sordid 
commonplace of a king's surroundings? For it is only 
in mediaeval fairy-tales that kings are permitted to be 
kingly. 

Yet, despite custom and usage, he was determined to 
make a new departure in the annals of modern sover- 
eignty. Three years of continuous slavery on the tread- 
mill of the Throne had been sufficient to make him thirst 
for freedom, — freedom of speech, — freedom of action. 
He had tacitly submitted to a certain ministry because he 
had been assured that the said ministry was popular, — 
but latterly, rumours of discontent and grievance had 
reached him, — albeit indistinctly and incoherently, — and 
he began to be doubtful as to whether it might not be 
the Press which supported the existing state of policy, 
rather than the People. The Press ! He began to con- 
sider of what material this great power in his country was 



5» 



24 " Temporal Power 

composed. Originally, the Press in all countries, was in- 
tended to be the most magnificent institution of the civi- 
lized world, — the voice of truth, of liberty, of justice — 
a voice which in its clamant utterances could neither be 
bribed nor biassed to cry out false news. Originally, such 
was meant to be its mission ; — but nowadays, what, in 
all honesty and frankness, is the Press ? What was it, for 
example, to this king, who from personal knowledge, was 
able to practically estimate and enumerate the forces 
which controlled it thus : - — Six, or at the most a dozen 
men, the proprietors and editors of different newspapers 
sold in cheap millions to the people. Most of these news- 
papers were formed into ' companies ' ; and the managers 
issued ' shares ' in the fashion of tea merchants and 
grocers. False news, if of a duly sensational character, 
would sometimes send up the shares in the market, — true 
information would equally, on occasion, send them down. 
These premises granted, might it not follow that for 
newspaper speculators, the False would often prove more 
lucrative than the True? And, concerning the persons 
who wrote for these newspapers, — of what calling and 
election were they? Male and female, young and old, 
they were generally of a semi-educated class lacking all 
distinctive ability, —  men and women who were, on an 
average, desperately poor, and desperately dissatisfied. 
To earn daily bread they naturally had to please the edi- 
tors set in authority over them ; hence their expressed 
views and opinions on any subject could only be counted 
as nil, being written, not independently, but under the 
absolute control of their employers. Thus meditating, the 
King summed up the total of his own mental argument, 
and found that the vast sounding ' power of the Press ' so 
far as his own dominion was concerned, resolved itself 
into the mere trade monopoly of the aforesaid leading 
dozen men. What he now proposed to himself to dis- 
cover among other things, was, — how far and how truly 
these dozen tradesmen voiced the mind of the People 
over whom he was elected to reign ? Here was a prob- 
lem, and one not easy to solve. But what was very plain 
and paramount to his mind was this, — that he was 
thoroughly sick and tired of being no more than a 
'social' figure in the world's affairs. It was an effeminate 



Majesty Considers and Resolves 25 

part to play. It was time, he considered, that he should 
intelligently try his own strength, and test the nation's 
quality. 

" If there is corruption in the state," he said to himself, 
" I will find its centre! If I am fooled by my advisers 
then I will be fooled no longer. With whatsoever brain 
and heart and reason and understanding the Fates have 
endowed me, I will study the ways, the movements, the 
desires of my people, and prove myself their friend, as 
well as their king. Suppose they misunderstand me ? — 
What matter! — Let the nation rise against me an' it will, 
so that I may, before I die, prove myself worthy of the 
mere gift of manhood ! To-day " — and, rising from his 
chair, he advanced a step or two and faced the sea and 
sky with an unconscious gesture of invocation; " To-day 
shall be the first day of my real monarchy ! To-day I be- 
gin to reign ! The past is past, — for eighteen long years 
as prince and heir to the throne I trifled away my time 
among- the follies of the hour, and laughed at the easv 
purchase I could make of the assumed ' honour of men 
and women ; and I enjoyed the liberty and license of my 
position. Since then, for three years I have been the 
prisoner of my Parliament, — but now — now, and for 
the rest of the time granted to me on earth, I will live my 
life in the belief that its riddle must surely meet with 
God's own explanation. To me it has become evident 
that the laws of Nature make for Truth and Justice; 
while the laws of man are framed on deception and in- 
justice. The two sets of laws contend one against the 
other, and the finite, after foolish and vain struggle, suc- 
cumbs to the infinite, — better therefore, to begin with 
the infinite Order than strive with the finite Chaos ! I, a 
mere earthlv sovereign, rank mvself on the side of the In- 
finite, — and will work for Truth and Justice with the 
revolving of Its giant wheel ! My people have seen me 
crowned, — but my real Coronation is to-day — when I 
crown myself with my own resolve ! " 

His eyes flashed in the sunshine ; — a rose shook its 
pink petals on the ground at his feet. In one of the many 
pleasure-boats skimming across the sea, a man was sing- 
ing ; and the words he sang floated distinctly along on the 
landward wind. 



26 "Temporal Power' 

" Let me be thine, O love, 

But for an hour ! 
I yield my heart and soul 

Into thy power, — 
Let me be thine, 
O Love of mine, 

But for an hour ! " 

The King listened, and" a faint shadow darkened the 
proud light on his face. 

" ' But for an hour ! ' 'he said half aloud — " Yes, — 
it would be enough! No woman's love lasts longer! ' : 



CHAPTER III 

A NATION OR A CHURCH ? 

AN approaching step echoing" on the marble terrace 
warned him that he was no longer alone. He re- 
seated himself at his writing-table, and feigned to be 
deeply engrossed in perusing various documents, but a 
ready smile greeted the intruder as soon as he perceived 
who it was, — one Sir Roger de Launay, his favourite 
equerry and intimate personal friend. 

' Time 's up, is it, Roger? " he queried lightly, — then 
as the equerry bowed in respectful silence — " And yet I 
have scarcely glanced at these papers ! All the same, I 
have not been idle - - I have been thinking." 

Sir Roger de Launay, a tall handsome man, with an in- 
definable air of mingled good-nature and lassitude about 
him which suggested the possibility of his politely urging 
even Death itself not to be so much of a bore about its 
business, smiled doubtfully. 

"Is it a wise procedure. Sir?" he enquired — "Con- 
ducive to comfort 1 mean?" 

The King laughed. 

' No — I cannot say that it is ! Rut thought is a tonic 
which sometimes restores a man's enfeebled self-respect. 
I was beginning to lose that particular condition of health 
and sanity, Roger! --my self-respect was becoming a 
flaccid muscle — a withering nerve ; — but a little thought- 
exercise has convinced me that my mental sinews are yet 
on the whole strong! " 

Sir Roger offered no reply. His eyes expressed a cer- 
tain languid wonderment ; but duty being paramount 
with him, and his immediate errand being to remind his 
sovereign of an appointment then about due, he began to 
collect the writing materials scattered about on the table 
and put them together for convenient removal. The 
smile on the King's face deepened as he watched him. 



28 "Temporal Power' 

"You do not answer me, De Launay," — he resumed, 
" You think perhaps that I am talking in parables, and 
that my mind has been persuaded into a metaphysical and 
rambling condition by an hour's contemplation of the sun- 
light on the sea ! But come now ! — have you not your- 
self felt a longing to break loose from the trammels of 
conventional routine, — to be set free from the slavery of 
answering another's beck and call, — to be something 
more than my attendant and friend " 

" Sir, more than your friend I have never desired to 
be ! " said Sir Roger, simply. 

The King extended his hand with impulsive quickness, 
and Sir Roger as he clasped it, bent low and touched it 
with his lips. There was no parasitical homage in the 
act, for De Launay loved his sovereign with a love little 
known at courts ; loyally, faithfully, and without a par- 
ticle of self-seeking. He had long recognized the nobil- 
ity, truth and courage which graced and tempered the 
disposition of the master he served, and knew him to be 
one, if not the only, monarch in the world likely to confer 
some lasting benefit on his people by his reign. 

" I tell you," pursued the King, " that there is some- 
thing in the mortal composition of every man which is 
beyond mortality, something which clamours to be heard, 
and seen, and proved. We may call it conscience, intel- 
lect, spirit or soul, and attribute its existence, to God, as a 
spark of the Divine Essence, but whatever it is, it is in 
every one of us ; and there comes a moment in life when 
it must flame out, or be quenched forever. That moment 
has come to me, Roger,— that something in me must have 
its way! " 

"Your Majesty no doubt desires the impossible!'' 
— said Sir Roger with a smile, " All men do, — even 
kings ! " 

" ' Even kings ! ' ' echoed the monarch — " You may 
well say ' even ' kings ! What are kings ? Simply the 
most wronged and miserable men on earth ! I do not 
myself put in a special claim for pity. My realm is small, 
and my people are, for aught I can learn or am told of 
them, contented. But other sovereigns who are my 
friends and neighbours, live, as it were, under the dag- 
ger's point, — with dynamite at their feet and pistols at 



A Nation or a Church? 29 

their heads, — all for no fault of their own, but for the 
faults of a system which they did not formulate. Con- 
spirators on the threshold — poison in the air, — as in 
Russia, for example! — where is the joy or the pride of 
being a King nowadays ? " 

" Talking of poison," said Sir Roger blandly, as he 
placed the last document of those he had collected, neatly 
in a leather case and strapped it- -" Your Majesty may 
perhaps feel inclined to defer giving the promised audi- 
ence to Monsignor Del Fortis of the Society of Jesus ? " 

"By Heaven, I had forgotten him!" and the King rose. 
" This is what you came to remind me of, Roger? He is 
here ? " 

De Launay bowed an assent. 

" Well ! We have kept a messenger of Mother Church 
waiting our pleasure, — and not for the first time in the 
annals of history ! But why do you associate his name 
with poison? " 

" Really, Sir, the connection is inexplicable, — unless 
it be the memory of a religious lesson-book given to me in 
my childhood. It was an illustrated treasure, and one 
picture showed me the Almighty in the character of an 
old gentleman seated placidly on a cloud, smiling ; — while 
on the earth below, a priest, exactly resembling this Del 
Fortis, poured a spoonful of something, — poison — or it 
might have been boiling lead — down the throat of a her- 
etic. I remember it impressed me very much with the 
goodness of God." 

He maintained a whimsical gravity as he spoke, and 
the King laughed. 

" De Launay, you are incorrigible! Come! — we will 
go within and see this Del Fortis, and you shall remain 
present during the audience. That will give you a chance 
to improve your present impression of him. I understand 
he is a very brilliant and leading member of his Order, — 
likely to be the next Vicar-General. I know his errand, 
— the papers concerning his business are there — ," and he 
waved his hand towards the leather case Sir Roger had 
just fastened — " Bring them with you! " 

Sir Roger obeyed, and the King, stepping forth from 
the pavilion, walked slowly along the terrace, watching 
the sparkling sea, the flowering orange-trees lifting their 



30 "Temporal Power' 

slender tufts of exquisitely scented bloom against the clear 
blue of the sky, the birds skimming lightly from point to 
point of foliage, and the white-sailed yachts dipping 
gracefully as the ocean rose and fell with every wild 
sweet breath of the scented wind. Pausing a moment, he 
presently took out a field-glass and looked through it at 
one of the finest and fairest of these pleasure-vessels, 
which, as he surveyed it, suddenly swung round, and 
began to scud away westward. 

" The Prince is on board? " he asked. 

' Yes, Sir," replied De Launay — " His Royal High- 
ness intends sailing as far as The Islands, and remaining 
there till sunset." 

" Alone, as usual? " 

" As usual, Sir, alone, save for his captain and crew." 

The King walked on in silence for a minute. Then he 
paused abruptly. • 

" I do not like it, De" Launay ! " — he said decisively — 
' I do not like his abnormal love of solitude. Books are 
all very well — poetry is in its way excellent, — music, as 
we are told 'hath charms' — but the boy broods too much, 
and stays away too much from Court. What woman 
attracts him ? " 

Sir Roger's eyes opened wide as the King turned sud- 
denly round upon him with this question. 

' Woman, Sir ? I know of none. The Prince is but 
twenty " 

"At twenty," said the King, — "boys love — the 
wrong girl. At thirty they marry — the wrong woman. 
At forty they meet the only true and fitting soul's com- 
panion, — and cry for the moon till the end ! My son is 
in the first stage, or I am much mistaken, — he loves — 
the wrong girl ! " 

He walked on, — and De Launay followed, with a 
vague sense of amusement and disquietude in his mind. 
What had come to his Royal master, he wondered? His 
ordinary manner had changed somewhat, — he spoke with 
less than the customary formality, and there was an ex- 
pression of freedom and authority, combined with a touch 
of defiance in his face, that was altogether new to the 
observation of the faithful equerry. 

Arrived at the palace, and passing through one of the 



A Nation or a Church? 31 

long and spacious painted corridors, lit by richly coloured 
mullioned windows from end to end, the King came face 
to face with a lady-in-waiting carrying a large cluster of 
Madonna lilies. She drew aside, with a deep reverence, to 
allow him to pass ; but he stopped a moment, looking at 
the great gorgeous white flowers faint with fragrance, and 
at the slight retiring figure of the woman who held them. 

" Are these for the chapel, Madame?" he asked. 

"No, Sir! For the Queen." 

' For the Queen ! ' A quick sigh escaped him. He still 
stood, caught by a sudden abstraction, looking at the 
dazzling whiteness of the snowy blooms, and thinking 
how fittingly they would companion his beautiful, cold, 
pure Queen-Consort, who had never from her marriage- 
day uttered a word of love to him, or given him a glance 
of tenderness. Their rich odours crept into his warm 
blood, and the bitter old sense of unfulfilled longing, — 
longing for affection, for comprehension, for all that he 
had not possessed in his otherwise brilliant life, — vexed 
and sickened him. He turned away abruptly, — and the 
lady-in-waiting, having curtsied once more profoundly, 
passed on with her glistening sheaf of bloom and disap- 
peared vision-like in a gleam of azure light falling 
through one of the further and higher casements. The 
King watched her disappear, the meditative line of sad- 
ness still puckering his brow, — then, followed by his 
equerry, he entered a small private audience chamber, 
where Sir Roger de Launay notified an attendant gentle- 
man-usher that his Majesty was ready to receive Mon- 
signor Del Fortis. 

During the brief interval occupied in waiting for his 
visitor's approach, the King selected certain papers from 
those which Sir Roger had brought from the garden- 
pavilion and placed them in order on the table. 

" For the past six months," he said — "I have had this 
Jesuit's name before me, and have been in twenty minds 
a month about granting or refusing what his Society 
demands. The matter has been discussed in the Press, 
too, with the usual pros and cons of hesitation — but it is 
the People I am thinking of — the People ! — and I am 
just now in the humour to satisfy a Nation rather than a 
Church ! " 



32 "Temporal Power' 

De Launay said nothing-. His opinion was not asked. 

"It is a case in which the temporal overbalances the 
spiritual." continued the King — " Which plainly proves 
that the spiritual must be lacking in some essential point 
somewhere. For if the spiritual were always truly of 
God, then would it always be the strongest. The question 
which brings Monsignor Del Fortis here as special emis- 
sary of the Vicar-General of the Society of Jesus, is 
simply this : Whether or no a certain site in a particu- 
larlv fertile tract of land belonging chiefly to the Grown, 
shall be granted to the Jesuits for the purpose of building 
thereon a church and monastery with schools attached. 
It seems a reasonable request, set forth with an appar- 
ently religious intention. Yet more than forty petitions 
have been sent in to me from the inhabitants of the towns 
and villages adjacent to the lands, imploring me to refuse 
the concession. By my faith, they plead as eloquently as 
though asking deliverance from the plague ! It is a curi- 
ous dilemma. If I grant the people's request I anger the 
priests; if I satisfy the priests I anger the people." 

" You mentioned a discussion in the Press, Sir — " 
hinted Sir Roger. 

" Oh, the Press is like a weathercock — it turns which- 
ever way the wind of speculation blows. One day it is 
' for,' another ' against.' In this particular case it is dip- 
lomatically indifferent, except in one or two cases where 
papal money has found its way into the newspaper 
offices." 

At that moment the door was flung open, and Mon- 
signor Del Fortis was ceremoniously ushered into the 
presence of his Majesty. At the first glance it was evi- 
dent that De Launay had reasonable cause for associating 
the mediaeval priestly torturer pictured in his early lesson- 
book with the unprepossessing personage now introduced. 
Del Fortis was a dark, resentful-looking man of about 
sixty, tall and thin, with a long cadaverous face, very 
strongly pronounced features and small sinister eyes, 
over which the level brows almost met across the sharp 
bridge of nose. His close black garb buttoned to the 
chin, outlined his wiry angular limbs with an almost pain- 
ful distinctness, and the lean right hand which he placed 
across his breast as he bowed profoundly to the King, 



A Nation or a Church? 33 

looked more like the shrunken hand of a corpse than that 
of a living- man. The King observed him attentively, but 
not with favour ; while thoughts, strange, and for him as 
a constitutional monarch audacious, began to move in the 
undercurrents of his mind, stirring him to unusual speech 
and action. Sir Roger, retiring to the furthest end of the 
room stood with his back against the door, a fine upright 
soldierly figure, as motionless as though cast in bronze, 
though his eyes showed keen and sparkling life as they 
rested on his Royal master, watching his every gesture, as 
well as every slightest movement on the part of his 
priestly visitor. 

" You are welcome, Monsignor Del Fortis," — said the 
King, at last breaking silence. — " To save time and 
trouble, I may tell you that I need no explanation of the 
nature of your business." 

The Jesuit bowed with an excessive humility. 

" You wish me to grant to your Society," continued the 
monarch — " that portion of the Crown lands named in 
your petition, to be held in your undisputed possession for 
a long term of years, — and in order to facilitate my con- 
sent to this arrangement, your Vicar-General has sent you 
here to furnish the full details of your building scheme. 
Am I so far correct ? " 

The priest's dark secretive eyes glittered craftily a mo- 
ment as he raised them to the open and tranquil coun- 
tenance of the sovereign, — then once again he bowed 
profoundly. 

" Your Majesty has, with your customary care and 
patience, fully studied the object of my errand " — he re- 
plied in a clear thin, somewhat rasping voice, which he 
endeavoured to make smooth and conciliatory — " But it 
is impossible that your Majesty, immersed every day in 
the affairs of state, should have found time to personally 
go through the various papers formally submitted to your 
consideration. Therefore, the Vicar-General of our 
Order considered that if the present interview with your 
Majesty could be obtained, I, as secretary and treasurer 
for the proposed new monastery, might be able to ex- 
plain the spiritual, as well as the material advantages 
to be gained by the use of the lands for the purpose 
mentioned." 



34 "Temporal Power' 

He spoke slowly, enunciating each word with careful 
distinctness. 

" The spiritual part of the scheme is of course the most 
important to you ! " — said the King with a slight smile, 
— "But material advantages are never entirely over- 
looked, even by holy men ! Now I am merely a ' tem- 
poral ' sovereign ; and as such, I wish to know how your 
plan will affect the people of the neighbouring town and 
district. What are your intentions towards them ? Their 
welfare is my chief concern ; and what I have to learn 
from you is, — How do you propose to benefit them by 
maintaining a monastery, church and schools in their 
vicinity? " 

Again Del Fortis gave a furtive glance upward. See- 
ing that the King's eyes were steadily fixed upon him, he 
quickly lowered his own, and gave answer in an evidently 
prepared manner. 

" Sir, the people of the district in question are untaught 
barbarians. It is more for their sakes, — more for the 
love of gathering the lost sheep into the fold, than for 
our own satisfaction, that we seek to pitch our tents in the 
desert of their ignorance. They, and their children, are 
the prey of heathenish modern doctrines, which alas ! — 
are too prevalent throughout the whole world at this 
particular time, — and, as they are at present situated, no 
restraint is exercised upon them for the better controlling 
of their natural and inherited vices. Unless the gentle 
hand of Mother Church is allowed to rescue these, her 
hapless and neglected ones ; unless she has an opportunity 
afforded her of leading them out of the darkness of 
error into the light of eternal day " 

He broke off, his eloquence being interrupted by a ges- 
ture from the King. 

' There is a Government school in the town," — said 
the monarch, referring" to one or two documents on the 
table before him. — " There is also a Free Public Library, 
and a Free School of Art. Thus it does not seem that 
education is quite neglected." 

' Alas, Sir, such education is merely disastrous ! " said 
Del Fortis, with a deep sigh, — "Like the fruit on the 
tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden, it brings death 
to the soul ! " 



A Nation or a Church? 35 

' You condemn the Government methods ? " asked the 
King- coldly. 

The Jesuit moved uneasily, and a dull flush reddened 
his pale skin. 

' Far be it from me, Sir, as a poor servant of the 
Church, to condemn lawful authorities, — yet we should 
not forget that the Government is temporal and change- 
able, — the Church is spiritual and changeless. We can- 
not look for entire success in a scheme of popular educa- 
tion which is not formulated under the guidance or the 
blessing of God ! " 

The King leaned forward a little in his chair, and sur- 
veyed him fixedly. 

" How do you know that it is not formulated under the 
guidance and blessing of God ? " he asked suddenly — 
" Has the Almighty given you His special opinion and 
confidence on the matter?" 

Monsignor Del Fortis started indignantly. 

"Sir! Your Majesty " 

De Launay made a step forward, but the King mo- 
tioned him back. Accordingly he resumed his former 
position, but his equable temperament was for once seri- 
ously disturbed. He saw that his Royal master was evi- 
dently bent on speaking his mind ; and he knew well what 
a dangerous indulgence that is for all men who desire 
peace and quietness in their lives. 

' I am aware of what you would say," pursued the 
King — " You would say that the Church — your Church 
— is the only establishment of the kind which receives di- 
rect inspiration from the Creator of Universes. But I do 
not feel justified in limiting the control of the Almighty to 
one special orbit of Creed. You tell me that a govern- 
ment system of education for the people is a purely tem- 
poral movement, and that, as such, it is not blessed by the 
guidance of God. Yet the Pope seeks ' temporal ' power ! 
It is explained to us of course that he seeks it in order 
that he may unite it to the spiritual in his own person, — 
theoretically for the good of mankind, if practically for 
the advancement of his own particular policy. But have 
you never thought, Monsignor, that the marked severance 
of what you call 'temporal' power, from what you equally 
call 'spiritual' power, is God's work? Inasmuch as 



36 "Temporal Power' 

nothing can be done without God's will ; for even if there 
is a devil (which I am inclined to doubt) he owes his 
unhappy existence to God as much as I do ! ' : 

He smiled ; but Del Fortis stood rigidly silent, his head 
bent, and one hand folded tight across his breast, an atti- 
tude Sir Roger de Launay always viewed in every man 
with suspicion, as it suggested the concealment of a 
weapon. 

" You will admit " pursued the King, " that the action 
of human thought is always progressive. Unfortunately 
your Creed lags behind human thought in its onward 
march, thus causing the intelligent world to infer that 
there must be something wrong with its teaching. For 
if the Church had always been in all respects faithful to 
the teaching of her Divine Master, she would be at this 
present time the supreme Conqueror of Nations. Yet she 
is doing no more nowadays than she did in the middle 
ages, — she threatens, she intimidates, she persecutes all 
who dare to use for a reasonable purpose the brain God 
gave them, — but she does not help on or sympathize 
with the growing fraternity and civilization of the world. 
It is impossible not to recognize this. Yet I have a pro- 
found respect for each and every minister of religion who 
honestly endeavours to follow the counsels of Christ," — 
here he paused, — then added with slow and marked em- 
phasis — " in whose Holy Name I devoutly believe for 
the redemption of whatever there is in me worth redeem- 
ing ; — nevertheless my first duty, even in Christ, is 
plainly to the people of the country over which I am 
elected to rule." 

The flickering shadow of a smile passed over the 
Jesuit's dark features, but he still kept silence. 

" Therefore," went on the King — " it is my unpleasant 
task to be compelled to inform you, Monsignor, that the 
inhabitants of the district your Order seeks to take under 
its inflnence, have the strongest objection to your pres- 
ence among them. So strong indeed is their aversion 
towards your Society, that they have petitioned me in nu- 
merous ways, (and with considerable eloquence, too, for 
'untaught barbarians') to defend them from your visi- 
tation. Now, to speak truly, I find they have all the 
advantages which modern advancement and social im- 



A Nation or a Church? 37 

provement can give them, — they attend their places of 
public worship in considerable numbers, and are on the 
whole decent, God-fearing, order-loving subjects to the 
Throne, — and more I do not desire for them or for my- 
self. Criminal cases are very rare in the district, — and 
the poor are more inclined to help than to defraud each 
other. All this is so far good, — and, I should imagine, 
— not displeasing to God. In any case, as their merely 
temporal sovereign, I must decline to give your Order any 
control over them." 

"You refuse the concession of land, Sir?" said Del 
Fortis, in a voice that trembled with restrained passion. 

" To satisfy those of my subjects who have appealed to 
me, I am compelled to do so," replied the King. 

" I pray your Majesty's pardon, but a portion of the 
land is held by private persons who are prepared to sell 
to us " 

A quick anger flashed in the King's eyes. 

" They shall sell to me if they sell at all," — he said, — 
" I repeat, Monsignor, the fact that the law-abiding people 
of the place have sought their King's protection from 
priestly interference ; — and, — by Heaven ! — they shall 
have it ! " 

There was a sudden silence. Sir Roger de Launay 
drew a sharp breath, — his habitual languor of mind was 
completely dissipated, and he studied the inscrutable face 
of Del Fortis with deepening suspicion and disfavour. 
Not that there was the slightest sign of wrath or dismay 
on the priest's well-disciplined countenance ; — on the con- 
trarv, a chill smile illumined it as he spoke his next words 
with a serious, if somewhat forced composure. 

" Your Majesty is, without doubt, all powerful in your 
own particular domain of society and politics," he said — 
" But there is another Majesty higher than yours, — that 
of the Church, before which dread and infallible Tribunal 
even kings are brought to naught " 

" Monsignor Del Fortis," interrupted the King, " We 
have not met this morning, I presume, to indulge in a 
religious polemic ! My power is, as you very truly sug- 
gest, merely temporal — yours is spiritual. Yours should 
be the strongest ! Go your way now to your Vicar-Gen- 
eral with the straight answer I have given you, — but if 



38 "Temporal Power" 

by your ' spiritual ' power you can persuade the people 
who now hate your Society, to love it, — to demand it, — 
to beg that you may be permitted to found a colony 
among them, — why, in that case, come to me again, and 
I will grant you the land. I am not prejudiced one way 
or the other, but I will not hand over any of my subjects 
to the influence of priestcraft, so long as they desire me 
to defend them from it." 

Del Fortis still smiled. 

' Pardon me, Sir, but we of the Society of Jesus are 
your subjects also, and we judge you to be a Christian 
and Catholic monarch " 

" As I am, most assuredly ! " replied the King — 
" Christian and Catholic are words which, if I understand 
their meaning, please me well ! ' Christian ' expresses a 
believer in and follower of Christ, — ' Catholic ' means 
universal, by which, I take it, is intended wide, universal 
love and tolerance without sect, party, or prejudice. In 
this sense the Church is not Catholic — it is merely the 
Roman sect. Nor are you truly my subjects, since you 
have only one ruler, the Supreme Pontiff, — with whom I 
am somewhat at variance. But, as I have said, we are not 
here to indulge in argument. You came to proffer a re- 
quest ; I have given you the only answer I conceive fitting 
with my duty ; — the matter is concluded." 

Del Fortis hesitated a moment, — then bowed low to 
the ground ; — anon, lifting himself, raised one hand with 
an invocative gesture of profound solemnity. 

' I commend your Majesty to the mercy of God, that 
He may in His wisdom, guard your life and soften your 
heart towards the ministers of His Holy Religion, and 
bring you into the ways of righteousness and peace ! For 
the rest, I will report your Majesty's decision to the Vicar- 
General." 

'Do so!" — rejoined the King — "And assure him 
that the decision is unalterable, — unless the inhabitants 
of the place concerned desire to have it revoked." 

Again Del Fortis bowed. 

' I humbly take my leave of your Majesty! ' : 

The monarch looked at him steadfastly as he made an- 
other salutation, and backed out of the presence-chamber. 
Sir Roger de Launay opened the door for him with alac- 



A Nation or a Church? 39 

rity, handing him over into the charge of an usher with 
the whispered caution to see him well off the Royal prem- 
ises ; and then returning to his sovereign, stood " at at- 
tention." The King noted his somewhat troubled aspect, 
and laughed. 

" What ails you, De Launay ? " he asked — " You seem 
astonished that for once I have spoken my mind ? " 

" Sir, to speak one's mind is always dangerous ! " 

" Dangerous — danger ! — What idle words to make 
cowards of men! Danger — of what? There is only 
one danger — death; and that is sure to come to every 
man, whether he be a hero or a poltroon." 

" True, — but " 

« But — what ? De Launay, if you love me, do not 
look at me with so expostulatory an air ! It does not be- 
come your inches ! Now listen ! — when the next press 
reporter comes nosing round for palace news, let him be 
told that the King has refused permission to the Jesuits 
to build on any portion of the Crown lands demanded for 
the purpose. Let this be made known to Press and People 
— the sooner the better ! " 

" Sir," murmured De Launay — " We live in strange 
times " 

" Why, there you speak most truly ! " said the King, 
with emphasis — " We do live in strange times — the 
very strangest perhaps, since /Eneas Sylvius wrote con- 
cerning Christendom. Do you remember the words he 
set down so long ago? — ' It is a body without a head, — 
a republic without laws or magistrates. The pope or the 
emperor may shine as lofty titles, as splendid images, — 
but they are unable to command, and no one is willing to 
obey ! ' History thus repeats itself, De Launay ; — and 
yet with all its past experience, the Roman Church does 
not seem to realize that it is powerless against the attacks 
of intellectual common sense. Faith in God, — a high, 
perfect, pure faith in God, and a simple following of the 
Divine Teacher of God's command, Christ,— these things 
are wise and necessary for all nations ; but, to allow hu- 
man beings to be coerced by superstition for political 
motives, under the disguise of religion, is an un-Christian 
business, and I for one will have no part in it ! " 

" You will lay yourself open to much serious miscon- 
struction, Sir," said De Launay. 



4_o "Temporal Power' 

" Let us hope so, Roger! " rejoined the King with a 
smile — " For if I am never misunderstood, I shall know 
myself to be a fool ! Come, — do not look so glum ! — I 
want you to help me." 

" To help you, Sir? " exclaimed De Launay eagerly, — 
" With my life, if you demand it ! " 

The King rested one hand familiarly on his shoulder. 

" I would rather take my own life than yours, De 
Launay!" he said — "No, — whatever difficulties I get 
myself into, you shall not suffer ! But — as I told you a 
while ago, — there is something in me that must have its 
way. I am sick to death of conventionalities, — you must 
help me to break through them ! You are right in saying 
that we live in strange times ; — they are strange times ! 
— and they may perchance be all the better for a strange 
King ! " 



CHAPTER IV 

SEALED ORDERS 

SOME hours later on, Sir Roger de Launay, having 
left his Sovereign's presence, and being off duty for 
a time, betook himself to certain apartments in the west 
wing of the palace, where the next most trusted personage 
to himself in the confidence of the King, had his domicile, 
— Professor von Glauben, resident physican to the Royal 
Household. Heinrich von Glauben was a man of some- 
what extraordinary character and individuality. In his 
youth he had made a sudden meteoric fame for his mar- 
vellous skill and success in surgery, as also for his equally 
surprising quickness and correctness in diagnosing ob- 
scure diseases and tracing them to their source. But, 
after creating a vast amount of discussion and opposition 
among his confreres, and almost reaching that brilliant 
point of triumph when his originality and cleverness were 
proved great enough to win him a host of enemies, he all 
at once threw up the game as it were, and, resigning the 
favourable opportunities of increasing distinction offered 
him in his native Germany, accepted the comparatively 
retired and private position he now occupied. Some said 
it was a disappointment in love which had caused his 
abrupt departure from the Fatherland, — others declared it 
was irritation at the severe manner in which his surgical 
successes had been handled by the medical critics, — but 
whatever the cause, it soon became evident that he had 
turned his back on the country of his birth for ever, and 
that he was apparently entirely satisfied with the lot he 
had chosen. His post was certainly an easy and pleasant 
one, — the members of the Royal family to which his ser- 
vices were attached were exceptionally healthy, as Royal 
families go ; and he was seldom in more than merely 
formal attendance, so that he had ample time and oppor- 
tunity to pursue those deeper forms of physiological study 



42 "Temporal Power' 

which had excited the wrath and ridicule of his contempo- 
raries, as well as to continue the writing of a book which 
he intended should make a stir in the world, and which 
he had entitled "The Moral and Political History of 
Hunger." 

"For," said he — "Hunger is the primal civilizer, — 
the very keystone and foundation of all progress. From 
the plain, prosy, earthy fact that man is a hungry animal, 
and must eat, has sprung all the civilization of the world ! 
I shall demonstrate this in my book, beginning with the 
scriptural legend of Adam's greed for an apple. Adam 
was evidently hungry at the moment Eve tempted him. 
As soon as he had satisfied his inner man, he thought of 
his outer, — and his next idea was, naturally, tailoring. 
From this simple conjunction of suggestions, combined 
with what ' God ' would have to say to him concerning 
his food-experiment and fig-leaf apron, man has drawn 
all his religions, manners, customs and morals. The prop- 
osition is self-evident, — but I intend to point it out with 
somewhat emphasised clearness for the benefit of those 
persons who are inclined to arrogate to themselves the 
possession of superior wisdom. Neither brain nor soul 
has placed man in a position of Supremacy, — merely 
Hunger and Nakedness ! " 

The Professor was now about fifty-five, but his excep- 
tionally powerful build and robust constitution gave him 
the grace in appearance of many years younger, though 
perhaps the extreme composure of his temperament, and 
the philosophic manner in which he viewed all circum- 
stances, whether pleasing or disastrous, may have exer- 
cised the greatest influence in keeping his eyes clear and 
clean, and his countenance free of unhandsome wrinkles. 
He was more like a soldier than a doctor, and was proud 
of his resemblance to the earlier portraits of Bismarck. 
To see him in his own particular ' sanctum ' surrounded 
by weird-looking diagrams of sundry parts of the human 
frame, mysterious phials and stoppered flasks containing 
various liquids and crystals, and all the modern appli- 
ances for closely examining the fearful yet beautiful 
secrets of the living organism, was as if one should look 
upon a rough and burly giant engaged in some delicate 
manipulation of mosaics. Yet Von Glauben's large hand 



Sealed Orders 43 

was gentler than a woman's in its touch and gift of heal- 
ing, — no surgeon alive could probe a wound more ten- 
derly, or with less pain to the sufferer, — and the skill of 
that large hand was accompanied by the penetrative 
quality of the large benevolent brain which guided it, — a 
brain that could encompass the whole circle of the world 
in its observant and affectionate compassion. 

" Ach ! — who is there that can be angry with anyone? 
— impatient with anyone, — offended with anyone ! " he 
was wont to say — " Everybody suffers so much and so 
undeservedly, that as far as my short life goes I have only 
time for pity — not condemnation ! " 

To this individual, as a kind of human calmative and 
tonic combined, Sir Roger de Launay was in the habit of 
going whenever he felt his own customary tranquillity at 
all disturbed. The two were great friends ; — friends in 
their mutual love and service of the King, — friends in 
their equally mutual but discreetly silent worship of the 
Queen, — and friends in their very differences of opinion 
on men and matters in general. De Launay, being 
younger, was more hasty of judgment and quick in ac- 
tion ; but Von Glauben too had been known to draw his 
sword with unexpected rapidity on occasion, to the dis- 
comfiture of those who deemed him only at home with the 
scalpel. Just now, however, he was in a particularly non- 
combative and philosophic mood ; he was watching cer- 
tain animalcule wriggling in a glass tube, the while he sat 
in a large easy-chair with slippered feet resting on an- 
other chair opposite, puffing clouds of smoke from a big 
meerschaum, — and he did not stir from his indolent 
attitude when De Launay entered, but merely looked up 
and smiled placidly. 

'Sit down, Roger!" he said, — then, as De Launay 
obeyed the invitation, he pushed over a box of cigars, and 
added — "You look exceedingly tired, my friend! Some- 
thing has bored you more than usual? Take a lesson 
from those interesting creatures ! " and he pointed with 
the stem of his pipe to the bottled animalcule — " They 
are never bored, — never weary of doing mischief ! 
They are just now living under the pleasing delusion that 
the glass tube they are in is a man, and that they are eat- 
ing him up alive. Little devils! Nothing will exhaust 



44 "Temporal Power' 

their vitality till they have gorged themselves to death ! 
Just like a great many human beings! '' 

" I am not in the mood for studying animalculae," said 
De Launay irritably, as he lit a cigar. 

" No? But why not? They are really quite as inter- 
esting as ourselves ! " 

" Look here, Von Glauben, I want you to be seri- 
ous " 

" My friend, I am always serious," declared the Pro- 
fessor — " Even when I laugh, I laugh seriously. My 
laughter is as real as myself." 

"What would you think," — pursued De Launay — 
" of a king who freely expressed his own opinions? " 

" I should say he was a brave man," answered the Pro- 
fessor ; " He would certainly deserve my respect, and he 
should have it. Even if the laws of etiquette were not 
existent, I should feel justified in taking off my hat to 
him." 

" Never from henceforth wear a hat at all then," said 
De Launay — " It will save you the trouble of continually 
doffing it at every glimpse of his Majesty! " 

Von Glauben drew his pipe from his mouth and gazed 
blankly at the ceiling for a few moments in silence. " His 
Majesty? " he presently murmured — " Our Majesty? " 

"Yes; our Majesty — our King" — replied De Lau- 
nay — " For some inscrutable reason or other he has sud- 
denly adopted the dangerous policy of speaking his mind. 
What now?" 

"What now? Why nothing particular just now, — un- 
less you have something to tell me. Which, judging from 
your entangled expression of eye, I presume you have." 

De Launay hesitated a moment. The Professor saw 
his hesitation. 

" Do not speak, my friend, if you think you are commit- 
ting a breach of confidence," he said composedly — " In 
the brief affairs of this life, it is better to keep trouble on 
your own mind than impart it to others." 

" Oh, there is no breach of confidence ; " said De Lau- 
nay, " The thing is as public as the day, or if it is not 
public already, it soon will be made so. That is where the 
mischief comes in, — or so I think. Judge for yourself ! " 
And in a few words he gave the gist of the interview 



Sealed Orders 45 

which had taken place between the King and the emissary 
of the Jesfiits that morning. 

" Nothing surprises me as a rule," — said the Profes- 
sor, when he had heard all — " But if anything could 
prick the sense of astonishment anew in me, it would be to 
think that anyone, king or commoner, should take the 
trouble to speak truth to a Jesuit. Why, the very essence 
of their carefully composed and diplomatic creed, is to so 
disguise truth that it shall be no more recognisable. My- 
self, I believe the Jesuits to be the lineal descendants of 
those priests who served Bel and the Dragon. The art of 
conjuring and deception is in their very blood. It is for 
the Jesuits that I have invented a beautiful new verb, — 
' To hypocrise.' It sounds well. Here is the present 
tense, — ' I hypocrise, Thou hypocrisest, He hypocrises : 
— We hypocrise, You hypocrise, They hypocrise.' Now 
hear the future. ' I shall hypocrise, Thou shalt hypocrise, 
He shall hypocrise ; We shall hypocrise, You shall hypo- 
crise, They shall hypocrise.' There is the whole art of 
Jesuitry for you, made grammatically perfect!" 

De Launay gave a gesture of impatience, and flung 
away the end of his half-smoked cigar. 

" Ach! That is a sign of temper, Roger! " said Von 
Glauben, shaking his head — "To lift one's shoulders to 
the lobes of one's ears, and waste nearly the half of an ex- 
ceedingly expensive and choice Havana, shows nervous 
irritation ! You are angry, my friend — and with me ! " 

" No I am not," replied De Launay, rising from his 
chair and beginning to pace the room — " But I do not 
profess to have your phlegmatic disposition. I feel what 
I thought you would feel also, — that the King is expos- 
ing himself to unnecessary danger. And I know what you 
do not yet know, but what this letter will no doubt inform 
you," — and he drew an envelope bearing the Royal 
seal from his pocket and handed it to the Professor — 
" Namely, — that his Majesty is bent on rushing volun- 
tarily into various other perils, unless perhaps, your warn- 
ing or advice may hinder him. Mine has no effect, — 
moreover I am bound to serve him as he bids." 

" Equally am I also bound to serve him ; " — said Von 
Glauben, " And gladly and faithfully do I intend to per- 
form my service wherever it may lead me ! " Whereupon, 



4 6 



"Temporal Power 



â– > y 



shaking himself out of his recumbent position, like a great 
lion rolling out of his lair, he stood upright, and breaking 
the seal of the envelope he held, read its contents through 
in silence. Sir Roger stood opposite to him, watching 
his face in vain for any sign of astonishment, regret or 
dismay. 

" We must do as he commands," — he said simply as 
he finished reading the letter and folded it up for safe 
keeping — " There is no other way; not for me at least. 
I shall most assuredly be at the appointed place, at the 
appointed hour, and in the appointed manner. It will be 
a change ; certainly lively, and possibly beneficial ! r 

" But the Kind's life " 



*te 



' Is in God's keeping ! " said Von Glauben, — " Believe 
me, Roger, no harm comes undeservedly to a brave man 
with a good conscience ! It is a bad conscience which 
invites mischief. I am a great believer in the law of 
attraction. The good attracts the good, — the bad, the 
bad. That is why truthful persons are generally lonely 
— because nearly all the world's inhabitants are liars ! " 

" But the King — " again began Sir Roger. 

" The King is a man! " said Von Glauben, with a flash 
of pride in his eyes — " Which is more than I will say for 
most kings ! Who shall blame him for asserting his man- 
hood ? Not I ! Not you ! Who shall blame him for seek- 
ing to know the real position of things in the country he 
governs ? Not I ! Not you ! Our business is to guard 
and defend him — with our own lives, if necessary, — we 
shall do that with a will, Roger, shall we not ? " And 
with an impulsive quickness of action, he took a sword 
from a stand of weapons near him, drew it from its scab- 
bard and kissing the hilt, held it out to De Launay who 
did the same — " That is understood ! And for the rest, 
Roger my friend, take it all lightly and easily — as a 
farce ! — as a bit of human comedy, with a great actor 
cast for the chief role. We are only supers, you and I, 
but we shall do well to stand near the wings in case of 
fire ! " 

He drew himself up to his great height and squared 
his shoulders, — then smiled benevolently. 

' I believe it will be all very amusing, Roger ; and that 
your fears for the safety of his Majesty will be proved 



<< 



Sealed Orders 47 

groundless. Remember, Court life is excessively dull, — 
truly the dullest form of existence on earth, — it is quite 
natural that he who is the most bored by it should desire 
some break in the terrible monotony ! " 

' The monotony will certainly be broken with a ven- 
geance, if the King continues in his present humour! " — 
said De Launay grimly. 

" Possibly ! And let us hope the comfortable self- 
assurance and complacency of a certain successful Min- 
ister may be somewhat seriously disturbed!" rejoined 
Von Glauben, — " For myself, I assure you I see sport ! " 

" And I scent danger," — said De Launay — " For if 
any mischance happen to the King, the Prince is not ripe 
enough to rule." 

A slight shadow darkened the Professor's open coun- 
tenance. He looked fixedly at Sir Roger, who met his 
gaze with equal fixity. 

'The Prince," — he said slowly — "is young " 

And rash — " interposed De Launay. 
No. Pardon me, my friend ! Not rash. Merely 
honest. That is all ! He is a very honest young man 
indeed. It is unfortunate that he is so ; a ploughman may 
be honest if he likes, but a prince — never ! " 

De Launay was silent. 

' I will now destroy a world " — continued Von 
Glauben, " Kings, emperors, popes, councillors and com- 
mon folk, can all perish incontinently, — as — being my- 
self for the present the free agent of the Deity concerned 
in the matter, — I have something else to do than to look 
after them," — and he took up the glass vessel contain- 
ing the animalculae he had been watching, and cast it with 
its contents into a small stove burning dimly at one end 
of the apartment, — " Gone are their ambitions and con- 
fabulations for ever ! How easy for the Creator to do the 
same thing with us, Roger! Let us not talk of any 
special danger for the King or for any man, seeing that 
we are all on the edge of an eternal volcano ! " 

De Launay stood absorbed for a moment, as if in deep 
thought. Then rousing himself abruptly he said : — 

' You will not see the King, and speak with him before 
to-morrow night ? " 

"Why should I?" queried the Professor. "His wish 



â– >} 



48 "Temporal Power 

is a command which I must obey. Besides, my good 
Roger, all the arguments in the world will not turn a 
man from having his own way if he has once made 
up his own mind. Advice from me on the present 
matter would be merely taken as an impertinence. More- 
over I have no advice to give, — I rather approve of the 
plan ! " 

Sir Roger looked at him ; and noting the humorous 
twinkle in his eyes smiled, though somewhat gravely. 

" I hope, with you, that the experiment may only prove 
an amusing one," he said — " But life is not always a 
farce ! " 

: ' Not always, but often ! When it is not a farce it is a 
tragedy. And such a tragedy! My God! Horrible — 
monstrous — cruel beyond conception, and enough to 
make one believe in Hell and doubt Heaven ! ' : 

He spoke passionately, in a voice vibrating with strong 
emotion. De Launay glanced at him wonderingly, but 
did not speak. 

" When you see tender young children tortured by dis- 
ease," he went on, — " Fair and gentle women made the 
victims of outrage and brutality — strong men killed in 
their thousands to gain a little additional gold, an extra 
slice of empire, — then you see the tragic, the inexpli- 
cable, the crazy cruelty of putting into us this little pulse 
called Life. But I try not to think of this — it is no use 
thinking ! " 

He paused, — then in his usual quiet tone said : 

" To-morrow night, then, my friend ? " 

" To-morrow night," rejoined De Launay, — " Unless 
you receive further instructions from the King." 

At that moment the clear call of a trumpet echoing 
across the battlements of the palace denoted the hour for 
changing the sentry. 

; ' Sunset already ! " said Von Glauben, walking to the 
window and throwing back the heavy curtain which par- 
tially shaded it, " And yonder is Prince Humphry's yacht 
on its homeward way." 

De Launay came and stood beside him, looking out. 
Before them the sea glistened with a thousand tints of 
lustrous opal in the light of the sinking sun, which, sur- 
rounded by mountainous heights of orange and purple 



Sealed Orders 49 



cloud, began to touch the water-line with a thousand ar- 
rowy darts of flame. The white-sailed vessel on which 
their eyes were fixed, came curtseying over the waves 
through a perfect arch of splendid colour, like a fairy or 
phantom ship evoked from a poet's dream. 

" Absent all day, as he has been," said De Launay, " his 
Royal Highness is punctual to the promised hour of his 
return." 

"He is, as I told you, honest ;" said Von Glauben, "and 
it is possible his honesty will be his misfortune." 

De Launay muttered something inaudible in answer, 
and turned to leave the apartment. 

Von Glauben looked at him with an affectionate 
solicitude. 

' What a lucky thing it is you never married, Roger ! 
Otherwise you would now be going to tell your wife all 
about the King's plans ! Then she, sweet creature, would 
go to confession, — and her confessor would tell a bishop, 
- and a bishop would tell a cardinal, — and a cardinal 
would tell a confidential monsignor, — and the confiden- 
tial monsignor would tell the Supreme Pontiff, — and so 
all the world would be ringing with the news started by 
one little pretty wagging tongue of a woman ! " 

A faint flush coloured De Launay's bronzed cheek, but 
he laughed. 

: True ! I am glad I have never married. I am still 
more glad — of circumstances" — he paused, — then went 
on, " which have so chanced to me that I shall never 
marry." He paused again — then added — "I must be 
gone, Von Glauben ! I have to meet Prince Humphrv at 
the quay with a message from his Majesty." 

; ' Surely," said the Professor, opening his eyes very 
wide, ' The Prince is not to be included in our ad- 
venture ? " 

' By no means ! " replied De Launay, — " But the King 
is not pleased with his son's frecpient absences from 
Court, and desires to speak with him on the matter." 

Von Glauben looked grave. 

' There will be some little trouble there," he said, with 
a half sigh — " Ach ! Who knows ! Perhaps some great 
trouble ! " 

' Heaven forbid ! " ejaculated Sir Roger, — " We live 

4 



50 "Temporal Power' 

in times of peace. We want no dissension with either the 
King or the people. Till to-morrow night then ? " 

" Till to-morrow night ! " responded Von Glauben, 
whereupon Sir Roger with a brief word of farewell, 
strode away. 

Left to himself, the Professor still stood at his window 
watching the approach of the Prince's yacht, which came 
towards the shore with such swift and stately motion 
through the portals of the sunset, over the sparkling 
water. 

" Unfortunate Humphry ! " he muttered, — " What a 
secret he has entrusted me with ! And yet why do I call 
him unfortunate? There should be nothing to regret — 
and yet — ! Well ! The mischief was done before poor 
Heinrich von Glauben was consulted ; and if poor Hein- 
rich were God and the Devil rolled into one strange Eter- 
nal Monster, he could not have prevented it ! What is 
done, can never be undone ! " 



CHAPTER V 

" IF I LOVED YOU ! " 

A SINGULAR pomp is sometimes associated with the 
announcement that my Lord Pedigree, or Mister 
Nobody has ' had the honour of dining ' with their Maj- 
esties the King and Queen. Outsiders read the thrilling 
line with awe and envy, — and many of them are foolish 
enough to wish that they also were Lords Pedigree or 
Misters Nobody. As a matter of sad and sober fact, 
however, a dinner with royal personages is an extremely 
dull affair. ' Do not speak unless you are spoken to,' is a 
rule which, however excellent and necessary in Court eti- 
quette, is apt to utterly quench conversation, and render 
the brightest spirits dull and inert. The silent and sol- 
emn movements of the Court flunkeys, — the painful atti- 
tudes of those who are not 'spoken to'; the eager yet 
laboured smiles of those who are ' spoken to ' ; — the mel- 
ancholy efforts at gaiety — the dread of trespassing on 
tabooed subjects — these things tend to make all but the 
most independent and unfettered minds shrink from such 
an ordeal as the ' honour ' of dining with kings. It must, 
however, be conceded that the kings themselves are fully 
aware of the tediousness of their dinner parties, and 
would lighten the boredom if they could ; but etiquette 
forbids. The particular monarch whose humours are the 
subject of this ' plain unvarnished ' history would have 
liked nothing better than to be allowed to dine in simplic- 
ity and peace without his conversation being noted, and 
without having a flunkey at hand to watch every morsel 
of food 2:0 into his mouth. He would have liked to eat 
freely, talk freely, and conduct himself generally with the 
ease of a private gentleman. 

All this being denied to him, he hated the dinner-hour 
as ardently as he hated receiving illuminated addresses, 



52 "Temporal Power" 

and the freedom of cities. Yet all things costly and 
beautiful were combined to make his royal table a pic- 
ture which would have pleased the eyes and taste of a 
Marguerite de Valois. On the evening of the day on 
which he had determined, as he had said to himself, to 
' begin to reign,' it looked more than usually attractive. 
Some trifling chance had made the floral decorations more 
tasteful — some amiable humour of the providence which 
rules daily events, had ordained that two or three of 
the prettiest Court ladies should be present ; — Prince 
Humphry and his two brothers, Rupert and Cyprian, 
were at table, — and though conversation was slow and 
scant, the picturesqueness of the scene was not destroyed 
by silence. The apartment which was used as a private 
dining-room when their Majesties had no guests save the 
members of their own household, was in itself a gem of 
art and architecture, — it had been designed and painted 
from floor to ceiling by one of the most famous of the 
dead and gone masters, and its broad windows opened 
out on a white marble loggia fronting the ocean, where 
festoons of flowers clambered and hung, in natural tufts 
and trails of foliage and blossom, mingling their sweet 
odours with the fresh scent of the sea. Amid all the glow 
and delicacy of colour, the crowning perfection of the per- 
fect environment was the Queen-Consort, lovelier in her 
middle-age than most women in their teens. An exquisite 
figure of stateliness and dignity, robed in such hues and 
adorned with such jewels as best suited her statuesque 
beauty, and attended by ladies of whose more youthful 
charms she was never envious, having indeed no cause for 
envy, she was a living defiance to the ravages of time, and 
graced her royal husband's dinner-table with the same in- 
different ease as she graced his throne, unchanging in the 
dazzling light of her physical faultlessness. He, looking 
at her with mingled impatience and sadness, almost 
wished she would grow older in appearance with her 
years, and lose that perfect skin, white as alabaster, — 
that glittering but cold luminance of eye. For experi- 
ence had taught him the worthlessness of beauty unac- 
companied by tenderness, and fair faces had no longer 
the first attraction for him. His eldest son, Prince 
Humphry, bore a strong resemblance to himself, — he 



"If I Loved You!" 53 

was tall and slim, with a fine face, and a well-built mus- 
cular figure ; the other two younger princes, Rupert and 
Cyprian, aged respectively eighteen and sixteen, were like 
their mother, — beautiful in form and feature, but as in- 
different to all tenderness of thought and sentiment as 
they were full of splendid health and vigour. And, de- 
spite the fact that the composition and surroundings of 
his household were, to all outward appearances, as satis- 
factory as a man in his position could expect them to be, 
the King was intellectually and spiritually aware of the 
emptiness of the shell he called ' home.' 

Love was lacking ; his beautiful wife was the ice-wall 
against which all waves of feeling froze as they fell into 
the stillness of death. His sons had been born as the foals 
of a racing stud might be born,  — merely to continue the 
line of blood and succession. They were not the dear off- 
spring of passion or of tenderness. The coldness of their 
mother's nature was strongly engendered in them, and so 
far they had never shown any particular affection for 
their parents. The princes Rupert and Cyprian thought 
of nothing all day but sports and games of skill ; they 
studied serious tasks unwillingly, and found their posi- 
tion as sons of the reigning monarch, irksome, and even 
ridiculous. They had caught the infection of that dis- 
eased idea which in various exaggerated forms is tending 
to become more or less universal, and to work great mis- 
chief to nations, — namely, that ' sport ' is more impor- 
tant than policy, and that all matters relating to ' sport,' 
are more worth attention than wisdom in government. 
Of patriotism, or love of country they had none ; and 
laughed to scorn the grand old traditions and sentiments 
of national glory and honour, which had formerly in- 
spired the poets of their land to many a wild and beauti- 
ful chant of battle or of victory. How to pass the day 
— how best to amuse themselves — this was their first 
thought on waking every morning, — football, cricket, 
tennis and wrestling formed their chief subjects of con- 
versation ; and though they had professors and tutors of 
the most qualified and certificated ability, they made no 
secret of their utter contempt for all learning and litera- 
ture. They were fine young animals ; but did less with 
the brains bestowed upon them than the working bee who 



54 "Temporal Power" 

makes provision of honey for the winter, or the swallow 
that builds its nest under warmly sheltered eaves. 

Prince Humphry, however, was of a different nature. 
From a shy, somewhat unmanageable boy, he had devel- 
oped into a quiet, dreamy youth, fond of books, music, 
and romantic surroundings. He avoided the company of 
his brothers whenever it was possible ; their loud voices, 
boisterous spirits and perpetual chatter concerning the 
champions of this or that race or match, bored him infi- 
nitely, and he was at no pains to disguise his boredom. 
During the last year he seemed to have grown up sud- 
denly into full manhood, — he had begun to assert his 
privileges as Heir- Apparent, and to enjoy the freedom 
his position allowed him. Yet the manner of his enjoy- 
ment was somewhat singular for a young man who 
formed a central figure in the circle of the land's Roy- 
alty, — he cared nothing at all for the amusements and 
dissipations of the time ; he merely showed an abnormal 
love of solitude, which was highly unflattering to fashion- 
able society. It was on this subject that the King had de- 
cided to speak with him, — and he watched him with 
closer attention than usual on this particular evening 
when his habit of absenting himself all day in his yacht 
had again excited comment. It was easy to see that the 
Prince had been annoyed by the message Sir Roger de 
Launay had conveyed to him on his arrival home, — a 
message to the effect that, as soon as dinner was con- 
cluded, he was required to attend his Majesty in private; 
and all through the stately and formal repast, his evident 
irritation and impatience cast a shadow of vague embar- 
rassment over the royal party, — with the exception of 
the princes Rupert and Cyprian, who were never embar- 
rassed by anything, and who were more apt to be amused 
than disquieted by the vexation of others. Welcome re- 
lief was at last given by the serving of coffee, — and the 
Queen and all her ladies adjourned to their own apart- 
ments. With their departure the rest of the circle soon 
dispersed, there being no special guests present ; and at 
a sign from De Launay, Prince Humphry reluctantly fol- 
lowed his father into a small private smoking-room adja- 
cent to the open loggia, where the equerry, bowing low, 
left the two together. 



"If I Loved You!" 55 

For a moment the King' kept silence, while he chose a 
cigar from the silver hox on the table. Then, lighting it, 
he handed the box courteously to his son. 

"Will you smoke, Humphry?" 

"Thanks, Sir, — no." 

The King seated himself ; Prince Humphry remained 
standing. 

" You had a favourable wind for your expedition to- 
day ; " said the monarch at last, beginning to smoke 
placidly — "I observe that The Islands appear to have 
won special notice from you. What is the attraction? 
The climate or the scenery ? " 

The Prince was silent. 

" I like fine scenery myself, — " continued the King — 
" I also like a change of air. But variation in both is al- 
ways desirable, — and for this, it is unwise to .go to the 
same place every day ! " 

Still the Prince said nothing. His father looked up and 
studied his face attentively, but could guess nothing from 
its enigmatical expression. 

" You seem tongue-tied, Humphry!" he said — "Come, 
sit down ! Let us talk this out. Can you not trust me, 
your father, as a friend ? " 

" I wish I could ! " answered the young man, half 
inaudibly. 

" And can you not? " 

" No. You have never loved me ! " 

The King drew his cigar from his mouth, and flick- 
ing off a morsel of ash, looked at its end meditatively. 

" Well — no ! — I cannot say honestly that I have. 
Love, — it is a ridiculous word, Humphry, but it has a 
meaning on certain occasions ! — love for the children of 
your mother is an impossibility ! " 

" Sir, I am not to blame for my mother's disposition." 

" True — very true. You are not to blame. But you 
exist. And that you do exist is a fact of national impor- 
tance. Will you not sit down? " 

" At your command, Sir ! " and the Prince seated him- 
self opposite his father, who having studied his cigar 
sufficiently, replaced it between his lips and went on 
smoking for a few minutes before he spoke again. Then 
he resumed : — 



yy 



56 "Temporal Power 

" Your existence, I repeat, Humphry, is a fact of na- 
tional importance. To you falls the Throne when I have 
done with it, and life has done with me. Therefore, your 
conduct, — your mode of life — your example in manners 
— concern, not me, so much as the nation. You say that 
you cannot trust me as a friend, because I have never 
loved you. Is not this a somewhat childish remark on 
your part ? We live in a very practical age — love is not 
a necessary tie between human beings as things go now- 
adays ; — the closest bond of friendship rests on the basis 
of cash accounts." 

" I am perfectly aware of that ! " said the Prince, fixing 
his fine dark eyes full on his father's face — "And yet, 
after all, love is such a vital necessity, that I have only to 
look at you, in order to realize the failure and mistake of 
trying to do without it ! " 

The King gave him a glance of whimsical surprise. 

" So! — vou have begun to notice what I have known 
for years!" he said lightly — "Clever young man! What 
fine fairy finger is pointing out to you my deficiencies, 
while supplying your own? Do you learn to estimate the 
priceless value of love while contemplating the romantic 
groves and woodlands of The Islands? Do you read 
poetry there? — or write it? Or talk it?" 

Prince Humphry coloured, — then grew very pale. 

" When I misuse my time. Sir," he said — " Surely it 
will then be needful to catechise me on the manner in 
which I spend it, — but not till then!" 

" Fairly put ! " answered the King — " But I have an 
idea — it may be a mistaken idea, — still I have it — that 
you arc misusing your time, Humphry! And this is the 
cause of our present little discussion. If I knew that you 
occupied yourself with the pleasures befitting your age 
and rank, I should be more at ease." 

" What do you consider to be the pleasures befitting my 
age and rank? " asked the Prince with a touch of satire; 
" Making a fool of myself generally? " 

The King smiled. 

" Well ! — it would be better to make a fool of yourself 
generally than particularly ! Folly is not so harmful when 
spread like jam over a whole slice of bread, — but it may 
cause a life-long sickness, if swallowed in one secret gulp 
of sweetness ! " 



"If I Loved You!" 57 

The Prince moved uneasily. 

' You think I am catechising- you, — and you resent it 
— but, my dear boy, let me again remind you that you are 
in a manner answerable to the nation for your actions ; 
and especially to that particular section of the nation 
called Society. Society is the least and worst part of the 
whole community — but it has to be considered by such 
servants of the public as ourselves. You know what 
James the First of England wrote concerning the ' do- 
mestic regulations ' on the conduct of a prince and future 
king ? ' A king is set as one on a stage, whose smallest 
actions and gestures all the people gazinglie do behold ; 
and, however just in the discharge of his office, yet if his 
behaviour be light or dissolute, in indifferent actions, the 
people, who see but the outward part, conceive preoccu- 
pied conceits of the king's inward intention, which al- 
though with time, the trier of all truth, will evanish by 
the evidence of the contrarie effect, yet, interim patitur 
Justus, and prejudged conceits will, in the meantime, breed 
contempt, the mother of rebellion and disorder.' Poor 
James of the ' goggle eyes and large hysterical heart ' as 
Carlyle describes him ! Do you not agree with his esti- 
mate of a royal position ? " 

" I am not aware, Sir, that my behaviour can as yet be 
called light or dissolute ; " replied the Prince coldly, with 
a touch of hauteur. 

"I do not call it so, Humphry" — said the King — 
' To the best of my knowledge, your conduct has always 
been most exemplary. But with all your excessive de- 
corum, you are mysterious. That is bad ! Society will 
not endure being kept in the dark, or outside the door of 
things, like a bad child ! It wants to be in the room, and 
know everything and everybody. And this reminds me 
of another point on which the good English James offers 
sound advice. ' Remember to be plaine and sensible in 
your language ; for besides, it is the tongue's office to be 
the messenger of the mind, it may be thought a point of 
imbecilitie of spirit, in a king to speak obscurely, much 
more untrewly, as if he stood in awe of any in uttering 
his thoughts.' That is precisely your mood at the pres- 
ent moment, Humphry, — you stand ' in awe ' — of me 
or of someone else, — in ' uttering your thoughts.' : 



58 "Temporal Power' 

" Pardon me, Sir, — I do not stand in awe of you or of 
anyone ; " said the Prince composedly — "I simply do 
not choose to ' utter my thoughts ' just now." 

The King looked at him in surprise, and with a touch 
of admiration. The defiant air he had unconsciously as- 
sumed became him, — his handsome face was pale, and 
his dark eyes coldly brilliant, like those of his beautiful 
mother, with the steel light of an inflexible resolve. 

" You do not choose? " said the King, after a pause — 
" You decline to give any explanation of your long hours 
of absence ? — your constant visits to The Islands, and 
your neglect of those social duties which should keep you 
at Court?" 

" I decline to do so for the present," replied the young 
man decisively ; " I can see no harm in my preference for 
quietness rather than noise, — for scenes of nature rather 
than those of artificial folly. The Islands are but two 
hours sail from this port, — little tufts of land set in the 
sea, where the coral-fishers dwell. They are beautiful in 
their natural adornment of foliage and flower ; — I go 
there to read — to dream — to think of life as a better, 
purer thing than what you call ' society ' would make it 
for me ; you cannot blame me for this ? " 

The King was silent. 

" If it is your wish," — went on the Prince — "that I 
should stay in the palace more, I will obey you. If you 
desire me to be seen oftener in the capital, I will en- 
deavour to fulfil your command, though the streets stifle 
me. But, for God's sake, do not make me a puppet on 
show before my time, — or marry me to a woman I hate, 
merely for the sake of heirs to a wretched Throne ! " 

The King rose from his chair, and, walking towards 
the garden, threw the rest of his cigar out among the foli- 
age, where the burning morsel shone like a stray glow- 
worm in the green. Then he turned towards his son ; — 
his face was grave, almost stern. 

"You can go, Humphry!" he said; — "I have no more 
to say to you at present. You talk wildly and at random, 
as if you were, by some means or other, voluntarily bent 
upon unfitting yourself for the position you are destined 
to occupy. You will do well, I think, to remain more in 
evidence at Court. You will also do well to be seen at 



"If I Loved You!" 59 

some of the different great social functions of the day. 
But I shall not coerce you. Only — consider well what I 
have said ! — and if you have a secret " — he paused, and 
then repeated with emphasis — "I say, if you have a 
secret of any kind, be advised, and confide in me before 
it is too late ! Otherwise you may find yourself betrayed 
unawares ! Good-night ! " 

He walked away without throwing so much as a back- 
ward glance at the Prince, who stood amazed at the sud- 
denness and decision with which he had brought the con- 
versation to a close ; and it was not till his tall figure had 
disappeared that the young man began to realize the 
doubtful awkwardness of the attitude he had assumed 
towards one who, both as parent and king, had the most 
urgent claim in the world upon his respect and obedience. 
Impatient and angry with himself, he crossed the loggia 
and went out into the garden beyond. A young moon, 
slender as a bent willow wand, gleamed in the clear 
heavens among hosts of stars more brilliantly visible than 
itself, and the soft air, laden with the perfume of thou- 
sands of flowers, cooled his brain and calmed his nerves. 
The musical low murmur of the sea, lapping against the 
shore below the palace walls, suggested a whole train 
of pleasing and poetical fancies, and he strolled along the 
dewy grass paths, under tangles of scented shrubs and 
arching boughs of pine, giving himself up to such idyllic 
dreams of life and life's fairest possibilities, as only youth- 
ful and imaginative souls can indulge in. He was troubled 
and vexed by his father's warning, but not sufficiently to 
pay serious heed to it. His ' secret ' was safe so far ; — 
and all he had to do, so he considered, was to exercise a 
little extra precaution. 

' There is only Von Glauben," — he thought, " and he 
would never betray me. Besides it is a mere question of 
another year — and then I can make all the truth known." 

The lovely long-drawn warble of a nightingale broke 
the stillness around him with a divine persistence of pas- 
sion. He listened, standing motionless, his eyes lifted 
towards the dark boughs above him, from whence the 
golden notes dropped liquidly ; and his heart beat quickly 
as he thought of a voice sweeter than that of any heav- 
enly-gifted bird, a face fairer than that of the fabled god- 



60 "Temporal Power' 

dess who on such a night as this descended from her silver 
moon-car to enchant Endymion ; — and he murmured 
half aloud — 

"Who would not risk a kingdom — ay! a thousand 
kingdoms ! — for such happiness as I possess ! It is a 
foolish, blind world nowadays, that forgets the glory of 
its youth, — the glow, the breath, the tenderness of love ! 
— all for amassing gold and power ! I will not be of such 
a world, nor with it ; — I will not be like my father, the 
slave of pomp and circumstance ; — I will live an unfet- 
tered life — yes! — even if I have to resign the throne 
for the sake of freedom, still I will be free ! " 

He strolled on, absorbed in romantic reverie, and the 
nightingale's song followed him through the winding 
woods down to the shore, where the waves made other 
music of their own, which harmonised with the dreamy 
fancies of his mind. 

Meanwhile, the King had sought his consort in her own 
apartments. Walking down the great corridor which led 
to these, the most beautiful rooms in the palace, he be- 
came aware of the silvery sound of stringed instruments 
mingling with harmonious voices, — though he scarcely 
heeded the soft rush of melody which came thus wafted 
to his ears. He was full of thoughts and schemes, — his 
son's refusal to confide in him had not seriously troubled 
him, because he knew he should, with patience, find out in 
good time all that the young Prince had declined to ex- 
plain, — and his immediate interest was centred in his 
own immediate plans. 

On reaching the ante-room leading to the Queen's pres- 
ence-chamber, he was informed that her Majesty was lis- 
tening to a concert in the rosery. Thither he went unat- 
tended, — and passing through a long suite of splendid 
rooms, each one more sumptuously adorned than the last, 
he presently stepped out on the velvet greensward of one 
of the most perfect rose gardens in the world — a garden 
walled entirely round with tall hedges of the clambering 
flowers which gave it its name, and which were trailed up 
on all sides, so as to form a ceiling or hanging canopy 
above. In the centre of this floral hall, now in full blos- 
som, a fountain tossed up one tall column of silver spray ; 
and at its upper end, against a background of the dainty 



<â– < 



If I Loved You!" 6 1 



white roses called "Felicite perpetuelle " sat the Queen, in a 
high chair of carved ivory, surrounded by her ladies. De- 
licious music, performed by players and singers who were 
hidden behind the trees, floated in voluptuous strains 
upon the air, and the King-, looking- at the exquisite group- 
ing of fair women and flowers, lit by the coloured lamps 
which gleamed here and there among the thick foliage, 
wondered to himself how it chanced, that amid surround- 
ings which were calculated to move the senses to the most 
refined and delicate rapture, he himself could feel no 
quickening pulse, no touch of admiration. These open- 
air renderings of music and song were the Queen's 
favourite form of recreation ; • — at such times alone 
would her proud face soften and her eyes grow languid 
with an unrevealed weight of dreams. But should her 
husband, or any one of his sex break in upon the charmed 
circle, her pleasure was at once clouded, — and the cold 
hauteur of her beautiful features became again inflexibly 
frozen. Such was the case now, when perceiving the 
King, she waved her hand as a sign for the music to 
cease ; and with a glance of something like wonderment 
at his intrusion, saluted him profoundly as he entered the 
precincts of her garden Court. But for once he did not 
pause as usual, on his way to where she sat, — but lightly 
acknowledging the deep curtseys of the ladies in attend- 
ance, he advanced towards her and raising her hand in 
courtly homage to his lips, seated himself carelessly in a 
low chair at her feet. 

" Let the music go on ! " he said ; ' I am here to 
listen." 

The Queen looked at him, — he met her eyes with an 
expression that she had never seen on his face before. 

" Suffer me to have my way ! " he said to her in a low 
tone — " Let your singers finish their programme ; after- 
wards do me the favour to dismiss your women, for I 
must speak with yon alone." 

She bent her head in acquiescence ; and re-seated her- 
self on her ivory throne. The sign was given for the 
continuance of the music, and the King, leaning back in 
his chair, half closed his eves as he listened dreamily to 
the harmonious throbbing of harps and violins around 
him, in the stillness of the languid southern night. His 



62 "Temporal Power' 

hand almost brushed against his wife's jewelled robes — 
the scent of the great lilies on her breast was wafted to 
him with every breath of air, and he thought — "All this 
would be Paradise, — with any other woman ! - : And 
while he so thought, the clear tenor voice of one of the 
unseen singers rang out in half gay, half tender tones : 

If I loved you, and you loved me, 
How happy this little world would be — 
The light of the day, the dancing hours, 
The skies, the trees, the birds and flowers, 
Would all be part of our perfect gladness ; — 
And never a note of pain or sadness 
Would jar life's beautiful melody 
If I loved you, and you loved me ! 

' If I loved you ! ' Why, I scarcely know 

How if I did, the time would go ! — 

I should forget my dreary cares, 

My sordid toil, my long despairs, 

I should watch your smile, and kneel at your feet, 

And live my life in the love of you, Sweet! — 

So mad, so glad, so proud I should be, 

If I loved you, and you loved me ! 

' If you loved me ! ' Ah, nothing so strange 
As that could chance in this world of change ! — 
As well expect a planet to fall, 
Or a Queen to dwell in a beggar's hall — 
But if you did, — romance and glory 
Might spring from our lives' united story, 
And angels might be less happy than we — 
If I loved you and you loved me ! 

' If I loved you and you loved me ! ' 

Alas, 't is a joy we shall never see ! 

You are too fair — I am too cold ; — 

We shall drift along till we both grow old, 

Till we reach the grave, and gasping, die, 

Looking back on the days that have passed us by, 

When ' what might have been,' can no longer be, — 

When I lost you, and you lost me ! 

The song concluded abruptly, and with passion ; — and 
the -King, turning on his elbow, glanced with a touch of 
curiosity at the face of his Queen. There was not a 
flicker of emotion on its fair cold calmness, — not a quiver 
on the beautiful lips, or a sigh to stir the quiet breast on 
which the lilies rested, white and waxen, and heavily 
odorous. He withdrew his gaze with a half smile at his 



"If I Loved You !" 63 

own folly for imagining that she could be moved by a 
mere song to any expression of feeling, — even for a mo- 
ment, — and allowed his glance to wander unreservedly 
over the forms and features of the other ladies in attend- 
ance who, conscious of his regard, dropped their eyelids 
and blushed softly, after the fashion approved by the 
heroines of the melodramatic stage. Whereat he began 
to think of the tiresome sameness of women generally ; 
and their irritating habit of living always at two ex- 
tremes, — either all ardour, or all coldness. 

'' Both are equally fatiguing to a man's mind," he 
thought impatiently — " The only woman that is truly 
fascinating is the one who is never in the same mind two 
days together. Fair on Monday, plain on Tuesday, sweet 
on Wednesday, sour on Thursday, tender on Friday, cold 
on Saturday, and in all moods at once on Sunday, — that 
being a day of rest ! I should adore such a woman as that 
if I ever met her, because I should never know her mind 
towards me ! " 

A soft serenade rendered by violins, with a harp accom- 
paniment, was followed by a gay mazurka, played by all 
the instruments together, — and this finished the musical 
programme. 

The Queen rose, accepting the hand which the King 
extended to her, and moved with him slowly across the 
rose-garden, her long snowy train glistering with jewels, 
and held up from the greensward by a pretty page, who, 
in his picturesque costume of rose and gold, demurely 
followed his Royal lady's footsteps, — and so amid the 
curtseying ladies-in-waiting and other attendants, they 
passed together into a private boudoir, at the threshold of 
which the Queen's train-bearer dropped his rich burden 
of perfumed velvet and gems, and bowing low, left their 
Majesties together. 

Shutting the door upon him with his own hand, the 
King drew a heavy portiere across it, — and then walking 
round the room saw that every window was closed, — 
every nook secure. The Queen's boudoir was one of the 
most sacred corners in the whole palace, — no one, not 
even the most intimate lady of the Court in personal at- 
tendance on her Majesty, dared enter it without special 
permission ; and this being the case, the Queen herself 



6 + 



<.<â–  



Temporal Power 



was faintly moved to surprise at the extra precaution her 
husband appeared to be taking to ensure privacy. She 
stood silently watching his movements till he came up to 
her, and bowing courteously, said : — 

' I pray you, be seated, Madam ! I will not detain you 
long." 

She obeyed his gesture, and sank down in a chair with 
that inimitable noiseless grace which made every attitude 
of hers a study for an artist, and waited for his next 
words ; while he, standing opposite to her, bent his eyes 
upon her face with a certain wistfulness and appeal. 

" I have never asked you a favour," he began — " and 
— since the day we married, — I have never sought your 
sympathy. The years have come and gone, leaving no 
visible trace on either you or me, so far as outward looks 
go, — and if they have scarred and wrinkled us inwardly, 
only God can see those scars ! But as time moves on with 
a man, — I know not how it is with a woman, — if he be 
not altogether a fool, he begins to consider the way in 
which he has spent, or is spending his life, — whether he 
has been, or is yet likely to be of any use to the world he 
lives in, — or if he is of less account than the blown froth 
of the sea, or the sand on the shore. Myriads and myr- 
iads of men and women are no more than this — no more 
than midges or ants or worms ; — but every now and then 
in the course of centuries, one man does stand forth from 
the million, — one heart does beat courageously enough 
to send the firm echo of its pulsations through a long 
vista of time, - — one soul does so exalt and inspire the 
rest of the world by its great example that we are, 
through its force reminded of something divine, — some- 
thing high and true in a low wilderness of shams ! '' 

He paused ; the Queen raised her beautiful eyes, and 
smiled strangely. 

' Have you only just now thought of this? " she said. 

He flushed, and bit his lip. 

' To be perfectly honest with you, Madam, I have 
thought of nothing worth thinking about for many years ! 
Most men in my position would probably make the same 
confession. Perhaps had you given me any great work to 
do for your sake I should have done it ! Had you in- 
spired me to achieve some great conquest, either for my- 



"If I Loved You!" 65 

self or others, I should no doubt have conquered ! But I 
have lived for twenty-one years in your admirable com- 
pany without being commanded by you to do anything 
worthy of a king; — I am now about to command My- 
self ! — in order to leave some notable trace of my name 
in history." 

While he thus spoke, a faint flush coloured the Queen's 
cheeks, but it quickly died away, leaving her very pale. 
Her fingers strayed among the great jewels she wore, and 
toyed unconsciously with a ruby talisman cut in the shape 
of a heart, and encircled with diamonds. The King noted 
the flash of the gems against the whiteness of her hand, 
and said : 

" Your heart, Madam, is like the jewel you hold ! — 
clear crimson, and full of fire, — but it is not the fire of 
Heaven, though you may perchance judge it to be so. 

Rather is it of hell ! ( I pray you to pardon me for 

the roughness of this suggestion ! ) — for one of the chief 
crimes of the devil is unconquerable hatred of the human 
race. You share Satan's aversion to man ! — and strange 
indeed it is that even the most sympathetic companionship 
with your own sex cannot soften that aversion ! How- 
ever, we will not go into this ; — the years have proved 
you true to your own temperament, and there is nothing 
to be said on the matter, either of blame or of praise. As 
I said, I have never asked a favour of you, nor have I 
sought the sympathy which it is not in your nature to 
give. I have not even claimed your obedience in any par- 
ticular strictness of form ; but that is my errand to you 
to-night, — indeed it is the sqle object of this private 
interview, — to claim your entire, your unfaltering, your 
implicit obedience ! " 

She raised her head haughtily. 

'To what commands, Sir?" she asked. 

" To those I have here written, — " and he handed her 
a paper folded in two, which she took wonderingly, as he 
extended it. " Read this carefully ! — and if you have 
any objections to urge, I am willing to listen to you with 
patience, though scarcely to alter the conditions laid 
down." 

He turned away, and walked slowly through the room, 
pausing a moment to whistle to a tiny bird swinging in a 

S 



66 "Temporal Power' 

gilded Cage, that perked up its pretty head at his call and 
twittered with pleasure. 

"So you respond to kindness, little one ! " he said softly, 
— "You are more Christ-like in that one grace than many 
a Christian ! " 

He started, as a light touch fell on his shoulder, and he 
saw the Queen standing beside him. She held the paper 
he had given her in one hand, and as he looked at her 
enquiringly she touched it with her lips, and placed it in 
her bosom. 

" I swear my obedience to your instructions, Sir ! " she 
said, — " Do not fear to trust me ! " 

Gently he took her hands and kissed them. 
â– r " I thank you ! " he said simply. 

For a moment they confronted each other. The beauti- 
ful cold woman's eyes drooped under the somewhat sad 
and searching gaze of the man. 

" But your life ! — " she murmured. 

" My life ! " He laughed and dropped her hands. 
" Would you care, Madam, if I were dead ? Would you 
shed any tears ? Not you ! Why should you ? At this 
late hour of time, when after twenty-one years passed in 
each other's close company we are no nearer to each other 
in heart and soul than if the sea murmuring yonder at the 
foot of these walls were stretching its whole width be- 
tween us ! Besides — we are both past our youth ! And, 
according to certain highly instructed scientists and phil- 
osophers, the senses and affections grow numb with age. 
I do not believe this theory myself — for the jejune love 
of youth is as a taper's flame to the great and passionate 
tenderness of maturity, when the soul, and not the body, 
claims its due ; when love is not dragged down to the 
vulgar level of mere cohabitation, after the fashion of the 
animals in a farmyard, but rises to the best height of 
human sympathy and intelligent comprehension. Who 
knows ! — I may experience such a love as that yet, — 
and so may you ! " 

She was silent. 

"Talking of love," — he went on — " May I ask 
whether our son, — or rather the nation's son, Humphry, 
— ever makes you his confidante ? " 

" Never ! " she replied. 



"If I Loved ¥011!" 67 

" I thought not ! We do not seem to be the kind of 
parents admired in moral story-books, Madam ! We are 
not the revered darlings of our children. In fact, our 
children bave the happy disposition of animal cubs, — 
once out of the nursing stage, they forget they ever had 
parents. It is quite the natural and proper thing, born as 
they were born, — it would never do for them to have any 
over-filial regard for us. Imagine Humphry weeping for 
my death, or yours ! What a grotesque idea ! And as 
for Rupert and Cyprian, — it is devoutly to be hoped that 
when we die, our funerals may be well over before the 
great cricket matches of the year come on, as otherwise 
they will curse us for having left the world at an incon- 
venient season ! " He laughed. ' How sentiment has 
gone out nowadays, or how it seems to have gone out ! 
Yet it slumbers in the heart of the nation, — and if it 
should ever awaken, — well ! — it will be dangerous ! I 
asked you about Humphry, because I imagine he is en- 
tangled in some love-affair. If it should be agreeable to 
your humour to go with me across to The Islands one day 
this week, we may perhaps by chance diseover the reason 
of his passion for that particular kind of scenery ! ' : 

The Queen's eyes opened wonderingly. 

'The Islands!" she repeated, — "The Islands? Why, 
only the coral-fishers live there, — they have a community 
of their own, and are jealous of all strangers. What 
should Humphry do there?" 

' That is more than I can tell you," answered the King, 
— " And it is more than he will himself explain. Never- 
theless, he is there nearly every day, — some attraction 
draws him, but what, I cannot discover. If Humphry 
were of the soul of me, as he is of the body of me, I should 
not even try to fathom his secret, — but he is the nation's 
child — heir to its throne — and as such, it is necessary 
that we, for the nation's sake, should guard him in the 
nation's interests. If you chance to learn anything of 
the object of his constant sea-wanderings, I trust you 
will find it coincident with your pleasure to inform me ? '' 

" I shall most certainly obey you in this, Sir, as in all 
other things ! " she replied. 

He moved a step or two towards her. 

" Good-night ! '' he said very gently, and detaching 



68 "Temporal Power' 

one of the lilies from her corsage, took it in his own 
hand. " Good-night ! This flower will remind me of 
you; — white and beautiful, with all the central gold 
deep hidden ! " 

He looked at her intently, with a lingering look, half of 
tenderness, half of regret, and bowing in the courtliest 
fashion of homage, left her presence. 

She remained alone, the velvet folds of her train flow- 
ing about her feet, and the jewels on her breast flashing 
like faint sparks of flame in the subdued glow of the 
shaded lamplight. She was touched for the first time in 
her life by the consciousness of something infinitely noble, 
and altogether above her in her husband's nature. Slowly 
she drew out the paper he had given her from her bosom 
and read it through again — and yet once again. Almost 
unconsciously to herself a mist gathered in her eyes and 
softened into two bright tears, which dropped down her 
fair cheeks, and lost themselves among her diamonds. 

' He is brave ! '' she murmured — ' Braver than I 
thought he could ever be " 

She roused herself sharply from her abstraction. Emo- 
tions which were beyond her own control had strangely 
affected her, and the humiliating idea that her moods had 
for a moment escaped beyond her guidance made her 
angry with herself for what she considered mere weak- 
ness. And passing quickly out of the boudoir, in the 
vague fear that solitude might deepen the sense of impo- 
tence and failure which insinuated itself slowly upon her, 
like a dull blight creeping through her heart and soul, she 
rejoined her ladies, the same great Queen as ever, with 
the same look of indifference on her face, the same chill 
smile, the same perfection of loveliness, unwithered by 
any visible trace of sorrow or of passion. 



CHAPTER VI 

SERGIUS THORD 

THE next day the heavens were clouded ; and occa- 
sional volleys of heavy thunder were mingled with 
the gusts of wind and rain which swept over the city, and 
which lashed the fair southern sea into a dark semblance 
of such angry waves as wear away northern coasts into 
bleak and rocky barrenness. It was disappointing 
weather to multitudes, for it was the feast-day of one of 
the numerous saints whose names fill the calendar of the 
Roman Church, — and a great religious procession had 
been organized to march from the market-place to the 
Cathedral, in which two or three hundred children and 
girls had been chosen to take part. The fickle bursts of 
sunshine which every now and again broke through the 
lowering sky, decided the priests to carry out their pro- 
gramme, in spite of the threatening storm, in the hope 
that it would clear off completely with the afternoon. 
Accordingly, groups of little maidens, in white robes and 
veils, began to assemble with their flags and banners at 
the appointed hour round the old market cross, which, — 
grey and crumbling at the summit, — bent over the streets 
like a withered finger, crook'd as it were, in feeble remon- 
strance at the passing of time, — while glimpses of young 
faces beneath the snowy veils, and chatter of young 
voices, made brightness and music around its frowning 
and iron-bound base. Shortly before three o'clock the 
Cathedral bells began to chime, and crowds of people 
made their way towards the sacred edifice in the laughing, 
pushing, gesticulating fashion of southerners, to whom a 
special service at the Church is like a new comedy at the 
theatre, — women with coloured kerchiefs knotted over 
their hair or across their bosoms — men, more or less 
roughly clad, yet all paying compliment to the Saint's 
feast-day by some extra smart touch in their attire, if it 



jo "Temporal Power" 

were only a pomegranate flower or orange-blossom stuck 
in their hats, or behind their ears. It was a mixed crowd, 
all of the working classes, who are proverbially called 
' the common,' as if those who work, are not a hundred 
times more noble than those who do nothing! A few 
carriages, containing some wealthy ladies of the nobility, 
who, to atone for their social sins, were in the habit of 
contributing largely to the Church, passed every now and 
again through the crowd, but taken as a spectacle it was 
simply a ' popular ' show, in which the children of the 
people took part, and where the people themselves were 
evidently more amused than edified. 

While the bells were ringing the procession gradually 
formed ; — a dozen or more priests leading, — incense- 
bearers and acolytes walking next, — and then the long 
train of little children and girls carrying their symbolic 
banners, following after. The way they had to walk was 
a steep, winding ascent, through tortuous streets, to the 
Cathedral, which stood in the centre of a great square on 
an eminence which overlooked the whole city, and as soon 
as they started they began to sing, — softly at first, then 
more clearly and sweetly, till gradually the air grew full 
of melody, rising and falling on the capricious gusts of 
wind which tore at the gilded and emblazoned banners, 
and tossed the white veils of the maidens about like 
wreaths of drifting snow. Two men standing on the 
Cathedral hill, watched the procession gradually ascend- 
ing — one tall and heavily-built, with a dark leonine head 
made more massive-looking by its profusion of thick and 
unmanageable hair — the other lean and narrow-shoul- 
dered, with a peaked reddish-auburn beard, which he con- 
tinually pulled and twitched at nervously as though its 
growth on his chin was more a matter of vexation than 
convenience. He was apparently not so much interested 
in the Church festival as he was in his companion's face, 
for he was perpetually glancing up at that brooding coun- 
tenance, which, half hidden as it was in wild hair and 
further concealed by thick moustache and beard, showed 
no expression at all, unless an occasional glimpse of full 
flashing eyes under the bushy brows, gave a sudden mag- 
netic hint of something dangerous and not to be trifled 
with. 



Sergius Thord 7 



" You do not believe anything you hear or read, Ser- 
gius Thord!' he said — "Will you twist your whole 
life into a erooked attitude of suspicion against all man- 
kind? 1 ' 

He who was named Sergius Thord, lifted himself 
slowly from the shoulders upwards, the action making his 
great height and broad chest even more apparent than 
before. A gleam of white teeth shone under his black 
moustache. 

" I do not twist my life into a crooked attitude, Johan 
Zegota," he replied. ' If it is crooked, others have 
twisted it for me ! Why should I believe what I hear, 
since it is the fashion to lie ? Why should I accept what I 
read, since it is the business of the press to deceive the 
public ? And why do you ask me foolish questions ? 
You should be better instructed, seeing that your creed 
is the same as mine ! " 

" Have I ever denied it? " exclaimed Zegota warmly — 
" But I have said, and I say again that I believe the news 
is true, — and that these howling hypocrites, — " this 
with an angry gesture of his hand towards the open 
square where the chanting priests who headed the pro- 
cession were coming into view — " have truly received an 
unlooked-for check from the King ! " 

Sergius Thord laid one hand heavily on his shoulder. 

4 When the King — when any king — does anything 
useful in the world, then you may hang me with your 
own hands, Zegota ! When did you ever hear, except in 
myths of the past, of a monarch who cared for his people 
more than his crown ? Tell me that ! Tell me of any 
king who so truly loved the people he was called upon to 
govern, that he sacrificed his own money, as well as his 
own time, to remedy their wrongs ? — to save them from 
unjust government, to defend them from cruel taxation? 
— to see that their bread was not taken from their mouths 
by foreign competition ? — and to make it possible for 
them to live in the country of their birth in peace and 
prosperity ? Bah ! There never was such a king ! And 
that this man, — who has for three years left us to the 
mercy of the most accursed cheat and scoundrel minister 
that ever was in power, — has now declared his opposi- 
tion to the Jesuits', is more than I will or can believe." 



72 "Temporal Power' 

"If it were true?" — suggested Zegota, with a more 
than usually vicious tug at his beard. 

" If it were true, it would not alter my opinion, or set 
aside my intention," replied Thord, — "I would admit 
that the King had done one good deed before going to 
hell ! Look ! Here come the future traitresses of men 
— girls trained by priests to deceive their nearest and 
dearest ! Poor children ! They know nothing as yet of 
the uses to which their lives are destined! If they could 
but die now, in their innocent faith and stupidity, how 
much better for all the world ! " 

As he spoke, the wind, swooping into the square, and 
accompanied by a pattering gust of rain, fell like a fury 
upon the leaders of the religious procession and tore one 
of the great banners out of the hands of the priest who 
held it, beating it against his head and face with so much 
force that he fell backward to the ground under its weight, 
while from a black cloud above, a flash of lightning 
gleamed, followed almost instantaneously by a loud clap 
of thunder, which shook the square with a mighty rever- 
beration like that of a bursting bomb. The children 
screamed, — and ran towards the Cathedral pellmell ; 
and for a few moments there ensued indescribable con- 
fusion, the priests, the people, and the white-veiled girls 
getting mixed together in a wild hurly-burly. Sergius 
Thord suddenly left his companion's side, and springing 
on a small handcart that stood empty near the centre of 
the square, his tall figure rose up all at once like a dark- 
apparition above the heads of the assembled crowd, and 
his voice, strong, clear, and vibrating with passion, rang 
out like a deep alarm bell, through all the noise of the 
storm. 

"Whither are you going, O foolish people? To pray 
to God? Pray to Him here, then, under the flash of His 
lightning ! — in the roll of His thunder ! — beneath His 
catbedral-canopy of clouds! Pray to Him with all your 
hearts, your brains, your reason, your intelligence, and 
leave mere lip-service and mockery to priests ; and to 
these poor children, who, as yet, know no better than to 
obey tyrants! Would you find out God? He is here — 
with me, — with you ! - - in the earth, in the sky, in the 
sun and storm ! Whenever Truth declares a living fact, 



Sergius Thord 73 

God speaks, — whenever we respond to that Truth, God 
hears ! No church, no cathedral contains His presence 
more than we shall find it here — with us — where we 
stand ! " 

The people heard, and a great silence fell upon them. 
All faces were turned toward the speaker, and none ap- 
peared to heed the great drops of fast-falling rain. One 
of the priests who was trying to marshal the scattered 
children into their former order, so that they might enter 
the Cathedral in the manner arranged for the religious 
service, looked up to see the cause of the sudden stillness, 
and muttered a curse under his breath. But even while 
the oath escaped his lips, he gave the signal for the sacred 
chanting to be resumed, and in another moment the ' Lit- 
any of the Virgin ' was started in stentorian tones by the 
leaders of the procession. Intimidated by the looks, as 
well as by the commands of the priests, the girls and 
children joined in the chanting with tremulous voices, as 
they began to file through the Cathedral doors and enter 
the great nave. But a magnetic spell, stronger than any 
invocation of the Church, had fallen upon the crowd, and 
they all stood as though caught in the invisible web of 
some enchanter, their faces turned upwards to where 
Thord's tall figure towered above them. His eyes glit- 
tered as he noted the sudden hush of attention which pre- 
vailed, and lifting his rough cap from his head, he waved 
it towards the open door of the Cathedral, through which 
the grand strains of the organ rolling out from within 
gave forth solemn invitation : — 

" Sancta Dei Genitrix, 
Ora pro nobis ! " 

sang the children, as they passed in line under the ancient 
porch, carved with the figures of forgotten saints and 
bishops, whose stone countenances had stared at similar 
scenes through the course of long centuries. 

" Sancta Dei Genitrix, ora pro nobis ! " echoed Sergius 
Thord — " Do you hear it, O men ? Do you hear it, O 
women ? What does it teach you ? ' Holy Mother of 
God ! ' Who was she ? Was she not merely a woman to 
whom God descended ? And what is the lesson she gives 
you ? Plainly this — that men should be as gods, and 



74 "Temporal Power' 

women as the mothers of gods ! For every true and brave 
man born into the world has God within him, — is made 
of God, and must return to God ! And every woman who 
gives birth to one such, true, brave man, has given a God- 
incarnated being to the world ! ' Sancta Dei Genitrix ! ' 
Be all as mothers of gods, O women ! Be as gods, O men ! 
Be as gods in courage, in truth, in wisdom, in freedom ! 
Suffer not devils to have command of you ! For devils 
there are, as there are gods ; — evil there is, as there is 
good. Fiends are born of women as gods are — and yet 
evil itself is of God, inasmuch as without God there can 
be neither evil nor good. Let us help God, we His chil- 
dren, to conquer evil by conquering it in ourselves — and 
by refusing to give it power over us ! So shall God show 
us all goodness, — all pity ! So shall He cease to afflict 
His children ; so will He cease to torture us with unde- 
served sorrows and devilish agonies, for which we are 
not to blame ! " 

He paused. The singing had ceased ; the children's 
procession had entered the Cathedral, and the doors still 
stood wide open. But the people remained outside, 
crowded in the square, and gathering momentarily in 
greater numbers. 

" Look you ! " cried Sergius Thord — " The building 
which is called the Sanctuary of God, stands open — why 
do you not all enter there ? Within are precious marbles, 
priceless pictures, jewels and relics — and a great altar 
raised up by the gifts of wicked dead kings, who by 
money sought to atone for their sins to the people. There 
are priests who fast and pray in public, and gratify all 
the lusts of appetite in private. There are poor and igno- 
rant women who believe whatsoever these priests tell 
them — all this you can see if you go inside yonder. Why 
do you not go ? Why do you remain with me ? " 

A faint murmur, like the rising ripple of an angry sea, 
rose from the crowd, but quickly died away again into 
silence. 

" Shall I tell you why you stay ? " went on Thord, — 

' Because you know I am your friend — and because you 

also know that the priests are yonr enemies ! Because 

you know that I tell yon the truth, and that the priests 

tell you lies ! Because you feel that all the promises made 



Sergius Thord 75 



to you of happiness in Heaven cannot explain away to 
your satisfaction the causes of your bitter suffering and 
poverty on earth ! Because you are gradually learning 
that the chief business of priestcraft is to deceive the 
people and keep them down, — down, always down in a 
state of wretched ignorance. Learn, learn all you can, 
my brothers — take the only good thing modern govern- 
ment gives you — Education ! Education is thrown at us 
like a bone thrown to a dog, half picked by others and 
barely nourishing — but take it, take it, friends, for in it 
you shall find the marrow of vengeance on your tyrants 
and oppressors ! The education of the masses means the 
downfall of false creeds, — the ruin of all false priests ! 
For it is only through the ignorance of the many that 
tyrannical dominion is given into the hands of the few ! 
Slavish submission to a corrupt government would be 
impossible if we all refused to be slaves. O friends, O 
brothers, throw off your chains ! Break down your 
prison doors ! Some good you have done already — be 
brave and strong to do more ! Press forward fearlessly 
and strive for liberty and justice! To-day we are told 
that the King has refused crown-lands to the Jesuits. 
Shall we be told to-morrow that the King has dismissed 
Carl Perousse from office? " 

A long wild shout told how this suggestion had gone 
straight home to the throng. 

"Shall we be told this, I ask? No! Ten thousand 
times no! The refusal of the King to grant the priests 
any wider dominion over us is merely an act of policy 
inspired by terror. The King is afraid ! He fears the 
people will revolt against the Church, and so takes part 
with them lest there should be trouble in the land, but he 
never seems to think there may be another kind of revolt 
against himself ! His refusal to concede more place for 
the accursed practice of Jesuitry is so far good ; but his 
dismissal of Perousse would be still better ! ' ; 

A perfect hurricane of applause from the people gave 
emphatic testimony to the truth of these words. 

'What is this man, Carl Perousse?" he went on - 
' A man of the people -- whose oaths were sworn to the 
people, — whom the people themselves brought into 
power because he promised to remain faithful to them! 



j 6 "Temporal Power" 

He is false, — a traitor and political coward ! A mere 
manufacturer of kitchen goods, who through our folly 
was returned to this country's senate ; — and through 
our still further credulity is now set in almost complete 
dominion over us. Well ! We have suffered and are 
suffering for our misplaced belief in him ; — the question 
is, how long shall we continue to suffer? How long are 
we to be governed by the schemes of Carl Perousse, the 
country's turncoat, — the trafficker in secret with Jew 
speculators ? It is for you to decide ! It is for you to 
work out your own salvation ! It is for you to throw off 
tyranny, and show yourselves free men of reason and 
capacity ! Just as the priests chant long prayers to cover 
their own iniquity, so do the men of government make 
long speeches to disguise their own corruption. You 
know you cannot believe their promises. Neither can you 
believe the press, for if this is not actually bought by 
Perousse, it is bribed. And you cannot trust the King ; 
for he is as a house divided against itself which must fall ! 
Slave of his own passions, and duped by women, what is 
he but a burden to the State? Justice and power should 
be on the side of kings, — but the days are come when 
self-interest and money can even buy a throne ! O men, 
O women, rouse up your hearts and minds to work for 
yourselves, to redress wrongs, — to save your country ! 
Rouse up in your thousands, and with your toil-worn 
hands pull down the pillars of iniquity and vice that over- 
shadow and darken the land ! Fierht against the insolent 
pride of wealth which strives to crush the poor ; rouse, 
rouse your hearts ! — open your eyes and see the evils 
which are gathering thick upon us ! — and like the light- 
nings pent up in yonder clouds, leap forth in flame and 
thunder, and clear the air ! " 

A burst of frantic acclamation from the crowd fol- 
lowed this wild harangue, and while the loud roar of 
voices yet echoed aloft, a band of armed police came into 
view, marching steadily up from the lower streets of the 
city. Sergius Thord smiled as he saw them approach. 

' Yonder comes the Law ! " he said — " A few poor 
constables, badly paid, who if they could find anything 
better to do than to interfere with their fellow-men would 
be glad of other occupation ! Before they come any 



Sergius Thord 77 

nearer, disperse yourselves, my friends, and so save them 
trouble! Go all to your homes and think on my words; 
— or enter the Cathedral and pray, those who will — but 
let this place be as empty of you in five minutes as though 
you never had been here ! Disperse, — and farewell ! 
We shall meet again ! " 

He leaped down from his position and disappeared, and 
in obedience to his command the crowd began to melt 
away with almost miraculous speed. Before the police 
could reach the centre of the square, there were only some 
thirty or forty people left, and these were quietly entering 
the Cathedral where the service for the saint whose feast 
day was being celebrated was now in full and solemn 
progress. 

For one instant, on the first step of the great porch, Ser- 
gius Thord and his companion, Johan Zegota, met, — 
but making a rapid sign to each other with the left hand, 
they as quickly separated, — Zegota to enter the Cathe- 
dral, Thord to walk rapidly down one of the narrowest 
and most unfrequented streets to the lower precincts of 
the city. 

The afternoon grew darker, and the weather more de- 
pressing, and by the time evening closed in, the rain was 
pouring persistently. The wind had ceased, and the 
thunder had long since died away, its force drenched out 
bv the weight of water in the clouds. The saint's day 
had ended badly for all concerned ; — many of the chil- 
dren who had taken part in the procession had been 
carried home by their parents wet through, all the pretty 
white frocks and veils of the little girls having been com- 
pletely soaked and spoilt by the unkind elements. A 
drearier night had seldom gloomed over this fair city of 
the southern sea, and down in the quarters of the poor, 
where men and women dwelt all huddled miserably in 
overcrowded tenements, and sin and starvation kept hide- 
ous company together, the streets presented as dark and 
forbidding an aspect as the heavy skies blackly brooding 
above. Here and there a gas-lamp flared its light upon 
the drawn little face of some child crouching asleep in a 
doorway, or on the pinched and painted features of some 
wretched outcast wending her way to the den she called 
' home.' The loud brutal laughter of drunken men was 



7 8 



"Temporal Power' 



mingled with the wailing- of half-starved and fretful 
infants, and the mean, squalid houses swarmed with the 
living spawn of every vice and lust in the calendar of 
crime. Deep in the heart of the so-called civilized, beauti- 
ful and luxurious city, this ' quarter of the poor,' the 
cancer of the social body, throbbed and ate its destructive 
way slowly but surely on, and Sergius Thord, who longed 
to "lay a sharp knife against it and cut it out, for the 
health of the whole community, was as powerless as 
Dante in hell to cure the evils he witnessed. Yet it was 
not too much to say that he would have given his life to 
ease another's pain, — as swiftly and as readily as he 
would have taken life without mercy, in the pursuit of 
what he imagined to be a just vengeance. 

"How vain, after all, is my labour!" he thought — 
" How helpless I am to move the self-centred powers of 
the Government and the Throne! Even were all these 
wretched multitudes to rise with me, and make havoc of 
the whole city, should we move so much as one step higher 
out of the Gehenna of poverty and crime? Almost I 
doubt it ! " 

He walked on past dark open doorways, where some of 
the miserable inhabitants of the dens within, stood to in- 
hale the fresh wet air of the rainy night. His tall form 
was familiar to most of them, — if they were considered 
as wolves of humanity in the sight of the law, they were 
all faithful dogs to him ; doing as he bade, running where 
he commanded, ready at any moment to assemble at any 
given point and burn and pillage, or rob and slay. There 
were no leaders in the political government, — but this 
one leader of the massed poor could, had he chosen, have 
burned clown the city. But he did not choose. He had a 
far-sighted, clear brain, — and though he had sworn to 
destroy abuses wherever he could find them, he moved 
always with caution ; and his plans were guided, not by 
impulse alone, but by earnest consideration for the fu- 
ture. He was marked out by the police as a dangerous 
Socialist ; and his movements were constantly tracked 
and dodged, but so far, he had done nothing which could 
empower his arrest. He was a free subject in a free 
country ; and provided he created no open disturbance 
he had as much liberty as a mission preacher to speak in 



Sergius Thord 79 

the streets to those who would stop to listen. He paused 
now in his walk at the door of one house more than com- 
monly dingy and tumble-down in appearance, where a 
man lounged outside in his shirt-sleeves, smoking. 
' Is all well with you, Matsin? " he asked gently. 

" All is well!" answered the man called Matsin, — 
'better than last night. The child is dead." 

"Dead!" echoed Thord, — "And the mother 

" Asleep ! " answered Matsin. ' I gave her opium to 
save her from madness. She was hungry, too — the 
opium fed her and made her forget ! " 

Thord pushed him gently aside, and went into the 
house. There on the floor lay the naked body of a dead 
child, so emaciated as to be almost a skeleton ; and across 
it, holding it close with one arm, was stretched a woman, 
half clothed, her face hidden in her unbound dark hair, 
breathing heavily in a drugged sleep. Great tears filled 
Thord 's eyes. 

" God exists ! " he said, — " And He can bear to look 
upon a sight like this! If I were God, I should hate my- 
self for letting such things be! " 

" Perhaps He does hate Himself ! " said the man Mat- 
sin, who had also come in, and now looked at the scene 
with sullen apathy — " That may be the cause of all our 
troubles ! I don't understand the ways of God ; or the 
ways of man either. I have done no harm. I married the 
woman — and we had that one child. I worked hard for 
both. I could not get sufficient money to keep us going; 
I did metal work — very well, so I was told. But they 
make it all abroad now by machinery — I cannot compete. 
They don't want new designs they say — the old will 
serve. I do anything now that I can — but it is difficult. 
You, too, — you starve with us! " 

' I am poor, if that is what you mean," said Thord, — 
" but take all I have to-night, Matsin — " and he emptied 
a small purse of silver coins into the man's hand. ' Bury 
the poor little innocent one ; - — and comfort the mother 
when she wakes. Comfort her ! — love her! — she needs 
love! I will be back again to-morrow." 

He strode away quickly, and Matsin remained at his 
door turning over the money in his hand. 

' He will sacrifice something he needs himself, for 



8o "Temporal Power" 

this," he muttered. " Yet that is the man they say the 
King- would hang if ever he got hold of him! By 
Heaven ! — the King himself should hang first ! " 

Meanwhile Sergius Thord went on, slackening his pace 
a little as he came near his own destination, a tall and 
narrow house at the end of the street, with a single light 
shining in one of the upper windows. There was a gas- 
lamp some few paces off, and under this stood a man 
reading, or trying to read, a newspaper by its flickering 
glare. Thord glanced at him with some suspicion — the 
stranger was too near his own lodging for his pleasure, 
for he was always on his guard against spies. Approach- 
ing more closely, he saw that though the man was shab- 
bily attired in a rough pilot suit, much the worse for wear, 
he nevertheless had the indefinable look and bearing of a 
gentleman. Acting on impulse, as he often did, Thord 
spoke to him. 

" A rough night for reading by lamplight, my friend! " 
he said. 

The man looked up, and smiled. 

' Yes, it is, rather! But I have only just got the even- 
ing paper." 

"Any special news?" 

' No — only this — " and he pointed to a bold headline 
— " The King z'crsus The Jesuits." 

" Ah ! " said Thord, and he studied the looks and bear- 
ing of the stranger with increasing curiosity. " What do 
you think of it ? " 

" What do I think? May I ask, without offence, what 
you think? " 

4 I think," said Thord slowly, " that the King has for 
once in his life done a wise thing." 

' For once in his life! ' " repeated the stranger dubi- 
ously  — " Then I presume your King is, generally speak- 
ing, a fool? " 

'If you are a subject of his — " began Thord 
slowly 

' Thank Heaven, I am not ! I am a mere wanderer — 
a literary loafer — a student of men and manners. I read 
books, and I write them too, — this will perhaps explain 
the eccentricity of my behaviour in trying to read under 
the lamplight in the rain ! " 



Sergius Thord 8 i 

He smiled again, and the smile was irresistibly pleasant. 
Something about him attracted Thord, and after a pause 
he asked : 

' If you are, as you say, a wanderer and a stranger in 
this town, can I be of service to you? " 

' You are very kind ! " said the other, turning a pair of 
deep, dark, grey meditative eyes upon him, — " And I am 
infinitely obliged to you for the suggestion. But I really 
want nothing. As a matter of fact, I am waiting for two 
friends of mine who have just gone into one of the foul 
and filthy habitations here, to see what they can do for a 
suddenly bereaved family. The husband and father fell 
dead in the street before our eyes, — and those who picked 
him up said he was drunk, but it turned out that he was 
merely starved, — merely! — you understand? Merely 
starved ! We found his home, — and the poor widow is 
wailing and weeping, and the children are crying for food. 
I confess myself quite unable to bear the sight, and so I 
have sent all the money I had about me to help them for 
to-night at least. By my faith, they are most hopelessly, 
incurably miserable! " 

' Their lot is exceedingly common in these quarters," 
said Thord, sorrowfully. " Day after day, night after 
night, men, women and children toil, suffer and die here 
without ever knowing what it is to have one hour of free 
fresh air, one day of rest and joy! Yet this is a great 
city, — and we live in a civilized country ! ' : He smiled 
bitterly, then added — " You have done a good action ; 
and you need no thanks, or I would thank you ; for my 
life's work lies among these wretched poor, and I am 
familiar with their tragic histories. Good-night ! " 

' Pray do not go ! ' said the stranger suddenly — 

' I should like to talk to you a little longer, if you 

have no objection. Is there not some place near, where 

we can go out of this rain and have a glass of wine 

together? " 

Sergius Thord stood irresolute, — gazing at him, half 
in liking, half in distrust. 

" Sir," he said at last, " I do not know you — and you 
do not know me. If I told you my name, you would 
probably not seek my company ! " 

'Will you tell it?" suggested the stranger cheerfully 

6 



82 "Temporal Power' 

— " Mine is at your service — Pasquin Lerov. ^ I fear my 
fame as an author has not reached your ears ! " 

Thord shook his head. 

" No. I have never heard of you. And probably you 
have never heard of me. My name is Sergius Thord." 

" Sergius Thord ! " echoed the stranger ; " Now that 
is truly remarkable! It is a happy coincidence that we 
should' have met to-night. I have just seen your name in 
this verv paper which you caught me reading — see ! — 
the next heading under that concerning the King and 
the Jesuits — ' Thord's Rabble.' Are not you that same 
Thord?" 

" I am ! " said Thord proudly, his eyes shining as he 
took the paper and perused quickly the few flashy lines 
which described the crowd outside the Cathedral that 
afternoon, and set him down as a crazy Socialist, and dis- 
turber of the peace, " And the ' rabble ' as this scribbling 
fool calls it, is the greater part of this city's population. 
The King may intimidate his Court ; but I, Sergius Thord, 
with my ' rabble ' can intimidate both Court and King! " 

He drew himself up to his full majestic height — a 
noble figure of a man with his fine heroic head and eagle- 
like glance of eye, — and he who had called himself Pas- 
quin Leroy, suddenly held out his hand. 

" Let me see more of you, Sergius Thord ! " he said, — 
" You are the very man' for me ! They say in this paper 
that you spoke to a great multitude outside the Cathedral 
this afternoon, and interfered with the religious proces- 
sion ; they also say you are the head of a Society called 
the Revolutionary Committee ; — now let me work for 
you in some department of that business ! " 

" Let you work for me?" echoed Thord astonished — 
" But how ? " 

" In this way — " replied the other — " I write Social- 
istic works, — and for this cause have been expelled from 
my native home and surroundings. I have a little money 
— and some influence, — and I will devote both to your 
Cause. Will you take me, and trust me? " 

Thord caught his extended hand, and looked at him 
with a kind of fierce intentness. 

"You mean it?" he said in thrilling tones — " You 
mean it positively and truly ? " 



Sergius Thord 83 

' Positively and truly ! " said Leroy — " If you are 
working to remedy the frightful evils abounding in this 
wretched quarter of the poor, I will help you ! If you 
are striving to destroy rank abuses, I ask nothing better 
than to employ my pen in your service. I will get work 
on the press here — I will do all I can to aid your pur- 
poses and carry out your intentions. I have no master, 
so am free to do as I like ; and I will devote myself to 
your service so long as you think I can be of any use 
to you.'' 

' Wait ! " said Thord — "You must not be carried away 
by a sudden generous impulse, simply because you have 
witnessed one scene of the continual misery that is going 
on here daily. To belong to our Committee means much 
more than you at present realize, and involves an oath 
which you may not be willing to take! And what of 
the friends you spoke of ? " 

' They will do what I do," replied Leroy — " They 
share my fortunes — likewise my opinions ; — and here 
they come, — so they can speak for themselves," this, as 
two men emerged from a dark street on the left, and 
came full into the lamplight's flare — "Axel Regor, Max 
Graub — come hither ! Fortune has singularly favoured 
us to-night ! Let me present to you my friend — " and 
he emphasized the word, " Sergius Thord! " 

Both men started ever so slightly as the introduction 
was performed, and Thord looked at them with fresh 
touches of suspicion here and there lurking i n his mind. 
But he was brave ; and having once proceeded in a given 
direction was not in the habit of turning back. He there- 
fore saluted both the new-comers with grave courtesv. 

' I trust you! " he then said curtly to Leroy, "and I 
think you will not betray my trust. If you do, it will be 
the worse for you ! " 

His lips parted in a slight sinister smile, and the two 
who were respectively called Axel Regor and Max Graub, 
exchanged anxious glances. But Leroy showed no sign 
of hesitation or alarm. 

' Your warning is quite unnecessary, Sergius Thord," 
he said, — "I pledge you my word with my friendship — 
and my word is my bond ! I will also hold myself respon- 
sible for my companions." 



8 + 



" Temporal Power 



5» 



Thord bent his head in silent recognition of this 
assurance. 

" Then follow me, if such is your desire," he said — 
" Remember, there is yet time to go in another direction, 
and to see me no more ; but if you once do cast in your lot 
with mine the tie between us is indissoluble ! " 

He paused, as though expecting some recoil or hesita- 
tion on the part of those to whom he made this statement, 
but none came. He therefore strode on, and they fol- 
lowed, till arriving at the door of the tall, narrow house, 
where the light in the highest window gleamed like a 
signal, he opened it with a small key and entered, holding 
it back courteously for his three new companions to enter 
with him. They did so, and he closed the door. At the 
same moment the light was extinguished in the upper 
window, and the outside of the house became a mere wall 
of dense blackness in the driving rain. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE IDEALISTS 

UP a long uncarpeted flight of stairs, and into a large 
lofty room on the second storey, Thord led the way 
for his newly-fonnd disciples to follow. It was very dark, 
and they had to feel the steps as they went, their guide 
offering neither explanation nor apology for the Cim- 
merian shades of gloom. Stumbling on hands and knees 
they spoke not a word ; though once Max Graub uttered 
something like an oath in rough German ; but a whisper 
from Leroy rebuked and silenced him, and they pursued 
their difficult ascent until, arriving at the room mentioned, 
they found themselves in the company of about fifteen to 
twenty men, all sitting round a table under two flaring 
billiard lamps, suspended crookedly from the ceiling. As 
Thord entered, these men all rose, and gave him an ex- 
pressive sign of greeting with the left hand, the same kind 
of gesture which had passed between him and Zegota on 
the Cathedral steps in the morning. Zegota himself was 
one of their number. There was also another personage 
in the room who did not rise, and who gave no sign what- 
ever. This was a woman, who sat in the embrasure of a 
closed and shuttered window with her back to the whole 
company. It was impossible to say whether she was 
young or old, plain or handsome, for she was enveloped 
in a long black cloak which draped her from shoulder to 
heel. All that could be distinguished of her was the white 
nape of her neck, and a great twist of dead gold hair. 
Her presence awakened the liveliest interest in Pasquin 
Leroy, who found it impossible to avoid nudging his com- 
panions, and whispering — 

" A woman ! By Heaven, this drama becomes inter- 
esting! " 

But Axel Regor and Max Graub were seemingly not 
disposed to levity, and they offered no response to their 



86 "Temporal Power" 

lighter minded comrade beyond vague hasty side-looks of 
alarm, which appeared to amuse him to an extent that 
threatened to go beyond the limits of caution. Sergius 
Thord, however, saw nothing of their interchange of 
glances for the moment, — he had other business to settle. 
Addressing himself at once to the men assembled, he 
said. — 

' Friends and brothers ! I bring you three new asso- 
ciates ! I have not sought them ; they have sought me. 
On their own heads be their destinies ! They offer their 
names to the Revolutionary Committee, and their services 
to our Cause ! " 

A low murmur of approbation from the company 
greeted this announcement. Johan Zegota advanced a 
little in front of all the rest. 

" Every man is welcome to serve us who will serve us 
faithfully," he said. ' But who are these new comrades, 
Sergius Thord ? What are they ? " 

1 That they must declare for themselves," said Thord, 
taking a chair at the head of the table which was evi- 
dently his accustomed place — " Put them through their 
examination ! " 

He seated himself with the air of a king, his whole as- 
pect betokening an authority that would not be trifled 
with or gainsaid. 

" Gott in Himmel ! " 

This exclamation burst suddenly from the lips of the 
man called Max Graub. 

'What ails you?" said Thord, turning full upon him 
his glittering eyes that flashed ferocity from under their 
shaggy brows — " Are you afraid ? " 

"Afraid? Not I!" protested Graub — "But, gentle- 
men, think a moment ! You speak of putting us — myself 
and my friends — through an examination ! Why should 
you examine us ? We are three poor adventurers — what 
can we have to tell ? " 

' Much, I should imagine ! " retorted Zegota — " Ad- 
venturers are not such without adventures ! Your white 
hairs testify to some experience of life." 

' My white hairs — my white hairs!" exclaimed Graub, 
when a touch from Axel Regor apparently recalled some- 
thing to his mind for he began to laugh — " True, gen- 



The Idealists 87 

tlemen ! Very true ! I had forgotten ! I have had some 
adventures and some experienees ! My good friend there, 
Pasquin Leroy, has also had adventures and experiences, 
— so have we all ! Myself, I am a poor German, grown 
old in the service of a bad king ! 1 have been kicked out 
of that service — Ach ! — just for telling the truth ; which 
is very much the end of all truth telling, is it not? Tell 
lies, — and kings will reward you and make you rich and 
great ! — but tell truth, and see what the kings will give 
you for it ! Kicks, and no halfpence ! Pardon ! I inter- 
rupt this so pleasant meeting ! " 

All the men present looked at him curiously, but said 
nothing in response to his outburst. Johan Zegota, seat- 
ing himself next to Sergius Thord, opened a large parch- 
ment volume that lay on the table, and taking up a pen 
addressed himself to Thord, saying — 

" Will you ask the questions, or shall I ? " 

" You, by all means ! Proceed in the usual manner." 

Whereupon Zegota began. — 

" Stand forth, comrades ! " 

The three strangers advanced. 

" Your names? Each one answer separately, please! ' : 

" Pasquin Leroy ! " 

" Axel Regor ! " 

" Max Graub ! " 

" Of what nationality, Pasquin Leroy? " 

Leroy smiled. " Truly I claim none ! " he said ; " I was 
born a slave." 

" A slave ! " 

The words were repeated in tones of astonishment 
round the room. 

" Why, yes, a slave ! " repeated Leroy quietly. ' You 
have heard of black slaves, — have you not lieard of white 
ones too? There are countries still, where men purchase 
other men of their own blood and colour ; — tyrannous 
governments, which force such men to work for them, 
chained to one particular place till they die. I am one of 
those, — though escaped for the present. You can ask 
me more of my country if you will ; but a slave has no 
country save that of his master. If you care at all for my 
services, you will spare me further examination on this 
subject ! " 



88 "Temporal Power' 

Zegota looked enquiringly at Thord. 

" We will pass that question," said the latter, in a low 
tone. 

Zegota resumed — 

" You, Axel Regor — are you a slave too? " 

Axel Regor smiled languidly. 

" No! I am what is called a free-born subject of the 
realm. I do what I like, though not always how I like, or 
when I like ! " 

"And you, Max Graub?" 

"German!" said that individual firmly; "German to 
the backbone — Socialist to the soul ! — and an enemy of all 
ruling sovereigns, — particularly the one that rules me! " 

Thord smiled darkly. 

"If you feel inclined to jest, Max Graub, I must warn 
you that jesting is not suited to the immediate moment." 

" Jesting ! I never was more in earnest in my life ! " 
declared Graub, — " Why have I left my native country? 
Merely because it is governed by Kaiser Wilhelm ! ,: 

Thord smiled again. 

" The subject of nationality seems to excite all three of 
you," he said, " and though we ask you the question pro 
forma, it is not absolutely necessary that we should know 
from whence you come. We require your names, and 
your oath of fealty ; but before binding yourselves, I will 
read you our laws, and the rules of membership for this 
societv ; rules to which, if you join us, you are expected 
to conform." 

" Suppose, for the sake of argument," said Pasquin 
Leroy, — " that after hearing the rules we found it wisest 
to draw back? Suppose my friends, — if not myself, — 
were disinclined to join your Society; — what would 
happen ? " 

As he asked the question a curious silence fell upon the 
company, and all eyes were turned upon the speaker. 
There was a dead pause for a moment, and then Thord 
replied slowly and with emphasis : — 

" Nothing would happen save this, — that you would 
be bound by a solemn oath never to reveal what you had 
heard or seen here to-night, and that you would from 
henceforth be tracked every day and hour of your life by 
those who would take care that you kept your oath ! " 



The Idealists 89 

"You see!" exclaimed Axel Regor excitedly, "There 



is danger 

' Danger? Of what? " asked Pasquin Leroy coldly ; — 
" Of death ? Each one of us, and all three of us would 
fully merit it, if we broke our word ! Gentlemen both ! " 
— and he addressed his two companions, "If you fear 
any harm may come to yourselves through joining this 
society, pray withdraw while there is yet time ! My own 
mind is made up ; I intend to become familiar with the 
work of the Revolutionary Committee, and to aid its 
cause by my personal service ! " 

A loud murmur of applause came from the company. 
Axel Regor and Max Graub glanced at Leroy, and saw 
in his face that his decision was unalterable. 

' Then we will work for the Cause, also," said Max 
Graub resignedly. ' What you determine upon, we shall 
do, shall we not, Axel? " 

Axel Regor gave a brief assent. 

Sergius Thord looked at them all straightly and keenly. 

" You have finally decided ? " 

' We have! " replied Leroy. " We will enrol ourselves 
as your associates at once." 

Whereupon Johan Zegota rose from his place, and un- 
locking an iron safe which stood in one corner of the 
room, took out a roll of parchment and handed it to 
Thord, who, unfolding it, read in a clear though low 
voice the following : — 

" We, the Revolutionary Committee, are organized as a 
Brotherhood, bound by all the ties of life, death, and 
our common humanity, to destroy the abuses, and 
redress the evils, which self-seeking and tyrannous 
Governments impose upon the suffering poor. 
" Firstly: We bind ourselves to resist all such laws as 
may in any degree interfere with the reasonable, intel- 
lectual, and spiritual freedom of man or woman. 

" Secondly: We swear to agitate against all forms of 
undue and excessive taxation, which, while scarcely af- 
fecting the rich, make life more difficult and unendur- 
able to the poor. 

' Thirdly: We protest against the domination of priest- 
craft, and the secret methods which are employed by 



90 "Temporal Power" 

the Church to obtain undue influence in Governmental 
matters. 

"Fourthly: We are determined to stand firmly against 
the entrance of foreign competitors in the country's trade 
and business. All heads and ruling companies of firms 
employing foreigners instead of native workmen, are 
marked out by us as traitors, and are reserved for 
traitors' punishment. 

" Fifthly: We are sworn to exterminate the existing 
worthless Government, and to replace it by a working 
body of capable and intelligent men, elected by the uni- 
versal vote of the entire country. Such elections must 
take place freely and openly, and no secret influence shall 
be used to return any one person or party to power. 
Those attempting to sway opinion by bribery and cor- 
ruption, will be named to the public, and exposed to dis- 
grace and possible death. 

" Sixthly: We are resolved to unmask to the public the 
duplicity, treachery, and self-interested motives of the 
Secretary of State, Carl Perousse. 

" Seventhly: We are sworn to bring about such changes 
as shall elevate a Republic to supreme power, and for 
this purpose are solemnly pledged to destroy the present 
Monarchy." 

' These," said Sergius Thord, " are the principal ob- 
jects of our Society's work. There are other points to 
be considered, but these are sufficient for the present. I 
will now read the rules, which each member of our 
Brotherhood must follow if he would serve us faithfully." 

He turned over another leaf of the parchment scroll he 
held, and continued, reading very slowly and distinctly : 

"Rule i. — Each member of the Revolutionary Com- 
mittee shall swear fidelity to the Cause, and pledge him- 
self to maintain inviolable secrecy on all matters con- 
nected with his membership and his work for the Society. 

" Rule 2. — No member shall track, follow, or enquire 
into the movements of any other member. 

' Rule 3. — Once in every month all members are ex- 
pected to meet together at a given place, decided upon by 



The Idealists 91 

the Chief of the Committee at the previous meeting, when 
business will be discussed, and lots drawn, to determine 
the choice of such members as may be fitted to perform 
such business. 

" Rule 4. — No member shall be bound to give his ad- 
dress, or to state where he travels, or when or how he 
goes, as in all respects save that of his membership he is 
a free man. 

" Rule 5. — Tn this same respect of his membership, he 
is bound to appear, or to otherwise report himself once a 
month at the meeting of the Committee. Should he fail 
to do so either by person, or by letter satisfactorily ex- 
plaining his absence, he will be judged as a traitor, and 
dealt with accordingly. 

" Rule 6. — In the event of any member being selected 
to perform any deed involving personal danger or loss 
to himself, the rest of the members are pledged to shelter 
him from the consequences of his act, and to provide him 
with all the necessaries of life, till his escape from harm 
is ensured and his safety guaranteed." 

' You have heard all now," said Thord, as he laid aside 
the parchment scroll ; " Are you still willing to take the 
oath ? " 

' Entirely so ! " rejoined Pasquin Leroy cheerfully ; 
" You have but to administer it." 

Here a man, who had been sitting in a dark corner 
apart from the table, with his head buried in his hands, 
suddenly looked up, showing a thin, fine, eager face, a 
pair of wild eyes, and a tumbled mass of dark curly hair, 
plentifully sprinkled with grey. 

" Ah ! " he cried, — " Now comes the tragic moment, 
when the spectators hold their breath, and the blue flame 
is turned on, and the man manages the lime-light so that 
its radiance shall fall on the face of the chief actor — or 
Actress ! And the bassoons and 'cellos grumble inaudible 
nothings to the big drum ! Administer the oath, Sergius 
Thord ! " 

A smile went the round of the company. 

" Have you only just wakened up from sleep, Paul 
Zouche ? " asked Zegota. 



92 "Temporal Power 



" I never sleep," answered Zouche, pushing his hair 
back from his forehead ; — " Unless sleep compels me, 
by force, to yield to its coarse and commonplace persua- 
sion. To lie down in a shirt and snore the hours away! 
Faugh ! Can anything be more gross or vulgar ! Time 
flies so quickly, and life is so short, that I cannot afford 
to waste any moment in such stupid unconsciousness. I 
can drink wine, make love, and kill rascals — all these 
occupations are much more interesting than sleeping. 
Come, Sergius! Play the great trick of the evening! 
Administer the oath ! " 

A frowning line puckered Thord's brows, but the ex- 
pression of vexation was but momentary. Turning to 
Leroy again he said : 

" You are quite ready? " 

" Quite," replied Leroy. 

"And your friends ?" 

Leroy smiled. " They are ready also ! " 

There followed a pause. Then Thord called in a clear 
low tone — 

" Lotys ! " 

The woman sitting 1 in the embrasure of the window 
rose, and turning round fully confronted all the men. 
Her black cloak falling back on either side, disclosed her 
figure robed in dead white, with a scarlet sash binding her 
waist. Her face, pale and serene, was not beautiful ; yet 
beauty was suggested in every feature. Her eyes seemed 
to be half closed in a drooping indifference under the 
white lids, which were fringed heavily with dark gold 
lashes. A sculptor might have said, that whatever claim 
to beauty she had was contained in the proud poise of her 
throat, and the bounteous curve of her bosom, but though 
in a manner startled by her appearance, the three men 
who had chanced upon this night's adventure were singu- 
larly disappointed in it. They had somehow expected 
that when that mysterious cloaked feminine figure turned 
round, a vision of dazzling beauty would be disclosed ; 
and at the first glance there was nothing whatever about 
this woman that seemed particularly worthy of note. She 
was not young or old — possibly between twenty-eight or 
thirty. She was not tall or short ; she was merely of the 
usual medium height, — so that altogether she was one 



The Idealists 93 



of those provoking individuals, who not seldom deceive 
the eye at first sight by those ordinary looks which veil 
an extraordinary personality. 

She stood like an automatic figure, rigid and silent, — 
till Sergius Thord signed to his three new associates to 
advance. Then with a movement, rapid as a flash of 
lightning, she suddenly drew a dagger from her scarlet 
girdle, and held it out to them. Nerved as he was to meet 
danger, Pasquin Leroy recoiled slightly, while his two 
companions started as if to defend him. As she saw this, 
the woman raised her drooping eyelids, and a pair of 
wonderful eyes shone forth, dark blue as iris-flowers, 
while a faint scornful smile lifted the corners of her 
mouth. But she said nothing. 

"There is no cause to fear!" said Sergius Thord, 
glancing with a touch of derision in his looks from one 
to the other, " Lotys is the witness of all our vows ! 
Swear now after me upon this drawn dagger which she 
holds, — lay your right hands here upon the blade ! " 

Thus adjured, Pasquin Leroy approached, and placed 
his right hand upon the shining steel. 

' I swear in the name of God, and in the presence of 
Lotys. that I will faithfully work for the Cause of the * 
Revolutionary Committee, — and that I will adhere to its 
rules and obey its commands, till all shall be done that is 
destined to be done ! And may the death I deserve come 
suddenly upon me if ever I break my vow ! " 

Slowly and emphatically Pasquin Leroy repeated this 
formula after Sergius Thord, and his two companions did 
the same, though perhaps less audibly. This ceremony 
performed, the woman called Lotys looked at them stead- 
fastly, and the smile that played on her lips changed from 
scorn to sweetness. The dark blue iris-coloured eyes 
deepened in lustre, and flashed brilliantly from under their 
drowsy lids, — a rosy flush tinted the clear paleness of 
her skin, and like a statue warming to life she became 
suddenly beautiful. 

' You have sworn bravely ! " she said, in a low thrilling 
voice. " Now sign and seal ! " 

As she spoke she lifted her bare left arm, and pricked 
it with the point of the dagger. A round, full drop of 
blood like a great ruby welled up on the white skin. All 



94 "Temporal Power 



the men had risen from their places, and were gathered 
about her ; — this ' taking of the oath ' was evidently the 
dramatic event of their existence as a community. 

" The pen, Sergius ! " she said. 

Thord approached with a white unused quill, and a 
vellum scroll on which the names of all the members of 
the Society were written in ominous red. He handed 
these writing implements to Leroy. 

" Dip your pen here," said Lotys, pointing to the crim- 
son drop on her arm, and eyeing him still with the same 
half-sweet, half-doubting smile — "But when the quill 
is full, beware that you write no treachery ! " 

For one second Leroy appeared to hesitate. He was 
singularly unnerved by the glances of those dark blue 
eyes, which like searchlights seemed to penetrate into 
every nook and cranny of his soul. But his recklessness 
and love of adventure having led him so far, it was now 
too late to retract or to reconsider the risks he might pos- 
sibly be running. He therefore took the quill and dipped 
it into the crimson drop that welled from that soft white 
flesh. 

' This is the strangest ink I have ever used ! " he said 
lightly, — - " but — at your command, Madame ! ' 3 

" At my command," rejoined Lotys, " your use of it 
shall make your oath indelible ! " 

He smiled, and wrote his name boldly ' Pasquin Leroy ' 
and held out the pen for his companions to follow his 
example. 

" Ach Gott ! " exclaimed Max Graub, as he dipped the 
pen anew into the vital fluid from a woman's veins — "I 
write my name, Madame, in words of life, thanks to your 
condescension ! " 

1 True ! "' she answered, — " And only by your own 
falsehood can you change them into words of death ! " 

Signing his name ' Max Graub,' he looked up and met 
her searching gaze. Something there was in the magnetic 
depth of her eyes that strangely embarrassed him, for he 
stepped back hastily as though intimidated. Axel Regor 
took the pen from his hand, and wrote his name, or 
rather scrawled it carelessly, almost impatiently, — show- 
ing neither hesitation nor repugnance to this unusual 
method of subscribing a document. 



The Idealists 95 

" Yon are acting on compulsion ! " said Lotys, address- 
ing him in a low tone; " Yonr compliance is in obedience 
to some other command than ours! And- — — yon will 
do well to remain obedient ! " 

Axel Regor gave her an amazed glance, — but she paid 
no heed to it, and binding her arm with her kerchief, let 
her long white sleeve fall over it. 

' So, yon are enrolled among the sons of my blood ! " 
she said, "So are you bound to me and mine!' She 
moved to the further end of the table and stood there 
looking round upon them all. Again the slow, sweet, 
half-disdainfnl smile irradiated her features. ' Well, 
children! — what else remains to do? What next? What 
next can there be but drink — smoke — talk ! Man's 
three most cherished amusements ! " 

She sat down, throwing back her heavy cloak on either 
side of her. Her hair had come partly unbound, and 
noticing a tress of it falling on her shoulder, she drew out 
the comb and let it fall altogether in a mass of gold- 
brown, like the tint of a dull autumn leaf, flecked here 
and there with amber. Catching it dexterously in one 
hand, she twisted it up again in a loose knot, thrusting 
the comb carelessly through. 

' Drink — smoke — talk, Sergius ! " she repeated, still 
smiling; " Shall I ring?" 

Sergius Thord stood looking at her irresolutely, with the 
half-angry, half-pleading expression of a chidden child. 

' As you please, Lotys ! " he answered. Whereupon 
she pressed an invisible spring under the table, which set 
a bell ringing in some lower quarter of the house. 

' Pasquin Leroy, Axel Regor, Max Graub! " she said 
— " Take your places for to-night beside me — new- 
comers are always thus distinguished ! And all of you sit 
down ! You are grouped at present like hungry wolves 
waiting to spring. But you are not really hungry, except 
for something which is not food ! And you are not wait- 
ing for anything except for permission to talk ! I give it 
to you — talk, children ! Talk yourselves hoarse ! It will 
do you good ! And I will personate supreme wisdom by 
listening to you in silence!" 

A kind of shamed laugh went round the company, — 
theu followed the scuffling of feet, and grating of chairs 



96 "Temporal Power' 

against the floor, and presently the table was completely 
surrounded, the men sitting close up together, and Sergius 
Thord occupying his place at their head. 

When they were all seated, they formed a striking 
assembly of distinctly marked personalities. There were 
very few mean types among them, and the stupid, half- 
vague and languid expression of the modern loafer or ' do 
nothing ' creature, who just for lack of useful work plots 
mischief, was not to be seen on any of their countenances. 
A certain moroseness and melancholy seemed to brood 
like a delayed storm among them, and to cloud the very 
atmosphere they breathed, but apart from this, intellectu- 
ality was the dominant spirit suggested by their outward 
looks and bearing. Plebeian faces and vulgar manners 
are, unfortunately, not rare in representative gatherings 
of men whose opinions are allowed to sway the destinies 
of nations, and it was strange to see a group of indi- 
viduals who were sworn to upset existing law and gov- 
ernment so distinguished by refined and even noble 
appearance. Their clothes were shabby, — their aspect 
certainly betokened long suffering and contention with 
want and poverty, but they were, taken all together, a set 
of men who, if they had been members of a recognized 
parliament or senate, would have presented a fine collec- 
tion of capable heads to an observant painter. As soon 
as they were gathered round the table under the presi- 
dency of Sergius Thord at one end, and the tranquil toler- 
ance of the mysterious Lotys at the other, they broke 
through the silence and reserve which they had carefully 
maintained till their three new comrades had been irre- 
coverably enrolled among them, and conversation went 
on briskly. The topic of ' The King versus the Jesuits,' 
was one of the first they touched upon, Sergius Thord 
relating for the benefit of all his associates, how he had 
found Pasquin Leroy reading by lamplight the news- 
paper which reported his Majesty's refusal to grant any 
portion of Crown lands to the priests, and which also 
spoke of ' Thord's Rabble.' 

"Here is the paper!" said Leroy, as he heard the 
narration ; " Whoever likes to keep it can do so, as a 
memento of my introduction to this Society ! " 

And he tossed it lightly on the table. 



The Idealists 97 

" Good ! " exclaimed Paul Zonchc ; " Give it to me, and 
I will cherish it as a kind of birthday card ! What a rag 
it is ! 'Thord's Rabble' eh ! Sergius, what have you been 
doing- that this little flea of an editor should jump out of 
his ink-pot and bite you? Does he hurt much? " 

"Hurt!" Thord laughed aloud. 'If I had money 
enough to pay the man ten golden coins a week where his 
present employer gives him five, he would dance to any 
tune I whistled ! " 

" Is that so ? " asked Leroy, with interest. 

"Do you not know that it is so?" rejoined Thord. 
" You tell me you write Socialistic works — you should 
know something concerning the press." 

" Ah ! " said Max Graub, nodding his head sagely. 
' He does know much, but not all ! It would need more 
penetration than even he possesses, to know all ! Alas ! — 
my friend was never a popular writer ! " 

" Like myself ! " exclaimed Zouche, " I am not popular, 
and I never shall be. But I know how to make myself 
reputed as a great genius, and all the very respectable 
literary men are beginning to recognize me as such. Do 
you know why? " 

' Because you drink more than is good for you, my poor 
Zouche ! " said Lotys tranquilly ; " That is one reason ! " 

" Hear her! " cried Zouche, — " Does she not always, 
like the Sphinx, propound enigmas ! Lotys, — little, dom- 
ineering Lotys, why in the name of Heaven should I 
secure recognition as a poet, through drunkenness ? " 

"Because your vice kills your genius," said Lotys; 
' Therefore you are quite safe ! If you were less of a 
scamp you would be a great man, — perhaps the greatest 
in the country ! That would never do ! Your rivals 
would never forgive you ! But you are a hopeless rascal, 
incapable of winning much honour ; and so you are com- 
passionately recognized as somebody who might do some- 
thing if he only would — that is all, my Zouche ! You are 
an excellent after-dinner topic with those who are more 
successful than yourself ; and that is the only fame you 
will ever win, believe me ! ' : 

" Now by all the gods and goddesses! " cried Paul — 
" I do protest — — " 

" After supper, Zouche ! " interrupted Lotys, as the 

7 



98 "Temporal Power' 

door of the room opened, and a man entered, bearing a 
tray loaded with various eatables, jugs of beer, and bottles 
of spirituous liquors, — " Protest as much as you like 
then, — but not just now ! " 

And with quick, deft hands she helped to set the board. 
None of the men offered to assist her, and Leroy watching 
her, felt a sudden sense of annoyance that this woman 
should seem, even for a moment, to be in the position of a 
servant to them all. 

" Can I do nothing for you? " he said, in a low tone — 
" Why should you wait upon us? " 

' Why indeed ! " she answered — " Except that you are 
all by nature awkward, and do not know how to wait 
properly upon yourselves ! " 

Her eyes had a gleam of mischievous mockery in them ; 
and Leroy was conscious of an irritation which he could 
scarcely explain to himself. Decidedly, he thought, this 
Lotys was an unpleasant woman. She was ' extremely 
plain,' so he mentally declared, in a kind of inward huff, 
- though he was bound to concede that now and then 
she had a very beautiful, almost inspired expression. 
After all, why should she not set out jugs and bottles, and 
loaves of bread, and hunks of ham and cheese before 
these men ? She was probably in their pay ! Scarcely 
had this idea flashed across his mind than he was ashamed 
of it. This Lotys, whoever she might actually be, was no 
paid hireling ; there was something in her every look and 
action that set her high above any suspicion that she would 
accept the part of a salaried comedienne in the Socialist 
farce. Annoyed with himself, though he knew not why, 
he turned his gaze from her to the man who had brought 
in the supper, — a hunchback, who, notwithstanding his 
deformity, was powerfully built, and of a countenance 
which, marked as it was with the drawn pathetic look of 
long-continued physical suffering, was undeniably hand- 
some. His large brown eyes, like those of a faithful dog, 
followed every movement of Lotys with anxious and 
wistful affection, and Leroy, noticing this, began to won- 
der whether she was his wife or daughter? Or was she 
related in either of these ways to Sergius Thord? His 
reflections were interrupted by a slight touch from Max 
Graub who was seated next to him. 



The Idealists 99 

" Will you drink with these fellows ? " said Graub, in a 
cautions whisper — " Expect to be ill, if you do ! " 

" You shall prescribe for me! " answered Leroy in the 
same low tone — "I faithfully promise to call in your 
assistance! But drink with them I must, and will! " 

Graub g'ave a short sigh and a shrug, and said no more. 
The hunchback was going the round of the table, filling 
tall glasses with light Bavarian beer. 

" Where is the little Pecpiita? " asked Zouche, address- 
ing him — " Have you sent her to bed already, Sholto? ' 

Sholto looked timorously round till he met the 
bright reassuring glance of Lotys, and then he replied 
hesitatingly — 

" Yes ! — no I have not sent the little one to bed ; 

— she returned from her work at the theatre, tired out — 
quite tired out, poor child ! She is asleep now." 

" Ha ha ! A few years more, and she will not sleep ! " 
said Zouche — " Once in her teens " 

" Once in her teens, she leaves the theatre and comes 
to me," said Lotys, " And you will see very little of her, 
Zouche, and you will know less ! That will do, Sholto ! 
Good-night ! " 

"Good-night!'' returned the hunchback — "I thank 
you, Madame! — I thank you, gentlemen! ' 

And with a slight salutation, not devoid of grace, he 
left the room. 

Zouche was sulky, and pushing aside his glass of beer, 
poured out for himself some strong spirit from a bottle 
instead. 

" You do not favour me to-night, Lotys," he said irri- 
tably — " You interrupt and cross me in everything I 
say ! 

" Is it not a woman's business to interrupt and cross a 
man?" queried Lotys, with a laugh, — "As I have told 
you before, Zouche, I will not have Sholto worried ! v 

" Who worries him? " grumbled Zouche — " Not I ! '' 

" Yes, you ! — you worry him on his most sensitive 
point — his daughter," said Lotys ; — " Why can you not 
leave the child alone? Sholto is an Englishman," she 
explained, turning to Pasquin Leroy and his companions 
- " His history is a strange one enough. He is the right- 
ful heir to a large estate in England, but he was born 



ioo "Temporal Power' 

deformed. His father hated him, and preferred the 
second son, who was straight and handsome. So Sholto 
disappeared." 

' Disappeared ! ' : echoed Leroy — " You mean " 

" I mean that he left his father's house one morning, 
and never returned. The clothes he wore were found 
floating in the river near by, and it was concluded that he 
had been drowned while bathing. The second son, there- 
fore, inherited the property ; and poor Sholto was scarcely 
missed ; certainly not mourned. Meanwhile he went 
away, and got on board a Spanish trading boat bound for 
Cadiz. At Cadiz he found work, and also something that 
sweetened work — love ! He married a pretty Spanish 
girl who adored him, and — as often happens when lovers 
rejoice too much in their love — she died after a year's 
happiness. Sholto is all alone in the world with the little 
child his Spanish wife left him, Pequita. She is only 
eleven years old, but her gift of dancing is marvellous, 
and she gets employment at one of the cheap theatres 
here. If an influential manager could see her perform- 
ance, she might coin money." 

' The influential manager would probably cheat her," 
said Zouche, — " Things are best left alone. Sholto is 
content ! " 

" Are you content? " asked Johan Zegota, helping him- 
self from the bottle that stood near him. 

' I ? Why, no ! I should not be here if I were ! " 

" Discontent, then, is your chief bond of union ? " said 
Axel Regor, beginning to take part in the conversation. 

' It is the very knot that ties us all together ! " said 
Zouche with enthusiasm. — " Discontent is the mother of 
progress ! Adam was discontented with the garden of 
Eden, — and found a whole world outside its gates ! " 

' He took Eve with him to keep up the sickness of dis- 
satisfaction," said Zegota ; ' There would certainly have 
been no progress without her! " 

" Pardon, — Cain was the true Progressivist and Re- 
former," put in Graub ; " Some fine sentiment of the 
garden of Eden was in his blood, which impelled him to 
offer up a vegetable sacrifice to the Deity, whereas Abel 
had already committed murder by slaying lambs. Ac- 
cording to the legend, God preferred the ' savour ' of the 



The Idealists iot 

lambs, so perhaps, — who knows ! — the idea that the 
savour of Abel might be equally agreeable to Divine 
senses induced Cain to kill him as a special ' young- 
ling.' This was a Progressive act, — a step beyond mere 
lambs ! " 

Everyone laughed, except Sergius Thord. Tie had 
fallen into a heavy, brooding silence, his head sunk on 
his breast, his wild hair falling forward like a mane, and 
his right hand clenched and resting on the table. 

" Sergius! " called Lotys. 

He did not answer. 

' He is in one of his far-away moods," — said one of the 
men next to Axel Regor, — " It is best not to disturb 
him." 

Paul Zouche, however, had no such scruples. " Ser- 
gius! " he cried, — " Come out of your cloud of medita- 
tion ! Drink to the health of our three new comrades ! " 

All the members of the company filled their glasses, and 
Thord, hearing the noise and clatter, looked up with a 
wild stare. 

' What are you doing ? " he asked slowly ; — "I 
thought some one spoke of Cain killing Abel!' 1 

'It was I," said Graub — "I spoke of it — irrever- 
ently, I fear, — but the story itself is irreverent. The 
notion that ' God,' should like roast meat is the height of 
blasphemy ! " 

Zouche burst into a violent fit of laughter. But 
Thord went on talking in a low tone, as though to 
himself. 

" Cain killing Abel ! '' he repeated — " Always the 
same horrible story is repeated through history — brother 

against brother, — blood crying out for blood life 

torn from the weak and helpless body — all for what? 
For a little gold, — a passing trifle of power! Cain kill- 
ing Abel ! My God, art Thou not yet weary of the old 
eternal crime! " 

He spoke in a semi-whisper which thrilled through the 
room. A momentary hush prevailed, and then Lotys 
called again, her voice softened to a caressing sweetness. 
Sergius ! 

He started, and shook himself out of his reverie this 
time. Raising his hand, he passed it in a vague mechani- 



102 "Temporal Power" 

cal way across his brow as though suddenly wakened 
from a dream. 

" Yes, yes ! Let us drink to our three new comrades," 
he said, and rose to his feet. " To your health, friends ! 
And may you all stand firm in the hour of trial ! " 

All the company sprang up and drained their glasses, 
and when the toast was drunk and they were again 
seated, Pasquin Leroy asked if he might be allowed to 
return thanks. 

' I do not know," he said with a courteous air, 
" whether it is permissible for a newly-enrolled associate 
of this Brotherhood to make a speech on the first night of 
his membership, — but after the cordial welcome I and 
my comrades, strangers as we are, have received at your 
hands, I should like to say a few words — if, without 
breaking any rules of the Order, I may do so." 

' Hear, hear ! " shouted Zouche, who had been steadily 
drinking for the last few moments, —  " Speak on, man ! 
Whoever heard of a dumb Socialist ! Rant — rant ! Rant 
and rave ! — as I do, when the fit is on me ! Do I not, 
Thord ? Do I not move you even to tears ? " 

" And laughter! " put in Zegota. " Hold your tongue, 
Zouche ! No other man can talk at all, if you once 
begin ! " 

Zouche laughed, and drained his glass. 

" True ! — my genius is of an absorbing quality ! Si- 
lence, gentlemen ! Silence for our new comrade ! ' Pas- 
quin ' stands for the beginning of a jest — so we may 
hope he will be amusing, — ' Leroy ' stands for the king, 
and so we may expect him to be non-political ! " 



CHAPTER VIII 



THE KING'S DOUBLE 



AS Leroy rose to speak, there was a little commotion. 
Max' Graub upset his glass, and seemed to be 
having a struggle under the table with Axel Regor. 

" What ails you? " said Leroy, glancing at his friends 
with an amazed air — "Are you quarrelling?" 

"Quarrelling!" echoed Max Graub, "Why, no — but 
what man will have his beer upset without complaint? 
Tell me that ! " 

" You upset it! " said Regor angrily — " I did not." 

" You did ! " retorted Graub, " and because I pushed 
you for it, you showed me a pistol in your pocket! I 
object to be' shown a pistol. So I have taken it away. 
Here it is! " and he laid the weapon on the table in front 
of him. 

A look of anger darkened Leroy's brows. 

" I was not aware you carried arms," he said coldly. 

Sergius Thord noticed his annoyance. 

" There is nothing remarkable in that, my friend ! " he 
interposed — " We all carry arms, — there is not one of 
us at this table who has not a loaded pistol, — even Lotys 
is no exception to this rule." 

" Now by my word! " said Graub, " / have no loaded 
pistol, — and I will swear Leroy is equally unarmed ! " : 

" Entirely so! " said Leroy quietly — ' I never suspect 
any man of evil intentions towards me." 

As he said this, Lotys leaned forward impulsively and 
stretched out her hand, — a beautiful hand, well-shaped 
and white as a white rose petal. 

" I like you for that ! " — she said —  " It is the natural 
attitude of a brave man ! " 

A slight colour warmed his bronzed skin as he took her 
hand, pressed it gently, and let it go again. Axel Regor 
looked up defiantly. 



104 "Temporal Power' 

' Well, I do suspect every man of evil intentions ! " he 
said, " So you may all just as well know the worst of me 
at once ! My experience of life has perhaps been excep- 
tionally unpleasant ; but it has taught me that as a rule no 
man is your friend till you have made it worth his while ! " 

" By favours bestowed, or favours to come?" queried 
Thord, smiling, — " However, without any argument, 
Axel Regor, I am inclined to think you are right ! '' 
' Then a weapon is permissible here ? " asked Graub. 

'' Not only permissible, but necessary," replied Thord. 
" As members of this Brotherhood we live always pre- 
pared for some disaster, — always on our guard against 
treachery. Comrades ! " and raising his voice he ad- 
dressed the whole party. " Lay down your arms, all at 
once and together! " 

In one instant, as if in obedience to a military order, 
the table was lined on either side with pistols. Beside 
these weapons, there was a goodly number of daggers, 
chiefly of the small kind such as are used in Corsica, en- 
cased in leather sheaths. Pasquin Leroy smiled as he 
saw Lotys lay down one of those tiny but deadly weapons, 
together with a small silver-mounted pistol. 

' Forewarned is forearmed ! " he said gaily ; — " Ma- 
dame, if I ever offend, I shall look to you for a happy 
dispatch ! Gentlemen, I have still to make my speech, 
and if you permit it, I will speak now, — unarmed as I 
am, — with all these little metal mouths ready to deal 
death upon me if I happen to make any observation which 
may displease you ! " 

"By Heaven! A brave man!" cried Zouche; "Thord, 
you have picked up a trump card ! Speak, Pasquin Le- 
roy ! We will forgive you, even if you praise the King ! " 

Leroy stood silent for a moment, as if thinking. His 
two companions looked up at him once or twice in un- 
questionable alarm and wonderment, but he did not 
appear to be conscious of their observation. On the 
contrary, some very deeply seated feeling seemed to be 
absorbing his soul, — and it was perhaps this suppressed 
emotion which gave such a rich vibrating force to his 
accents when he at last spoke. 

' Friends and Brothers ! " he said ; — "It is difficult 
for one who has never experienced the three-fold sense 



JThe King's Double 105 



of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity until to-night, to 
express in the right manner the sense of gratitude which 
I, a complete stranger to you, feel for the readiness 
and cordiality of the welcome you have extended to me 
and my companions, accepting us without hesitation, as 
members of your Committee, and as associates in the work 
of the Cause you have determined to maintain. It is an 
Ideal Cause, — I need not tell you that ! To rescue and 
protect the poor from the tyranny of the rich and strong, 
was the mission of Christ when He visited this earth ; and 
it would perhaps be unwise on my part, and discouraging 
to yourselves, to remind you that even He has failed ! 
The strong, the selfish, and the cruel, still delight in op- 
pressing their more helpless fellows, despite the theories 
of Christianity. And it is perfectly natural that it 
should be so, seeing that the Christian Church itself has 
become a mere system of money-making and self-ad- 
vancement." 

A burst of applause interrupted him. Eyes lightened 
with eager enthusiasm, and every face was turned towards 
him. He went on : — 

' To think of the great Founder of a great Creed, and 
then to consider what his pretended followers have made 
of Him and His teaching, is sufficient to fill the soul with 
the sickness of despair and humiliation ! To remember 
that Christ came to teach all men the Gospel of love, — 
and to find them after eighteen hundred years still pre- 
ferring the Gospel of hate,- — is enough to make one doubt 
the truth of religion altogether ! The Divine Socialist 
preached a creed too good and pure for this world ; and 
when we try to follow it, we are beaten back on all sides 
by the false conventionalities and customs of a sacerdotal 
system grown old in self-seeking, not in self-sacrifice. 
Were Christ to come again, the first thing He would 
probably do would be to destroy all the churches, saying : 
' I never knew you : depart from me ye that work in- 
iquity!' But till He does come again, it rests with the 
thinkers of the time to protest against wrongs and abuses, 
even if they cannot destroy them, — to expose falsehood, 
even if they cannot utterly undo its vicious work. Seeing, 
however, that the greater majority of men are banded on 
the side of wealth and material self-interest, it is unfortu- 



106 "Temporal Power' 

nately only a few who remain to work for the cause of the 
poor, and for such equal rights of justice as you — as we 
— in our present Association claim to be most worthy of 
man's best efforts. It may be asked by those outside such 
a Fraternity as ours, — ' What do they want ? What 
would they have that they cannot obtain ? ' I would 
answer that we want to see the end of a political system 
full of bribery and corruption, — that we desire the dis- 
grace and exposure of such men as those, who, under the 
pretence of serving the country, merely line their own 
coffers out of the taxes they inflict upon the people ; — 
and that if we see a king inclined to favour the overbear- 
ing dominance of a political party governed by financial 
considerations alone, — a party which has no considera- 
tion for the wider needs of the whole nation, we from our 
very hearts and souls desire the downfall of that king! ' : 

A low, deep murmur responded to his words, — a 
sound like the snarl of wolves, deep, fierce, and passion- 
ate. A close observer might perhaps have detected a 
sudden pallor on Leroy's face as he heard this ominous 
growl, and an involuntary clenching of the hand on the 
part of Axel Regor. Max Graub looked up. 

"Ah so, my friends! You hate the King?" 

No answer was vouchsafed to this query. The inter- 
ruption was evidently unwelcome, all eyes being still fixed 
on Leroy. He went on tranquilly : 

" I repeat — that wherever and whenever a king — any 
king — voluntarily and knowingly, supports iniquity and 
false dealing in his ministers, he lays himself open to 
suspicion, attack, and dethronement ! I speak with par- 
ticular feeling on this point, because, apart from whatever 
may be the thoughts and opinions of these who are as- 
sembled here to-night, I have a special reason of my own 
for hating the King ! That reason is marked on my coun- 
tenance ! I bear an extraordinary resemblance to him, — 
so great indeed, that I might be taken for his twin brother 
if he had one ! And I beg of you, my friends, to look at 
me long and well, that you make no error concerning me, 
for, being now your comrade, I do not wish to be mis- 
taken for your enemy ! " 

He drew himself up, lifting his head with an air of in- 
domitable pride and grace which well became him. An 






The King's Double 107 

exclamation of surprise broke from all present, and Ser- 
gius Thord bent forward to examine bis features with 
close attention. Every man at the table did the same, but 
none regarded him more earnestly or more searchinglv 
than Lotys. Her wonderful eyes seemed to glow and 
burn witli strange interior fires, as she kept them steadily 
fixed upon his face. 

" Yes — you are strangely like the King! " she said - 
" That is, — so far as I am able to judge by his portraits 
and coins. I have never seen him." 

"I have seen him," -said Sergius Thord, "though 
only at a distance. And I wonder 1 did not notice the 
strange resemblance you bear to him before you called 
my attention to it. Are you in any way related to him ? ' 

"Related to him!" Leroy laughed aloud. 'No! If 
the late King had any bastard sons, I am not one of them ! 
But I pray you again all to carefully note this hateful 
resemblance, — a resemblance I would fain rid me of — 
for it makes me seem a living copy of the man I most 
despise ! " 

There was a pause, — during which he stood quietly, 
submitting himself to the fire of a hundred wondering, 
questioning, and inquisitorial eyes without flinching. 

"You are all satisfied?" he then asked; 'You, Ser- 
gius Thord, — my chief and commander, — you, and all 
here present are satisfied ? " 

" Satisfied ? — Yes ! " replied Thord ; ' But sorry that 
your personality resembles that of a fool and a knave ! ' 

A strange grimace distorted the countenance of Max 
Graub, but he quickly buried his nose and his expression 
together in a foaming glass of beer. 

" You cannot be so sorry for me as T am for myself! ' 
said Leroy, " And now to finish the few words I have 
been trying to say. I thank you from my heart for your 
welcome, and for the trust you have reposed in me and 
my companions. I am proud to be one of you ; and I 
promise that you shall all have reason to be glad that T 
am associated with your Cause! And to prove my good 
faith, I undertake to set about working for you without 
a day's delay; and towards this object, I give you my 
word that before our next meeting something shall be 
done to shake the political stronghold of Carl Perousse ! '' 



108 "Temporal Power' 

Sergius Thord sprang up excitedly. 

" Do that," he said, " and were you a thousand times 
more like the King than you are, you shall he the first to 
command our service and honour! " 

Loud acclamation followed his words, and all the men 
gathered close up about Leroy. He looked round upon 
them, half-smiling, half-serious. 

" But you must tell me what to do! " he said. ' You 
must explain to me why you consider Perousse a traitor, 
and how you think it best his treachery should be proved. 
For, remember, I am a stranger to this part of the 
country, and my accidental resemblance to the King does 
not make me his subject ! " 

" True! " said Paul Zouche, — his eyes were feverishly 
bright and his cheeks flushed — " To be personally like 
a liar does not oblige one to tell lies ! To call oneself a 
poet does not enable one to write poetry ! And to build 
a cathedral does not make one a saint ! To know all the 
highways and byways of the Perousse policy, you must 
penetrate into the depths and gutter-slushes of the great 
.newspaper which is subsidised by the party to that policy ! 
And this is difficult — exceedingly difficult, let me assure 
you, my bold Pasquin ! And if you can perform such a 
' pasquinade ' as shall take you into these Holy of Holy 
purlieus of mischief and money-making, you will deserve 
to be chief of the Committee, instead of Sergius ! Ser- 
gius talks — he will talk your head off ! — but he does 
nothing! " 

"I do what I can," — said Thord, patiently. 'It is 
true I have no access to the centres of diplomacy or 
journalism. But I hold the People in the hollow of my 
hand ! " 

He spoke with deep and concentrated feeling, and the 
power of his soul looked out eloquently from the darken- 
ing flash of his eyes. Leroy studied his features with 
undisguised interest. 

" If you thus hold the People," he said, — "Why not 
bid them rise against the evil and tyranny of which they 
have cause to complain ? " 

Thord shook his head. 

" To rouse the People," he replied, " would be worse 
than to rouse a herd of starving lions from their forest 



The King's Double 109 

dens, and give them freedom to slay and devour! Nay! 
— the time is not yet ! All gentle means must be tried ; 
and if these fail — why then !" 

He broke off, but his clenched hand, and expressive 
glance said the rest. 

" Why do you not use the most powerful of all the 
weapons ever invented for the destruction of one's ene- 
mies — the Pen?" asked Max Graub. "Start a news- 
paper, for example, and gibbet your particular favourite 
Carl Perousse therein ! " 

" Bah ! He would get up a libel case, and advertise 
himself a little more by that method ! " said Zegota con- 
temptuously ; " And besides, a newspaper needs unlim- 
ited capital behind it. We have no rich friends." 

" Rich friends ! " exclaimed Lotys suddenly ; ' Who 
speaks of them — who needs them ? Rich friends expect 
you to toady to them ; to lick the ground under their feet ; 
to fawn and flatter and lie, and be anything but honest 
men ! The rich are the vulgar of this world ;  — no one 
who has heart, or soul, or sense, would condescend to 
seek friendships among those whose only claim to prece- 
dence is the possession of a little more yellow metal than 
their neighbours." 

" Nevertheless, they and their yellow metal are the raw 
material, which Genius may as well use to pave its way 
through life," said Zegota. " Lotys, you are too much of 
an idealist ! " 

' Idealist ! And you call yourself a realist, poor child !" 
said Lotys with a laugh ; " I tell you I would sooner starve 
than accept favour or assistance from the merely rich ! " 

" Of course you would ! " said Zouche, " And is not 
that precisely the reason why you are set in dominion 
over us all ? We men are not sure of ourselves — but — 
Heaven knows why! — we are sure of You! I suppose 
it is because you are sure of yourself ! For example, we 
men are such wretched creatures that we cannot go long 
without our food, — but you, woman, can fast all day, 
and scorn the very idea of hunger. We men cannot bear 
much pain, — but you, — woman, — can endure suffer- 
ing of your own without complaint, while attending to 
our various lesser hurts and scratches. Wherefore, just 
because we feel you are above us in this and many other 



no "Temporal Power' 

things, we have set you amongst us as a warning Figure- 
head, which cries shame upon us if we falter, and reminds 
us that you, a woman, can do, and probably will do, what 
we men cannot. Imagine it ! You would bear all things 
for love's sake ! — and, frankly speaking, we would bear 
nothing at all, except for our own immediate and par- 
ticular pleasure. For that, of course, we would endure 
everything till we got it, and then — pouf ! - — we would 
let it go again in sheer weariness and. desire for some- 
thing else ! Is it not so, Sergius ? " 

" I am glad you know yourself so well ! " said Thord 
gloomily. " Personally, I am not prepared to accept your 
theory." 

" Men are children! " said Lotys, still smiling; '' And 
should be treated as children always, by women ! Come, 
little ones ! To bed, all of you ! It is growing late, and 
the rain has ceased." 

She went to the window, and unbarring the shutters, 
opened it. The streets were wet and glistening below, 
but the clouds had cleared, and a pale watery moon shone 
out fitfully from the misty sky. 

"Say good-night, and part ; " she continued. "It is 
time ! This day month we will meet here again, — and 
our new comrades will then report what progress they 
have made in the matter of Carl Perousse." 

' Tell me," said Leroy, approaching her, " What would 
you do, Madame, if you had determined on proving the 
corruption and falsehood of this at present highly-hon- 
oured servant of the State? " 

" I should gain access to his chief tool, David Jost, by 
means of the Prime Minister's signet," said Lotys, — " If 
I could get the signet! — which I cannot! Nor can you! 
But if I could, I should persuade Jost to talk freely, and 
so betray himself. He and Carl Perousse move the Pre- 
mier and the King whichever way they please." 

" Ts that so — ? " began Leroy, when he was answered 
by a dozen voices at once : — 

" The King is a fool ! " 

" The King is a slave ! " 

" The King accepts everything that is set before him as 
being rightly and wisely ordained, — and never enquires 
into the justice of what is done! " 



The King's Double 



iii 



" The King assumes to be the friend of the People, but 
if you ask him to do anything for the People, you only 
get the secretary's usual answer — ' His Majesty regrets 
that it is impossible to take any action in the matter '! " 

' Wait ! — wait ! — " said Leroy, with a gesture which 
called for a moment's silence ; " The question is, — Could 
the King do anything if he would ? ^ 

' I will answer that ! " said Lotys, her eyes flashing, her 
bosom heaving, and her whole figure instinct with pride 
and passion; 'The King could do everything! The 
King could be a man if he chose, instead of a dummy ! 
The King could cease to waste his time on fools and light 
women ! — and though he is, and must be a constitutional 
Monarch, he could so rule all social matters as to make 
them the better, — not the worse for his influence! There 
is nothing to prevent the King from doing his most kinglv 
duty!" 

Leroy looked at her for a moment in silence. 

" Madame, if the King heard your words he might per- 
haps regret his many follies ! " he said courteously : — 
' But where Society is proved worse, instead of better 
for a king's influence, is it not somewhat too late to 
remedy the evil? What of the Queen?" 

' The Queen is queen from necessity, not from choice!" 
said Lotys ; — " She has never loved her husbaijd. If she 
had loved him, perhaps he might, — through her, — have 
loved his people more ! " 

There was a note of pathos in her voice that was singu- 
larly tender and touching. Anon, as if impatient with 
herself, she turned to Sergius Thord. 

' We must disperse ! " she said abruptly ; " Daybreak 
will be upon us before we know it, and we have done no 
business at all this evening. To enrol three new associ- 
ates is a matter of fifteen minutes ; the rest of our time 
has been wasted ! " 

' Do not say so, Madame ! " interposed Max Graub, 
' You have three new friends — three new ' sons of your 
blood,' as you so poetically call them, — though, truly, I 
for one am more fit to be your grandfather ! And do you 
consider the time wasted that has been spent in improving 
and instructing your newly-born children?" 

Lotys turned upon him with a look of disdain. 



ft 



112 "Temporal Power 

'You are a would-be jester;" she said coldly; "Old 
men love a jest, I know, but they should take care to make 
it at the right time, and in the right place. They should 
not play with edge-tools such as I am, though I suppose, 
being a German, you think little or nothing of women ? ,: 
'Madame!" protested Graub, 'I think so much of 
women that I have never married ! Behold me, an un- 
happy bachelor ! I have spared any one of your beautiful 
sex from the cruel martyrdom of having to endure my 
life-long company ! " 

She laughed — a pretty low laugh, and extended her 
hand with an air of queenly condescension. 

'You are amusing!" she said, — "And so I will not 
quarrel with you ! Good-night ! " 

" Auf weidersehn ! " and Graub kissed the white hand 
he held. ' I shall hope you will command me to be of 
service to you and yours, ere long! " 

'In what way, I wonder," she asked dubiously; 
' What can you do best ? Write ? Speak ? Or or- 
ganize meetings ? " 

' I think," said Graub, speaking very deliberately, 
" that of all my various accomplishments, which are 
many — as T shall one day prove to you — I can poison 
best! " 

" Poison ! " 

The exclamation broke simultaneously from all the 
company. Graub looked about him with a triumphant 
air. 

" Ah so, — I know I shall be useful," he said ; ' I can 
poison so very beautifully and well ! One little drop — 
one little microbe of mischief — and I can make all your 
enemies die of cholera, typhoid, bubonic plague, or what 
you please ! I am what is called a Christian scientific 
poisoner — that is a doctor ! You will find me a most 
invaluable member of this Brotherhood ! " 

He nodded his head wisely, and smiled. Sergius Thord 
laid one hand heavily on his shoulder. 

" We shall find you useful, no doubt ! " he said, " But 
mark me well, friend ! Our mission is not to kill, but to 
save! — not to poison, but to heal! Tf we find that by 
the death of one traitor we can save the lives of thousands, 
why then that traitor must die. If we know that by kill- 



The King's Double 113 

ing a king \vc destroy a country's abuses, that king is sent 
to his account. But never without warning! — never 
without earnest pleading that he whom the laws of Truth 
condemn, may turn from the error of his ways and repent 
before it is too late. We are not murderers ; — we are 
merely the servants of justice." 

" Exactly ! " put in Paul Zouche ; ' You understand ? 
We try to be what God is not, — just ! " 

' Blaspheme not, Zouche ! " said Thord ; " Justice is 
the very eve of God ! — the very centre and foundation of 
the universe." 

Zouche laughed discordantly. 

' Excellent Sergius ! Impulsive Sergius ! — with big 
heart, big head and no logic ! Prove to me this eternal 
justice! Where does it begin ? In the creation of worlds 
without end, all doomed to destruction, and therefore per- 
fectly futile in their existence? In the making of man, 
who lives his little day with the utmost difficulty, pain and 
struggle, and is then extinguished, to be heard of no 
more ? The use of it, my Sergius ! — point out the use of 
it! No, — there is no man can answer me that! If I 
could see the Creator, I would ask Him the question per- 
sonally — but He hides Himself behind the great big pen- 
dulum He has set swinging — tick — tock! — tick — tock! 
Life — Death! — Life — Death! — and never a reason 
why the clock is set going ! And so we shall never have 
justice, — simply because there is none! It is not just or 
reasonable to propound a question to which there is no 
answer ; it is not just or reasonable to endow man with all 
the thinking powers of brain, and all the imaginative 
movements of mind, merely to turn him into a pinch of 
dust afterwards. Every generation, every country strives 
to get justice clone, but cannot, — merely for the "fact that 
God Himself has no idea of it, and therefore it is natu- 
rally lacking in His creature, man. Our governing-forces 
are plainly the elements. No Divine finger stops the 
earthquake from engulfing a village full of harmless in- 
habitants, simply because of the injustice of such utter 
destruction ! See now ! — look at the eyes of Lotys re- 
proaching me ! You would think they were the eves of 
an angel, gazing at a devil in the sweet hope of plucking 
him out of hell ! " 

8 



114 "Temporal Power' 

" Such a hope would be vain in your case, Zouche," 
said Lotys tranquilly ; " You make your own hell, and 
you must live in it ! Nevertheless, in some of the wild 
things you say, there is a grain of truth. If I were God, 
I should be the most miserable of all beings, to look upon 
all the misery I had myself created ! I should be so sorry 
for the world, that I should put an end to all hope of im- 
mortality by my own death." 

She made this strange remark with a simplicity and 
wistfulness which were in striking contrast to the awful 
profundity of the suggestion, and all her auditors, includ- 
ing the half-tipsy Zouche, were silent. 

' I should be so sorry ! " she repeated ; ' For even as a 
mortal woman my pity for the suffering world almost 
breaks my heart ; — but if I were God, I should have all 
the griefs of all the worlds I had made to answer for, — 
and such an agony would surely kill me. Oh, — the pain, 
the tears, the mistakes, the sins, the anguish of humanity ! 
All these are frightful to me! I do not understand why 
such misery should exist ! I think it must be that we have 
not enough love in the world ; if we only loved each other 
faithfully, God might love us more! " 

Her eyes were wet ; she caught her breath hard, and 
smiled a little difficult smile. Something in her soul 
transfigured her face, and made it for the moment ex- 
quisitely lovely, and the men around her gazed at her in 
evidently reverential silence. Suddenly she stretched out 
both her hands : 

" Good-night, children ! " 

One by one the would-be-fierce associates of the Revo- 
lutionary Committee bent low over those fair hands ; and 
then quietly saluting Sergius Thord, as quietly left the 
room, like schoolboys retiring from a class where the les- 
sons had been more or less badly done. Paul Zouche was 
not very steady on his feet, and two of his comrades as- 
sisted him to walk as he stumbled off, singing somewhat 
of a ribald rhyme in messa-voce. Pasquin Leroy and his 
two friends were the last to go. Lotys looked at them all 
three meditatively. 

"You will be faithful?" she said. 

" Unto death ! " answered Leroy. 

She came close up to him, placing one hand on bis arm, 



The King's Double 115 

and glanced meaningly towards Sergius Thord, who was 
standing at the threshold watching Zouche stumbling 
down the dark stairs. 

" Sergius is a good man ! " she said ; " ( hie of the mis- 
taken geniuses of this world, — savage as a lion, yet 
simple as a child ! Whoever, and whatever you are, be 
true to .him ! " 

' He is dear to you ? " said Leroy on a sudden im- 
pulse, catching her hand ; ' He is more to you than most 
men ? " 

She snatched away her hand, and her eyes lightened 
first with wrath, then with laughter. 

" Dear to me! " she echoed, — " to Me? No one man 
on earth is dearer to me than another ! All are alike in 
my estimation, — all the same barbaric, foolish babes and 
children — all to be loved and pitied alike ! But Sergius 
Thord picked me out of the streets when I was no better 
than a stray and starving dog, — and like a dog I serve 
him — faithfully ! Now go ! " 

She stretched out her hand in an attitude of command, 
and there was nothing for it but to obey. They therefore 
repeated their farewells, and in their turn, went out, one 
by one, down the tortuous staircase. Sholto, the hunch- 
back, was below, and he let them out without a word, clos- 
ing and barring the door carefully behind them. Once in 
the street and under the misty moonlight, Pasquin Leroy 
nodded a careless dismissal to his companions. 

'You will return alone?" enquired Max Graub. 

" Quite alone ! " was the reply. 

'May I not follow you at a distance?" asked Axel 
Regor. 

Leroy smiled. ' You forget ! One of the rules we 
have just sworn to conform to, is — ' No member shall 
track, follow or enquire into the movements of any other 
member.' Go your ways ! I will thank you both for your 
services to-morrow." 

He turned away rapidly and disappeared. His two 
friends remained gazing somewhat disconsolately after 
him. 

' Shall we go ? " at last said Max Graub. 

' When you please," replied Axel Regor irritably, — 
4 The sooner the better for me ! Here we are probably 



116 "Temporal Power' 

watched, — we had best go down to the quay, and from 
thence " 

He did not finish his sentence, but Graub evidently 
understood its conclusion — and they walked quickly 
away together in quite an opposite direction to that in 
which Leroy had gone. 

Meanwhile, up in the now closed and darkened house 
they had left behind them, Lotys stood looking at Sergius 
Thord, who had thrown himself into a chair and sat with 
his elbows resting on the table, and his head buried in his 
hands. 

" You make no way, poor Sergius ! " she said gently. 
" You work, you write, you speak to the people, but you 
make no way ! " 

He looked up fiercely. 

" I do make way! " he said ; " How can you doubt it? 
A word from me, and the massed millions would rise as 
one man ! " 

" And of what use would that be ? " enquired Lotys. 
" The soldiers would fire on the people, and there would 
be riot and bloodshed, but no actual redress for wrong. 
You work vainly, Sergius ! " 

" If I could but kill the King! " he muttered. 

" Another king would succeed him," she said. " And 
after all, if you only knew it, the King may be a miserable 
man enough — far more miserable, perhaps, than any of 
us imagine ourselves to be. No, Sergius ! — I repeat it, 
you work vainly ! You have made me the soul of an 
Ideal which you will never realise? Tell me, what is it you 
yourself would have, out of all your work and striving? ' 

He looked at her with great, earnest, burning eyes. 

" Power!" he said. " Power to change the mode of 
government; power to put down the tyranny of priest- 
craft — power to relieve the oppressed, and reward the 
deserving — power to make of you, Lotys, a queen among 
women ! " 

She smiled. 

" I am a queen among men, Sergius, and that suffices 
me ! How often must I tell you to do nothing for my 
sake, if it is for my sake only ? I am a very simple, plain 
woman, past my youth, and without beauty — I deserve 
and demand nothing ! " 



The King's Double 117 

He raised himself, and stretched out his arms towards 
her with a gesture of entreaty. 

" Yon deserve all that a man can give you!" he said 
passionately. " I love you, Lotys ! 1 have always loved 
you ever since I found yon a little forsaken child, shiver- 
ing and weeping on the cold marble steps of the Temes- 
var place in Buda. I love yon! --you know 1 have 
always loved you ! — I have told you so a hundred times, 
— I love you as few men love women ! " 

She regarded him compassionately, and with a touch 
of wistful sorrow in her eyes. Her black cloak fell away 
on either side of her in two shadowy folds, disclosing her 
white-robed form and full bosom, like a pearl in a dark 
shell. 

" Good-night, Sergins ! " she said simply, ami turned 
to go. 

He gave an exclamation of anger and pain. 

" That is all you say — ' Good-night ' ! " he muttered. 
" A man gives you his heart, and you set it aside with a 
cold word of farewell! And yet --and yet — you hold 
all my life ! " 

"I am sorry, Sergius," she said, in a gentle voice; 
" very sorry that it is so. You have told me all this be- 
fore ; and 1 have answered you often, and always in the 
same way. I have no love to give you, save that which 
is the result of duty and gratitude. I do not forget! — 
I know that you rescued me from starvation and death — 
though sometimes I question whether it would not have 
been better to have let me die. Life is worth very little 
at its utmost best ; nevertheless, I admit I have had a cer- 
tain natural joy in living, and for that I have to thank 
you. I have tried to repay you by my service " 

" Do not speak of that," he said hurriedly ; ' I have 
done nothing! You are a genius in yourself, and would 
have made your way anywhere, — perhaps better with- 
out me." 

She smiled doubtfully. 

" I am not sure ! The trick of oratory does not carry 
one very far, — not when one is a woman ! Good-night 
again, Sergius! Try to rest, --you look worn out. And 
do not think of winning power for my sake ; what power 
I need I will win for myself ! " 



y> 



i 18 "Temporal Power 

He made no answer, but watched her with jealous eyes, 
as she moved towards" the door. On the threshold she 
turned. 

" Those three new associates of yours — are they trust- 
worthy, think you ? " 

He gave a gesture of indifference. 

" I do not know ! Who is there we can absolutely trust 
save ourselves ? That man, Leroy, is honest, — of that I 
am confident, — and he has promised to be responsible 
for his friends." 

" Ah ! " She paused a moment, then with another low 
breathed ' good-night ' she left the room. 

He looked at the door as it closed behind her — at the 
chair she had left vacant. 

" Lotys ! " he whispered. 

His whisper came hissing softly back to him in a fine 
echo on the empty space, and with a great sigh he rose, 
and began to turn out the flaring lamps above his head. 

" Power ! — Power ! '" he muttered — " She could not 
resist it ! She would never be swayed by gold, — but 
power ! Her genius would rise to it — her beauty would 
grow to it like a rose unfolding in the sun ! ' Past youth, 
and without beauty ' as she says of herself ! My God ! 
Compare the tame pink-and-white prettiness of youth 
with the face of Lotys, — and that prettiness becomes 
like a cheap advertisement on a hoarding or a match-box ! 
Contrast the perfect features, eyes and hair of the new- 
est social ' beauty,' - - with the magical expression, the 
glamour in the eyes of Lotys, — and perfection of fea- 
ture becomes the rankest ugliness ! Once in a hundred 
centuries a woman is born like Lotys, to drive men mad 
with desire for the unattainable — to fire them with such 
ambition as should make them emperors of the world, if 
they had but sufficient courage to snatch their thrones — 
and yet, — to fill them with such sick despair at their own 
incompetency and failure, as to turn them into mere chil- 
dren crying for love — for love ! — only love ! No mat- 
ter whether worlds are lost, kings killed, and dynasties 
concluded, love ! — only love ! — and then death ! — as 
all sufficient for the life of a man ! And only just so long 
as love is denied — just so long we can go on climbing 
towards the unreachable height of greatness, — then — 



The King's Double i i 9 

once we touch love, down we fall, broken-hearted; but 

— we have had our day! " 

The room was now in darkness, save for the glimmer 
of the pale moon through the window panes, and he 
opened the casement and looked out. There was a faint 
scent of the sea on the air, and he inhaled its salty odour 
with a sense of refreshment. 

" All for Lotys ! " he murmured. "Working for Lotys, 
plotting, planning, scheming for Lotys ! The government 
intimidated, — the ministry cast out, — the throne in peril, 

— the people in arms, --the city in a blaze, - - Revolution 
and Anarchy doing their wild work broad-cast together, 

— all for Lotys ! Always a woman in it ! Search to the 
very depth of every political imbroglio, -- dig out the 
secret reason of every war that ever was begun or ended 
in the world, — and there we shall find the love or the 
hate of a woman at the very core of the business ! Some 
such secrets history knows, and has chronicled, — and 
some will never be known, — but up to the present there 
is not even a religion in the world where a Woman is not 
made the beginning of a God ! " 

He smiled somewhat grimly at his own fanciful mus- 
ings, and then, shutting the window, retired. The house 
was soon buried in profound silence and darkness, and 
over the city tuneful bells rang the half-hour after mid- 
night. Four miles distant from the * quarter of the poor,' 
and high above the clustering houses of the whole magnifi- 
cent metropolis, the Royal palace towered whitely on its 
proud eminence in the glimmer of the moon, a stately 
pile of turrets and pinnacles ; and on the battlements the 
sentries walked, pacing to and fro in regular march, with 
regular changes, all through the night hours. Half after 
midnight! 'All 's well!' Three-quarters, and still 'All 's 
well ' sounded with the clash of steel and a tinkle of sil- 
very chimes. One o'clock struck, — and the drifting 
clouds in heaven cleared fully, showing many brilliant 
stars in the western horizon, — and a sentry passing, as 
noiselessly as his armour and accoutrements would per- 
mit, along the walled battlement which protected and 
overshadowed the windows of the Queen's apartments, 
paused in his walk to look with an approving eye at the 
clearing promise of the weather. As he did so, a tall 



120 "Temporal Power' 

figure, wrapped in a thick rain-cloak, suddenly made its 
unexpected appearance through a side door in the wall, 
and moved rapidly towards a turret which contained a 
secret passage leading to the Queen's boudoir, — a pri- 
vate stairway which was never used save by the Royal 
family. The sentry gave a sharp warning cry. 

" Halt ! Who goes there ? " 

The figure paused and turned, dropping its cloak. The 
pale moonlight fell slantwise on the features, disclosing 
them fully. 

"TisI! The King!" 

The soldier recoiled amazed, — and quickly saluted. 
Before he could recover from his astonishment he was 
alone again. The battlement was empty, and the door to 
the turret-stairs, — of which only the King possessed the 
key, — was fast locked ; and for the next hour or more 
the startled sentry remained staring at the skies in a sort 
of meditative stupefaction, with the words still ringing 
like the shock of an alarm-bell in his ears : 

" T is I ! The King ! " 



CHAPTER IX 

THE PREMIER'S SIGNET 

^TT^HE next day the sun rose with joyous brightness in 
JL a sky clear as crystal. Storm, wind, and rain had 
vanished like the flying- phantoms of an evil dream, and 
all the beautiful land sparkled with light and life in its 
enlacing girdle of turquoise blue sea. The gardens of 
the Royaf palace, freshened by the downpour of the past 
night, wore their most enchanting aspect, — roses, with 
leaves still wet, dropped their scented petals on the grass, 
— great lilies, with their snowy cups brimming with rain, 
hung heavily on their slim green stalks, and the air was 
full of the "deliriously penetrating odour of the mimosa 
and sweetbriar. Down one special alley, where the white 
philadelphus, or ' mock orange ' grew in thick bushes on 
either side, intermingled with ferns and spruce firs, whose 
young green tips exhaled a pungent, healthy scent that 
entered into the blood like wine and invigorated it, Sir 
Roger de Launay was pacing to and fro with a swinging 
step which, notwithstanding its ease and soldierly regu- 
larity, suggested something of impatience, and on a rustic 
seat, above which great clusters of the philadelphus- 
flowers hung like a canopy, sat Professor von Glauben, 
spectacles on nose, sorting a few letters which he had just 
taken from his pocket for the purpose of reading them 
over again carefully one by one. He was a very particu- 
lar man as regarded his correspondence. All letters that 
required answering he answered at once, — the others, 
as he himself declared, ' answered themselves ' in silence. 
" There is no end to the crop of fools in this world," 
he was fond of saying ; — " Glorious, precious fools ! I 
love them all ! They make life worth living — but some- 
times I am disposed to draw the line at letter-writing 
fools. These persons chance to read a book — my book 
for example, — that particularly clever one I wrote on 



122 4< Temporal Power' 

the possibilities of eternal life in this world. They at 
once snatch their pens and write to say that they are 
specially deserving of this boon, and wish to live for ever 
— will I tell them how? And these are the very creatures 
I will not tell how — because their perpetual existence 
would be a mistake and a nuisance ! The individuals 
whose lives are really valuable never ask anyone how to 
make them so." 

He looked over his letters now with a leisurely indiffer- 
ence. The morning's post had brought him nothing of 
special importance. He glanced from his reading now 
and again at De Launay marching up and down, but said 
nothing till he had quite finished with his own immediate 
concerns. Then he removed his spectacles from his nose 
and put them by. 

" Left— Right— Left — Right — Left — Right! Roger, 
you remind me of my drilling days on a certain flat and 
dusty ground at Coblentz ! The Rhine ! — the Rhine ! 
Ah, the beautiful Rhine ! So dirty — - so dull — with its 
toy castles, and its big, ugly factory chimneys, and its 
atrociously bad wine! Roger, I beseech you to have 
mercy upon me, and leave off that marching up and 
down, — it gets on my nerves ! " 

" I thought nothing ever got on your nerves," answered 
Sir Roger, stopping abruptly — " You seem to take seri- 
ous matters coolly enough ! " 

" Serious matters demand coolness," replied Von 
Glauben. ' We should only let steam out over trifles. 
Have you seen his Majesty this morning?" 

" Yes. I am to see him again at noon." 

" When do you go off duty? " 

" Not for a month, at least." 

' Much may happen in that month," said the Profes- 
sor sententiously ; ' Your hair may grow white with the 
strangeness of your experiences ! " 

Sir Roger met his eyes, and they both laughed. 

' Though it is no laughing matter," resumed Von 
Glauben. ' Upon my soul as a German, — if I have 
any soul of that nationality, — I think it may be a seri- 
ous business ! " 

' You have come round to my opinion then," said De 
Launay. " I told you from the first that it was serious! " 



The Premier's Signet 123 

" The Kino- does not think it so," rejoined Von Glauben. 
" I was summoned to his presence early this morning, and 

found him in the fullest health and highest spirits." 

"Why did he send for you then?" enquired De Launay. 

" To feel his pulse and look at his tongue! To make a 
little game of me before he stepped out of his dressing- 
gown ! And I enjoyed it, of course, — one must always 
enjoy Royal pleasantries ! I think, Roger, his Majesty 
wishes this entire affair treated as a pleasantry, — by 
us at any rate, however seriously he may regard it 
himself." 

De Launay was silent for a minute or two, then he said 
abruptly : 

" The Premier is summoned to a private audience of 
the King at noon." 

" Ah ! ' ! And Von Glauben drew a cluster of the over- 
hanging philadelphus flowers down to his nose and smelt 
them approvingly. 

" And " — went on De Launay, speaking more delib- 
erately, " this afternoon their Majesties sail to The 
Islands " 

Von Glauben jumped excitedly to his feet. 

" Not possible! " 

Sir Roger looked at him with a dawning amusement 
beginning to twinkle in his clear blue eyes. 

" Quite possible ! So possible, that the Royal yacht is 
ordered to be in readiness at three o'clock. Their Majes- 
ties and suite will dine on board, in order to enjoy the re- 
turn sail by moonlight." 

The Professor's countenance was a study. Anxiety 
and vexation struggled with the shrewd kindness and 
humour of his natural expression, and his suppressed 
feelings found vent in a smothered exclamation, which 
sounded very much like the worst of blasphemous oaths 
used in dire extremity by the soldiers of the Fatherland. 

" What ails you? " demanded De Launay; " You seem 
strangely upset for a man of cool nerve ! ' : 

"LTpset? Who — what can upset me? Nothing! 
Roger, if I did not respect you so much, I should call 
you an ass ! " 

Sir Roger laughed. 

" Call me an ass, by all means," he said, " if it will re- 



124 "Temporal Power" 

lieve your feelings; — but in justice to me, let me know 
why you do so ! What is my offence ? I give you a piece 
of commonplace information concerning the movements 
of the Court this afternoon, and you jump off your seat 
as if an adder had bitten you. Why?" 

' I have the gout," said Von Glauben curtly. 

" Oh ! " And again Sir Roger laughed. " That last 
must have been a sharp twinge ! " 

' It was — it was ! Believe me, my excellent Roger, it 
was exceedingly severe ! " His brow smoothed, and he 
smiled. " See here, my dear friend ! — you know, do you 
not, that boys will be boys, and men will be men? " 

' Both are recognised platitudes," replied Sir Roger, 
his eyes still twinkling merrily ; " And both are fre- 
quently quoted to cover our various follies ! " 

' True, true ! But I wish to weigh more particularly 
on the fact that men will be men ! I am a man, Roger, — 
not a boy ! " 

'Really! Well, upon my word, I should at this mo- 
ment take you for a raw lad of about eighteen, — for you 
are blushing, Von Glauben!- — actually blushing!'' 

The Professor drew out a handkerchief, and wiped his 
brow. 

' It is a warm morning, Roger," he said, with a mildly 
reproachful air ; 'I suppose I am permitted to feel the 
heat ? " He paused — then with a sudden burst of impa- 
tience he exclaimed : ' By the Emperor's head ! It is of 
no use denying it — I am very much put out, Roger ! I 
must get a boat, and slip off to The Islands at once ! " 

Sir Roger stared at him in complete amazement. 

' You ? You want to slip off to The Islands ? Why, 
Von Glauben ! " 

' Yes — yes, — I know ! You cannot possibly imagine 
what I want to go there for! You wouldn't suppose, 
would you, that I had any special secrets — an old man 
like me ; — for instance, you would not suspect me of any 
love secrets, eh ? " And he made a ludicrous attempt to 
appear sentimental. " The fact is, Roger, — I have got 
into a little scrape over at The Islands — " here he looked 
warmer and redder than ever; — "and I want to take 
precautions! You understand — T want to take care that 
the King does not hear of it — Gott in Himmel ! What a 



The Premier's Signet 125 

block of a man you are to stand there staring open- 
mouthed at me! Were you never in love yourself?' 

"In love? In love!- - you, -- Professor? Pray 

pardon me but — in love ? Am I to understand that 

there is a lady in your case? " 

« Yes ! — that is it," said Von Glauben, with an air of 
profound relief ; " There is a lady in my case ; — or my 
case, speaking professionally, is that of a lady. And I 
shall get any sort of a sea-tub that is available, and go 
over to those accursed Islands without any delay ! " 

"If the King should send for you while you are ab- 
sent — " began De Launay doubtfully. 

" He will not send. But if he should, what of it? I am 
known to be somewhat eccentric — particularly so in my 
love of hard work, fresh air and exercise — besides, he 
has not commanded my attendance. He will not, there- 
fore, be surprised at my absence. I tell you, Roger, — 
I must go! Who would have expected the King to take 
it into his head to visit The Islands without a moment's 
warning ! What a freak ! " 

" And here comes the reason of the freak, if I am not 
very much mistaken," said De Launay, lowering his 
voice as an approaching figure flung its lengthy shadow 
on the path, — " Prince Humphry ! " 

Von Glauben hastily drew back, De Launay also, to 
allow the Prince to pass. He was walking slowly, and 
reading as he came. Looking up from his book he saw 
them, and as they saluted him profoundly, bade them 
good-day. 

" You are up betimes, Professor," he said lightly ; ' I 
suppose your scientific wisdom teaches you the advantage 
of the morning air." 

" Truly, Sir, it is more healthful than that of the even- 
ing," answered Von Glauben in somewhat doleful ac- 
cents. — " For example, a sail across the sea with the 
morning breeze, is better than the same sort of excursion 
in the glamour of the moon ! " 

Prince Humphry looked steadfastly at him, and evi- 
dently read something of a warning, or a suggestion, in 
his face, for he coloured slightly and bit his lip. 

" Do you agree with that theory, Sir Roger," he said, 
turning to De Launay. 



126 "Temporal Power' 

" I have not tested it, Sir," replied the equerry, " But 
I imagine that whatever Professor von Glauben asserts 
must be true ! " 

The young man glanced quickly from one to the other, 
and then with a careless air turned over the pages of the 
book he held. 

" In the earlier ages of the world," he said, — "men 
and women, I think, must have been happier than they 
are now, if this book may be believed. I find here written 
down What is it, Professor? You have something 

to say . 

" Pardon me, Sir," said Von Glauben, — " But you said 
— ' If this book may be believed.' I humbly venture to 
declare that no book may be believed! " 

"Not even your own, when it is written?" queried 
the Prince with a smile ; " You would not like the world 
to say so ! Nay, but listen, Professor, — here is a thought 
very beautifully expressed — and it was written in an 
ancient language of the East, thousands of years before 
we, in our quarter of the world, ever dreamt of civiliza- 
tion. — ' Of all the sentiments, passions or virtues which 
in their divers turns affect the life of a man, the influence 
and emotion of Love is surely the greatest and highest. 
We do not here speak of the base and villainous craving 
of bodily appetite ; but of that pure desire of the unfet- 
tered soul which beholding perfection, straightway and 
naturally flies to the same. " This love doth so elevate and 
instruct a man, that he seeketh nothing better than to be 
worthy of it, to attempt great deeds and valiantly perform 
them, to confront foul abuses, and most potently destroy 
them, — and to esteem the powers and riches of this 
world as dross, weighed against this rare and fiery talis- 
man. For it is a jewel which doth light up the heart, and 
make it strong to support all sorrow and ill fortune with 
cheerfulness, knowing that it is in itself of so lasting a 
quality as to subjugate all things and events unto its com- 
pelling sway.' What think you of this? Sir Roger, 
there is a whole volume of comprehension in your face! 
Give some word of it utterance ! " 

Sir Roger looked up. 

" There is nothing to say, Sir," he replied ; ' Your 
ancient writer merely expresses a truth we are all con- 



The Premier's Signet 127 

scious of. All poets, worthy the name, and all authors, 
save and except the coldest logicians, deem the world well 
lost for love." 

" More fools they! " said Von Glauben gruffly ; " Love 
is a mere illusion, which is generally destroyed by one 
simple ceremony — Marriage ! " 

Prince Humphry smiled. 

"You have never tried the cure, Professor," he said, 
" But I daresay you have suffered from the disease ! Will 
you walk with me ? " 

Von Glauben bowed a respectful assent ; and the Prince, 
with a kindly nod of dismissal to De Launay, went on his 
way, the Professor by his side. Sir Roger watched 
them as they disappeared, and saw, that at the furthest 
end of the alley, when they were well out of ear-shot, 
they appeared to engage in very close and confidential 
conversation. 

' I wonder," he mused, " I wonder what it all means? 
Von Glauben is evidently mixed up in some affair that he 
wishes to keep secret from the King. Can it concern 
Prince Humphry ? And The Islands ! What can Von 
Glauben want over there?" 

His brief meditation was interrupted by a soft voice 
calling. 

" Roger ! " 

He started, and at once advanced to meet the approach- 
ing intruder, his sister, Teresa de Launay, a pretty bru- 
nette, with dark sparkling eyes, one of the favourite 
ladies of honour in attendance on the Queen. 

" What were you dreaming about?" she asked, as he 
came near, " And what is the Prince doing with old Von 
Glauben ? " 

' Two questions at once, Teresa ! '" he said, stooping 
his tall head to kiss her; ' I cannot possibly answer both 
in a breath! But answer me just one — What are you 
here for ? " 

'To summon you!" she answered. 'The Queen 
desires you to wait upon her immediately." 

She fixed her bright eyes upon him as she spoke, and 
an involuntary sigh escaped her, as she noted the touch of 
pallor that came on his face at her words. 

" Where is her Majesty? " he asked. 



128 "Temporal Power' 

" Here — close at band — in the arbour. She spied 
you at a distance through the trees, and sent me to fetch 
you." 

" You had best return to her at once, and say that I am 



coming. 



I lis sister looked at him again, and hesitated — he gave 
a slight, vexed gesture of impatience, whereupon she hur- 
ried away, with flying footsteps as light as those of a 
f allied sylph of the woodlands. He watched her go, and 
for a moment an expression came into his eyes of intense 
suffering — the look of a noble dog who is suddenly 
struck undeservedly by an unkind master. 

" She sends for me! " he muttered; ' What for? To 
amuse herself by reading every thought of my life with 
her cold eyes? Why can she not leave me alone? " 

He walked on then, with a quiet, even pace, and pres- 
ently reaching the end of the alley, came out on a soft 
stretch of greensward facing a small ornamental lake and 
fountain. Here grew tall rushes, bamboos and flag- 
flowers — here, too, on the quiet lake floated water-lilies, 
white and pink, opening their starry hearts to the glory 
of the morning sun. A quaintly shaped, rustic arbour 
covered with jasmine, faced the pool, and here sat the 
Queen alone and unattended, save by Teresa de Launay, 
who drew a little apart as her brother, Sir Roger, ap- 
proached, and respectfully bent his head in the Royal 
presence. For quite a minute he stood thus in dumb 
attention, his eyes lowered, while the Queen glanced at 
him with a curious expression, half of doubt, half of 
commiseration. Suddenly, as if moved by a quick im- 
pulse, she rose — a stately, exquisite figure, looking even 
more beautiful in her simple morning robe of white cash- 
mere and lace, than in all the glory of her Court attire, — 
and extended her hand. Humbly and reverentially he 
bent over it, and kissed the great jewel sparkling like a 
star on the central finger. As he then raised his eyes to 
her face she smiled ; — that smile of hers, so dazzling, so 
sweet, and yet so cold, had sent many men to their deaths, 
though she knew it not. 

" I see very little of you, Sir Roger," she said slowly, 
" notwithstanding your close attendance on my lord the 
King. Yet I know T can command your service ! " 



The Premier's Signet 129 

" Madam," murmured De Launay, " my life ' 

" Oh, no," she rejoined quickly, ' not your life! Your 
life, like mine, belongs to the King and the country. You 
must give all, or not at all ! " 

" Madam, I do give all ! " he answered, with a look in 
his eyes of mingled pain and passion ; " No man can give 
more ! " 

She surveyed him with a little meditative, almost 
amused air. 

" You have strong feelings, Sir Roger," she said ; ' I 
wonder what it is like — to feel ? " 

" If I may dare to say so, Madam, I should wish you to 
experience the sensation," he returned somewhat bitterly ; 
" Sometimes we awaken to emotions too late — some- 
times we never awaken. But I think it is wisest to ex- 
perience the nature of a storm, in order to appreciate the 
value of a calm ! " 

" You think so?" She smiled indulgently. 'Storm 
and calm are to me alike ! I am affected by neither. Life 
is so exceedingly trivial an affair, and is so soon over, 
that I have never been able to understand why people 
should ever trouble themselves about anything in it." 

" You may not always be lacking in this comprehen- 
sion, Madam," said Sir Roger, with a certain harshness 
in his tone, yet with the deepest respect in his manner ; 
" I take it that life and the world are but a preparation 
for something greater, and that we shall be forced to 
learn our lessons in this preparatory school before we 
leave it, whether we like it or no! " 

The slight smile still lingered on her beautiful mouth, 
— she pulled a spray of jasmine down from the trailing 
clusters around her, and set it carelessly among the folds 
of her lace. Sir Roger watched her with moody eyes. 
Could he have followed his own inclination, he would 
have snatched the flower from her dress and kissed it, in 
a kind of fierce defiance before her very eyes. But what 
would be the result of such an act ? Merely a little con- 
temptuous lifting of the delicate brows — a slight frown 
on the fair forehead, and a calm gesture of dismissal. No 
more — no more than this; for just as she could not be 
moved to love, neither could she be moved to anger. The 
words of an old song rang in his ears : — 

9 



130 " Temporal Power' 

She laughs at the thought of love — 
Pain she scorns, and sorrow she sets aside — 
My heart she values less than her broidered glove, 

She would smile if I died ! 

" You are a man, Sir Roger de Launay," she said after 
a pause, " And man-like, you propound any theory which 
at the moment happens to fit your own particular humour. 
I am, however, entirely of your opinion that this life is 
only a term of preparation, and with this conviction I 
desire to have as little to do with its vile and ugly side as 
I can. It is possible to accept with gratitude the beautiful 
things of Nature, and reject the rest, is it not? " 

"As you ask me the question point-blank, Madam, I 
say it is possible, — it can be done, — and you do it. 
But it is wrong! " 

She raised her languid eyelids, showing no offence. 

" Wrong? " 

' Wrong, Madam ! " repeated Sir Roger bluntly ; " It 
is wrong to shut from your sight, from your heart, from 
your soul the ugly side of Nature ; — to shut your ears to 
the wants — the pains — the tortures — the screams — 
the tears, and groans of humanity ! Oh, Madam, the 
ugly side has a strange beauty of its own that you dream 
not of ! God makes ugliness as he makes beauty ; God 
created the volcano belching forth fire and molten lava, 
as He created the simple stream bordered with meadow 
flowers ! Why should you reject the ugly, the fierce, the 
rebellious side of things? Rather take it into your gra- 
cious thoughts and prayers, Madam, and help to make it 
beautiful ! " 

He spoke with a force which surprised himself — he 
was carried away by a passion that seemed almost outside 
his own identity. She looked at him curiously. 

" Does the King teach you to speak thus to me? " she 
asked. 

De Launay started, — the hot colour mounting to his 
cheeks and brow. 

" Madam! " 
Nay, no excuse ! I understand ! It is your own 
thought; but a thought which is no doubt suddenly in- 
spired by the King's actions," she went on tranquilly; 
' You are in his confidence. He is adopting new meas- 



The Premier's Signet 131 

ures of domestic policy, in which, perchance, I may or 

may not he included as it suits my pleasure ! Who 

knows ! " Again the little musing smile crossed her 
countenance. " It is of the King I wish to speak to you." 

She glanced around her, and saw that her lady-in- 
waiting, Teresa de Launay, had discreetly wandered by 
herself to the edge of the water-lily pool, and was bend- 
ing over it, a graceful, pensive figure in the near distance, 
within call, but certainly not within hearing. 

" You are in his confidence," she repeated, drawing a 
step nearer to him, "and — so am I ! You will not disclose 
his movements — nor shall I ! But you are his. close at- 
tendant and friend, — I am merely — his wife ! I make 
you responsible for his safety ! " 

"Madam, I pray you pardon me!" exclaimed De 
Launay ; " His Majesty has a will of his own, — and his 
sacred life is not in my hands. I will defend him to the 
utmost limit of human possibility, — but if he voluntarily 
runs into danger, and disregards all warning, I, as his 
poor servant, am not to blame ! ,: 

Her eyes, brilliant and full of a compelling magnetism, 
dwelt upon him steadfastly. 

" I repeat my command," she said deliberately, " I 
make you responsible ! You are a strong man and a brave 
one. If the King is rash, it is the dutv of his servants to 
defend him from the consequences of his rashness ; par- 
ticularly if that rashness leads him into danger for a noble 
purpose. Should any mischance befall him, let me never 
see your face again ! Die yourself, rather than let your 
King die ! " 

As she spoke these words she motioned him away with 
a grand gesture of dismissal, and he retired back from 
her presence in a kind of stunned amazement. Never 
before in all the days of her social sway as Crown-Prin- 
cess, had she ever condescended to speak to him on any 
matter of confidence, — never during her three years of 
sovereignty as Queen-Consort had she apparently taken 
note, or cared to know any of the affairs connected with 
the King, her husband. The mere fact that now her 
interest was roused, moved De Launay to speechless 
wonderment. He hardly dared raise his eyes to look at 
her, as she turned from him and went slowly, with her 



132 "Temporal Power' 

usual noiseless, floating grace of movement, towards 
the water-lily pool, there to rejoin her attendant, Teresa 
de Launay, who at the same time advanced to meet her 
Royal -mistress. A moment more, and Queen and lady of 
honour had disappeared together, and De Launay was left 
alone. A little bird, swinging on a branch above his head, 
piped a few tender notes to the green leaves and the 
sunlit sky, but beyond this, and the measured plash 
of the fountain, no sound disturbed the stillness of the 
garden. 

' Upon my word, Roger de Launay," he said bitterly 
to himself, " you are an ass sufficiently weighted with 
burdens ! The love of a Queen, and the life of a King 
are enough for one man's mind to carry with any degree 
of safety! If it were not for the King, I think I should 
leave this country and seek some other service — but I 
owe him much, — if onlv by reason of mv own heart's 
folly ! " 

Impatient with himself, he strode away, straight across 
the lawn and back to the palace. Here he noticed just 
the slightest atmosphere of uneasiness among some of the 
retainers of the Royal household, — a vague impression 
of flurry and confusion. Through various passages and 
corridors, attendants and pages were either running about 
with extra haste, or else strolling to and fro with extra 
slowness. As he turned into one of the ante-chambers, he 
suddenly confronted a tall, military-looking personage 
in plain civilian attire, whom he at once recognized as the 
Chief of the Police. 

"Ah, Bernhoff!" he said lightly, "any storms 
brewing? " 

" None that call for particular attention, Sir Roger," 
replied the individual addressed ; ' But I have been sent 
for by the King, and am here awaiting his pleasure." 

Sir Roger showed no sign of surprise, and with a 
friendly nod passed on. He began to find the situation 
rather interesting. 

" After all," he argued inwardly, "there is nothing to 
hinder the King from being a social autocrat, even if he 
cannot by the rules of the Constitution be a political one. 
And we should do well to remember that politics are gov- 
erned entirely by social influence. Tt is the same thing 



The Premier's Signet 133 

all over the world — a deluded populace — a social move- 
ment which elects a parliament and ministry -- and then 
the result, — which is, that this or that party hold the 
reins of government, on whichever side happens to be 
most advantageous to the immediate social and financial 
whim. The people are the grapes crushed into wine for 
their rulers' drinking ; and the King is merely the wine- 
cup on the festal "board. If he once begins to be 
something more than that cup, there will be an end of 
revelry ! " 

His" ideas were not without good foundation in fact. 
Throughout all history, where a strong man has ruled a 
nation," whether for good or ill, he has left his mark ; and 
where there has been no strong man, the annals of the 
time are vapid and uninteresting. Governments emanate 
from social influences. The social rule of the Roman 
Emperors bred athletes, heroes, and poets, merely because 
physical strength and courage, combined with heroism 
and poetic perception were encouraged by Roman society. 
The social rule of England's Elizabeth had its result in 
the brilliant attainments of the many great men who 
crowded her Court - - the social rule of Victoria, until the 
death of the Prince Consort, bred gentle women and chiv- 
alrous men. In all these cases, the reigning monarchs 
governed society, and society governed politics. Politics, 
indeed, can scarcely be considered apart from society, 
because on the nature and character of society depend the 
nature and character of politics. If society is made up of 
corrupt women and unprincipled men, the spirit of polit- 
ical government will be as corrupt and unprincipled as 
they. If any King, beholding such a state of things, were 
to suddenly cut himself clear of the corruption, and to 
make a straight road for his own progress — clean and 
open — and elect to walk in it, society would follow his 
lead, and as a logical consequence politics would become 
honourable. But no monarchs have the courage of their 
Opinions nowadays, — if only one sovereign of them all 
possessed such courage, he could move the world ! 

The long bright day unwound its sunny hours, crowned 
with blue skies and fragrant winds, and the life and move- 
ment of the fair city by the sea was gay, incessant and 
ever-changing. There was some popular interest and ex- 



134 "Temporal Power' 

citement going on down at the quay, for the usual idle 
crowd had collected to see the Royal yacht being pre- 
pared for her afternoon's cruise. Though she was always 
kept ready for sailing, the King's orders this time had 
been sudden and peremptory, and, consequently, all the 
men on board were exceptionally hard at work getting 
things in immediate readiness. The fact that the Queen 
was to accompany the King in the afternoon's trip to 
The Islands, where up to the present she had never 
been, was a matter of lively comment,  — - her extraordi- 
nary beauty never failing to attract a large number of 
sight-seers. 

In the general excitement, no one saw Professor von 
Glauben quietly enter a small and common sailing skiff, 
manned by two ordinary fishermen of the shore, and scud 
away with the wind over the sea towards the west, where, 
in the distance on this clear day, a gleaming line of light 
showed where The Islands lay, glistening like emerald 
and pearl in the midst of the dark blue waste of water. 
His departure was unnoticed, though as a rule the King's 
private physician commanded some attention, not only 
by reason of his confidential post in the Royal household, 
but also on account of certain rumours which were circu- 
lated through the country concerning his wonderful skill 
in effecting complete cures where all hope of recovery had 
been abandoned. It was whispered, indeed, that he had 
discovered the ' Elixir of Life,' but that he would not 
allow its properties to be made known, lest as the Scrip- 
ture saith, man should ' take and eat and live for ever.' 
It was not advisable — so the Professor was reported to 
have said — that all men should live for ever, — but only 
a chosen few ; and he, at present, was apparently the 
privileged person who alone was fitted to make the selec- 
tion of those few. For this and various other reasons, he 
was generally looked at with considerable interest, but 
this morning, owing to the hurried preparations for 
the embarking of their Majesties on board the Royal 
yacht, he managed to escape from even chance recogni- 
tion, — and he was well over the sea, and more than 
half-way to his destination before the bells of the city 
struck noon. 

Punctual to that hour, a close carriage drove up to the 



The Premier's Signet 135 

palace. It contained no less a personage than the Prime 
Minister, the Marquis de Lutera, — a dark, heavy man, 
with small furtive eves, a ponderous jaw, and a curious 
air of seeming for ever on an irritable watch for offences. 
His aspect was intellectual, yet always threatening; and 
his frigid manner was profoundly discouraging to all 
who sought to win his attention or sympathy. He en- 
tered the palace now with an easy, not to say assertive 
deportment, and as he ascended the broad staircase which 
led to the King's private apartments, he met the Chief of 
the Police coming down. This latter saluted him, but he 
barely acknowledged the courtesy, so taken by surprise 
was he at the sight of this administrative functionary in 
the palace at so early an hour. However, it was impos- 
sible to ask any questions of him on the grand staircase, 
within hearing of the Royal lackeys ; so he continued on 
his way upstairs, with as much dignity as his heavily- 
moulded figure would permit him to display, till he 
reached the upper landing known as the ' King's Cor- 
ridor,' where Sir Roger de Launay was in waiting to 
conduct him to his sovereign's presence. To him the 
Marquis addressed the question : 

" Bernhoff has been with the King?" 

" Yes. For more than an hour." 

" Any robbery in the palace ? " 

De Launay smiled. 

" I think not ! So far as I am permitted to be cogni- 
sant of events, there is nothing wrong ! " 

The Marquis looked slightly perplexed. 

" The King is well? " 

' Remarkably well — and in excellent humour ! He is 
awaiting you, Marquis, — permit me to escort you to 
him ! " 

The carved and gilded doors of the Royal audience- 
chamber were thereupon flung back, and the Marquis en- 
tered, ushered in by De Launay. The doors closed again 
upon them both ; and for some time there was profound 
silence in the King's corridor, no intruder venturing to 
approach save two gentlemen-at-arms, who paced slowly 
up and down at either end on guard. At the expiration 
of about an hour, Sir Roger came out alone, and, glanc- 
ing carelessly around him, strolled to the head of the 



136 " Temporal Power' 

grand staircase, and waited patiently there for quite 
another thirty minutes. At last the doors were flung open 
widely again, and the King himself appeared, clad in 
easy yachting attire, and walking with one hand resting 
on the arm of the Marquis de Lutera, who, from his ex- 
pression, seemed curiously perturbed. 

" Then you will not come with us, Marquis? " said the 
King, with an air of gaiety ; ' You are too much en- 
grossed in the affairs of Government to break loose for an 
afternoon from politics for the sake of pleasure? Ah, 
well ! You are a matchless worker ! Renowned as you 
are for your studious observation of all that may tend to 
the advancement of the nation's interests — admired as 
you are for the complete sacrifice of all your own ad- 
vantages to the better welfare of the country, I will not 
(though I might as your sovereign), command your at- 
tendance on this occasion ! I know the affairs you have 
in hand are pressing and serious ! '•' 

" They will be more than usually so. Sir," said the 
Marquis in a low voice; " for if you persist in maintain- 
ing your present attitude, the foreign controversy in 
which we are engaged can scarcely go on. But your 
action will be questioned by the Government ! '' 

The King laughed. 

" Good ! By all means question it, my dear Marquis ! 
Prove me an unconstitutional monarch, if you like, and 
put Humphry on the throne in- my place,  — but ask the 
People first! If they condemn me, I am satisfied to be 
condemned ! But the present political difference between 
ourselves and a friendly nation must be arranged without 
offence. There does not exist at the moment any reason- 
able cause for fanning the dispute into a flame of war." 
— He paused, then resumed — " You will not come with 
us ? " 

" Sir, if you will permit me to refuse the honour on 
this occasion " 

' The permission is granted ! " replied the King, still 
smiling ; " Farewell, Marquis ! We are not in the habit 
of absenting ourselves from our own country, after the 
fashion of certain of our Royal neighbours, who shall be 
nameless; and we conceive it our duty to make ourselves 
acquainted with the habits and customs of all our sub- 



The Premier's Signet 137 

jects in all quarters of our realm. Hence our resolve to 
visit The Islands, which, to our shame be it said, we have 
neglected until now. We expect to derive both pleasure 
and instruction from the brief voyage ! ''' 

" Are the islanders aware of your intention, Sir?" en- 
quired the Marquis. 

" Nay --to prepare them would have spoilt our pleas- 
ure! " replied the King-. "We will take them by sur- 
prise ! We have heard of certain countries, whose villages 
and towns have never seen the reigning sovereign, -- and 
though we have been but three years on the throne, we 
have resolved that no corner of our kingdom shall lack 
the sunlight of our presence ! " He gave a mirthful side- 
glance at De Launay. Then, extending his hand cor- 
dially, he added : " May all success attend your efforts, 
Marquis, to smooth over this looming quarrel between 
ourselves and our friendly trade-rivals ! I, for one, 
would not have it go further. I shall see you again at 
the Council during the week.'' 

As the premier's hand met that of his Sovereign, the 
latter exclaimed suddenly : 

" Ah ! — I thought I missed a customary friend from 
my finger ; I have forgotten my signet-ring ! Will you 
lend me yours for to-day. Marquis ? " 

" Sir, if you will deign to wear it ! " replied the Mar- 
quis readily, and at once slipping off the ring in question, 
he handed it to the King, who smilingly accepted it and 
put it on. 

" A fine sapphire ! " he said approvingly ; ' Better, I 
think, than my ruby ! " 

" Sir, your praise enhances its value," said De Lutera 
bowing profoundly ; "I shall from henceforth esteem it 
priceless ! " 

"Well said!" returned the King, "And rightly too! 
— for diplomacy is wise in flattering a king to the last, 
even while meditating on his possible downfall ! Adieu, 
Marquis !  When we next meet, I shall expect good 
news ! " 

He descended the staircase, closely attended by De 
Launay, and passed at once into a larger room of audi- 
ence, where some notable persons of foreign distinction 
were waiting to be received. On the way thither, how- 



138 "Temporal Power' 

ever, he turned to Sir Roger for a moment, and held up 
the hand on which the Marquis de Lutera's signet flashed 
like a blue point of flame. 

' Behold the Premier's signet ! " he said with a smile ; 
" Methinks, for once, it suits the King ! " 



CHAPTER X 

THE ISLANDS 

SURROUNDED by a boundless width of dark blue 
sea at all visible points of view, The Islands, lovely 
tufts of wooded rock, trees, and full-flowering meadow- 
lands, were situated in such a happy position as to be 
well out of all possibility of modern innovation or im- 
provement. They were too small to contain much attrac- 
tion for the curious tourist ; and though they were only 
a two-hours' sail from the mainland, the distance was just 
sufficiently inconvenient to keep mere sight-seers away. 
For more than a hundred years they had been almost ex- 
clusively left to the coral-fishers, who had made their hab- 
itation there ; and the quaint, small houses, and flowering 
vineyards and gardens, dotted about in the more fertile 
portions of the soil, had all been built and planned by a 
former race of these hardy folk, who had handed their 
properties down from father to son. They were on the 
whole, a peaceable community. Coral-fishing was one of 
the chief industries of the country, and the islanders 
passed all their days in obtaining the precious product, 
clean sing, and preparing it for the market. They were 
understood to be extremely jealous of strangers and in- 
truders, and to hold certain social traditions which had 
never been questioned or interfered with by any form of 
existing government, because in themselves they gave no 
cause for interference, being counted among the most 
orderly and law-abiding subjects of the realm. Very 
little interest was taken in their doings by the people of 
the mainland, — scarcely as much interest, perhaps, as is 
taken by Londoners in the inhabitants of Orkney or Shet- 
land. One or two scholars, a stray botanist here and 
there, or a few students fond of adventure, had visited 
the place now and again, and some of these had brought 



140 "Temporal Power' 

back enthusiastic accounts of the loveliness of the natural 
scenery, but where a whole country is beautiful, little 
heed is given to one small corner of it, particularly if that 
corner is difficult of access, necessitating a two hours' 
sail across a not always calm sea. Vague reports were 
current that there was a strange house on The Islands, 
built very curiously out of the timbers and spars of 
wrecked vessels. The owner of this abode was said to 
be a man of advanced age, whose history was unknown, 
but who many years ago had been cast ashore from a 
great shipwreck, and had been rescued and revived by 
the coral-fishers, since when, he had lived among them, 
and worked with them. No one knew anything about 
him beyond that since his advent The Islands had been 
more cultivated, and their inhabitants more prosperous ; 
and that he was understood to be, in the language or dia- 
lect of the country, a ' life-philosopher.' Whereat, hear- 
ing these things by chance now and then, or seeing a 
scrappy line or two in the daily press when active re- 
porters had no murders or suicides to enlarge upon, and 
wanted to ' fill up space,' the gay aristocrats or ' smart 
set ' of the metropolis laughed at their dinner-parties and 
balls, and asked one another inanely, " What is a ' life- 
philosopher ' ? " 

In the same way, when a small volume of poetry, burn- 
ing as lava, wild as a storm-wind, came floating out on 
the top of the seething soup of current literature, bearing 
the name of Paul Zouche, and it was said that this person 
was a poet, they questioned smilingly, " Is he dead? " for, 
naturally, they could not imagine these modern days were 
capable of giving birth to a living specimen of the genus 
bard. For they, too, had their motor-cars from France 
and England ; — they, too, had their gambling-dens se- 
creted in private houses of high repute, — they, too, had 
their country-seats specially indicated as free to such 
house-parties as wished to indulge in low intrigue and 
unbridled licentiousness ; they, too, weary of simple 
Christianity, had their own special 'religions' of palm- 
istry, crystal-gazing, fortune-telling by cards, and Eso- 
teric ' faith-healing.' The days were passing with them 
— as it passes with many of their ' set ' in other coun- 
tries, — in complete forgetfulness of all the nobler ambi- 



The Islands 141 

tions and emotions which lift Man above the level of his 
companion Beast. For the time is now upon ns when 
what has formerly been kn< >\vn as ' high ' is of its own 
accord sinking to the low, and what has been called the 
'low' is rising to the high. Strange times! — strange 
days ! - when the tradesman can scorn the duchess on 
account of her ' dirty mind ' — when a certain nobleman 
can get no honest labourers to work on his estate, because 
they suspect him of ' rooking ' young college lads ; — and 
when a church in a seaport town stands empty every Sun- 
day, with its bells ringing in vain, because the congrega- 
tion which should fill it, know that their so-called ' holy 
man ' is a rascal ! All over the world this rebellion against 
Falsehood, — this movement towards Truth is felt, — all 
over the world the people are growing strong on their 
legs, and clear in their brains ; — no longer cramped and 
stunted starvelings, they are gradually developing into full 
growth, and awaking to intelligent action. And wherever 
the dominion of priestcraft has been destroyed, there they 
are found at their best and bravest, with a glimmering 
dawn of the true Christian spirit beginning to lighten 
their darkness, — a spirit which has no race or sect, but 
is all-embracing, all-loving, and all-benevolent; — which 
' thinketh no evil," but is so nobly sufficing in its tender- 
ness and patience, as to persuade the obstinate, govern 
the unruly, and recover the lost, by the patient influence 
of its own example. On the reverse side of the medal, 
wherever we see priestcraft dominant, there we see igno- 
rance and corruption, vice and hypocrisy, and such a low 
standard of morals and education as is calculated to keep 
the soul a slave in irons, with no possibility of any intel- 
lectual escape into the ' glorious liberty of the free.' 

The afternoon was one of exceptional brilliance and 
freshness, when, punctually at three o'clock, the Royal 
yacht hoisted sail, and dipped gracefully away from the 
quay with their Majesties on board, amid the cheers of 
an enthusiastic crowd. A poet might have sung of the 
scene in fervid rhyme, so pretty and gay were all the 
surroundings, — the bright skies, the dancing sea, the fly- 
ing flags and streamers, and the soft music of the 
Court orchestra, a band of eight players on stringed in- 
struments, which accompanied the Royal party on their 



142 "Temporal Power' 

voyage of pleasure. The Queen stood on deck, leaning 
against the mast, her eyes fixed on the shore, as the vessel 
swung round, and bore away towards the west ; — the 
people, elbowing each other, and climbing up on each 
other's shoulders and on the posts of the quay, merely 
to get a passing glimpse of her beauty, all loyally cheer- 
ing and waving their hats and handkerchiefs, were as in- 
different to her sight and soul as an ant-heap in a garden 
walk. She had accustomed her mind to dwell on things 
beyond life, and life itself had little interest for her. This 
was because she had been set among the shams of worldly 
state and ceremonial from her earliest years, and being 
of a profound and thoughtful nature, had grown up to 
utterly despise the hollowness and hypocrisy of her sur- 
roundings. In extenuation of the coldness of her tem- 
perament, it may be said that her rooted aversion to men 
arose from having studied them too closely and accu- 
rately. In her marriage she had fulfilled, or thought she 
had fulfilled, a mere duty to the State — no more ; and 
the easy conduct of her husband during his apprentice- 
ship to the throne as Heir-Apparent, had not tended in 
any way to show her anything particularly worthy of 
admiration or respect in his character. And so she had 
gone on her chosen way, removed and apart from his, — 
and the years had flown by, and now she was, — as she 
said to herself with a little touch of contempt, — ' old — 
for a woman ! ' — while the King remained ' young, — 
for a man ! ' This was a mortifying reflection. True, 
her beauty was more perfect than in her youth, and there 
were no signs as yet of its decay. She knew well enough 
the extent of her charm, — she knew how easily she could 
command homage wherever she went, — and knowing, 
she did not care. Or rather — she had not cared. Was 
it possible she would ever care, and perhaps at a time 
when it was no use caring? A certain irritability, quite 
foreign to her usual composure, fevered her blood, and 
it arose from one simple admission which she had been 
forced to make to herself within the last few days, and 
this was, that her husband was as much her kingly supe- 
rior in heart and mind as he was in rank and power. She 
had never till now imagined him capable of performing a 
brave deed, or pursuing an independently noble course of 



The Islands 143 

action. Throughout all the days of his married life he 
had followed the ordinary routine of his business or 
pleasure with scarce a break, --in winter to his country 
seat on the most southern coast of his southern land, — 
in spring- to the capital, — in full summer to some fash- 
ionable ' bath ' or ' cure,'- -in autumn to different great 
houses for the purpose of shooting other people's game 
by their obsequious invitation, — and in the entire round 
he had never shown himself capable of much more than 
a flirtation with the prettiest or the most pushing new 
beauty, or a daring ride on the latest invention for travel- 
ling at lightning speed. She had noticed a certain change 
in him since he had ascended the throne, but she had at- 
tributed this to the excessive boredom of having to attend 
to State affairs. 

Now, however, all at once and without warning, this 
change had developed into what was evidently likely to 
prove a complete transformation — and he had surprised 
her into an involuntary, and more or less reluctant ad- 
miration of cpialities which she had never hitherto sus- 
pected in him. She had consented to join him on this 
occasion in his trip to The Islands, in order to try and 
fathom the actual drift of his intentions, — for his idea 
that their son. Prince Humphry, had yielded to some par- 
ticular feminine attraction there, piqued her curiosity even 
more than her interest. She turned away now from her 
observation of the shore, as it receded on the horizon and 
became a mere thin line of light which vanished in its 
turn as the vessel curtsied onward ; and she moved to 
the place prepared for her accommodation — -a sheltered 
corner of the deck, covered by silken awnings, and sup- 
plied with luxurious deck chairs and footstools. Here two 
of her ladies were waiting to attend upon her, but none of 
the rougher sex she so heartily abhorred. As she seated 
herself among her cushions with her usual indolent grace, 
she raised her eyes and saw, standing at a respectful dis- 
tance from her, a distinguished personage who had but 
lately arrived at the Court, from England, — Sir Walter 
Langton, a daring traveller and explorer in far countries, 
— one who had earned high distinction at the point of 
the sword. He had been presented to her some evenings 
since, among a crowd of other notabilities, and she had, 



144 "Temporal Power' 

as was her usual custom with all men, scarcely given him 
a passing glance. Now as she regarded him, she sud- 
denly decided, out of the merest whim, to call him to her 
side. She sent one of her ladies to him, charged with 
her invitation to approach and take his seat near her. He 
hastened to obey, with some surprise, and no little pleas- 
ure. He was a handsome man of about forty, sun- 
browned and keen of eye, with a grave intellectual face 
after the style of a Vandyk portrait, and a kindly smile ; 
and he was happily devoid of all that unbecoming offi- 
ciousness and obsequiousness which some persons affect 
when in the presence of Royalty. He bowed profoundly 
as the Queen received him, saying to him with a smile : — 

' You are a stranger here, Sir Walter Langton ! — I 
cannot allow you to feel solitary in our company ! ' 

' Is it possible for anyone to feel solitary when you are 
near, Madam ? ' returned Sir Walter gallantly, as he 
obeyed the gesture with which she motioned him to be 
seated ; — " You must be weary of hearing that even your 
silent presence is sufficient to fill space with melody and 
charm ! And I am not altogether a stranger ; I know 
this country well, though I have never till now had the 
honour of visiting its ruling sovereign." 

' It is very unlike England," said the Queen, slowly 
unfurling her fan of soft white plumage and waving it 
to and fro. 

" Very unlike, indeed ! " he agreed, and a musing ten- 
derness darkened his fine hazel eyes as he gazed out on 
the sparkling sea. 

' You like England best? " resumed the Queen. 

'Madam, 1 am an Englishman! To me there is no 
land so fair, or so much worth living and dying for, as 
England ! " 

' Yet — I suppose, like all your countrymen, you are 
fond of change? " 

' Yes — and no, Madam ! v replied Langton. — " In 
truth, if I am to speak frankly, it is only during the last 
thirty or forty years that my countrymen have blotted 
their historical scutcheons by this fondness for change. 
Where travelling is necessary for the attainment of some 
worthy object, then it is wise and excellent, — but where 
it is only for the purpose of distracting a self-satiated 



The Islands 145 



mind, it is of no avail, and indeed frequently does more 
harm than good." 

"Self-satiated!" repeated the Queen, — "Is not that 
a strange word ? " 

" It is the only compound expression I can use to de- 
scribe the discontented humour in which the upper classes 
of English society exist to-day," replied Sir Walter. 
" For many years the soul of England has been held in 
chains by men whose thoughts are all Of Self, — the 
honour of England has been attainted by women whose 
lives are moulded from first to last on Self. To me, per- 
sonally, England is everything, — I have no thought out- 
side it — no wish beyond it. Yet I am as ashamed of 
some of its leaders of opinion to-day, as if I saw my own 
mother dragged in the dust and branded with infamy ! " 

" You speak of your Government?" began the Queen. 

" No, Madam, — I have no more quarrel with my coun- 
try's present Government than I could have with a child 
who is led into a ditch by its nurse. It is a weak and cor- 
rupted Government ; and its actual rulers are vile and 
abandoned women." 

The Queen's eyes opened in a beautiful, startled won- 
derment ; — this man's clear, incisive manner of speech 
interested her. 

"Women!" she echoed, then smiled; 'You speak 
strongly, Sir Walter ! I have certainly heard of the ' ad- 
vanced ' women who push themselves so much forward 
in your country, but I had no idea they were so mischiev- 
ous ! Are they to be admired? Or pitied? " 

"Pitied, Madam, — most sincerely pitied!" returned 
Sir Walter ; — " But such misguided simpletons as these 
are not the creatures who rule, or play with, or poison 
the minds of the various members who compose our Gov- 
ernment. The 'advanced' women, poor souls, do nothing 
but talk platitudes. They are perfectly harmless. They 
have no power to persuade men, because in nine cases 
out of ten, they have neither wit nor beauty. And with- 
out either of these two charms, Madam, it is difficult to 
put even a clever cobbler, much less a Prime Minister, 
into leading strings ! No, — it is the spendthrift women 
of a corrupt society that I mean, — the women who pos- 
sess beauty, and are conscious of it, --the women who 

10 



146 Temporal Power 



•> ^ 



have a mordant wit and use it for dangerous purposes 

— the women who give up their homes, their husbands, 
their children and their reputations for the sake of vil- 
lainous intrigue, and the feverish excitement of specu- 
lative money-making ; — with these — and with the 
stealthy spread of Romanism, — will come the ruin of 
my country ! " 

" So grave as all that ! " said the Queen lightly ; — " But, 
surely, Sir Walter, if you see ruin and disaster threaten- 
ing so great an Empire in the far distance, you and other 
wise men of your land are able to stave it off? " 

'Madam,- I have no power!'' he returned bitterly. 
' Those who have thought and worked, — those who are 
able to see what is coming by the light of past experience, 
are seldom listened to, or if they get a hearing, they are 
not seldom ridiculed and ' laughed down.' Till a strong 
man speaks, we must all remain dumb. There is no real 
Government in England at present, just as there is no real 
Church. The Government is made up of directly self- 
interested speculators and financiers rather than diplo- 
matists, — the Church, for which our forefathers fought, 
is yielding to the bribery of Rome. It is a time of Sham, 

— sham politics, and sham religion ! We have fallen 
upon evil days, --and unless the people rise, as it is to 
be hoped to God they will, serious danger threatens the 
glory and the honour of England ! " 

' Would you desire revolution and bloodshed, then ? " 
enquired the Queen, becoming more and more interested 
as she saw that this Englishman did not, like most of his 
sex, pass the moments in gazing at her in speechless ad- 
miration, — " Surely not ! " 

' I would have revolution, Madam, but not blood- 
shed," he replied; — "I think my countrymen are too 
well grounded in common-sense to care for any move- 
ment which could bring about internal dissension or riot, 

— but, at the same time, I believe their native sense of 
justice is great enough to resist tyranny and wrong and 
falsehood, even to the death. I would have a revolution 

— yes — but a silent and bloodless one!'-' 

" And how would you begin ? " asked the Queen. 
'The People must begin, Madam!" he answered; — 
" All reforms must begin and end with the People only! 



The Islands 147 

For example, if the People would decline to attend any 
church where the incumbent is known to encourage prac- 
tices which are disloyal to the faith of the land, such dis- 
loyalty would soon cease. If the majority of women 
would refuse to know, or to receive, any woman of high 
position who had voluntarily disgraced herself, they 
would soon put a stop to the lax morality of the upper 
classes. If our builders, artisans and mechanics would 
club together, and refuse to make guns or ships for our 
enemies in foreign countries, we should not run the risk of 
being one day hoisted with our own petard. In any case, 
the work of Revolution rests with the people, though it is 
quite true they need teachers to show them how to begin." 

" And are these teachers forthcoming? " 

" I think so !" said Sir Walter meditatively. "Through- 
out all history, as far back as we can trace it, whenever a 
serious reform has been needed in either society or gov- 
ernment, there has always been found a leader to head the 
movement." 

The Queen's beautiful eyes rested upon him with a cer- 
tain curiosity. 

" What of your King? " she said. 

" Madam, he is my King! " he replied, — " And I serve 
him faithfully ! " 

She was silent. She began to wonder whether he had 
any private motive to gain, any place he sought to fill, that 
he should assume such a touch-me-not air at this stray 
allusion to his Sovereign. 

" Lese-majeste is so common nowadays! " she mused; 
— " It is such an ordinary thing to hear vulgar parvenus 
talk of their king as if he were a public-house companion 
of theirs, that it is somewhat remarkable to find one who 
speaks of his monarch with loyalty and respect. I sup- 
pose, however, like everyone else, he has his own ends to 
serve ! Kings are the last persons in the world who can 
command absolute fidelity ! " 

She glanced dreamily over the sea. and perceiving a 
slight shade of weariness on her face, Sir Walter dis- 
creetly rose, craving her permission to retire to the saloon, 
where he had promised to join the King. When he had 
left her, she turned to one of her ladies, the Countess 
Amabil, and remarked : 



148 " Temporal Power ' 

" A very personable gentleman, is he not ? ' 

" Madam," rejoined the Countess, who was very lovely 
in herself, and of a bright and sociable disposition; — " I 
have often thought it would be more pleasant and profit- 
able for all of us if we had many such personable gentle- 
men with us oftener ! " 

A slight frown of annoyance crossed the Queen's face. 
The Countess was a very charming lady ; very fascinat- 
ing in her own way, but her decided predilection for the 
sterner sex often led her to touch on dangerous ground 
with her Royal mistress. This time, however, she escaped 
the chilling retort her remark might possibly, on another 
occasion, have called down upon her. The Queen said 
nothing. She sat watching the sea, — and now and again 
took up her field-glass to" study the picturesque coast of 
The Islands, which was rapidly coming into view. Teresa 
de Launay, the second lady in attendance on her, was 
reading, and, seeing her quite absorbed in her book, the 
Queen presently asked her what it contained. 
~ " You have smiled twice over that book, Teresa," she 
said kindly; — " What is it about?" 

"Madam, it speaks of love!" replied Teresa, still 
smiling. 

" And love makes you smile? " 

" I would rather smile than weep over it, Madam ! " re- 
plied Teresa, with a slight colour warming her fair face ; 

— " But as concerns this book, I smile, because it is full 
of such foolish verses, — as light and sweet — and almost 
as cloying,- — as French fondants!" 

" Let me hear ! " said the Queen ; " Read me a few 
lines." 

'• This one, called ' A Canzonet ' is brief enough for 
your Majesty's immediate consideration," replied Teresa; 

— " It is just such a thing as a man might scribble in his 
note-book after a bout of champagne, when he is in love 
for ten minutes ! He would not mean a word of it, — but 
it might sound pretty by moonlight ! " Whereupon she 
read aloud : — 

My Lady is pleased to smile, 

And the world is glad and gay ; , 

My Lady is pleased to weep ; — 
And it rains the livelong day! 



The Islands 149 



My Lady is pleased to hate, 

And I lose my life and my breath ; 

My Lady is pleased to love, — 
And I am the master of Death ! 

I know that my Lady is Love, 

By the magical light about her; 
I know that my Lady is Life, 

Lor I cannot live without her ! 

" And you do not think any man would truly mean as 
much love as this ? " queried the Queen. 

"Oh, Madam, you know he would not! If he had 
written such lines about the joys of dining, or the flavour 
of an excellent cigar, they might then indeed be taken as 
an expression of his truest and deepest feeling ! But his 
4 Lady ' ! Bah ! She is a mere myth, — a temporary peg 
1:o hang a stray emotion on ! " 

She laughed, and her laughter rippled merrily on the air. 
' I do not think the men who write so easily about love 
can ever truly feel it," she went on ; — " Those who really 
love must surely be quite unable to express themselves. 
This man who sings about his ' Lady ' being pleased to 
do this or do that, was probably trying to obtain the good 
graces of some pretty housemaid or chorus girl ! " 

A slight contemptuous smile crossed the Queen's face ; 
from her expression it was evident that she agreed in the 
main with the opinion of her vivacious lady-in-waiting. 
Just at that moment the King and his suite, with Sir 
Walter Langton and one or two other gentlemen, who 
had been invited to join the party, came up from the 
saloon, and the conversation became general. 

" Have you seen Humphry at all to-day? " enquired the 
King aside of De Launay. " I sent him an early message 
asking him to join us, and was told he had gone out rid- 
ing. Is that true? " 

' I have not seen his Royal Highness since the morn- 
ing, Sir," replied the equerry; ' He then met me, — and 
Professor von Glauben also — in the gardens. He gave 
me no hint as to whether he knew of your intention to 
sail to The Islands this afternoon or not ; he was reading, 
and with some slight discussion on the subject of the book 
he was interested in, he and the Professor strolled away 
together." 



150 "Temporal Power 



" But where is Von Glauben? " pursued the King; " I 
sent for him likewise, but he was absent." 

' I understood him to say that you had not commanded 
his attendance again to-day, Sir," replied Sir Roger ; — 
" He told me he had already waited upon you." 

" Certainly I did not command his attendance when I 
saw him the first thing this morning," replied the King; 
" I summoned him then merely to satisfy his scruples 
concerning my health and safety, as he seemed last night 
to have doubts of both ! " He smiled, and his eyes 
twinkled humourously. " Later on, I requested him to 
join us in this excursion, but his servant said he had 
gone out, leaving no word as to when he would return. 
An eccentricity ! I suppose he must be humoured ! " 

Sir Roger was silent. The King looked at him nar- 
rowly, and saw that there was something in his thoughts 
which he was not inclined to utter, and with wise tact and 
discretion forbore to press any more questions upon him. 
It was not a suitable time for cross-examination, even of 
the most friendly kind ; there were too many persons near 
at hand who might be disposed to listen and to form con- 
jectures; moreover the favouring wind had so aided the 
Royal yacht in her swift course that The Islands were 
now close at hand, and the harbour visible, the run across 
from the mainland having been accomplished under the 
usual two hours. 

The King scanned the coast through his glass with 
some interest. 

' We shall obtain amusement from this unprepared 
trip," he said, addressing the friends who were gathered 
round him ; ' We have forbidden any announcement of 
our visit here, and, therefore, we shall receive no recog- 
nition, or welcome. We shall have to take the people as 
we find them ! " 

' Let us hope they will prove themselves agreeable. 
Sir,'' said one of the suite, the Marquis Montala, a some- 
what effeminate elegant-looking man, with small deli- 
cate features and lazily amorous eyes, — " And that the 
women of the place will not be too alarmingly hideous." 

'Women are always women," said the King gaily; 
" And you, Montala, if you cannot find a pretty one, will 
put uj) with an ugly one for the moment rather than have 



The Islands i 5 



none at all ! But beauty exists everywhere, and I daresay 
we shall find it in as good evidence here as in other parts 
of the kingdom. ( >ur land is famous for its lovely 
women," — and turning to Sir Walter Langton he added 
 — "I think, Sir Walter, we can almost beat your Eng- 
land in that one particular ! '' 

" Some years ago, Sir, I should have accepted that 
challenge," returned Sir Walter, " And with the deepest 
respect for your Majesty, I should have ventured to deny 
the assertion that any country in the world could surpass 
England for the beauty of its women. But since the rage 
for masculine sports and masculine manners has taken 
hold of English girls, I am not at all disposed to defend 
them. They have, unhappily, lost all the soft grace and 
modesty for which their grandmothers were renowned, 
and one begins to remark that their very shapes are no 
longer feminine. The beautiful full bosoms, admired by 
Gainsborough and Romney, are replaced by an unbecom- 
ing flatness — the feet and hands are growing large and 
awkward, instead of being well-shaped, white and deli- 
cate — the skin is becoming coarse and rough of texture, 
and there is very little complexion to boast of, if we ex- 
cept the artificial make-up of the women of the town. 
.Some few pretty and natural women remain in the heart 
of the forest and the country, but the contamination is 
spreading, and English women are no longer the models 
of womanhood for all the world." 

" Are you married, Sir Walter? " asked the King with 
a smile. 

" To no woman. Sir ! I have married England — I 
love her and work for her only ! " 

" You find that love sufficient to fill your heart? " 

" Perhaps," returned Sir Walter musingly — " perhaps 
if I speak personally and selfishly — no ! But when I 
argue the point logically. I find this — that if I had a wife 
she might probably occupy too much of my time, — certes, 
if Ihad children, I should be working for them and their 
fntnre welfare ; — as it is, I give all my life and all my 
work to my country, and my King ! " 

' T hope you will meet with the reward you merit," 
said the Queen gently ; '' Kings are not always well 
served ! " 



152 "Temporal Power" 

' I seek no reward," said Sir Walter simply ; " The 
joy of work is always its own guerdon." 

As he spoke the yacht ran into harbour, and with a loud 
warning cry the sailors flung out the first rope to a man 
on the pier, who stood gazing in open-mouthed wonder at 
their arrival. He seemed too stricken with amazement to 
move, for he failed to seize the rope, whereat, with an 
angry exclamation as the rope slipped back into the water, 
and the yacht bumped against the pier, a sailor sprang to 
land, and as it was thrown a second time, seized it and 
made it fast to the capstan. A few more moments and 
the yacht was safely alongside, the native islander re- 
maining still motionless and staring. The captain of the 
Royal vessel stepped on shore and spoke to him. 

" Are there any men about here? " 

The individual thus addressed shook his head in the 
negative. 

" Are you alone to keep the pier? " 

The head nodded in the affirmative. A voice, emanat- 
ing from a thickly bearded mouth was understood to 
growl forth something about ' no strange boats being 
permitted to harbour there." Whereupon the Captain 
walked up to the uncouth-looking figure, and said briefly. 

" We are here by the King's order! That vessel is the 
Royal yacht, and their Majesties are on board." 

For one instant the islander stared more wildly than 
ever, then with a cry of amazement and evident alarm, 
ran away as fast as his legs could carry him and disap- 
peared. The captain returned to the yacht and related 
his experience to Sir Roger de Launay. The King heard 
and was amused. 

" It seems, Madam," he said, turning to the Queen, 
' That we shall have The Islands to ourselves ; but as 
our visit will be but brief, we shall no doubt find enough 
to interest us in the mere contemplation of the scenery 
without other human company than our own. Will you 
come ? " 

He extended his hand courteously to assist her across 
the gangway of the vessel, and in a few minutes the Royal 
party were landed, and the yacht was left to the stewards 
and servants, who soon had all hands at work preparing 
the dinner which was to be served during the return sail. 



CHAPTER XI 

" GLORIA — IN EXCELSIS ! " 

THE King and Queen, followed by their suite and 
their guests, walked leisurely off the pier, and down 
a well-made road, sparkling with crushed sea-shells and 
powdered coral, towards a group of tall trees and green 
grass which they perceived a little way ahead of them. 
There was a soothing quietness everywhere, — save for 
the singing of birds and the soft ripple of the waves on 
the sandy shore, it was a silent land : 

" In which it seemed always afternoon — 
All round the coast the languid air did swoon — 
Breathing like one that hath a weary dream." 

The Queen paused once or twice to look around her; 
she was vaguely touched and charmed by the still beauty 
of the scene. 

" It is very lovely! " she said, more to herself than to 
any of her companions ; ' The world must have looked 
something like this in the first days of creation, — so un- 
spoilt and fresh and simple ! " 

The Countess Amabil, walking with Sir Walter Lang- 
ton, glanced coquettishly at her cavalier and smiled. 

" It is idyllic! " she said ; — "A sort of Arcadia with- 
out Corydon or Phyllis ! Do all the inhabitants go to 
sleep or disappear in the daytime, I wonder? " 

" Not all, I imagine," replied Sir Walter ; " For here 
comes one, though, judging from the slowness of his 
walk, he is in no haste to welcome his King ! " 

The personage he spoke of was indeed approaching, 
and all the members of the Royal party watched his ad- 
vance with considerable curiosity. He was tall and up- 
right in bearing, but as he came nearer he was seen to be 
a man of great age, with a countenance on which sorrow 
and suffering had left their indelible traces. There were 



154 "Temporal Power' 

furrows on that face which tears had hollowed out for 
their swifter flowing, and the high intellectual brow bore 
lines and wrinkles of anxiety and pain, which were the 
soul's pen-marks of a tragic history. He was attired in 
simple fisherman's garb of rough blue homespun, and 
when he was within a few paces of the King, he raised 
his cap from his curly silver hair with an old-world grace 
and deferential courtesy. Sir Roger de Launay went for- 
ward to meet him and to explain the situation. 

' His Majesty the King," he said, " has wished to make 
a surprise visit to his people of The Islands, — and he is 
here in person with the Queen. Can you oblige him with 
an escort to the principal places of interest?" 

The old man looked at him with a touch of amusement 
and derision. 

1 There are no places here of interest to a King," he 
said ; ' Unless a poor man's house may serve for his 
curious comment! I am not his Majesty's subject — but 
I live under his protection and his laws, — and I am will- 
ing to offer him a welcome, since there is no one else to 
do so ! " 

He spoke with a refined and cultured accent, and in his 
look and bearing evinced the breeding of a gentleman. 

" Ahd your name? " asked Sir Roger courteously. 

" My name is Rene Ronsard," he replied. "I was ship- 
wrecked on this coast years ago. Finding myself cast 
here by the will of God, here I have remained ! ' 

As he said this, Sir Roger remembered what he had 
casually heard at times about the ' life-philosopher ' who 
had built for himself a dwelling on The Islands out of the 
timbers of wrecked vessels. This must surely be the man ! 
Delighted at having thus come upon the very person most 
likely to provide some sort of diversion for their Majes- 
ties, and requesting Ronsard to wait at a distance for a 
moment, he hastened back to the King and explained the 
position. Whereupon the monarch at once advanced with 
alacrity, and as he approached the venerable personage 
who had ottered him the only hospitality he was likely to 
receive in this part of his realm, he extended his hand 
with a frank and kindly cordiality. Rene Ronsard ac- 
cepted it with a slight but not over-obsequious salutation. 

" We owe you our thanks," said the King, " for receiv- 



"Gloria — In Excelsis!" 155 

ing us thus readily, and without notice; which is surely 
the truest form of hospitable kindness ! That we are 
strangers here is entirely our own fault, due to our own 
neglect of our Island subjects; and it is for this that we 
have sought to know something of the place privately, 
before visiting it with such public ceremonial and state 
as it deserves. We shall be indebted to you greatly if you 
will lend us your aid in this intention." 

' Your Majesty is welcome to my service in whatever 
way it can be of use to you," replied Ronsard slowly; 
" As you see, I am an old man and poor — I have lived 
here for well-nigh thirty years, making as little demand 
as possible upon the resources of either rough Nature or 
smooth civilization to provide me with sustenance. There 
is poor attraction for a king in such a simple home as 
mine! " 

' More than all men living, a king has cause to love 
simplicity," returned the monarch, as with his swift and 
keen glance he noted the old man's proud figure, fine 
worn features, and clear, though deeply-sunken eyes ; — 
' for the glittering shows of ceremony are chiefly irksome 
to those who have to suffer their daily monotony. Let 
me present you to the Queen — she will thank you as I 
do, for your kindly consent to play the part of host to us 
to-day." 

' Nay," — murmured Ronsard — " No thanks — no 
thanks ! " Then, as the King said a few words to his 
fair Consort, and she received the old man's respectful 
salutation in the cold, grave way which was her custom, 
he raised his eyes to her face, and started back with an 
involuntary exclamation. 

' By Heaven ! " he said suddenly and bluntly, " I never 
thought to see any woman's beauty that could compare 
with that of my Gloria ! " 

He spoke more to himself than to any listener, but the 
King: hearing: his words, w r as immediately on the alert, 
and when the whole Royal party moved on again, he, 
walking in a gracious and kindly way by the old man's 
side, and skilfully keeping up the conversation at first on 
mere generalities, said presently : — 

: ' And that name of Gloria ; may I ask you who it 

is that bears so strange an appellation ? " 



156 " Temporal Power 



»> 



Ronsard looked at him somewhat doubtingly. 

'" Your Majesty considers it strange? Had you ever 
seen her, you would think it the only fitting name for 
her," he answered, — " For she is surely the most glo- 
rious thing God ever made ! " 

'Your wife — or daughter?" gently hinted the King. 

The old man smiled bitterly. 

" Sir, I have never owned wife or child! For aught 
I know Gloria may have been born like the goddess 
Aphrodite, of the sunlight and the sea ! Xo other parents 
have ever claimed her." 

He checked himself, and appeared disposed to change 
the subject. The King looked at him encouragingly. 

" May I not hear more of her? " he asked. 

Ronsard hesitated — then with a certain abruptness 
replied — 

" Nay — I am sorry I spoke of her! There is nothing 
to tell. I have said she is beautiful — and beauty is al- 
ways stimulating — even to Kings! But your Majesty 
will have no chance of seeing her, as she is absent from 
home to-day." 

The King smiled ; — had the rumours of his many gal- 
lantries reached The Islands then ? — and was this ' life- 
philosopher ' afraid that ' Gloria ' — whoever she was — 
might succumb to his royal fascinations? The thought 
was subtly flattering, but he disguised the touch of 
amusement he felt, and spoke his next words with a 
kindly and indulgent air. 

" Then, as I shall not see her. you may surely tell me 
of her? I am no betrayer of confidence ! " 

A pale red tinged Ronsard's worn features — anon he 
said : — 

" It is no question of confidence, Sir, — and there is no 
secret or mystery associated with the matter. Gloria was, 
like myself, cast up from the sea. I found her half- 
drowned, a helpless infant tied to a floating spar. It was 
on the other side of these Islands — among the rocks 
where there is no landing-place. There is a little church 
on the heights up there, and every evening the men and 
boys practise their sacred singing. It was sunset, and I 
was wandering by myself upon the shore, and in the 
church above me I heard them chant ' Gloria ! Gloria ! 



"Gloria — In Excelsis! 1 157 

Gloria in excelsis Deo ! ' And while they were yet prac- 
tising this line I came upon the child, — lying like a 
strange lily, in a salt pool. — between two shafts of rock 
like fangs on either side of her, bound fast with rope to a 
bit of ship's timber. I untied her little limbs, and restored 
her to life ; and all the time I was busy bringing her back 
to breath and motion, the singing in the church above me 
was ' Gloria ! ' and ever again 4 Gloria ! ' So I gave her 
that name. That was nineteen years ago. She is married 
now." 

*' Married! *' exclaimed the King, with a curious sense 
of mingled relief and disappointment. " Then she has 
left you ? " 

** Oh, no, she has not left me ! " replied Ronsard ; " She 
stays with me till her husband is ready to give her a 
home. He is very poor, and lives in hope of better davs. 
Meanwhile poverty so far smiles upon them that they are 
happy ; — and happiness, youth and beauty rarely go to- 
gether. For once they have all met in the joyous life of 
my Gloria ! " 

'" I should like to see her ! " said the King, musingly ; 
" You have interested me greatly in her historv ! " 

The old man did not reply, but quickening his pace, 
moved on a little in advance of the King and his suite, to 
open a gate in front of them, which guarded the approach 
to a long low house with carved gables and lattice win- 
dows, over which a wealth of roses and jasmine clam- 
bered in long tresses of pink and white bloom. Smooth 
grass surrounded the place, and tall pine trees towered in 
the background ; and round the pillars of the broad 
verandah, which extended to the full length of the house 
front, clematis and honeysuckle twined in thick clusters. 
filling the air with delicate perfume. The Roval partv 
murmured their admiration of this picturesque abode, 
while Ronsard, with a nimbleness remarkable for a man 
of his age, set chairs on the verandah and lawn for his 
distinguished guests. Sir Walter Langton and the Mar- 
quis Montala strolled about the garden with some of the 
ladies, commenting on the simple yet exquisite taste dis- 
played in its planting and arrangement ; while the King 
and Queen listened with considerable interest to the con- 
versation of their venerable host. He was a man of 



158 "Temporal Power' 

evident culture, and his description of the coral-fishing 
community, their habits and traditions, was both graphic 
and picturesque. 

" Are they all away to-day? " asked the King. 

" All the men on this side of The Islands — yes, Sir," 
replied Ronsard ; " And the women have enough to do 
inside their houses till their husbands return. With the 
evening and the moonlight, they will all be out in their 
fields and gardens, making merry with innocent dance 
and song, for they are very happy folk — much happier 
than their neighbours on the mainland." 

" Are you acquainted with the people of the mainland, 
then? " enquired the King. 

"Sufficiently to know that they are dissatisfied;" re- 
turned Ronsard quietly, — " And that, deep down among 
the tangled grass and flowers of that brilliant pleasure- 
ground called Society, there is a fierce and starving lion 
called the People, waiting for prey ! " 

His voice sank to a low and impressive tone, and for a 
moment his hearers looked astonished and disconcerted. 
He went on as though he had not seen the expression of 
their faces. 

" Here in The Islands there was the same discontent 
when I first came. Every man was in heart a Socialist, 
— every young boy was a budding Anarchist. Wild ideas 
fired their brains. They sought Equality. No man 
should be richer than another, they said. Equal lots, — 
equal lives. They had their own secret Society, connected 
with another similar one across the sea yonder. They 
were brave, clever and desperate, — moved by a burning 
sense of wrong, — wrong which they had not the skill to 
explain, but which they "felt. It was difficult to persuade 
or soothe such men, for they were men of Nature, — not 
of Shams. But fierce and obstinate as they were, they 
were good to me when I was cast up for dead on their 
seashore. And I, in turn, have tried to be good to them. 
That is, I have tried to make them happy. For happiness 
is what we all work for and seek for, — from the begin- 
ning to the end of life. We go far afield for it, when 
it oftener lies at our very doors. Well ! — they are a 
peaceful community now, and have no evil intentions 
towards anyone. They grudge no one his wealth — I 



«.k 



Gloria — In Excelsis ! ' 159 

think if the truth were known, they rather pity the rich 
man than envy him. So, at any rate, I have taught 
them to do. But, formerly, they were, to say the least of 
it, dangerous ! " 

The King heard in silence, although the slightest quiz- 
zical lifting of his eyebrows appeared to imply that ' dan- 
gerous ' was perhaps too strong a term by which to 
designate a handful of Socialistic coral-fishers. 

' It is curious," went on Ronsard slowly, " how soon 
the sense of wrong and injustice infects a whole com- 
munity. One malcontent makes a host of malcontents. 
This is a fact which many governments lose sight of. If 
I were the ruler of a country " 

Here he suddenly paused — then added with a touch of 
brusqueness — 

' Pardon me, Sir ; I have never' known the formalities 
which apply to conversation with a king, and I am too 
old to learn now. No doubt I speak too boldly ! To me 
you are no more than man ; you should be more by eti- 
quette — but by simple humanity you are not ! " 

The King smiled, well pleased. This independent 
commoner, with his rough garb and rougher simplicity 
of speech, was a refreshing contrast to the obsequious 
personages by whom he was generally surrounded ; and 
he felt an irresistible desire to know more of the life and 
surroundings of one who had gained a position of evident 
authority among the people of his own class. 

" Go on, my friend ! " he said. ' Honest expression of 
thought can offend none but knaves and fools ; and though 
there are some who say I have a smack of both, yet I 
flatter myself I am wholly neither of the twain ! Con- 
tinue what you were saying — if you were ruler of a 
country, what would you do ? " 

Rene Ronsard considered for a moment, and his fur- 
rowed brows set in a puzzled line. 

; ' I think," he said slowly, at last, " I should choose my 
friends and confidants among the leaders of the people." 

' And is not that precisely what we all do?" queried 
the King lightly ; " Surely every monarch must count his 
friends among. the members of the Government?" 

' But the Government does not represent the actual 
people, Sir! " said Ronsard quietly. 



160 "Temporal Power' 

"No? Then what docs it represent?" enquired the 
King, becoming amused and interested in the discussion, 
and holding up his hand to warn back De Launay, and 
the other members of his suite who were just coming 
towards him from their tour of inspection through the 
srarden — " Every member of the Government is elected 
by the people, and returned by the popular vote. What 
else would you have ? " 

4 Ministers have not always the popular vote," said 
Ronsard ; 'They are selected by the Premier. And if 
the Premier should happen to be shifty, treacherous or 
self-interested, he chooses such men as are most likely to 
serve his own ends. And it can hardly be said, Sir, that 
the People truly return the members of Government. For 
when the time comes for one such man to be elected, each 
candidate secures his own agent to bribe the people, and 
to work upon them as though they were so much soft 
dough, to be kneaded into a political loaf for his private 
and particular eating. Poor People ! Poor hard-working 
millions ! In the main they are all too busy earning the 
wherewithal to Live, to have any time left to Think — 
they are the easy prey of the party agent, except — ex- 
cept when they gather to the voice of a real leader, one 
who though not in Government, governs!" 

" And is there such an one? " enquired the King, while 
as he spoke his glance fell suddenly, and with an un- 
pleasant memory, on the flashing blue of the sapphire in 
the Premier's signet he wore; " Here, or anywhere?" 

" Over there ! " said Ronsard impressively, pointing 
across the landscape seawards ; " On the mainland there 
is not only one, but many! Women, — as well as men. 
Writers, — as well as speakers. These are they whom 
Courts neglect or ignore, — these are the consuming fire 
of thrones ! " Plis old eyes flashed, and as he turned them 
on the statuesque beauty of the Queen, she started, for 
they seemed to pierce into the very recesses of her soul. 
' When Court and Fashion played their pranks once upon 
a time in France, there was a pen at work on the ' Contrat 
Social ' — the pen of one Rousseau ! Who among the 
idle pleasure-loving aristocrats ever thought that a mere 
Book would have helped to send them to the scaffold ! ' 
He clenched his hand almost unconsciously — then he 



" Gloria — InExcelsis!' 161 

spoke more quietly. " That is what I mean, when I say- 
that if I were ruler of a country, I should take special 
care to make friends with the people's chosen thinkers. 
Someone in authority" — and here he smiled quizzically 
— " should have given Rousseau an estate, and made him 
a marquis — in time! The leaders of an advancing 
Thought, — and not the leaders of a fixed Government 
are the real representatives of the People ! ,: 

Something in this last sentence appeared to strike the 
King very forcibly. 

" You are a philosopher, Rene Ronsard," he said rising 
from his chair, and laying a hand kindly oh his shoulder. 
"And so, in another way am I! If I understand you 
rightly, you would maintain that in many cases discontent 
and disorder are the fermentation in the mind of one 
man, who for some hidden personal motive works his 
thought through a whole kingdom ; and you suggest that 
if that man once obtained what he wanted there would be 
an end of trouble — at any rate for a time till the next 
malcontent turned up ! Is not that so ? " 

" It is so, Sir," replied Ronsard ; " and I think it has 
always been so. In every era of strife and revolution, we 
shall find one dissatisfied Soul — often a soul of genius 
and ambition — at the centre of the trouble." 

" Probably you are right," said the monarch indul- 
gently ; " But evidently the dissatisfied soul is not in 
your body ! You are no Don Quixote fighting a windmill 
of imaginary wrongs, are you ? " 

A dark red flush mounted to the old man's brow, and as 
it passed away, left him pale as death. 

" Sir, I have fought against wrongs in my time ; but 
they were not imaginary. I might have still continued 
the combat but for Gloria ! " 

"Ah! She is your peace-offering to an unjust world?" 

" No Sir ; she is God's gift to a broken heart," replied 
Ronsard gently. " The sea cast her up like a pearl into 
my life ; and so for her sake I resolved to live. For her 
only I made this little home — for her I managed to gain 
some control over the rough inhabitants of these Islands, 
and encouraged in them the spirit of peace, mirth and 
gladness. I soothed their discontent, and tried to instil 
into them something of the Greek love of beauty and 

ii 



1 62 "Temporal Power 



pleasure. But after all, my work sprang from a personal, 
I may as well say a selfish motive — merely to make the 
child I loved, happy ! " 

' Then do you not regret that she is married, and no 
longer yours to cherish entirely ? " 

" No, I regret nothing! " answered Ronsard; " For I 
am old and must soon die. I shall leave her in good and 
safe hands." 

The King looked at him thoughtfully, and seemed 
about to ask another question, then suddenly changing 
his mind, he turned to his Consort and said a few words 
to her in a low tone, whereupon as if in obedience to a 
command, she rose, and with all the gracious charm which 
she could always exert if she so pleased, she enquired of 
Ronsard if he would permit them to see something of the 
interior of his house. 

" Madam," replied Ronsard, with some embarrassment ; 
" All I have is at your service, but it is only a poor place." 

' No place is poor that has peace in it," returned the 
Queen, with one of those rare smiles of hers, which so 
swiftly subjugated the hearts of men. " Will you lead 
the way? " 

Thus persuaded, Rene Ronsard could only bow a re- 
spectful assent, and obey the request, which from Royalty 
was tantamount to a command. Signing to the other 
members of the party, who had stood till now at a little 
distance, the Queen bade them all accompany her. 

' The King will stay here till we return," she said, 
" And Sir Roger will stay with him ! " 

With these words, and a flashing glance at De Launay, 
she stepped across the lawn, followed by her ladies-in- 
waiting, with Sir Walter Langton and the other gentle- 
men ; and in another moment the brilliant little group 
had disappeared behind the trailing roses and clematis, 
which hung in profusion from the oaken projections of 
the wide verandah round Ronsard's picturesque dwelling. 
Standing still for a moment, with Sir Roger a pace be- 
hind him, the King watched them enter the house — then 
quickly turning round on his heel, faced his equerry with 
a broad smile. 

' Now, De Launay," he said, ' let us find Von 
Glauben ! " 



"Gloria — In Excelsis!' 163 

Sir Roger started with surprise, and not a little appre- 
hension. 

•' Von Glauben, Sir?" 

"Yes — Von Glauben! He is here! I saw his face 
two minutes ago, peering through those trees ! " And he 
pointed down a shadowy path, dark with the intertwisted 
gloom of untrained pine-boughs. " I am not dreaming, 
nor am I accustomed to imagine spectres ! I am on the 
track of a mystery, Roger ! There is a beautiful girl here 
named Gloria. The beautiful girl is married — possibly to 
a jealous husband, for she is apparently hidden away from 
all likely admirers, including myself ! Now suppose Von 
Glauben is that husband ! " 

He broke off and laughed. Sir Roger de Launay 
laughed with him ; the idea was too irresistibly droll. 
But the King was bent on mischief, and determined to 
lose no time in compassing it. 

" Come along! " he said. " If this tangled path holds a 
secret, it shall be discovered before we are many minutes 
older ! I am confident I saw Von Glauben ; and what he 
can be doing here passes my comprehension ! Follow 
me, Roger! If our worthy Professor has a wife, and his 
wife is beautiful, we will pardon him for keeping her 
existence a secret from us so long! " 

He laughed again ; and turning into the path he had 
previously indicated, began walking down it rapidly, Sir 
Roger following closely, and revolving in his own per- 
plexed mind the scene of the morning, when Von Glauben 
had expressed such a strong desire to get away to The 
Islands, and had admitted that there was " a lady in the 
case." 

" Really, it is most extraordinary! " he thought. ' The 
King no sooner decides to break through conventional 
forms, than all things seem loosened from their moorings ! 
A week ago, we were all apparently fixed in our orbits of 
exact routine and work — the King most fixed of all — 
but now, who can say what may happen next ! " 

At that moment the monarch turned round. 

" This path seems interminable, Roger," he said ; " It 
gets darker, closer and narrower. It thickens, in fact, 
like the mystery we are probing ! " 

Sir Roger glanced about him. A straight band of trees 



164 "Temporal Power' 

hemmed them in on either side, and the daylight filtered 
through their stems pallidly, while, as the King had said, 
there seemed to be no end to the path they were following. 
They walked on swiftly, however, exchanging no further 
word, when suddenly an unexpected sound came sweep- 
ing up through the heavy branches. It was the rush and 
roar of the sea, — a surging, natural psalmody that filled 
the air, and quivered through the trees with the measured 
beat of an almost human chorus. 

" This must be another way to the shore," said the 
King, coming to a standstill ; " And there must be rocks 
or caverns near. Hark how the waves thunder and rever- 
berate through some deep hollow ! " 

Sir Roger listened, and heard the boom of water rolling 
in and rolling out again, with the regularity and rhythm 
of an organ swell, but he caught an echo of something 
else besides, which piqued his curiosity and provoked him 
to a touch of unusual excitement, — it was the sweet and 
apparently quickly suppressed sound of a woman's laugh- 
ter. He glanced at his Royal master, and saw at once 
that he, too, had sharp ears for that silvery cadence of 
mirth, for his eyes flashed into a smile. 

" On, Roger," he said softly ; " We are close on the 
heels of the problem ! ' : 

But they had only pressed forward a few steps when 
they were again brought to a sudden pause. A voice, 
whose gruffly mellow accents were familiar to both of 
them, was speaking within evidently close range, and the 
King, with a warning look, motioned De Launay back a 
pace or two, himself withdrawing a little into the shadow 
of the trees. 

" Ach ! Do not sing, my princess ! " said the voice ; 
" For if you open your rosy mouth of music, all the birds 
of the air, and all the little fishes of the sea will come to 
listen ! And, who knows ! Someone more dangerous 
than either a bird or a fish may listen also ! ' ; 

The King grasped De Launay by the arm. 

"Was I not right?" he whispered. "There is no 
mistaking Von Glauben's accent ! " 

Sir Roger looked, as he felt, utterly bewildered. In 
his own mind he felt it very difficult to associate the Pro- 
fessor with a love affair. Yet things certainly seemed 



"Gloria — In Excelsis!" 165 

pointing to some entanglement of the sort. Suddenly 
the King held up an admonitory finger. 

" Listen ! " he said. 

Another voice spoke, rich and clear, and sweet as honey. 

" Why should I not sing?" and there was a thrill of 
merriment in the delicious accents. " You are so afraid 
of everything to-day! Why? Why should I stay here 
with nothing to do? Because you tell me the King is 
visiting The Islands. What does that matter? What do 
I care for the King? He is nothing to me! ' : 

" You would be something, perhaps, to him if he saw 
you," replied the guttural voice of Von Glauben. ' It is 
safer to be out of" his way. You are a very wilful prin- 
cess this afternoon! You must remember your husband 
is jealous ! " 

The King started. 

" Her husband ! What the devil does Von Glauben 
know about her husband ! " 

De Launay was dumb. A nameless fear and dismay 
began to possess him. 

" My husband ! " And the sweet voice laughed out 
again. " It would be strange indeed for a poor sailor to 
be jealous of a king! " 

" If the poor sailor had a beautiful wife he worshipped, 
and the King should admire the wife, he might have 
cause to be jealous! " replied Von Glauben: " And with 
some ladies, a poor sailor would stand no chance against 
a king ! Why are you so rebellious, my princess, to-day ? 
Have I not brought a letter from your beloved which 
plainly asks you to keep out of the sight of the King? 
Have I not been an hour with you here, reading the most 
beautiful poetry of Heine ? " 

" That is why I want to sing," said the sweet voice, 
with a touch of wilfulness in its tone. " Listen! I will 
give you a reading of Heine in music ! " And suddenly, 
rich and clear as a bell, a golden cadence of notes rang 
out with the words : 

" Ah, Hast thou forgotten, That I possessed thy heart ? " 

The King sprang lightly out of his hiding-place, and 
with De Launay moved on slowly and cautiously through 
the trees. 



1 66 "Temporal Power* 

"Ach, mein Gott!" they heard Von Glauben exclaim 

— " That is a bird-call which will float on wings to the 
ears of the King ! " 

A soft laugh rippled on the air. 

" Dear friend and master, why are you so afraid ? ' 
asked the caressing woman's voice again ; — " We are 
quite hidden away from the Royal visitors, — and though 
you have been peeping at the King through the trees, and 
though you know he is actually in our garden, he will 
never find his way here ! This is quite a secret little study 
and schoolroom, where you have taught me so much !  — 
yes — so much ! — and I am very grateful ! And when- 
ever you come to see 'me you teach me something more 

— you are always good and kind ! — and I would not 
anger you for the world ! But what is the good of know- 
ing and feeling beautiful things, if I may not express 
them ? " 

"You do express them, — in yourself, — in your own ex- 
istence and appearance!" said "the Professor gruffly; "but 
that is a physiological accident which I do not expect you 
to understand ! " 

There was a moment's silence. Then came a slight 
movement, as of quick feet clambering among loose 
pebbles, and the voice rang out again. 

" There ! Now I am in my rocky throne ! Do you 
remember — Ah, no ! — you know nothing about it, — 
but I will tell you the story ! It was here, in this very 
place, that my husband first saw me ! '' 

"Ach so ! " murmured Von Glauben. " It is an excellent 
place to make a first appearance ! Eve herself could not 
have chosen more picturesque surroundings to make a 
conquest of Adam ! " 

Apparently his mild sarcasm fell on unheeding ears. 

" He was walking slowly all alone on the shore," 
went on the voice, dropping into a more plaintive and 
tender tone ; " The sun had sunk, and one little star 
was sparkling in the sky. He looked up at the star — 
and " 

" Then he saw a woman's eye," interpolated Von 
Glauben ; " Which is always more attractive to weak man 
than an impossible-to-visit planet ! What does Shake- 
speare say of women's eyes? 



"Gloria — In Excelsis!' 167 

' Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven, 
Having some business, do entreat her eyes 
To twinkle in their spheres till they return. 
What if her eyes were there, they in her head ? 
The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars, 
As daylight doth a lamp ; her eye in heaven 
Would through the airy regions stream so bright, 
That birds would sing and think it were not night! ' 

Ach ! That is so ! " 

As the final words left his lips, a rich note of melody 
stirred the air, and a song in which words and music 
seemed thoroughly welded together, rose vibratingly ud 
to the quiet sky : 

" Here by the sea, 
My Love found me ! 
Seagulls over the waves were swinging ; 
Mermaids down in their caves were singing, — 
And one little star in the rosy sky 
Sparkled above like an angel's eye ! 
My Love found me, 
And I and he 
Plighted our troth eternally ! 
Oh day of splendour, 
And self-surrender ! 
The day when my Love found me ! 

Here, by the sea, 

My King crown'd me ! 
Wild ocean sang for my Coronation, 
With the jubilant voice of a mighty nation ! - 
'Mid the towering rocks he set my throne, 
And made me forever and ever his own! 

My King crown'd me, 

And I and he 
Are one till the world shall cease to be ! 

Oh sweet love story ! 

Oh night of glory ! 
The night when my King crown'd me ! " 

No language could ever describe the marvellous sweet- 
ness of the voice that sung these lines ; it was so full of 
exquisite triumph, tenderness and passion, that it seemed 
more supernatural than human. When the song ceased, 
a great wave dashed on the shore, like a closing organ 
chord, and Von Glauben spoke. 

" There ! You wanted your own way, my princess, and 
you have had it ! You have sung like one of the sera- 
phim ; — do not be surprised if mortals are drawn to 
listen. Sst ! What is that ? " 



1 68 "Temporal Power' 

There was a pause. The King had inadvertently 
cracked a twig on one of the pine-boughs he was holding 
back in an endeavour to see the speakers. But he now 
boldly pushed on, beckoning De Launay to follow close, and 
in another minute had emerged on a small sandy plateau, 
which led, by means of an ascending path, to a rocky 
eminence, encircled by huge boulders and rocky pinnacles, 
which somewhat resembled peaks of white coral, — and 
here, on a height above him, — with the afternoon sun- 
glow bathing her in its full mellow radiance, sat a visibly 
enthroned goddess of the landscape, — a girl, or rather a 
perfect woman, more beautiful than any he had ever seen, 
or even imagined. He stared up at her in dazzled won- 
der, half blinded by the brightness of the sun and her 
almost equally blinding loveliness. 

" Gloria ! " he exclaimed breathlessly, hardly conscious 
of his own utterance; " You are Gloria! " 

The fair vision rose, and came swiftly forward with 
an astonished look in her bright deep eyes. 

" Yes! " she said, " I am Gloria! " 



CHAPTER XII 

A SEA PRINCESS 

SCARCELY had she thus declared herself, when the 
Bismarckian head and shoulders of Von Glauben 
appeared above the protecting boulders ; and moving 
with deliberate caution, the rest of his body came slowly 
after, till he stood fully declared in an attitude of mili- 
tary ' attention.' He showed neither alarm nor confusion 
at seeing- the King- ; on the contrarv, the fixed, wooden 
expression of his countenance betokened some deeply- 
seated mental obstinacy, and he faced his Royal master 
with the utmost composure, lifting the slouched hat he 
wore with his usual stiff and soldierly dignity, though 
carefully avoiding the amazed stare of his friend, Sir 
Roger de Launay. 

The King glanced him up and down with a smiling air 
of amused curiosity. 

" So this is how you pursue your scientific studies, 
Professor! " he said lightly; " Well! " — and he turned 
his eyes, full of admiration, on the beautiful creature who 
stood silently confronting him with all that perfect ease 
which expresses a well-balanced mind, — "Wisdom is 
often symbolised to us as a marble goddess, — but when 
Pallas Athene takes so fair a shape of flesh and blood as 
this, who shall blame even a veteran philosopher for sit- 
ting at her feet in worship ! " 

' Pardon me, Sir," returned Von Glauben calmly ; 
" There is no goddess of Wisdom here, so please you, 
but only a very simple and unworldly young woman. 

She is " Here he hesitated a moment, then went 

on " She is merely the adopted child of a fisherman 

living on these Islands." 

" I am aware of that ! " said the King still smiling. 
" Rene Ronsard is his name. He is my host to-day ; and 



i jo " Temporal Power" 

he has told me something- of her. But, certes, he did not 
mention that you had adopted her also ! " 

Von Glauben flushed vexedly. 

" Sir," he stammered, " I could explain " 

"Another time!" interrupted the King, with a touch 
of asperity. " Meanwhile, present your — your pupil in 
the poesy of Heine, — to me ! " 

Thus commanded, the Professor, casting a vexed glance 
at De Launay, who did not in the least comprehend his 
distress, went to the girl, who during their brief conver- 
sation had stood quietly looking from one to the other 
with an expression of half-amused disdain on her lovely 
features. 

"Gloria," he began reluctantly — then whispering in 
her ear, he muttered — " I told you your voice would do 
mischief, and it has done it ! " Then aloud — " Gloria, 
— this — this is the King! " 

She smiled, but did not change her erect and easy 
attitude. 

"The King is welcome!" she said simply. 

She had evidently no intention of saluting the monarch ; 
and Sir Roger de Launay gazed at her in mingled sur- 
prise and admiration. She was certainly wonderfully 
beautiful. Her complexion had the soft clear transpar- 
ency of a pink sea-shell — her eyes, large and lustrous, 
were as densely blue as the dark azure in the depths of a 
wave, — and her hair, of a warm bronze chestnut, caught 
back with a single band of red coral, seemed to have gath- 
ered in its rich curling clusters all the deepest tints of 
autumn leaves flecked with a golden touch of the sun. 
Her figure, clad in a straight garment of rough white 
homespun, was the model of perfect womanhood. She 
stood a little above the medium height, her fair head 
poised proudly on regal shoulders, while the curve of the 
full bosom would have baffled the sculptural genius of a 
Phidias. The whole exquisite outline of her person was 
the expressed essence of beauty, from the lightest wave 
of her hair, down to her slender ankles and small feet; 
and the look that irradiated her noble features was that 
of child-like happiness and repose, — the untired expres- 
sion of one who had never known any other life than the 
innocent enjoyment bestowed upon her by God and divine 



A Sea Princess 171 

Nature. Beautiful as his Queen-Consort was and always 
had been, the King was forced to admit to himself that 
here was a woman far more beautiful, — and as he looked 
upon her critically, he saw that there was a light and 
splendour about her which only the happiness of Love 
can give. Her whole aspect was as of one uplifted into a 
finer atmosphere than that of earth, — she seemed to ex- 
hale purity from herself, as a rose exhales perfume, and 
her undisturbed serenity and dignity, when made aware 
of the Royal presence, were evidently not the outcome of 
ill-breeding or discourtesy, but of mere self-respect and 
independence. He approached her with a strange hesita- 
tion, which for him was quite a new experience. 

" I am glad I have been fortunate enough to meet 
you ! " he said gently ; — " Some kindly fate guided my 
steps down the path which brought me to this part of the 
shore, else I might have gone away without seeing you ! " 

" That would have been no loss to your JYkajesty," an- 
swered Gloria calmly ; — " For to see me, is of no use to 
anyone ! " 

"Would your husband say so?" hazarded the King 
with a smile. 

Her eyes flashed. 

" My husband would say what is right," she replied. 
" He would know better how to talk to you than I do ! " 

He had insensibly drawn nearer to her as he spoke ; 
meanwhile Von Glauben, with a disconsolate air, had 
joined Sir Roger de Launay, who, by an enquiring look 
and anxious uplifting of his eyebrows, dumbly asked 
what was to be the upshot of this affair, — only to re- 
ceive a dismal shake of the head in reply. 

" Possibly I know your husband," went on the King, 
anxious to continue conversation with so beautiful a 
creature. ' If I do, and he is in my personal service, he 
shall not lack promotion ! Will you tell me his name ? " 

A startled look came into the girl's eyes, and a deep 
blush swept over her fair cheeks. 

" I dare not ! " she said ; — " He has forbidden me ! " 

"Forbidden you!" The King recoiled a step — a 
vague suspicion rankled in his mind. ' Then, though 
your King asks you a friendly question, you refuse to 
answer it? " 



172 "Temporal Power' 

Von Glauben here gripped Sir Roger so fiercely by the 
arm, that the latter nearly cried out with pain. 

" She must not tell," he muttered — " She must not — 
she will not ! " 

But Gloria was looking straight at her Royal questioner. 

' I have no King but my husband! " she said firmly. 
" I have sworn before God to obey him in all things, and 
I will not break my vow ! " 

" Good o-irl ! Wise girl ! " exclaimed Von Glauben. 
"Ach, if all the beautiful women so guarded their tongues 
and obeyed their husbands, what a happy world it would 
be!" 

The King turned upon him. 

" True ! But you are not bound by the confidences of 
marriage, Professor, — so that while in our service our 
will must be your law ! You, therefore, can perhaps tell 
me the name of the fortunate man who has wedded this 
fair lady? " 

The Professor's countenance visibly reddened. 

" Sir," he stammered — " With every respect for your 
Majesty, I would rather lose my much-to-be-appreciated 
post with you than betray my friends ! " 

The King suddenly lost patience. 

" By Heaven ! " he exclaimed, " Is my command to be 
slighted and set aside as if it were naught? Not while I 
am king of this country ! What mystery is here that I 
am not to know ? " 

Gloria laughed outright, and the pretty ripple of 
mirth, so unforced and natural, diverted the monarch's 
irritation. 

" Oh, you are angry! " she said, her lovely eyes twin- 
kling and sparkling like diamonds : — " So ! Then your 
Majesty is no more than a very common man who loses 
temper when he cannot have his own way !" She laughed 
again, and the King stared at her unoffended, — being 
spellbound, both by her regal beauty, and her complete 
indifference to himself. ' I will speak like the prophets 
do in the Bible and say, ' Lo ! there is no mystery, O 
King ! ' I am only poor Gloria, a sailor's' wife, — and the 
sailor has a place on board your son the Crown Prince's 
yacht, and he does not want his master to know that he is 
married lest he lose that place ! Is not that plain and 



A Sea Princess 173 

clear, O King"? And why should I disobey my beloved 
in such a simple matter? '' 

The King- was still in something of a fume. 

" There is no reason why you should disobey," he said 
more quietly, but still with vexation ; — " But, equally, 
there is no reason why your husband should be dismissed 
from the Crown Prince's service, because he has chosen 
to marry. If you tell me his name, I will make all things 
easy for him, for you, and your future. Can you not 
trust me? " 

With wonderful grace and quickness Gloria suddenly 
sprang forward, caught the King's hand, kissed it, and 
then threw it lightly away from her. 

" No ! " she said, with a pretty defiance ; ' I kiss the 
hand of the country's King — but I have my own King 
to serve ! " 

And pausing for no more words, she turned away, 
sprang lightly up the rocks as swiftly as a roe-deer, and 
disappeared. And from some hidden corner, clear and 
full and sweet, her voice rang out above the peaceful 
plashing of the waves : 

" My King crown'd me ! 
And I and he- 
Are one till the world shall cease to be ! " 

Stricken dumb and confused by the suddenness of her 
action, and the swiftness of her departure, the King stood 
for a moment inert, gazing up the rocky height with the 
air of one who has seen a vision of heaven withdrawn 
again into its native element. Some darkening doubt 
troubled his mind, and it was with an altogether changed 
and stern countenance that he confronted Von Glauben. 

" Last night, Professor, you were somewhat anxious for 
our health and safety," he said severely; ' It is our turn 
now to be equally anxious for yours ! We are of opinion 
that you, like ourselves, run some risk of danger by med- 
dling in affairs which do not concern you ! Silence ! " 
This, as the Professor, deeply moved by his Royal mas- 
ter's evident displeasure, made an attempt to speak. "We 
will hear all you have to say to-morrow. Meanwhile — 
follow your fair charge ! ' : And he pointed up in the di- 
rection whither Gloria had vanished. " Her husband " 



174 "Temporal Power " 

— and he emphasized the word, — " whoever he is, ap- 
pears to have entrusted her safety to you ; — see that you 
do not betray his trust, even though you have betrayed 
mine! " 

At this remark Von Glauben was visibly overcome. 

" Sir, you have never had reason to complain of any 
lack of loyalty in me to you and to your service," he said 
with an earnest dignity which became him well ; — " In 
the matter of the poor child yonder, whose beauty would 
surely be a fatal snare to any man, there is much to be 
told, — which if told truly, will prove that I am merely 
the slave of circumstances which were not created by me, 

— and which it is possible for a faithful servant of your 
Majesty to regret ! But a betrayer of trust I have never 
been, and I beseech your Majesty to believe me when I 
say that the acuteness of that undeserved reproach cuts 
me to the heart ! I yield to no man in the respect and 
affection I entertain for your Royal person, not even to 
De Launay here — who knows — who knows " 

He broke off, unable through strong emotion to pro- 
ceed. 

"'Who knows ' — What ? " enquired the King, turn- 
ing his steadfast eyes on Sir Roger. 

"Nothing, Sir! Absolutely nothing!' 1 replied the 
equerry, opening his eyes as widely as their habitual 
langour would permit ; ' I am absolutely ignorant of 
everything concerning Von Glauben except that he is an 
honest man ! That I certainly do know ! " 

A slight smile cleared awav something of the doubt and 
displeasure on the King's face. Approaching the discon- 
solate Professor, he laid one hand on his shoulder and 
looked him steadily in the eyes. 

" By my faith, Von Glauben, if I thought positively 
that you could play me false in any matter, I would never 
believe a man again ! Come ! Forgive my hasty speech, 
and do not look so downcast ! Honest I have always 
known you to be,  — and that you will prove your hon- 
esty, I do not doubt ! But — there is something in this 
affair which awakens grave suspicion in my mind. For 
to-day I press no questions — but to-morrow I must know 
all! You understand? All! Say this to the girl, Gloria, 

— say it to her husband also — as, of course, you know 



A Sea Princess i 7 5 

who her husband is. If he r>erves on Prince Humphry's 
yacht, that is enough to say that Humphry himself has 
probably seen her. Under all the circumstances, I con- 
fess, my dear Von Glauben, that your presence here is a 
riddle which needs explanation ! " 

' It shall be explained, Sir — " murmured the Pro- 
fessor. 

' Naturally ! It must, of course, be explained. But I 
hope you give me credit for not being altogether a fool ; 
and I have an idea that my son's frequent mysterious 
visits to The Islands have something to do with this fair 
Gloria of Glorias ! " Von Glauben started involuntarily. 
' You perhaps think it too? Or know it? Well, if it is 
so, I can hardly blame him overmuch, — though I am 
sorry he should have selected a poor sailor's wife as a 
subject for his secret amours! I should have thought 
him possessed of more honour. However — to-morrow 
I shall look to you for a full account of the matter. For 
the present, I excuse your attendance, and permit you to 
remain with her whom you call ' princess ' ! " 

He stepped back, and, taking De Launay's arm, turned 
round at once, and walked away back to Ronsard's house 
by the path he had followed with such eagerness and 
care. 

Von Glauben watched the two tall figures disappear, 
and then with a troubled look, began to climb slowly up 
the rocks in the direction where Gloria had gone. His 
reflections were not altogether as philosophical as usual, 
because as he said to himself — " One can never tell how 
a woman is going to meet misfortune ! Sometimes she 
takes it well; and then the men who have ruthlessly de- 
stroyed her happiness go on their way rejoicing; but 
more often she takes it ill, and there is the devil to pay ! 
Yet — Gloria is not like any ordinary woman — she is a 
carefully selected specimen of her sex, which a kindly 
Nature has produced as an example of what women were 
intended to be when they were first created. I wonder 
where she has hidden herself?" 

Arriving at the summit of the ascent, he peered down 
towards the sea. Slopes of rank grass and sea-daisies 
tufted the rocks on this side, divided by certain deep hol- 
lows which the action of the waves had honeycombed 



176 "Temporal Power' 

here and there ; and below the grass was the shore, pow- 
dered thickly with sand, of a fine, light, and sparkling 
colour, like gold dust. Here in the full light of the sink- 
ing sun lay Gloria, her head pillowed against a rough 
stone, on the top of which a tall cluster of daisies, some- 
times called moon-flowers, waved like white plumes. 

" Gloria! " called Von Glauben. 

She looked up, smiling. 

•" Has Majesty gone? " she asked. 

" Gone for the present," replied the Professor, begin- 
ning to put one foot cautiously before the other down a 
roughly hewn stairwav in the otherwise almost inacces- 
sible cliff. " But, like' the sun which is setting to-night, 
he will rise again to-morrow ! " 

" Shall I come and help you down? " enquired the girl, 
turning on her elbow as she lay, and lifting her lovely 
face, radiant as a flower, towards him. 

" Whether clown or up, you shall never help me, my 
princess ! " he replied. " When I can neither climb nor 
fall without the assistance of a woman's hand, I shall 
take a pistol and tell it to whisper in my ear — ' Good-bye, 
Heinrich Von Glauben! You are all up — finish — 
gone! 

Here, with a somewhat elephantine jump, he alighted 
beside her and threw himself on the warm sand with a 
deep sigh of mingled exhaustion and relief. 

" You would be very wicked to put a pistol to your 
ear," said Gloria severely; — " It is only a coward who 
shoots himself ! " 

" Ach so ! And it is a brave man who shoots others ! 
That is curious, is it not, princess? It is a little bit of 
man's morality ; but we have no time to discuss it now. 
We have something more serious to consider, — your 
husband ! " 

She looked at him wonderingly. 

" My husband ? Do you really think he will be very 
angry that the King saw me ? " 

The Professor appeared to be considering the question ; 
but in reality he was studying the exquisite delicacy of the 
face turned so wistfully upon him, and the lovely lines of 
the slim throat and rounded chin — " So beautiful a 
creature " — he was saying within himself — " And must 



A Sea Princess 177 

she also suffer pain and disillusion like all the rest of her 
unfortunate sex! " Aloud he replied. 

' My princess, it is not for me to say he will be ' angry,' 
— for how could he be angry with the one he loves to 
such adoration ! He will be sorry and troubled — it will 
put him into a great difficulty ! Ach ! — a whole nest of 
difficulties ! " 

"Why?" And Gloria's eyes filled with sudden tears. 
" I would not grieve him for the world ! I cannot under- 
stand why it should matter at all, even if the King does 
find out that he is married. Are the rules so strict for 
all the men who serve on board the Royal vessels ? " 

Von Glauben bit his lips to hide an involuntary smile. 
But he answered her with quite a martinet air. 

" Yes, they are strict — very strict ! Particularly so in 
the case of your husband. You see, my child — you do 
not perhaps quite understand — but he is a sort of su- 
perior officer on board ; and in close personal attendance 
on the Crown Prince." 

' He did not tell me that ! " said the girl a little 
anxiously ; ' Yet surely it would not matter if he loses 
one place ; can he not easily get another? " 

Von Glauben was looking at her with a grave, almost 
melancholy intentness. 

4 Listen, my princess, — listen to your poor old friend, 
who means you so much good, and no harm at all ! Your 
husband — and I too, for that matter, — wished much to 

prevent the King from seeing you for for many 

reasons. When I heard he was coming to The Islands, I 
resolved to arrive here before him, and so I did. I said 
nothing to Ronsard, not even to warn him of the King's 
impending visit. I took you just quietly, as I have often 
done, for a walk, with a book to read and to explain to 
you, because you tell me you want to study ; though in 
my opinion you know quite enough — for a woman. I 
gave you a letter from your husband, and you know he 
asked you in that letter to avoid all possibility of meeting 
with the King. Good ! Well, now, what happens ? You 
sing — and lo! his Majesty, like a fish on a hook, is 
drawn up open-mouthed to your feet! Now, who is to 
blame? You or I? " 

A little perplexed line appeared on the girl's fair brows. 

12 



178 "Temporal Power' 

" I am, I suppose ! " she said somewhat plaintively, — 
" But yet, even now, I do not understand. What is the 
King ? He is nothing ! He does nothing for anybody ! 
People make petitions to him, and he never answers them 
— they try to point out errors and abuses, and he takes no 
trouble to remedy them — he is no better than a wooden 
idol ! He is not a real man, though he looks like one." 

"Oh, you think he looks like one?" murmured Von 
Glauben; "That is to say you are not altogether dis- 
pleased with his appearance? " 

Gloria's eyes darkened a moment with thought, — then 
flashed with laughter. 

" No," she said frankly — " He is more kingly than I 
thought a king could be. But he should not lose temper. 
That spoils all dignity ! " 

Von Glauben smiled. 

" Kings are but mortal," he said, " and never to lose 
temper would be impossible to any man." 

" It is such a waste of time ! " declared Gloria — " Why 
should anyone lose self-control? It is like giving up a 
sword to an enemy." 

" That is one of Rene Ronsard's teachings," — said the 
Professor — " It is excellent in theory! But in practice 
I have seen Rene give way to temper himself, with con- 
siderable enjoyment of his own mental thunderstorm. As 
for the King, he is generally a very equable personage ; 
and he has one great virtue — that is courage. He is 
brave as a lion — perhaps braver than many lions ! " 

She raised her eyes enquiringly. 

" Has he proved it?" 

Rather taken aback by the question, he stared at her 
solemnly. 

" Proved it ? Well ! He has had no chance. The 
country has been at peace for many years — but if there 
should ever be a war " 

" Would he go and fight for the country ? " enquired 
Gloria. 

" In person ? No. He would not be allowed to do that. 
His life would be endangered " 

" Of course! " interrupted the girl with a touch of con- 
tempt; "But if he would allow himself to be ruled by 
others in such a matter, I do not call him brave ! " 



A Sea Princess 179 

The Professor drew out his spectacles, and fixing them 
on his nose with much care, regarded her through them 
with bland and kindly interest. 

" Very simple and primitive reasoning, my princess ! ' : 
he said ; " And from an early historic point of view, your 
idea is correct. In the olden times kings went themselves 
to battle, and led their soldiers on to victory in person. 
It was very fine ; much finer than our modern ways of 
warfare. But it has perhaps never occurred to you that 
a king's life nowadays is always in danger? He can do 
nothing more completely courageous than to show him- 
self in public ! " 

" Are kings then so hated? " she asked. 

" They are not loved, it must be confessed," returned 
Von Glauben, taking off his spectacles again ; ' But that 
is quite their own fault. They seldom do anything to 
deserve the respect, — much less the affection of their 
subjects. But this king — this man you have just seen — 
certainly deserves both." 

' Why, what has he clone? " asked Gloria wonderingly. 
' I have heard people say he is very wicked — that he 
takes other men's wives away from them " 

The Professor coughed discreetly. 

" My princess, let me suggest to you that he could 
scarcely take other men's wives away from them, unless 
those wives were perfectly willing to go! " 

She gave an impatient gesture. 

" Oh, there are weak women, no doubt ; but then a 
king should know better than to put temptation in their 
way. If a man undertakes to be strong, he should also 
be honourable. Then, — what of the taxes the King im- 
poses on the people? The sufferings of the poor over 
there on the mainland are terrible ! — I know all about 
them ! I have heard Sergius Thord ! " 

The Professor gave an uncomfortable start. 

' You have heard Sergius Thord ? Where ? " 

" Here ! " And Gloria smiled at his expression of 
wonderment. "'He has spoken often to our people,_ and 
he is father Rene's friend." 

" And what does he talk about when he speaks here ? " 
enquired Von Glauben. ' When does he come, and how 
does he go ? " 



180 "Temporal Power' 

' Always at night," answered Gloria; " He has a sail- 
ing skiff of his own, and on many an evening when the 
wind sets in our quarter, he arrives quite suddenly, all 
alone, and in a moment, as if by magic, the Islanders all 
seem to know he is here. On the shore, or in the fields 
he assembles them round him, and tells them many things 
that are plain and true. I have heard him speak often of 
the shortness of life and its many sorrows, and he says 
we could all make each other happy for the little time 
we have to live, if we would. And I think he is right ; 
it is only wicked and selfish people who make others 
unhappy ! " 

The Professor was silent. Gloria, watching him, won- 
dered at his somewhat perturbed expression. 

"Do you know the King very well?" she asked sud- 
denly. " He seemed very cross with you ! " 

Von Glauben roused himself from a fit of momentary 
abstraction. 

"Yes, — he was cross!" he rejoined. "I, like your 
husband, am in his service — and I ought to have been 

on duty to-day. It will be all right, however all 

right ! But " He paused for a moment, then went 

on — " You say that only wicked and selfish people make 
others unhappy. Now suppose your husband were 
wicked and selfish enough to make you unhappy ; what 
would you say ? " 

A sweet smile shone in her eyes. 

" He could not make me unhappy ! " she said. " He 
would not trv ! He loves me, and he will always love 
me!" 

' But, suppose," persisted the Professor " Just for 

the sake of argument — suppose he had deceived you ? ' 

With a low cry she sprang up. 

'Impossible!" she exclaimed; "He is truth itself! 
He could not deceive anyone! " 

" Come and sit down again," said Von Glauben tran- 
quilly ; " It is disturbing to my mind to see you standing 
there pronouncing your faith in the integrity of man ! 
No male creature deserves such implicit trust, and when- 
ever a woman gives it, she invariably finds out her 
mistake ! " 

But Gloria stood still. The rich colour had faded from 



A Sea Princess i 8 i 

her cheeks — her eyes were dilated with alarm, and her 
breath came and went quickly. 

"You must explain," she said hurriedly; 'You must 
tell me what you mean by suggesting- such a wicked 
thought to me as that my husband could deceive me ! It 
is not right or kind of you, — it is cruel ! " 

The Professor scrambled up hastily out of his sandy 
nook, and approaching her, took her hand very gently and 
respectfully in his own and kissed it. 

'My dear --my princess — I was wrong! Forgive 
me! " he murmured, and there was a little tremor in his 
voice : " Hut can you not understand the possibility of a 
man loving a woman very much, and yet deceiving her 
for her good? " 

' It could never be for her good/' said Gloria firmly ; 
' It would not be for mine ! No lie ever lasts ! ' 

Von Glauben looked at her with a sense of reverence 
and something like awe. The after-glow of the sinking 
sun was burning low down upon the sea, and turning it 
to fiery crimson, and as she stood bathed in its splendour, 
the white rocks towering above her, and the golden sands 
sparkling at her feet, she appeared like some newly de- 
scended angel expressing the very truth of Heaven itself 
in her own presence on earth. As they stood thus, the 
sudden boom of a single cannon echoed clear across the 
waves. 

' There goes the King! " said Von Glauben; " Majesty 
departs for the present, having so far satisfied his curi- 
osity ! That gun is the signal. Child ! " — and turning 
towards her again, he took both her hands in his, and 
spoke with emphatic gravity and kindness — " Remember 
that I am your friend always ! Whatever chances to you, 
do not forget that you may command my service and 
devotion till death ! In this strange life, we never know 
from day to day what may happen to us, for constant 

change is the law of Nature and the universe, but 

after all, there is something in the soul of a true man 
which does not change with the elements, — and that is 
— loyalty to a sworn faith ! In my heart, I have sworn 
an oath of fealty to you, my beautiful little princess of the 
sea ! — and it is a vow that shall never be broken ! Do 
you understand? And will you remember?" 



i 82 "Temporal Power' 

Her large dark blue eyes looked trustingly into his. 

" Indeed, I will never forget! " she said, with a touch 
of wistfulness in her accents ; " But I do not know why 
you should be anxious for me — there is nothing to fear 
for my happiness. I have all the love I care for in th~ 
world ! " 

" And long may you keep it! " said the Professor ear- 
nestly; "Come! It will soon be time for me to leave 
you, and I must see Rene before I go. If you follow my 
advice, you will say nothing to him of having met the 
King — not for the present, at any rate." 

She agreed to this, though with some little hesitation, 

— then they ascended the cliff, and walking by way of the 
pine-wood through which the King had come, arrived at 
Ronsard's house, to find the old man quite alone, and 
peacefully engaged in tying up the roses and jessamine 
on the pillars of his verandah. His worn face lighted up 
with animation and tenderness as Gloria approached him 
and threw her arms around his neck, and to her he related 
the incident of the King and Queen's unexpected visit, as 
a sort of accidental, uninteresting, and wholly unim- 
portant occurrence. The Queen, he said, was very beauti- 
ful, but too cold in her manner, though she had certainly 
taken much interest in seeing the house and garden. 

" It was just as well you were absent, child," he added 

— " Royalty brings an atmosphere with it which is not 
wholesome. A king never knows what it is to be an 
honest man ! " 

" Those are your old, discarded theories, Ronsard ! '' 
said Von Glauben, shaking his head ; — " You said you 
would never return to them ! '' 

" Aye ! " rejoined Ronsard ; — "I have tried to put 
away all my old thoughts and dreams for her sake " — 
and his gaze rested lovingly on Gloria as, standing on 
tiptoe to reach a down-drooping rose, she gathered it and 
fastened it in her bosom. " There should only be peace 
and contentment where she dwells! But sometimes my 
life's long rebellion against sham and injustice stirs in my 
blood, and I long to pull down the ignorant people's idols 
of wood and straw, and set up men in place of dummies !" 

" A Mumbo-Jumbo of some kind has always been 
necessary in the world, my friend," said the Professor 



A Sea Princess i 83 

calmly ; " Either in the shape of a deity or a king. A 
wood and straw Nonentity is better than an incarnated 
fleshlv Selfishness. Will you give me supper before I 
leave?" 

Ronsard smiled a cheery assent, and Gloria preceding 
them, and singing in a low tone to herself as she went, 
they all entered the house together. 

Meanwhile, the Royal yacht was scudding back to the 
mainland over crisp waters on the wings of a soft breeze, 
with a bright moon flying through fleecy clouds above, 
and silvering the foam-crests of the waves below. There 
was music on board, — the King and Queen dined with 
their guests, — and laughter and gay converse inter- 
mingled with the sound of song. They talked of their 
day's experience — of the beauty of The Islands — of 
Ronsard, — his quaint house and quainter self, — so dif- 
ferent to the persons with whom they associated in their 
own exclusive and brilliant Court ' set,' and the pretty 
Countess Amabil flirting harmlessly with Sir Walter 
Langton, suggested that a ' Flower Feast ' or Carnival 
should be held during the summer, for the surprise and 
benefit of the Islanders, who had never yet seen a Royal 
pageant of pleasure on their shores. 

But Sir Roger de Launay, ever watching the Queen, 
saw that she was very pale, and more silent even than 
was her usual habit, and that her eyes every now and 
again rested on the King, with something of wonder, as 
well as fear. 



CHAPTER XIII 

SECRET SERVICE 

IN one of the ultra-fashionable quarters of the brilliant 
and overcrowded metropolis which formed the nu- 
cleus and centre of everything notable or progressive in 
the King's dominions, there stood a large and aggres- 
sively-handsome house, over-decorated both outside and 
in, and implying in its general appearance vulgarity, no 
less than wealth. These two things go together very 
much nowadays ; in fact one scarcely ever sees them 
apart. The fair, southern city of the sea was not behind 
other modern cities in luxury and self-aggrandisement, 
and there were certain members of the population who 
made it their business to show all they were worth in 
their domestic and home surroundings. One of the most 
flagrant money-exhibitors of this kind was a certain Jew 
named David Jost. Jost was the sole proprietor of the 
most influential newspaper in the kingdom, and the 
largest shareholder in three other newspaper companies, 
all apparently differing in party views, but all in reality 
working into the same hands, and for the same ends. 
Jost and his companies virtually governed the Press ; 
and what was euphoniously termed ' public opinion ' was 
the opinion of Jost. Should anything by chance happen 
to get into his own special journal, or into any of the 
other journals connected with Jost, which Jost did not 
approve of, or which might be damaging to Jost's social 
or financial interests, the editor in charge was severely 
censured ; if the fault occurred again he was promptly 
dismissed. ' Public opinion ' had to be formed on Jost's 
humour ; otherwise it was no opinion at all. A few 
other newspapers led a precarious existence in offering 
a daily feeble opposition to Jost ; but they had not cash 
enough to carry on the quarrel. Jost secured all the 
advertisers, and as a natural consequence of this, could 



Secret Service 185 

well afford to be the ' voice of the people ' ad libitum. 
He was immensely wealthy, openly vicious, and utterly 
unscrupulous ; and made brilliant speculative ' deals ' in 
the unsuspecting natures of those who were led, by that 
bland and cheery demeanour which is generally associated 
with a large paunch, to consider him a ' good fellow ' 
with his ' heart in the right place.' With regard to this 
last assertion, it may be doubted whether he had a heart 
at all, in any place, right or wrong. He was certainly 
not given to sentiment. He had married for money, and 
his wife had died in a mad-house. He was now anxious 
to marry again for position ; and while looking round the 
market for a sufficiently perfect person of high-breeding, 
he patronized the theatre largely, and ' protected ' several 
ballet-girls and actresses. Everyone knew that his life 
was black with villainy and intrigue of the most shame- 
less kind, yet everyone swore that he was a good man. 
Such is the value of a limitless money-bag ! 

It was very late in the evening of the day following that 
on which the King had paid his unexpected visit to The 
Islands, — and David Jost had just returned from a 
comic opera-house, where he had supped in private with 
two or three painted heroines of the footlights. He was 
in an excellent humour with himself. He had sprung a 
mine on the public ; and a carefully-concocted rumour 
of war with a foreign power had sent up certain stocks 
and shares in which he had considerable interest. He 
smiled, as he thought of the general uneasiness he was 
creating by a few headlines in his newspaper ; and he 
enjoyed to the full the tranquil sense of having flung 
a bone of discord between two nations, in order to watch 
them from his arm-chair fighting like dogs for it tooth 
and claw, till one or the other gave in. 

" Lutera will have to thank me for this," he said to 
himself ; " And he will owe me both a place and a title! " 

He sat down at his desk in his warm and luxuriously- 
furnished study, — turned over a few letters, and then 
glanced up at the clock. Its hands pointed to within a 
few minutes of midnight. Taking up a copy of his own 
newspaper, he frowned slightly, as he saw that a certain 
leading article in favour of the Jesuit settlement in the 
country had not appeared. 



i 86 "Temporal Power' 

" Crowded out, I suppose, for want of space," he said ; 
" I must see that it goes in to-morrow. These Jesuits 
know a thing or two ; and they are not going to plank 
down a thousand pounds for nothing. They have paid 
for their advertisement, and they must have it. They 
ought to have had it to-day. Lutera must warn the King 
that it will not do to offend the Church. There 's a lot 
of loose cash lying idle in the Vatican, — we may as well 
have some of it! His Majesty has acted most unwisely 
in refusing to grant the religious Orders the land they 
want. He must be persuaded to yield it to them by 
degrees, — in exchange of course for plenty of cash 
down, without loss of dignity ! " 

At that moment the door-bell rang softly, as if it were 
pulled with extreme caution. A servant answered it, and 
at once came to his master's room. 

k ' A gentleman to see you, sir, on business," he said. 

Jost looked up. 

"On business? At this time of night? Say I cannot 
see him — tell him to come again to-morrow ! " 

The servant withdrew, only to return again with a 
more urgent statement. 

' The gentleman says he must see you, sir ; he comes 
from the Premier." 

"From the Premier?" 

" Yes, sir ; his business is urgent, he says, and private. 
He sent in his card, sir." 

Here he handed over the card in question, a small, 
unobtrusive bit of pasteboard, laid in solitary grandeur 
on a very large silver salver. 

David Jost took it up, and scanned it with some curi- 
osity. ' Pasquin Leroy ' ! H'm ! Don't know the name 
at all. ' Urgent business ; bear private credentials from 
the Marquis de Lutera ' ! " He paused again, consider- 
ing,  — then turned to the waiting attendant. " Show 
him in." 

"Yes, sir!" 

Another moment and Pasquin Leroy entered, — but 
it was an altogether different Pasquin Leroy to the one 
that had recently enrolled himself as an associate of 
Sergius Thord's Revolutionary Committee. That par- 
ticular Pasquin had seemed somewhat of a dreamer and 



Secret Service 187 

a visionary, with a peculiar and striking resemblance to 
the King; this Pasquin Leroy had all the alertness 
and sharpness common to a practised journalist, press- 
reporter or commercial traveller. Moreover, his coun- 
tenance, adorned with a black mustache, and small pointed 
beard, wore a cold and concentrated air of business — 
and he confronted the Jew millionaire without the slight- 
est embarrassment or apology for having broken in upon 
his seclusion at so unseasonable an hour. He used a 
pince-nez, and was constantly putting it to his eyes, as 
though troubled with short-sightedness. 

' I presume your matter cannot wait, sir," said Jost, 
surveying him coolly, without rising from his seat, — 
" but if it can " 

' It cannot ! " returned Leroy, bluntly. 

Jost stared. 

"So! You come from the Marquis de Lutera?" 

" I do." 

" Your credentials ? " 

Leroy stepped close up to him, and with a sudden 
movement, which was somewhat startling, held up his 
right hand. 

' This signet is, I believe, familiar to you, — and it 
will be enough to prove that I come on confidential busi- 
ness which cannot be trusted to writing ! " 

Jost gazed at the flashing sapphire on the stranger's 
hand with a sense of deadly apprehension. He recognised 
the Premier's ring well enough ; and he also knew that 
it would never have been sent to him in this mysterious 
way unless the matter in question was almost too desper- 
ate for whispering within four walls. An uneasy sensa- 
tion affected him ; he pulled at his collar, looked round 
the room as though in search of inspiration, and then 
finally bringing his small, swine-like eyes to bear on the 
neat soldierly figure before him, he said with a careless 
air: 

' You probably bring news for the Press affecting the 
present policy? " 

' That remains to be seen ! " replied Leroy imper- 
turbably ; " From a perfectly impartial standpoint, I 
should imagine that the present policy may have to alter 
considerablv ! " 



1 88 "Temporal Power" 

Jost recoiled. 

" Impossible ! It cannot be altered ! " he said roughly, 
— then suddenly recollecting himself, he assumed his 
usual indolent equanimity, and rising slowly, went to a 
side door in the room and threw it open. 

"Step in here," he said; "We can talk without fear 
of interruption. Will you smoke?" 

"With pleasure!" replied Leroy, accepting a cigar 
from the case Jost extended --then glancing with a 
slight smile at the broad, squat Jewish countenance which 
had, in the last couple of minutes, lost something of its 
habitual redness, he added — "I am glad you are dis- 
posed to discuss matters with me in a friendly, as well 
as in a confidential way. It is possible my news may 
not be altogether agreeable to yon; — but of course you 
would be more willing to suffer personally, than to jeop- 
ardise the honour of Ministers." 

He uttered the last sentence more as a question than 
a statement. 

Jost shifted one foot against the other uneasily. 

" I am not so sure of that." he said after a pause, dur- 
ing which he had drawn himself up. and had endeavoured 
to look conscientious ; " You see I have the public to con- 
sider ! Ministers may fall; statesmen may be thrown 
out of office ; but the Press is the same yesterday, to-day, 
and for ever ! " 

" Except when a great Editor changes his opinions," 
said Leroy tranquilly,--" Which is, of course, always a 
point of reason and conscience, as well as of — advan- 
tage! In the present case I think but — shall we 

not enter the sanctum of which you have so obligingly 
opened the door? We can scarcely be too private when 
the King's name is in question ! " 

Jost opened his furtive eyes in amazement. 

" The King? What the "devil has he to do with anv- 
thing but his women and his amusements ? " 

A very close observer might have seen a curious ex- 
pression flicker over Pasquin Leroy 's face at these words, 
— an expression half of laughter, half of scorn, — but 
it was slight and evanescent, and his reply was frigidly 
courteous. 

' I really cannot inform you ; but I am afraid his 



Secret Service 189 



Majesty is departing somewhat from his customary rou- 
tine! He is, in fact, taking an active, instead of a passive 
part in national affairs." 

" Then he must be warned off the ground ! " said Jost 
irritably ; ' He is a Constitutional monarch, and must 
obey the laws of the Constitution." 

' Precisely! ' And Leroy looked carefully at the enc 
of his cigar; " But at present he appears to have an idea 
that the laws of the Constitution are being tampered with 
by certain other kings ; — for example, — the kings of 
finance ! " 

Jost muttered a half-inaudible oath. 
" Come this way," he said impatiently ; — " Bad news 
is best soon over! " 

Leroy gave a careless nod of acquiescence, — then 
glancing round the room, up at the clock, and down 
again to Jost's desk, strewn with letters and documents 
of every description, he smiled a little to himself, and fol- 
lowed the all-powerful editor into the smaller adjoining 
apartment. The door closed behind them both, and Jost 
turned the key in the lock from within. 

For a long time all was very silent. Jost's valet and 
confidential servant, sleepy and tired, waited in the hall 
to let his master's visitor out, — and hearing no sound, 
ventured to look into the study now and then, — but to 
no purpose. He knew the sanctity of that inner chamber 
beyond ; he knew that when the Premier came to see the 
great Jost, — as he often did, — it was in that mysterious 
further room that business was transacted, and that it 
was as much as his place was worth to venture even to 
knock at the door. So, yawning heavily, he dozed on his 
bench in the hall, — woke with a start and dozed again, 
— while the clock slowly ticked away the minutes till 
with a dull clang the hour struck One. Then on again 
went the steady and wearisome tick-tick of the pendulum, 
for a quarter of an hour, half an hour, — and three- 
quarters, — till the utterly fatigued valet was about 
to knock down a few walking-sticks and umbrellas, and 
make a general noise of reminder to his master as to how 
the time was going, when, to his great relief, he heard 
the inner door open at last, and the voice of the mysteri- 
ous visitor ring out in clear, precise accents. 



190 "Temporal Power 



" Nothing- will be done publicly, of course, — unless 
Parliament insists on an enquiry ! " 

The speaker came towards the hall, and the valet 
sprang up from his bench, and stood ready to show the 
stranger out. 

Jost replied, and his accents were thick and unsteady. 

"Enquiry cannot be forced! The Marquis himself 
can burk any such attempt." 

" But — if the King should insist ? " 

" He would be breaking all the rules of custom and 
precedent," said Jost, — " And he would deserve to be 
dethroned ! " 

Pasquin Leroy laughed. 

" True ! Good-night, Mr. Jost ! Can I do anything 
for you in Moscow ? " 

The two men now came into the full light shed by the 
great lamp in the hall. Jost looked darkly red in the face 
— almost apoplectic ; Leroy was as cool, imperturbable 
and easy of manner as a practised detective or profes- 
sional spy. 

" In Moscow," Jost repeated — " You are going 
straight to Russia? " 

" I think so." 

" I suppose you are in the secret service? " 

" Exactly ! A curious line of business, too, which the 
outside world knows very little of. Ah ! — if the excel- 
lent people — the masses as we call them — knew what 
rogues had the ruling of their affairs in sonic countries — 
not in this country, of course ! " he added with a quizzical 
smile, — " but in some others, not very far away, I won- 
der how many revolutions would break out within six 
months ! Good-night, Mr. Jost ! " 

" Good-night! " responded Jost briefly. ' You will let 
me know any further developments ? " 

" Most assuredly ! " 

The servant opened the door, and Pasquin Leroy 
slipped a gold coin worth a sovereign into his hand, 
whereupon, of course, the worthy domestic considered 
him to be a ' real gentleman.' As soon as he had passed 
into the street, and the door was shut and barred for the 
night, Jost bade his man go to bed, a command which was 
gladly obeyed ; and re-entering his study, passea all the 



Secret Service 191 

time till the breaking of dawn in rummaging out letters 
and documents from various desks, drawers and de- 
spatch-boxes, and burning them carefully one by one in 
the open grate. While thus employed, he had a truly vil- 
lainous aspect, — each flame he kindled with each paper 
seemed to show up a more unpleasing expression on his 
countenance, till at last, — when such matter was de- 
stroyed as he had at present determined on, — he drew 
himself up and stood for a moment surveying the pile of 
light black ashes, which was all that was left of about a 
hundred or more incriminating paper witnesses to certain 
matters in which he had more than a lawful interest. 

" It will be difficult now to trace my hand in the 
scheme !' : he said to himself, frowning heavily, as he 
considered various uncomfortable contingencies arising 
out of his conversation with his late visitor. " If the 
thunderbolt falls, it will crush Carl Perousse — not me. 
Yes ! It means ruin for him — ruin and disgrace — but 
for me — well ! I shall find it as easy to damn Perousse 
as it has been to support him, for he cannot involve me 
without adding tenfold to his own disaster ! I think it 
will be safe enough for me — possibly not so safe for 
the Premier. However, I will write to him to-morrow, 
just to let him know I received his messenger." 

In the meantime, while David Jost was thus cogitating 
unpleasant and even dangerous possibilities, which were 
perhaps on the eve of occurring to himself and certain 
of his associates in politics and journalism, Pasquin 
Leroy was hurrying along the city streets under the light 
of a clear, though pallid and waning moon. Few wan- 
derers were abroad ; the police walked their various 
rounds, and one or two miserable women passed him, 
like flying ghosts in the thin air of night. His mind was 
in a turmoil of agitation ; and the thoughts that were 
tossing rapidly through his brain one upon the other, 
were such as he had never known before. He had 
fathomed a depth of rascality and deception, which but 
a short month ago, he could scarcely have believed ca- 
pable of existence. The cruel injury and loss preparing 
for thousands of innocent persons through the self-inter- 
ested plotting of a few men, was almost incalculable, — 
and his blood burned with passionate indignation as he 



}? 



192 "Temporal Power 

realized on what a verge of misery, bloodshed, disaster 
and crime the unthinking people of the country stood, 
pushed to the very edge of a fall by the shameless and 
unscrupulous designs of a few financiers, playing their 
gambling game with the public confidence, — and cheat- 
ing nations as callously as they would have cheated their 
partners at cards. 

" Thank God, it is not too late! " he murmured; " Not 
quite too late to save the situation ! — to rescue the people 
from long years of undeserved taxation, loss of trade and 
general distress ! It is a supreme task that has been given 
me to accomplish ! — but if there is any truth and right 
in the laws of the Universe, I shall surely not be mis- 
judged while accomplishing it! " 

He quickened his pace ; — and to avoid going up one 
of the longer thoroughfares which led to the citadel and 
palace, he decided to cross one of the many picturesque 
bridges, arched over certain inlets from the sea, and 
forming canals, where barges and other vessels might be 
towed up to the very doors of the warehouses which re- 
ceived their cargoes. But just as he was about to turn 
in the necessary direction, he halted abruptly at sight of 
two men, standing at the first corner in the way of his 
advance, talking earnestly. He recognized them at once 
as Sergius Thord and the half-inebriated poet, Paul 
Zouche. With noiseless step he moved cautiously into 
the broad stretch of black shadow cast by the great facade 
of a block of buildings which occupied half the length of 
the street in which he stood, and so managing to slip into 
the denser darkness of a doorway, was able to hear what 
they were saying. The full, mellow, and persuasive tone 
of Thord's voice had something in it of reproach. 

" You shame yourself, Zouche ! " he said ; " You shame 
me ; you shame us all ! Man, did God put a light of 
Genius in your soul merely to be quenched by the cravings 
of a bestial body ? What associate are you for us ? How 
can you help us in the fulfilment of our ideal dream ? By 
day you mingle with litterateurs, scientists, and philoso- 
phers, — report has it that you have even managed to 
stumble your way into my lady's boudoir ; — but by night 
you wander like this,  — insensate, furious, warped in soul, 
muddled in brain, and only the heart of you alive, — the 



Secret Service 193 

poor unsatisfied heart — hungering and crying for what 
itself makes impossible! " 

Zouche broke into a harsh laugh. Turning up his head 
to the sky, he thrust back his wild hair, and showed his 
thin eager face and glittering eyes, outlined cameo-like by 
the paling radiance of the moon. 

" Well spoken, my Sergius ! ' : he exclaimed. ' You 
always speak well ! Your thoughts are of flame — your 
speech is of gold ; the fire melts the ore ! And then again 
you have a conscience ! That is a strange possession ! — 
quite useless in these days, like the remains of the tail 
we had when we were all happy apes in the primeval 
forest, pelting the Megatherium or other such remarkable 
beasts with cocoanuts ! It was a much better life, Sergius, 
believe me ! A Conscience is merely a mental Appendi- 
citis ! There should be a psychical surgeon with an airy 
lancet to cut it out. Not for me ! — I was born perfect — 
without it ! " 

He laughed again, then with an abrupt change of man- 
ner he caught Thord violently by the arm. 

"How can you speak of shame?" he said — "What 
shame is left in either man or woman nowadays ? Naked 
to the very skin of foulness, they flaunt a nudity of vice 
in every public thoroughfare ! Your sentiments, my 
grand Sergius, are those of an old world long passed 
away ! You are a reformer, a lover of truth — a hater 
of shams — and in the days when the people loved truth, 
— and wanted justice, — and fought for both, you would 
have been great! But greatness is nowadays judged as 
' madness ' — truth as ' want of tact ' — desire for justice 
is 'clamour for notoriety.' Shame? There is no shame 
in anything, Sergius, but honesty ! That is a disgrace 
to the century ; for an honest man is always poor, and 
poverty is the worst of crimes." He threw up his arms 
with a wild gesture, — " The worst of crimes ! Do I not 
know it ! " 

Thord took him gently by the shoulder. 
' You talk, Zouche, as you always talk, at random, 
scarcely knowing, and certainly not half meaning what 
you say. There is no real reason in your rages against 
fate and fortune. Leave the accursed drink, and you may 
still win the prize you covet — Fame." 

13 



194 "Temporal Power 



>> 



"Not I!" said Zouche scornfully, — "Fame in its 
original sense belonged also to the growing-time of the 
world — when, proud of youth and the glow of life, the 
full-fledged man judged himself immortal. Fame now is 
adjudged to the biped-machine who drives a motor-car 
best, — or to the fortunate soap-boiler who dines with a 
king ! Poetry is understood to be the useful rhyme which 
announces the virtues of pills and boot-blacking! Mark 
you, Sergius ! — my latest volume was ' graciously ac- 
cepted by the King ' ! Do you know what that means ? " 

' No," replied Thord, a trifle coldly ; " And if it were 
not that I know your strange vagaries, I should say you 
wronged your election as one of us, to send any of your 
work to a crowned fool! " 

Zouche laughed discordantly. 

' You would ? No, you would not, my Sergius, if you 
knew the spirit in which I sent it ! A spirit as wild, as 
reckless, as ranting, as defiant as ever devil indulged in ! 
The humility of my presentation letter to his Majesty 
was beautiful ! The reply of the flunkey-secretary was 
equally beautiful in smug courtesy : ' Sir, I am com- 
manded by the King to thank you for the book of poems 
you have kindly sent for his acceptance ! ' I say again, 
Thord, do you know what it means ? " 

' No ; I only wish that instead of talking here, you 
would let me see you safely home." 

'Home! I have no home! Since she died — " He 
paused, and a grey shadow crossed his face like the hue 
of approaching sickness or death. ' I killed her, poor 
child ! Of course you know that ! I neglected her, — 
deserted her — left her to die ! Well ! She is only one 
more added to the list of countless women martyrs who 
have been tortured out of an unjust world — and now — 
now I write verses to her memory ! " He shivered as 
with cold, still clinging to Thord's arm. " But I did not 
tell you what great good comes of sending a book to the 
King! It means less to a writer than to a boot-maker. 
For the boot-maker can put up a sign : ' Special Fitter 
for the ease of His Majesty's Corns' — but if a poet 
should say his verse is ' accepted ' by a monarch, the 
shrewd public take it at once to be bad verse, and will 
have none of it ! That is the case with my book to-day ! " 



Secret Service 195 

' Why did you send it ? " asked Thord, with grave 
patience. 'Your business with kings is to warn, not to 
flatter! " 

" Just so! " cried Zouche; " And if His Most Gracious 
and Glorious had been pleased to look inside the volume, 
he would have seen enough to startle him ! It was sent 
in hate, my Sergius,  — not in humility, — just as the 
flunkey-secretary's answer was penned in derision, aping 
courtesy ! How you look, under this wan sky of night ! 
Reproachful, yet pitying, as the eyes of Buddha are your 
eyes, my Sergius ! You are a fine fellow — your brain 
is a dome decorated with glorious ideals ! — and yet you 
are like all of us, weak in one point, as Achilles in the 
heel. One thing could turn you from man into beast — 
and that would be if Lotys loved — not you — she never 
will love you — but another!" — Thord started back as 
though suddenly stabbed, and angrily shook off his com- 
panion, who only laughed again, — a shrill, echoing 
laugh in which there was a note of madness and desola- 
tion. ' Bah ! " he exclaimed ; " You are a fool after all ! 
You work for a woman as I did — once ! But mark you ! 
— do not kill her — as I did — once! Be patient! Watch 
the light shine, even though it does not illumine your 
path ; be glad that the rose blooms for itself, if not for 
you ! It will be difficult ! — meanwhile you can live on 
hope — a bitter fruit to eat ; but gnaw it to the last rind, 
my Sergius ! Hope that Lotys may melt in your fire, as 
a snowflake in the sun ! Come ! Now take the poor poet 
home, — the drunken child of inspiration — take him 
home to his garret in the slums — the poet whose book 
has been accepted by the King ! " 

Pulling himself up from his semi-crouching position, 
he seized Thord's arm again more tightly, and began to 
walk along unsteadily. Presently he paused, smiling 
vacantly up at the gradually vanishing stars. 

" Lotys speaks to our followers on Saturday," he said ; 
" You know that? " 

Thord bent his head in acquiescence. 

' You will be there, of course. I shall be there ! What 
a voice she has ! Whether we believe what she says or 
not, we must hear, — and hearing, we must follow. 
Where shall we drink in the sweet Oracle this time?" 



196 "Temporal Power' 

" At the People's Assembly Rooms," responded Thord ; 
" But remember, Zouche, she does not speak till nine 
o'clock. That means that you will be unfit to listen ! " 

"You think so?" responded Zouche airily, and lean- 
ing on Thord he stumbled onward, the two passing close 
in front of the doorway where Pasquin Leroy stood con- 
cealed. " But I am more ready to understand wisdom 
when drunk, than when sober, my Sergius ! You do not 
understand. I am a human eccentricity — the result of 
an amour between a fiend and an angel! Believe me! 
I will listen to Lotys with all my devil-saintly soul, 
— you will listen to her with all your loving, longing 
heart — and with us two thus attentive, the opinions 
of the rest of the audience will scarcely matter ! How 
the street reels ! How the old moon dances ! So did 
she whirl pallidly when Antony clasped his Egyptian 
Queen, and lost Actium ! Remember the fate of Antony, 
Sergius ! Kingdoms would have been seized and con- 
trolled by men such as you are, long before now — 
if there had not always been a woman in the case — a 
Cleopatra — or a Lotys ! " 

Still laughing foolishly, he reeled onwards, Sergius 
Thord half-supporting, half-leading him, with grave 
carefulness and brotherly compassion. They were soon 
out of sight ; and Pasquin Leroy, leaving his dark hiding- 
place, crossed the bridge with an alert step, and mounted 
a steep street leading to the citadel. From gaps between 
the tall leaning houses a glimpse of the sea, silvered by 
the dying moonlight, flashed now and again ; and in the 
silence of the night the low ripple of small waves against 
the breakwater could be distinctly heard. A sense of 
holy calm impressed him as he paused a moment ; and 
the words of an old monkish verse came back to him from 
some far-off depth of memory : 

Lord Christ, I would my soul were clear as air, 
With only Thy pure radiance falling through ! 

He caught his breath hard — there was a smarting 
sense as of tears in his eyes. 

" So proudly throned, and so unloved ! " he muttered. 
"Yet, — has not the misprisal and miscomprehension been 
merited ? Whose is the blame ? Not with the People, 



Secret Service 197 

who, despite the prophet's warning, ' still put their trust 
in princes ' — hut with the falsity and hollowness of the 
system ! Sovereignty is like an old ship stuck fast in the 
docks, and unfit for sailing the wide seas — crusted with 
barnacles of custom and prejudice, — and in every gale 
of wind pulling and straining at a rusty chain anchor. 
But the spirit of Change is in the world ; a hurrying 
movement that has wings of fire, and might possibly be 
called Revolution ! It is better that the torch should be 
lighted from the Throne than from the slums ! ' : 

He went on his way quickly, — till reaching the outer 
wall of the citadel, he was challenged by a sentinel, to 
whom he gave the password in a low tone. The man 
drew back, satisfied, and Leroy went on, mounting from 
point to point of the cliff, till he reached a private gate 
leading into the wide park-lands which skirted the King's 
palace. Here stood a muffled and cloaked figure evidently 
watching for him ; for as soon as he appeared the gate 
was noiselessly opened for his admittance, and he passed 
in at once. Then he and the person who had awaited his 
coming, walked together through the scented woods of 
pine and rhododendrons, and talking in low and confi- 
dential voices, slowly disappeared. 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE KING'S VETO 

THE Marquis de Lutera was a heavy sleeper, and for 
some time had been growing stouter than was 
advisable for the dignity of a Prime Minister. He had 
been defeated of late years in one or two important 
measures; and his colleague, Carl Perousse, had by 
gradual degrees succeeded in worming himself into such 
close connection with the rest of the members of the 
Cabinet, that he, Lutera, felt himself being edged out, 
not only from political ' deals,' but from the profits apper- 
taining thereto. So, growing somewhat indifferent, as 
well as disgusted at the course affairs were taking, he 
had made up his mind to retire from office, as soon as he 
had carried through a certain Bill which, in its results, 
would have the effect of crippling the people of the 
country, while helping on his own interests to a consider- 
able degree. At the immediate moment he had a chance 
of looming large on the political horizon. Carl Perousse 
could not do anything of very great importance without 
him ; they were both too deeply involved together in the 
same schemes. In point of fact, if Perousse could bring 
the Premier to a fall, the Premier could do the same by 
Perousse. The two depended on each other ; and Lutera, 
conscious that if Perousse gained any fresh accession of 
power, it would be to his, Lutera's, advantage, was gradu- 
ally preparing to gracefully resign his position in the 
younger and more ambitious man's favour. But he was 
not altogether comfortable in his mind since his last 
interview with the King. The King had shown unusual 
signs of self-will and obstinacy. He had presumed to 
give a command affecting the national policy ; and, 
moreover, he had threatened, if his command were not 
obeved, to address Parliament himself on the subject in 
hand, from the Throne. Such an unaccustomed, uncon- 



The King's Veto 199 

stitutional idea was very upsetting to the Premier's mind. 
It had cost him a sleepless night ; and when he woke to 
a new day's work, he was in an extremely irritable hu- 
mour. He was doubtful how to act ; — for to complain 
of the King would not do ; and to enlighten the members 
of the Cabinet as to his Majesty's declared determination 
to dispose amicably of certain difficulties with a foreign 
power, which the Ministry had fully purposed fanning up 
into a flame of war, might possibly awaken a storm of 
dissension and discussion. 

" We all want money! " said the Marquis gloomily, as 
he rose from his tumbled bed to take his first breakfast, 
and read his early morning letters — " And to crush a 
small and insolent race, whose country is rich in mineral 
product, is simply the act of squeezing an orange for the 
necessary juice. Life would be lost, of course, but we 
are over-populated ; and a good war would rid the 
country of many scamps and vagabonds. Widows and 
orphans could be provided for by national subscriptions, 
invested as the Ministry think fit, and paid to applicants 
after about twenty years' waiting! " He smiled sardoni- 
cally. ' The gain to ourselves would be incalculable ; 
new wealth, new schemes, new openings for commerce 
and speculation in every way ! And now the King sets 
himself up as an obstacle to progress ! If he were fond 
of money, we could explain the whole big combine, and 
offer him a share ; — but with a character such as he 
possesses, I doubt if it would work ! With some mon- 
archs whom I could name, it would be perfectly easy. 
And yet, — for the three years he has been on the throne, 
he has been passive enough, — asking no questions, 
— signing such documents as he has been told to sign,- 
uttering such speeches as have been written for him, — 
and I was never more shocked and taken aback in my life 
than yesterday morning, when he declared he had decided 
to think and act for himself ! Simply preposterous ! An 
ordinary man who presumes to think and act for himself 
is always a danger to the community — but a king ! 
Good Heavens ! We should have the old feudal system 
back again." 

He sipped his coffee leisurely, and opened a few letters ; 
there were none of very pressing importance. He was 



200 "Temporal Power' 

just about to glance through the morning's newspaper, 
when his man-servant entered bearing a note marked 
' Private and Immediate.' He recognized the hand- 
writing of David Jost. 

" Anyone waiting for an answer? " he enquired. 

" No, Excellency." 

The man retired. The Marquis broke the large 
splotchy seal bearing the coat-of-arms which Jost af- 
fected, but to which he had no more right than the 
man in the moon, and read what seemed to him more 
inexplicable than the most confusing conundrum ever 
invented. 

" My Dear Marquis, — I received your confidential 
messenger last night, and explained the entire situation. 
He left for Moscow this morning, but will warn us of any 
further developments. Sorry matters look so grave for 
you. Should like a few minutes private chat when you 
can spare the time. — 

" Yours truly, David Jost." 

Over and over again the Marquis read this brief note, 
staring at its every word and utterly unable to understand 
its meaning. 

" What in the world is the fellow driving at ! " he 
exclaimed angrily— "'My messenger'! 'Explained the 
entire situation ' ! The devil ! ' Left for Moscow ' ! 
Upon my soul, this is maddening ! " And he rang the 
bell sharply. 

"Who brought this note?" he asked, as his servant 

entered. 

" Mr. Jost's own man, Excellency." 

" Has he gone? " 

" Yes, Excellency." 

" Wait! " And sitting down he wrote hastily the fol- 
lowing lines : 

" Dear Sir, — Your letter is inexplicable. I sent no 
messenger to you last night. If you have any explanation 
to offer, I shall be disengaged and alone till 11.30 this 

morning. 

" Yours truly, — De Lutera." 



The King's Veto 201 

Folding, sealing, and addressing this, he marked it 
' Private ' and gave it to his man. 

" Take this yourself," he said, " and put it into Mr. 
Jost's own hands. Trust no one to deliver it. Ask 
to see him personally, and then give it to him. You 
understand ? " 

" Yes, Excellency." 

His note thus despatched, the Marquis threw himself 
down in his arm-chair, and again read Jost's mysterious 
communication. 

' Whatever messenger has passed himself off as coming 
from me, Jost must have been crazy to receive him with- 
out credentials," he said. ' There must be a mistake 
somewhere ! " 

A vague alarm troubled him ; he was not moved by 
conscientious scruples, but the idea that any of his secret 
moves should be ' explained ' to a stranger was, to say 
the least of it, annoying, and not conducive to the tran- 
quillity of his mind. A thousand awkward possibilities 
suggested themselves at once to his brain, and as he car- 
ried a somewhat excitable disposition under his heavy and 
phlegmatic exterior, he fumed and fretted himself for the 
next half hour into an impatience which only found vent 
in the prosaic and everyday performance of dressing 
himself. Ah ! — if those who consider a Prime Minister 
great and exalted, could only see him as he pulls on his 
trousers, and fastens his shirt collar, what a disillusion 
would be promptly effected ! Especially if, like the Mar- 
quis de Lutera, he happened to be over-stout, and difficult 
to clothe ! This particular example of Premiership was 
an ungainly man ; his proud position could not make him 
handsome, nor lend true dignity to his deportment. Old 
Mother Nature has a way of marking her specimens, if 
we will learn to recognize the signs she sets on certain 
particular ' makes ' of man. The Marquis de Lutera was 
' made ' to be a stock-jobber, not a statesman. His bent 
was towards the material gain and good of himself, more 
than the advantage of his country. His reasoning was a 
slight variation of Falstaff's logical misprisal of honour. 
He argued; 'HI am poor, then what is it to me that 
others are rich? If I am neglected, what do I care that 
the people are prosperous ? Let me but secure and keep 



202 "Temporal Power' 

those certain millions of money which shall ensure to me 
and my heritage a handsome endowment, not only for 
my life, but for all lives connected with mine which come 
after me, — and my ' patriotism ' is satisfied ! " 

He had just finished insinuating himself by degrees 
into his morning coat, when his servant entered. 

" Well ! " he asked impatiently. 

' Mr. Jost is coming round at once, Excellency. He 
ordered his carriage directly he read your note." 

" He sent no answer? " 

" None, Excellency." 

" When he arrives, show him into the library." 

" Yes, Excellency." 

The Marquis thereupon left his sleeping apartment, 
and descended to the library himself. The sun was 
streaming brilliantly into the room, and the windows, 
thrown wide open, showed a cheerful display of lawn and 
flower-garden, filled with palms and other semi-tropical 
shrubs, for though the Premier's house was in the centre 
of the fashionable quarter of the city, it had the advan- 
tage of extensive and well-shaded grounds. A law had 
been passed in the late King's time against the felling of 
trees, it having been scientifically proved that trees in 
a certain quantity, not only purify the air from disease 
germs affecting the human organization, but also save 
the crops from many noxious insect-pests and poisonous 
fungi. Having learned the lesson at last, that the Al- 
mighty may be trusted to know His own business, and 
that trees are intended for wider purposes than mere 
timber, the regulations were strict concerning them. No 
one could fell a tree on his own ground without, first of 
all, making a statement at the National Office of Abori- 
culture as to the causes for its removal ; and only if these 
causes were found satisfactory, could a stamped permis- 
sion be obtained for cutting it down or ' lifting ' it to 
other ground. The result of this sensible regulation was 
that in the hottest days of summer the city was kept cool 
and shady by the rich foliage branching out everywhere, 
and in some parts running into broad avenues and groves 
of great thickness and beauty. The Marquis de Lutera's 
garden had an additional charm in a beautiful alley of 
orange trees, and the fragrance wafted into his room from 



The King's Veto 203 

the delicious blossoms would have refreshed and charmed 
anyone loss troubled, worried and feverish, than he was 
at the time. But this morning' the very sunshine annoyed 
him ; — never a great lover of Nature, the trees and 
flowers forming the outlook on which his heavy eyes 
rested were almost an affront. The tranquil beauty of an 
ever renewed and renewing Nature is always particularly 
offensive to an uneasy conscience and an exhausted mind. 

The sound of wheels grinding along the outer drive 
brought a faint gleam of satisfaction on his brooding 
features, and he turned sharply round, as the door of the 
library was thrown open to admit Jost, whose appearance, 
despite his jaunty manner, betokened evident confusion 
and alarm. 

"Good-morning, Mr. Jost!" said the Marquis stiffly, 
as his confidential man ushered in the visitor, — then 
when the servant had retired and closed the door, he 
added quickly- ' Now what does this mean? " 

Jost dropped into a chair, and pulling out a handker- 
chief wiped the perspiration from his brow. 

'1 don't know!" he said helplessly; 'I don't know 
what it means ! I have told you the truth ! A man came 
to see me late last night, saying he was sent by you on 
urgent business. He said you wished me to explain the 
position we held, and the amount of the interests we had 
at stake, as there were grave discoveries pending, and 
complexities likely to ensue. He gave his name — there 
is his card ! " 

And with a semi-groan, he threw down the bit of 
pasteboard in question. 

The Marquis snatched it up. 
' Pasquin Leroy ' ! I never heard the name in my 
life," he said fiercely. 'Jost, you have been done! You 
mean to tell me you were such a fool as to trust an entire 
stranger with the whole financial plan of campaign, and 
that you were credulous enough to believe that he came 
from me — me — De Lutera, — without any credentials?" 

" Credentials ! " exclaimed Jost ; " Do you suppose I 
would have received him at all had credentials been lack- 
ing ? Not I ! He brought me the most sure and confi- 
dential sign of your trust that could be produced — your 
own signet-ring! " 



>» 



204 "Temporal Power 

The Marquis staggered back, as though Jost's words 
had been so many direct blows on the chest, — his coun- 
tenance turned a livid white. 

"My signet-ring!" he repeated, — and almost uncon- 
sciously he looked at the hand from which the great jewel 
was missing ; " My signet ! " — Then he forced a smile 

— " Jost, I repeat, you have been done ! — doubly fooled ! 

— no one could possibly have obtained my signet, — for 
at this very moment it is on the hand of the King ! ' : 

Jost rose slowly out of his chair, his eyes protruding 
out of his head, his jaw almost dropping in the extremity 
of his amazement. 

" The King ! " — he gasped " The King ! " 

' Yes, man, the King ! " repeated De Lutera impa- 
tiently, — " Only yesterday morning his Majesty, having 
mislaid his own ring for the moment, borrowed mine just 
before starting on his yachting cruise. How you stare ! 
You have been fooled ! — that is perfectly plain and 
evident ! " 

' The King ! " repeated Jost stupidly — " Then the 

man who came to me last night " He broke off, 

unable to find any words for the expression of the 
thoughts which began to terrify him. 

'Well! — the man who came to you last night," 
echoed the Marquis, — " He was not the King, I suppose, 
was he ? " And he laughed derisively. 

" No — he was not the King," said Jost slowly ; ' I 
know him well enough ! But it might have been someone 
in the King's service ! For he knew, or said he knew, the 
King's intentions in a certain matter affecting both you 
and Carl Perousse, — and in a more distant way, myself 

— and warned me of a coming change in the policy. Ah ! 

— it is now your turn to stare, Marquis ! You had best 
be on your guard, for if the person who came to me last 
night was not your messenger, he was the King's spy! 
And, in that case, we are lost ! " 

The Marquis paced the room with long uneven strides, 

— his mind was greatly agitated, but he had no wish to 
show his perturbation too openly to one whom he con- 
sidered as a mere tool in his service. 

' I know." went on Jost emphatically, " that the ring 
he wore was yours ! I noticed it particularly while I was 



The King's Veto 205 

talking to him. It would take a long time and excep- 
tional skill to make any imitation of that sapphire. There 
is no doubt that it was your signet ! " 

The Premier halted suddenly in his nervous walk. 

" You told him the whole scheme, you say ? " 

" I did." 

" And his reply? " 

" Was, that the King had discovered it, and proposed 
insisting on an enquiry." 

" And then ? " 

" Well ! Then he warned me to look out for myself, — 
as anyone connected with Carl Perousse's financial deal 
would inevitably be ruined during the next few weeks." 

" Who is going to work the ruin? " asked the Marquis 
with a sneer ; " Do you not know that if the King dared 
to give an opinion on a national crisis, he would be 
dethroned? " 

" There are the People — " began Jost. 

"The People! Human emmets — born for crushing 
under the heel of power ! A couple of ' leaders ' in your 
paper, Jost, can guide the fool-mob any way ! ' ! 

" That depends! " said Jost hesitatingly; ' If what the 
fellow said last night be true " 

"It is not true!" said the Premier authoritatively. 
" We are going on in precisely the same course as orig- 
inally arranged. Neither King nor People can interfere ! 
Go home, and write an article about love of country, Jost ! 
You look in the humour for it ! " 

The Jew's expression was anything but amiable. 

"What is to be done about last night?" he asked 

sullenly. 

" Nothing at presnt. I am going to the palace at two 
o'clock - - 1 shall see the King, and find out whether my 
signet is lost, stolen or Strayed. Meanwhile, keep your 
own counsel ! If you have been betrayed into giving your 
confidence to a spy in the foreign service, as I imagine - 
( for the King has never employed a spy, and is not likely 
to do so), and he makes known his information, it can be 
officially denied. The official denial of a Government, 
Jost, like charity, has before now covered a multitude of 
sins ! " 

An instinctive disinclination for further conversation 



206 "Temporal Power' 

brought the interview between them abruptly to a close, 
and Jost, full of a suspicious alarm, which he was ashamed 
to confess, drove off to his newspaper offices. The Pre- 
mier, meantime, though harassed by secret anxiety, man- 
aged to display his usual frigid equanimity, when, after 
Jost's departure, his private secretary arrived at the 
customary time, to transact under his orders the corre- 
spondence and business of the day. This secretary, 
Eugene Silvano by name, was a quiet self-contained 
young man, highly ambitious, and keenly interested in 
the political situation, and, though in the Premier's ser- 
vice, not altogether of his way of thinking. He called 
the Marquis's attention now to a letter that had missed 
careful reading on the previous day. It was from the 
Vicar-General of the Society of Jesus, expressing sur- 
prise and indignation that the King should have refused 
the Society's request for such land as was required to be 
devoted to religious and educational purposes, and beg- 
ging that the Premier would exert his influence with the 
monarch to persuade him to withdraw or mitigate his 
refusal. 

'I can do nothing;" said the Marquis irritably, — 
" the lands they want belong to the Crown. The King 
can dispose of them as he thinks best." 

The secretary set the letter aside. 

' Shall I reply to that effect ? " he enquired. 

The Marquis nodded. 

' I know," said Silvano presently with a slight hesi- 
tation, " that you never pay any attention to anonymous 
communications. Otherwise, there is one here which 
might merit consideration." 

" What does it concern ? " 

" A revolutionary meeting," replied Silvano, " where it 
appears the woman, Lotys, is to speak." 

The Premier shrugged his shoulders and smiled. 
' You must enlighten me ! Who is the woman Lotys ? " 

"Ah, that no one exactly knows !" replied the secretary. 

: ' A strange character, without doubt, but " He 

paused and spoke more emphatically — "She has power!" 

Lutera gave a gesture of irritation. 

' Bah ! Over whom does she exercise it. Over one 
man or many ? " 



The King's Veto 207 

" Over one half the population at least," responded 
Silvano, quietly, turning over a few papers without 
looking up. 

The Marquis stared at him, slightly amused. 

' Have you taken statistics of the lady's followers," lie 
asked ; " Are you one of them yourself ? " 

Silvano raised his eyes, — clear dark eyes, deep-set and 
steady in their glance. 

' Were I so, I should not be here ; " he replied -- " But 
I know how she speaks ; I know what she does ! and 
from a purely political point of view I think it unwise to 
ignore her." 

' What is this anonymous communication you speak 
of? " asked the Premier, after a pause. 

" Oh, it is brief enough," answered Silvano unfolding 
a paper, and he read aloud : 

" To the Marquis de Lutera, Premier. 

: ' Satisfy yourself that those who meet on Saturday 
night where Lotys speaks, have already decided on your 
downfall ! " 

"Oracular!" said the Marquis carelessly; — "To 
decide is one thing — to fulfil the decision is another ! 
Lotys, whoever she may be, can preach to her heart's 
content, for all I care ! I am rather surprised, Silvano, 
that a man of your penetration and intelligence should 
attach any importance to revolutionary meetings, which 
are always going on more or less in every city under the 
sun. Why, it was but the other day, the police were sent 
to disperse a crowd which had gathered round the fanatic, 
Sergius Thord ; only the people had sufficient sense to dis- 
perse themselves. A street-preacher or woman ranter is 
like a cheap-jack or a dispenser of quack medicines ; — 
the mob gathers to such persons out of curiosity, not 
conviction." 

The secretary made no reply, and went on with other 
matters awaiting his attention. 

At a few minutes before two o'clock the Marquis 
entered his carriage, and was driven to the palace. There 
he learned that the King was receiving, more or less 
unofficially, certain foreign ambassadors and noblemen 
of repute in the Throne-room. A fine band was playing 



208 "Temporal Power' 

military music in the great open quadrangle in front of 
the palace, where pillars of rose-marble, straight as the 
stems of pine-trees, held up fabulous heraldic griffins, 
clasping between their paws the country's shield. Flags 

were flying, — fountains flashing, gay costumes 

gleamed here and there, and the atmosphere was 

full of brilliancy and gaiety, yet the Marquis, on his 

way to the audience-chamber, was rendered uncomfort- 
ably aware of one of those mysterious impressions which 
are sometimes conveyed to us, we know not how, but 
which tend to prepare us for surprise and disappointment. 
Some extra fibre of sensitiveness in his nervous organiza- 
tion was acutely touched, for he actually fancied he saw 
slighting and indifferent looks on the faces of the various 
flunkeys and retainers who bowed him along the different 
passages, or ushered him up the state stairway, when — 
as a matter of fact, — all was precisely the same as usual, 
and it was only his own conscience that gave imaginary 
hints of change. Arrived at the ante-chamber to the 
Throne-room, he was surprised to find Prince Humphry 
there, talking animatedly to the King's physician, Pro- 
fessor Von Glauben. The Prince seemed unusually ex- 
cited ; his face was flushed, and his eyes extraordinarily 
brilliant, and as he saw the Premier, he came forward, 
extending his hand, and almost preventing Lutera's pro- 
found bow and deferential salutation. 

"Have you business with the King, Marquis?" en- 
quired the young man with a light laugh. ' If you 
have, you must do as I am doing, — wait his Majesty's 
pleasure ! " 

The Premier lifted his eyebrows, smiled deprecatingly, 
and murmuring something about pressure of State affairs, 
shook hands with Von Glauben, whose countenance, as 
usual, presented an impenetrable mask to his thoughts. 

" It is rather a new experience for me," continued the 
Prince, " to be treated as a kind of petitioner on the King's 
favour, and kept in attendance, — but no matter ! — 
novelty is always pleasing ! I have been cooling my heels 
here for more than an hour. Von Glauben, too, has been 
waiting ; — contrary to custom, he has not even been 
permitted to enquire after his Majesty's health this 
morning ! " 



The King's Veto 209 

Lutera maintained his former expression of polite sur- 
prise, but said nothing. Instinct warned him to be spar- 
ing of words lest he should betray his own private anxiety. 

The Prince went on carelessly. 

" Majesty takes humours like other men, and must, 
more than other men, I suppose, be humoured ! Yet there 
is to my mind something unnatural in a system which 
causes several human beings to be dependent on another's 
caprice! " 

' You will not say so, Sir, when you yourself are King," 
observed the Marquis. 

' Long distant be the day ! " returned the Prince. " In- 
deed, I hope it may never be ! I would rather be the 
simplest peasant ploughing the fields, and happy in my 
own way, than suffer the penalties and pains surrounding 
the possession of a Throne ! " 

" Only," put in Von Glauben sententiously, ' you 
would have to take into consideration, Sir, whether the 
peasant ploughing the fields is happy in his own way. I 
have made ' the peasant ploughing the fields ' a special 
form of study, — and 1 have always found him a re- 
markably discontented, often ill-fed — and therefore 
unhealthy individual." 

' We are all discontented, if it comes to that ! " said 
Prince Humphry with a light laugh, — " Except myself ! 
I am perfectly contented ! " 

' You have reason to be, Sir," said Lutera, bowing 
low. 

"You are quite right, Marquis! — I have! More 
reason than perhaps you are aware of! " 

His eyes lightened and flashed ; he looked unusually 
handsome, and the Premier's shifty glance rested on him 
for a moment with a certain curiosity. But he had not 
been accustomed to pay very much attention to the words 
or actions of the Heir-Apparent, considering him to be a 
very ' ordinary ' young man, without either the brilliancy 
or the ambition which should mark him out as worthy of 
his exalted station. And before any further conversation 
could take place, Sir Roger de Launay entered the room 
and announced to the Marquis that the King was ready 
to receive him. Prince Humphry turning sharply round, 
faced the equerry. 

14 



210 "Temporal Power' 

"I am still to wait?" he enquired, with a slight touch of 
hauteur. 

Sir Roger bowed respectfully. 

" Your instant desire to see the King, your father. Sir, 
was communicated to his Majesty at once," he replied. 
' The present delay is by his Majesty's own orders. I 
much regret " 

' Regret nothing, my dear Sir Roger," he said. " My 
patience does not easily tire ! Marquis, I trust your busi- 
ness will not take long ? " 

' I shall endeavour to make it as brief as possible, Sir," 
replied the Premier deferentially as he withdrew. 

It was with a certain uneasiness, however, in his mind 
that he followed Sir Roger to the Throne-room. There 
was no possibility of exchanging so much as a word with 
the equerry ; besides, De Launay was not a talking man. 
Passing between the lines of attendants, pages, lords-in- 
waiting and others, he was conscious of a certain loss of 
his usual self-possession as he found himself at last in the 
presence of the King, — who, attired in brilliant uniform, 
was conversing graciously and familiarly with a select 
gn >up of distinguished individuals whose costume be- 
tokened them as envoys or visitors from foreign courts 
in the diplomatic service. Perceiving the Premier, how- 
ever, he paused in his conversation, and standing quite 
still awaited his approach. Then he extended his hand, 
with his usual kindly condescension. Instinctively Lu- 
tera's eyes searched that hand, with the expression of a 
guilty soul searching for a witness to its innocence. 
There shone the great sapphire — his own signet — and 
to his excited fancy its blue glimmer emitted a witch-like 
glow of menace. Meanwhile the King was speaking. 

' You are just a few minutes late. Marquis ! " he said ; 
' Had you come a little earlier, you would have met M. 
Perousse, who has matters of import to discuss with 
you." Here he moved aside from those immediately in 
hearing. ' It is perhaps as well you should know I have 
' vetoed ' his war propositions. It will rest now with you, 
to call a Council to-morrow, — the next day, — or, — 
when you please ! " 

Completely taken aback, the Premier was silent for a 
moment, biting his lips to keep down the torrent of rage 



The King's Veto 211 

and disappointment that threatened to break out in vio- 
lent and unguarded speech. 

"Sir!- -Your Majesty! Pardon me, but surely yon 
cannot fail to understand' that in a Constitution like ours, 
the course decided upon by Ministers cannot be vetoed 
by the King? " 

The monarch smiled gravely. 

" ' Cannot ' is a weak word, Marquis ! I do not include 
it in my vocabulary ! I fully grant you that a plan of 
campaign decided upon by Ministers as you say, has not 
been ' vetoed ' by a reigning sovereign for at least a 
couple of centuries, — and the custom has naturally fallen 
into desuetude, — but if it should be found at any time, 
— (I do not say it has been found) that Ministers are 
engaged in a seriously mistaken policy, and are being 
misled by the doubtful propositions of private financial 
speculators, so much as to consider their own advantage 
more important and valuable than the prosperity of a 
country or the good of a people, --then a king who does 
not veto the same is a worse criminal than those he tacitly 
supports and encourages ! ' 

Lutera turned a deadly white, — his eyes fell before 
the clear, straight gaze of his Sovereign, — but he said 
not a word. 

" A king's ' veto ' has before now brought about a 
king's dethronement," went on the monarch ; ' Should it 
do so in my case, I shall not greatly care, — but if things 
trend that way, I shall lay my thoughts openly before the 
People for their judgment. They seldom or never hear 
the Sovereign whom they pay to keep, speak to them on 
a matter gravely affecting their national destinies, — but 
they shall hear me, — if necessary! " 

The Marquis moistened his dry lips, and essayed to 
pronounce a few words. 

" Your Majesty will run considerable risk " 

" Of being judged as something more than a mere 
dummy," said the King — " Or a fool set on a throne to 
be fooled ! True ! But the risk can only involve life, — 
and life is immaterial when weighed in the balance against 
Honour. By the way, Marquis, permit me to return to 
you this valuable gem " ; — Here drawing off the Pre- 
mier's sapphire signet, he handed it to him — " Almost 



212 "Temporal Power' 

I envy it ! It is a fine stone ! — and worthy of its high 
service ! " 

" Your Majesty has increased its value by wearing it," 
said Lutera, recovering a little of his strayed equanimity 
in his determination to probe to the bottom of the mystery 
which perplexed his mind. " May I ask " 

" Anything in reason, my dear Marquis/' returned the 
King lightly, and smiling as he spoke. " A thousand 
questions if you like ! " 

" One will suffice," answered the Premier. " I had an 
unpleasant dream last night about this very ring " 

" Ah! " ejaculated the King; " Did you dream that I 
had dropped it in the sea on my way to The Islands 
yesterday ? " 

He spoke jestingly, yet with a kindly air, and Lutera 
gained courage to look boldly up and straight into his 
eyes. 

" I did not dream that you had lost it, Sir," he an- 
swered — " but that it had been stolen from your hand, 
and used by a spy for unlawful purposes ! " 

A strange expression crossed the King's face, — a look 
of inward illumination ; he smiled, but there was a quiver 
of strong feeling under the smile. Advancing a step, he 
laid his hand with a light, half-warning pressure on the 
Premier's shoulder. 

' Dreams always go by contraries, Marquis ! " he said ; 
— "I assure you, on my honour as a king and a gentle- 
man, that from the moment you lent it to me, till now, — 
when I return it to you, — that ring has never left my 
linger! " 



CHAPTER XV 

" MORGANATIC " OR — ? 

THE Royal ' at home ' was soon over. Many of those 
who had the felicity of breathing in the King's 
presence that afternoon remarked upon his Majesty's 
evident good health and high spirits, while others as 
freely commented on the unapproachableness and irri- 
tability of the Marquis de Lutera. Sir Walter Langton, 
the great English traveller, who was taking his leave of 
the Sovereign that day, being bound on an expedition 
to the innermost recesses of Africa, was not altogether 
agreeably impressed by the Premier, whom he met on this 
occasion for the first and only time. They had begun 
their acquaintance by talking generalities, — but drifted 
by degrees into the dangerous circle of politics, and were 
skirting round the edge of various critical questions of 
the day, when the Marquis said abruptly : 

" An autocracy would not nourish in your country, I 
presume, Sir Walter? The British people have been too 
long accustomed to sing that they ' never, never will be 
slaves.' Your Government is really more or less of a 
Republic." 

" All Governments are so in these days, I imagine," 
replied Langton. " Autocracy on the part of a monarch 
is nowhere endured, save in Russia, — and what is Russia? 
A huge volcano, smouldering with fire, and ever threaten- 
ing to break out in flame and engulf the Throne ! Mon- 
archs were not always wisdom personified in olden times, 
— and I venture to consider them nowadays less wise 
and more careless than ever. Only a return to almost 
barbaric ignorance and superstition would tolerate any 
complete monarchical authority in these present times of 
progress. It is only the long serfdom of Russia that 
hinders the triumph of Liberty there, as elsewhere." 



214 "Temporal Power" 

The Marquis listened eagerly, and with evident satis- 
faction. 

' I agree with you ! " he said. " You consider, then, 
that in no country, under any circumstances, could the 
people be expected to obey their monarch blindly? " 

" Certainly not ! Even Rome, with its visible spiritual 
Head and Sovereign, has no real power. It imagines it 
has ; but let it make any decided step to ensnare the lib- 
erties of the people at large, and the result would be 
somewhat astonishing ! Personally — " and he smiled 
gravely — "I have often thought that my own country 
would be very much benefited by a couple of years ex- 
istence under an autocrat — an autocrat like Cromwell, 
for example. A man strong and fierce, intelligent and 
Candid, — who would expose shams and destroy abuses, 
— who would have no mercy on either religious, social, 
or political fraud, and who would perform the part of the 
necessary hard broom for sweeping the National house. 
But, unfortunately, we have no such man. You have, — 
in your Sergius Thord ! " 

The Premier heard this name with unconcealed amaze- 
ment. 

''' Sergius Thord ! Why he is a mere fanatic " 

' Pardon me ! " interrupted Sir Walter, — " so was 
Cromwell ! " 

'But, my dear sir!" remonstrated the Marquis smil- 
ingly, — " Is it possible that you really consider Sergius 
Thord any sort of an influence in this country? If you 
do, I assure you you are greatly mistaken ! " 

'I think not," responded Sir Walter quietly; "With 
every respect for you, Marquis, I believe I am not mis- 
taken ! Books written by Sergius Thord are circulating 
in their thousands all over the world — his speeches are 
reported not only here, but in journals which probably 
you never hear of, in far-off countries, — in short, his 
propaganda is simply enormous. He is a kind of new 
Rousseau, without, — so far as I can learn, — Rous- 
seau's private vices. He is a man I much wished to see 
during my stay here, but I have not had the opportunity 
of finding him out. He is an undoubted genius, — but I 
need not remind you. Marquis, that a man is never a 
prophet in his own country ! The world's ' celebrity ' is 



" Morganatic 'Or - 215 

always eyed with more or less suspicion as a strange sort 
of rogue or vagabond in his own native town or village ! " 

At that moment, the King, having concluded a conver- 
sation with certain of his guests, who were thereupon 
leaving the Throne-room, approached them. He had not 
spoken a word to the Premier since returning him his 
signet-ring, but now he said : 

" Marquis, I was almost forgetting a special request I 
have to make of you ! " 

" A request from you is a command, Sir ! '' replied 
Lutera with hypocritical deference and something of a 
covert sneer, which did not escape the quick observation 
of Sir Walter Langton. 

" In certain cases it should be so," returned the King 
tranquilly ; " And in this you will probably make it so ! 
I have received a volume of poems by one Paul Zouche. 
His genius appears to me deserving of encouragement. 
A grant of a hundred golden pieces a year will not be 
too much for his hundred best poems. Will you see to 
this?" 

The Marquis bowed. 

" I have never heard of the man in question," he re- 
plied hesitatingly. 

" Probably not," returned the King smiling ;  — " How 
often do Premiers read poetry, or notice poets ? Scarcely 
ever, if we may credit history ! But in this case " 

" I will make myself immediately acquainted with Paul 
Zouche, and inform him of your Majesty's gracious in- 
tention," the Marquis hastened to say. 

' It is quite possible he may refuse the grant," con- 
tinued the King ; " Sometimes — though seldom — poets 
are prouder than Prime Ministers ! " 

With a brief nod of dismissal he turned away, inviting 
Sir Walter Langton to accompany him, and there was 
nothing more for the Marquis to do, save to return even 
as he had come, with two pieces of information puzzling 
his brain, — one, that the King's ' veto ' had stopped a 
declaration of war, — unless, — which was a very remote 
contingency, — he and his party could persuade the 
people to go against the King, — the other, that some 
clever spy, with the assistance of a fraudulent imitation 
of his signet-ring, had become aware of the financial 



216 "Temporal Power' 

interests involved in a private speculation depending on 
the intended war, which included himself, Carl Perousse, 
and two or three other members of the Ministry. And, 
out of these two facts might possibly arise a whole train 
of misfortune, ruin and disgrace to those concerned. 

It was considerably past three o'clock in the afternoon 
when the King, retiring to his own private cabinet, desired 
Sir Roger de Launay to inform Prince Humphry that he 
was now prepared to receive him. Sir Roger hesitated a 
moment before going to fulfil the command. The King 
looked at him with an indulgent smile. 

'Things are moving too quickly, you think, Roger?" 
he queried. " Upon my soul, I am beginning to find a 
new zest in life ! I feel some twenty years younger since 
I saw the face of the beautiful Gloria yesterday! We 
must promote her sailor husband, and bring his pearl of 
the sea to our Court ! " 

" It was on this very subject, Sir, that Von Glauben 
wished to see your Majesty the first thing this morning," 
said Sir Roger ; — " But you refused him so early an 
audience. Yet you will remember that yesterday you told 
him you wished for an explanation of his acquaintance 
with this girl. He was ready and prepared to give it, 
but was prevented, — not only by your refusal to see 
him, — but also by the Prince." 

Drawing up a chair to the open window, the King 
seated himself deliberately, and lit a cigar. 

' Presumably the Prince knows more than the Pro- 
fessor ! " he said calmly ; " We will hear both, and give 
Royalty the precedence ! Tell Prince Humphry I am 
waiting for him." 

Sir Roger withdrew, and in another two or three min- 
utes returned, throwing open the door and ushering in 
the Prince, who entered with a quick step, and brief, 
somewhat haughty salutation. Puffing leisurely at his 
cigar, the King glanced his son up and down smilingly, 
but said not a word. The Prince stood waiting for his 
father to speak, till at last, growing impatient and waiv- 
ing ceremony, he began. 

' I came, Sir, to spare Von Glauben your reproaches, 
— which he does not merit. You accused him yesterday, 
he tells me, of betraying your trust ; he has neither 



"Morganatic' Or — ? 217 

betrayed your trust nor mine! I alone am to blame in 
this matter! " 

" In what matter ? " enquired the King- quietly. 

Prince Humphry coloured deeply, and then grew pale. 
There was a ray of defiance in the light of his fine eyes, 
but the tumult within his soul showed itself only in an 
added composure of his features. 

"You wish me to speak plainly, I suppose," he said; 
— " though you know already what I mean. I repeat, — 

I, and I alone, am to blame, — for for anything that 

seemed strange to you yesterday, when you met Von 
Glauben at The Islands." 

The King's serious face lightened with a gleam of 
laughter. 

" Nothing seemed very strange to me, Humphry," he 
said, " except the one fact that I found Von Glauben, — 
whom I supposed to be studying scientific problems, — 
engaged in studying a woman instead ! A very beautiful 
woman, too, who ought to be something better than a 
sailor's wife. And I do not understand, as yet, what he 
has to do with her, unless — " Here he paused and went 
on more slowly — " Unless he is, as I suspect, acting for 
you in some way, and trying to tempt the fair creature 
with the prospect of a prince's admiration while the 
sailor husband is out of the way ! Remember, I know 
nothing — I merely hazard a guess. You are an habitue 
of The Islands; — though I learned, on enquiry of the 
interesting old gentleman who was good enough to be my 
host, Rene Ronsard, that nobody had ever seen you there. 
They had only seen your yacht constantly cruising about 
the bay. This struck me as curious, I must confess. 
Some of your men were well known, — particularly one, 
— the husband of the pretty girl I saw. Her name, it 
seems, is Gloria. — and I must admit that it entirely suits 
her. I can hardly imagine that if you have visited The 
Islands as often as you seem to have done, you can have 
escaped seeing her. She is too beautiful to remain un- 
known to you — particularly if her husband is, as they 
tell me, in your service. I asked her to give me his name, 
but she refused it point-blank. I do not wish to accuse 
you of an amour, which you are perhaps quite innocent 
of — but certain things taken in their conjunction look 



218 "Temporal Power' 

suspicious, — and I would remind you that honour in 
princes, — as in all men, — should come before self- 
indulgence." 

" I entirely agree with you, Sir ! " said the Prince, 
composedly ; " And in the present case honour has been 
my first thought, as it will be my last. Gloria is my 
wife!" 

*' Your wife ! " The King rose, his tall figure looking 
taller, his eyes sparkling with anger from under their 
deep-set brows. " Your wife ! Are you mad, Humphry ! 

You ! the Heir- Apparent to the Throne ! You have 

married her! " 

" I have! " replied the Prince, and the words now came 
coursing rapidly from his lips in his excitement — "I 
love her ! I love her with all my heart and soul ! — and 
I have given her the only shield and safeguard love in this 
world can give ! I have married her in my own name — 
the name of our family, — which neither she nor any of 
the humble folk out yonder haVe ever heard — but she 
is wedded to me as fast as Church and Law can make it, 

— and there is only one wrong connected with my vows 
to her — she does not know who I am. I have deceived 
her there, — but in nothing else. Had I told her of my 
rank, she would never have married me. But now she 
is mine, — and for her sake I am willing to resign all 
pretension to the Throne in favour of my brother Rupert. 
Let it be so, I implore you ! Let me live my own life of 
love and liberty in my own way ! " 

Rigid as a statue the King stood, — his lips were set 
hard and his eyes lowered. Long buried thoughts rose 
up from the innermost recesses of his being, and rushed 
upon his brain in a deluge of remembrance and regret. 
What ! — after all these years, had the ghost of his first 
love, the little self-slain maiden of his boyhood's dream, 
risen to avenge herself in the life of his son ? The strange- 
ness of the comparison between himself as he was now, 
and the eager passionate youth he was then, smote him 
with a sense of sharp pain. Away in those far-off days 
he had believed in love as the chief glory of existence ; he 
had considered it as the poets would have us consider it, 

— a saving, binding, holding and immortal influence, 
which leads to all pure and holy things, even unto God 



"Morganatic" Or — ? 219 

Himself, the Highest and Holiest of all. When he lost 
that belief, how great was his loss! — when he ceased to 
experience that pure idealistic emotion, how bitter became 
the monotony of living! Rapidly the stream of memory 
swept over his innermost soul and shook his nerves, and 
it was only through a strong effort of self-repression that 
at last, lifting up his eyes he fixed them on the flushed 
face of his son, and said in measured tones. 

' This is a very unexpected and very unhappy con- 
fession of yours, Humphry! You have acted most un- 
wisely ! — you have been disloyal to me, who am not only 
your father, but your King! You have proved yourself 
unworthy of the nation's trust, — and you have deceived, 
more cruelly than you think, an innocent and too-con- 
fiding girl. I shall not dispute the legality of your mar- 
riage ; — that would not be worth my while. You have 
no doubt taken every step to make it as binding as pos- 
sible ; — however, that is but a trifling matter in your 
case. You know that such a marriage is, and can only 
be morganatic ; — and as the immediate consequence of 
your amazing folly, a suitable Royal alliance must be 
arranged for you at once. The nuptials can be celebrated 
with the attainment of your majority next year." 

He spoke coldly and calmly, but his heart was beating 
with mingled wrath and pain, and even while he thus 
pronounced her doom, the exquisite face of Gloria floated 
before him like the vision of a perfect innocence ruined 
and betrayed. He realised that he possibly had an un- 
usual character to reckon with in her, — and he had lately 
become fully aware that there was as much determination 
and latent force in the disposition of his son, as in the 
mother who had given him birth. Pale and composed, 
the young Prince heard him in absolute silence, and when 
he had finished, still waited a moment, lest any further 
word should fall from the lips of his parent and Sov- 
ereign. Then he spoke in quite as measured, cold and 
tranquil a manner as the King had done. 

' I need not remind you, Sir, that the days of tyranny 
are over. You cannot force me into bigamy against my 
will ! " 

His father uttered a quick oath. 

" Bigamy ! Who talks of bigamy ? " 



2 20 "Temporal Power 



» y 



' You do, Sir ! I have married a beautiful and innocent 
woman, — she is my lawful wife in the sight of God and 
man ; yet you coolly propose to give me a second wife 
under the ' morganatic ' law, which, as I view it, is merely 
a Royal excuse for bigamy ! Now I have no wish to 
excuse myself for marrying Gloria, — I consider she has 
honoured me far more than I have honoured her. She 
has given me all her youth, her life, her love, her beauty 
and her trust, and whatever I am worth in this world 
shall be hers and hers only. I am quite prepared " — 
and he smiled somewhat sarcastically, — "to make it a 
test case, and appeal to the law of the realm. If that law 
tolerates a crime in princes, which it would punish in 
commoners, then I shall ask the People to judge me! " 

' Indeed! '' And the King surveyed him with a touch 
of ironical amusement and vague admiration for his 
audacity. " And suppose the people fail to appreciate 
the romance of the situation ? " 

' Then I shall resign my nationality ; " said the young 
man coolly ; ' Because a country that legalises a wrong 
done to the innocent, is not worth belonging to ! Con- 
cerning the Throne, — as I told you before — I am ready 
to abandon it at once. I would rather lose all the king- 
doms of the world than lose Gloria ! " 

There was a pause, during which the King took two or 
three slow paces up and down the room. At last he 
turned and faced his son ; his eyes were softer — his look 
more kindly. 

' You are very much in love just now, Humphry! " he 
said ; " And I do not wish to be too hard on you in this 
matter, for there can be no question as to the extraordi- 
nary beauty of the girl you call your wife " 

" The girl who is my wife," interrupted the Prince 
decisively. 

' Very well ; so let it be ! " said his father calmly ; 
"The girl who is your wife — for the present! I will 
give you time — plenty of time — to consider the position 
reasonably! " 

' I have already considered it," he declared. 

" No doubt ! You think you have considered it. But 
if you do not want to meditate any further upon your 
marriage problem, you must allow me the leisure to do 



" Morganatic ' Or- 221 

so, as one who has seen more of life than you, — as 
one who takes things philosophically — ami also — as one 
who was young — once ; — who loved — once ; — and 
who had his own private dreams of happiness — once! " 
He rested a hand on his son's shoulder, and looked 
him full and fairly in the eyes. " Let me advise you, 
Humphry, to go abroad ! Travel round the world for a 
year! 

The Prince was silent, — but his eyes did not flinch 
from his father's steady gaze. He seemed to be thinking 
rapidly ; but his thoughts were not betrayed by any move- 
ment or expression that could denote anxiety. He was 
alert, calm, and perfectly self-possessed. 

' I have no objection," he said at last ; " A year is soon 
past ! " 

" It is," agreed the King, with a sense of relief at his 

ready assent ; " But by the end of that time 

' Things will be precisely as they are now," said the 
Prince tranquilly ; " Gloria will still be my wife, and I 
shall still be her husband ! " 

The King gave a gesture of annoyance. 
' Whatever the result," he said, " she cannot, and will 
not be Crown Princess ! " 

" She will not envy that destiny in my brother Rupert's 
wife," said Prince Humphry quietly; ' Nor shall I envy 
my brother Rupert! " 

' You talk like a fool, Humphry ! " said the King im- 
patiently ; " You cannot resign your Heir- Apparency to 
the Throne, without giving a reason ; — and so making 
known your marriage." 

' That is precisely what I wish to do," returned the 
young man. ' I have no intention of keeping my mar- 
riage secret. I am proud of it ! Gloria is mine — the 
joy of my soul — the very pulse of my life ! Why should 
I hide my heart's light under a cloud? " 

His voice vibrated with tender feeling, — his handsome 
features were softened into finer beauty by the passion 
which invigorated him, and his father looking at him, 
thought for a moment that so might the young gods of 
the fabled Parnassus have appeared in the height of their 
symbolic power and charm. His own eyes grew melan- 
choly, as he studied this vigorous incarnation of ardent 



222 "Temporal Power 



■>•> 



love and passionate resolve; and a slight sigh escaped 
him unconsciously. 

' You forget ! " he said slowly, " you have, up to the 
present deceived the girl. She does not know who you 
are. When she hears that you have played a part, - — that 
you are no sailor in the service of the Crown Prince, as 
you have apparently represented yourself to be, but the 
Crown Prince himself, what will she say to you? Per- 
haps she will hate you for the deception, as much as she 
now loves you ! " 

A shadow darkened the young Prince's open counte- 
nance, but it soon passed away. 

"She will never hate me!" he said,- — "For when I 
do tell her the truth, it will be when I have resigned all 
the ridiculous pomp and circumstance of my position for 
her sake " 

' Perhaps she will not let you resign it ! '" said the 
King; " She may be as unselfish as she is beautiful ! " 

There was a slight, very slight note of derision in his 
voice, and the Prince caught it up at once. 

' You wrong yourself, Sir, more than you wrong my 
wife by any lurking misjudgment of her," he said, with 
singularly masterful and expressive dignity. " As her 
husband, and the guardian of her honour, I also claim her 
obedience. What I desire is her law ! " 

The King laughed a little forcedly. 

' Evidently you have found the miracle of the ages, 
Humphry ! " he said ; " A woman who obeys her master ! 
Well ! Let us talk no more of it. You have been guilty 
of an egregious folly, — but nothing can make your mar- 
riage otherwise than morganatic. And when the State- 
considers a Royal alliance for you advisable, you will be 
compelled to obey the country's wish, — or else resign 
the Throne." 

' I shall obey the country's wish most decidedly," said 
the Prince, " unless it asks me to commit bigamy, — as 
you suggest, — in which case I shall decline ! Three or 
four Royal sinners of this class I know of, who for all 
their pains have not succeeded in winning the attachment 
of their people, either for themselves or their heirs. 
Their people know what they are, well enough, and 
despise their fraudulent position as heartily as I do! I 



"Morganatic' Or — ? 223 

am perfectly convinced that if it were put to the vote of 
the country, no people in the world would wish their 
future monarch to be a bigamist ! " 

' How you stick to a word and a phrase ! " exclaimed 
the King irritably ; ' The morganatic rule does away 
with the very idea of bigamy ! " 

'How do you prove it. Sir?' queried the Prince. 
' Bigamy is the act of contracting a second marriage 
while the first partner is alive. It is punished severely in 
commoners; — why should Royalty escape?" 

The King began to laugh. This boy was developing 
' discursive philosophies ' such as his own old tutor had 
abhorred. 

'Upon my life, I do not know, Humphry!" he de- 
clared ; ' ' You must ask the departed shades of those who 
made themselves responsible for kingship in the first 
place. Personally, I do not come under the law. I have 
only married once myself ! " 

His son looked full at him ; — and the intensity of that 
look affected and unsteadied his usual calm nerves. But 
he was not one to shirk an unpleasant suggestion. 

' You would say, Humphry, if your filial respect per- 
mitted you, that my one marriage has been amplified in 
various other ways. Perfectly true ! When women lie 
down and ask you to walk over them, you do it if you 
are a man and a king! When, on the contrary, women 
show you that they do not care whether you are royal or 
the reverse, and despise you more than admire you, you 
run after them for all you are worth ! At least I do ! I 
always have done so. And, to a certain extent, it has 
been amusing. But the limit is reached. I am growing 
old ! " Here he took up the cigar he had thrown aside 
when his son had first startled him by the announcement 
of his marriage, and relighting it, began to smoke peace- 
ably. ' I am, as I say, growing old. I have never found 
what is called love. You have — or think you have ! 
Enjoy your dream, Humphry — but — take my advice 
and go abroad ! See whether travel does not work a 
change in you or, — in her ! ,: He paused a moment, and 
while the Prince still regarded him fixedly, added ; " Will 
you tell the Queen ? " 

' I will leave you to tell her, Sir, with your per- 



224 "Temporal Power' 

mission ; " replied the Prince ; ' I cannot expect her 
sympathy." 

" Von Glauben, then, is the only person you have 
trusted with your confidence ? " 

' Von Glauben was no party to my marriage, Sir. I 
was married fully three months before I told him. He 
was greatly vexed and troubled, — but when he saw 
Gloria, he was glad." 

" Glad! " echoed the King; " For what reason, pray? " 

' I am afraid, Sir," said the young man with a smile, 
" his gladness was but a part of his science ! He said it 
was better for a prince to wed a healthy and beautiful 
commoner, than the daughter of a hundred scrofulous 
kings ! " 

With a movement of intense indignation, the monarch 
sprang up from the chair in which he had just seated 
himself. 

' Now, by Heaven ! '" he exclaimed ; ' Von Glauben 
goes too far ! He shall suffer for this ! " 

' Why? " queried the Prince calmly; " You know that 
what he says is perfectly true. True? Why, there is 
scarcely a Royal house in the world save our own, without 
its hereditary curse of disease or insanity. We pay more 
attention to the breeding of horses than the breeding of 
kings ! " 

The plain candour and veracity of the statement, left 
no room for denial. 

' You have seen Gloria," went on the Prince ; ' You 
know she is the most beautiful creature your eyes ever 
rested upon ! Von Glauben told me you were stricken 
dumb, and almost stupefied at sight of her " 

" Damn Von Glauben ! " said the King. 

His son smiled ever so slightly, but continued. 

' You have made yourself acquainted with her his- 
tory " 

'Yes!" said the King; 'That she is a foundling 
picked up from the sea — a castaway from a wreck ! — 
no one knows who her father and mother were, and yet 
you, in your raving madness and folly of love, would 
make her Crown Princess and future Queen ! " 
The Prince went on unheedingly. 
" She is beautiful — and the simple method of her 



"Morganatic' Or — ? 225 

bringing up has left her unspoilt and innocent. She is 

ignorant of the world's ways because " and his 

voice sank to a reverential tenderness — " God's ways 
are more familiar to her ! " He paused, but his father 
was silent ; he therefore went on. ; ' She is healthy, 
strong, simple and true, — more fit for a throne, if such 
were her destiny, than any daughter of any Royal house 
I know of. Happy the nation that could call such a 
woman their Queen ! " 

" As I have already told you, Humphry," returned the 
King, " you are in love ! — with the love of a headstrong, 
passionate boy for a beautiful and credulous girl. I do 
not propose to discuss the subject further. You are will- 
ing to go abroad, you tell me, — then make your prepara- 
tions at once. I will select one or two necessary com- 
panions for you, and you can start when you please. I 
would let Von Glauben accompany you, but — for the 
present — I cannot well spare him. Your intended 
voyage must be made public, and in this way nothing 
will be known of the manner in which you have privately 
chosen to make a fool of yourself. I will explain the sit- 
uation to the Queen ; — but beyond that I shall say 
nothing. Let me know by to-morrow how soon you can 
arrange your departure." 

The Prince bowed composedly, and was about to retire, 
when the King called him back. 

' You do not ask my pardon, Humphry, for the offence 
you have committed ? " 

The young man Hushed, and bit his lip. 

" Sir, I cannot ask pardon for what I do not consider 
is wrong! I have married the woman I love; and I in- 
tend to be faithful to her. You married a woman you did 
not love — and the result, according to my views, and 
also according to my experience of my mother and your- 
self, is more or less regrettable. If I have offended you, 
I sincerely beg your forgiveness, but you must first point 
out the nature of the offence. Surely, it must be more 
gratifying to you to know that I prefer to be a man of 
honour than a common seducer ? " 

The King looked at him, and his own eyes fell under 
his son's clear candid gaze. 

' Enough ! You may go ! " he said briefly. 

'5 



226 "Temporal Power" 

The door opened and closed again ; — he was gone. 

The King, left alone, fixed his eyes on the sparkling 
line of the sea, brightly bine, and the flower-bordered 
terrace in front of him. Life was becoming interesting; 

— the long burdensome monotony of years had changed 
into a variety of contrasting scenes and colours, — and in 
taking up the problem of human life as lived by others, 
more than as lived by himself, he had entered on a new 
path, untrodden by conventionalities, and leading, he 
knew not whither. But, having begun to walk in it, he 
was determined to go on — and to use each new experi- 
ence as a guide for the rest of his actions. His son's 
marriage with a commoner — one who indeed was not 
only a commoner but a foundling — might after all lead 
to good, if properly taken in hand, — and he resolved 
not to make the worst of it, but rather to let things take 
their own natural course. 

" For love," he said to himself somewhat bitterly, " in 
nine cases out of ten ends in satiety, — marriage, in sep- 
aration by mutual consent ! Let the boy travel for a year, 
and forget, if he can, the fair face which captivates him, 

— for it is a fair face, and more than that, — I 

honestly believe it is the reflex of a fair soul! " 

His eyes grew dreamy and absorbed ; away on the 
horizon a little white cloud, shaped like the outspread 
wings of a dove, hovered over the sea just where The 
Islands lay. 

' Yes ! Let him see new scenes — strange lands, and 
varying customs ; let him hear modern opinions of life, 
instead of reading the philosophies of Aurelius and Epic- 
tetus, and the poetry written ages ago by the dead wild 
souls of the past ; — and so he will forget — and all will 
be well ! While for Gloria herself, — and the old revo- 
lutionist Ronsard - - we shall doubtless find ways and 
means of consolation for them both ! " 

Thus he mused, — yet in the very midst of his thoughts 
the echoing memory of a golden voice, round and rich 
with delight and triumph rang in his ears : 

" My King crown'd me ! 
And I and he 
Are one till the world shall cease to be ! " 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE PROFESSOR .ADVISES 

I HAVE discovered the secret of successful living, 
Professor," said the King, a couple of hours later 
as, walking in one of the many thickly wooded alleys of 
the palace grounds, he greeted Von Glauben, who had 
been told to meet him there, and who had been waiting 
the Royal approach with some little trepidation, - ' It is 
this, — to draw a straight line of conduct, and walk in it, 
regardless of other people's crooked curves ! '' 

The Professor looked at him, and saw nothing but 
kindliness expressed in his eyes and smile, — therefore, 
taking courage he replied without embarrassment, — 

" Truly, Sir, if a man is brave enough to do this, he 
may conquer everything but death, and even face this 
last enemy without much alarm." 

" I agree with you ! " replied the monarch ; '' And 
Humphry's line has certainly been straight enough, taken 
from the point of his own perspective ! Do you not 
think so? " 

Von Glauben hesitated a moment — then spoke out 
boldly. 

" Sir, as you now know all, I will frankly assure you 
that I think his Royal Highness has behaved honourably, 
and as a true man ! Society pardons a prince for seduc- 
ing innocence — but whether it will pardon him for 
marrying it, is quite another question ! And that is why 
I repeat, he has behaved well. Though when he first told 
me he was married, I suffered a not-to-be-explained 
misery and horror; ' For,' said he — 'I have married an 
angel ! ' Which naturally I thought ( deducting a certain 
quantity of the enthusiasm of youth for the statement) 
meant that he had married a bouncing housemaid with 
large hands and feet. ' That is well,' I told him — ' For 



•>1 



228 "Temporal Power 

divorce is now made easy in this country, and you can 
easily return the celestial creature to her native element ! ' 
At which I resigned myself to hear some oaths, for vio- 
lent expletives are always refreshing to the masculine 
brain-matter. But his Royal Highness maintained the 
good breeding which always distinguishes him, and 
merely proceeded with his strange confession of romance, 
— which, as you, Sir, are now happily aware of it, I need 
not recapitulate. Your knowledge of the matter has lifted 
an enormous burden from my mind ; Ach ! Enormous ! " 

He gave a deep breath, and drew himself up to his full 
height — squared his shoulders, and then, as it were 
stood firm, as though waiting attack. 

The King laughed good-naturedly, and took him by 
the arm. 

' Tell me all you know, Von Glauben ! " he said ; "I 
am acquainted with the gist and upshot of the matter, — 
namely, Humphry's marriage ; but I am wholly ignorant 
of the details." 

" There is little to tell, Sir," said Von Glauben ; — " Of 
the Prince's constant journeyings to The Islands we were 
all aware long ago ; but the cause of those little voyages 
was not so apparent. To avoid the suspicion with which 
a Royal visitor would be viewed, the Prince, it appears, 
assumed to be merely one of the junior officers on his 
own yacht, — and under this disguise became known and 
much liked by the Islanders generally. He fell in love 
at first sight with the beautiful girl your Majesty saw 
yesterday — Gloria ; ' Glory-of-the-Sea ' — as I some- 
times call her, and they were married by the old parish 
priest in the little church among the rocks — the very 
church where, as her adopted father, Ronsard, tells me, 
he heard the choristers singing a ' Gloria in Excelsis ' on 
the day he found her cast up on the shore." 

' Well ! " said the King, seeing that he paused ; " And 
is the marriage legal, think you ? " 

' Perfectly so, Sir ! " replied Von Glauben ; ' Regis- 
tered by law, as well as sanctified by church. The Prince 
tells me he married her in his own name, — but no one, — 
not even the poor little priest who married them, — knew 
the surname of your Majesty's distinguished house, and 
I believe, — nay I am sure — " here he heaved an uncon- 



The Professor Advises 229 

scions sigh, " it will bring a tragedy to the girl when she 
knows the true rank and title of her husband! " 

" How came you to make her acquaintance? Tell me 
everything !-- you know I will not misjudge yon! " 

" Indeed, Sir, I hope you will not! " returned the Pro- 
fessor earnestly ; — " For there was never a man more 
hopelessly involved than myself in the net prepared for 
me by this romantic lover, who has the honour to be your 
son. In the first place, directly I heard this confession 
of marriage, I was for telling you at once ; but as he had 
bound me by my word of honour before he began the 
story, to keep his confidence sacred, I was unable to dis- 
burden myself of it. He said he wanted to secure me as 
a friend for his wife. ' That,' said T firmly, ' I will never 
be ! For there will be difficulty when all is known ; and 
if it comes to a struggle between a pretty fishwife and 
the good of a king — ach ! — mein Gott ! — I am not for 
the fishwife ! ' " 

The King smiled ; and Von Glauben went on. 

" Well, he assured me she was not a fishwife. I said 
' What is she then? ' ' I tell you,' he replied, ' she is an 
angel ! You will come and see her ; you will pass as an 
old friend of her sailor husband ; and when you have 
seen her you will understand ! ' I was angry, and said 
I would not go with him ; but afterwards I thought per- 
haps it would be best if I did, as I might be able to advise 
him to some wise course. So I accompanied him one 
afternoon in the past autumn to The Islands (he was 
married last summer) and saw the girl, — the ' Glory-of- 
the-Sea.' And I must confess to your Majesty, my heart 
went down before her beauty and innocence in absolute 
worship ! And if you were to kill me for it, I cannot help 
it — I am now as devoted to her service as I am to 
yours ! " 

" Good ! " said the King gently ; — " Then you must 
help me to console her in Humphry's absence ! ' ; 

Professor Von Glauben's eyes opened widely, with a 
vagne look of alarm. 

" In his absence, Sir? " 

" Yes ! I am sending him abroad. He is qflite willing 
to go, he tells me. His departure will make all things 
perfectly easy for us. The girl must remain in her pres- 



230 "Temporal Power' 

ent ignorance as to the position of the man she has really 
married. The sailor she supposes him to he will accom- 
pany the Prince on his yacht, — and it must he arranged 
that he never returns ! She is young, and will easily be 
consoled ! " 

Von Glauben was silent. 

' You will not betray the Prince's identity with her 
lover," went on the King, " and no one else knows it. In 
fact, you will be the very person best qualified to tell her 
of his departure, and  — in due time, of his fictitious 
death ! " 

They were walking slowly under the heavy shadow of 
crossed ilex boughs, — and Von Glauben came to a dead 
halt. 

" Sir," he said, in rather unsteady accents ; " With 
every respect for your Majesty, I must altogether decline 
the task of breaking a pure heart, and ruining a young 
life! Moreover, if your Majesty, after all your recent 
experiences," — and he laid great emphasis on these last 
words, " thinks there is any ultimate good to be obtained 
by keeping up a lie, and practising a fraud, the lessons 
we have learned in these latter days are wholly unavail- 
ing! You began this conversation with me by speaking 
of a straight line of conduct, which should avoid other 
people's crooked curves. Is this your Majesty's idea of 
a straight line ? " 

He spoke with unguarded vehemence, but the King 
was not offended. On the contrary, he looked whimsi- 
cally interested and amused. 

' My dear Von Glauben, you are not usually so incon- 
sistent ! Humphry himself has kept up a lie, and prac- 
tised a fraud on the girl " 

" Only for a time ! " interrupted the Professor hastily. 

" Oh, we all do it ' only for a time.' Everything  — - life 
itself — is ' only for a time ! ' You know as well as I do 
that this absurd marriage can never be acknowledged. I 
explained as much to Humphry ; I told him he could 
guard himself by the morganatic law, provided he would 
consent to a Royal alliance immediately — but the young 
fool swore it would be bigamy, and took himself off in 
a huff." 

" He was right ! It would be bigamy ; — it is big- 



The Professor Advises 231 

amy!" said the Professor; "Call it by what name you 
like in Court parlance, the act of having two wives is 
forbidden in this country. The wisest men have come to 
the conclusion that one wife is enough ! " 

' Humphry's ideas being so absolutely childish," went 
on the King, "it is necessary for him to expand them 
somewhat. That is why I shall send him abroad. You 
have a strong flavour of romance in your Teutonic com- 
position, Von Glauben, — and I can quite sympathise 
with your admiration for the ' Glory-of-the-Sea ' as you 
call her. From a man's point of view, I admire her 
myself. But I know nothing of her moral or mental 
qualities ; though from her flat refusal to give me her 
husband's name yesterday, I judge her as wilful, — but 
most pretty women are that. And as for my line of con- 
duct, it will, I assure you, be perfectly ' straight,' — in 
the direction of my duty as a King, — apart altogether 
from sentimental considerations ! And in this, as in other 
things, — " he paused and emphasised his words — ''I 
rely on your honour and faithful service! " 

The Professor made no reply. He was thinking deeply. 
With a kind of grim scorn, he pointed out to himself that 
his imagination was held captive by the mental image of 
a woman, whose eyes had expressed trust in him ; and 
almost as tenderly as the lover in Tennyson's ' Maud ' he 
could have said that he ' would die, To save from some 
slight shame one simple girl.' Presently he braced him- 
self up, and confronted his Royal master. 

" Sir," he said very quietly, yet with perfect frankness; 
' Your Majesty must have the goodness to pardon me 
if I say you must not rely upon me at all in this mat- 
ter ! I will promise nothing, except to be true to myself 
and my own sense of justice. I have given up my own 
country for conscience' sake - - i can easily give up an- 
other which is not my own, for the same reason. In the 
matter of this marriage or ' mesalliance ' as the worldly 
would call it, — I have nothing whatever to do. While 
the Prince asked me to keep his secret, I kept it. Now 
that he has confided it to your Majesty, I am relieved and 
satisfied ; and shall not in any way, by word or sugges- 
tion, interfere with your Majesty's intentions. But, at 
the same time, I shall not assist them ! For as regards 



232 "Temporal Power' 

the trusting girl who has been persuaded that she has 
won a great love and complete happiness for all her life, 

— I have sworn to be her friend ; — and I must respect- 
fully decline to be a party to any further deception in her 
case. Knowing what I know of her character, which is 
a pure and grand one, I think it would be far better to 
tell her the whole truth, and let her be the arbiter of her 
own destiny. She will decide well and truly, I am sure ! '' 

He ceased ; the King was silent. Von Glauben studied 
his face attentively. 

'You are a thinker, Sir, — a student and a philoso- 
pher. You are not one of those kings who treat their 
kingship as a license for the free exercise of intolerant 
humours and vicious practices. Were you no monarch 
at all, you would still be a sane and thoughtful man. 
Take my humble advice, Sir — for once put the unspoilt 
nature of a pure woman to the test, and find out what a 
grand creature God intended woman to be, in her pris- 
tine simplicity and virtue ! Send for Gloria to this 
Court ; — tell her the truth ! — and await the result 
with confidence ! " 

There was a pause. The King walked slowly up and 
down ; at last he spoke. 

' You may be right ! I do not say you are wrong. I 
will consider your suggestion. Certainly it would be 
the straightest course. But first a complete explanation 
is due to the Queen. She must know all, — and if her 
interest can be awakened by such a triviality as her son's 
love-affair — " and he smiled somewhat bitterly, — " per- 
haps she may agree to your plan as the best way out of 
the difficulty. In any case " — here he extended his 
hand which the Professor deferentially bowed over — 
' I respect your honesty and plain speaking, Professor! 
I have reason to approve highly of sincerity, — wherever 
and however I find it, — at the present crisis of affairs. 
For the moment, I will only ask you to be on your guard 
with Humphry ; — and say as little as possible to him on 
the subject of his marriage or intended departure from 
this country. Keep everything as quiet as may be ; — till 

— till we find a clear and satisfactory course to follow, 
which shall inflict as little pain as possible on all con- 
cerned. And now, a word with you on other matters." 



The Professor Advises 233 

They walked on side by side, through the garden walks 
and ways, conversing earnestly, -- and by and by pene- 
trating into the deeper recesses of the outlying woodlands, 
were soon hidden among the crossing and recrossing of 
the trees. Had they kept to the open ground, from 
whence the wide expanse of the sea could be viewed 
from end to end, their discussions might perhaps have 
been interrupted, and themselves somewhat startled, — 
for they would have seen Prince Humphry's yacht, with 
every inch of canvas stretched to the utmost, Hying 
rapidly before the wind like a wild white bird, winging 
its swift, straight way to the west where the sun shot 
down Apollo-like shafts of gold on the gleaming purple 
coast-line of The Islands. 



CHAPTER XVII 

AN " HONOURABLE " STATESMAN 

IT is not easy to trace the causes why it so often happens 
that semi-educated, and more or less shallow men 
rise suddenly to a height of brilliant power and influence 
in the working of a country's policy. Sometimes it is 
wealth that brings them to the front ; sometimes the 
strong support secretly given to them by others in the 
background, who have their own motives to serve, and 
who require a public representative ; but more often still it 
is sheer unscrupulousness, — or what may be described as 
' walking over ' all humane and honest considerations, — 
that places them in triumph at the helm of affairs. To 
rise from a statesman to be a Secretary of State augurs a 
certain amount of brain, though not necessarily of the 
highest quality ; while it certainly betokens a good deal 
of dash and impudence. Carl Perousse, one of the most 
prominent among the political notabilities of Europe, had 
begun his career by small peddling transactions in iron 
and timber manufactures ; he came of a very plebeian 
stock, and had received only a desultory sort of educa- 
tion, picked up here and there in cheap provincial schools. 
But he had a restless, domineering spirit of ambition. 
Ashamed of his plebeian origin, and embittered from his 
earliest years by a sense of grudge against those who 
moved in the highest and most influential circles of the 
time, the idea was always in his mind that he would one 
day make himself an authority over the very persons, 
who, in the rough and tumble working-days of his 
younger manhood, would not so much as cast him a word 
or a look. He knew that the first thing necessary to 
attain for this purpose was money ; and he had, by steady 
and constant plod, managed to enlarge and expand all his 
business concerns into various important companies, 



An " Honourable' Statesman 235 

which he set afloat in all quarters of the world, — with 
the satisfactory result that by the time his years had run 
well into the forties, he was one of the wealthiest men in 
the country. He had from the first taken every opportu- 
nity to insinuate himself into politics; and in exact pro- 
portion to the money he made, so was his success in 
acquiring such coveted positions in life as brought with 
them the masterful control of various conflicting- aims 
and interests. His individual influence had extended by 
leaps and bounds till he had become only secondary in 
importance to the Prime Minister himself ; and he pos- 
sessed a conveniently elastic conscience, which could be 
stretched at will to suit any party or any set of principles. 
In personal appearance he was not prepossessing. Na- 
ture had branded him in her own special way ' Trickster,' 
for those who cared to search for her trademark. He 
was tall and thin, with a narrow head and a deeply-lined, 
clean-shaven countenance, the cold immovability of which 
was sometimes broken up by an unpleasant smile, that 
merely widened the pale set lips without softening* them, 
and disclosed a crooked row of smoke-coloured teeth, 
much decayed. He had small eyes, furtively hidden 
under a somewhat restricted frontal development, — his 
brows were narrow, — his forehead ignoble and retreat- 
ing. But despite a general badness, or what may be 
called a ' smirchiness ' of feature, he had learned to as- 
sume an air of superiority, which by its sheer audacity 
prevented a casual observer from setting him down as 
the vulgarian he undoubtedly was ; and his amazing 
pluck, boldness and originality in devising ways and 
means of smothering popular discontent under various 
' shows ' of apparent public prosperity, was immensely 
useful to all such ' statesmen,' whose statesmanship con- 
sisted in making as much money as possible for them- 
selves out of the pockets of their credulous countrymen. 
He was seldom disturbed by opposing influences ; and 
even now when he had just returned from the palace with 
the full knowledge that the King was absolutely resolved 
on vetoing certain propositions he had set down in council 
for the somewhat arbitrary treatment of a certain half- 
tributary power which had latterly turned rebellious, he 
was more amused than irritated. 



236 "Temporal Power' 

' I suppose his Majesty wants to distinguish himself 
by a melodramatic coup d'etat! " he said, leaning easily 
back in his chair, and studying the tips of his carefully 
pared and polished finger-nails ; — " Poor fool ! I don't 
blame him for trying to do something more than walk 
about his palace in different costumes at stated intervals, 

— but he will find his ' veto ' out of date. We shall put 
it to the country ; — and I think I can answer for that ! " 

He smiled, as one who knows where and how to secure 
a triumph, and his equanimity was not disturbed in the 
least by the unexpected arrival of the Premier, who was 
just then announced, and who, coming in his turn from 
the King's diplomatic reception, had taken the oppor- 
tunity to call and see his colleague on his way home. 

' You seem fatigued, Marquis ! " he said, as, rising to 
receive his distinguished guest, he placed a chair for him 
opposite his own. ' Was his Majesty's conversazione 
more tedious than usual?" 

Lutera looked at him with a dubious air. 

" No ! — it was brief enough so far as I was immedi- 
ately concerned," he replied ; — "I do not suppose I stayed 
more than twenty minutes in the Throne-room altogether. 
I understand you have been told that our proposed nego- 
tiations are to be vetoed? " 

Perousse smiled. 

' I have been told yes ! — but I have been told 

many things which I do not believe ! The King certainly 
has the right of veto ; but he dare not exercise it." 

'Dare not?" echoed the Marquis — " From his pres- 
ent unconstitutional attitude it seems to me he dare do 
anything ! " 

"I tell you he dare not!" repeated Perousse quietly; 

— "' Unless he wishes to lose the Throne. I daresay if it 
came to that, we should get on quite as well — if not 
better - — with a Republic ! " 

Lutera looked at him with an amazed and reluctant 
admiration. 

" You talk of a Republic ? You, — who are for 
ever making the most loyal speeches in favour of the 
monarchy ? " 

'Why not?" queried Perousse lightly ; — " If the 
monarchy does not do as it is told, whip it like a naughty 



An "Honourable' Statesman 237 

child and send it to bed. That has been easily arranged 
before now in history ! " 

The Marquis sat silent, — thinking, or rather brooding 
heavily. Should he, or should he not unburden himself 
of certain fears that oppressed his mind ? He cleared 
his throat of a troublesome huskiness and began, — 

" If the purely business transactions in which you are 
engaged " 

' And you also," put in Perousse placidly. 

The Premier shifted his position uneasily and went on. 

" I say, if the purely business transactions of this affair 
were publicly known " 

'' As well expect Cabinet secrets to be posted on a 

hoarding in the open thoroughfare ! ' : said Perousse. 

' What afflicts you with these sudden pangs of distrust 

at your position ? You have taken care to provide for all 

your own people ! What more can you desire ? " 

Lutera hesitated ; then he said slowly : — 

' I think there is only one thing for me to do, — and 
that is to send in my resignation at once ! " 

Carl Perousse raised himself a little out of his chair, 
and opened his narrow eyes. 

'* Send in your resignation ! " he echoed ; " On what 
grounds ? Do me the kindness to remember, Marquis, 
that I am not yet quite ready to take your place ! " 

He smiled his disagreeable smile, — and the Marquis 
began to feel irritated. 

' Do not be too sure that you will ever have it to take," 
he said with some acerbity; ' If the King should by any 

means come to know of your financial deal " 

' You seem to be very suddenly afraid of the King ! ' 
interrupted Perousse ; " Or else strange touches of 
those catch-word ideals ' Loyalty ' and ' Patriotism ' are 
troubling your mind ! You speak of my financial deal, 
— is not yours as important ? Review the position ; — 
it is simply this ; — for years and years the Ministry have 
been speculating in office matters, — it is no new thing. 
Sometimes they have lost, and sometimes they have won ; 
their losses have been replaced by the imposition of taxes 
on the people, — their gains they have very wisely said 
nothing about. In these latter days, however, the loss 
has been considerably more than the gain. ' Patriotism,' 



238 "Temporal Power 



y> 



as stocks, has gone down. ' Honour ' will not pay the 
piper. We cannot increase taxation just at present ; but 
by a war, we can clear out some of the useless population, 
and invest in contracts for supplies. The mob love fight- 
ing, — and every small victory won, can be celebrated in 
beer and illuminations, to expand what is called ' the 
heart of the People.' It is a great ' heart,' and always 
leaps to strong drink, — which is cheap enough, being 
so largely adulterated. The country we propose to sub- 
due is rich, — and both you and I have large investments 
of land there. With the success which our arms are sure 
to obtain, we shall fill not only the State coffers (which 
have been somewhat emptied by our predecessors' pecu- 
lations), but our own coffers as well. The King ' vetoes ' 
the war ; then let us hear what the People say ! Of 
course we must work them up first ; and then get their 
verdict while they are red-hot with patriotic excitement. 
The Press, ordered by Jost, can manage that ! Put it to 
the country ; (through Jost) ; — but do not talk of resign- 
ing when we are on the brink of success ! / will carry 
this thing through, despite the King's ' veto ' ! " 

" Wait ! " said the Marquis, drawing his chair closer 
to Perousse, and speaking in a low uneasy tone ; " You 
do not know all ! There is some secret agency at work 
against us ; and, among other things, I fear that a foreign 
spy has been inadvertently allowed to learn the main- 
spring of our principal moves. Listen, and judge for 
yourself! " 

And he related the story of David Jost's midnight ex- 
perience, carefully emphasising every point connected 
with his own signet-ring. As he proceeded with the 
narration, Perousse's face grew livid, — once or twice he 
clenched his hand laervously, but he said nothing till he 
had heard all. 

" Your ring, you say, had never left the King's pos- 
session? " 

" So the King himself assured me, this very after- 
noon." 

' Then someone must have passed off an imitation 
signet on David Jost," continued Perousse meditatively. 
" What name did the spy give ? " 

" Pasquin Leroy." 



An "Honourable' Statesman 239 

Carl Perousse opened a small memorandum book, and 
carefully wrote the name down within it. 

" Whatever David Jost has said, David Jost alone is 
answerable for! " he then said calmly — " A Jew may be 
called a liar with impunity, and whatever a Jew has 
asserted can be flatly denied. Remember, he is in our 
pay ! 

" I doubt if he will consent to be made the scapegoat in 
this affair," said Lutera ; " Unless we can make it ex- 
ceptionally to his advantage ; — he has the press at his 
command." 

" Give him a title ! " returned Perousse contemptu- 
ously ; "These Jew press-men love nothing better!" 

The Marquis smiled somewhat sardonically. 

" Jost, with a patent of nobility would cut rather an 
extraordinary figure ! " he said ; " Still he would probably 
make good use of it, — especially if he were to start a 
newspaper in London ! They would accept him as a great 
man there ! " 

Perousse gave a careless nod ; his thoughts were other- 
wise occupied. 

" This Pasquin Leroy has gone to Moscow?" 

" According to his own words, he was leaving this 
morning." 

" I daresay that statement is a blind. I should not at 
all wonder if he is still in the city. I will get an exact 
description of him from Jost, and set Bernhoff on his 
track." 

" Do not forget," said the Marquis impressively, " that 
he told Jost in apparently the most friendly and well- 
meaning manner possible, that the King had discovered 
the whole plan of our financial campaign. He even re- 
ported me as being ready to resign in consequence " 

"Which apparently you are!" interpolated Perousse 
with some sarcasm. 

" I certainly have my resignation in prospect," returned 
Lutera coldly — " And, so far, this mysterious spy has 
seemingly probed my thoughts. If he is as correct in his 
report concerning the King, it is impossible to say what 
may be the consequence." 

"Why, what can the King do?" demanded Perousse 
impatiently, and with scorn for the vacillating humour of 



240 "Temporal Power" 

his companion ; " Granted that he knew everything from 
the beginning " 

" Including your large land purchases and contract 
concessions in the very country you propose war with," 
put in the Marquis, — " Say that he knew you had re- 
solved on war, and had already started a company for the 
fabrication of the guns and other armaments, out of 
which you get the principal pickings — what then ? " 

'What then?" echoed Perousse defiantly — "Why 
nothing ! The King is as powerless as a target in a field, 
set up for arrows to be aimed at ! He dare not divulge a 
State secret ; he has no privilege of interference with 
politics ; all he can do is to ' lead ' fashionable society — 
a poor business at best — and at present his lead is 
not particularly apparent. The King must do as We 
command ! " 

He rose and paced up and down with agitated steps. 

' To-day, when he told me he had resolved to ' veto ' 
my propositions, I accepted his information without any 
manifestation of surprise. I merely said it would have 
to be stated in the Senate, and that reasons would have to 
be given. He agreed, and said that he himself would 
proclaim those reasons. I told him it was impossible! " 

" And what was his reply ? " asked the Marquis. 

" His reply was as absurd as his avowed intention. 
' Hitherto it has been impossible,' he said ; ' But in Our 
reign we shall make it possible ! ' He declined any fur- 
ther conversation with me, referring me to you and our 
chief colleagues in the Cabinet." 

"Well?" 

' Well ! I pay no more attention to a King's sudden 
caprice than I do to the veering of the wind ! He will 
alter his mind in a few days, when the exigency of the 
matters in hand becomes apparent to him. In the same 
way, he will revoke his decision about that grant of land 
to the Jesuits. He must let them have their way." 

" What benefit do we get by favouring the Jesuits ? " 
asked Lutera. 

1 Josfe gets a thousand a year for putting flattering 
notices of the schools, processions, festivals and such non- 
sense in his various newspapers ; and our party secures 
the political support of the Vatican in Europe, — which 



An " Honourable' Statesman 241 

just now is very necessary. The Pope must give, his 
Christian benediction not only to our Educational system, 
hut also to the war ! " 

' Then the King has set himself in our way already, 
even in this matter ? " 

" He has ! Quite unaccountably and very foolishly. But 
we shall persuade him still to be of our opinion. The ass 
that will not walk must be beaten till he gallops ! I have 
110 anxiety whatever on any point ; even the advent of 
Jost's spy, with an imitation of your signet on his finger 
appears to me quite melodramatic, and only helps to make 
the general situation more interesting, — to me at least ; 
— I am only sorry to see that you allow yourself to be so 
much concerned over these trifles ! " 

' I have my family to think of," said the Marquis 
slowly ; ' My reputation as a statesman, and my honour 
as a minister are both at stake." Perousse smiled oddly, 
but said nothing. " If in any way my name became a 
subject of popular animadversion, it would entirely ruin 
the position I believe I have attained in history. I have 
always wished, — " and there was a tinge of pathos in 
his voice- — "my descendants to hold a certain pride in 
my career ! " 

Perousse looked at him with grim amusement. 

' It is a curious and unpleasant fact that the ' descend- 
ants ' of these days do not care a button for their ances- 
tors," he said ; " They generally try to forget them as 
fast as possible. What do the descendants of Robes- 
pierre, (if there are any), care about him? The de- 
scendants of Wellington ? The descendants of Beethoven 
or Lord Byron ? Among the many numerous advan- 
tages attending the world-wide fame of Shakespeare 
is that he has left no descendants. If he had, his 
memory would have been more vulgarised by them, 
than by any Yankee kicker at his grave ! One of the 
most remarkable features of this progressive age is 
the cheerful ease with which sons forget they ever had 
fathers ! I am afraid, Marquis, you are not likely to 
escape the common doom ! " 

Lutera rose slowly, and prepared to take his departure. 

" I shall call a Cabinet Council for Monday," he said; 
" This is Friday. You will find it convenient to attend ? ' 

16 



242 "Temporal Power 



1 â– > 



Perousse, rising at the same time, assented smilingly. 
' You will see things in a better and clearer light by 
then," he said. " Rely on me! I have not involved you 
thus far with any intention of bringing you to loss or 
disaster. Whatever befalls you in this affair must equally 
befall me ; we are both in the same boat. We must carry 
things through with a firm hand, and show no hesitation. 
As for the King, his business is to be a Dummy ; and as 
Dummy he must remain." 

Lutera made no reply. They shook hands, — not over 
cordially, — and parted ; and as soon as Perousse heard 
the wheels of the Premier's carriage grinding away from 
his outer gate, he applied himself vigorously to the handle 
of one of the numerous telephone wires fitted up near his 
desk, and after getting into communication with the 
quarter he desired, reqviested General Bernhoff, Chief 
of the Police, to attend upon him instantly. Bernhoff's 
headquarters were close by, so that he had but to wait 
barely a quarter of an hour before that personage, — the 
same who had before been summoned to the presence of 
the King, — appeared. 

To him Perousse handed a slip of paper, on which he 
had written the words ' Pasquin Leroy.' 

" Do you know that name? " he asked. 

General Bernhoff looked at it attentively. Only the 
keenest and closest observer could have possibly detected 
the slight flicker of a smile under the stiff waxed points 
of his military moustache, as he read it. He returned it 
carefully folded. 

'I fancy I have heard it!" he said cautiously; "In 
any case, I shall remember it." 

"Good! There is a man of that name in this city; 
trace him if you can ! Take this note to Mr. David Jost ' 
— and while he spoke he hastily scrawled a few lines and 
addressed them — " and he will give you an exact per- 
sonal description of him. He is reported to have left 
for Moscow, — but I discredit that statement. He is a 
foreign spy, engaged, we believe, in the work of taking 
plans of our military defences, — he must be arrested, 
and dealt with rigorously at once. You understand ? " 

' Perfectly," replied Bernhoff, accepting the note 
handed to him ; " If he is to be discovered, I shall not fail 
to discover him ! " 



An "Honourable' Statesman 243 

" And when you think you arc on the track, let me 
have information at once," went on Perousse; ' But be 
well on your guard, and let no one learn the object of 
your pursuit. Keep your own counsel ! " 

"I always do!" returned Bernhoff bluntly. 'If I 
did not there might be trouble! " 

Perousse looked at him sharply, but seeing the wooden- 
like impassiveness of his countenance, forced a smile. 

" There might indeed ! " he said ; " Your tact and dis- 
cretion, General, do much to keep the city quiet. But this 
affair of Pasquin Leroy is a private matter." 

" Distinctly so ! "" agreed Bernhoff quietly ; ' I hold 
the position entirely! " 

He shortly afterwards withdrew, and Carl Perousse, 
satisfied that he had at any rate taken precautions to 
make known the existence of a spy in the city, if not to 
secure his arrest, turned to the crowding business on his 
hands with a sense of ease and refreshment. He might 
not have felt quite so self-assured and complacent, had 
he seen the worthy Bernhoff smiling broadly to himself 
as he strolled along the street, with the air of one enjoy- 
ing a joke, the while he murmured, — 

" Pasquin Leroy, — engaged in taking plans of the 
military defences - - is he ? Ah ! - - a very dangerous 
amusement to indulge in ! Engaged in taking plans ! - 
Ah ! — Yes ! — Very good, - - very good ; excellent ! Do 
I know the name ? Yes ! I fancy I might have heard it ! 
Oh, yes, very good indeed - - excellent ! And this spy 
is probably still in the city ? Yes ! - - Probably ! Yes - 
I should imagine it quite likely ! " 

Still smiling, and apparently in the best of humours 
with himself and the world at large, the General contin- 
ued his easy stroll by the sea-fronted ways of the city, 
along the many picturesque terraces, and up flights of 
marble steps built somewhat in the fashion of the prettiest 
corners of Monaco, till he reached the chief promenade 
and resort of fashion, which being a broad avenue running 
immediately under and in front of the King's palace 
facing the sea, was in the late sunshine of the afternoon 
crowded with carriages and pedestrians. Here he took 
his place with the rest, saluting a fellow officer here, or 
a friend there, — and stood bareheaded with the rest of 



»5 



244 "Temporal Power 

the crowd, when a light gracefully-shaped landau, drawn 
by four greys, and escorted by postillions in the Royal 
liveries, passed like a triumphal car, enshrining the cold, 
changeless and statuesque beauty of the Queen, upon 
whom the public were never weary of gazing. She was a 
curiosity to them — a living miracle in her unwithering 
loveliness ; for, apparently unmoved by emotion herself, 
she roused all sorts of emotions in others. Bernhoff had 
seen her a thousand times, but never without a sense of 
new dazzlement. 

" Always the same Sphinx ! " he thought now, with a 
slight frown shading the bluff good-nature of his usual 
expression ; " She is a woman who will face Death as 
she faces Time, — with that cold smile of hers which ex- 
presses nothing but scorn of all life's little business ! ' : 

He proceeded meditatively on his way to the palace 
itself, where, on demand, he was at once admitted to the 
private apartments of the King. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

ROYAL LOVERS 

SILVER-WHITE glamour of the moon, and velvet 
darkness of deep branching foliage held the quiet 
breadth of The Islands between them. Low on the shore 
the fantastic shapes of one or two tall cliffs were outlined 
black on the fine sparkling sand, — tiny waves rose from 
the bosom of the calm sea, and cuddling together in baby 
ripples made bubbles of their crests, and broke here and 
there among the pebbles with low gurgles of laughter, 
and in the warm silence of the southern night the nightin- 
gales began to tune up their delicate fluty voices with 
delicious tremors and pauses in the trying of their song. 
The under-scent of hidden violets among moss flowed 
potently upon the quiet air, mingled with strong pine- 
odours and the salt breath of the gently heaving sea, — 
and all the land seemed-as lonely and as fair as the fabled 
Eden might have been, when the first two human mated 
creatures knew it as their own. To every soul that loves 
for the first time, the vision of that Lost Paradise is 
granted ; to every man and woman who know and feel 
the truth of the divine passion is vouchsafed a flashing 
gleam of glory from that Heaven which gives them to 
each other. For the voluptuary — for the animal man, — 
who like his four-footed kindred is only conscious of in- 
stinctive desire, this pure expansion of the heart and 
ennobling of the thought is as a sealed book, — a never- 
to-be-divulged mystery of joy, which, because he cannot 
experience it, he is unable to believe in. It is a glory- 
cloud in which the privileged ones are ' caught up and 
received out of sight.' It transfuses the roughest ele- 
ments into immortal influences,- — it colours the earth with 
fairer hues, and fills the days with beauty ; every hour 
is a gem of sweet thought set in the dreaming soul, and 
the lover, at certain times of rapt ecstasy, would smile 



»» 



246 "Temporal Power 

incredulously were he told that anyone living could be 
unhappy. For love goes back to the beginning of things, 
— to the time when the world was new. It has its birth 
in that primeval light when ' the morning stars sang to- 
gether, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.' If it is 
real, deep, passionate and disinterested love, it sees no diffi- 
culties and knows no disillusions. It is a sufficient assur- 
ance of God to make life beautiful. But in these days of 
the eld-time of nations, when all things are being mixed 
and prepared for casting into a new mould of world-for- 
mation, where we and our civilizations are not, and shall 
not be, — any more than the Egyptian Rameses is part 
of us now, — love in its pristine purity, faith and sim- 
plicity, is rare. Very little romance is left to hallow it ; 
and it is doubtful whether the white moon, swinging like 
a silver lamp in heaven above the peaceful Islands, shed 
her glory anywhere on any such lovers in the world, as 
the two who on this fair night of the southern springtime, 
with arms entwined round each other, moved slowly up 
and down on the velvet greensward outside Ronsard's 
cottage, — Gloria and her ' sailor ' husband. 

Gloria was happy, — and her happiness made her 
doubly beautiful. Clad in her usual attire of white 
homespun, with her rich hair falling unbound over her 
shoulders in girl-fashion, and just kept back by a band 
of white coral, she looked like a young goddess of the 
sea ; her lustrous, starlike eyes gazed up into the tender 
responsive ones of the handsome stripling she nad so 
trustfully wedded, and not a shadow of doubt or fear 
darkened the heaven of her confidence. She did not 
know how beautiful she was, — she did not realise that 
her body was like one of the unfettered, graceful and 
perfectly-proportioned figures of women left to our won- 
dering reverence by the Greek sculptors, — she had never 
thought about herself at all, not even to compare her fair 
brilliancy of skin with the bronzed, weather-beaten faces 
of the fisher-folk among whom she dwelt. Resting her 
delicate classic head against the encircling arm of her 
lover and lord, her beauty seemed almost unearthly in 
its pure transparency of feature, outlined by the silver 
glimmer of the moonbeams ; and the young man by her 
side, with his handsome dark head, tall figure and distin- 



Royal Lovers 247 



guished bearing, looked the fitting mate for her fair, blos- 
soming womanhood. No two lovers were ever more 
ideally matched in physical perfection ; and as they 
moved slowly to and fro on the soft dark grass, brush- 
ing the dewy scent from hanging rose-boughs that pushed 
out inviting tufts of white and pink bloom here and there 
from the surrounding foliage, they would have served 
many a poet for some sweet idyll, or romance in rhyme, 
which should hold in its stanzas the magic of immortality. 
Yet there was a shade of uneasiness in the minds of both. 
— Prince Humphry was more silent than usual, and 
seemed absorbed in thought ; and Gloria, looking timidly 
up from time to time at the dark poetic face of her 'sailor' 
lover, felt with a woman's quick instinct that something 
was troubling him, and remorsefully concluded that she 
was to blame, — that he had heard of her having been 
seen by the King, and that he was evidently vexed by it. 
He had arrived that evening suddenly and unexpectedly ; 
for she and her ' little father,' as she called Rene Ronsard, 
had just begun their frugal supper, when the Crown 
Prince's yacht swept into the bay and dropped anchor. 
Half an hour later he, the much-beloved ' junior officer ' 
in the Crown Prince's service had appeared at the cottage 
door, greatly to their delight, for they did not expect to 
see him so soon. They had supped together, and then 
Ronsard himself had gone to superintend a meeting at a 
small social club he had started for the amusement of the 
fisher-folk, wisely leaving the young wedded lovers to 
themselves. And they had for a long time been very 
quiet, save for such little words of love as came into tune 
with the interchange of caresses, — and after a pause 
of anxious inward thought, Gloria ventured on a timid 
query. 

' Dearest, — are you very angry with me ? " 

He started, — and stopping in his walk, turned the fair 
face up between his two hands, as one might lift a rose 
on its stem, and kissed it tenderly. 

" Angry ? How can I ever be angry with you. Sweet ? 
Besides what cause have I for anger ? " 

' I thought, perhaps — " murmured Gloria, " that if 
the Professor told you what I did yesterday, — when the 
King came " 



248 "Temporal Power' 

' He did tell me ; " and the Prince still gazed down on 
that heavenly beauty which was the light of the world to 
him. " He told me that you sang ; — and that your 
golden voice was a musical magnet which drew his Maj- 
esty to your feet ! I am not surprised, — it was only 
natural ! But I could have wished it had not happened 
just yet; however, it has happened, and we must make 
the best of it ! " 

' It was my fault," said the girl penitently; — " I had 
the fancy to sing; and I would sing, though the good 
Professor told me not to do so ! " 

The Prince was silent. He was bracing his mind to the 
inevitable. He had determined that on this very night 
Gloria should know the truth. For he was instinctively 
certain that if he went abroad, as his father wished him 
to do, some means would be taken to remove her alto- 
gether from the country before his return ; and his idea 
was to tell her all, and make her accompany him on his 
travels. As his wife, she was bound to obey him, he ar- 
gued within himself ; she should, she must go with him ! 
Unconsciously Gloria's next words supplied him with an 
opening to the subject. 

' Why did you never tell me that the Professor was in 
the King's service ? " she asked. " He seemed to know 
him quite well, — indeed, almost as a friend ! " 

' He is the King's physician," answered the Prince 
abruptly ; " And, therefore, he is very greatly in the 
King's confidence." 

He walked on, still keeping his arm round her, and 
seemed not to see the half-frightened glance she gave 
him. 

" The King's physician ! " she echoed ; — "He does not 
seem a great person at all, — he is quite a simple old 
German man ! " 

Her lover smiled. 

' To be physician to the King, my Gloria, is not a 
very wonderful honour ! It merely implies that the man 
so chosen is perhaps the ablest fencer with sickness and 
death ; the greatness is in the simple old German himself, 
not in the King's preference. Von Glauben is a good 



man." 



I know it;" said Gloria gently ; " He is good, — and 



Royal Lovers 249 

very kind. He said he would always be my friend, — 
but he was very strange in his manner yesterday, and 
almost I was vexed with him. Do you know what he 
said ? He asked me what I should do if you — my hus- 
band, had deceived me ? Can you imagine such a thing? ' : 

Now was the supreme moment. With a violently beat- 
ing heart the Prince halted, and putting both arms round 
her waist, drew her up to him in such a way that their 
eyes looked close into each other's, and their lips were 
within kissing touch. 

" Yes, my sweetest one ! I can imagine such a thing ! 
Such a thing is possible ! Consider it to be true ! Con- 
sider that I have deceived you ! " 

She did not move from his clasp, but into her large, 
lovely trusting eyes came a look of grief and terror, and 
her face grew ashy pale. 

" In what way? " she whispered faintly; " Tell me! I 
— I — cannot believe it!" 

" Gloria, — Gloria ! My love, my darling ! Do not 
tremble so ! Do not fear ! I have not deceived you in 
any evil way, — what I have done was for your good and 
mine ; but now — now there is no longer any need of 
deception, — you may, and shall know all the truth, my 
wife, my dearest in the world ! You shall know me as I 
truly am at last ! " 

She moved restlessly in his strong clasp, — she was 
trembling from head to foot, as if her blood was sud- 
denly chilled. 

" As you truly are ! ' : she echoed, with pale lips — 
" Are you not then what I have believed you to be? " 

And she made an effort to withdraw herself entirely 
from his embrace. But he held her fast. 

" I am your husband, Gloria ! " he said, " and you are 
my wife ! Nothing can alter that ; nothing can change 
our love or disunite our lives. But I am not the poor 
naval officer I have represented myself to be ! — though 
I am glad I adopted such a disguise, because by its aid I 
wooed and won your love ! I am not in the service of 
the Crown Prince, — except in so far as I serve my own 
needs! Why, how you tremble!" — and he held her 
closer — "Do not be afraid, my darling! Lift up your 
eyes and look at me with your own sweet trusting look, 



250 "Temporal Power' 

— do not turn away from me, because instead of being 
the Prince's servant, I am the Prince himself ! " 

'The Prince!" And with a cry of utter desolation, 
Gloria wrenched herself out of his arms, and stood apart, 
looking at him in wild alarm and bewilderment. " The 
Prince! You — you! — my husband ! You, — the King's 
son! And you have married me! — oh, how cruel of 
you ! how cruel ! how cruel ! " 

Covering her face with her hands, she broke into a low 
sobbing, — and the Prince, cut to the heart by her dis- 
tress, caught her again in his arms. 

" Hush, Gloria! " he said, with an accent of authority, 
though his own voice was tremulous ; " You must not 
grieve like this ! You will break my heart ! Do you not 
understand ? Do you not see that all my life is bound up 
in you ? — that I give it to you to do what you will with ? 

— that I care nothing for rank, state or throne without 
you ? — that I will let all the world go rather than lose 
you ? Gloria, do not weep so ! — do not weep ! Every 
tear of yours is a pang to me! What does it matter 
whether I am prince or commoner ? I love you ! — we 
love each other! — we are one in the sight of Heaven ! " 

He held her passionately in his arms, kissing the soft 
clusters of hair that fell against his breast, and whisper- 
ing all the tenderest words of endearment he could think 
of to console and soothe her anguish. By degrees she 
grew calmer, and her sobs gradually ceased. Dashing 
the tears from her eyes, she looked up, — her face white 
as marble. 

' You must not tell Ronsard ! " she said in faint tones 
that shook with fear; ' He would kill you! " 

The Prince smiled indulgently ; his only thought was 
for her, and so long as he could dry her tears, Ronsard's 
rage or pleasure was nothing to him. 

" He would kill you ! " repeated Gloria, with wide open 
tear-wet eyes ; " He hates all kings, in his heart ! — and if 
he knew that you — you — my husband, — were what you 
say you are ; — if he thought you had married me under 
a disguise, only to leave me and never to want me any 
more " 

" Gloria, Gloria! " cried the Prince, in despair; ' Why 
will you say such things ! Never to want you any more ! 



Royal Lovers 251 

I want you all my life, and every moment of that life! 
Gloria, you must listen to me — you must not turn from 
me at the very time I need you most ! Are you not brave? 
Are you not true? Do you not love me? " 

With a pathetic gesture she stretched out her hands 
to him. 

" Oh, yes, I love you ! " she said ; ' I love you with all 
my heart ! But you have deceived me ! — my dearest, 
you have deceived me ! And if you had only told me the 
truth, I would never, — for your own sake, — have mar- 
ried you ! " 

" I know that ! " said the Prince ; "And that is why I 
determined to win you under the mask of poverty ! Now 
listen, my Princess and my Queen ! — for you are both ! 
I want all your help — all your love — all your trust! 
Do not be afraid of Ronsard ; he will, he can do noth- 
ing to harm me ! You are my wife, Gloria, — you have 
promised before God to obey me! I claim your obe- 
dience ! " 

She stood silent, looking at him, — pale and fair as 
an ivory statue of Psyche, seen against the dark back- 
ground of the heavily-branched trees. Her mind was 
stunned and confused; she had not yet grasped the full 
consciousness of her position, — but as he spoke, the old 
primitive lessons of faith, steadfastness of purpose, and 
unwavering love and trust in God, which her adopted 
father had instilled into her from childhood, rose and 
asserted their sway over her startled, but unspoilt soul. 

" You need not claim it ! " she said, slowly ; ' It is 
yours always ! I shall do whatever you tell me, even if 
you command me to die for your sake ! " 

With a swift impulsive action, full of grace and spirit, 
he dropped on one knee and kissed her hand. 

" And so I pledge my faith to my Queen ! " he said 
joyously. " Gloria^! my" ' Glory-of-the-Sea ' ! — you will 
forgive me for having in this one thing misled you? 
Think of me as your sailor lover still ! — it is a much 
harder thing- to be a king's son than a simple, independent 
seafarer ! Pity me for my position, and help me to make 
it endurable ! Come now with me down to that rocky 
nook on the shore where I first saw you, — and T will tell 
vou exactlv how evervthing stands, --and how I trust 



252 "Temporal Power' 

to your love for me and your courage, to clear away all 
the difficulties before us. You do not love me less ? ' : 

" I could not love you less! " she replied slowly ; " but 
I cannot think of you as quite the same ! " 

A shadow of pain darkened his face. 

" Gloria," he said sadly; " If your love was as great 
as mine you would forgive ! " 

She stood a moment wavering and uncertain ; their 
eyes were riveted on each other in a strange spiritual at- 
traction — her soft lips were a little relaxed from their 
gravity as she steadfastly regarded him. She was em- 
barrassed, conscious, and very pale ; but he drank in 
gratefully the wonder and shy worship of those pure 
eyes, — and waited. Suddenly she sprang to him and 
closed her arms about his neck, kissing him with simple 
and loving tenderness. 

"I do forgive! Oh, I do forgive!" she murmured; 
" Because I love you, my darling — because I love you ! 
Whatever you wish I will do for your love's sake — be- 
lieve me! — but I am frightened just now! — it is as if 
I did not know you — as if someone had taken you sud- 
denly a long way oft'! Give me a little time to recover 

my courage ! and to know " — here a faint smile 

trembled on her beautiful curved mouth — " to know, — 
and to feel, — that you are still my own ! — even though 

the world may try to part you from me! still my very 

own ! " 

The warmth of passionate feeling in her face flushed it 
into a rose-glow that spread from chin to brow, — and 
clasping her to his breast, he gave her the speechless an- 
swer that love inscribes on eyes and lips, — then, keep- 
ing his arm tenderly about her, he led her gently into the 
path through the pinewood, which wound down to their 
favourite haunt by the sea. 

The moonlight had now increased in brilliancy, and 
illumined the landscape with all the opulence, splendour 
and superabundance of radiance common to the south, — 
the air was soft and balmy, and one great white cloud 
floating lazily under the silver orb, moved slowly to the 
centre of the heavens, — the violet-blue of night falling 
around it like an imperial robe of state. The two youth- 
ful figures passed under the pine-boughs, which closed 



Royal Lovers 253 



over them odorously in dark arches of shadow, and 
wended their slow way down to the seashore, from 
whence they could see the Royal yacht lying at anchor, 
every tapering line of her fair proportions distinctly out- 
lined against the sky, and all her masts shining as if they 
had been washed with silver dew ; and the Heir- Appar- 
ent to a throne was, — for once in the history of Heir- 
Apparents, — happy — happy in knowing that he was 
loved as princes seldom or never are loved, — not for his 
power, not for his rank, but simply for himself alone, by 
one of the most beautiful women in the world, who, — if 
she knew neither the ways of a Court, nor the wiles of 
fashion, — had something better than either of these, — 
the sanctity of truth and the strength of innocence. 

Rene Ronsard, coming back from his pleasurable duties 
as host and chairman to his fishermen-friends, found the 
cottage deserted, and smiled, as he sat himself down in 
the porch to smoke, and to wait for the lover's return. 

" What a thing it is to be young! " he sighed, as he 
gazed meditatively at the still beauty of the night around 
him ; — "To be young, — and in love with the right 
person ! Hours go like moments — the grass is never 
damp — the air is never cold — there is never time enough 
to give all the kisses that are waiting to be given ; and life 
is so beautiful, that we are almost able to understand 
why God created the universe ! The rapture passes very 
quickly, unfortunately — with some people ; — but if I 
ever prayed for anything — which I do not — I should 
pray that it might remain with Gloria! It surely cannot 
offend the Supreme Being who is responsible for our ex- 
istence, to see one woman happy out of all the tortured 
millions of them! One exception to the universal rule 
would not make much difference! The law that the 
strong should prey on the weak, nearly always prevails, 
— but it is possible to hope and believe that on rare occa- 
sions the strong may be magnanimous ! " 

He smoked on placidly, considering various points of 
philosophic meditation, and by and by fell into a gentle 
doze. The doze deepened into a dream which grew 
sombre and terrible, — and in it he thought he saw him- 
self standing bareheaded on a raised platform above surg- 
ing millions of people who all shouted with one terrific 



254 "Temporal Power' 

uproar of unison — " Regicide ! Regicide ! " He looked 
down upon his hands, and saw them red with blood ! — 
he looked up to the heavens, and they were flushed with 
the same ominous hue. Blood ! — blood ! — the blood 
of kings, — the dust of thrones ! — and he, the cause ! 
Choked and tormented with a parching thirst, it seemed 
in the dream that he tried to speak, — and with all his 
force he cried out — " For her sake I did it ! For her 
sake ! ' But the clamour of the crowd drowned his voice, 
— and then it was as if the coldness of death crept slowly 
over him, — slowly and cruelly, as though his whole body 
were being enclosed within an iceberg, - — and he saw 
Gloria, the child of his love and care, laid out before him 
dead, — but robed and crowned like a queen, and placed 
on a great golden bier of state, with purple velvet falling 
about her, and tall candles blazing at her head and feet. 
And voices sang in his ears — "Gloria! Gloria in excelsis 
Deo!" — mingling with the muffled chanting of priests at 
some distant altar ; and he thought he made an attempt to 
touch the royal velvet pall that draped her beautiful life- 
less body, when he was roughly thrust back by armed 
men with swords and bayonets who asked him " What do 
you here? Are you not her murderer? " — and he cried 
out wildly "No, no! Never could I have harmed the 
child of my love ! Never could I hurt a hair of her head, 
or cause her an hour's sorrow ! She is all I had in the 
world ! — I loved her ! — I loved her ! Let me see her ! — 
let me touch her! — let me kiss her once again! " And 
then the scene suddenly changed, — and it was found that 
Gloria was not dead at all, but walking peacefully alone 
in a garden of flowers, with lilies crowning her, and all 
the sunshine about her ; and that the golden bier of state 
had changed into a ship at sea which was floating, float- 
ing westward bearing some great message to a far coun- 
try, and that all was well for him and his darling. The 
troubled vision cleared from his brain, and his sleep grew 
calmer ; he breathed more easily, and flitting glimpses of 
fair scenes passed before his dreaming eyes, — scenes in 
some peaceful and beautiful world, where never a shadow 
of sorrow or trouble darkened the quiet contentment of 
happy and innocent lives. He smiled in bis sleep, and 
heaved a deep sigh of pleasure, — and so, gently awoke, 



Royal Lovers 255 

to feel a light touch on his shoulder, and to see Gloria 
standing before him. A smile was on her face, — the 
fragrance of the woodlands and the sea clung about her 
garments, — she held a few roses in her hand, and there 
was something in her whole appearance that struck him 
as new, commanding, and more than ever beautiful. 

' You have returned alone? " he said wonderingly. 

' Yes. I have returned alone ! I have much to tell 
you, dear! Let us go in! " 



CHAPTER XIX 

OF THE CORRUPTION OF THE STATE 

THE large gaunt building, which was dignified by the 
name of the ' People's Assembly Rooms,' stood in 
a dim unfashionable square of the city which had once 
been entirely devoted to warehouses and storage cellars. 
It had originally served a useful purpose in providing 
temporary shelter for foreign-made furniture, which 
was badly constructed and intrinsically worthless, — but 
which, being cheaply imported and showy in appearance, 
was patronized by some of the upper middle-classes in 
preference to goods of their own home workmanship. 
Lately, however, the foreign import had fallen to almost 
less than nothing: and whether or no this was due to the 
secret machinations of Sergius Thord and his Revolu- 
tionary Committee, no one would have had the hardihood 
to assert. Foreign tradesmen, however, and foreign 
workmen generally had certainly experienced a check in 
their inroads upon home manufactures, and some of the 
larger business firms had been so successfully intimidated 
as to set up prominent announcements outside their ware- 
houses to the effect that " Only native workmen need 
apply." Partly in consequence of the " slump " in for- 
eign goods, the " Assembly Rooms," as a mere building 
had for some time been shut up, and given over to dust 
and decay, till the owners of the property decided to let 
it out for popular concerts, meetings and dances, and so 
make some little money out of its bare whitewashed walls 
and comfortless ugliness. The plan had succeeded fairly 
well, and the place was beginning to be known as a con- 
venient centre where thousands were wont to congregate, 
to enjoy cheap music and cheap entertainment generally. 
It was a favourite vantage ground for the disaffected and 
radical classes of the metropolis to hold forth on their 
wrongs, real or imaginary, — and the capacities of the 



Of the Corruption of the State 257 

largest room or hall in the building were put to their ut- 
most extent to hold the enormous audiences that always 
assembled to hear the picturesque, passionate and striking 
oratory of Sergius Thord. 

But there were one or two rare occasions when even 
Sergius Thord's attractions as a speaker were thrown into 
the background, by the appearance of that mysterious 
personality known as Lotys, — concerning whom a thou- 
sand extravagant stories were rife, none of which were 
true. It was rumoured among other things as wild and 
strange, that she was the illegitimate child of a certain 
great prince, whose amours were legion — that she had 
been thrown out into the street to perish, deserted as an 
infant, and that Sergius Thord had rescued her from that 
impending fate of starvation and death, — and that it 
was by way of vengeance for the treatment of her mother 
by the Exalted Personage involved, that she had thrown 
in her lot with the Revolutionary party, to aid their pro- 
paganda by her intellectual gifts, which were many. She 
was known to be very poor, — she lived in cheap rooms 
in a low quarter of the city ; she was seldom or never 
seen in the public thoroughfares, — she appeared to have 
no women friends, and she certainly mixed in no form of 
social intercourse or entertainment. Yet her name was 
on the lips of the million, and her influence was felt far 
beyond the city's radius. Even among some of the high- 
est and wealthiest classes of society this peculiar appella- 
tion of " Lotys," carrying no surname with it, and spoken 
at haphazard had the effect of causing a sudden silence, 
and the interchange of questioning looks among those 
who heard it, and who, without knowing who she was, or 
what her aims in life really were, voted her " dangerous." 
Those among the superior classes wdio had by rare chance 
seen her, were unanimous in their verdict that she was not 
beautiful, — " but ! " — and the " but " spoke volumes. 
She was known to possess something much less common, 
and far more potent than beauty, — and that was a fas- 
cinating, compelling spiritual force, which magnetised 
into strange submission all who came within its influence, 
— and many there were who admitted, though with bated 
breath that ' An' if she chose ' she could easily become a 
very great personage indeed. 

17 



258 "Temporal Power" 

She herself was, or seemed to be, perfectly unconscious 
of the many discussions concerning her and her origin. 
She had her own secret sorrows, - - her sad private his- 
tory, which she shut close within her own breast, — but 
out of many griefs and poverty-stricken days of struggle 
and cruel environment, she had educated herself to a 
wonderful height of moral self-control and almost stoical 
rectitude. Her nature was a broad and grand one, abso- 
lutely devoid of pettiness, and full of a strong, almost 
passionate sympathy with the wrongs of otbers, — and 
she had formed herself on such firm, heroic lines of cour- 
age and truth and self-respect, that the meaner vices of 
her sex were absolutely unknown to her. Neither vanity, 
nor envy, nor malice, nor spleen disturbed the calmly- 
flowing current of her blood, — her soul was absorbed 
in pity for human kind, and contemplation of its many 
woes, — and so living alone, and studiously apart from 
the more frivolous world, she had attained a finely tem- 
pered and deeply thoughtful disposition which gave her 
equally the courage of the hero and the resignation of the 
martyr. She had long put away out of her life all possi- 
bility of happiness for herself. She had, by her unweary- 
ing study of the masses of working, suffering men and 
women, come to the sorrowful conclusion that real hap- 
piness could only be enjoyed by the extremely young, and 
the extremely thoughtless, — and that love was only an- 
other name for the selfish and often cruel and destructive 
instincts of animal desire. She did not resent these ugly 
facts, or passionately proclaim against the gloomy results 
of life such as were daily displayed to her, — she was only 
filled with a profound and ceaseless compassion for the 
evils which were impossible to cure. Her tireless love 
for the sick, the feeble, the despairing, the broken-hearted 
and the dying, had raised her to the height of an angel's 
quality among the very desperately poor and criminal 
classes ; — the fiercest ruffians of the slums were docile 
in her presence and obedient to her command ; — and 
many a bold plan of robberv, — many a wicked scheme 
of murder had been altogether foregone and abandoned 
through the intervention of Lotys, whose intellectual 
acumen, swift to perceive the savage instinct, or motive 
for crime, was equally swift to point out its uselessness 



Of the Corruption of the State 259 

as a means of satisfying- vengeance. No preacher could 
persuade a thief of the practical ingloriousness of thiev- 
ing, as Lotys could, — and a prison chaplain, remon- 
strating with an assassin after his crime, was not half as 
much use to the State as Lotys, who could induce such an 
one to resign his murderous intent altogether, before he 
had so much as possessed himself of the necessary 
weapon. Thousands of people were absolutely under her 
moral dominion, — and the power she exercised over 
them was so great, and yet so unobtrusive, that had she 
bidden the whole city rise in revolt, she would most surely 
have been obeyed by the larger and fiercer half of its 
population. 

With the moneyed classes she had nothing in common, 
though she viewed them with perhaps more pity than she 
did the very poor. An overplus of cash in any one per- 
son's possession that had not been rightfully earned by 
the work of brain or body, was to her an incongruity, and 
a defection from the laws of the universe ; — show and 
ostentation she despised, — and though she loved beauti- 
ful things, she found them, — as she herself said, — 
much more in the everyday provisions of nature, than in 
the elaborate designs of art. When she passed the gay 
shops in the principal thoroughfares she never paused to 
look in at the jewellers' windows, — but she would linger 
for many minutes studying the beauty of the sprays of 
orchids and other delicate blossoms, arranged in baskets 
and vases by the leading florists ; while, — best delight 
of all to her, was a solitary walk inland among the woods, 
where she could gather violets and narcissi, and, as she 
expressed it ' feel them growing about her feet.' She 
would have been an extraordinary personality as a man, 
— as a woman she was doubly remarkable, for to a 
woman's gentleness she added a force of will and brain 
which are not often found even in the stronger sex. 

Mysterious as she was in her life and surroundings, 
enough was known of her by the people at large, to bring 
a goodly concourse of them to the Assembly Rooms on 
the night when she was announced to speak on a subject 
of which the very title seemed questionable, namely, 
" On the Corruption of the State." The police had been 
notified of the impending' meeting, and a few stalwart 



260 "Temporal Power" 

emissaries of the law in plain clothes mixed with the in- 
pouring throng. The crowd, however, was very orderly ; 
— there was no pushing, no roughness, and no coarse 
language. All the members of Sergius Thord's Revolu- 
tionary Committee were present, but they came as strag- 
glers, several and apart, — and among them Paul Zouche 
the poet, was perhaps the most noticeable. He had af- 
fected the picturesque in his appearance ; — his hat was 
of the Rembrandt character, and he had donned a very 
much worn, short velveteen jacket, whose dusty brown 
was relieved by the vivid touch of a bright red tie. His 
hair was wild and bushy, and his eyes sparkled with un- 
wonted brilliancy, as he nodded to one or two of his as- 
sociates, and gave a careless wave of the hand to Sergius 
Thord, who, entering slowly, and as if with reluctance, 
took a seat at the very furthest end of the hall, where his 
massive figure showed least conspicuous among the surg- 
ing throng. Keeping his head down in a pensive attitude 
of thought, his eyes were, nevertheless, sharp to see every 
person entering who belonged to his own particular fol- 
lowing, — and a ray of satisfaction lighted up his face, 
as he perceived his latest new associate, Pasquin Leroy, 
quietly edge his way through the crowd, and secure a 
seat in one of the obscurest and darkest corners of the 
badly lighted hall. He was followed by his comrades, 
Max Graub and Axel Regor, — and Thord felt a warm 
glow of contentment in the consciousness that these lately 
enrolled members of the Revolutionary Committee were 
so far faithful to their bond. Signed and sealed in the 
blood of Lotys, they had responded to the magnetism of 
her name with the prompt obedience of waves rising to 
the influence of the moon, — and Sergius, full of a thou- 
sand wild schemes for the regeneration of the People, was 
more happy to know them as subjects to her power, than 
as adherents to his own cause. He was calmly cognisant 
of the presence of General Bernhoff, the well-known 
Chief of Police ; - — though he was rendered a trifle un- 
easy by observing that personage had seated himself as 
closely as possible to the bench occupied by Leroy and his 
companions. A faint wonder crossed his mind as to 
whether the three, in their zeal for the new Cause they 
had taken up, had by any means laid themselves open to 



Of the Corruption of the State 261 

suspicion ; but he was not a man given to fears ; and he 
felt convinced in his own mind, from the close personal 
observation he had taken of Leroy, and from the boldness 
of his speech on his enrolment as a member of the Revo- 
lutionary Committee, that, whatever else he might prove 
to be, he was certainly no coward. 

The hall filled quickly, till by and by it would have been 
impossible to find standing room for a child. A student 
of human nature is never long in finding out the dominant 
characteristic of an audience, — whether its attitude be 
profane or reverent, rowdy or attentive, and the bearing 
of the four or five thousand here assembled was remark- 
able chiefly for its seriousness and evident intensity of 
purpose. The extreme orderliness of the manner in which 
the people found and took their seats, — the entire ab- 
sence of all fussy movement, fidgeting, staring, querulous 
changing of places, whispering or laughter, showed that 
the crowd were there for a deeper purpose than mere curi- 
osity. The bulk of the assemblage was composed of men ; 
very few women were present, and these few were all of 
the poor and hard-working classes. No female of even 
the lower middle ranks of life, with any faint pretence to 
' fashion,' would have been seen listening to " that dread- 
ful woman," — as Lotys was very often called by her own 
sex, — simply because of the extraordinary fascination she 
secretly exercised over men. Pasquin Leroy and his com- 
panions spoke now and then, guardedly, and in low whis- 
pers, Concerning the appearance and demeanour of the 
crowd, Max Graub being particularly struck by the gen- 
eral physiognomy and type of the people present. 

" Plenty of good heads! " he said cautiously. " There 
are thinkers here — and thinkers are a very dangerous 
class ! " 

" There are man)- people who ' think ' all their lives and 
' do ' nothing ! " said Axel Regor languidly. 

" True, my friend ! But their thought may lead, while, 
they themselves remain passive," joined in Pasquin Leroy 
sotto-voce ; — "It is not at all impossible that if Lotys 
bade these five thousand here assembled burn down the 
citadel, it would be done before daybreak ! " 

" I have no doubt at all of that," said Graub. " One 
cannot forget that the Bastille was taken while the poor 



262 "Temporal Power" 

King Louis XVI. was enjoying a supper-party and ' a 
little orange-flower-water refreshment ' at Versailles ! ' 

Leroy made an imperative sign of silence, for there 
was a faint stir and subdued hum of expectation in the 
crowd. Another moment, — and Lotys stepped quietly 
and alone on the bare platform. As she confronted her 
audience, a low passionate sound, like the murmur of a 
rising storm, greeted her, — a sound that was not any- 
thing like the customary applause or encouragement 
offered to a public speaker, but that suggested extraor- 
dinary satisfaction and expectancy, which almost bordered 
on exultation. Pasquin Leroy, raising his eyes as she 
entered, was startled by an altogether new impression of 
her to that which he had received on the night he first saw 
her. Her personality was somehow different — her ap- 
pearance more striking, brilliant and commanding. At- 
tired in the same plain garment of dead white serge in 
which he had previously seen her, with the same deep 
blood-red scarf crossing her left shoulder and breast, — 
there was something to-night in this mere costume that 
seemed emblematic of a far deeper power than he had 
been at first inclined to give her. A curious sensation be- 
gan to affect his nerves, — a sudden and overwhelming 
attraction, as though his very soul were being drawn out 
of him by the calm irresistible dominance of those slum- 
brous dark-blue iris-coloured eyes, which had the merit of 
appearing neither brilliant nor remarkable as eyes merely, 
but which held in their luminous depths that intellectual 
command which represents the active and passionate life 
of the brain, beside which all other life is poor and colour- 
less. These eyes appeared to rest upon him now from 
under their drooping sleepy white eyelids with an inex- 
pressible tenderness and fascination, and he was suddenly 
reminded of Heinrich Heine's quaint love-fancy ; " Behind 
her dreaming eyelids the sun has gone to rest ; when she 
opens her eyes it will be day, and the birds will be heard 
singing ! " He began to realise depths in his own nature 
which he had till now been almost unconscious of ; he 
knew himself to a certain extent, but by no means 
thoroughly ; and awakening as he was to the fact that 
other lives around him presented strange riddles for con- 
sideration, he wondered whether after all, his own life 



Of the Corruption of the State 263 

might not perhaps prove one of the most complex among 
human conundrums? He had often meditated on the 
inaccessibility of ideal virtues, the uselessness of persua- 
sion, the commonplace absurdity, as he had thought, 
of trying to embody any lofty spiritual dream, — yet he 
was himself a man in whom spiritual forces were so strong 
that he was personally unaware of their overflow, because 
they were as much a part of him as his breathing capacity. 
True, he had never consciously tested them, but they 
were existent in him nevertheless. 

He watched Lotys now, with an irritable, restless atten- 
tion, — there was a thrill of vague expectation in his soul 
as of new things to be done, — changes to be made in the 
complex machinery of human nature, — and a great 
wonder, as well as a great calm, fell upon him as the first 
clear steady tones of her voice chimed through the deep 
hush which had prepared the way for her first words. 
Her voice was a remarkable one, vibrant, yet gentle, — 
ringing out forcefully, yet perfectly sweet. She began 
very simply, — without any attempt at a majestic choice 
of words, or an impressive flow of oratory. She faced 
her audience quietly, — one bare rounded arm resting 
easily on a small uncovered deal table in front of her ; — 
she had no ' notes ' but her words were plainly the result 
of deliberate and careful thinking-out of certain problems 
needful to be brought before the notice of the people. 
Her face was colourless, — the dead gold hair rippling 
thickly away in loose clusters from the white brows, fell 
into their accustomed serpentine twisted knot at the nape 
of her neck ; and the scarlet sash she wore, alone relieved 
the statuesque white folds of her draperies ; but as she 
spoke, something altogether superphysical seemed to ex- 
hale from her as heat exhales from fire — a strange 
essence of overpowering and compelling sweetness stole 
into the heavy heated air, and gave to the commonplace 
surroundings and the poorly clothed crowd of people an 
atmosphere of sacredness and beauty. This influence 
deepened steadily under the rhythmic cadence of her 
voice, till every agitated soul, every resentful and troubled 
heart in the throng was conscious of a sudden ingathering 
of force and calm, of self-respect and self-reliance. The 
gist of her intention was plainly to set people thinking for 



264 "Temporal Power' 

themselves, and in this there could be no manner of 
doubt but that she succeeded. Of the ' Corruption of the 
State ' she spoke as a thing thoroughly recognised by the 
masses. 

" We know, — all of us." — she said, in the concluding 
portion of her address, " that we have Ministers who per- 
sonally care nothing for the prosperity or welfare of the 
country. We know — all of us, — that we have a bribed 
Press ; whose business it is to say nothing that shall run 
counter to Ministerial views. We know, — all of us, — 
that it is this bribed Ministerial press which leads the 
ignorant, (who are not behind the scenes,) to wrong and 
false conclusions ; — and that it is solely upon these 
wrong and false conclusions of the wilfully misled mil- 
lion, that the Ministry itself rests for support. On one 
side the Press is manipulated by the Jews ; on the other 
by the Jesuits. There is no journal in this country that 
will, or dare, publish the true reflex of popular opinion. 
Therefore the word ' free ' cannot be applied to that re- 
cording-force of nations which we call Journalism ; inas- 
much as it is now a merely purchased Chattle. We should 
remember, when we read 'opinions of the Press,' — on 
any great movement or important change in policy, that 
we are merely accepting the opinions of the bound and 
paid Slave of Capitalists ; — and we should take care to 
form our judgment for ourselves, rather than from the 
Capitalist point of view. Were there a strong man to 
lead, — the shiftiness, treachery, and deliberate neglect 
practised on the million by those who are now in office, 
could not possibly last ; — but where there is no strength, 
there must be weakness, — and where a long career of 
deceit has been followed, instead of a course of plain 
dealing, failure in the end is inevitable. With failure 
comes disaster ; and often something which augments 
disaster — Revolt. The people, weary of constant im- 
position, — of incessant delays of the justice due to them, 
— as well as the unscrupulous breaking of promises 
solemnly pledged, — will — in the long run, take their 
own way, as they have done before in history, of securing 
instant amelioration of those wrongs which their paid 
rulers fail to redress. Who will dare to say that, under 
such circumstances, it is ill for the people to act ? Some- 



Of the Corruption of the State 265 

times it is a greater Consciousness than their own that 
moves them ; and the wronged and half-forgotten Cause 
of all worlds makes His command known through His 
creatures, who obey His impulse, — even as the atoms 
gathering in space cluster at His will into solar systems, 
and bring forth their burden of life! " 

She paused, and leaning forward a little, her eyes 
poured out their flashing searchlight as it seemed into the 
very souls of her hearers. 

"Dear friends! — dear children!* she said, and in 
her tone there was the tenderness of a great compassion, 
almost bordering on tears, — " What is it, think you all, 
that makes the age in which we live so sad, so colourless, 
so restless and devoid of hope and peace? It is not that 
we are the inhabitants of a less wonderful or less beautiful 
world, — it is not as if the sun had ceased to shine, or the 
birds had forgotten how to sing! Triumphs of science, — 
triumphs of learning and discovery, these are all on the 
increase for our help and furtherance. With so much 
gain in evident advancement, what is it we have lost? — 
what is it we miss ? — whence come the dreariness and 
emptiness and satiety, — the intolerable sense of the 
futility of life, even when life has most to offer? Dear 
children, you are all so sad ! — many of you so broken- 
hearted ! — why is it ? — how is it ? Poverty alone is 
not the cause, — for it is quite possible to be poor, yet 
happy ! True enough it is that in these days you are 
ground down by the imposition of taxes, which try all 
the strength of your earnings to pay ; but even this is 
an evil you could mitigate for yourselves, by strong and 
united public protest. How is it that you do not realise 
your own strength ? You are not like the poor brutes 
of the field and forest, who lack the reason which would 
show them how superior in physical force alone they are 
to the insignificant biped who commands them. Could 
the ox understand his own strength, he would never be 
led to the slaughter-house ; — he and his kind would 
become a terror instead of a provision. You are not 
oxen, — yet often you are as patient, as dull, as blind and 
reasonless as they ! You form clubs, societies, and trades- 
unions ; — but in how many cases do you not enter upon 
small and cpierulous differences which so weaken your 



266 "Temporal Power' 

unity that presently it falls to pieces and has no more 
power in it? This is what your tyrants in trade rely on 
and hope for ; the constant recurrence of quarrels and 
dissensions among yourselves. No Society lasts which 
tolerates conflicting argument or differing sentiments in 
itself. Why is it that the Jesuits, — whom you are all 
unanimous in hating, — are still the strongest political 
Brotherhood on the face of the earth? Because they are 
bound to maintain in every particular the tenets of their 
Order. No matter how vile, or how reprehensibly false 
their theories, they are compelled to carry on the work 
and propaganda of their Union, despite all loss and sacri- 
fice to themselves. This is the secret of their force. 
Expelled from one land, they take root in another. Sup- 
pressed entirely by Pope Clement XIV., in 1773, they 
virtually ignored suppression, and took up their head- 
quarters in Russia. The influence they exerted there still 
lies on the serf population, like one of the many chains 
fastened to a Siberian exile's body. Yet they were 
driven from Russia in 1820, — from Holland in 1816, — 
from Switzerland in 1847, an d from Germany in 1872. 
Latterly they have been expelled from France. Never- 
theless, in spite of these numerous expulsions, and the 
universal odium in which they are held, — they still flour- 
ish; still are they able to maintain their twenty-two 
generals and their four Vicars ; — and still all countries 
have, in their turn, to deal with their impending or ful- 
filled invasion. Why is it that a Society so criminal in 
historic annals, should yet remain as a force in our ad- 
vanced era of civilization? Simply, because it is of One 
Mind ! Bent on evil, or good, — self-renunciation or self- 
aggrandisement, — it is still of One Mind ! Friends, — 
were you like them, also of One Mind, your injuries, your 
oppressions, your taxations would not last long! The 
remedy for all is easy, and rests with yourselves, — only 
yourselves ! But some of you have lost heart — and other 
some have lost patience. You look round upon the 
squalid corners of this great city — you shudder at the 
cruelty of the daily life with which you have to contend, 
— you enter poor rooms, which you are compelled to call 
' home,' where the sick and dying, the newly-born and 
the dead are huddled all together, — ten, and sometimes 



Ot the Corruption of the State 267 

fifteen in one small den of four whitewashed walls; — 
and sickened and tired, you cry out ' Is life worth no 
more than this? Is God's scheme for the human race no 
more than this ? Then why were we born at all ? ( )r, 
being born, why may we not die at once, self-slain?" 
Ah, yes, dear friends ! — you often feel like this ; we all 
of us often feel like this ! But — it is not God who has 
made life thus hard for you, — it is yourselves! It is 
you who consent to be down-trodden, — it is you who 
resign your freewill, your thought, your originality of 
character, into the dominating power of others. True, 

— wealth controls affairs to a vast extent nowadays, — 
but there is a stronger power than wealth, and that is 
Soul! It is not the possession of gold that has given the 
greatest men their position. This is a commercial age, 
we own, — and certainly, — because of the base and de- 
grading love of accumulation, — Intellectuality is for 
the moment often set aside as something valueless — but 
whenever Intellectuality truly asserts itself, there is at 
once made visible an acting force of the Divine, which 
is practically limitless and irresistible. Think for your- 
selves, friends! — do not let a hired Press think for you ! 
Think for yourselves — judge for yourselves, and act for 
yourselves ! By your observation of a statesman's life, 
you shall know his capabilities. If he has once been a 
turncoat, he will be a turncoat again. If he has been 
known to speculate privately in a forthcoming political 
crisis, which he alone knows of in advance " 

Here the speaker was interrupted by what sounded 
more like a snarl than a shout. ' Perousse ! Perousse ! " 

The name was hissed out, and tossed from one rank to 
another of the audience, and one or two of the police 
present glanced enquiringly towards Bernhoff their chief, 

— but he sat with folded arms and inscrutable de- 
meanour, making no sign. Lotys raised her small, beau- 
tifully-shaped white hand to enjoin silence. She was 
obeyed instantly. 

' I speak of no one man," she said with deliberate em- 
phasis ; " I accuse no one man, — or any man ! I say 
' if ' any man gambles with State policy, he is a traitor to 
the country ! But such gambling is not a novelty in the 
history of nations. It has been practised over and over 



268 "Temporal Power'* 

again. Only ,mark you all this one God's truth ! — that 
whenever it has occurred — whenever the rulers of a 
State arc corrupt, - — whenever society sinks into such 
moral defilement that it sees nothing better, nothing- 
higher than the love of money, — then comes the down- 
fall ! — then Ruin and Anarchy set up their dominion, 

— and Heaven's rage rolls out upon the offenders, till 
their offence be cleansed away in rivers of blood and 
tears ! " 

She waited a moment, — and changing her attitude, 
seemed as it were, to project her thought into her audi- 
ence, by the sudden passion of her commanding gesture, 
and the flash of her deep luminous eyes. 

' We have heard of the Great Renunciation ! " she 
said ; ' How God Himself took human form, and came 
to this low little earth to prove how nobly we should live 
and die! But in our day,' — we with our preachers and 
teachers, our press and our parliamentary orators, — our 
atheistical statesmen on all hands, have come upon the 
Great Obliteration ! — the Obliteration of God altogether 
in our ways of life ! We push Him out, as if He were not. 
He is not in our Churches — He is not in our Laws — 
He is not in our Commerce. Only when we are brought 
low by pain and sickness — when we are confronted by 
death itself — then we call out 'God! God!' like 
cowards, praying for help from the Power we have 
negatived all our lives! Here is the evil, O children all! 

— we have forgotten Our Father ! We arrange all our 
affairs in life without giving Him a thought ! Our pleas- 
ures, our gains, our advantages, — are calculated without 
consulting His good pleasure. He is last, or not at all, 

— when He should be first, and in everything ! The end 
of this is misery; --it must be so; it cannot by law be 
anything else. For what is God ? Who is God ? God is 
a name merely, --but we give it to that Unseen, but 
ever working Force which rules the Universe! The cold- 
est atheist that ever breathed must own that somehow, 

— by some means or other, — the Universe is ruled, — 
for if it were not, we should know nothing of it. There- 
fore, when we set aside, or leave out the consciousness 
and acknowledgment of the Ruler, the ruling of our 
affairs must, of necessity, go wrong! 



Of the Corruption of the State 269 

' I cannot preach to you — I cannot out of my own con- 
science recommend to you one or the other form of faith 
as the way to peace and wisdom; — but I can and do he- 
seech you to remember the Note Dominant of this great 
Universe — the Note that sounds through high and low, 

— through small and great alike! — and that must and 
will in due course absorb all our discords into Everlasting 
Harmony ! Try not to put this fact out of your lives, — 
that Justice and Order are the rule of the spheres ; and 
that whenever we depart from these, even in the smallest 
contingency, confusion reigns. How hard it is to believe 
in Justice and Order, you will, tell me, — when the poor 
are not treated with the same consideration as the rich, — 
and when money will buy place and position ! True! It 
is hard to believe, — but it is believable nevertheless. As 
the lungs and the heart are the life of the human body, 
so are Justice and Order the life of the Universe, — and 
when these are pushed out of place, or become diseased 
in the composition of a human state or community, then 
the life of that state or community is threatened; — and 
unless remedies are quickly to hand, it must end. You all 
know the position of things among yourselves to-day ; — 
you all know that there is no trust to be placed in 
Churches, Kings or Parliaments ; — that the world is in 
a state of ferment and unrest, — moving towards Change ; 

— change imminent — change, possibly, disastrous ! And 
if it is You who know, it is likewise You who must seize 
the hour as it approaches ! — seize it as you would seize 
a robber by the throat, and demand its business ; — search 
its heart ; — deprive it of its weapons ; — and learn from 
it its message ! A message it may be of wild alarm — of 
tearing up old conventions ; — of thrusting forth old 
abuses ; a message full of clamour and outcry — but 
whatever the uproar, doubt not that we shall hear the voice 
of the Forgotten God thundering in our ears at the close ! 
We shall have found our way closer to Him — and with 
penitence and prayer, we shall ask to be forgiven for 
having wandered away from Him so long! 

" And will He not pardon ? Yes, — He will, because 
He must ! To Him we owe our existence ; — He alone is 
responsible for our life, our probation, our progress, our 
striving through many errors towards Perfection! He, 



270 "Temporal Power' 

who sees all, must needs have pity for His creature Man ! 
Out of the evolutions of a blind Time, He has made the 
poor weak human being, who in the first days of his 
sojourn on earth had neither covering nor home. Less 
protected than the beasts of the forest, he found himself 
compelled to Think ! — to think out his own means of 
shelter, — to contrive his own weapons of defence. 
Slowly, and by painful degrees, from Savagery he has 
emerged to Civilization ; — wherefore it is evident that 
his Maker meant Thought to be his first principle, and 
Action his second. He who does not work, shall not eat ; 

— he who does not use all his faculties for improvement, 
shall by and by have none to use. Injustice and corrup- 
tion are amongst us, merely because we ourselves have 
failed to resist their first inroads. Who is it that com- 
plains of wrong? Let him hasten to his own amending, 

— and he will find a thousand hands, a thousand hearts 
ready to work with him ! All Nature is on the side of 
health in the body, as of health in the State. All Nature 
fights against disease, — physical and moral. Therefore 
do not, — dear friends and children ! — sit idle and pas- 
sive, submitting yourselves to be deceived, as if you 
had no force to withstand deception ! Show that you hate 
lies, and will have none of them, — show that you will 
not be imposed upon — and decline to be led or governed 
by party agents, who persuade you to your own and 
your country's destruction ! The voice of the People can 
no longer be heard in a purchased Press ; — let it echo 
forth then, in stronger form than ephemeral print, which 
to-day is glanced at, and to-morrow is forgotten ; — 
wherever and whenever you are given the chance to 
meet, and to speak, let your authority as the workers, the 
ratepayers, and supporters of the State be heard ; and do 
not You, without whom even the King could not keep 
his throne, consent to be set aside as the Unvalued Ma- 
jority ! Prove, by your own firm attitude that without 
You, nothing can be done ! It is time, oh people of my 
heart ! — it is time you spoke clearly ! God is moving 
His thought through your souls — God stirs in you the 
fear, the discontent, the suspicion that all is not well with 
your country ; — and it is the Spirit of God which breathes 
in the warning note of the time — 



Of the Corruption of the State 271 

" ' I Tark to the voice of the time ! 

The multitude think for themselves, 

And weigh their condition each one; 

The drudge has a spirit sublime, 

And whether he hammers or delves, 

He icads when his labour is clone ; 

And learns, though he groan under poverty's ban, 

That freedom to Think, is the birthright of man 1 ' 

"Learn," she continued, -- as a low deep murmur of 
agreement ran through the room ; ' Learn to what 
strange uses ( iod puts even such men of this world, whose 
sole existence has been for the cause of amassing money! 
They have acted as the merest machines, gathering in 
the millions ; — gathering, gathering them in ! For what 
purpose ? Lo, they are smitten down in the prime of their 
lives, and the gold they have piled up is at once scattered ! 
Much of it becomes used for educational purposes ; — 
and some of these dead millionaires have, as it were 
thrown Education at the heads of the people, and almost 
pauperised it. Far away in Great Britain, a millionaire 
has recently made the Seottish University education 'free' 
to all students, — instead of, as it used to be, hard to get, 
and well worth working to win. Now, — through the 
wealth of one man, it is turned into a pauper's allowance ; 

— like offering the smallest silver coin to a reduced 
gentleman. The pride, --the skill, — the self-renunci- 
ation, — the strong determination to succeed, which form 
fine character, and which taught the struggling student 
to win his own University education, are all wiped out ; 

— there is no longer any necessity for the practice of 
these manly and self-sustaining virtues. The harm that 
will be done is probably not yet perceivable ; but it will 
be incalculable. Education, turned into a kind of pauper's 
monopoly, will have widely different results to those just 
now imagined! But with all the contemptuous throwing 
out of the unneeded kitchen-waste o,f millionaires, — still 
Education is the thing to take at any price, and under any 
circumstances ; — because it alone is capable of giving 
power ! It alone will ' put down the mighty from their 
seats, and exalt the humble and the meek.' It alone will 
give us the force to fight our taskmasters with their own 
weapons, and to place them where they should be, co- 
equal with us, but not superior, — considerate of us, but 



272 "Temporal Power" 

not commanding- us, — and above all things, bound to 
make their records of such work as they do for the State 

— clean ! " 

A hurricane of applause interrupted her, — she waited 
till it subsided, then went on quietly. 

' There should be no scheming in the dark ; no secret 
contracts for which we have to pay blindly ; — no refusal 
to explain the way in which the people's hard-earned 
money is spent ; and before foreign urbanities and diplo- 
macies and concessions are allowed to take up time in the 
Senate, it is necessary that the frightful and abounding 
evils of our own land, — our own homes, — be consid- 
ered. For this we purpose to demand redress, — and not 
only to demand it, but to obtain it ! Ministers may refuse 
to hear us ; but the Country's claims are greater than any 
Ministry ! A King's displeasure may cause court-parasites 
to tremble  — but a People's Honour is more to be guarded 
than a thousand thrones ! " 

As she concluded with these words, she seemed to grow 
taller, nobler, more inspired and commanding, — and 
while the applause was yet shaking the rafters of the hall, 
she left the platform. Shouts of " Lotys ! Lotys ! " rang 
out again and again with passionate bursts of cheering, 

— and in response to it she came back, and by a slight 
gesture commanded silence. 

"Dear friends, I thank you all for listening to me! " 
she said simply, her rich voice trembling a little ; " I 
speak only with a woman's impulse and unwisdom — just 
as I think and feel — and always out of my great love 
for you ! As you all know, I have no interests to serve ; 

— I am only Lotys, your own poor friend, — one who 
works with you, and dwells among you, seeing and shar- 
ing your hard lives, and wishing with all my heart that 
I could help you to be happier and freer! My life is at 
your service, — my love for you is all too great for any 
words to express, — and my gratitude for your faith and 
trust in me forms my daily thanksgiving ! Now, dear 
children all, — for you are truly as children in your pa- 
tience, submission and obedience to bitter destiny ! — I 
will ask you to disperse quietly without noise or confu- 
sion, or any trouble that may give to the paid men of law 
ungrateful work to do ; — and in your homes, think of 



Of the Corruption of the State 273 

me! — remember my words! — and while you maintain 
order by the steadiness and reasonableness of your diffi- 
cult lives, still avoid and resent that slavish obedience to 
the yoke fastened upon you by capitalists, — who have 
no other comfort to offer you in poverty than the work- 
house ; and no other remedy for the sins into which you 
are thrust by their neglect, than the prison! Take, and 
keep the rights of your humanity! — the right to think, 
— the right to speak, — the right to know what is being 
done with the money you patiently earn for others ; - 
and work, all together in unity. Put aside all petty dif- 
ferences, — all small rancours and jealousies; and even 
as a Ministry may unite to defraud and deceive you, so 
do you, the People, unite to expose the fraud, and reject 
the deception ! There is no voice so resonant and con- 
vincing as the voice of the public ; there is no power on 
earth more strong or more irresistible than the power of 
the People ! " 

She stood for one moment more, — silent ; her eyes 
brilliant, her face beautiful with inspired thought, — 
then with a quiet, half-deprecatory gesture, in response 
to the fresh outbreak of passionate cheering, she re- 
tired from the platform. Pasquin Leroy, whose eyes 
had been riveted on her from the first to the last 
word of her oration, now started as from a dream, 
and rose up half-unconsciously, passing his hand across 
his brow, as though to exorcise some magnetic spell 
that had crept over his brain. His face was flushed, his 
pulses were throbbing quickly. His companions, Max 
Graub and Axel Regor, looked at him inquisitively. 
The audience was beginning to file out of the hall in or- 
derly groups. 

" What next? " said Graub; " Shall we go? " 

" I suppose so," said Leroy, with a quick sigh, and 
forcing a smile ; " But — I should have liked to speak 
with her " 

At that moment his shoulder was touched by a man he 
recognised as Johan Zegota. He gave the sign of the 
Revolutionary Committee bond, to which Leroy and his 
comrades responded. 

"Will you all three come over the way?" whis- 
pered Zegota cautiously ; ' We are entertaining Lotys 

18 



274 "Temporal Power' 

to supper at the inn opposite, — the landlord is one of 
us. Thord saw you sitting here, and sent me to ask you 
to join us." 

" With pleasure," assented Leroy ; ' We will come at 
once ! " 

Zegota nodded and disappeared. 

" So you will see the end of this escapade! " said Max 
Graub, a trifle crossly. " It would have been much better 
to go home ! " 

" You have enjoyed escapades in your time, have 
you not, my friend? Some even quite recently?" re- 
turned Leroy gaily. " One or two more will not hurt 
you ! " 

They edged their way out among the quietly moving 
crowd, and happening to push past General Bernhoff, 
that personage gave an almost imperceptible salute, which 
Leroy as imperceptibly returned. It was clear that the 
Chief of Police was acquainted with Pasquin Leroy, the 
' spy ' on whose track he had been sent by Carl Perousse, 
and moreover, that he was evidently in no hurry to arrest 
him. At any rate he allowed him to pass with his friends 
unmolested, out of the People's Assembly Rooms, and 
though he followed him across the road, ' shadowing 
him.' as it were, into a large tavern, whose lighted win- 
dows betokened some entertainment within, he did not 
enter the hostelry himself, but contented his immediate 
humour by walking past it to a considerable distance off, 
and then slowly back again. By and by Max Graub came 
out and beckoned to him, and after a little earnest con- 
versation Bernhoff walked off altogether, the ring of his 
martial heels echoing for some time along the pavement, 
even after he had disappeared. And from within the 
lighted tavern came the sound of a deep, harmonious, 
swinging chorus — 

" Way, make way! — for our banner is unfurled, 

Let each man stand by his neighbour! 
The thunder of our footsteps shall roll through the world, 
In the March of the Men of Labour ! " 



"Yes!" said Max Graub, pausing to listen ere re- 
entering the tavern — "If — and it is a great 'if — if 



Of the Corruption of the State 275 

every man will stand by his neighbour, the thunder will 
be very loud, — and by all the deities that ever lived in 
the Heaven blue, it is a thunder that is likely to last some 
time ! The possibility of standing by one's neighbour is 
the only doubtful point ! " 



CHAPTER XX 

THE SCORN OF KINGS 

INSIDE the tavern, from whence the singing pro- 
ceeded, there was a strange scene, — somewhat dis- 
orderly yet picturesque. Lotys, seated at the head of a 
long supper-table, had been crowned by her admirers with 
a wreath of laurels, — and as she sat more or less silent, 
with a rather weary expression on her face, she looked 
like the impersonation of a Daphne, exhausted by the 
speed of her flight from pursuing Apollo. Beside her, 
nestling close against her caressingly, was a little girl 
with great black Spanish eyes, — eyes full of an appeal- 
ing, half-frightened wistfulness, like those of a hunted 
animal. Lotys kept one arm round the child, and every 
now and again spoke to her some little caressing word. 
All the rest of the guests at the supper-board were men, 
— and all of them members of the Revolutionary Com- 
mittee. When Pasquin Leroy and his friends entered, 
there was a general clapping of hands, and the pale 
countenance of Lotys flushed a delicate rose-red, as she 
extended her hand to each. 

" You begin your career with us very well ! " she said 
gently, her eyes resting musingly on Leroy ; " I had not 
expected to see you to-night ! " 

" Madame, I had never heard you speak," he an- 
swered ; and as he addressed her, he pressed her hand 
with unconscious fervour, while his eloquent eyes dilated 
and darkened, as, moved by some complex emotion, she 
quickly withdrew her slender fingers from his clasp. 
" And I felt I should never know you truly as you are, 
till I saw you face the people. Now " 

He paused. She looked at him wonderingly, and her 
heart began to beat with a strange quick thrill. It is not 
alwavs easv to see the 'outlines of a soul's development, 



The Scorn of Kings 277 

or the inchoate formation of a great love, — and though 
everything in a certain sense moved her and appealed to 
her that was outside herself, it was difficult to her to be- 
lieve or to admit that she, in her own person, might be the 
cause of an entirely new set of thoughts and emotions in 
the mind of one man. Seeing he was silent, she repeated 
softly and with a half smile. 

" ' Now ' ? " 

" Now," continued Leroy quickly, and in a half-whis- 
per ; "I do know you partly, — but I must know you 
more ! You will give me the chance to do that ? ' 

His look said more than his words, and her face grew 
paler than before. She turned from him to the child at 
her side — 

" Pequita, are you very tired?" 

"No!" was the reply, given brightly, and with an 
upward glance of the dark eyes. 

" That is right ! Pasquin Leroy my friend ! this is 
Pequita, — the child we told you of the other night, the 
only daughter of Sholto. She will dance for us presently, 
will you not, my little one? " 

" Yes, indeed! " and the young face lighted up swiftly 
at the suggestion ; while Leroy, taking the seat indicated 
to him at the supper-table, experienced a tumult of ex- 
traordinary sensations, — the chief one of which was, that 
he felt himself to have been ' snubbed,' very quietly but 
effectually, by a woman who had succeeded, though he 
knew not how, in suddenly awakening in him a violent 
fever of excitement, to which he was at present unable 
to give a name. Rallying himself, however, he glanced 
up and down the board smilingly, lifting his glass to 
salute Sergius Thord, who responded from his place 
at the bottom of the table, — and very soon he regained 
his usual placidity, for he had enormous strength of will, 
and kept an almost despotic tyranny over his feelings. 
His companions, Max Graub and Axel Regor, were 
separated from him, and from each other, at different 
sides of the table, and Paul Zouche the poet, was almost 
immediately opposite to him. He was glad to see that he 
was next but one to Lotys — the man between them being 
a desperado-looking fellow with a fierce moustache, and 
exceedingly gentle eyes, — who, as he afterwards discov- 



278 "Temporal Power' 

ered, was one of the greatest violinists in the world, — 
the favourite of kings and Courts, — and yet for all that, 
a prominent member of the Revolutionary Committee. 
The supper, which was of a simple, almost frugal char- 
acter, was soon served, and the landlord, in setting the 
first plate before Lotys, laid beside it a knot of deep crim- 
son roses, as an offering of homage and obedience from 
himself. She thanked him with a smile and glance, and 
taking up the flowers, fastened them at her breast. Con- 
versation now became animated and general ; and one of 
the men present, a delicate-looking young fellow, with a 
head resembling somewhat that of Keats, started a dis- 
cussion by saying suddenly — 

" Jost has sold out all his shares in that new mine that 
was started the other day. It looks as if he did not think, 
after all his newspaper puffs, that the thing was going 
to work." 

" If Jost has sold, Perousse will," said his neighbour; 
" The two are concerned together in the floating of the 
whole business." 

" And yet another piece of news ! " put in Paul Zouche 
suddenly; ' For if we talk of stocks and shares, we 
talk of money ! What think you, my friends ! I, Paul 
Zouche, have been offered payment for my poems ! This 
very afternoon! Imagine! Will not the spheres fall? 
A poet to be paid for his poems is as though one should 
offer the Creator a pecuniary consideration for creating 
the flowers ! " 

His face was flushed, and his eyes deliriously bright. 

" Listen, my Sergius ! " he said ; ' Wonders never 
cease in this world ; but this is the most wonderful of all 
wonders ! Out of the merest mischief and monkeyish 
malice, the other day I sent my latest book of poems to 
the Kins: " 



*&> 



" Shame ! shame ! ' interrupted a dozen voices. 
"Against the rules, Paul! You have broken the bond!" 

Paul Zouche laughed loudly. 

" How you yell, my baboons! " he cried; ' How you 
screech about the rules of your lair ! Wait till you hear ! 
You surely do not suppose I sent the book out of any 
humility or loyalty, or desire for notice, do you ? I sent 
it out of pure hate and scorn, to show him as a fool- 



The Scorn of Kings 279 

Majesty, that there was something he could not do — 
something that should last when he was forgotten ! --a 
few burning lines that should, like vitriol, eat into his 
Throne and outlast it ! I sent it some days ago, and got 
an acknowledgment from the flunkey who writes Maj- 
esty's letters. But this afternoon I received a much more 
important document, — a letter from Eugene Silvano, 
secretary to our very honourable and trustworthy Pre- 
mier! He informs me in set terms, that his Majesty the 
King has been pleased to appreciate my work as a poet, 
to the extent of offering me a hundred golden pieces a 
year for the term of my natural life ! Ha-ha ! A hundred 
golden pieces a year! And thus they would fasten this 
wild bird of Revolutionary song to a Royal cage, for a 
bit of sugar ! A hundred golden pieces a year ! It means 
food and lodging — warm blankets to sleep in — but it 
means something else, — loss of independence!' 

"Then you will not accept it?" said Pasquin Leroy, 
looking at him with interest over the rim of the glass 
from which he was just sipping his wine. 

" Accept it ! I have already refused it ! By swift re- 
turn of post ! " 

Shouts of " Bravo ! bravo ! " echoed around him on all 
sides ; men sprang up and shook hands with him and 
patted him on the back, and even over the dark face of 
Sergius Thord there passed a bright illumining smile. 

" Zouche, with all thy faults, thou art a brave man ! " 
said the young man with the Keats-like head, who was 
in reality confidential clerk to one of "the largest stock- 
brokers in the metropolis ; ' A thousand times better to 
starve, than to accept Royal alms ! " 

"To your health, Zouche!" said Lotys, leaning for- 
ward, glass in hand. 'Your refusal of the King's offered 
bounty is a greater tragedy than any you have ever tried 
to write ! " 

' Hear her ! " cried Zouche, exultant ; " She knows 
exactly how to put it ! For look you, there are the true 
elements of tragedv in a worn coat and scant food, while 
the thoughts that help nations to live or die are burning 
in one's brain! Then comes a King with a handful of 
gold --and gold would be useful — it always is ! But — 
by Heaven ! to pay a poet for his poems is, as I said be- 



280 "Temporal Power" 

fore, as if one were to meet the Deity on His way through 
space, scattering planets and solar systems at a touch, 
and then to say — ' Well done, God ! We shall remuner- 
ate You for your creative power as long as You shall last 

— so much per aeon ! ' " 
Leroy laughed. 

1 You wild soul! " he said; " Would you starve then, 
rather than accept a king's bounty ? " 

' I would ! " answered Paul. " Look you, my brave 
Pasquin! Read back over all the centuries, and' see the 
way in which these puppets we call kings have rewarded 
the greatest thinkers of their times! Is it anywhere re- 
corded that the antique virgin, Elizabeth of England, 
ever did anything for Shakespeare? True — he might 
have been ' graciously permitted ' to act one of his sub- 
lime tragedies before her — by Heaven ! — she was only 
fit to be his scrubbing woman, by intellectual comparison ! 
Kings and Queens have always trembled in their shoes, 
and on their thrones, before the might of the pen ! — and 
it is natural therefore that they should ignore it as much 
as conveniently possible. A general, whose military tac- 
tics succeed in killing a hundred thousand innocent men 
receives a peerage and a hundred thousand a year, — a 
speculator who snatches territory and turns it into stock- 
jobbing material, is called an ' Empire Builder ' ; but the 
man whose Thought destroys or moulds a new World, 
and raises up a new Civilization, is considered beneath a 
crowned Majesty's consideration ! 'Beneath,' by Heaven ! 

— I, Paul Zouche, may yet mount behind Majesty's chair, 
and with a single rhyme send his crown spinning into 
space ! Meanwhile, I have flung back his hundred golden 
pieces, with as much force in the edge of my pen as there 
would be in my hand if you were his Majesty sitting 
there, and I flung them across the table now! " 

Again Leroy laughed. His eyes flashed, but there was 
a certain regret and wistfulness in them. 

'You approve, of course?" he said, turning to Ser- 
gius Thord. 

Sergius looked for a moment at Zouche with an infi- 
nitely grave and kindly compassion. 

' I think Paul has acted bravely ; " he then said slowly ; 
" He has been true to the principles of our Order. 



The Scorn of Kings 281 

And under the circumstances, it must have been diffi- 
cult for him to refuse what would have been a certain 

competence, " 

'Not difficult, Sergius!' 1 exclaimed Zouche, "But 
purely triumphant ! " 

Thord smiled, — then went on — "You see, my friend," 
and he addressed himself now to Leroy ; " Kings have 
scorned the power of the pen too long ! Those who pos- 
sess that power are now taking vengeance for neglect. 
Thousands of pens all over the world to-day are digging 
the grave of Royalty, and building up the throne of 
Democracy. Who is to blame? Royalty itself is to 
blame, for deliberately passing over the claims of art and 
intellect, and giving preference to the claims of money. 
The moneyed man is ever the friend of Majesty, — but 
the brilliant man of letters is left out in the cold. Yet it 
is the man of letters who chronicles the age, and who 
will do so, we may be sure, according to his own 
experience. As the King treats the essayist, the roman- 
cist or the historian, so will these recording scribes treat 
the King! " 

' It is possible, though," suggested Leroy, " that the 
King meant well in his offer to our friend Zouche? " 

"Quite possible!' agreed Thord; "Only his offer 
of one hundred gold pieces a year to a man of in- 
tellect, is out of all proportion to the salary he pays his 
cook ! " 

A slight flush reddened Leroy's bronzed cheek. Thord 
observed him attentively, and saw that his soul was ab- 
sorbed by some deep-seated intellectual irritation. He 
began to feel strangely drawn towards him ; his eyes 
questioned the secret which he appeared to hold in his 
mind, but the quiet composure of the man's handsome 
face baffled enquiry. Meanwhile around the table the 
conversation grew louder and less restrained. The young 
stockbroker's clerk was holding forth eloquently concern- 
ing the many occasions on which he had seen Carl Pe- 
rousse at his employer's office, carefully going into the 
closest questions of financial losses or gains likely to re- 
sult from certain political moves, — and he remembered 
one day in particular, when, after purchasing a hundred 
thousand shares in a certain company, Perousse had 



282 "Temporal Power' 

turned suddenly round on his broker with the cool re- 
mark — " If ever you breathe a whisper about this trans- 
action, I will shoot you dead! " 

Whereat the broker had replied that it was not his cus- 
tom to give away his clients' business, and that threats 
were unworthy of a statesman. Then Perousse had be- 
come as friendly as he had been before menacing ; and 
the two had gone out of the office and lunched together. 
And the confidential clerk thus chattering his news, de- 
clared that his employer was now evidently uneasy ; and 
that from that uneasiness he augured a sudden fluctuation 
or fall in what had lately seemed the most valuable stock 
in the market. 

"And you? Your news, Yaldor," cried one or two 
eager voices, while several heads leaned forward in the 
direction of the fiercely-moustached man who sat next to 
Lotys. " Where have you been with your fiddle ? Do 
you arrive among us to-night infected by the pay, or the 
purple of Royalty?" 

Louis Valdor, by birth a Norseman, and by sympathies 
a cosmopolitan, looked up with a satiric smile in his dark 
eyes. 

" There is no purple left to infect a man with, in the 
modern slum of Royalty ! " he said ; ' Tobacco-smoke, 
not incense, perfumes the palaces of the great nowadays 
— and card-playing is more appreciated than music ! 
Yet I and my fiddle have made many long journeys 
lately, — and we have sent our messages of Heaven 
thrilling through the callous horrors of Hell ! A few 
nights since, I played at the Russian Court — before the 
beautiful Empress — cold as a stone — with her great 
diamonds flashing on her unhappy breast, — before the 
Emperor, whose furtive eyes gazed unseeingly before 
him, as though black Fate hovered in the air — before 
women, whose lives are steeped in the lowest intrigue — 
before men, whose faces are as bearded masks, covering 
the wolf's snarl, — yes! — I played before these, — played 
with all the chords of my heart vibrating to the violin, 
till at last a human sigh quivered from the lips of the 
statuesque Empress, — till a frown crossed the brooding 
brow of her spouse — till the intriguing women shook off 
the spell with a laugh, and the men did the same with an 



The Scorn of Kings 283 

oath — and I was satisfied ! I received neither ' pay,' nor 
jewel of recognition, — I had played ' for the honour ' of 
appearing before their Majesties! — but my bow was a 
wand to wake the little poisoned asp of despair that stings 
its way into the heart under every Royal mantle of er- 
mine, and that sufficed me ! " 

' Sometimes," said Leroy, turning towards him ; ' I 
pity kings ! 

' I' faith, so do I ! " returned Valdor. "But only some- 
times ! And if you had seen as much of them as I have, 
the ' sometimes ' would be rare ! " 

' Yet you play before them? " put in Max Graub. 

" Because I must do so to satisfy the impresarios who 
advertise me to the public," said Valdor. " Alas ! — why 
will the public be so foolish as to wish their favourite 
artist to play before kings and queens? Seldom, if ever, 
do these Royal people understand music, — still less do 
they understand the musician ! Believe me, I have been 
treated as the veriest scullion by these jacks-in-office ; and 
that I still permit myself to play before them is a duty I 
owe to this Brotherhood, --because it deepens and sus- 
tains my bond with you all. There is no king on the face 
of the earth who has dignity and nobleness of character 
enough to command my respect, — much less my rever- 
ence ! I take nothing from kings, remember ! — they dare 
not offer me money — they dare not insult me with a 
jewelled pin, such as they would give to a station-master 
who sees a Royal train off. Only the other day, when I 
was summoned to play before a certain Majesty, a lord- 
in-waiting addressed me when I arrived with the insolent 
words — ' You are late, Monsieur Valdor ! — You have 
kept the King waiting! ' 1 replied — ' Is that so? I re- 
gret it! But having kept his Majesty waiting, I will no 
longer detain him : an revoir ! ' And I returned straight- 
way to the carriage in which I had come. Majesty did 
without his music that evening, owing to the insolence of 
his flunkey-man ! Whether I ever play before him again 
or not, is absolutely immaterial to me! " 

" Tell me," said Pasquin Leroy, pushing the flask of 
wine over to him as he spoke ; ' What is it that makes 
kings so unloved ? I hate them myself ! — but let us 
analyse the reasons why." 



284 "Temporal Power' 

' Discuss — discuss ! " cried Paul Zouche ; ' Why are 
kings hated ? Let Thord answer first ! " 

" Yes — yes ! Let Thord answer first ! " was echoed a 
dozen times. 

Thord, thus appealed to, looked up. His melancholy 
deep eyes were sombre, yet full of fire, — lonely eyes they 
were, yearning for love. 

" Why are kings hated?" he repeated; ' Because to- 
day they are the effete representatives of an effete system. 
I can quite imagine that if, as in olden times, kings had 
maintained a position of personal bravery, and personal 
influence on their subjects, they would have been as much 
beloved as they are now despised. But what we have to 
see and to recognise is this : in one land we hear of a sov- 
ereign who speculates hand-and-glove with low-born Jew 
contractors and tradesmen, — another monarch makes no 
secret of his desire to profit financially out of a gam- 
bling hell started in his dominions, — another makes his 
domestic affairs the subject of newspaper comment, — 
another is always apostrophising the Almighty in public ; 

— another is insane or stupid, - — and so on through the 
whole gamut. Is it not natural that an intelligent People 
should resent the fact that their visibly governing head is 
a gambler, or a voluptuary ? Myself, I think the growing 
unpopularity of kings is the result of their incapability 
for kingship." 

"Now let me speak!" cried Paul Zouche excitedly; 
" There is another root to the matter, — a root like that 
of a certain tropical orchid, which according to supersti- 
tion, is shaped like a man, and utters a shriek when it is 
pulled out of the earth ! Pull out this screaming mystery, 

— hatred of kings ! In the first place it is because they 
are hateful in themselves, — because they have been 
brought up and educated to take an immeasurable and 
all-absorbing interest in their own identity, rather than 
in the lives, hopes and aims of their subjects. In the 
second — as soon as they occupy thrones, they become 
overbearing to their best friends. It is a well-known fact 
that the more loyal and faithful you are to a king, the 
more completely is he neglectful of you ! ' Put not your 
trust in princes,' sang old David. He knew how untrust- 
worthy they were, being a king himself, and a pious one 



The Scorn of Kings 285 

to boot ! Thirdly and lastly, — they only give their own 
personal attention to their concubines, and leave all their 
honest and respectable subjects to be dealt with by ser- 
vants and secretaries. Our King, for example, never 
smiles so graciously as on Madame Vantine, the wife of 
Vantine the wine-grower ; — and he buys Vantine's wines 
as well as his wife, which brings in a double profit to the 
firm ! ' ' 

Leroy looked up. 

" Are you sure of that ? " 

Zouche met his eyes with a stare and a laugh. 

" Sure? Of course I am sure! By my faith, your re- 
semblance to his Majesty is somewhat striking to-night, 
my bold Leroy ! The same straight brows — the same 
inscrutable, woman-conquering smile ! I studied his por- 
trait after the offer of the hundred golden pieces — and I 
swear you might be his twin brother! " 

" I told you so! " replied Leroy imperturbably ; — " It 
is a hateful resemblance ! I wish I could rid myself of it. 
Still after all, there is something unique in being counte- 
nanced like a King, and minded as a Socialist! " 

' True ! " put in Thord gently ; — "I am satisfied, Pas- 
quin Leroy, that you are an honest comrade! ' 

Leroy met his eyes with a grave smile, and touched his 
glass by way of acknowledgment. 

" You do not ask me," he said then, " whether I have 
been able to serve your Cause in any way since last we 
met? " 

" This is not our regular meeting," said Johan Zegota ; 
" We ask no questions till the general monthly assembly." 
' I see ! " And Leroy looked whimsically meditative 
— " Still, as we are all friends and brothers here, there is 
no harm in conveying to you the fact that I have so far 
moved in the appointed way, that Carl Perousse has 
ordered the discovery and arrest of one Pasquin Leroy, 
supposed to be a spy on the military defences of the 
city ! " 

Lotys gave a little cry. 

" Not possible ! So soon ! " 

" Quite possible, Madame," said Leroy inclining his 
head towards her deferentially. ' I have lost no time in 
doing my duty ! " And his eyes flashed upon her with a 



286 "Temporal Power" 

passionate, half-eager questioning. ' I must carry out 
my Chief's commands ! " 

" But you are in danger, then?" said Sergius Thord, 
bending an anxious look of enquiry upon him. 

" Not more so than you, or any of my comrades are," 
replied Leroy ; ' ' I have commenced my campaign — and 
I have no doubt you will hear some results of it ere 
long ! " 

He spoke so quietly and firmly, yet with such an 
air of assurance and authority, that something of an 
electric thrill passed through the entire company, and 
all eyes were fixed on him in mingled admiration and 
wonderment. 

" Of the ' Corruption of the State,' concerning which 
our fair teacher has spoken to-night," he continued, with 
another quick glance at Lotys — " there can be no man- 
ner of doubt. But we should, I think, say the ' Corrup- 
tion of the Ministry ' rather than of the State. It is not 
because a few stock-jobbers rule the Press and the Cabi- 
net, that the State is necessarily corrupt. Remove the 
corrupters, — sweep the dirt from the house — and the 
State will be clean." 

" It will require a very long broom ! " said Paul Zouche. 
' Take David Jost, for example, — he is the fat Jew- 
spider of several newspaper webs. — and to sweep him 
out is not so easy. His printed sheets are read by the 
million ; and the million are deluded into believing him a 
reliable authority! " 

" Nothing so easy as to prove him unreliable," said 
Leroy composedly ; " And then " 

" Then the million will continue to read his journals 
out of sheer curiosity, to see how long a liar can go on 
lying ! " said Zouche ; — " Besides a Jew can turn his coat 
a dozen times a day ; he has inherited Joseph's ' coat of 
many colours ' to suit many opinions. At present Jost 
supports Perousse, and calls him the greatest statesman 
living; but if Perousse were once proved a fraud, Jost 
would pen a sublimely-conscientious leading article, be- 
ginning in this strain ; — ' We are now at liberty to con- 
fess that we always had our doubts of M. Perousse ! ' 

A murmur of angry laughter went round the board. 

' There was an article this evening in one of Jost's off- 



The Scorn of Kings 287 

shoot journals," went on Zouche, " which must have been 
paid for at a considerable cost. It chanted the praises of 
one Monsignor Del Fortis, — who, it appears, preached 
a sermon on ' National Education ' the other day, and 
told all the sleepy, yawning people how necessary it was 
to have Roman Catholic schools in every town and vil- 
lage, in order that souls might be saved. The article 
ended by saying — 'We hear on good authority that 
his Majesty the King has been pleased to grant a con- 
siderable portion of certain Crown lands to the Jesuit 
Order, for the necessary building of a monastery and 
schools ' " 

' That is a lie! " broke in Pasquin Leroy, with sudden 
vehemence. ' The King is in many respects a scoundrel, 
but he does not go back on his word! " 

Axel Regor looked fixedly across at him, with a warn- 
ing flash in the light of his cold languid eyes. 

" But how do you know that the King has given his 
word ? " 

' It was in the paper," said Leroy, more guardedly ; 
' I was reading about it, as you know, on the very night 
I encountered Thord." 

" Ah ! But you must recollect, my friend, that a state- 
ment in the papers is never true nowadays ! " said Max 
Graub, with a laugh ; " Whenever I read anything in the 
newspaper, unless it is an official telegram, I know it is 
a lie ; and even official telegrams have been known to 
emanate from unofficial sources!" 

By this time supper was nearly over, and the landlord, 
clearing the remains of the heavier fare, set fruit and 
wine on the board. Sergius Thord filled his glass, and 
made a sign to his companions to do the same. Then he 
stood up. 

' To Lotys ! " he said, his fine eyes darkening with the 
passion of his thought. ' To Lotys, who inspires our 
best work, and helps us to retain our noblest ideals! '' 

All present sprang to their feet. 

" To Lotys ! " 

Pasquin Leroy fixed a straight glance on the subject 
of the toast, sitting quietly at the head of the table. 

" To Lotys ! " he repeated ; ' And may she always be 
as merciful as she is strong ! '' 



1 J 



288 "Temporal Power 

She lifted her dark-blue slumbrous eyes, and met his 
keen scrutinizing look. A very slight tremulous smile 
flickered across her lips. She inclined her head gently, 
and in the same mute fashion thanked them all. 

" Play to us, Valdor ! " she then sai'd ; " And so make 
answer for me to our friends' good wishes ! " 

Valdor dived under the table, and brought up his violin 
case, which he unlocked with jealous tenderness, lifting 
his instrument as carefully as though it were a sleeping 
child whom he feared to wake. Drawing the bow across 
the strings, he invoked a sweet plaintive sound, like the 
first sigh of the wind among the trees; then, without 
further preliminary wandered off into a strange labyrinth 
of melody, wherein it seemed that the voices of women 
.and angels clamoured one against the other, — the ap- 
peals of earth with the refusals of Heaven, — the loneli- 
ness of life with the fulness of immortality, — so, rising, 
falling, sobbing, praying, alternately, the music expostu- 
lated with humanity in its throbbing chords, till it seemed 
as if some Divine interposition could alone end the heart- 
searching argument. Every man sat motionless and 
mute, listening ; Paul Zouche, with his head thrown back 
and eyes closed as in a dream, — Johan Zegota's hard, 
plain and careworn face growing softer and quieter in 
its expression, — while Sergius Thord, leaning on one 
elbow, covered his brow with one hand to shade the lines 
of sorrow there. 

When Valdor ceased playing, there was a burst of 
applause. 

"You play before kings, — kings should be proud to 
hear you ! " said Leroy. 

" Ah ! So they should," responded Valdor promptly ; 
" Only it happens that they are not ! They treat me 
merely as a laquais de place, — just as they would treat 
Zouche, had he accepted his Sovereign's offer. But this 
I will admit, — that mediocre musicians always get on 
very well with Royal persons ! I have heard a very great 
Majesty indeed praise a common little American woman's 
abominable singing, as though she were a prima-donna, 
and saw him give a jewelled cigar-case to an amateur 
pianist, whose ringers rattled on the keyboard like bones 
on a tom-tom. But then the common little American 



The Scorn of Kings 289 

woman invited his Majesty's 'cheres amies' to her house; 
and the amateur pianist was content to lose money to 
him at cards! Wheels within wheels, my friend! In a 
lesser degree the stock-jobber who sets a little extra cash 
rolling on the Exchange is called an ' Empire Builder.' 
It is a curious world ! But kings were never known to 
be ' proud ' of any really ' great ' men in either art or lit- 
erature ; on the contrary, they were always afraid of 
them, and always will be ! Among musicians, the only 
one who ever got decently honoured by a monarch was 
Richard Wagner, — and the world swears that his Royal 
patron was mad ! " 

Paul Zouche opened his eyes, filled his glass afresh, 
and tossed down the liquor it contained at a gulp. 

" Before we have any more music," he said, " and be- 
fore the little Pequita gives us the dance which she has 
promised, — not to us, but to Lotys — we ought to have 
prayers ! " 

A loud laugh answered this strange proposition. 

" I say we ought to have prayers ! " repeated Zouche 
with semi-solemn earnestness, — " Yovi talk of news, — 
news in telegram, — news in brief, — official scratchings 
for the day and hour, — and do you take no thought 
for the fact that his Holiness the Pope is ill — perhaps 
dying? " 

He stared wildly round upon them all ; and a tolerant 
smile passed over the face of the company. 

" Well, if that be so, Paul," said a man next to him, 
" it is not to be wondered at. The Pope has arrived at a 
e^reat aee ! " 

' No. age at all ! — no age at all ! " declared Zouche. 
" A saint of God should live longer than a pauper ! What 
of the good old lady admitted to hospital the other day 
whose birth certificate proved her beyond doubt to be 
one hundred and twenty-one years old? The dear creat- 
ure had not married ; — nor has his Holiness the Pope, 
— the real cause of death is in neither of them ! Why 
should he not live as long as his aged sister, possessing, 
as he does the keys of Heaven ? He need not unlock the 
little golden door, even for himself, unless he likes. That 
is true orthodoxy ! Pasquin Leroy, you bold imitation of 
a king, more wine! " 

19 



290 "Temporal Power 



>? 



Leroy filled the glass he held out to him. The glances 
of the company told him Zouche was 'on,' and that it was 
no good trying to stem the flow of his ideas, or check the 
inconsequential nature of his speech. Lotys had moved 
her chair a little back from the table, and with both arms 
encircling the child, Pequita, was talking to her in low 
and tender tones. 

' Brethren, let us pray! " cried Zouche; ' For all we 
know, while we sit here carousing and drinking to the 
health of our incomparable Lotys, the soul of St. Peter's 
successor may be careering through Sphere- Forests, and 
over Planet-Oceans, up to its own specially built and par- 
ticularly furnished Heaven ! There is only one Heaven, 
as we all know, — and the space is limited, as it only holds 
the followers of St. Peter, the good disciple who denied 
Christ!" 

' That is an exploded creed, Zouche," said Thord 
quietly ; ' No man of any sense or reason believes such 
childish nonsense nowadays ! The most casual student 
of astronomy knows better." 

'' Astronomy ! Fie, for shame ! " And Zouche gave a 
mock-solemn shake of the head; " A wicked science! A 
great heresy! What are God's Facts to the Church Fal- 
lacies ? Science proves that there are millions and mil- 
lions of solar systems, — millions and millions of worlds, 
no doubt inhabited ; — yet the Church teaches that there 
is only one Heaven, specially reserved for good Roman 
Catholics ; and that St. Peter and his successors keep the 
keys of it. God, — the Deity — the Creator, — the Su- 
preme Being, has evidently nothing at all to do with it. 
In fact, He is probably outside it!- And of a surety 
Christ, with His ideas of honesty and equality, could 
never possibly get into it ! " 

' There you are right ! " said Valdor ; ' Your words 
remind me of a conversation I overheard once between 
a great writer of books and a certain Prince of the blood 
Royal. ' Life is a difficult problem ! ' said the Prince, 
smoking a fat cigar. ' To the student, it is, Sir,' replied 
the author ; ' But to the sensualist, it is no more than the 
mud-stye of the swine, — he noses the refuse and is 
happy! FTe has no need of the Higher life, and. plainly 
the I [igher life has no need of him. Of course," he added 



The Scorn of Kings 291 

with covert satire, 'your Highness helieves in a Higher 
life?' 'Of course, of course!' responded the Royal 
creature, unconscious of any veiled sarcasm ; ' We must 
be Christians before anything ! ' And that same evening 
this hypocritical Highness ' rooked ' a foolish young fel- 
low of over one thousand English pounds! " 

" Perfectly natural! " said Zouche. The fashionable 
estimate of Christianity is to go to church o' Sundays, and 
say ' I believe in God,' and to cheat at cards on all the 
other days of the week, as active testimony to a stronger 
faith in the devil ! " 

" And with it all, Zouche," said Lotys suddenly ; 
" There is more good in humanity than is apparent." 

" And more bad, beloved Lotys," returned Paul. 
" Tout le deux se disent ! But let us think of the Holy 
Father ! — he who, after long years of patient and sub- 
lime credulity, is now, for all we know, bracing himself 
to take the inevitable plunge into the dark waters of 
Eternity ! Poor frail old man ! Who would not pity 
him ! His earthly home has been so small and cosy and 
restricted, — he has been taken such tender care of — 
the faithful have fallen at his feet in such adoring thou- 
sands, — and now - — away from all this warmth and 
light and incense, and colour of pictures and stained- 
glass windows, and white statuary and purple velvets, 
and golden-fringed palanquins, — now — out into the 
cold he must go ! — out into the darkness and mystery 
and silence ! — where all the former generations of the 
world, immense and endless, and all the old religions, 
are huddled away in the mist of the mouldered past ! — 
out into the thick blackness, where maybe the fiery heads 
of Bel and the Dragon may lift themselves upward and 
leer at him ! — or he may meet the frightful menace of 
some monstrous Mexican deity, once worshipped with 
the rites of blood! — out — out into the unknown, un- 
imaginable Amazement must the poor naked Soul go 
shuddering on the blast of death, to face he truly knows 
not what ! — but possibly he has such a pitiful blind trust 
in good, that he may be re-transformed into some pleas- 
ant living consciousness that shall be more agreeable even 
than that of Pope of Rome ! ' Mourir c'est rien, — mais 
souffrir! ' That is the hard part of it! Let us all pray 
for the Pope, my friends ! — he is an old man ! " 



292 "Temporal Power' 

" When you are silent, Zouche," said Thord with a 
half smile ; " We may perhaps meditate upon him in our 
thoughts, — but not while you talk thus volubly ! You 
take up time — and Pequita is getting tired." 

" Yes," said Lotys ; " Pequita and 1 will go home, and 
there will be no dancing to-night." 

" No, Lotys ! You will not be so cruel ! " said Zouche, 
pushing his grey hair back from his brows, while his wild 
eyes glittered under the tangle, like the eyes of a beast in 
its lair; " Think for a moment ! I do not come here and 
bore you with my poems, though I might very well do 
so ! Some of them are worth hearing, I assure you ; — 
even the King — curse him ! — has condescended to think 
so, or else why should he offer me pay for them ? Kings 
are not so ready to part with money, even when it is Gov- 
ernment money ! In England once a Premier named 
Gladstone, gave two hundred and fifty pounds a year 
pension to the French Prince, Lucien Buonaparte, ' for 
his researches into Celtic literature ' ! Bah ! There were 
many worthier native-born men who had worked harder 
on the same subject, to choose from, — without giving 
good English money to a Frenchman ! There is a case 
of your Order and Justice, Lotys ! You spoke to-night 
of these two impossible things. Why will you touch on 
such subjects? You know there is no Order and no Jus- 
tice anywhere ! The LJniverse is a chance whirl of gas and 
atoms ; though where the two mischiefs come from no- 
body knows ! And why the devil we should be made the 
prey of gas and atoms is a mystery which no Church can 
solve ! " 

As he said this, there was a slight movement of every 
head towards Lotys, and enquiring ewes looked sugges- 
tively at her. She saw the look, and responded to it. 

" You are wrong, Zouche ! — I have always told you 
you are wrong," she said emphatically, " It is in your own 
disordered thoughts that you see no justice and no order, 
— but Order there is, and Justice there is, — and Com- 
pensation for all that seems to go wrong. There is an 
Intelligence at the core of Creation ! It is not for us to 
measure that Intelligence, or to set any limits to it. Our 
duty is to recognize it, and to set oUf selves as much as pos- 
sible in harmony with it. Do yoU never, in sane moments, 



The Scorn of Kings 293 

study the progress of humanity? Do you not see that 
while the brute creation remains stationary, (some speci- 
mens of it even becoming extinct), man goes step by step 
to higher results? This is, or should be, sufficient proof 
that death is not the end for us. This world is only one 
link in our chain of intended experience. I think it de- 
pends on ourselves as to what we make of it. Thought is 
a great power by which we mould ourselves and others ; 
and we have no right to subvert that power to base uses, 
or to poison it by distrust of good, or disbelief in the Su- 
preme Guidance. You would be a thousand times better 
as a man, Zouche, and far greater as a poet, if you could 
believe in God ! " 

She spoke with eloquence and affectionate earnestness, 
and among all the men there was a moment's silence. 

" Well, you believe in Him ; " said Zouche at last, " and 
I will catch hold of your angel's robe as you pass into His 
Presence and say to Him ; — ' Here comes poor Zouche, 
who wrote of beautiful things among ugly surroundings, 
and who, in order to be true to his friends, chose poverty 
rather than the gold of a king ! ' " 

Lotys smiled, very sweetly and indulgently. 

" Such a plea would stand you in good stead, Zouche! 
To be always true to one's friends, and to persistently 
believe in beauty, is a very long step towards Heaven ! " 

" I did not say I believed in beauty," said Zouche sud- 
denly and obstinately; — " I dream it — I think it — but 
I do not see it ! To me the world is one Horror — 
nothing but a Grave into which we all must fall ! The 
fairest face has a hideous skull behind it, — the dazzling 
blue of the sea covers devouring monsters in its depths 
— the green fields, the lovely woodlands, are full of vile 
worms and noxious beetles, — and space itself swarms 
with thick-strewn worlds, — flaming comets, — blazing 
nebulae, — among which our earth is but a gnat's wing in 
a huge flame ! Horrible ! • — horrible ! " And he spoke 
with a kind of vehement fury. " Let us not think of it ! 
Why should we insist on Truth ? Let us have lies ! — 
dear, sweet lies and fond delusions ! Let us believe that 
men are all honest, and women all loving ! — that there 
are virgins and saints and angels, as well as bishops and 
curates, looking after us in this wild world of terror, — 



294 "Temporal Power' 

oh, yes ! — let us believe ! — better the Pope's little pri- 
vate snuggery of a Heaven, than the crushing truth which 
says ' Our God is a consuming fire ' ! Knowledge deepens 
sorrow, — truth kills ! — we must — we must have a 
little love, and a few lies to lean upon ! " 

His voice faltered, — and a sudden ashy paleness over- 
spread his features, — his head fell back helplessly, and 
he seemed transfixed and insensible. Leroy and one or 
two of the others rose in alarm, thinking he had swooned, 
but Sergius Thord warned them back by a sign. The 
little Pequita, slipping from the arms of Lotys, went softly 
up to him. 

" Paul ! Dear Paul ! " she said in her soft childish 
tones. 

Zouche stirred, and stretching out one hand, groped 
with it blindly in the air. Pequita took it, warming it 
between her own little palms. 

" Paul ! " she said ; ' Do wake up ! You have been 
asleep such a long time ! " 

He opened his eyes. The grey pallor passed from his 
face ; he lifted his head and smiled. 

" So ! There you are, Pequita ! " he said gently ; " Dear 
little one! So brave and cheerful in your hard life! ' ; 

He lifted her small brown hand, and kissed it. The 
feverish tension of his brain relaxed, — and two large 
tears welled up in his eyes, and rolled down his cheeks. 
" Poor little girl ! " he murmured weakly ; " Poor little 
hard-working girl ! " 

All the men sat silent, watching the gradual softening 
of Zouche's drunken delirium by the mere gentle caress 
of the child ; and Pasquin Leroy was conscious of a 
curious tightening of the muscles of his throat, and a 
straining compassion at his heart, which was more like 
acute sympathy with the griefs and sins of humanity than 
any emotion he had ever known. He saw that the 
thoughtful, pitiful eyes of Lotys were full of tears, and 
he longed, in quite a foolish, almost boyish fashion, to 
take her in his arms and by a whispered word of tender- 
ness, persuade those tears away. Yet he was a man of the 
world, and had seen and known enough. But had he 
known them humanly? Or only from the usual stand- 
point of masculine egotism ? As he thought this, a strain 



The Scorn of Kings 295 

of sweet and solemn music stole through the room, — 
Louis Valdor had risen to his feet, and holding the violin 
tenderly against his heart, was coaxing out of its wooden 
cavity a plaintive request for sympathy and attention. 
Such delicious music thrilled upon the dead silence as 
might have fitted Shelley's exquisite lines. 

" There the voluptuous nightingales, 

Are awake through all the broad noon-day, 
When one with bliss or sadness fails, 

And through the windless ivy-boughs 
Sick with sweet love, droops dying away 

On its mate's music-panting bosom ; 

Another from the swinging blossom, 
Watching to catch the languid close 

Of the last strain ; then lifts on high 

The wings of the weak melodv, 
Till some new strain of feeling bear 

The song, and all the woods are mute ; 
When there is heard through the dim air 
The rush of wings, and rising there 

Like many a lake-surrounded flute 
Sounds overflow the listener's brain, 
So sweet that joy is almost pain." 

' Thank God for music ! " said Sergius Thord, as 
Valdor laid aside his bow ; ' It exorcises the evil spirit 
from every modern Saul ! " 

" Sometimes! " responded Valdor; " But I have known 
cases where the evil spirit has been roused by music in- 
stead of suppressed. Art, like virtue, has two sides ! " 

Zouche was still holding Pequita's hand. He looked ill 
and exhausted, like a man who had passed through a 
violent paroxysm of fever. 

'You are a good child, Pequita!' he was saying 
softly ; " Try to be always so ! — it is difficult — but it is 
easier to a woman than to a man ! Women have more of 
good in them than men ! " 

' How about the dance?" suggested Thord; "The hour 
is late, — close on midnight — and Lotys must be tired." 

" Shall I dance now? " enquired Pequita. 

Lotys smiled and nodded. Four or five of the company 
at once got up, and helped to push aside the table. 

" Will you play for me, Monsieur Valdor? " asked the 
little girl, still standing by the side of Zouche. 

" Of course, my child ! What shall it be ? Something 



296 "Temporal Power" 

to suggest a fairy hopping over mushrooms in the moon- 
light? — or Shakespeare's Ariel swinging on a cobweb 
from a bunch of may? " 

Pequita considered, and for a moment did not reply, 
while Zouche, still holding her little brown hand, kissed 
it again. 

"You are very fond of dancing?" asked Pasquin 
Leroy, looking at' her dark face and big black eyes with 
increasing interest. 

She smiled frankly at him. 

" Yes ! I would like to dance before the King ! " 

"Fie, fie, Pequita!" cried Johan Zegota, while mur- 
murs of laughter and playful cries of ' Shame, Shame ' 
echoed through the room. 

" Why not? " said Pequita ; " It would do me good, 
and my father too! Such poor, sad people come to the 
theatre where I dance, — they love to see me, and I love 
to dance for them — but then — they too would be pleased 
if I could dance at the Royal Opera, because they would 
know I could then earn enough money to make my father 
comfortable." 

" What a very matter-of-fact statement in favour of 
kings ! " exclaimed Max Graub ; — " Here is a child who 
does not care a button for a king as king ; but she thinks 
he would be useful as a figure-head to dance to, — for 
idiotic Fashion, grouping itself idiotically around the 
figure-head, would want to see her dance also — and then 
— oh simple conclusion ! — she would be able to support 
her father! Truly, a king has often been put to worse 
uses ! " 

" I think," said Pasquin Leroy, " T could manage to get 
you a trial at the Royal Opera, Pequita! I know the 



manager 



She looked up with a sudden blaze of light in her eyes, 
sprang towards him, dropped on one knee with an ex- 
quisite grace, and kissed his hand. 

"Oh! — vou will be goodness itself!" she cried; — 
" And I will be grateful -- indeed I will ! — so grateful ! " 

He was startled and amazed at her impulsive action, 
and taking her little hand, gently pressed it. 

" Poor child ! " he said ; — " You must not thank me till 
I succeed. It is very little to do -- but I will do all I can." 



The Scorn of Kings 297 

" Someone else will be grateful too ! " said Lotys in 
her rieh thrilling voice ; and her eyes rested on him with 
that wonderful magnetic sweetness which drew his soul 
out of him as by a spell ; while Zouche, only partially 
understanding the conversation said slowly : — 

" Pequita deserves all the good she can get ; more than 
any of us. We do nothing but try to support ourselves ; 
and we talk a vast amount about supporting others, — 
but Pequita works all the time and says nothing. And she 
is a genius — she does not know it, but she is. Give us 
the Dagger Dance, Pequita ! Then our friend Leroy can 
judge of you at your best, and make good report of you." 

Pequita looked at Lotys and received a sign of assent. 
She then nodded to Valdor. 

" You know what to play ? " 

Valdor nodded in return, and took up his violin. The 
company drew back their seats, and sat, or stood aside, 
from the centre of the room. Pequita disappeared for a 
moment, and returned divested of the plain rusty black 
frock she had worn, and merely clad in a short scarlet 
petticoat, with a low white calico bodice — her dark curls 
tumbling in disorder, and grasping in her right hand a 
brightly polished, unsheathed dagger.. Valdor began to 
play, and with the first wild chords the childish figure 
swayed, circled, and leaped forward like a young Am- 
azon, the dagger brandished aloft, and gleaming here and 
there as though it were a snaky twist of lightning. Very 
soon Pasquin Leroy found himself watching the evolu- 
tions of the girl dancer with fascinated interest. Nothing 
so light, so delicate or so graceful had he ever seen as this 
little slight form bending to and fro, now gliding with 
the grace of a swan on water — now leaping swiftly as a 
fawn, — while the attitudes she threw herself into, some- 
times threatening, sometimes defiant, and often com- 
manding, with the glittering steel weapon held firmly in 
her tiny hand, were each and all pictures of youthful 
pliancy and animation. As she swung and whirled, — 
sometimes pirouetting so swiftly that her scarlet skirt 
looked like a mere red flower in the wind, — her bright 
eyes flashed, her dark hair tangled itself in still richer 
masses, and her lips, crimson as the pomegranate, were 
half parted with her panting breath. 



298 " Temporal Power 



" Brava ! Brava ! " shouted the men, becoming more 
and more excited as their eyes followed the flash of the 
dagger she held, now directed towards them, now shaken 
aloft, and again waved threateningly from side to side, 
or pointed at her own bosom, while her little feet twinkled 
over the floor in a maze of intricate and perfectly per- 
formed steps; — and " Brava! " cried Pasquin Leroy, as 
breathless, but still glowing and bright with her exer- 
tions, she suddenly out of her own impulse, dropped on 
one knee before him with the glittering dagger pointed 
straight at his heart ! 

" Would that please the King ? " she asked, her pearly 
teeth gleaming into a mischievous smile between the red 
lips. 

" If it did not, he would be a worse fool than even I 
take him for ! " replied Leroy, as she sprang up again, 
and confronted him. " Here is a little souvenir from me, 
child ! — and if ever you do dance before his Majesty, 
wear it for my sake! " 

He took from his pocket a ring, in which was set a fine 
brilliant of unusual size and lustre. 

She looked at it a moment as he held it out to her. 

" Oh, no," she faltered, " I cannot take it — I cannot! 
Lotys dear, you know I cannot ! " 

Lotys, thus appealed to, left her seat and came forward. 
Taking the ring from Leroy's hand, she examined it a 
moment, then gently returned it. 

" This is too great a temptation for Pequita, my 
friend," she said quietly, but firmly. ' In duty bound, 
she would have to sell it in order to help her poor father. 
She could not justly keep it. Let me be the arbiter in this 
matter. If you can carry out your suggestion, and obtain 
for her an engagement at the Royal Opera, then give it to 
her, but not till then! Do you not think I am right? " 

She spoke so sweetly and persuasively, that Leroy was 
profoundly touched. What he would have liked would 
have been to give the child a roll of gold pieces, — but he 
was playing a strange part, and the time to act openly 
was not yet. 

' It shall be as you wish, Madame ! " he said with 
courteous deference. ' Pequita, the first time you dance 
before the King, this shall be yours ! " 



The Scorn of Kings 299 

He put aside the jewel, and Pequita kissed his hand 
impulsively, — as impulsively she kissed the lips of her 
friend Lotys — and then came the general dispersal and 
break-up of the assembly. 

" Tell me," said Sergius Thord, catching Leroy's hand 
in a close and friendly grasp ere bidding him farewell ; 
" Are you in very truth in personal danger on account 
of serving our Cause ? " 

" No ! " replied Leroy frankly, returning the warm 
pressure; " And rest assured that if I were, I would find 
means to elude it ! I have managed to frighten Carl 
Perousse, that is all — and Jost ! " 

" Jost ! " echoed Sergius ; " The Colossus of the Press ? 
Surely it would take more than one man to frighten 
him ! " 

Leroy laughed. 

" I grant you the Jewish centres of journalism are diffi- 
cult to shake ! But they all depend on stocks and shares ! " 

A touch on his arm caused him to turn round, — Paul 
Zouche confronted both him and Thord, with a solemn 
worn face, and lack-lustre eyes. 

" Good-night, friends ! " he said ; " I have not kicked 
at a king with my boot, but I have with my brain ! — and 
the effort is exhausting! I am going home to bed." 

" Where is your home? " asked Leroy suddenly. 

Zouche looked mysterious. 

" In a palace, dear sir ! A palace of golden air, peopled 
with winged dreams ! No money could purchase it ; — 
no ' Empire Builder ' could build it ! — it is mine and 
mine alone ! And I pay no taxes ! " 

" Will you put this to some use for me?" said Leroy, 
holding out a gold piece ; " Simply as comrade and 
friend ? " 

Zouche stared at him. 

" You mean it ? " 

" Of course I mean it ! Zouche, believe me, you are 
going to be the fashion ! You will be able to do me a 
good turn before long ! " 

Zouche took the gold piece, and as he took it, pressed 
the giver's hand. 

" You mean well ! " he said tremulously : ' You know 
— as Sergius does, that I am poor, — often starving 



300 "Temporal Power 

often drunk but you know also that there is some- 
thing here!" — and he touched his forehead meaningly. 
'* But to be the ' fashion ' ! Bah ! I do not belong to the 
Trade-ocracy ! Nobody becomes the ' fashion ' nowadays 
unless they have cheated their neighbours by short weight 
and falsified accounts ! Good-night ! You might be the 
King from your looks ; — but you have something better 
than kingship — Heart ! Good-night, Pequita ! You 
danced well ! Good-night, Lotys ! You spoke well ! 
Everyone does everything well, except poor Zouche ! ' 

Pequita ran up to him. 

" Good-night, dear Paul ! " 

He stooped and kissed her gently. 

" Good-night, little one! If ever you show your twin- 
kling feet at the Opera, you will be the ' fashion ' — and 
will you remember Paul then ? " 

" Always — always ! " said Pequita tenderly ; " Father 
and Lotys and I will always love you ! '' 

Zouche gave a short laugh, 

" Always love me ! Me ! Well ! — what strange things 
children will say, not knowing in the least what they 
mean ! " 

He gave a vague salute to the entire company, and 
walked out of the tavern with drooping head. Others 
followed him, — every man in going, shook hands with 
Lotys and Sergius Thord, — the lamps were extinguished, 
and the landlord standing in the porch of his tavern 
watched them all file out, and bade them all a cordial fare- 
well. Pequita's home was with her father in the house 
where Sergius Thord dwelt, and Lotys kissing her ten- 
derly good-night, left her to Thord's care. 

" And who will see you home, Lotys? " enquired Thord. 

"May I for once have that honour?" asked Pasquin 
Leroy. His two companions stared in undisguised 
amazement, and there was a moment's silence. 

Then Lotys spoke. 

" You may! " she said simply. 

There was another silence while she put on her hat, and 
wrapped herself in her long dark cloak. Then Thord 
took Pequita by the hand. 

" Good-night, I ,otys ! " 

" Good-night, Sergius ! " 



The Scorn of Kings 301 

Leroy turned to his two friends and spoke to them in a 
low tone. 

" Go your ways ! " he said peremptorily ; ' I. will join 
you later ! ' ' 

Vain were their alarmed looks of remonstrance ; and 
in another moment all the party had separated, and only 
Max Graub and Axel Regor remained on the pavement 
outside the tavern, disconsolately watching two figures 
disappearing in the semi-shadowed moonlight — Pasquin 
Leroy and Lotys — walking closely side by side. 

"Was there' ever such a drama as this? - ' muttered 
Graub. " He may lose his life at any moment! " 

" If he does," "responded Regor, " It will not be our 
fault. We do our best to guard him from the conse- 
quence of one folly, — and he straightway runs into an- 
other ! There is no help for it ; we have sworn to obey 
him, and we must keep our oath! " 

They passed slowly along the street, too absorbed in 
their own uncomfortable reflections for the interchange 
of many words. By the rules of the Revolutionary Com- 
mittee, they were not allowed ' to follow or track any other 
member ' so they were careful to walk in a reverse direc- 
tion to that taken by their late comrades. The great bell of 
the Cathedral boomed midnight as they climbed towards 
the citadel, and the pale moon peeping whitely through 
piled-up fleecy clouds, shed a silver glare upon the quiet 
sea. And down into the ' slums,' down, and ever deeper, 
into the sad and cheerless ' Quarter of the Poor ' Pasquin 
Leroy walked as though he trod lightly on a path of 
flowers, — his heart beating high, and his soul fully 
awakened within him, thrilled, he knew not why, to the 
heart's core by the soft low voice of Lotys, — and glad 
that in the glimpses of the moonlight her eyes were oeea- 
sionallv lifted to his face, with something of a child's 
trust, if not of a woman's tenderness. 



CHAPTER XXI 

AN INVITATION TO COURT 

THE spring- was now advancing into full summer, 
and some time had passed since the Socialist party 
had gathered under their leaders to the voice of Lotys. 
Troublous days appeared to be impending for the Senate, 
and rumours of War, — war sometimes apparently immi- 
nent, and again suddenly averted, — had from time to 
time worried the public through the Press. But what was 
even more disturbing to the country, was the proposed 
infliction of new, heavy and irritating taxes, which had 
begun to affect the popular mind to the verge of revolt. 
Twice since Lotys had spoken at the People's Assembly 
Rooms had Sergius Thord addressed huge mass meet- 
ings, which apparently the police had no orders to dis- 
perse, and his power over the multitude was increasing 
by leaps and bounds. Whenever he spoke, wherever he 
worked, the indefatigable Pasquin Leroy was constantly 
at his side, and he, in his turn began to be recognized by 
the Revolutionary Committee as one of their most ener- 
getic members, — able, resolute, and above all, of an in- 
valuably inscrutable and self-contained demeanour. His 
two comrades were not so effectual in their assistance, 
and appeared to act merely in obedience to his instruc- 
tions. Their attitude, however, suited everyone concerned 
as well as, if not better than, if they had been over- 
zealous. Owing to what Leroy had stated concerning 
the possibility of his arrest as a spy, his name was never 
mentioned in public by one single member of the Brother- 
hood ; and to the outside Socialist following, he there- 
fore appeared simply as one of the many who worked 
under Sergius Thord's command. Meanwhile, there were 
not lacking many other subjects for popular concern and 
comment ; all of which in their turn gave rise to anxious 
discussion and vague conjecture. A Cabinet Council had 



An Invitation to Court 303 

been held by the Premier, at which, without warning, the 
King had attended personally, but the results were not 
made known to the public. Yet the general impression 
was that his Majesty seemed to be perfectly indifferent 
to the feelings or the well-being of his subjects; in fact, 
as some of them said with dismal shakings of the head, 
' It was all a part of the system ; kings were not allowed 
to do anything even for the benefit of their people." And 
rising Socialism, ever growing stronger, and amassing in 
its ranks all the youthful and ambitious intellects of the 
time, agreed and swore that it was time for a Republic. 
Only by a complete change of Government could the 
cruelly-increasing taxation be put down ; and if Govern- 
ment was to be changed, why not the dummy figure-head 
of Government as well ? 

Thus Rumour talked, sometimes in whispers — some- 
times in shouts ; --but through it all the life of the Court 
and fashion went on in the same way, — the King contin- 
ued to receive with apparent favour the most successful 
and most moneyed men from all parts of the world ; the 
Queen drove or walked, or rode ; — and the only pro- 
spective change in the social routine was the report that 
the Crown Prince was about to leave the country for a 
tour round the world, and that he would start on his 
journey in his own yacht about the end of the month. 
The newspapers made a great fuss in print over this 
projected tour ; but the actual people were wholly indif- 
ferent to it. They had seen very little of the Crown 
Prince, — certainly not enough to give him their affection ; 
and whether he left the kingdom or stayed in it concerned 
them not at all. He had done nothing marked or decisive 
in his life to show either talent, originality of character, 
or resolution ; and the many ' puffs ' in the press concern- 
ing him, were scarcely read at all by the public, or if they 
were, they were not credited. The expression of an 
ordinary working-man with regard to his position was 
entirely typical of the general popular sentiment ; — "If 
he would only do something to prove he had a will of his 
own, and a mind, he would perhaps be able to set the 
Throne more firmly on its legs than it is at present." 

How thoroughly the young man had proved that he 
indeed possessed ' a will of his own,' was not yet dis- 



304 "Temporal Power" 

closed to the outside critics of his life and conduct. Only 
the King and Queen, and Professor von Glauben knew 
it ; — for even Sir Roger de Launay had not been en- 
trusted with the story of his secret marriage. The Queen 
had received the news with her usual characteristic im- 
mobility. A faint cold smile had parted her lips as she 
listened to the story of her son's romance, — and her 
reply to the King's brief explanation was almost as 
brief : — 

' Nearly all the aristocracy marry music-hall women!" 
she said ; " One should therefore be grateful that a Crown 
Prince does not go lower in his matrimonial choice than 
an innocent little peasant ! " 

'The marriage is useless, of course," said the King; 
" It has satisfied Humphry's exalted notions of honour ; 
but it can never be acknowledged or admitted." 

" Of course not ! " she agreed languidly ; ' It certainly 
clears up the mystery of The Islands, which you were so 
anxious to visit ; — and I suppose the next thing you will 
do is to marry him again to some daughter of a Royal 
house ? " 

" Most assuredly ! " 

"As you were married to me?" she said, raising her 
eyes to his face with that strange deep look which spoke 
eloquently of some mystery hidden in her soul. 

His cheeks burned with an involuntary flush. He 
bowed. 

• Precisely ! As I married you ! " he replied. 

"The experiment was hardly successful!" she said 
with her little cold smile. '• I fear you have often re- 
gretted it ! " 

He looked at her, studying her beauty intently, — and 
the remembrance of another face, far less fair of feature, 
but warm and impassioned by the lovely light of sympathy 
and tenderness, came between his eyes and hers, like a 
heavenly vision. 

" Had you loved me," he said slowly, " I might never 
have known what it was to need love! " 

A slight tremor ran through her veins. There was a 
strange tone in his voice, — a soft cadence to which she 
was unaccustomed, — something that suggested a new 
emotion in his life, and a deeper experience. 



An Invitation to Court 305 

' I never loved anyone in my life ! " she answered 
calmly — "And now "the days are past for loving. 
Humphry, however, has made up for my lack of the 
tender passion ! " 

She turned away indifferently, and appeared to dismiss 
the matter altogether from her mind. The first time she 
saw her son, however, after hearing of his marriage, she 
looked at him curiously. 

"And so your wife is very lovely, Humphry!" she 
said with a slightly derisive smile. 

He was not startled by the suddenness of her observa- 
tion nor put out by it. 

'' She is the loveliest woman I have ever seen, — not 
excepting yourself," he replied. 

' It is a very foolish affair ! " she continued compos- 
edly ; " But fortunately in our line of life such things are 
easily arranged ; — and your future will not be spoiled 
by it. I am glad you are going abroad, as you will very 
soon forget ! " 

The Prince regarded her steadfastly with something of 
grave wonderment as well as compassion, — but he made 
no reply, and with the briefest excuse left her presence 
as soon as possible, in order to avoid further conversation 
on the subject. She, herself, however, found her mind 
curiously perturbed and full of conjectures concerning 
her son's idyllic love-story, in which all considerations for 
her as Queen and mother seemed omitted, — and where 
she, as it were, appeared to be shut outside a lover's para- 
dise, the delights of which she had never experienced. 
The King held many private conferences with her on the 
matter, in which sometimes Professor von Glauben was 
permitted to share ; — and the upshot of these numerous 
discussions resulted in a scheme which was as astonishing 
in its climax as it was unexpected. Over and over again 
it has been proved to nations as well as to individuals, 
that the whole course of events may be changed by the 
fixed determination of one resolute mind ; but it is not 
often that the moral force of a mere girl succeeds in com- 
peting with the authority of kings and parliaments. 
But so it chanced on this occasion, and in the following 
manner. 

One glorious early morning, the sun having risen with- 

20 



306 "Temporal Power' 

out a cloud in the deep blue of the sky, and the sea being 
as calm as an inland lake, the King's yacht was seen to 
weigh anchor and steam away at her fullest speed towards 
The Islands. Little or no preparation had been made for 
her short voyage ; there was no Royal party on board, 
and the only passenger was Professor von Glauben. He 
sat solitary on deck in a luxurious chair, smoking his 
meerschaum pipe, and dubiously considering the difficult 
and peculiar situation in which he was placed. He made 
no attempt to calculate the possible success or failure of 
his mission — ' for,' said he very sagely, ' it all depends 
on a woman, and God alone knows what a woman will 
do ! Her ways are dark and wonderful, and altogether 
beyond the limit of the comprehension of man ! ' 

His journey was undertaken at the King's command ; 
and equally by the King's command he had been com- 
pelled to keep it a secret from Prince Humphry. He had 
never been to The Islands since the King's ' surprise 
visit ' there, and he was of course not aware that Gloria 
now knew the real rank and position of her supposed 
'sailor' husband. He was at present charged to break the 
news to her, and bring her straightway to the palace, 
there to confront both the King and Queen, and learn 
from them the true state of affairs. 

" It is a cruel ordeal," he said, shaking his head sor- 
rowfully ; " Yet I myself am a party to its being tried. 
For once in my life I have pinned my faith on the unspoilt 
soul of an unworldly woman. I wonder what will come 
of it? It rests entirely with Gloria herself, and with no 
one else in the world ! " 

As the yacht arrived at its destination and dropped 
anchor at some distance from the pier, owing to the 
shallowness of the tide at that hour of the day, The Islands 
presented a fair aspect in the dancing beams of the sum- 
mer sunlight. Numbers of fruit trees were bursting into 
blossom, — the apple, the cherry, the pink almond and 
the orange blossom all waved together and whispered 
sweetness to one another in the pure air, and the full- 
flowering mimosa perfumed every breath of wind. Fish- 
ermen were grouped here and there on the shore, mending 
or drying their nets ; and in the fields beyond could be 
perceived many workers pruning the hedges or guiding 



An Invitation to Court 307 

the plough. The vision of a perfect Arcadia was pre- 
sented to the eye ; and so the Professor thought, as get- 
ting into the boat lowered for him, he was rowed from the 
yacht to the landing-place, and there dismissed the sailors, 
warning them that at the first sound of his whistle they 
should swiftly come for him again. 

' What a pity to spoil her peace of mind — her sim- 
plicity of life ! " he thought, as he walked at a slow and 
reluctant pace towards Ronsard's cottage ; " And I fear 
we shall have trouble with the old man ! I wonder if his 
philosophy will stand hard wear and tear ! ' ; 

The pretty, low timber-raftered house confronted him 
at the next bend in the road, and presented a charming 
aspect of tranquillity. The grass in front of it was smooth 
as velvet and emerald-green, and in one of the flower 
borders Ronsard himself was digging and planting. He 
looked up as he heard the gate open, but did not attempt 
to interrupt his work ; — and Von Glauben advanced 
towards him with a considerable sense of anxiety and 
insecurity in his mind. Anon he paused in the very act 
of greeting, as the old man turned his strong, deeply- 
furrowed countenance upon him with a look of fierce 
indignation and scorn. 

" So! You are here! " he said; " Have you come to 
look upon the evil your Royal master has worked? Or 
to make dutiful obeisance to Gloria as Crown-Princess ? " 

Von Glauben was altogether taken aback. 

1 Then — you know ? " he stammered. 

"Oh yes, I know!" responded Ronsard sternly and 
bitterly ; ' I know everything ! There has been full con- 
fession! If the husband of my Gloria were more prince 
than man, my knife would have slit his throat ! But he 
is more man than prince ! — and I have let him live — 
for her sake ! " 

' Well — that is so far good ! " said Von Glauben, wip- 
ing the perspiration from his brow, and heaving a deep 
sigh of relief ; " And as you fully comprehend the situa- 
tion, it saves me the trouble of explaining it ! You are a 
philosopher, Ronsard ! Permit me to remind you of that 
fact ! You know, like myself, that what is done, even if 
it is done foolishly, cannot be undone! " 

' I know it ! Who should know it so well as I ! " and 



308 "Temporal Power' 

Ronsard set a delicate rose-tree roughly in the hole he 
had dug for it, and began to fiercely pile in the earth 
around it ; — " Fate is fate, and there is no gainsaying 
it ! The law of Compensation will always have its way ! 
Look you, man ! — and listen ! I, Rene Ronsard, once 
killed a king ! — and now in my old age, the only creature 
I ever loved is tricked by the son of a king! It is just! 
So be it ! " 

He bent his white head over his digging again, and 
Von Glauben was for a moment silent, vaguely amazed 
and stupefied by this sudden declaration of a past crime. 

" You should not say ' tricked,' my friend ! " he at last 
ventured to remark; " Prince Humphry is an honest lad; 
— he means to keep his word ! " 

Ronsard looked up, his eyes gleaming with fury. 

" Keep his word ? Bah ! How can he ? Who in this 
wide realm will give him the honourable liberty to keep 
his word ? Will he acknowledge Gloria as his wife before 
the nation ? — she a foundling and a castaway ? Will he 
make her his future queen ? Not he ! He will forsake 
her, and dive with another woman, in sin which the law 
will sanctify ! " 

He went on planting the rose-tree, then, — dropping 
his spade, — tossed up his head and hands with a wild 
gesture. 

" What, and who is this God who so ordains our des- 
tiny!" he exclaimed: 'For surely this is His work, — 
not mine! Hidden away from all the world with my 
life's secret buried in my soul, I, without wife, or children 
or friends, or any soul on earth to care whether I lived 
or died, was sent an angel comforter ; — the child I res- 
cued from the sea ! ' Gloria, Gloria in excelsis Deo ! ' the 
choristers sang in the church when I found her ! I 
thought it true ! With her, — in every action, in every 
thought and word, I strove, — and have faithfully striven, 
— to atone for my past crime ; — for I was forced through 
others to kill that king ! When proved guilty of the deed, 
1 was told by my associates to assume madness, — a mere 
matter of acting, — and, being adjudged as insane, I was 
sent with other criminals on a convict ship, bound for a 
certain coast-prison, where we were all to be kept for life. 
The ship was wrecked off the rocks yonder, and it was 



An Invitation to Court 309 

reported that every soul on board went down, but I es- 
caped--only I, — for what inscrutable reason God alone 
knows! Finding myself saved and free, I devoted my 
life to hard work, and to doing all the good 1 could think 
of to alone — to atone — always to atone! Then the 
child was sent to me; and 1 thought it was a sign that 
my penance was accepted ; but no ! — no ! — the compen- 
sating curse falls, — not on me, — not on me, for if only 
so, I would welcome it — but on Her ! — the child of my 
love — the heart of my heart ! — on Her ! " 

He turned away his face, and a hard sob broke from 
his labouring chest. Von Glauben laid a gentle, protec- 
tive hand on his shoulder. 

' Ronsard, be a man ! " he said in a kind, firm voice ; 
' This is the first time you have told me your true history 
— and — I shall respect your confidence ! You have suf- 
fered much — equally you have loved much! Doubt not 
that you are forgiven much. But why should you as- 
sume, or foresee unhappiness for Gloria? Why talk of 
a curse where perhaps there is only an intended blessing ? 
Is she unhappy, that you are thus moved? " 

Ronsard furtively dashed away the tears from his eyes. 

" She ? Gloria unhappy ? No, — not yet ! The de- 
lights of spring and summer have met in her smile, — her 
eyes, her movements ! It was she herself who told me 
all ! If he had told me, I would have killed him ! " 

"Eminently sensible!" said Von Glauben, recovering 
his usual phlegmatic calm ; ' You would have killed the 
man she loves best in the world. And so with perfect 
certainty you would have killed her as well, — and prob- 
ably yourself afterwards. A perfect slaughterhouse, like 
the last scene in Hamlet, by the so admirable Shake- 
speare ! It is better as it is. Life is really very pleasant ! " 

He sniffed the perfumed air, — listened with appre- 
ciation to the trilling of a bird swinging on a bough of 
apple-blossom above him. and began to feel quite easy 
in his mind. Half his mission was done for him, Prince 
Humphry having declared himself in his true colours. 
" I always said," mused the Professor, " that he was a 
very honest young man ! And I think he will be honest 
to the end." Aloud he asked : 

" When did you know the truth?" 



310 "Temporal Power 



•>* 



" Some clays since," replied Ronsard. " He — Gloria's 
husband — I can as yet call him by no other name — came 
suddenly one evening ; — the two went out together as 
usual, and then — then my child returned alone. She 
told me all, — of the disguise he had assumed — and of 
his real identity — and I — well ! I think I was mad ! I 
know I spoke and acted like a madman ! " 

' Nay, rather say like a philosopher ! " murmured Von 
Glauben with a humorous smile ; ' Remember, my 
good fellow, that there is no human being who loses 
self-control more easily and rapidly than he who pro- 
claims the advantage of keeping it ! And what did Gloria 
say to you ? " 

Ronsard looked up at the tranquil skies, and was for a 
moment silent. Then he answered. 

"Gloria is — just Gloria! There is no woman like 
her, — there never will be any woman like her ! She 
said nothing at all while I raged and swore ; — she stood 
before me white and silent, — grand and calm, like some 
great angel. Then when I cursed him, — she raised her 
hand, and like a queen she said : ' I forbid you to utter 
one word against him ! ' I stood before her mute and 
foolish. ' I forbid you ! ' She, — the child I reared and 
nurtured — menaced me with her ' command ' as though 
I were her slave and servant ! You see I have lost her ! 
— she is not mine any more — she is his — to be treated 
as he wills, and made the toy of his pleasure ! She does 
not know the world, but I know it ! I know the misery 
that is in store for her ! But there is yet time — and I 
will live to avenge her wrong! " 

" Possibly there will be no wrong to avenge," said Von 
Glauben composedly ; " But if there is, I have no doubt 
you would kill another king ! '' Ronsard turned pale and 
shuddered. ' It is stupid work, killing kings," went on 
the Professor ; ' It never does any good ; and often in- 
creases the evil it was intended to cure. Your studies in 
philosophy must have taught you that much at least ! As 
for your losing Gloria, — you lost her in a sense when 
you gave her to her husband. Tt is no use complaining 
now, because you find he is not the man you took him for. 
The mischief is done. At any rate you are bound to 
admit that Gloria has, so far, been perfectly happy ; she 



An Invitation to Court 3 1 1 

will be happy still, I truly believe, for she has the secret 
of happiness in her own beautiful nature. And you, 
Ronsard, must make the best of things, and meet fate 
with calmness. To-day, for instance, I am here by the 
King's command, - - I bear his orders, — and 1 have 
come for Gloria. They want her at the Palace." 

Ronsard stepped out of his flower-border, and stood on 
the greensward amazed, and indignantly suspicious. 

" They want her at the Palace ! " he repeated ; ' Why ? 
What- for ? To do her harm ? To make her miserable ? 
To insult and threaten her? No, she shall not go! " 

" Look here, my friend," said the Professor with mild 
patience ; " You have — for a philosopher — a most un- 
pleasant habit of jumping to wrong conclusions! Please 
endeavour to compose the tumult in your soul, and listen 
to me! The King has sent for Gloria, and I am in- 
structed to take charge of her, and escort her to the pres- 
ence of their Majesties. No insult, no threat, no wrong 
is intended. I will bring her back again safe to you im- 
mediately the audience is concluded. Be satisfied, Ron- 
sard ! For once ' put your trust in princes,' for her 
husband will be there, — and do you think he would suf- 
fer her to be insulted or wronged ? " 

Ronsard's sunken eyes looked wild, — his aged frame 
trembled violently, and he gave a hopeless gesture. 

" I do not know — - 1 do not know ! " he said inco- 
herently; " I am an old man. and I have always found it 

a wicked world! But if you give me your word 

that she shall come to no harm. I will trust you! " 

Silently Von Glauben took his hand and pressed it. 
Two or three minutes passed, weighted with unuttered 
and unutterable thoughts in the minds of both men ; and 
then, in a somewhat hushed voice, the Professor said : 

" Ronsard, T am just now reminded of the tragic story 
of Rudolf of Austria, who killed himself through the 
maddening sorrow of an ill-fated love ! We, in our dif- 
ferent lines of life should remember that, and let no 

young innocent heart suffer through our follies — our 
rages against fate — our conventions — our more or less 
idiotic laws of restraint and hypocrisy. The tragedy of 
Prince Rudolf and the unhappy Marie Vetsera whom he 
worshipped, was caused by the sin and the falsehood of 



312 "Temporal Power' 

others, — not by the victims of the cruel catastrophe. 
Therefore, I say to you, my friend, be wise in time ! — 
and control the natural stormy tendency of your passions 
in this present affair. I assure you, on my faith and 
honour as a man, that the King has a kindly heart and a 
brave one, — together with a strong sense of justice. He 
is not truly known to his people ; — they only see him 
through the pens of press reporters, or the slavish de- 
scriptions of toadies and parasites. Then again, the 
Crown Prince is an honourable lad ; and from what I 
know of him, he is not likely to submit to conventional 
usages in matters which are close to his life and heart. 
Gloria herself is of such an exceptional character and dis- 
position, that I think she may be safely left to arbitrate 
her own destiny " 

''And the Queen?" interrupted Ronsard suddenly; — 
" She, at any rate, as a woman, wife and mother, will be 
gentle? " 

" Gentle, she certainly is," said Von Glauben, with a 
slight sigh ; " But only because she does not consider it 
worth while to be otherwise ! God has put a stone in the 
place where her heart should be ! However, — she will 
have little to say, and still less to do with to-day's busi- 
ness. You tell me you will trust me ; I promise you, you 
shall not repent your trust ! But I must see Gloria her- 
self. Where is she?" 

Ronsard pointed towards the cottage. 

" She is in there, studying," he said ; " Books of the 
old time ; — books that few read. She gets them all 
from Sergius Thord. How would it be, think you, if he 
knew ? " 

The pleasantly rubicund countenance of the Professor 
grew a shade paler. 

'"Sergius Thord — Sergius Thord? — H'm — h'm — 
let me see ! — who is he? Ah ! I remember, — he is the 
Socialist lion, for ever roaring through the streets and 
seeking whom he may devour ! I daresay he is not with- 
out cleverness ! " 

"Cleverness!" echoed Ronsard; "That is a tame 
word! He has genius, and the people swear by him. 
Since the proposed new taxation, and other injustices of 
the Government, he has gained adherents by many thou- 



An Invitation to Court 313 

sands. You, — whom I once took to be a mere German 
schoolmaster, a friend of the young ' sailor ' whom my 
child so innocently wedded, — you whom 1 now know to 
be the King's physician — surely you cannot live on the 
mainland, and in the metropolis, without knowing of the 
power of Sergius Thord ? " 

'I know something — not much;" replied the Pro- 
fessor guardedly ; ' But come, my friend, 1 have not de- 
ceived you ! I was in very truth a poor ' German school- 
master,' once, — before I became a student of medicine 
and surgery. And that I am the King's physician, is 
merely one of those accidental circumstances which occur 
in a world of chance. But schoolmaster as I have been, 
I doubt if I would set our ' Glory-of-the-Sea ' to study 
books recommended to her by Sergius Thord. The 
poetry of Heine is more suitable to her age and sex. 
Let us break in upon her meditations." And he walked 
across the grass with one arm thrust through that of 
Ronsarcl ; " For she must prepare herself. We ought 
to be gone within an hour." 

They passed under the low, rose-covered porch into a 
wide square room, with raftered ceiling and deep carved 
oak ingle nook, — and here at the table, with a quarto 
volume opened out before her, sat Gloria, resting her 
head on one fair hand, her rich hair falling about her in 
loose shining tresses, and her whole attitude expressive 
of the deepest absorption in study. As they entered, she 
looked up and smiled, — then rose, her hand still resting 
on the open book. 

" At last you have come again, dear Professor ! " she 
said ; ' I began to think you had grown weary in well- 
doing! " 

Von Glauben stared at her, stricken speechless for a 
moment. What mysterious change had passed over the 
girl, investing her with such an air of regal authority? 
It was impossible to say. To all appearance she was the 
same beautiful creature, clad in the same simple white 
homespun gown, — yet were she Empress of half the 
habitable globe, she could not have looked more envi- 
roned with dignity, sweetness and delicately gracious 
manner. He understood the desolating expression of 
Ronsard, — ' You see I have lost her ! — she is not mine 



If 



314 "Temporal Power 

any more - — she is his ! ' He recognised and was sud- 
denly impressed by that fact; — she was ' his ' — the wife 
of the Crown Prince and Heir-Apparent to the Throne; 
— and evidently with the knowledge of her position had 
arisen the pride of love and the spirit of grace to support 
her honours worthily. And so, as Von Glauben met her 
eyes, which expressed their gentle wonder at his silence, 
and as she extended her hand to him, he came slowly for- 
ward and bowing low, respectfully kissed that hand. 

' Princess," he said, in a voice that trembled ever so 
slightly ; " I shall never be weary in well-doing, — if you 
are good enough to call my service and friendship for you 
by that name ! I hesitated to come before, — because I 
thought I feared I did not know ! " 

" I understand ! " said Gloria tranquilly ; " You did not 
think the Prince, my husband, would tell me the truth so 
soon ! But I know all, and now — I am glad to know it ! 
Dearest," and she moved swiftly to Ronsard who was 
standing silent in the doorway — " come in and sit down ! 
You make yourself so tired sometimes in the garden ; " 
and she threw a loving arm about him. ' You must rest ; 
you look so pale ! " 

For all answer, he lifted the hand that hung about his 
neck, to his lips and kissed it tenderly. 

' They want you, Gloria ! " he said tremulously ; 
' They want you at the Palace. You must go to-dav ! " 

She lifted her brilliant eyes enquiringly to Von 
Glauben, who responded to the look by at once explain- 
ing his mission. He was there, he said, by the King's 
special command; — their Majesties had been informed 
of their son's marriage by their son himself ; and they 
desired at once to see and speak with their unknown 
daughter-in-law. The interview would be private ; his 
Royal Highness the Crown Prince would be present ; — 
it might last an hour, perhaps longer, — and he. Von 
Glauben, was entrusted to bring Gloria to the Palace, 
and escort her back to The Islands again when all was 
over. Thus, with elaborate and detailed courtesy, the 
Professor unfolded the nature of his enterprise, while 
Gloria, still keeping one arm round Ronsard, heard and 
smiled. 

' I shall obey the King's command ! " she said com- 



An Invitation to Court 315 

posedly; " Though, -- having no word from the Prince, 
my husband, concerning- this mandate, - - I might very 
well refuse to do so! But it may be as well that their 
Majesties and their son's wife should plainly, and once 
for all, understand each other. Dear Professor, you look 
sadly troubled! Is there some little convention, some 
special ceremonial of so-called ' good manners,' which 
you are commissioned to teach me, before I make my 
appearance at Court under your escort?' 

Her lovely lips smiled, --her eyes laughed, --she 
looked the very incarnation of Beauty triumphant. Von 
Glauben's brain whirled, — he felt bewitched and dazzled. 

"I? — to teach yon anything? No, my princess! — 
and please think how loyally I have called you ' Princess ' 
from the beginning ! - - I have always told you that you 
have a spiritual knowledge far surpassing all material 
wisdom. Conventions and ceremonials are not for you, 

— you will make fashion, not follow it! I am not 
troubled, save for your sake, dear child! — for you know 
nothing of the world, and the ways of the Court may a f 
first offend you " 

" The ways of Hell must have seemed dark to Proser- 
pine," said 'Ronsard in his harsh, strong voice ; ' But 
Love gave her light! " 

"A very just reminder! " said Von Glauben, well 
pleased ; — " Consider Gloria to be the new Proserpine 
to-day! And now she must forgive me for playing the 
part of a tyrannical friend, and urging her to hasten her 
preparations." 

Gloria bent down and kissed Ronsard gently. 

" Trust me, little father ! " she whispered ; ' You have 
not taught me great lessons of truth in vain ! " 

Aloud she said. 

" The King and Queen wish to see me and speak with 
me, — and I know the reason why! They desire to fully 
explain to me all that my husband has already told me, 

— which is that according to the rules made for mon- 
archs, our marriage is inadmissible. Well ! — I have my 
answer ready; and you, Professor, shall hear me give it! 
Wait but a few moments and I will come with you." 

She left the room. The two men looked at each other 
in silence. At last Von Glauben said : — 



3 1 6 " Temporal Power ' 

'• Ronsard, I think you will soon reap the reward of 

your ' life-philosophy ' system ! Von have fed that girl 

from her childhood on strong- intellectual food, and 

trained the mental muscles rather than the physical ones. 

m my word. I believe you will see a good result! " 

Ronsard. who had grown much calmer and quieter 
during the last few minutes, raised himself a little from 
the chair into which he had sunk with an air of fatigue, 
and looked dreamily towards the open lattice window, 
where the roses hung in a curtain of crimson blossom. 

" If it be so, I shall praise God! " he said: " But the 
years have come and gone with me so peacefully since 
I made my home on these quiet shores, that the exer- 
cise of wliat I have presumed to call * philosophy ' has 
had no chance. Philosophy! It is well to preach it. 

— but when the blow of misfortune falls, who can prac- 
tise it ? " 

'"You can." replied the Professor: — " I can! Gloria 
can ! I think we all three have clear brains. There is a 
tendency in the present age to overlook and neglect the 
greatest power in the whole human composition, — the 
mental and psychical part of it. Xow. in the present 
curious drama of events, we have a chance given to exer- 
cise it : and it will be our own faults if we do not make 
our wills rule our destinies ' 

" But the position is intolerable — impossible ! * said 
Ronsard. rising and pacing the room with a fresh touch 
of agitation. " Nothing can do away with the fact that 
we— my child and I — have been cruelly deceived! And 
now there can be only one of two contingencies : Gloria 
must be acknowledged as the Prince's wife. — in which 
case he will be forced to resign all claim to the Throne : 

— or he must marry again, which makes her no wife at 
all. That is a disgrace her pride would never sub- 
mit to. nor mine: — for did I not kill a king? ' 

" Let me advise you for the future not to allude to that 
disagreeable incident ! " said Yon Glauben persuasively : 
" Exercise discretion. — as I do ! Observe that I do not 
ask you what king you killed : — I am as careful on that 
matter as I am coneerr.incr the reasons for which I my- 
self left my native Fatherland ! I make it a rule never to 
converse on painful subjects. You tell me you have tried 



An Invitation to Court 317 

to atone ; then believe that the atonement is made, and 
that Gloria is the sign of its acceptance, and — happy 
augury! — here she corner" 

They both instinctively turned to confront the girl as 
she entered. She had changed her ordinary white home- 
spun gown for another of the same kind, equally simple, 
but fresh and unworn ; her glorious bronze-chestnut hair 
was unbound to its full rippling length, and was held 
back by a band or fillet of curiously carved white coral, 
which surmounted the rich tresses somewhat in the fash- 
ion of a small crown, and she carried, thrown over one 
arm, the only kind of cloak she ever wore, — a burnous- 
like wrap of the same white homespun as her dress, 
with a hood, which, as the Professor slowly took out his 
glasses and fixed them on his nose out of mere mechani- 
cal habit, to look at her more closely, she drew over her 
head and shoulders, the soft folds about her exquisite face 
completing a classic picture of such radiant beauty as is 
seldom seen nowadays among the increasingly imperfect 
and repulsive specimens of female humanity which 'prog- 
ress ' combined with sensuality, produce for the ' ad- 
vancement ' of the race. 

" I have no Court dress," she said smiling: " And if I 
had I should not wear it ! The King and Queen shall see 
me as my husband sees me, — what pleases him, must 
suffice to please them ! I am quite read} - ! " 

Yon Glauben removed the spectacles he had needlessly 
put on. They were dim with a moisture which he fur- 
tively polished off. blinking his eyes meanwhile as if the 
light hurt him. He was profoundly moved — thrilled to 
the very core of his soul by the simplicity, frankness and 
courage of this girl whose education was chiefly out of 
wild Nature's lesson-book, and who knew nothing of the 
artificial world of fashion. 

" And I, my princess, am at your sendee ! " he said ; 
" Ronsard. it is but a few hours that we shall be absent. 
To-night with the rising of the moon we shall return, and 
I doubt not with the Prince himself as chief escort ! Keep 
a good heart and have faith ! All will be well ! " 

" All shall be well if Love can make it so ! " said Ron- 
sard : — "Gloria — my child !" He held out his 

wrinkled hands pathetically, unable to say more. She 



3 1 8 "Temporal Power' 

sank on her knees before him, and tenderly drawing down 
those hands upon her head, pressed them closely there. 

" Your blessing, dearest ! " she said ; " Not in speech 
— but in thought ! " 

There was a moment's sacred silence ; — then Gloria 
rose, and throwing her arms round the old man, the faith- 
ful protector of her infancy and girlhood, kissed him ten- 
derly. After that, she seemed to throw all seriousness to 
the winds, and running out under the roses of the porch 
made two or three light dancing steps across the lawn. 

" Come ! " she cried, her eyes sparkling, her face radiant 
with the gaiety of her inward spirit; " Come, Professor! 
This is not what we call a poet's day of dreams, — it is a 
Royal day of nonsense ! Come ! " and here she drew her- 
self up with a stately air — "WE are prepared to con- 
front the King ! " 

The Professor caught the infection of her mirth, and 
quickly followed her ; and within the next half-hour Rene 
Ronsard, climbing slowly to the summit of one of the 
nearest rocks on the shore adjacent to his dwelling, 
shaded his eyes from the dazzling sunlight on the sea, 
and strained them to watch the magnificent Royal yacht 
steaming swiftly over the tranquil blue water, with one 
slight figure clad in white leaning against the mast, a 
figure that waved its hand fondly towards The Islands, 
and of whom it might have been said : 

" Her gaze was glad past love's own singing of, 
And her face lovely past desire of love! " 



CHAPTER XXII 



A FAIR DEBUTANTE 



THAT same afternoon there was a mysterious com- 
motion at the Palace, — whispers ran from lip to 
lip among the few who had seen her, that a beautiful 
woman, — lovelier than the Queen herself, — had, under 
the escort of the uncommunicative Professor von Glauben, 
passed into the presence of the King and Queen, to re- 
ceive the honour of a private audience. Who was she? 
What was she? Where did she come from? How was 
she dressed? This last question was answered first, being 
easiest to deal with. She was attired all in white, — ' like 
a picture ' said some — ' like a statue ' said others. No 
one, however, dared ask any direct question concerning 
her, — her reception, whoever she was, being of a strictly 
guarded nature, and peremptory orders having been given 
to admit no one to the Queen's presence-chamber, to 
which apartment she had been taken by the King's phy- 
sician. But such dazzling beauty as hers could not go 
altogether unnoticed by the most casual attendant, senti- 
nel, or lord-in-waiting, and the very fact that special com- 
mands had been issued to guard all the doors of entrance 
to the Royal apartments on either hand, during her visit, 
only served to pique and inflame the general curiosity. 

Meantime, — while lesser and inferior personages were 
commenting on the possibility of the unknown fair one 
being concerned with some dramatic incident that might 
have to be included among the King's numerous gal- 
lantries, — the unconscious subject of their discussion 
was quietly seated alone in an ante-room adjoining the 
Queen's apartments, waiting till Professor von Glauben 
should announce that their Majesties were ready to re- 
ceive her. She was not troubled or anxious, or in any 
way ill at ease. She looked curiously upon the splendid 
evidences of Royal state, wealth and luxury which sur- 



320 "Temporal Power" 

rounded her, with artistic appreciation but no envy. She 
caught sight of her own face and figure in a tall mirror 
opposite to her, set in a silver frame ; and she studied 
herself quietly and critically with the calm knowledge 
that there was nothing to deplore or to regret in the way 
God and Nature had been pleased to make her. She was 
not in the slightest degree vain, — but she knew that a 
healthy and quiet mind in a healthy and unspoilt body, 
together form what is understood as the highest beauty, 

— and that these two elements were not lacking: in her. 
Moreover, she was conscious of a great love warming her 
heart and strengthening her soul, — and with this great 
motive-force to brace her nerves and add extra charm to 
her natural loveliness, she had no fear. She had enjoyed 
the swift voyage across the sparkling sea, and the fresh 
air had made her eyes doubly lustrous, her complexion 
even more than usually fair and brilliant. She did not 
permit herself to be rendered unhappy or anxious as to 
the possible attitude of the King and Queen towards her, 

— she was prepared for all contingencies, and had fully 
made up her mind what to say. Therefore, there was no 
need to fret over the position, or to be timorously con- 
cerned because she was called upon to confront those who 
by human law alone were made superior in rank to the 
rest of mankind. 

' In God's sight all men are equal ! " she said to her- 
self ; ' The King is a mere helpless babe at birth, depen- 
dant on others, — as he is a mere helpless corpse at death. 
It is only men's own foolish ideas and conventions of 
usage in life that make any difference! " 

At that moment the Professor entered hurriedly, and 
impulsively seizing her hands in his own, kissed them and 
pressed them tenderly. His face was flushed — he was 
evidently strongly excited. 

" Go in there now, Princess ! " he whispered, pointing 
to the adjacent room, of which the door stood ajar; "And 
may God 'be on your side ! " 

She rose up, and releasing her hands gently from his 
nervous grasp, smiled. 

" Do not be afraid ! " she said ; ' You, too, are 
coming ? " 

" I follow you ! " he replied. 



A Fair Debutante 321 

And to himself he said : " Ach, Gott in Himmel ! Will 
she keep her so beautiful calm ? If she will — if she can 
— a throne would be well lost for such a woman ! " 

And he watched her with an admiration amounting al- 
most to fear, as she passed before him and entered the 
Royal presence-chamber with a proud light step, a grace 
of bearing and a supreme distinction, which, had she been 
there on a day of diplomatic receptions, would have made 
half the women accustomed to attend Court, look like the 
merest vulgar plebeians. 

The room she entered was very large and lofty. A 
dazzle of gold ceiling, painted walls and mirrors flashed 
upon her eyes, with the hue of silken curtains and em- 
broidered hangings, - — the heavy perfume of hundreds of 
flowers in tall crystal vases and wide gilded stands made 
the air drowsy and odorous, and for a moment, Gloria, 
just fresh from the sweet breath of the sea, felt sickened 
and giddy, — but she recovered quickly, and raised her 
eyes fearlessly to the two motionless figures, which, like 
idols set in a temple for worship, waited her approach. 
The King, stiffly upright, and arrayed in military uni- 
form, stood near the Queen, who was seated in a throne- 
like chair over-canopied with gold, — her trailing robes 
were of a pale azure hue bordered with ermine, and 
touched here and there with silver, giving out reflexes 
of light, stolen as it seemed from the sea and sky, — and 
her beautiful face, with its clear-cut features and cold 
pallor, might have been carved out of ivory, for all the 
interest or emotion expressed upon it. Gloria came 
straight towards her, then stopped. With her erect 
supple form, proud head and fair features, she looked 
the living embodiment of sovereign womanhood, — and 
the Queen, meeting the full starry glance of her eyes, 
stirred among her Royal draperies, and raised herself 
with a slow graceful air of critical observation, in which 
there was a touch of languid wonder mingled with con- 
tempt. Still Gloria stood motionless, — neither abashed 
nor intimidated, — she made no curtsey or reverential 
salutation of any kind, and presently removing her gaze 
from the Queen, she turned to the King. 

" You sent for me," she said ; " And I have come. 

What do you want with me?" 

21 



322 "Temporal Power' 

The King smiled. What a dazzling Perfection was 
here, he thought ! A second Una unarmed, and strong 
in the courage of innocence ! But he was acting a special 
part, and he determined to play it well and thoroughly. 
So he gave her no reply, but turned with a stiff air to Von 
Glauben. 

" Tell the girl to make her obeisance to the Queen ! " 
he said. 

The Professor very reluctantly approached the ' Glory- 
of-the-Sea ' with this suggestion, cautiously whispered. 
Gloria obeyed at once. Moving swiftly to the Queen's 
chair, she bent low before her. 

' Madam ! " she said, " I am told to kneel to you, be- 
cause you are the Queen, — but it is not for that I do so. 
I kneel, because you are my husband's mother ! " 

And raising the cold impassive hand covered with 
great gems, that rested idly on the rich velvets so near to 
her touch, she gently kissed it, — then rose up to her full 
height again. 

" Is it always like this here? " she asked, gazing around 
her. " Do you always sit thus in a chair, dressed grandly 
and quite silent ? " 

The smile deepened on the King's face ; the Queen, 
perforce moved at last from her inertia, half rose with an 
air of amazement and indignation, and Von Glauben 
barely saved himself from laughing outright. 

' You," continued Gloria, fixing her bright glance on 
the King ; " You have seen me before ! You have spoken 
to me. Then why do you pretend not to know me now? 
Is that Court manners? If so, they are not good or 
kind!" 

The King relaxed his formal attitude, and addressed 
his Consort in a low tone. 

' It is no use dealing with this girl in the conventional 
way," he said ; '" She is a mere child at heart, simple and 
uneducated; — we must treat her as such. Perhaps you 
will speak to her first? " 

" No, Sir, I much prefer that you should do so," she 
replied. ' When I have heard her answers to you, it will 
be perhaps my turn ! " 

Thereupon the King advanced a step or two, and 
Gloria regarded him steadfastly. Meeting the pure light 



A Fair Debutante 323 

of those lovely eyes, he lost something of his ordinary 
self-possession, — he was conscious of a certain sense 
of embarrassment and foolishness ; — his very uniform, 
ablaze with gold and jewelled orders, seemed a clown's 
costume compared with the classic simplicity of Gloria's 
homespun garb, which might have fitly clothed a Greek 
goddess. Sensible of his nervous irritation, he however 
overcame it by an effort, and summoning all his dignity, 
he 'graciously,' as the newspaper parasites put it, extended 
his hand. Gloria smiled archly. 

" I kissed your hand the other day when you were 
cross!'' she said; "You would like it kissed again? 
There!" 

And with easy grace of gesture she pressed her lips 
lightly upon it. It would have needed something stronger 
than mere flesh and blood to resist the natural playfulness 
and charm of her action, combined with her unparalleled 
beauty, and the King, who was daily and hourly proving 
for himself the power and intensity of that Spirit of Man 
which makes clamour for higher things than Man's con- 
ventionalities, became for the moment as helplessly over- 
whelmed and defeated by a woman's smile, a woman's 
eyes, as any hero of old times, whose conquests have been 
reported to us in history as achieved for the sake of 
love and beauty. But he was compelled to disguise his 
thoughts, and to maintain an outward expression of for- 
mality, particularly in the presence of his Queen-Con- 
sort, - — and he withdrew the hand that bore her soft kiss 
upon it with a well-simulated air of chill tolerance. Then 
he spoke gravely, in measured precise accents. 

" Gloria Ronsard, we have sent for you in all kindness," 
he said ; " out of a sincere wish to remedy any wrong 
which our son, the Crown Prince has, in the light folly 
and hot impulse of his youth, done to you in your life. 
We are given to understand that there is a boy-and-girl 
attachment between you ; that he won your attachment 
under a disguised identity, and that you were thus inno- 
cently deceived, — and that, in order to satisfy his own 
honourable scruples, as well as your sense of maidenly 
virtue, he has, still under a disguise, gone through the 
ceremony of marriage with you. Therefore, it seems that 
you now imagine yourself to be his lawful wife. This is 



I 

324 "Temporal Power' 

a very natural mistake for a girl to make who is as young 
and inexperienced as you are, and I am sorry, — very 
sorry for the false position in which my son the Crown 
Prince has so thoughtlessly placed you. But, after very 
earnest consideration, I, — and the Queen also, — think it 
much better for you to know the truth at once, so that you 
may fully realize the situation, and then, by the exercise 
of a little common sense, spare yourself any further delu- 
sion and pain. All we can do to repair the evil, you may 
rest assured shall be done. But you must thoroughly 
understand that the Crown Prince, as heir to the Throne, 
cannot marry out of his own station. If he should pre- 
sume to do so, through some mad and hot-headed impulse, 
such a marriage is not admitted or agreed to by the 
nation. Thus you will see plainly that, though you have 
gone through the marriage ceremony with him, that 
counts as nothing in your case, — for, according to the 
law of the realm, and in the sight of the world, you are 
not, and cannot be his wife ! " 

Gloria raised her deep bright eyes and smiled. 

" No ? " she said, and then was silent. 

The King regarded her with surprise, and a touch of 
anger. He had expected tears, passionate declamations, 
and reiterated assurances of the unalterable and indis- 
soluble tie between herself and her lover, but this little 
indifferently-queried " No?" upset all his calculations. 

"'' Have you nothing to say ? " he asked, somewhat sternly. 

'What should I say?" she responded, still smiling; 
" You are the King ; it is for you to speak ! " 

" She does not understand you, Sir," interrupted the 
Queen coldly ; ' Your words are possibly too elaborate 
for her simple comprehension ! " 

Gloria turned a fearless beautiful glance upon her. 

' Pardon me, Madam, but I do understand ! " she said ; 
" I understand that by the law of God I am your son's 
wife, and that by the law of the world I am no wife! I 
abide by the law of God ! " 

There was a moment's dead silence. Professor von 
Glauben gave a discreet cough to break it, and the King, 
reminded of his presence turned towards him. 

" Has she no sense of the position ? " he demanded. 

" Sir, I have every reason to believe that she grasps it 



A Fair Debutante 325 

thoroughly ! ' ; replied Von Glauben with a deferential 
bow. 

" Then why " 

But here he was again interrupted by the Queen. She, 
raising herself in her chair, her beautiful head and shoul- 
ders lifted statue-like from her enshrining draperies of 
azure and white, stretched forth a hand and beckoned 
Gloria towards her. 

" Come here, child ! " she said ; then as Gloria ad- 
vanced with evident reluctance, she added ; " Come closer 

— you must not be afraid of me ! " 
Gloria smiled. 

" Nay, Madam, trouble not yourself at all in that 
regard ! I never was afraid of anyone ! " 

A shadow of annoyance darkened the Queen's fair 
brows. 

" Since you have no fear, you may equally have no 
shame ! " she said in icy-cold accents ; ' Therefore it is 
easy to understand why you deliberately refuse to see the 
harm and cruelty done to our son, the Crown Prince, by 
his marriage with you, if such marriage were in the least 
admissible, which fortunately for all concerned, it is not. 
He is destined to occupy the Throne, and he must wed 
someone who is fit to share it. Kings and princes may 
love where they choose, — but they can only marry where 
they must ! You are my son's first love ; — the thought 
and memory of that may perhaps be a consolation to you, 

— but do not assume that you will be his last ! " 

Gloria drew back from her ; her face had paled a little. 

" You can speak so! " she said sorrowfully; ' You, — 
his mother ! Poor Queen — poor woman ! I am sorry 
for you ! " 

Without pausing to notice the crimson flush of vexation 
that flew over the Queen's delicate face at her words, she 
turned, now with some haughtiness, to the King. 

" Speak plainly ! " she said ; " What is it you want of 
me?" 

Her flashing eyes, her proud look startled him — he 
moved back a step or two. Then he replied with as much 
firmness and dignity as he could assume. 

' Nothing is wanted of you, my child, but obedience 
and loyalty ! Resign all claim upon the Crown Prince as 



•>•> 



326 "Temporal Power 

his wife ; promise never to see him again, or correspond 
with him, — and you shall lose nothing by the sac- 
rifice you make of your little love affair to the good of 
the country." 

" The good of the country ! " echoed Gloria in thrilling 
tones. "Do you know anything about it? You — who 
never go among your people except to hunt and shoot 
and amuse yourself generally ? You, who permit wicked 
liars and spendthrifts to gamble with the people's money ! 
The good of the country! If my life could only lift 
the burden of taxation from the country, I would lay it 
down gladly and freely! If I were Queen, do you think 
I could be like her?" and she stretched forth her white 
arm to where the Queen, amazed, had risen from her seat, 
and now stood erect, her rich robes trailing yards on the 
ground, and flashing at every point with jewels. " Do 
you think I could sit unmoved, clad in rich velvet and 
gems, while one single starving creature sought bread 
within my kingdom? Nay, I would sell everything I 
possessed and go barefoot rather! I would be a sister, 
not a mere ' patroness ' to the poor ; — I would never 
wear a single garment that had not been made for me by 
the workers of my own land ; — and the ' good of the 
country ' should be ' good ' indeed, not ' bad,' as it is 
now ! " 

Breathless with the sudden rush of her thoughts into 
words, she stood with heaving bosom and sparkling eyes, 
the incarnation of eloquence and inspiration, and before 
the astonished monarch could speak, she went on. 

" I am your son's wife ! He loves me — he has wedded 
me honourably and lawfully. You wish me to disclaim 
that. I will not ! From him and him alone, must come 
my dismissal from his heart, his life and his soul. If he 
desires his marriage with me dissolved, let him tell me so 
himself face to face, and before you and his mother! 
Then I shall be content to be no more his wife. But not 
till then ! I will promise nothing without his consent. 
He is my husband, — and to him I owe my first obedience. 
I seek no honour, no rank, no wealth, — but I have won 
the greatest treasure in this world, his love ! — and that 
I will keep ! " 

A door opened at the further end of the room — a 



A Fair Debutante 327 



curtain was quietly pushed aside, and the Crown Prince 
entered. With a composed, almost formal demeanour, 
he saluted the King and Queen, and then going up to 
Gloria, passed his arm around her waist, and held her 
fast. 

' When you have concluded your interview with my 
wife, Sir, — an interview of which I had no previous 
knowledge," he said quietly, addressing the King; "I 
shall be glad to have one of my own with her ! ,: 

The King answered him calmly enough. 

" Your wife, — as you call her, — is a very incorrig- 
ible young person," he said. ' The sooner she returns 
to her companions, the fisher-folk on The Islands, the 
better ! From her looks I imagined she might have sense ; 
but I fear that is lacking to her composition ! However, 
she is perfectly willing to consider her marriage with you 
dissolved, if you desire it. I trust you will desire it ; — 
here, now, and at once, in my presence and that of the 
Queen, your mother ; — and thus a very unpleasant and 
unfortunate incident in your career will be satisfactorily 
closed ! " 

Prince Humphry smiled. 

:< Dissolve the heavens and its stars into a cup of wine, 
and drink them all down at one gulp ! " he said ; " And 
then, perhaps, you may dissolve my marriage with this 
lady! If you consider it illegal, put the question to the 
Courts of Law ; — to the Pope, who most strenuously 
supports the sanctity of the marriage-tie ; — ask all who 
know anything of the sacrament, whether, when two 
people love each other, and are bound by holy matrimony 
to be as one, and are mutually resolved to so remain, any 
earthly power can part them ! ' Those whom God hath 
joined together, let no man put asunder.' Is that mere 
lip mockery, or is it a holy bond? " 

The King gave an impatient gesture. 

" There is no use in argument," he said, " when argu- 
ment has to be carried on with such children as your- 
selves. What cannot be done by persuasion, must be clone 
by force. I wished to act kindly and reasonably by both 
of you — and I had hoped better things from this inter- 
view, — but as matters have turned out, it may as well 
be concluded." 



328 "Temporal Power' 

" Wait! " said Gloria, disengaging herself gently from 
her husband's embrace ; ' I have something to say which 
ought to meet your wishes, even though it may not be 
all you desire. I will not promise to give up my husband ; 

— I will not promise never to see him, and never to write 
to him — but I will swear to you one thing that should 
completely put your fears and doubts of me at rest ! " 

Both the King and Queen looked at her wonderingly ; 

— a brighter, more delicate beauty seemed to invest 
her, — she stood very proudly upright, her small head 
lifted, — her rich hair glistening in the soft sunshine that 
streamed in subdued tints through the high stained-glass 
windows of the room, — her figure, slight and tall, was 
like that of the goddess dreamt of by Endymion. 

" You are so unhappy already," she continued, turning 
to the Queen ; ' You have lost so much, and you need so 
much, that I should be sorry to add to your burden of 
grief ! If I thought I could make you glad,  — if I thought 
I could make you see the world through my eyes, with 
all the patient, loving human hearts about you, waiting 
for the sympathy you never give ; I would come to you 
often, and try to find the warm pulse of you somewhere 
under all that splendour which you clothe yourself in, and 
which is as valueless to me as the dust on the common 
road ! And if I could show you," and here she fixed her 
steadfast glance upon the King, — " where you might 
win friends instead of losing them, — if I could persuade 
you to look and see where the fires of Revolution are 
beginning to smoulder and kindle under your very 
Throne, — if I could bear messages from you of compas- 
sion and tenderness to all the disaffected and disloyal, I 
would ask you on my knees to let me be your daughter 
in affection, as I am by marriage ; and I would unveil to 
you the secrets of your own kingdom, which is slowly 
but steadily rising against you! But you judge me 
wrongly — you estimate me falsely, — and where I might 
have given aid, your own misconception of me makes me 
useless ! You consider me low-born and a mere peasant ! 
How can you be sure of that ? — for truly I do not know 
who I am, or where I came from. For aught I can tell, 
the storm was my father, and the sea my mother, — but 
my parents may as easily have been Royal! You judge 



A Fair Debutante 329 

me half-educated, — and wholly unworthy to be your 
son's wife. Will the ladies of your Court compete with 
me in learning ? I am ready ! What I hear of their at- 
tainments has not as yet commanded my respect or ad- 
miration, — and you yourself as King, do nothing to 
show that you care for either art or learning ! I wonder, 
indeed, that you should even pause to consider whether 
your son's wife is educated or not ! "' 

Absolutely silent, the King kept his eyes upon her. He 
was experiencing a novel sensation which was altogether 
delightful to him, and more instructive than any essay 
or sermon. He, the ostensible ruler of the country, was 
face to face with a woman who had no fear of him, — no 
awe for his position, — no respect for his rank, but who 
simply spoke to him as though he had been any ordinary 
person. He saw a scarcely perceptible smile on his son's 
handsome features, — he saw that Von Glauben's eyes 
twinkled, despite his carefully preserved seriousness of 
demeanour, and he realized the almost absurd powerless- 
ness of his authority in such an embarrassing position. 
The assumption of a mute contempt, such as was vaguely 
expressed by the Queen, appeared to him to be the best 
policy ; — he therefore adopted that attitude, without 
however producing the least visible effect. Gloria's face, 
softly flushed with suppressed emotion, looked earnest 
and impassioned, but neither abashed nor afraid. 

" I have read many histories of kings," she continued 
slowly ; " Of their treacheries and cruelties ; of their 
neglect of their people! Seldom have they been truly 
great ! The few who are reported as wise, lived and 
reigned so many ages ago, that we cannot tell whether 
their virtues were indeed as admirable as described, — 
or whether their vices were not condoned by a too-partial 
historian. A Throne has no attraction for me ! The only 
sorrow I have ever known in my life, is the discovery that 
the man I love best in the world is a king's son ! Would 
to God he were poor and unrenowned as I thought him to 
be, when I married him ! - - for so we should always have 
been happy. But now I have to think for him as well as 
for myself ; — his position is as hard as mine, — and we 
accept our fate as a trial of our love. Love cannot be 
forced, — it must root itself, and grow where it will. It 



330 "Temporal Power' 

has made us two as one ; — one in thought, — one in 
hope, — one in faith ! No earthly power can part us. 
You would marry him to another woman, and force him 
to commit a great sin ' for the good of the country ' ? I 
tell you, if you do that, — if any king or prince does that, 
— God's curse will surely fall upon the Throne, and all 
that do inherit it! " 

She did not raise her voice, — she spoke in low thrilling 
accents, without excitement, but with measured force and 
calm. Then she beckoned the Crown Prince to her side. 
He instantly obeyed her gesture. Taking him by the 
hand, she advanced a little, and with him confronted 
both the King and Queen. 

' Hear me, your Majesties both ! " she said in clear, 
firm accents ; " And when you have heard, be satisfied as 
to ' the good of the country,' and let me depart to my own 
home in peace, away from all your crushing and miserable 
conventions. I take your son by the hand, and even as I 
swore my faith to him at the marriage altar, so I swear to 
you that he is free to follow his own inclination ; — his 
law is mine, — his will my pleasure, — and in everything 
I shall obey him, save in this one decree, which I make 
for myself in your Majesties' sovereign presence, — that 
never, so help me God, will I claim or share my husband's 
rank as Crown Prince, or set foot within this palace, 
which is his home, again, till a greater voice than that of 
any king, — the voice of the Nation itself, calls upon me 
to do so ! " 

This proud declaration was entirely unexpected ; and 
both the King and Queen regarded the beautiful speaker 
in undisguised amazement. She, gently dropping the 
Prince's hand, met their eyes with a wistful pathos in her 
own. 

" Will that satisfy you ? " she asked, a slight tremor 
shaking her voice as she put the question. 

The King at once advanced, and now spoke frankly, 
and without any ceremony. 

" Assuredly ! You are a brave girl ! True to your love, 
and true to the country at one and the same time ! But 
while I accept your vow, let me warn you not to indulge 
in any lurking hope or feeling that the Nation will ever 
recognize your marriage. Your own willingly-taken 



A Fair Debutante 331 



oath at this moment practically makes it null and void, so 
far as the State is concerned ; — but perhaps it strengthens 
it as a bond of — youthful passion ! " 

An open admiration flashed in his bold fine eyes as he 
spoke,  — and Gloria grew pale. With an involuntary 
movement she turned towards the Queen. 

" You Madam — you Ah ! No, — not you ! 

— you are cruel! — you have not a woman's heart! My 
love — my husband ! " 

The Prince was at once beside her, and she clung to 
him trembling. 

'Take me away!" she whispered; "Take me away 
altogether — this place stifles me ! " 

He caught her in his strong young arms, and was about 
to lead her to the door, when she suddenly appeared to re- 
member something, and releasing herself from his clasp, 
put him away from her with a faint smile. 

' No, dearest ! You must stay here ; stay here 

and make your father and mother understand all that I 
have said. Tell them I mean to keep my vow. You 
know how thoroughly I mean it! The Professor will 
take me home! " 

Then the Queen moved, and came towards her with 
her usual slow noiseless grace. 

" Let me thank you ! " she said, with an air of gracious 
condescension ; " You are a very good girl, and I am 
sure you will keep your word ! You are so beautiful that 
you are bound to do well ; and I hope your future life 
will be a happy one ! " 

" I hope so, Madam ! ' : replied Gloria slowly ; ' I 
think it will ! If it is not happier than yours, I shall 
indeed be unfortunate! " 

The Queen drew back, offended ; but the King, who had 
been whispering aside to Von Glauben, now approached 
and said kindly. 

" You must not go away, my child, without some token 
of our regard. Wear this for Our sake ! " 

He offered her a chain of gold bearing a simple yet 
exquisitely designed pendant of choice pearls. Her face 
crimsoned, and she pushed it disdainfully aside. 

' Keep it, Sir, for those whose love and faith can be 
purchased with jewelled toys! Mine cannot! You mean 



>> 



332 "Temporal Power 

kindly no doubt, — but a gift from you is an offence, not 
an honour ! Fare-you-well ! " 

Another moment and she was gone. Von Glauben, at 
a sign from the King, hastily followed her. Prince 
Humphry, who had remained almost entirely mute dur- 
ing the scene, now stood with folded arms opposite his 
Royal parents, still silent and rigid. The King watched 
him for a minute or two — then laid a hand gently on 
his arm. 

" We do not blame you over-much, Humphry ! " he 
said ; " She is a beautiful creature, and more intelligent 
than I had imagined. Moreover she has great calmness, 
as well as courage." 

Still the Prince said nothing. 

" You are satisfied, Madam, I presume ? " went on the 
King addressing his Consort ; — " The girl could hardly 
make a more earnest vow of abnegation than she has 
done. And when Humphry has travelled for a year and 
seen other lands, other manners, and other faces, we may 
look upon this boyish incident in his career as finally 
closed. I think both you and I can rest assured that there 
will be no further cause for anxiety? " 

He put the question carelessly. The Queen bent her 
head in acquiescence, but her eyes were fixed upon her 
son, who still said nothing. 

" We have not received any promise from Humphry 
himself," she said ; i4 Apparently he is not disposed to 
take a similar oath of loyalty ! " 

" Truly, Madam, you judge me rightly for once! " said 
the Prince, quietly ; ' I am certainly not disposed to do 
anything but to be master of my own thoughts and 
actions." 

" Remain so, Humphry, by all means ! " said the King 
indulgently. " The present circumstances being so far 
favourable, we exact nothing more from you. Love will 
be love, and passion must have its way with boys of your 
age. I impose no further restriction upon you. The girl's 
own word is to me sufficient bond for the preservation 
of your high position. All young men have their little 
secret love-affairs ; we shall not blame you for yours now, 
seeing, as we do, the satisfactory end of it in sight ! But 
I fear we are detaining yon! " This with elaborate po- 



A Fair Debutante 333 

litcness. ' If you wish to follow your fair inamorata, the 
way is clear ! You may retire ! " 

Without any haste, but with formal military stiffness 
the Prince saluted, — and turning slowly on his heel, left 
the presence-chamber. Alone, the King and his beautiful 
(Jueen-Consort looked questioningly at one another. 

" What think you, Madam, of the heroine of this 
strange love-story?" he asked with a touch of bitterness 
in his voice. ' Does it not strike you that even in this 
arid world of much deception, there may be after all such 
a thing as innocence ? — such a treasure as true and trust- 
ing love? Were not the eyes of this girl Gloria, when 
lifted to your face, something like the eyes of a child who 
has just said its prayers to God, — who fears nothing and 
loves all ? Yet I doubt whether you were moved ! " 

" Were you ? " she asked indifferently, yet with a 
strange fluttering at her heart, which she could not herself 
comprehend. 

' I was ! " he answered. ' I confess it ! I was pro- 
foundly touched to see a girl of such beauty and innocence 
confront us here, with no other shield against our formal 
and ridiculous conventionalities, save the pure strength of 
her own love for Humphry, and her complete trust in 
him. It is easy to see that her life hangs on his will ; it 
is not so much her with whom we have to deal, as with 
him. What he says, she will evidently obey. If he tells 
her he has ceased to love her, she will die quite uncom- 
plainingly ; but so long as he does love her, she will live, 
and expand in beauty and intelligence on that love alone ; 
and you may be assured, Madam, that in that case, he will 
never wed another woman ! Nor could I possibly blame 
him, for he is bound to find all — or most women inferior 
to her ! " 

She regarded him wonderingly. 

'Your admiration of her is keen, Sir!' she said, 
amazed to find herself somewhat irritated. ' Perhaps if 
she were not morganatically your daughter-in-law, you 
might be your son's rival ? " 

He turned upon her indignantly. 

' Madam, the days were, when you, as my wife, had it 
in your power to admit no rivals to the kingdom of your 
own beauty! Since then, I confess, you have had many! 



?> 



334 "Temporal Power 

But they have been worthless rivals all, — crazed with 
their own vanity and greed, and empty of truth and 
honour. A month or two before I came to the Throne, I 
was beginning to think that women were viler than ver- 
min, — I had grown utterly weary of their beauty, — 
weary — ay, sick to death of their alluring eyes, sensual 
lips, and too freely-offered caresses ; the uncomely, hard- 
worked woman, earning bread for her half-starved chil- 
dren, seemed the only kind of feminine creature for which 
I could have any respect — but now — I am learning 
that there are good women who are fair to see, — women 
who have hearts to love and suffer, and who are true — 
ay — true as the sun in heaven to the one man they 
worship ! " 

" A man who is generally quite unworthy of them ! ' : 
said the Queen with a chill laugh ; " Your eloquence, Sir, 
is very touching, and no doubt leads further than I care 
to penetrate ! The girl Gloria is certainly beautiful, and 
no doubt very innocent and true at present, — but when 
Humphry tires of her, as he surely will, for all men 
quickly tire of those that love them best, — she will no 
doubt sink into the ordinary ways of obtaining consola- 
tion. I know little concerning these amazingly good 
women you speak of ; and nothing concerning good men ! 
But I quite agree with you that many women are to be ad- 
mired for their hard work. You see when once they do 
begin to work, men generally keep them at it ! " She 
gathered up her rich train on one arm, and prepared to 
leave the apartment. " If you think," she continued, 
" as you now say, that Humphry will never change his 
present sentiments, and never marry any other woman, 
the girl's oath is a mere farce and of no avail ! " 

" On the contrary, it is of much avail," said the King, 
" for she has sworn before us both never to claim any 
right to share in Humphry's position, till the nation itself 
asks her to do so. Now as the nation will never know of 
the marriage at all, the ' call ' will not be forthcoming." 

The Queen paused in the act of turning away. 

" If you were to die," she said; " Humphry would be 
King. And as King, he is quite capable of making Gloria 
Queen ! " 

He looked at her very strangely. 



A Fair Debutante 335 

" Madam, in the event of my death, all things are 
possible!" he said; "A dying Sovereignty may give 
birth to a Republic ! " 

The Queen smiled. 

" Well, it is the most popular form of government now- 
adays," she responded, carelessly moving slowly towards 
the door; "And perhaps the most satisfactory. I think 
if I were not a Queen, I should be a republican ! " 

" And I, if I were not a King," he responded, " should 
be a Socialist ! Such are the strange contradictions of 
human nature! Permit me!" He opened the door of 
the room for her to pass out, — and as she did so, she 
looked up full in his face. 

" Are you still interested in your new form of amuse- 
ment?" she said; "And do you still expose yourself to 
danger and death ? " 

He bowed assent. 

" Still am I a fool in a new course of folly, Madam ! " 
he answered with a smile, and a half sigh. " So many of 
my brother monarchs are wadded round like peaches in 
wool, with precautions for their safety, lest they bruise at 
a touch, that I assure you I take the chances of danger 
and death as exhilarating sport, compared to their guarded 
condition. But it is very good of you to assume such a 
gracious solicitude for my safety ! " 

' Assume ? " she said. Her voice had a slight tremor 
in it, — her eyes looked soft and suffused with something 
like tears. Then, with her usual stately grace, she saluted 
him, and passed out. 

Struck at the unwonted expression in her face, he stood 
for a moment amazed. Then he gave vent to a low bitter 
laugh. 

" How strange it would be if she should love me now ! " 

he murmured. 'But after all these years too 

late ! Too late ! " 

That night before the King retired to rest, Professor 
von Glauben reported himself and his duty to his Majesty 
in the privacy of his own apartments. He had, he stated, 
accompanied Gloria back to her home in The Islands ; 
and, he added somewhat hesitatingly, the Crown Prince 
had returned with her, and had there remained. He, the 
Professor, had left them together, being commanded by 
the Prince so to do. 



33& 



a 



Temporal Power' 



The King received this information with perfect 
equanimity. 

' The boy must have his way for the present," he said. 
" His passion will soon exhaust itself. All passion ex- 
hausts itself sooner or — later ! " 

' That depends very much on the depth or shallowness 
of its source, Sir," replied the Professor. 

"True! But a boy! — a mere infant in experience! 
What can he know of the depths in the heart and soul ! 
Now a man of my age " 

He broke off abruptly, seeing Von Glauben's eyes fixed 
steadfastly upon him, and the colour deepened in his 
cheek. Then he gave a slight laugh. 

' I tell you, Von Glauben, this little love-affair — 
this absurd toy-marriage is, not worth thinking about. 
Humphry leaves the country at the end of this month, — 
he will remain absent a year, — and at the expiration of 
that time we shall marry him in good earnest to a royally- 
born bride. Meanwhile, let us not trouble ourselves about 
this sentimental episode, which is so rapidly drawing to 
its close." 

The Professor bowed respectfully and retired. But not 
to sleep. He had a glowing picture before his eyes, — a 
picture he could not forget, of the Crown Prince and 
Gloria standing with arms entwined about each other 
under the rose-covered porch of Ronsard's cottage saying 
" Good-night " to him, while Ronsard himself, his tran- 
quillity completely restored, and his former fears at rest, 
warmly shook his hand, and with a curious mingling of 
pride and deference thanked him for all his friendship — 
' all his goodness ! ' 

" And no goodness at all is mine," said the meditative 
Professor, " save that of being as honest as I can to both 
sides! But there is some change in the situation which I 
do not quite understand. There is some new plan on foot 
I would swear ! The Prince was too triumphant — Gloria 
too happy — Ronsard too satisfied ! There is something 
in the wind ! — but I cannot make out what it is ! '' 

He pondered uneasily for a part of the night, reflecting 
that when he had returned from The Islands in the King's 
yacht, he had met the Prince's own private vessel on her 
way thither, gliding over the waves, a mere ghostly bunch 



A Fair Debutante 337 

of white sails in the glimmering moon. He had con- 
cluded that it was under orders to embark the Prince for 
home again in the morning ; and yet, though this was a 
perfectly natural and probable surmise, he had been unable 
to rid himself altogether of a doubtful presentiment, to 
which he could give no name. By degrees, he fell into an 
uneasy slumber, in which he had many incompleted 
dreams, — one of which was that he found himself all 
alone on the wide ocean which stretched for thousands of 
miles beyond The Islands, — alone in a small boat, en- 
deavouring to row it towards the great Southern Conti- 
nent that lay afar off in the invisible distance, — where 
few but the most adventurous travellers ever cared to 
wander. And as he pulled with weak, ineffectual oars 
against the mighty weight of the rolling billows, he 
thought he heard the words of an old Irish song which he 
remembered having listened to, when as quite a young 
man he had paid his first and last visit to the misty and 
romantic shores of Britain. 

" Come o'er the sea 
Cushla ma chree ! — 
Mine through sunshine, storm and snows ! — 
Seasons may roll, 
But the true soul, 
Burns the same wherever it goes ; 
Let fate frown on, so we love and part not, 
'Tis life where thou art, 't is death where thou art not ! 
Then come o'er the sea, 
Cushla ma chree! 
Mine wherever the wild wind blows 1 " 

Then waking with a violent start, he wondered what 

set of brain-cells had been stirred to reproduce rhymes that 

he had, or so he deemed, long ago forgotten. And still 

musing, he almost mechanically went on with the wild 

ditty. 

" Was not the sea 
Made for the free, 
Land for Courts and chains alone ! — 
Here we are slaves, 
But on the waves, 
Love and liberty are our own ! " 

" This will never do! " he exclaimed, leaping from his 
bed ; " I am becoming a mere driveller with advancing 



age 



22 



338 "Temporal Power' 

He went to the window and looked out. It was about 
six o'clock in the morning, — the sun was shining brightly 
into his room. Before him lay the sea, calm as a lake, and 
clear-sparkling as a diamond ; — not a boat was in sight ; 

— not a single white sail on the distant horizon. And in 
the freshness and stillness of the breaking day, the world 
looked but just newly created. 

' How we fret and fume in our little span of life ! " he 
murmured. " A few years hence, and for us all the 
troubles which we make for ourselves will be ended ! 
But the sun and the sea will shine on just the same — 
and Love, the supremest power on earth, will still govern 
mankind, when thrones and kings and empires are no 
more ! " 

His thoughts were destined to bear quick fruition. 
The morning deepened into noon — and at that hour a 
sealed dispatch brought by a sailor, who gave no name 
and who departed as soon as he had delivered his packet, 
was handed to the King. It was from the Crown Prince, 
and ran briefly thus : — 

' At your command, Sir, and by my own desire, I have 
left the country over which you hold your sovereign do- 
minion. Whither I travel, and how, is my own affair. I 
shall return no more //// the Nation demands my service, 

— whereof I shall doubtless hear should such a contin- 
gency ever arise. I leave you to deal with the situation 
as seems best to your good pleasure and that of the Gov- 
ernment, — but the life God has given me can only be 
lived once, and to Him alone am I responsible for it. I 
am resolved therefore to live it to my own liking, — in 
honesty, faith and freedom. In accordance with this de- 
termination, Gloria, my wife, as in her sworn marriage- 
duty bound, goes with me." 

For one moment the King stood transfixed and as- 
tounded ; a cloud of anger darkened his brows. Crump- 
ling up the document in his hand, he was about to fling it 
from him in a fury. What ! This mere boy and girl had 
baffled the authority of a king! Anon, his anger cooled 

— his countenance cleared. Smoothing the paper out he 
read its contents again, — then smiled. 



A Fair Debutante 339 

' Well ! Humphry has something of me in him after 
all ! " he said. ' He is not entirely his mother ! He has a 
heart, — a will, and a conscience, — all three generally 
lacking to sons of kings ! Let me be honest with myself ! 
If he had given way to me, I should have despised him! 
— but for Love's sake he has opposed me ; and by my 
soul ! — I respect him ! " 



CHAPTER XXIII 



THE KING'S DEFENDER 



RUMOUR, we are told, has a million tongues, and 
they were soon all at work, wagging- out the 
news of the Crown Prince's mysterious departure. Each 
tongue told a different story, and none of the stories 
tallied. No information was to be obtained at Court. 
There nothing was said, but that the Prince, disliking the 
formal ceremony of a public departure, had privately set 
sail in his own yacht for his projected tour round the 
world. Nobody believed this ; and the general impres- 
sion soon gained ground that the young man had fallen 
into disgrace with his Royal parents, and had been sent 
away for a time till he should recognize the enormity of 
his youthful indiscretions. 

" Sent away you understand ! ' ! said the society 

gossips ; " To avoid further scandal! " 

The Prince's younger brothers, Rupert and Cyprian, 
were often plied with questions by their intimates, but 
knowing nothing, and truly caring less, they could give 
no explanation. Neither King nor Queen spoke a word 
on the subject ; and Sir Roger de Launay, astonished and 
perplexed beyond measure as he was at this turn in 
affairs, dared not put any questions even to his friend 
Professor von Glauben who, as soon as the news of the 
Prince's departure was known, resolutely declined to 
speak, so he said, " on what did not concern him." Grad- 
ually, however, this excitement partially subsided to give 
place to other forms of social commotion, which begin- 
ning in trifles, swiftly expanded to larger and more seri- 
ous development. The first of these was the sudden rise 
of a newspaper which had for many years subsisted with 
the greatest difficulty in opposition to the many journals 
governed by David Jost. It happened in this manner. 



The King's Defender 341 

Several leading articles written in favour of a Jesuit set- 
tlement in the country, had appeared constantly in Jost's 
largest and most widely circulated newspaper, and the 
last of these ' leaders,' had concluded with the assertion 
that though his Majesty, the King, had at first refused 
the portion of Crown-lands needed by the Society for 
building, he had now ' graciously ' re-considered the situ- 
ation, and had been pleased to revoke his previous deci- 
sion. Whereat, the very next morning the rival ' daily ' 
had leaped into prominence by merely two headlines : 

THE JESUIT SETTLEMENT 
STATEMENT BY HIS MAJESTY THE KING. 

And there, plainly set forth, was the Royal and authori- 
tative refusal to grant the lands required, ' Because of 
the earnest petition of our loving subjects against the said 
grant,' — and till 'our loving subjects'' objections were 
removed, the lands would be withheld. This public an- 
nouncement signed by the King in person, created the 
most extraordinary sensation throughout the whole coun- 
try. It was the one topic at every social meeting ; it was 
the one subject of every sermon. Preachers stormed and 
harangued in every pulpit, and Monsignor Del Fortis, 
lifting up his harsh raucous voice in the Cathedral itself, 
addressed an enormous congregation one Sunday morn- 
ing on the matter, and denounced the King, the Queen, 
and the mysteriously-departed Crown Prince in the most 
orthodox Christian manner, commending them to the 
flames of hell, and the mercy of a loving God at one and 
the same moment. 

Meanwhile, the newspaper that had been permitted to 
publish the King's statement got its circulation up by tens 
of thousands, the more so as certain brilliant and fiery 
articles on the political situation began to appear therein 
signed by one Pasquin Leroy, a stranger to the reading 
public, but in whom the spirit of a modern ' Junius ' ap- 
peared to have entered for the purpose of warning, threat- 
ening and commanding. A scathing and audacious 
attack upon Carl Perousse, Secretary of State, in which the 
small darts of satire flew further than the sharpest arrows 
of assertion, was among the first of these, and Perousse 



34 2 "Temporal Power' 

himself, maddened like a bull at the first prick of the 
toreador, by the stinging truths the writer uttered, or 
rather suggested, lost no time in summoning General 
Bernhoff to a second interview. 

" Did I not tell you," he said, pointing to the signature 
at the end of the offending article, " to ' shadow ' that 
man, and arrest him as a common spy ? " 

Bernhoff bowed stiffly. 

' You did ! But it is difficult to arrest one who is not 
capable of being arrested. I must be provided first with 
proofs of his guilt ; and I must also obtain the King's 
order." 

' Proofs should be easy enough for you to obtain," 
said Perousse fiercely ; " And the King will sign any 
warrant he is told. At least, you can surely find this 
rascal out ? — where he lives, and what are his means of 
subsistence ? " 

" If he were here, I could," responded Bernhoff calmly; 
' I have made all the necessary preliminary enquiries. 
The man is a gentleman of considerable wealth. He 
writes for his own amusement, and — from a distance. 
I advise you — " and here the General held up an obsti- 
nate-looking finger of warning ; ' I advise you, I say, to 
let him alone ! I can find no proof whatever that he is a 
spy." 

' Proof! I can give you enough — " began Perousse 
hotly, then paused in confusion.. For what could he truly 
say? If he told the Chief of Police that this Pasquin 
Leroy was believed to have counterfeited the Prime Min- 
ister's signet, in order to obtain an interview with David 
Jost, why then the Chief of Police would be informed 
once and for all that the Prime Minister was in confiden- 
tial communication with the Jew-proprietor of a stock- 
jobbing newspaper! And that would never do! It 
would, at the least, be impolitic. Inwardly chafing with 
annoyance, he assumed an outward air of conscientious 

gravity. 

" You will regret it, General, I think, if you do not fol- 
low out my suggestions respecting this man," he said 
coldly ; " He is writing for the press in a strain which is 
plainly directed against the Government. Of course we 
statesmen pay little or no heed to modern journalism, but 



The King's Defender 343 

the Kino-, having taken the unusual, and as I consider it, 
unwise step of proclaiming certain of his intentions in a 
newspaper which was, until his patronage, obscure and 
unsuccessful, the public attention has been suddenly 
turned towards this particular journal; and what is writ- 
ten therein may possibly influence the masses as it would 
not have done a few weeks ago." 

" I quite believe that ! " said Bernhoff tersely ; ' But 1 
cannot arrest a man for writing clever things. Literary 
talent is no proof of dishonesty." 

Perousse looked at him sharply. But there was no 
satire in Bernhoff' s fixed and glassy eye, and no expres- 
sion whatever in his woodenly-composed countenance. 

' We entertain different opinions on the matter, it is 
evident ! " he said ; ' You will at least grant that if he 
cannot be arrested, he can be carefully watched ? " 

" He is carefully watched! " replied Bernhoff; ' That 
is to say, as far as / can watch him ! " 

" Good ! ' and Perousse smiled, somewhat relieved. 
" Then on the first suspicion of a treasonable act " 

' I shall arrest him — in the King's name, when the 
King signs the warrant," said Bernhoff; " But he is one 
of Sergius Thord's followers, and at the present juncture 
it might be unwise to touch any member of that particu- 
larly inflammable body." 

Perousse frowned. 

" Sergius Thord ought to have been hanged or shot 
years ago " 

' Then why did not you hang or shoot him ? " enquired 
Bernhoff. 

" I was not in office." 

' Why do you not hang or shoot him now ? " 

" Why ? Because " 

' Because," interrupted Bernhoff, again lifting his 
grim warning finger; ' If you did, the city would be in 
a tumult and more than half the soldiery would be on the 
side of the mob ! By way of warning, M. Perousse, I 
may as well tell you frankly, on the authority of my posi- 
tion as Head of the Police, that the Government are on 
the edge of a dangerous situation ! " 

Perousse looked contemptuous. 

" Every Government in the world is on the edge of a 



344 "Temporal Power' 

dangerous situation nowadays ! " he retorted ; — " But 
any Government that yields to the mob proves itself a 
mere ministry of cowardice." 

' Yet the mob often wins, — not only by excess of 
numbers, but by sheer force of — honesty!" — said Bern- 
hoff sententiously ; "It has been known to sweep away, 
and re-make political constitutions before now.'' 

" It bas," — agreed Perousse, drawing pens and paper 
towards him, and feigning to be busily occupied in the 
commencement of a letter — " But it will not indulge 
itself in such amusements during my time ! " 

" Ah ! I wonder how long your time will last ! " mut- 
tered Bernhoff to himself as he withdrew — " Six months 
or six days ? I would not bet on the longer period ! ' : 

In good truth there was considerable reason for the 
General's dubious outlook on affairs. A political storm 
was brewing. A heavy tidal wave of discontent was 
sweeping the masses of the people stormily against the 
rocks of existing authority, and loud and bitter and in- 
cessant were the complaints on all sides against the in- 
creased taxation levied upon every rate-payer. Fiercest 
of all was the clamour made by the poor at the increasing 
price of bread, the chief necessity of life ; for the imposi- 
tion of a heavy duty upon wheat and other cereals had 
made the common loaf of the peasant's daily fare almost 
an article of luxury. Stormy meetings were held in every 
quarter of the city, — protests were drawn up and signed 
by thousands, — endless petitions were handed to the 
King, — but no practical result came from these. His 
Majesty was ' graciously pleased ' to seem blind, deaf 
and wholly indifferent to the agitated condition of bis 
subjects. Now and then a Government orator would 
mount the political rostrum and talk ' patriotism ' for an 
hour or so, to a more or less sullen audience, informing 
them with much high-flown eloquence that, by respond- 
ing to the Governmental demands and supporting the 
Governmental measures, they were strengthening the re- 
sources of the country and completing the efficiency of 
both Army and Navy ; but somehow, his hydraulic efforts 
at rousing the popular enthusiasm failed of effect. 
Whereas, whenever Sergius Thord spoke, thousands of 
throats roared acclamation, — and the very sight of 



The King's Defender 345 

Lotys passing quietly down the poorer thoroughfares of 
the city was sufficient to tiring out groups of men and 
women to their doors, waving their hands to her, sending 
her wild kisses, --and almost kneeling before her in an 
ecstasy of trust and adoration. Thord himself perceived 
that the situation was rapidly reaching a climax, and 
quietly prepared himself to meet and cope with it. Two 
of the monthly business meetings of the Revolutionary 
Committee had been held since that on which Pasquin 
Leroy and his two friends had been enrolled as members 
of the Brotherhood, and at the last of these, Thord took 
Leroy into his full confidence, and gave him all the secret 
clues of the Revolutionary organization which honey- 
combed the metropolis from end to end. He had trusted 
the man in many ways and found him honest. One 
trifling proof of this was perhaps the main reason of 
Thord's further reliance upon him ; he had fulfilled his 
half-suggested promise to bring the sunshine of prosper- 
ity into the hard-working, and more or less sordid life of 
the little dancing-girl, Pequita. She had been sent for 
one morning by the manager of the Royal Opera, who 
having seen the ease, grace, and dexterity of her perform- 
ance, forthwith engaged her for the entire season at a 
salary which when named to the amazed child, seemed 
like a veritable shower of gold tumbling by rare chance 
out of the lap of Dame Fortune. The manager was a 
curt, cold business man, and she was afraid to ask him 
any questions, for when the words — "I am sure a kind 
friend has spoken to you of me — " came timidly from her 
lips, he had shut up her confidence at once by the brief 
answer — 

" No. You are mistaken. We accept no personal rec- 
ommendations. We only employ proved talent! " 

All the same Pequita felt sure that she owed the sudden 
lifting of her own and her father's daily burden of life, 
to the unforgetting care and intercession of Leroy. Lotys 
was equally convinced of the same, and both she and 
Sergius Thord highly appreciated their new associate's 
unobtrusive way of doing good, as it were, by stealth. Pe- 
quita's exquisite grace and agility had made her at once 
the fashion ; the Opera was crowded nightly to see the 
' wonderful child-dancer ' ; and valuable gifts and costly 



346 "Temporal Power' 

jewels were showered upon her, all of which she brought 
to Lotys, who advised her how to dispose of them best, 
and put by the money for the comfort and care of her 
father in the event of sickness, or the advance of age. 
Flattered and petted by the great world as she now was, 
Pequita never lost her head in the whirl of gay splendour, 
but remained the same child-like, loving little creature, 
— her one idol her father, — her only confidante, Lotys, 
whose gentle admonitions and constant watchfulness 
saved her from many a dangerous pitfall. As yet, she 
had not attained the wish she had expressed, to dance be- 
fore the King, — but she was told that at any time his 
Majesty might visit the Opera, and that steps would be 
taken to induce him to do so for the special purpose of 
witnessing her performance. So with this half promise 
she was fain to be content, and to bear with the laughing 
taunts of her ' Revolutionary ' friends, who constantly 
teased her and called her ' little traitor ' because she 
sought the Royal favour. 

Another event, which was correctly or incorrectly 
traced to Leroy's silently working influence, was the 
sudden meteoric blaze of Paul Zouche into fame. How 
it happened, no one knew ; — and why it happened was 
still more of a mystery, because by all its own tenets and 
traditions the social world ought to have set itself dead 
against the ' Psalm of Revolution,' — the title of the 
book of poems which created such an amazing stir. But 
somehow, it got whispered about that the King had at- 
tempted to ' patronise ' the poet, and that the poet had 
very indignantly resented the offered Royal condescen- 
sion. Whereat, by degrees, there arose in society circles 
a murmur of wonder at the poet's ' pluck,' wonder that 
deepened into admiration, with incessant demand for his 
book, — and admiration soon expanded, with the aid of 
the book, into a complete " craze." Zouche's name was 
on every lip; invitations to great houses reached him 
every week ; — his poems began to sell by thousands ; yet 
with all this, the obstinacy of his erratic nature asserted 
itself as usual, undiminished, and Zouche withdrew from 
the shower of praise like a snail into its shell, — answered 
none of the flattering requests for ' the pleasure of his 
company,' and handed whatever money he made by his 



The King's Defender 347 

poems over to the funds of the Revolutionary Committee, 
onlv accepting as much out of it as would pay for his 
clothes, food, lodging, and — drink! But the more he 
turned his back on Fame, the more hotly it pursued him ; 
— his very churlishness was talked about as something- 
remarkable and admirable, — and when it was suggested 
that he was fonder of strong liquor than was altogether 
seemly, people smiled and nodded at each other pleas- 
antly, tapped their foreheads meaningly and murmured : 
' Genius ! Genius ! ' as though that were a quality allied 
of divine necessity to alcoholism. 

These two things, — the advent of a new dancer at the 
Opera, and the "fame of Paul Zouche, were the chief 
topics of ' Society ' outside its own tawdry personal con- 
cerns ; but under all the light froth and spume of the 
pleasure-seeking, pleasure-loving whirl of fashion, a 
fierce tempest was rising, and the first whistlings of the 
wind of revolt were already beginning to pierce through 
the keyholes and crannies of the stately building allotted 
to the business of Government ; — so much so indeed that 
one terrible night, all unexpectedly, a huge mob, some 
twenty thousand strong, surrounded it, armed with every 
conceivable weapon from muskets to pickaxes, and 
shouted with horrid din for 'Bread and Justice!' — these 
being considered co-equal in the bewildered mind of the 
excited multitude. Likewise did they scream with pro- 
trusive energy : ' Give us back our lost Trades ! ' being 
fully aware, despite their delirium, that these said ' lost. 
Trades ' were being sold off into ' Trusts,' wherein Min- 
isters themselves held considerable shares. A two-sided 
clamour was also made for ' The King ! The King ! ' 
one side appealing, the other menacing, — the latter under 
the belief that his Majesty equally had ' shares ' in the 
bartered Trades, — the former in the hope that the coun- 
try's Honour might still be saved with the help of their 
visible Head. 

Much difficulty was experienced in clearing this surg- 
ing throng of indignant humanity, for though the sol- 
diery were called out to effect the work, they were more 
than half-hearted in their business, having considerable 
grievances of their own to avenge, — and when ordered 
to fire on the people, flatly refused to do so. Two persons 



348 "Temporal Power' 

however succeeded at last in calming- and quelling- the 
tumult. One was Sergius Thord, — the other Lotys. 
Carl Perousse, seized with an access of ' nerves ' within 
the cushioned luxury of his own private room in the re- 
cesses of the Government buildings, from whence he had 
watched the demonstration, peered from one of the win- 
dows, and saw one half of the huge mob melt swiftly 
away under the command of a tall, majestic-looking 
creature, whose massive form and leonine head appeared 
Ajax-like above the throng; and he watched the other 
half turn round in brisk order, like a well-drilled army, 
and march off, singing loudly and lustily, headed by a 
woman carried shoulder-high before them, whose white 
robes gfleamed like a flasr of truce in the glare of the 
torches blazing around her ; — and to his utter amaze- 
ment, fear and disgust, he heard the very soldiers shout- 
ing her name: "Lotys! Lotys!" with ever-increasing 
and thunderous plaudits of admiration and homage. 
Often and often had he heard that name, — often and 
often had he dismissed it from his thoughts with light 
masculine contempt. Often, too, had it come to the ears 
of his colleague the Premier, who as has been shown, 
even in intimate converse with his own private secretary, 
feigned complete ignorance of it. But it is well under- 
stood that politicians generally, and diplomatists always, 
assume to have no knowledge whatever concerning those 
persons of whom they are most afraid. Yet just now it 
was unpleasantly possible that ' the stone which the 
builders rejected " might indirectly be the means of 
crushing: the Ministry, and reorganizing the affairs of 
the country. His meditations on this occasion were in- 
terrupted by a touch on the shoulder from behind, and, 
looking up, he saw the Marquis de Lutera. 

" Almost a riot ! " he said, forcing a pale smile, — " But 
not quite! " 

" Say, rather, almost a revolution! " retorted the Mar- 
quis brusquely ; — " Jesting is out of place. We are on 
the brink of a very serious disaster ! The people are 
roused. To-night they threatened to burn down these 
buildings over our heads, — to sack and destroy the 
King's Palace. The Socialist leader, Thord, alone saved 
the situation." 



The King's Defender 349 

"With the aid of his mistress?" suggested Perousse 
with a sneer. 

'* You mean the woman they call Lotys? I am not 
aware that she is his mistress. I should rather doubt it. 
The people would not make such a saint of her if she were. 
At any rate, whatever else she may be, she is certainly 
dangerous ; — and in a country less free than ours would 
be placed under arrest. I must confess I never believed 
in her ' vogue ' with the masses, until to-night." 

Perousse was silent. The great square in front of the 
Government buildings was now deserted, — save for the 
police and soldiery on guard : but away in the distance 
could still be heard faint echoes of singing and cheering 
from the broken-up sections of the crowd that had lately 
disturbed the peace. 

"Have you seen the King lately?" enquired Lutera 
presently. 
JSIo. 

" By his absolute ' veto ' against our propositions at the 
last Cabinet Council, the impending war which would 
have been so useful to us, has been quashed in embryo," 
went on the Premier with a frown ; — " This of course 
you know ! And he has the right to exercise his veto if 
he likes. But I scarcely expected you after all you said, 
to take the matter so easily ! " 

Perousse smiled, and shrugged his shoulders depre- 
catinglv. 

" However," continued the Marquis with latent con- 
tempt in his tone ; — "I now quite understand your com- 
placent attitude ! You have simply turned your ' Army 
Supplies Contract ' into a ' Trust ' Combine with other 
nations. — so you will not lose, but rather gain by the 
transaction ! " 

" I never intended to lose! " said Perousse calmly; "I 
am not troubled with scruples. One form of trade is as 
good as another. The prime object of life nowadays is 
to make money ! 

Lutera looked at him, but said nothing. 

" To amalgamate all the steel industries into one inter- 
national Union, and get as many shares myself in the 
combine is not at all an unwise project," went on Pe- 
rousse, — " For if our country is not to fight, other coun- 



2$o "Temporal Power' 

tries will ; — and they will require guns and swords and 
all such accoutrements of war. Why should we not sat- 
isfy the demand and pocket the cash ? " 

Still the Marquis looked at him steadily. 

" Are you aware," — he asked at last, " that Jost, to 
save his ' press ' prestige, has turned informer against 
you ? " 

Perousse sprang up, white with fury. 

" By Heaven, if he has dared ! " 

" There is no ' if ' in the case " — said Lutera very 
coldly — "He has, as he himself says, 'done his duty.' 
You must be pretty well cognisant of what a Jew's notions 
of ' duty ' are ! They can be summed up in one sentence ; 
— ' to save his own pocket.' Jost is driven to fury and 
desperation by the sudden success of the rival newspaper, 
which has been so prominently favoured by the King. 
The shares in his own journalistic concerns are going 
down rapidly, and he is determined — naturally enough 
 — to take care of himself before anyone else. He has 
sold out of every company with which you have been, 
or are associated — and has — so I understand, — sent 
a complete list of your proposed financial ' deals,' invest- 
ments and other ' stock ' to " 

He paused. 

'Well!" exclaimed Perousse irascibly — "To whom?" 
1 To those whom it may concern," — replied Lutera 
evasively — "I really can give you no exact information. 
I have said enough by way of warning ! " 

Perousse looked at him heedfullv, and what he saw in 
that dark brooding face was not of a quieting or satisfac- 
tory nature. 

" You are as deeply involved as I am " he began. 

' Pardon ! " and the Marquis drew himself up with 
some dignity — "I was involved; — I am not now. I 
have also taken care of myself ! I may have been misled, 
but I shall let no one suffer for my errors. I have sent in 
my resignation." 

' Fool ! " ejaculated Perousse, forgetting all courtesy 
in the sudden access of rage that took possession of him 
at these words ; — ' Fool, I say ! At the very moment 
when you ought to stick to the ship, you desert it ! '' 

" Are you not ready to run to the helm ? " enquired 



The King's Defender 351 

Lutera with a satiric smile ; " Surely you can have no 
doubt but that his Majesty will command you to take 
office! " 

With this, he turned on his heel, and left his colleague 
to a space of very disagreeable meditation. For the first 
time in his bold and unscrupulous career, Perousse found 
himself in an awkward position. If it were indeed true 
that Jost and Lutera had thrown up the game, especially 
Jost, then he, Perousse, was lost. He had made of Jost, 
not only a tool, but a confidant. He had used him, and 
his great leading newspaper for his own political and 
financial purposes. He had entrusted him with State 
secrets, in order to speculate thereon in all the money- 
markets of the world. He had induced him to approach 
the Premier with crafty promises of support, and to in- 
veigle him by insidious degrees into the same dishonour- 
able financial ' deal.' So that if this one man, — this fat, 
unscrupulous turncoat of a Jew, --chose to speak out, 
he, Carl Perousse, Secretary of State, would be the most 
disgraced and ruined Minister that ever attempted to de- 
fraud a nation ! His brows grew moist with fever-heat, 
and his tongue parched, with the dry thirst of fear, as the 
gravity of the situation was gradually borne in upon him. 
He began to calculate contingencies and possibilities of 
escape from the toils that seemed closing around him, — 
and much to his irritation and embarrassment, he found 
that most of the ways leading out of difficulty pointed 
first of all to, — the King. 

The King ! The very personage whom he had called a 
Dummy, only bound to do as he was told! And now, if 
he could only persuade the King that he, — the poor 
Secretary of State, — was a deeply-injured man, whose 
life's effort had been solely directed towards ' the good of 
the country,' yet who nevertheless was cruelly wronged 
and calumniated by his enemies, all might yet be well. 

" Were he only like other monarchs whom I know," 
he reflected. " I could have easily involved him in the 
Trades deal ! Then the press could have been silenced, 
and the public fooled. With five or six hundred thousand 
shares in the biggest concerns, he would have been com- 
pelled to work under me for the amalgamation of our 
Trades with the financial forces of other countries, re- 



35 2 " Temporal Power' 

gardless of the rubbish talked by ' patriots ' on the loss of 
our position and prestige. But he is not fond of money, 

— he is not fond of money ! Would that he were ! — for 
so / should be virtually king of the King ! " 

Cogitating various problems on his return to his own 
house that evening, he remembered that despite numerous 
protests and petitions, the King had, up to the present, 
paid no attention to the appeals of his people against the 
increasing inroads of taxation. The only two measures 
he had carried with a high and imperative hand, were 
first, — the ' vetoing ' of an intended declaration of war, 

— and the refusal of extensive lands to the Jesuits. The 
first was the more important action, as, while it had won 
the gratitude and friendship of a previously hostile State, 
it had lost several ' noble ' gamblers in the griefs of na- 
tions, some millions of money. The check to the Jesuits 
was comparatively trivial, yet it had already produced 
far-reaching effects, and had offended the powers at the 
Vatican. But, beyond this, things remained apparently 
as they were ; true, the Socialists were growing stronger ; 

— but there was no evidence that the Government was 
growing weaker. 

" After all," thought Perousse, as a result of his medi- 
tations ; " there is no immediate cause for anxiety. If 
Lutera has sent in his resignation, it may not be accepted. 
That rests — like other things — with the King." And 
a vague surprise affected him at this fact. " Curious ! " 
he muttered, — " Very curious that he, who was a Noth- 
ing, should now be a Something ! The change has taken 
place very rapidly, — and very strangely ! I wonder 
what — or who — is moving him ? " 

But to this inward query he received no satisfactory 
reply. The mysterious upshot of the whole position was 
the same, — namely, that somehow, in the most unac- 
countable, inexplicable manner, the wind and weather of 
affairs had so veered round, that the security of Ministers 
and the stability of Government rested, not with them- 
selves or the nature of their quarrels and discussions, but 
solely on one whom they were accustomed to consider as 
a mere ornamental figure-head, — the King. 

Some few days after the unexpected turbulent rising of 
the mob, it was judged advisable to give the people some- 



The King's Defender 353 

thing in the way of a ' gala,' or spectacle, in order to dis- 
tract their attention from their own grievances, and to 
draw them away from their Socialistic clubs and conven- 
tions, to the contemplation of a parade of Royal state and 
splendour. The careful student of History cannot fail 
to note that whenever the rottenness and inadequacy of a 
Government are most apparent, great ' shows ' and Royal 
ceremonials are always resorted to, in order to divert 
the minds of the people from the bitter consideration of a 
deficient Exchequer and a diminishing National Honour. 
The authorities who organize these State masquerades 
are wise in their generation. They know that the work- 
ing-classes very seldom have the leisure to think for 
themselves, and that they often lack the intelligent ability 
to foresee the difficulties and dangers menacing their 
country's welfare; — but that they are always ready, with 
the strangest fatuity, patience, and good-nature, to take 
their wives and families to see any new variation of a 
world's ' Punch and Judy ' play, particularly if there is 
a savour of Royalty about it, accompanied by a brass 
band, well-equipped soldiers, and gilded coaches. Though 
they take no part in the pageant, beyond consenting to be 
hustled and rudely driven back by the police like intru- 
sive sheep, out of the sacred way of a Royal progress, 
they nevertheless have an instinctive (and very correct) 
idea that somehow or other it is all part of the ' fun ' for 
which they have paid their money. There is no more 
actual reverence or respect for the positive Person of 
Royalty in such a parade, than there is for the Wonderful 
Performing Pig who takes part in a circus-procession 
through a country town. The public impression is 
simple, — That having to pay for the up-keep of a 
Throne, its splendours should be occasionally ' trotted 
out ' to see whether they are worth the nation's annual 
expenditure. 

Moved entirely by this plain and practical sentiment, the 
popular breast was thrilled with some amount of interest 
and animation when it was announced that his Majesty 
the King would, on a certain afternoon, go in state to lay 
the foundation-stone of the Grand National Theatre, 
which was the very latest pet project of various cogitating 
Jews and cautious millionaires. The Grand National 

2 3 



354 "Temporal Power' 

Theatre was intended to ' supply/ according to a stock 
newspaper phrase, ' a long-felt want.' It was to be a 
' philanthropic ' scheme, by which the ' Philanthropists ' 
would receive excellent interest for their money. Osten- 
sibly, it was to provide the ' masses ' with the highest form 
of dramatic entertainment at the lowest cost ; — but there 
were many intricate wheels within wheels in the elaborate 
piece of stock- jobbing mechanism, by which the public 
would be caught and fooled — as usual — and the specu- 
lators therein rendered triumphant. Sufficient funds 
were at hand to start the building of the necessary edifice, 
and the King's ' gracious ' consent to lay the first stone, 
with full state and ceremony, was hailed by the promoters 
of the plan as of the happiest augury. For with such 
approval and support openly given, all the Snob-world 
would follow the Royal ' lead ' — quite as infallibly as it 
did in the case of another monarch who, persuaded to 
drink of a certain mineral spring, and likewise to ' take 
shares ' in its bottled waters, turned the said spring into 
a ' paying concern ' at once, thereby causing much re- 
joicing among the Semites. The ' mob ' might certainly 
decline to imitate the Snob-world, — but, considering the 
recent riotous outbreak, it might be as well that the over- 
bold and unwashen populace should be awed by the pan- 
oply and glory of earthly Majesty passing by in earthly 
splendour. 

Alas, poor Snob-world ! How often has it thought the 
same thing ! How often has it fancied that with show and 
glitter and brazen ostentation of mere purse-power, it can 
quell the rage for Justice, which, like a spark of God's 
own eternal Being, burns for ever in the soul of a People ! 
Ah, that rage for Justice ! — that divine fury and fever 
which with strong sweating and delirium shakes the body 
politic and cleanses it from accumulated sickly humours 
and pestilence ! What would the nations be without 
its periodical and merciful visitations ! Tearing down 
old hypocrisies, — rooting up weedy abuses, — rending 
asunder rotten conventions, — what wonder if thrones 
and sceptres, and even the heads of kings get sometimes 
mixed into the general swift clearance of long-accumu- 
lated dirt and disorder ! And vainly at such times does 
the Snob-world anxiously proffer golden pieces for the 






The King's Defender 355 

price of its life! There shall not then he millions enough 
in all the earth, to purchase the safety of one proved Liar 
who has wilfully robbed his neighbour ! 

No hint of the underworkings of the people's thought, 
or the movement of the times was, however, apparent in 
the aspect of the gay multitudes that poured along the 
principal thoroughfares of the metropolis on the day ap- 
pointed for the ceremony in which the King had consented 
to take the leading part. Poor and rich together, vied 
with one another to secure the various best points of view 
from whence the Royal pageant could be seen, winding 
down in glittering length from the Palace and Citadel, 
past the Cathedral, and so on to the great open square, 
where, surrounded by fluttering flags and streamers, a 
huge block of stone hung suspended by ropes from a 
crane, ready to be lowered at the Royal touch, and fixed 
in its place by the Royal trowel, as the visible and solid 
beginning of the stately fabric, which, according to pic- 
torial models was to rise from this, its first foundation, 
into a temple of art and architecture, devoted to Mel- 
pomene and Thalia. 

It was a glorious day, — the sun shone with vigorous 
heat and lustre from a cloudless sky, — the sea was 
calm as an inland pool — and people wore their lightest, 
brightest and most festive attire. Fair " society " dames, 
clad in the last capricious mode of ever-changing Fashion, 
and shading their delicate, and not always natural, com- 
plexions with airy parasols, filmy and finely-coloured as 
the petals of flowers, queened it over the flocking crowds 
of pedestrians, as they were driven past in their softly- 
cushioned carriages drawn by high-stepping horses ; — 
all the boudoirs and drawing-rooms of the most exclusive 
houses seemed to have emptied their luxury-loving occu- 
pants into the streets, — and the whole town was, for a 
few hours at any rate, apparently given over to holiday. 
As the long line of soldiery preceding the King's carriage, 
wound down from the Citadel, groups of people cheered, 
and waved hats and handkerchiefs, — then, when his 
Majesty's own escort came into view, the cheering was re-* 
doubled, — and at last when the cumbrous, over-gilded, 
over-painted " Cinderella " State-coach appeared, and the 
familiar, but somewhat sternly-composed features of the 



356 "Temporal Power' 

King himself were perceived through the glass windows, 
a roar of acclamation, like the thundering of a long wave 
on an extensive stretch of rock-bound coast, echoed far 
and near, and again and again was repeated with in- 
creased and ever-increasing clamour. Who, — hearing 
such an enthusiastic greeting — would or could have 
imagined for one moment that the King, who was the 
object and centre of these tremendous plaudits, was at the 
same time judged as an enemy and an obstruction to jus- 
tice by more than one half of the population ! Yet it was 
so, — and so has often been. The populace will shout 
itself hoarse for any cause ; whether it be a king going 
to be crowned, or a king going to be executed, the stim- 
ulus is the same, and the enthusiasm as passionate. It is 
merely the contagious hysteria of a moment that tickles 
their lungs to expansion in noise ; — but the real sentiment 
of admiration for a fine character which might perhaps 
have moved the subjects of Richard Cceur de Lion to cries 
of exultation, is generally non-existent. And why? For 
no cause truly ! — save that Lion-Hearts in kings no more 
pulsate through nations. 

By the time the Royal procession reached its destination 
the crowd had largely increased, and the press of people 
round the scene of the forthcoming function was great 
enough to be seriously embarrassing to both the soldiery 
and the police. Slowly the gorgeous State-coach lum- 
bered up to the entrance of the ground railed off for the 
ceremony, — and between a line of armed guards, the 
King alighted. Vociferous cheering again broke out on 
all sides, which his Majesty acknowledged in the usual 
formal manner by a monotonous military salute performed 
at regular intervals. Received with obsequious defer- 
ence by all the persons concerned in the Grand National 
Theatre project, he conversed with one or two, shook 
hands with others, and was just on the point of addressing 
a few of his usual suave compliments to some pretty 
women who had been invited to adorn the scene, when 
David Jost advanced smilingly, evidently sure of a 
•friendly recognition. For had not the King, when Crown 
Prince and Heir-Apparent, hunted game in his preserves? 
— yea, had he not even dined with him ? — and had not 
he, Jost, written whole columns of vapid twaddle about 



The King's Defender 357 

the ' Royal smile ' and the ' Royal favour ' till the outside 
public had sickened at every stroke of his flunkey pen? 
How came it, then, that his Majesty seemed on this occa- 
sion to have no recollection of him, and looked over and 
beyond him in the airiest way, as though he were a far-off 
Jew in Jerusalem, instead of being the assumptive-Ortho- 
dox proprietor of several European newspapers published 
for the general misinformation and plunder of gullible 
Christians? Dismayed at the Royal coldness of eye, Jost 
stepped back with an uncomfortably crimson face ; and 
one of the ladies present, personally knowing him, and 
seeing his discomfiture, ventured to call the King's atten- 
tion to his presence and to make way for his approach, by 
murmuring gently, " Mr. Jost, Sir! " 

" Ah, indeed ! " said the monarch, with calm grey 
eyes still fixed on vacancy, — "I do not know anyone of 
that name ! Permit me to admire that exquisite arrange- 
ment of flowers ! " and, smiling affably on the astonished 
and embarrassed lady, he led her aside, altogether away 
from Jost's vicinity. 

Stricken to the very dust of abasement by this direct 
" cut " so publicly administered, the crestfallen editor 
and proprietor of many journals stood aghast for a mo- 
ment, — then as various unbidden thoughts began to chase 
one another through his bewildered head, he was seized 
with a violent trembling. He remembered every foolish, 
imprudent and disloyal remark he had made to the 
stranger named Pasquin Leroy who had called upon him 

bearing the Premier's signet, and reflecting that this 

very Pasquin Leroy was now, by some odd chance, a con- 
tributor of political leaders and other articles to the rival 
daily newspaper which had published the King's official 
refusal of a grant of land to the Jesuits, he writhed in- 
wardly with impotent fury. For might not this unknown 
man, Leroy, — if he were, — as he possibly was, --a 
friend of the King's — go to the full length of declaring 
all he knew and all he had learned from Jost's own lips, 
concerning certain ' financial secrets/ which if fully dis- 
closed, would utterly dismember the Government and put 
the nation itself in peril ? Might he not already even have 
informed the King? With his little, swine-like eyes re- 
treating under the crinkling fat of his lowering brows, 



358. "Temporal Power' 

Jost, hot and cold by turns, wandered confusedly out of 
the ' exclusive ' set of persons connected with the ' Grand 
National Theatre ' scheme, who were now gathered round 
the suspended foundation-stone to which the King was 
approaching. He pretended not to see the curious eyes 
that stared at him, or the sneering mouths that smiled at 
the open slight he had received. Pushing his way through 
the crowd, he jostled against the thin black-garmented 
figure of a priest, — no other than Monsignor Del Fortis, 
who, with an affable word of recognition, drew aside to 
allow him passage. Affecting his usual ' company-man- 
ner ' of tolerant good-nature, he forced himself to speak 
to this ' holy ' man, who, at any rate, had paid him good 
money in round sums for so-called 'articles' or rather puff- 
advertisements in his paper concerning Church matters. 

"Good-day, Monsignor!' he said — "You are not 
often seen at a Royal pageant ! How comes it that you, 
of all persons in the world have brought yourself to wit- 
ness the laying of the foundation-stone of a Theatre? 
Does not your calling forbid anv patronage of the mimic 
Art?" 

The priest's thin lips, parted, showing a glimmer of 
wolfish teeth behind the pale stretched line of flesh. 

" Not by any means! " he replied suavely — " In the 

present levelling and amalgamation of social interests, 

the Church and Stage are drawing very closely together." 

'True!" said Jost, with a grin — "One might very well 

be taken for the other ! " 

Del Fortis looked at him meditatively. 
' This," he said, waving his lean hand towards the 
centre of the brilliant crowd where now the King stood, 
" is a kind of drama in its way. And you, Mr. Jost, have 
just played one little scene in it! " 

Jost reddened, and bit his lip. 

' I am also another actor on the boards," continued 
Del Fortis smiling darkly ; — "if only as a spectator in 
the ' super ' crowd. And other comedians and tragedians 
are doubtless present, of whom we may hear anon ! " 

' The King has nasty humours sometimes," said Jost 
shortly, looking down at the flower in his buttonhole, and 
absently flicking off one of its petals with his fat fore- 
finger — " He ought to be made to pay for them ! " 



The King's Defender 359 

"Ha, ha! Very good! Certainly!" and Del Fortis 
gave a piously-deprecating nod — " He ought to be made 
to pay ! Especially when he hurts the feelings of his old 
friends ! Are you going, Mr. Jost ? Yes ? What a pity ! 
But you no doubt have your reporters present ? " 

" Oh, there are plenty of them about," — said Jost 
carelessly, " But I shall condense all the account of these 
proceedings into a few lines." 

" Ha, — ha ! " laughed Del Fortis, — "I understand ! 
Revenge — revenge ! But — in certain cases — the 
briefest description is sometimes the most graphic — and 
startling ! Good-day ! " 

Jost returned the salute curtly, and went, — not to 
leave the scene altogether, but merely to take up a posi- 
tion of vantage immediately above and behind the surging 
crowd, where from a distance he could watch all that was 
going on. He saw the King lift his hand towards the 
ropes and pulleys of the crane above him, — and as it was 
touched by the Royal finger, the foundation stone was 
slowly lowered into the deep socket prepared for it, where 
gold and silver coins of the year's currency had already 
been strewn. Then, with the aid of a silver trowel set in 
a handle of gold, and obsequiously presented by the man- 
aging director of the scheme, his Majesty dabbed in a 
little mortar, and declared in a loud voice that the stone 
was ' well and truly laid.' A burst of cheering greeted 
the announcement, and the band struck up the country's 
National Hymn, this being the usual sign that the cere- 
mony was at an end. Whereupon the King, shaking hands 
again cordially with the various parties concerned, and 
again shedding the lustre of his smile upon the various 
ladies with whom he had been conversing, made his way 
very leisurely to his State equipage, which, with its six 
magnificently caparisoned horses, stood prepared for his 
departure, the door being already held open for him by 
one of the attendant powdered and gold-laced flunkeys. 
Sir Roger de Launay walked immediately behind his 
Sovereign, and Professor von Glauben was close at hand, 
companioned by two of the gentlemen of the Royal House- 
hold. All at once a young man pushed himself out of the 
crowd nearest to the enclosure, — paused a moment ir- 
resolute, and then, with a single determined bound reached 
the King's side. 



3 6o 



"Temporal Power 



"Thief of the People's money! Take that!" he 
shouted, wildly, — and, brandishing aloft a glittering 
stiletto, he aimed it straight at the monarch's heart ! 

But the blow never reached its destination, for a 
woman, closely veiled in black, suddenly threw herself 
swiftly and adroitly between the King's body and the de- 
scending blade, shielding his breast with both her out- 
stretched arms. The dagger struck her violently, piercing 
her flesh through the upper part of her right shoulder, 
and under the sheer force of the blow, she fell senseless. 

The whole incident took place in less time than it could 
be breathlessly told, — and even as she who had risked 
her life to save the King's, sank bleeding to the ground, 
the police seized the assassin red-handed in his mad and 
criminal act, and wrenched the murderous weapon from 
his hand. He was a mere lad of eighteen or twenty, and 
seemed dazed, submitting to be bound and handcuffed 
without a word. The King, perfectly tranquil and unhurt, 
bared his head to the wild cries and hysterical cheering 
of the excited spectators to whom his narrow escape from 
death appeared a kind of miracle, moving them to frantic 
paroxysms of passionate enthusiasm, and then bent anx- 
iously down over the prostrate form of his rescuer, en- 
deavouring himself to raise her from the ground. A 
hundred hands at once proffered assistance ; — Sir Roger 
de Launay, pale to the lips with the shock of sick horror 
he had experienced at what might so easily have been a 
national catastrophe, assisted the police in forming a 
strong cordon round the person of his beloved Royal 
master, in order to guard him against any further possible 
attack, — and Professor von Glauben, obeying the King's 
signal, knelt down by the unconscious woman's side to 
examine the extent of her injury. Gently he turned back 
the close folds of her enveloping veil, — then gave a little 
start and cry : 

" Gott in Himmel ! " And he hastily drew down the 
veil again as the King approached with the question — 

" Is she dangerously hurt ? " 

" No, Sir ! — I think not — I hope not but ! " 

And the Professor's eyes looked volumes of suggestion. 
Catching his expression, the King drew still nearer. 

" Uncover her face, — give her air ! " he commanded. 



The King's Defender 361 

With a perplexed side-glance at Sir Roger de Launay, 
the Professor obeyed, — and the sunshine fell full on the 
white calm features and closed eyelids of l!< the woman 
known as Lotys." Her black dress was darkly stained 
and soaked with oozing blood — and the deep dull gold 
of her hair was touched here and there with the same 
crimson hue ; — but there was a smile on her lips, and her 
face was as fair and placid as though it had been smoothed 
out of all pain and trouble by the restful touch of Death. 
Silently, and with a perfectly inscrutable demeanour, the 
King surveyed her for a moment. Then, raising his 
plumed hat with grave grace and courtesy, he looked 
on all those who stood about him, soldiery, police and 
spectators. 

"Does anyone here present know this lady?'' he 
demanded. 

A crowd of eager heads were pushed forward, and then 
a low murmur began, which deepened into a steady roar 
of delighted acclamation. 

" Lotys ! Lotys ! " 

The name was caught up quickly and repeated from 
mouth to mouth — till away on the extreme outskirts of 
the crowd it was tossed back again with shouts — " Lotys ! 
Lotys!" 

Swiftly the news ran like an electric current through 
the whole body of the populace, that it was Lotys, their 
own Lotys, their friend, their fellow-worker, the idol of 
the poorer classes, that had saved the life of the King ! 
Half-incredulous, half-admiring, the mob listened to the 
growing rumour, and the general excitement increased in 
intensity among them. David Jost, from his point of 
observation, caught the infection, and realizing at once 
the value of the dramatic " copy " for his paper, to be 
obtained out of such a situation, jumped into the nearest 
vehicle and was driven straight to his offices, there to send 
electric messages of the news to every quarter of the 
world, and to endeavour by printed loyal outbursts of 
" gush "' to turn the current of the King's displeasure 
against him into a more favourable direction. Meanwhile 
the King himself gave orders that his wounded rescuer 
should be conveyed in one of the Royal carriages straight 
to the Palace, and there attended by his own physician. 



362 



14 



Temporal Power 



Professor von Glauben was entrusted with the carrying- 
out of this command,  — and the monarch, then enter- 
ing his own State-equipage, started on his homeward 
progress. 

Thundering cheers now greeted him at every step ; — 
for an hour at least the populace went mad with rapture, 
shouting, singing and calling alternately for l The 
King ! " and " Lotys ! " with no respect of persons, or 
consideration as to their differing motives and opposite 
stations in life. Two facts only were clear to them, — 
first an attempt had been made to assassinate the King, 
— secondly, that Lotys had frustrated the attempt, and 
risked her own life to save that of the monarch. These 
were enough to set fire to the passionate sentiments of a 
warm-blooded, restless Southern people, and they gave 
full sway to their feelings accordingly. So, amid deafen- 
ing plaudits, the Royal procession wended its way back to 
the Citadel, the State-coach moving at a snail's pace in 
order to allow the people to see the King for themselves, 
and make sure he was uninjured, as they cheered, and 
followed it in surging throngs to the very gates of the 
Palace, — while in another and reverse direction the 
wretched youth whose miserable effort to commit a das- 
tard crime had so fortunately failed, was marched off, 
under the guard of a strong body of police to the State- 
Prison, there to await his trial and condemnation. A 
small crowd, hooting and cursing the criminal, pursued 
him as he went, and one personage, austere and dignified, 
also followed, at a distance, as though curious to see the 
last of the would-be murderer ere he was shut out from 
liberty, — and this was Monsignor Del Fortis. 



CHAPTER XXIV 
a woman's reason 

WHEN Lotys recovered from her death-like swoon, 
she found herself on a sofa among heaped-up 
soft cushions, in a small semi-darkened room hung with 
draperies of rose satin, which were here and there drawn 
aside to show exquisite groupings of Saxe china and rare 
miniatures on ivory ; — the ceiling above her was a painted 
mirror, where Venus in her car of flowers, drawn by 
doves, was pictured floating across a crystal sea, — the 
floor was strewn, with white bearskins, — the corners were 
filled with palms and flowers. As she regarded these 
unaccustomed surroundings wonderingly, a firm hand 
was laid on her wrist, and a brusque voice said in her 
ear: — 

" Lie still, if you please ! You have been seriously hurt ! 
You must rest." 

She turned feebly towards the speaker, and saw a big 
burly man with a bald head, seated at her side, who held 
a watch in one hand, and felt her pulse with the other. 
She could not discern his features plainly, for his back 
was set to the already shaded light, and her own eyes 
were weak and dim. 

" You are very kind ! " she murmured " I do not 

quite remember — Ah, yes ! " and a quick flash of anima- 
tion passed over her face - ' I know now ! The King ! 
Is — is all well? " 

" All is well, thanks to you ! " replied the gruff voice — 
" You have saved his life." 

" Thank God ! " - and she closed her eyes again 
wearily, while two slow tears trickled from under the shut 
white lids — " Thank God ! " 

Professor von Glauben, placed in charge of her by the 
King's command, gently relinquished the small white hand 



364 "Temporal Power" 

he held, and stepping noiselessly to a table near at hand, 
poured out from one of the various little flasks set thereon, 
a cordial the properties of which were alone known to 
himself, and held the glass to her lips. 

' Drink this off at once ! " — he said authoritatively, 
yet kindly. 

She obeyed. He then, turning aside with the empty 
glass, sat down and watched her from a little distance. 
Soon a faint flush tinged her dead-white skin, and pres- 
ently, with a deep sigh, she opened her eyes again. Then 
she became aware of a stiffness and smart in her right 
shoulder, and saw that it was tightly bandaged, and that 
the bodice of her dress was cut away from it. Lying per- 
fectly still, she gradually brought her strong spirit of 
self-control to bear on the situation, and tried to collect 
her scattered thoughts. Very few minutes sufficed her 
to recollect all that had happened, and as she realised 
more and more vividly that she was in some strange and 
luxurious abode where she had no business or desire to 
be, she gathered all the forces of her mind to her aid, and 
with but a slight effort, sat upright. Professor von 
Glauben came towards her with an exclamation of warn- 
ing — but she motioned him back with a very decided 
gesture. 

' Please do not trouble! " she said — "I am quite able 
to move — to stand — see ! " And she rose to her feet, 
trembling a little, and steadying herself by resting one 
hand on the edge of the sofa. " I do not know who you 
are, but I am sure you have been most kind to me! And 
if you would do me a still greater kindness, you will let 
me go away from here at once ! " 

" Impossible, Madame ! " declared the Professor, firmly 

— " His Majesty, the King " 

"What of his Majesty, the King?" demanded Lotys 
with sudden hauteur — "Am I not mistress of my own 
actions? " 

The Professor made an elaborate bow. 

" Most unquestionably you are, Madame ! " he replied 

— "But you are also for the moment, a guest in the King's 
Palace ; and having saved his life, you will surely not 
withhold from him the courteous acceptance of his 
hospitality ? " 



A Woman's Reason 365 

'The King's Palace!" she echoed, and a little dis- 
dainful smile crossed her lips — "I, — Lotys, --in the 
King's Palace! " She moved a few steps, and drew her- 
self proudly erect. ' You, sir, are a servant of the 
King's?" 

' I am his Majesty's resident physician, at your ser- 
vice!' he said, with another bow — "1 have had the 
honour of attending to the wound you so heroically re- 
ceived in his defence, — and though it is not a dangerous 
wound, it is an exceedingly unpleasant one I assure you, 
— and will give you a good deal of pain and trouble. Let 
me advise you very earnestly to stay where you are, and 
rest — do not think of leaving the Palace to-night." 

She sighed restlessly. " I must not think of staying in 
it ! " she replied. * But I do not wish to seem churlish — 
or ungrateful for your care and kindness ; — will you tell 
the King — " Here she broke off abruptly, and fixed 
her eyes searchingly on his face. " Strange! " she mur- 
mured — "I seem to have seen you before, — or someone 
very like you ! " 

The Professor was troubled with a sudden fit of cough- 
ing which made him very red in the face, and obliged him 
to turn away for a moment in order to recover himself. 
Still struggling with that obstinate catch in his throat he 
said : 

' You were saying, Madame, that you wished me to 
tell the King something ? " 

' Yes ! " said Lotys eagerly — " if you will be so good ! 
Tell him that I thank him for his courtesy ; — but that I 
must go away from this Palace, — that I cannot — may 
not — stop in it an hour longer ! He does not know who 
it is that saved his life, — if he did, he would not wish 
me to remain a moment under his roof ! He would be as 
anxious and willing for me to leave as I am to go ! Will 
you tell him this ? " 

' Madame, I will tell him," replied the Professor defer- 
entially, yet with a slight smile — "But — if it will 
satisfy your scruples, or ease your mind at all, — I may 
as well inform you that his Majesty does know who you 
are ! The populace itself declared your name to him, with 
shouts of acclamation." 

She flushed a vivid red, then grew very pale. 



366 "Temporal Power' 

' If that be so, then he must also be aware that I am his 
sworn enemy ! " she said, — " And, that in accordance 
with the principles I hold, I cannot possibly remain under 
his roof ! Therefore I trust, sir, you will have the kind- 
ness to provide me with a way of quick exit before my 
presence here becomes too publicly reported." 

The Professor was slightly nonplussed. He considered 
for a moment ; then rapidly made up his mind. 

' Madame, I will do so! " he said — " That is, if you 
will permit me first of all to announce your intention of 
leaving the Palace, to the King. Pardon me for suggest- 
ing that his Majesty can hardly regard as an enemy a lady 
who has saved his life at the risk of her own." 

' I did not save it because he is the King," she said 
curtly, " And you are at liberty to tell him so. Please 
make haste to inform him at once of my desire to 
leave the Palace, — and say also, that if he considers 
he owes me any gratitude, he will show it by not detain- 
ing me." 

The Professor bowed and retired. Lotys, left alone, 
sat down for a moment in one of the luxuriously cush- 
ioned chairs, and pressed her left hand hard over her eyes 
to try and still their throbbing ache. Her right arm was 
bound up and useless, — and the pain from the wound in 
her shoulder caused her acute agony, — but she had a will 
of iron, and she had trained her mental forces to control, 
if not entirely to master, her physical weaknesses. She 
thought, not of her own suffering, but of the exciting in- 
cident in which mere impulse had led her to take so 
marked a share. It was by pure accident that she had 
joined the crowd assembled to see the King lay the foun- 
dation-stone of the proposed new Theatre. She had been 
as it were, entangled in the press of the people, and had 
got pushed towards the centre of the scene almost against 
her own volition. And while she had stood, — a passive 
and unwilling spectator of the pageant, — her attention 
had been singularly attracted towards the uneasy and 
restless movements of the youth who had afterwards at- 
tempted the assassination of the monarch. She had 
watched him narrowly ; though she could not have ex- 
plained why she did so, even to herself. He was a com- 
plete stranger to her, and yet, with her quick intuition, 



A Woman's Reason 367 

she had discerned a curious expression of anxiety and 
fear in his face, as though of the impending horror of a 
crime, — a look which, because it was so strained and 
unnatural, had aroused her suspicion. When she had 
sprung- forward to shield the King, only one idea had 
inspired her, — and that idea she would not now fully 
own even to herself, because it was so entirely, weakly 
feminine. Nevertheless, from woman's weakness has 
often sprung a hero's strength — and so it had proved in 
this case. She did not, however, allow herself to dwell 
on the instinctive impulse which had thrown her on the 
King's breast, ready to receive her own death-blow rather 
than that he should die ; she preferred to elude that ques- 
tion, and to consider her action solely from the standpoint 
of those Socialistic theories with which she was indis- 
soluble associated. 

" Had I not frustrated the attempt, the crime would 
have been set down to us and our Brotherhood," she said 
to herself, " Sergius — or Paul Zouche — or I myself — 
or even Pasquin — yes, even he ! — might, and doubtless 
would, have been accused of instigating it. As it is, I 
think I have saved the situation." She rose and walked 
slowly up and down the room. " I wonder who is behind 
the wretched boy concerned in this business ? He is too 
young to have determined on such a deed himself, — 
unless he is mad ; — he must be a tool in the hands of 
others." 

Here spying her long black cloak hanging across a 
chair, she took it up and threw it round her, — her face 
was reflected back upon her from a mirror set in the wall, 
round which a cluster of ivory cupids clambered, — and 
she looked critically at her white drawn features, and the 
disordered masses of her hair. Loosening these abundant 
locks, she shook them down and gathered them into her 
one uncrippled hand, preparatory to twisting them into 
the usual knot at the back of her head, the while she looked 
at the little sculptured amorini set round the mirror, with 
a compassionate smile. 

" Such a number of mimic Loves where there is no real 
love ! " she said half aloud, — when the opening of a door, 
and the swaying movement of a curtain pushed aside, 
startled her; and still holding her rich hair up in' her 



368 "Temporal Power' 

hand she turned quickly, — to find herself face to face 
with, — the King. 

There was an instant's dead silence. Dropping the 
silken gold weight of her tresses to fall as they would, 
regardless of conventional appearances, she stood erect, 
making all unconsciously to herself, a picture of statu- 
esque and beauteous tragedy. Her plain black garments, 
— the long cloak enveloping her slight form, and the glo- 
rious tangle of her unbound hair rippling loosely about 
her pale face, in which her eyes shone like blue flowers, 
made luminous by the sunlight of the inspired soul behind 
them, all gave her an almost supernatural air, — and 
made her seem as wholly unlike any other woman as a 
strange leaf from an unexplored country is unlike the 
foliage common to one's native land. The King looked 
steadfastly upon her; she, meeting his gaze with equal 
steadfastness, felt her heart beating violently, though, as 
she well knew, it was not with fear. She had no thought 
of Court etiquette, — nor had she any reason to consider 
it, his Majesty having himself deliberately trespassed 
upon its rules by visiting her thus alone and unattended. 
She offered no reverence, — no salutation ; — she simply 
stood before him, quite silent, awaiting his pleasure, — 
though in her eyes there shone a dangerous brilliancy 
that was almost feverish, and nervous tremors shook her 
from head to foot. The strange dumb spell between them 
relaxed at last. With a kind of effort which expressed 
itself in the extra rigidity and pallor of his fine features, 
the King spoke : 

' Madame, I have come to thank you ! Your noble act 
of heroism this afternoon has saved my life. I do not 
say it is worth saving ! — but the Nation appears to 
think it is, — and in the name of the Nation, whose ser- 
vant I am, I offer you my personal gratitude — and 
service ! " 

He bowed low as he said these words gravely and 
courteously. Her eyes still searched his face wistfully, 
with the eager plaintive expression of a child looking for 
some precious treasure it has lost. She strove to calm 
her throbbing pulses, — to quiet the hurrying blood in 
her veins, — to brace herself up to her usual impervious 
height of composure and self-control. 



A Woman's Reason 369 

' I need no thanks! " she answered briefly — " I have 
only done my duty ! " 

' Nay, Madame, is it quite consistent with your duty to 
shield from death one so hated by your disciples and fol- 
lowers?" he asked, with a tinge of melancholy in his 
accents — "You — as the famous Lotys — should have 
helped to kill, not to save! " 

She regarded him fearlessly. 

'You mistake!" she said — " As King, you should 
learn to know your subjects better! We" are not mur- 
derers. We do not seek your life, — we seek to make 
you understand the need there is of honesty and justice. 
We live our lives among fhe poor ; and we see those poor 
crushed down into the dust by the rich, without hope 
and without help, — and we endeavour to rouse them to 
a sense of this Wrong, so that they may, by persistence, 
obtain Right. We do not want the death of any man! 
Even to a traitor we give warning and time, ere we punish 
his treachery. The unhappy wretch who attempted your 
life to-day was not of our party, or our teaching, thank 
God!" 

' I am sure of that ! "' he said very gently, his face 
brightening with a kind smile, — then, seeing her swerve, 
as though about to fall, he caught her on one arm — 
' You are faint ! You must not stand too long. I fear 
you are suffering from the pain of that cruel wound in- 
flicted on you for my sake! " 

" A little — " she managed to say, with white lips — 
" But it is nothing — it will soon pass " 

She sank helplessly into the chair he placed for her, and 
mutely watched him as he walked to the window and 
threw it open, admitting the sweet, fresh, sea-scented 
air, and a flood of crimson radiance from the setting 
sun. 

' I am informed that you wish to quit the Palace at 
once," he said, averting his gaze from hers for a moment ; ' 
— "Need I say how much I regret this decision of yours? 
Both I and the Queen had hoped you would have re- 
mained with us, under the care of our own physician, till 
you were quite recovered. But I owe you too great a 
debt already to make any further claim upon you — and 
I will not command you to stay, if you desire to go." 

24 



370 "Temporal Power' 

She lifted her head ; — the faint colour was returning 
to her cheeks. 

" I thank you ! " she said simply ; — "I do indeed de- 
sire to go. Every moment spent here is a moment 
wasted ! " 

"You think so?" — and, turning from the window 
where he stood, he confronted her again; — "May I ven- 
ture to suggest that you hardly do justice to me, or to the 
situation? You have placed me under very great obli- 
gations — surely you should endure my company long 
enough to tell me at least how I can in some measure 
show my personal recognition of your brave and self- 
sacrificing action ! " 

She looked at him in musing silence. A strange glow 
came into her eyes, — a deeper crimson flushed her cheek. 

' You can do nothing for me ! " she said, after a long 
pause, " You are a King — I, a poor commoner. I would 
not be indebted to you for all the world ! I am prouder of 
my ' common ' estate than you are of your royalty ! What 
are ' royal ' rewards ? Jewels, money, place, title ! All 
valueless to me! If you would serve anyone, serve the 
People ; — do something to deserve their trust ! If you 
would show me any personal recognition, as you say, for 
saving your life, make that life more noble ! '' 

He heard her without offence, holding himself mute 
and motionless. She rose from her seat, and approached 
him more closely. 

' Perhaps, after all, it is well that I was, — uncon- 
sciously and against my own volition, — brought here," 
she said ; ' Perhaps it is God's will that I should speak 
with you ! For, as a rule none of your unknown subjects 
can, or may speak with you ! — you are so much hemmed 
in and ringed round with slaves and parasites ! In so 
far as this goes, you are to be pitied ; though it rests with 
you to shake yourself free from the toils of vulgar adula- 
tion. Your flatterers tell you nothing. They are careful 
to keep you shut out of your own kingdom — to hide 
from you things that are true, — things that you ought to 
know ; they fool you with false assurances of national 
tranquillity and content, — they persuade you to play, like 
an over-grown child, with the toys of luxury, — they lead 
you, a mere puppet, round and round in the clockwork 



A Woman's Reason 371 

'routine of a foolish and licentious society, — when you 
might be a Man ! — up and doing man's work that should 
help you to regenerate and revivify the whole country ! 
I speak boldly — yes ! — because I do not fear you ! — be- 
cause 1 have no favours to gain from you, — because to 
me, — Lotys, — you, — the King — are nothing ! " 

Her voice, perfectly tranquil, even, and coldly sweet, 
had not a single vibration of uncertainty or hesitation in 
it — and her words seemed to cut through the stillness of 
the room with clean incisiveness like the sweep of a 
sword-blade. Outside, the sea murmured and the leaves 
rustled, — the sun had sunk, leaving behind it a bright, 
pearly twilight sky, flecked with pink clouds like scattered 
rose-petals. 

He looked straight at her, — his clear dark grey eyes 
were filled with the glowing fire of strongly suppressed 
feeling. Some hasty ejaculation sprang to his lips, but 
he checked it, and pacing once or twice up and down, sud- 
denly wheeled round, and again confronted her. 

' If, as a king, I fall so far short of kingliness, and am 
nothing to you," — he said deliberately; ' Why did you 
shield me from the assassin's dagger a while ago? Why 
not have let me perish? " 

She shook back her gold hair, and regarded him almost 
defiantly. 

' I did not save you because you are the King! " she 
replied — "Be assured of that ! " 

He was vaguely astonished. 

" Merely a humane sentiment then? " he said — " Just 
as you would have saved a dog; from drowning:! ' 

A little smile crept reluctantly round the corners of her 
mouth. 

" There was another reason," she began in a low tone, 
— then paused — "But — only a woman's reason!' 

Something in her changing colour, — some delicate in- 
definable touch of tenderness and pathos, which softened 
her features and made them almost ethereal, sent a curi- 
ous thrill through his blood. 

:< A woman's reason ! " he echoed ; " May I not hear 
it?" 

Again she hesitated, — then, as if despising herself for 
her own irresolution she spoke out bravely. 



37 2 "Temporal Power' 

' You may ! " — she said — " There is nothing to con- 
ceal — nothing of which I am ashamed ! Besides, it is 
the true motive of the action which you are pleased to call 
' heroic' I saved your life simply because — because you 
resemble in form and feature, in look and manner, the 
only man I love ! " 

A curious silence followed her words. The faint far 
whispering of the leaves on the trees outside seemed al- 
most intrusively loud in such a stillness, — the placid 
murmur of the sea against the cliff below the Palace be- 
came well-nigh suggestive of storm. Lotys was suddenly 
conscious of an odd strained sense of terror, — she had 
spoken as freely and frankly as she would have spoken to 
any one of her own associates, — and yet she felt that 
somehow she had been over-impulsive, and that in a 
thoughtless moment she had let slip some secret which 
placed her, weak and helpless, in the King's power. The 
King himself stood immovable as a figure of bronze, — 
his eyes resting upon her with a deep insistence of pur- 
pose, as though he sought to wrest some further con- 
fession from her soul. The tension between them was 
painful, — almost intolerable, — and though it lasted but a 
minute, that minute seemed weighted with the potentiali- 
ties of years. Forcing herself to break the dumb spell, 
Lotys went on hurriedly and half desperately : — 

' You may smile at this," she said — " Men always jest 
with a woman's heart, — a woman's folly ! But folly or 
no, I will not have you draw any false conclusions con- 
cerning me, — or flatter yourself that it was loyalty to 
you, or honour for your position that made me your liv- 
ing shield to-day. No ! — for if you were not the exact 
counterpart of him who is dearer to me than all the world 
beside, I think I should have let you die ! I think so — I 
do not know ! Because, after all, you are not like him in 
mind or heart ; it is only your outward bearing, your 
physical features that resemble his ! But, even so, I could 
not have looked idly on, and seen his merest Resemblance 
slain ! Now you understand ! It is not for you, as King, 
that I have turned aside a murderer's weapon, — but 
solely because you have the face, the eyes, the smile of 
one who is a thousand times greater and nobler than you, 
— who, though poor and uncrowned, is a true king in the 



A Woman's Reason 373 

grace and thought and goodness of his actions, — who, 
all unlike you, personally attends to the wants of the poor, 
instead of neglecting them, — and who recognises, and 
does his best to remedy, the many wrongs which afflict 
the people of this land ! " 

Her sweet voice thrilled with passion, — her cheeks 
glowed, — unconsciously she stretched out her unin- 
jured hand with an eloquent gesture of pride and con- 
viction. The King's figure, till now rigid and motionless, 
stirred ; — advancing a step, he took that hand before she 
could withhold it, and raised it to his lips. 

" Madame, I am twice honoured ! " he said, in accents 
that shook ever so slightly — "To resemble a good man 
even outwardly is something, — to wear in any degree 
the lineaments of one whom a brave and true woman 
honours by her love is still more ! You have made me 
very much your debtor " — here he gently relinquished 
the hand he had kissed — " but believe me, I shall en- 
deavour most faithfully to meet the claim you have upon 
my gratitude ! " Here he paused, and drawing back, 
bowed courteously. ' The way for your departure is 
clear," he continued ; — "I have ordered a carriage to be 
in waiting at one of the private entrances to the Palace. 
Professor von Glauben, my physician, who has just at- 
tended you, will escort you to it. You will pass out quite 
unnoticed, — and be, — as you desire it — again at full 
liberty. Let the memory of the King whose life you saved 
trouble you no more, — except when you look upon his 
better counterpart! — as then, perchance, you may think 
more kindly of him ! For he has to suffer ! — not so much 
for his own faults, as for the faults of a system formu- 
lated by his ancestors." 

Her intense eyes glowed with a fire of enthusiasm as 
she lifted them to his face. 

' Kingship would be a grand system," she said, " if 
kings were true ! And Autocracy would be the best and 
noblest form of government in the world, if autocrats 
could be found who were intellectual and honest at one 
and the same time ! " 

He looked at her observantly. 

" You think they are neither? " 

" / think ? ' I ' am nothing, — my opinions count for 



374 "Temporal Power' 

nothing ! But History gives evidence, and supplies proof 
of their incompetency. A great king, — good as well as 
great, — would be the salvation of this present time of the 
world!" 

Still he kept his eyes upon her. 

"Go on!" — he said — "There is something in your 
mind which you would fain express to me more openly. 
You have eloquent features, Madame ! — and your looks 
are the candid mirror of your thoughts. Speak, I beg of 
you ! " 

The light of a daring inward hope flashed in her face 
and inspired her very attitude, as she stood before him, 
entirely regardless of herself. 

" Then, — since you give me leave, — I will speak ! " 
she said ; ' For perhaps I shall never see you again — 
never have the chance to ask you, as a Man whom the 
mere accident of birth has made a king, to have more 
thought, more pity, more love for your subjects! Surely 
you should be their guardian — their father — their pro- 
tector? Surely you should not leave them to become the 
prey of unscrupulous financiers or intriguing Church- 
men ? Some say you are yourself involved in the cruel 
schemes which are slowly but steadily robbing this coun- 
try's people of their Trades, the lawful means of their 
subsistence ; and that you approve, in the main, of the 
private contracts which place our chief manufactures and 
lines of traffic in the hands of foreign rivals. But I do 
not believe this. We — and by we, I mean the Revolu- 
tionary party — try hard not to believe this ! I admit to 
you, as faithfully as if I stood on my trial before you, that 
much of the work to which we, as a party have pledged 
ourselves, consists in moving the destruction of the Mon- 
archy, and the formation of a Republic. But why ? Only 
because the Monarchy has proved itself indifferent to the 
needs of the people, and deaf to their protestations against 
injustice! Thus we have conceived it likely that a Re- 
public might help to mend matters, — if it were in power 
for at least some twenty or thirty years, — but at the same 
time we know well enough that if a King ruled over us 
who was indeed a King, — who would refuse to be the 
tool of party speculators, and who could not be moved 
this way or that by the tyrants of finance, the people 



A Woman's Reason 375 

would have far more chance of equality and right under a 
Republic even! Only we cannot find that king! --no 
country can ! You, for instance, are no hero ! You will 
not think for yourself, though you might; you only in- 
terest yourself in affairs that may redound to your per- 
sonal and private credit ; or in those which affect ' society,' 
the most dissolute portion of the community, — and you 
have shown so little individuality in yourself or your ac- 
tions, that your unexpected refusal to grant Crown lands 
to the Jesuits was scarcely believed in or accepted, other- 
wise than as a caprice, till your own ' official ' announce- 
ment. Even now we can scarcely be brought to look upon 
it except as an impulse inspired by fear! Herein, we do 
you, no doubt, a grave injustice; I, for one, honestly be- 
lieve that you have refused these lands to the Priest- 
Politicians, out of earnest consideration for the future 
peace and welfare of your subjects." 

" Nay, why believe even thus much of me? " he inter- 
rupted with a grave smile ; ' May you not be misled by 
that Resemblance I bear, to one who is, in your eyes, so 
much my superior? " 

A faint expression of offence darkened her face, and 
her brows contracted. 

" You are pleased to jest ! " she said coldly ; " As I said 
before, it is man's only way of turning aside, or conclud- 
ing all argument with a woman ! I am mistaken perhaps 
in the instinct which has led me to speak to you as openly 
as I have done, — and yet, — 1 know in my heart I can do 
you no harm by telling you the truth, as others would 
never tell it to you ! Many times within this last two 
months the people have sent in petitions to you against 
the heavy taxes with which your Government is afflicting 
them, and they can get no answer to their desperate ap- 
peals. Is it kingly — is it worthy of your post as Head 
of this realm, to turn a deaf ear to the cries of those whose 
hard-earned money keeps you on the Throne, housed in 
luxury, guarded from every possible evil, and happily 
ignorant of the pangs of want and hunger? How can 
you, if you have a heart, permit such an iniquitous act on 
the part of your Government as the setting of a tax on 
bread ? — the all in all of life to the very poor ! Have you 
ever seen young children crying for bread ? I have ! 



37 6 



a 



Temporal Power 



•> •> 



Have you ever seen strong men reduced to the shame of 
stealing bread, to feed their wives and infants ? I have ! 
I think of it as I stand here, surrounded by the luxury 
which is your daily lot, — and knowing what I know, I 
would strip these satin-draped walls, and sell everything 
of value around me if I possessed it, rather than know 
that one woman or child starved within the city's pre- 
cincts ! Your Ministers tell you there is a deficiency in 
the Exchequer, — but you do not ask why, or how the 
deficiency arose ! You do not ask whether Ministers 
themselves have not been trafficking and speculating with 
the country's, money ! For if deficiency there be, it has 
arisen out of the Government's mismanagement ! The 
Government have had the people's money, — and have 
thrown it recklessly away. Therefore, they have no right 
to ask for more, to supply what they themselves have wil- 
fully wasted. No right, I say ! — no right to rob them of 
another coin ! If I were a man, and a king like you, I 
would voluntarily resign more than half my annual kingly 
income to help that deficit in the National Exchequer till 
it had been replaced ; — I would live poor, — and be con- 
tent to know that by my act I had won far more than 
many millions — a deathless, and beloved name of honour 
with my people ! " 

She paused. He said not a word. Suddenly she be- 
came conscious that her hair was unbound and falling 
loosely about her ; she had almost forgotten this till now. 
A wave of colour swept over her face, — but she mas- 
tered her embarrassment, and gathering the long tresses 
together in her left hand, twisted them up slowly, and 
with an evident painful effort. The King watched her, a 
little smile hovering about his mouth. 

" If I might help you! " he said softly — "but — that 
is a task for my Resemblance ! " 

She appeared not to hear him. A sudden determina- 
tion moved her, and she uttered her thought boldly and 
at all hazards. 

" If you do not, as the public report, approve of the 
financial schemes out of which your Ministers make their 
fortunes, to the utter ruin of the people in general," she 
said slowly ; " Dismiss Carl Perousse from office ! So 
may you perchance avert a great national disaster ! ' : 






A Woman's Reason 377 

He permitted himself to smile indulgently. 

' Madame, you may ask much ! — and however great 
your demands, I will do my utmost to meet and comply 
with them ; — but like all your charming sex, you forget 
that a king can seldom or never interfere with a political 
situation ! It would be very unwise policy on my part to 
dismiss M. Perousse, seeing that he is already nominated 
as the next Premier." 

' The next Premier ! " Lotys echoed the words with a 
passionate scorn ; 'If that is so, I give you an honest 
warning ! The people will revolt, — no force can hold 
them back or keep them in check ! And if you should 
command your soldiery to fire on the populace, there must 
be bloodshed and crime ! — on your head be the result ! 
Oh, are you not, can you not be something higher than 
even a king ? — an honest man ? Will you not open the 
eyes of your mind to see the wickedness, falsehood and 
treachery of this vile Minister, who ministers only to 
his own ends ? — who feigns incorruptibility in order to 
more easily corrupt others ? — who assumes the defence 
of outlying states, merely to hide the depredations he is 
making on home power? Nay, if you will not, you are 
not worth a beggar's blessing ! — and I shall wonder to 
myself why God made of you so exact a copy of one 
whom I know to be a good man ! " 

Her breath came and went quickly, — her cheeks were 
flushed, and great tears stood in her eyes. But he seemed 
altogether unmoved. 

' F faith, I shall wonder too ! " he said very tranquilly ; 
" Good men are scarce ! — and to be the copy of one is 
excellent, though it may in some cases be misleading! 
Madame, I have heard you with patience, and — if you 
will permit me to say so — admiration ! I honour your 
courage — your frankness — and — still more — your ab- 
solute independence. You speak of wrongs to the People. 
If such wrongs indeed exist " 

' If ! " interrupted Lotys with a whole world of mean- 
ing in the expression. 

' I say, if they indeed exist, I will, as far as I may, — 
endeavour to remedy them. I, personally, have no hesi- 
tation in declaring to you that I am not involved in the 
financial schemes to which you allude — though I know 



3 7 S "Temporal Power' 

two or three of my fellow-sovereigns who are ! But I do 
not care sufficiently for money to indulge in speculation. 
Nevertheless, let me tell you, speculation is good, and 
even necessary in matters affecting national finance, and 

I am confident " here he smiled enigmatically, " that 

the country's honour is safe in the hands of M. Perousse !" 

At this she lifted her head proudly and looked at him, 
with eyes that expressed so magnificent a disdain, that 
had he been any other than the man he was. he might 
have quailed beneath the lightning flash of such utter 
contempt. 

" You are confident that the country's honour is safe! " 
she repeated bitterly ; " I am confident that it is betrayed 
and shamed ! And History will set a curse against the 
King who helped in its downfall ! " 

He regarded her with a vague, lingering gentleness. 

" You are harsh, Madame! " he said softly; " But you 
could not offend me if you tried ! I quarrel with none of 
your sex ! And you will, I hope, think better of me some 
day, — and not be sorry — as perhaps you are now — for 
having saved a life so worthless ! Farewell ! '' 

She offered no response. The silken portiere rustled 
and swayed, — the door opened and shut again quietly 
— he was gone. Left alone, Lotys dropped wearily on 
the sofa, and burying her head in the soft cushions, gave 
way to an outburst of tears and sobbed like a tired and 
exhausted child. In this condition Professor von Glauben, 
entering presently, found her. But his sympathy, if he 
felt any. was outwardly very chill and formal. Another 
dose of his ' cordial,' — a careful examination and re- 
strapping of the wounded shoulder. — these summed up 
the whole of his consolation ; and his precise cold manner 
did much to restore her to her self-possession. She 
thanked him in a few words for his professional attention, 
without raising her eyes to his face, and quietly followed 
him down a long narrow passage which terminated in a 
small private door giving egress to the Royal pleasure- 
grounds, — and here a hired close carriage was waiting. 
Putting her carefully into this vehicle, the Professor then 
delivered himself of his last instructions. 

"The driver has no orders beyond the citadel, Madame." 
he explained. " His Majesty begged me to say that he 



A Woman's Reason 379 

has no desire to seem inquisitive as to your place of resi- 
dence. You will therefore please inform the coachman 
yourself as to where you wish to be driven. And take 
care of that so-much-wounded shoulder ! ,: he added, 
relapsing into a kinder and less formal tone ; — "It will 
pain you, — but there will be no inflammation, not now I 
have treated it ! — and it will heal quickly, that I will 
guarantee — I, who have had first care of it!" 

She thanked him again in a low voice, — there was an 
uncomfortable lump in her throat, and tears still trembled 
on her lashes. 

" Remember well," said the Professor cheerily ; " how 
very grateful we are to you ! What we shall do for you 
some day, we do not yet know ! A monument in the pub- 
lic square, or a bust in the Cathedral ? Ha, ha ! Good- 
bye! You have the blessing of the nation with you! " 

She shook her head deprecatingly, — she tried to smile, 
but she could not trust herself to speak. The carriage 
rolled swiftly down the broad avenue and soon disap- 
peared, and the Professor, having watched the last flash 
of its wheels vanish between the arching trees, executed 
a slow and somewhat solemn pas-seul on the doorstep 
where it had left him. 

" Ach so ! " he exclaimed, almost audibly ; '" The King's 
Comedy progresses ! But it had nearly taken the form 
of Tragedy to-day — and now Tragedy itself has melted 
into sentiment, and tears, and passion ! And with this 
very difficult kind of human mixture, the worst may 
happen ! " 

He re-entered the Palace and returned with some haste 
to the apartments of the King, whither he had been bidden. 

But on arriving there he was met by an attendant in 
the ante-room who informed him that his Majesty had 
retired to his private library and desired to be left alone. 



CHAPTER XXV 

"l SAY — 'ROME'!" 

THE State prison was a gloomy fortress built on a 
wedge of rock that jutted far out into the ocean. 
It stood full-fronted to the north, and had opposed its 
massive walls and huge battlements to every sort of 
storm for many centuries. It was a relic of mediaeval 
days, when torture no less than death, was the daily 
practice of the law, and when persons were punished as 
cruelly for light offences as for the greatest crimes. It 
was completely honeycombed with dungeons and subter- 
ranean passages, which led to the sea, — and in one of 
the darkest and deepest of these underground cells, the 
wretched youth who had attempted the life of the King, 
was placed under the charge of two armed warders, who 
marched up and down outside the heavily-barred door, 
keeping close watch and guard. Neither they nor anyone 
else had exchanged a word with the prisoner since his 
arrest. He had given them no trouble. He had been 
carefully searched, but nothing of an incriminating nature 
had been found upon him, — nothing to point to any pos- 
sible instigator of his dastard crime. He had entered the 
dungeon allotted to him with almost a cheerful air, — he 
had muttered half-inaudible thanks for the bread and 
water which had been passed to him through the grating ; 
and he had seated himself upon the cold bench, hewn out 
of the stone wall, with a resignation that might have 
easily passed for pleasure. As the time wore on, however, 
and the reality of his position began to press more con- 
sciously upon his senses, the warders heard him sigh 
deeply, and move restlessly, and once he gave a cry like 
that of a wounded animal, exclaiming : — 

' For Thy sake, Lord Christ ! For Thy sake I strove 
— for Thy sake, and in Thy service! Thou wilt not 
leave me here to perish ! " 



"I Say— 'Rome'!" 381 

He had been brought to the prison immediately after 
his murderous attack, and the time had then been about 
four hi the afternoon. It was now night ; and all over 
the city the joy-bells were clashing out music from the 
Cathedral towers, to express the popular thanksgiving for 
the miraculous escape and safety of the King. The echo 
of the chimes which had been ringing ever since sunset, 
was caught by the sea and thrown back again upon the 
air, so that it partially drowned the melancholy clang of 
the prison bell, which in its turn, tolled forth the dreary 
passing of the time for those to whom liberty had be- 
come the merest shadow of a dream. As it struck nine, 
a priest presented himself to the Superintendent of the 
prison, bearing a ' permit ' from General Bernhoff, Head 
of the Police, to visit and ' confess ' the prisoner. He 
was led to the cell and admitted at once. At the noise 
of a stranger's entrance, the criminal raised himself from 
the sunken attitude into which he had fallen on his stone 
bench, and watched, by the light of the dim lamp set in 
the wall, the approach of his tall, gaunt, black-garmented 
visitor with evident horror and fear. When, — with the 
removal of the shovel hat and thick muffler which had 
helped to disguise that visitor's personality, — the features 
of Monsignor Del Fortis were disclosed, he sprang for- 
ward and threw himself on his knees. 

" Mercy! — Mercy! " he moaned — " Have pity on me, 
in the name of God ! " 

Del Fortis looked down upon him with contempt, as 
though he were some loathsome reptile writhing at his feet. 

" Silence ! " he said, in a harsh whisper — " Remember, 
we are watched here ! Get up ! — why do you kneel to 
me? I have nothing to do with you, beyond such office 
as the Church enjoins ! ' And a cold smile darkened, 
rather than lightened his features. " I am sent to admin- 
ister ' spiritual consolation ' to you ! " 

Slowly the prisoner struggled up to a standing posture, 
and pressing both hands to his head, he stared wildly 
before him. 

'"Spiritual consolation'!" he muttered — "'Spiritual'?" 
A faint dull vacuous smile flickered over his face, and he 
shuddered. " I understand ! You come to prepare my 
soul for Heaven ! " 



382 "Temporal Power" 

Del Fortis gave him a sinister look. 
'That depends on yourself!'' he replied curtly — 
" The Church can speed you either way, — to Heaven, 
or — Hell ! " 

The prisoner's hands clenched involuntarily with a 
gesture of despair. 

" I know that! " he said sullenly — " The Church can 
save or kill ! What of it ? I am now beyond even the 
power of the Church ! " 

Del Fortis seated himself on the stone bench. 

"Come here!" he said — " Sit down beside me!" 

The prisoner obeyed. 

' Look at this ! " — and he drew an ebony and silver 
crucifix from his breast — " Fix your eyes upon it, and 
try, my son," — here he raised his voice a little — "try 
to conquer your thoughts of things temporal, and lift 
them to the things which are eternal ! For things tem- 
poral do quickly vanish and disperse, but things eternal 
shall endure for ever ! Humble your soul before God, 
and beseech Him with me, to mercifully cleanse the dark 
stain of sin upon your soul! " Here he began mumbling 
a Latin prayer, and while engaged in this, he caught the 
prisoner's hand in a close grip. " Act — act with me ! ' : 
he said firmly. ' Fool ! — Play a part, as I do ! Bend 
your head close to mine — assume shame and sorrow 
even if you cannot feel it ! And listen to me well ! Yon 
have failed! " 

" I know it ! " 

The reply came thick and low. 

"Why did you make the attempt at all? Who per- 
suaded you ? " 

The wretched youth lifted his head, and showed a wild 
white face, in which the piteous eyes, starting from their 
sockets, looked blind with terror. 

"Who persuaded me?" he replied mechanically — 
" No one ! No single one, — but many ! " 

Del Fortis gripped him firmly by the wrist. 

' You lie ! " he snarled — " How dare you utter such 
a calumny ! Who were you ? What were you ? A mis- 
erable starveling — picked up from the streets and saved 
from penury,  — housed and sheltered in our College, — 
taught and trained and given paid employment by us, — 



«I Say— 'Rome'!" 383 

what have you to say of ' persuasion ' ? — yon, who owe 
your very life to us, and to our charity ! " 

Roused by this attack, the prisoner, wrenching his hand 
away from the priest's cruel grasp, sprang upright. 

" Wait — wait! " he said breathlessly — " You do not 
understand! You forget! All my life I have been under 
One great influence — all my life I have been taught to 
dream One great Dream! When I talk of 'persuasion,' 
I only mean the persuasion of that force which has sur- 
rounded me as closely as the air I breathe ! — that spirit 
which is bound to enter into all who work for you, or 
with you ! Oh no ! — neither you nor any member of your 
Order ever seek openly to ' persuade ' any man to any act, 
whether good or evil — your Rule is much wiser than 
that ! — much more subtle ! You issue no actual com- 
mands — your power comes chiefly by suggestion ! And 
with you, — working for you- — I have thought day and 
night, night and day, of the glory of Rome ! — the domin- 
ion of Rome ! — the triumph of Rome ! I have learned, 
under you, to wish for it, to pray for it, to desire it more 
than my own life ! — do you, c»n you blame me for that? 
You dare not call it a sin ; — for your Order represents 
it as a virtue that condones all sin ! " 

Del Fortis was silent, watching him with a kind of 
curious contempt. 

' It grew to be part of me, this Dream ! " went on the 
lad, his eyes now shining with a feverish brilliancy — 
" And I began to see wonderful visions, and to hear voices 
calling me in the daytime, — voices that no one else heard ! 
Once in the College chapel I saw the Blessed Virgin's 
picture smile ! I was copying documents for the Vatican 
then, — and I thought of the Holy Father, — how he was 
imprisoned in Rome, when he should be Emperor of all 
the Emperors, — King of all the Kings ! I remembered 
how it was that he had no temporal power, — though all 
the powers of the earth should be subservient to him ! — 
and my heart beat almost to bursting, and mv brain seemed 
on fire ! — but the Blessed Virgin's picture still smiled ; 
— and I knelt down before it and swore that I, — even 
I, would help to give the whole world back to Rome, even 
if I died for it ! " 

He caught his breath with a kind of sob, and looked 



384 "Temporal Power' 

appealingly at Del Fortis, who, fingering the crucifix he 
held, sat immovable. 

" And then — and then " he went on, " I heard enough, 

— while at work in the monastery with you and the breth- 
ren, — to strengthen and fire my resolution. I learned 
that all kings are, in these days, the enemies of the Church. 
I learned that they were all united in one resolve ; and 
that, — to deprive the Holy Father of temporal power ! 
Then I set myself to study kings. Each, and all of those 
who sit on thrones to-day passed before my view ; — all 
selfish, money-seeking, sensual men ! — not one good, 
true soul among them ! Demons they seemed to me, — 
bent on depriving God's Evangelist in Rome of his Sacred 
and Supreme Sovereignty ! It made me mad ! — and I 
would have killed all kings, could I have done so with 
a single thought ! Then came a day when you preached 
openly in the Cathedral against this one King, who should 
by right have gone to his account this very afternoon ! — 
you told the people how he had refused lands to the 
Church, — and how by this wicked act he had stopped the 
progress of religious education, and had put himself, as 
it were, in the way of Christ who said : ' Suffer little chil- 
dren to come unto Me ! ' And my dreams of the glory of 
Rome again took shape — I saw in my mind all the 
children, — the poor little children of the world, gathered 
to the knee of the Holy Father, and brought up to obey 
him and him only ! — I remembered my oath before the 
Blessed Virgin's picture, and all my soul cried out : 
' Death to the crowned Tyrant ! Death ! ' For you said 

— and I believed it — that all who opposed the Holy 
Father's will, were opposed to the will of God ! — and over 
and over again I said in my heart : ' Death to the tyrant ! 
Death ! ' And the words went with me like the response 
of a litany, — till — till — I saw him before me to-day — 
a pampered fool, surrounded by women ! — a blazoned 
liar ! — and then — " He paused, smiling foolishly ; and 
shaking his head with a slow movement to and fro, he 
added — " The dagger should have struck home ! — it 
was aimed surely — aimed strongly ! — but that woman 
came between — why did she come ? They said she was 
Lotys ! — ha ha ! — Lotys, the Revolutionary sybil ! — 
Lotys, the Socialist ! — but that could not be, — Lotys is 
as great an enemy of kings as I am ! " 



"I Say — 'Rome'!" 385 

" And an enemy of the Church as well ! '" said Del 
Fortis harshly — " Between the Church and Socialism, 
all Thrones stand on a cracking earth, devoured by fire ! 
But make no mistake about it ! — the woman was Lotys ! 
Socialist and Revolutionary as she may be, she has saved 
the life of the King. This is so far fortunate — for you ! 
And it is much to be hoped that she herself is not slain by 
your dagger thrust ; — death is far too easy and light a 
punishment for her and her associates ! We trust it may 
please a merciful God to visit her with more lingering 
calamity ! " 

As he said this, he piously kissed the crucifix he held, 
keeping his shallow dark eyes fixed on the prisoner with 
the expression of a cat watching a mouse. The half- 
crazed youth, absorbed in the ideas of his own dementia, 
still smiled to himself vaguely, and nervously plucked at 
his fingers, till Del Fortis, growing impatient and forget- 
ting for the moment that they stood in a prison cell, the 
interior of which might possibly be seen and watched 
from many points of observation unknown to them, went 
up to him and shook him roughly by the arm. 

" Attention ! " he said angrily — " Rouse yourself and 
hear me ! You talk like a fool or a madman, — yet you 
are neither — neither, you understand ? — neither idiot- 
born nor suddenly crazed ; — so, when on your trial do 
not feign to be what you are not ! Such ideas as you have 
expressed, though they may have their foundation in a 
desire for good, are evil in their results — yet even out of 
evil good may come ! The power of Rome — the glory 
of Rome — the dominion of Rome ! Rome, supreme 
Mistress of the world! Would you help the Church to 
win this great victory ? Then now is your chance ! God 
has given you — you, His poor instrument, — the means 
to effectually aid His conquest, — to Him be all the praise 
and thanksgiving ! It rests with you to accept His mes- 
sage and perform His work ! " 

The high-flown, melodramatic intensity with which he 
pronounced these words, had the desired effect on the 
stunned and bewildered, weak mind of the unfortunate 
lad so addressed. His eyes sparkled — his cheeks flushed, 
— and he looked eagerly up into the face of his priestly 
hvpnotizer. 

-5 



386 "Temporal Power' 

" Yes — yes ! " he said quickly in a breathless whisper 
— " But how ? — tell me how ! I will work — oh, I will 
work — for Rome, for God, for the Blessed Virgin ! — 
I will do all that I can ! — but how — how ? Will the 
Holy Father send an angel to take me out of this prison, 
so that I may be free to help God ? " 

Del Fortis surveyed him with a kind of grim derision. 
A slight noise like the slipping-back or slipping-to of a 
grating, startled him, and he looked about him on all sides, 
moved by a sudden nervous apprehension. But the 
massive walls of the cell, oozing with damp and slime, had 
apparently no aperture or outlet anywhere, not even a slit 
in the masonry for the admission of daylight. Satisfied 
with his hasty examination, he took his credulous victim 
by the arm, and led him back to the rough stone bench 
where they had first begun to converse. 

" Kneel down here before me! " — he said — " Kneel, 
as if you were repeating all the sins of your life to me in 
your last confession ! Kneel, I say ! " 

Feebly, and with trembling limbs, the lad obeyed. 

" Now," continued Del Fortis, holding up the crucifix 
before him — " Try to follow my words and understand 
them ! To-morrow, or the next day, you will be taken 
before a judge and tried for your attempted crime. Do 
you realise that? " 

"I do ! " The answer came hesitatingly, and with a 
faint moan. 

" Have you thought what you intend to say when you 
are asked your reasons for attacking the King? Do you 
mean to tell judge and jury the story of what you call 
your ' persuasion ' to dream of the dominion of Rome ? " 

" Yes — yes ! " replied the lad, looking up with an eager 
light on his face — "Yes, I will tell them all, — just as 
I have told you ! Then they will know, — they will see 
that it was a good thought of mine — it would have been 
a good sin ! I will speak to them of the wicked wrongs 
done to you and your Holy Order, — of the cruelty which 
the Christian Apostle in Rome has to suffer at the hands 
of kings — and they will acknowledge me to be right and 
j us t ; — they will know I am as a man inspired by God to 
work for the Church, the bride of Christ, and to make her 
Queen of all the world ! " 



"I Say — 'Rome'!" 387 

He stopped suddenly, intimidated by the cruel glare of 
the wolfish eyes above him. 

" You will say nothing of all this ! " and Del Fortis 
shook the crucifix in his face as though it were a threaten- 
ing weapon; 'You will say only what / choose, — only 
what / command ! And if you do not swear to speak as 
I tell you, I will kill you ! — here and now — with my 
own hands ! " 

Uttering a half-smothered cry, the wretched youth re- 
coiled in terror. 

" You will kill me ? You — you? " he gasped — " No 

— no ! — you could not do that ! you could not, — you 
are a holy man ! I — I am not afraid that you will hurt 
me ! I have done nothing to offend you, — I have always 
been obedient to you, — I have been your slave — your 
dog to fetch and carry ! - - and you should remember, — 
yes ! — you should remember that my mother was rich, — 
and that because she too felt the call of God, she gave 
all her money to the Church, and left me thrown upon 
the streets to starve! But the Church rescued me — the 
Church did not forget! And 1 am ready to serve the 
Church in all and every possible way, — I have done my 
best, even now ! ' ! 

He spoke with all the passionate self-persuasion of a 
fanatic, and Del Fortis judged it wisest to control his 
own fierce inward impatience and deal with him more 
restrainedly. 

" That is true enough! " he said in milder accents; — 
" You are ready to serve the Church, — I do not doubt it ; 

— but you do not serve it in the right way. No earthly 
good is gained to us by the killing of kings ! Their con- 
version and obedience is what we seek. This king you 
would have slain is a baptised son of the Church ; but 
beyond attending mass regularly in his private chapel, 
which he does for the mere sake of appearances, he is an 
atheist, condemned to the fires of Hell. Nevertheless, 
no advantage to us could possibly be obtained by his death. 
Much can be done for us by you — yes, you! — and much 
will depend on the answers to the questions asked you at 
your trial. Give those answers as / shall bid you, and 
you will win a triumph for the cause of Rome ! " 

The prisoner's eyes glittered feverishly, — full of the 



388 " Temporal Power ' 

delirium of bigotry, he caught the lean, cold hand that 
held the crucifix, and kissed it fervently. 

" Command me ! " he muttered — " Command ! — and 
in the name of the Blessed Virgin, I will obey ! ' : 

" Hear then, and attend closely to my words," went on 
Del Fortis, enunciating his sentences in a low distinct 
voice — "When you are brought before the judge, you 
will be accused of an attempt to assassinate the King. 
Make no denial of it, — admit it at once, and express 
contrition. You will then be asked if any person or per- 
sons instigated you to commit the crime. To this say 
' yes ' ! " 

" Say ' yes ' ! " repeated the lad — " But that will not be 
true ! " 

" Fool, does it matter! " ejaculated Del Fortis, almost 
savagely — " Have you not sworn to speak as I command 
you ? What is it to you whether it is true or false ? " 

A slight shiver passed through the prisoner's limbs — 
but he was silent. 

"Say" — went on his pitiless instructor — "that you 
were enticed and persuaded to commit the wicked deed 
by the teachings of the Socialist, Sergius Thord, and his 
followers. Say that the woman Lotys knew of your in- 
tention, — and saved the life of the King at the last mo- 
ment, through fear, lest her own seditious schemes should 
be discovered and herself punished. Say, — that because 
you were young and weak and impressionable, she chose 
you out to attempt the assassination. Do you hear?' : 

" I hear ! " The reply came thickly and almost inaudi- 
bly. " But must I tell these lies ? I have never spoken 
to Sergius Thord in my life ! — nor to the woman Lotys ; 
— I know nothing of "them or their followers, except by 
the public talk ; — why should I harm the innocent ? Let 
me tell the truth, I pray of you ! — let me speak as my 
heart dictates ! — let me plead for the Holy Father — for 
vou — for your Order — for the Church ! " 

He broke off as Del Fortis caught him by both hands 
in an angry grip. 

" Do not dare to speak one word of the Church ! " he 
said, " Or of us, — or of our Order ! Let not a single 
syllable escape your lips concerning your connection with 
us and our Society! — or we shall find means to make 



"I Say — 'Rome'!" 389 

you regret it ! Beware of betraying yourself ! When you 
are once before the Court of Law, remember you know 
nothing of Us, our Work, or our Creed ! " 

Utterly bewildered and mystified, the unhappy youth 
rocked himself to and fro, clasping and unclasping his 
hands in a kind of nervous paroxysm. 

" Oh why, why will you bid me to do this ? " he moaned 
— " You know there are times when I cannot be answer- 
able for myself ! How can I tell what I shall do when I 
am brought face to face with my accusers ? — when I see 
all the dreadful eyes of the people turned upon me ? How 
can I deny all knowledge of those who brought me up, 
and nurtured and educated me? If they ask me of my 
home, is it not with you ? — under your sufferance and 
charity? If they seek to know my means of subsistence, 
is it not through you that I receive the copying-work for 
which I am paid? You would not have me repudiate all 
this, would you? I should be worse than a dog in sheer 
ingratitude if I did not bear open testimony to all the 
Church has done for me! " 

" Be, not worse than a dog, but faithful as a dog in 
obedience ! " responded Del Fortis impressively — " And, 
for once, speak of the Church with the indifference of an 
atheist, — or with such marked coldness as a wise man 
speaks of the woman he secretly adores ! Hold the Church 
and Us too sacred for any mention in a Court of criminal 
law ! But serve the Church by involving the Socialist 
and Revolutionary party ! Think of the magnificent re- 
sults which will spring from this act, — and nerve your- 
self to tell a lie in order to support a truth ! " 

Rising unsteadily from his knees, the prisoner stood 
upright. By the flicker of the dim lamp, he looked deadly 
pale, and his limbs tottered as though shaken bv an ague 
fit. 

'What good will come of it?" he queried dully — 
" What good can come of it? " 

" Great and lasting good will come of it ! " — replied 
Del Fortis — " And it will come quickly too ; — in this 
way, for by fastening the accusation of undue influence 
on Sergius Thord and his companions, you will obtain 
Government restriction, if not total suppression of the 
Socialist party. This is what we need ! The Socialists 



39° "Temporal Power' 

are growing too strong — too powerful in every country, 

— and we are on the brink of trouble through their ac- 
cursed and atheistical demonstrations. There will soon 
be serious disturbances in the political arena — possibly 
an overthrow of the Government, and a general election 

— and if Sergius Thord has the chance of advancing him- 
self as a deputy, he will be elected above all others by an 
overpowering majority of the lower classes. You can 
prevent this ! — you can prevent it by a single falsehood, 
which in this case will be more pleasing to God than a 
thousand mischievous veracities ! Will you do it ? Yes 
or No?" 

The miserable lad looked helplessly around him, his 
weak frame trembling as with palsy, and his uncertain 
fingers plucking at each other with that involuntary move- 
ment of the muscles which indicates a disordered brain. 

" Will you, or will you not ? " reiterated Del Fortis in 
a whisper that hissed through the close precincts of the 
cell like the warning of a snake about to sting — " Answer 
me!" 

"Suppose I say I will not!" — stammered the poor 
wretch, with trembling lips and appealing eyes — " Sup- 
pose I say I will not falsely accuse the innocent, even for 

the sake of the Church ? " 

' Then," said Del Fortis slowly, rising and moving 
towards him ; — " You had best accept the only alterna- 
tive — this ! " 

And he took from his breast pocket a small phial, full 
of clear, colourless fluid, and showed it to him — " Take 
it ! — and so make a quick and quiet end ! For, if you 
betray you connection with Us by so much as a look, — 
a sign, or a syllable, — your mode of exit from this world 
may be slower, less decent, and more painful ! " 

The miserable boy wrung his hands in agony, and such 
a cry of despair broke from his lips as might have moved 
anyone less cruelly made of spiritual adamant than the 
determined servant of the cruellest ' religious ' Order 
known. The dull harsh clang of the prison bell struck 
ten. The ' priest ' had been an hour at the work of ' con- 
fessing ' his penitent, — and his patience was well-nigh 
exhausted. 

" Swear you will attribute your intended assassination 



"I Say— 'Rome'!" 391 

of the King, to the. influence of the Socialists ! " he said 

with fierce imperativeness — " Or with this end 

all your difficulties to-night ! It is a gentle quietus ! — 
and you ought to thank me for it ! It is better than soli- 
tary imprisonment for life! I will give you absolution 
for taking it - - provided I see you swallow it before I go ! 
— and I will declare to the Church that I left you shrived 
of your sins, and clean ! Half an hour after I leave you, 
you will sleep ! — and wake — in Heaven ! Make your 
choice ! " 

The last words had scarcely left his lips when the cell 
door was suddenly thrown open, and a blaze of light 
poured in. Dazzled by the strong and sudden glare, Del 
Fortis recoiled, and still holding the phial of poison in 
his hand, stumbled back against the half-fainting form of 
the poor crazed creature he had been terrorising, as a 
dozen armed men silently entered the dungeon and ranged 
themselves in order, six on one side and six on the other, 
while, in their midst one man advanced, throwing back 
his dark military cloak as he came, and displaying a mass 
of jewelled orders and insignia on his brilliant uniform. 
Del Fortis uttered a fierce oath. 

" The King! " he muttered, under his breath — " The 
King ! " 

" Ay, the King! " and a glance of supreme scorn swept 
over him from head to foot, as the monarch's clear dark 
grey eyes flashed with the glitter of cold steel in the lu- 
minance of the torches which were carried by attendants 
behind him ; " Monsignor Del Fortis ! You stand con- 
victed of the offence of unlawfully tampering with the 
conscience of a prisoner of State ! We have heard your 
every word — and have obtained a bird's-eye view of 
your policy ! — so that, — if necessary, — we will Our- 
selves bear witness against you ! For the present, — 
you will be detained in this fortress until our further 
pleasure ! " 

For one moment Del Fortis appeared to be literally con- 
torted in every muscle by his excess of rage. His features 
grew livid, — his eyes became almost blood-red, and his 
teeth met on his drawn-in under-lip in a smile of intense 
malignity. Baffled again ! — and by this ' king,' — the 
crowned Dummy, — who had cast aside all former pre- 



39 2 "Temporal Power 



i ? 



cedent, and instead of amusing himself with card-playing 
and sensual intrigue, after the accepted fashion of most 
modern sovereigns, had presumed to interfere, not only 
with the Church, but with the Government, and now, as 
it seemed, had acted as a spy on the very secrets of a so- 
called prison ' confession ' ! The utter impossibility of 
escaping from the net into which his own words had 
betrayed him, stood plainly before his mind and half- 
choked him with impotent fury, — till — all suddenly a 
thought crossed his brain like a flash of fire, and with a 
strong effort, he recovered his self-possession. Crossing 
his arms meekly on his breast, he bowed with a silent and 
profound affectation of humility, as one who is bent under 
the Royal displeasure, yet resigned to the Royal command, 

— then with a rapid movement he lifted the poison-phial 
he had held concealed, to his lips. His action was at once 
perceived. Two or three of the armed guards threw 
themselves upon him and, after a brief struggle, wrenched 
the flask from his hand, but not till he had succeeded in 
swallowing its contents. Breathing quickly, yet smiling 
imperturbably, he stood upright and calm. 

" God's will and mine — not your Majesty's — be 
done ! " he said. ' In half an hour — or less — Mother 
Church may add to her list of martyrs the name of Andrea 
Del Fortis ! — who died rather than sacrifice the dignity 
of his calling to the tyranny of a king ! " 

A slight convulsion passed over his features, — he 
staggered backward. The King, horror-stricken, signed to 
the prison warders standing by, to support him. He mut- 
tered a word of thanks, as they caught him by both arms. 

' Take me where I can die quietly! " he said to them, 
' It will soon be over ! I shall give you little trouble ! " 

A cold, weak, trembling hand clasped his. It was the 
hand of the King's wretched assassin. 

' Let me go with you ! " he cried — " Let me die with 
you ! You have been cruel to me ! — but you could not 
have meant it ! — you were once kind ! " 

Del Fortis thrust him aside. 

" Curse you ! " he said thickly — " You are the cause — 
you — you are the cause of this damned mischief ! You ! 

— God ! — to think of it ! — you devil's spawn ! — you 
cur!" 



"I Say— ' Rome'!" 393 

His voice failed him, and he reeled heavily against the 
sturdy form of one of the warders who held him — his 
lips were flecked with blood and foam. Shocked and 
appalled, no less at his words, than at the fiendish con- 
tortion of his features, the King drew near. 

" Curse hot a fellow-mortal, unhappy priest, in thine 
own passage towards the final judgment!" he said in 
grave accents — " The blessing of this poor misguided 
creature may help thee more than even a king's free 
pardon ! " 

And he extended his hand ; — but with all the force of 
his now struggling and convulsed body, Del Fortis beat 
it back, and raised himself by an almost superhuman 
effort. 

' Pardon ! Who talks of pardon ! " he cried, with a 
strong voice - ' I do not need it — I do not seek it ! I 
have worked for the Church — I die for the Church ! For 
every one that says ' The King ! ' — I say, ' Rome ' ! " 

He drew himself stiffly upright ; his dark eyes glittered ; 
his face, though deadly pale, scarcely looked like the face 
of a dying man. 

' I say, ' Rome ' ! " he repeated, in a harsh whisper ; — 
" Over all the world ! — over all the kingdoms of the 
world, and in defiance of all kings — ' Rome ' ! " 

He fell back, — not dead, — but insensible, in the stupor 
which precedes death ; — and was quickly borne out of 
the cell and carried to the prison infirmary, there to re- 
ceive medical aid, though that could only now avail to 
soothe the approaching agonies of dissolution. 

The King stood mute and motionless, lost in thought, a 
heavy darkness brooding on his features. How strange 
the impulse that had led him to be the mover and witness 
of this scene ! By merest chance he had learned that 
Del Fortis had applied for permission to ' confess ' the 
would-be destroyer of his life, — the life which Lotys 
had saved, — and acting — as he had lately accustomed 
himself to do — on a sudden first idea or instinct, he had 
summoned General Bernhoff to escort him to the prison, 
and make the way easy for him to watch and overhear the 
interview between priest and penitent, — himself unob- 
served. And from so slight an incident had sprung a 
tragedy, — which might have results as yet undreamed-of ! 



394 "Temporal Power' 

And while he yet mused upon this, General Bernhoff 
ventured respectfully to approach him, and ask if it was 
now his pleasure to return to the Palace ? He roused 
himself, — and with a heavy sigh looked round on the 
damp and dismal cell in which he stood, and at the crouch- 
ing-, fear-stricken form of the semi-crazed and now 
violently weeping lad who had attempted his life. 

' Take that poor wretch away from here ! " he said in 
hushed tones — " Give him light, and warmth, and food ! 
His evil desires spring from an unsound brain ; — I would 
have him dealt with mercifully ! Guard him with all 
necessary and firm restraint, — but do not brutalise his 
body more than Rome has brutalised his soul ! " 

With that he turned away, — and his armed guard and 
attendants followed him. 

That self-same midnight a requiem mass was sung in 
a certain chapel before a silent gathering of black-robed 
stern-featured men, who prayed " For the repose of the 
soul of our dear brother, Andrea Del Fortis, servant of 
God, and martyr to the cause of truth and justice, — who 
departed this life suddenly, in the performance of his 
sacred duties." In the newspapers next day, the death of 
this same martyr and shining light of the Church was 
recorded with much paid-for regret and press-eulogy as 
' due to heart-failure ' and his body being claimed by the 
Jesuit brotherhood, it was buried with great pomp and 
solemn circumstance, several of the Catholic societies and 
congregations following it to the grave. One week after 
the funeral, — for no other ostensible cause whatever, 
save the offence of openly publishing his official refusal of 
a grant of Crown lands to the Jesuits, — the Holy Father, 
the Evangelist and Infallible Apostle enthroned in St. 
Peter's Chair, launched against the King who had dared 
to deny his wish and oppose his will, the once terrible, but 
now futile ban of excommunication ; and the Royal son 
of the .Church who had honestly considered the good of 
his people more than the advancement of priestcraft, 
stood outside the sacred pale, — barred by a so-called 
' Christian ' creed, from the mercy of God and the hope 
of Heaven. 



«( 



CHAPTER XXVI 

ONE WAY, — ONE WOMAN ! " 



FOR several days after the foregoing events, the editors 
and proprietors of newspapers had more than enough 
' copy ' to keep them busy. The narrow escape of the 
King from assassination, followed by his excommunica- 
tion from the Church, worked a curious effect on the 
minds of the populace, who were somewhat bewildered 
and uncertain as to the possible undercurrent of political 
meaning flowing beneath the conjunction of these two 
events ; and their feelings were intensified by the an- 
nouncement that the youth who had attempted the mon- 
arch's life, — being proved as suffering from hereditary 
brain disease, — had received a free pardon, and was 
placed in a suitable home for the treatment of such cases, 
under careful restraint and medical supervision. The tide 
of popular opinion was now divided into two ways, — 
for, and against their Sovereign-ruler. By far the larger 
half were against ; — but the ban pronounced upon him 
by the Pope had the effect of making even this disaffected 
portion inclined to consider him more favourably, — see- 
ing that the Church's punishment had fallen upon him, 
apparently because he had done his duty, as a king, bv 
granting the earnest petitions of thousands of his subjects. 
David Jost, who had always made a point of flattering 
Royalty in all its forms, now let his pen go with a com- 
plete passion of toadyism, such as disgraced certain 
writers in Great Britain during the reigns of the perni- 
cious and vicious Georges, — and, seeing the continued 
success of the rival journal which the King had personally 
favoured, he trimmed his sails to the Court breeze, and 
dropped the Church party as though it had burned his 
fingers. But he found various channels on which he had 
previously relied for information, rigorously closed to 



39 6 



" Temporal Power' 



him. He had written many times to the Marquis de 
Lutera to ask if the report of his having sent in his resig- 
nation was correct, — but he had received no answer. He 
had called over and over again on Carl Perousse, hoping 
to obtain a few minutes' conversation with him, but had 
been denied an interview. Cogitating upon these changes, 

— which imported much, — and wishing over and over 
again that he had been born an Englishman, so that by 
the insidious flattery of Royalty he might obtain a peer- 
age, — as a certain Jew associate of his concerned in the 
same business in London, had recently succeeded in doing, 

— he decided that the wisest course to follow was to con- 
tinue to ' butter ' the King ; — hence he laid it on with a 
thick brush, wherever the grease of hypocrisy could show 
off best. But work as he would, the ' shares ' in his jour- 
nalistic concerns were steadily going down, — none of 
his numerous magazines or ' half-penny rags,' paid so 
well as they had hitherto done ; while the one paper 
which had lately been so prominently used by the King, 
continued to prosper, the public having now learned to 
accept with avidity and eagerness the brilliant articles 
which bore the signature of Pasquin Leroy, as though 
they were somewhat of a new political gospel. The charm 
of mystery intensified this new writer's reputation. He 
was never seen in ' fashionable ' society, — no ' fashion- 
able ' person appeared to know him, — and the general 
impression was that he resided altogether out of the 
country. Only the members of the Revolutionary Com- 
mittee were aware that he was one of them, and recognised 
his work as part of the carrying out of his sworn bond. 
He had grown to be almost the right hand of Sergius 
Thord ; wherever Thord sought supporters, he helped 
to obtain them, — wherever the sick and needy, the deso- 
late and distressed, required aid, he somehow managed 
to secure it, — and next to Thord, — and of course Lotys, 

— he was the idol of the Socialist centre. He never spoke 
in public. — he seldom appeared at mass meetings ; but 
his influence was always felt ; and he made himself and 
his work almost a necessity to the Cause. The action of 
Lotys in saving the life of the King, had created consider- 
able discussion among the Revolutionists, not unmixed 
with anger. When she first appeared among them after 



''One Way, — One Woman!' 397 

the incident, with her arm in a sling, she was greeted with 
mingled cheers and groans, to neither of which she paid 
the slightest attention. She. took her seat at the head of 
the Committee table as usual, with her customary indiffer- 
ence and grace, and appeared deaf to the conflicting mur- 
murs around her, — till, as they grew louder and more 
complaining and insistent, she raised her head and sent 
the lightning flash of her blue eyes down the double line 
of men with a sweeping scorn that instantly silenced 
them. 

'What do you seek from me?" she demanded; — 
' Why do you clamour like babes for something you can- 
not get, my obedience ? " 

They looked shamefacedly at one another, — then at 
Sergius Thord and Pasquin Leroy, who sat side by side at 
the lower end of the table. Max Graub and Axel Regor, 
Leroy's two comrades, were for once absent ; but they 
had sent suitable and satisfactory excuses. Thord's brows 
were heavy and lowering, — his eyes were wild and un- 
restful, and his attitude and expression were such as 
caused Laroy to watch him with a little more than his 
usual close attention. Seeing that his companions ex- 
pected him to answer Lotys before them all, he spoke 
with evident effort. 

' You make a difficult demand upon us, Lotys," he 
said slowly, " if you wish us to explain the stormy nature 
of our greeting to you this evening. You might surely 
have understood it without a question ! For we are com- 
pelled to blame you ; — you who have never till now de- 
served blame, — for the folly of your action in exposing 
your own life to save that of the King! The one is val- 
uable to us — the other is nothing to us ! Besides, you 
have trespassed against the Seventh Rule of our Order 
— which solemnly pledges us to ' destroy the present 
monarchy ' ! '' 

" Ah ! '" said Lotys, " And is it part of the oath that the 
monarchy should be destroyed by murder without warn- 
ing ? You know it is not ! You know that there is nothing 
more dastardly, more cowardly, more utterly loathsome 
and contemptible than to kill a man defenceless and un- 
armed ! We speak of a Monarchy, not a King ; — not 
one single individual, — for if he were killed, he has three 



398 Temporal Power' 

sons to come after him. You have called me the Soul of 
an Ideal — good ! But I am not, and will not be the Soul 
of a Murder-Committee! "  

' Well spoken ! " said Johan Zegota, looking up from 
some papers which he, as secretary to the Society, had 
been docketing for the convenience of Thord's perusal ; 
' But do not forget, brave Lotys, that the very next meet- 
ing we hold is the annual one, in which we draw lots for 
the ' happy dispatch ' .of traitors and false rulers ; and 
that this year the name of the King is among them ! " 

Lotys grew a shade paler, but she replied at once and 
dauntlessly. 

" I do not forget it ! But if lots are cast and traitors 
doomed, — it is part of our procedure to give any such 
doomed man six months' .steady and repeated warning, 
that he may have time to repent of his mistakes and 
remedy them, so that haply he may still be spared ; — and 
also that he may take heed to arm himself, that he do not 
die defenceless. Had I not saved the King, his death 
would have been set down to us, and our work ! Any one 
of you might have been accused of influencing the crazy 
boy who attempted the deed, — and it is quite possible our 
meetings would have been suppressed, and all our work 
fatally hindered, — if not entirely stopped. Foolish chil- 
dren ! You should thank me, not blame me ! — but you 
are blind children all, and cannot even see where you have 
been faithfully served by your faithfullest friend ! " 

At these words a new light appeared to break on the 
minds of all present — a light that was reflected in their 
eager and animated faces. The knotted line of Thord's 
brooding brows smoothed itself gradually away. 

' Was that indeed your thought, Lotys," he asked 
gently, almost tenderly — " Was it for our sakes and for 
us alone, that you saved the King? " 

At that instant Pasquin Leroy turned his eyes, which 
till now had been intent on watching Thord, to the other 
end of the table where the fine, compact woman's head, 
framed in its autumn-gold hair, was silhouetted against 
the dark background of the wall behind her like a cameo. 
His gaze met hers, — and a vague look of fear and pain 
flashed over her face, as a faint touch of colour reddened 
her cheeks. 



"One Way, — One Woman!' 399 

" 1 am not accustomed to repeat my words, Sergius 
Thord! " she answered coldly; " I have said my say! " 

Looks were exchanged, and there was a silence. 

" If we doubt Lotys, we doubt the very spirit of our- 
selves ! " said Pasquin Leroy, his rich voice thrilling with 
unwonted emotion; "Sergius — and comrades all! If 
von will hear me, and believe me, — you may take my 
word for it, she has run the risk of death for Us ! — and 
has saved Us from false accusation, and Government in- 
terference! To wrong Lotys by so much as a thought, 
is to wrong the truest woman God ever made ! '' 

A wild shout answered him, — and moved by one im- 
pulse, the whole body of men rose to their feet and drank 
" to the health and honour of Lotys! " with acclamation, 
many of them afterwards coming round to where she sat, 
and kneeling to kiss her hand and ask her pardon for their 
momentary doubt of her, in the excitement and enthu- 
siasm of their souls. But Lotys herself sat very silent, — 
almost as silent as Sergius Thord, who, though he drank 
the toast, remained moody and abstracted. 

When the company dispersed that night, each man 
present was carefully reminded by the secretary, Johan 
Zeeota, that unless the most serious illness or misfortune 
intervened, every one must attend the next meeting, as 
it was the yearly " Day of Fate." Pasquin Leroy was 
told that his two friends, Max Graub and Axel Regor 
must be with him, and he willingly made himself surety 
for their attendance. 

" But," said he, as he gave the promise, " what is the 
Day of Fate?" 

Johan Zegota pointed a thin finger delicately at his 
heart. 

" The Day of Fate," he said, " is the day of punishment, 
— or Decision of Deaths. The names of several persons 
who have been found guilty of treachery, — or who other- 
wise do injury to the people by the manner of their life 
and conduct, are written down on slips of paper, which 
are folded up and put in one receptacle, together with 
two or three hundred blanks. They must be all men's 
names, — we never make war on women. Against some 
of these names, — a Red Cross is placed. Whosoever 
draws a name, and finds the red cross against it, is bound 



4-oo "Temporal Power' 

to kill, within six months after due warning, the man 
therein mentioned. If he fortunately draws a blank then 
he is free for a year at least, — in spite of the fatal sign, 
— from the unpleasant duty of despatching a fellow mor- 
tal to the next world" — and here Zegota smiled quite 
cheerfully ; " But if he draws a Name, — and at the same 
time sees the red cross against it, then he is bound by 
his oath to us to do his duty! " 

Leroy nodded, and appeared in no wise dismayed at 
the ominous suggestion implied. 

" How if our friend Zouche were to draw the fatal 
sign," he said; "Would he perform his allotted task, 
think you ? " 

' Most thoroughly ! " replied Zegota, still smiling. 

And with that, they separated. 

Meanwhile, during the constant change and interchange 
of conflicting rumours, some of which appeared to have 
foundation in fact, and others which rapidly dispersed 
themselves as fiction, there could be no doubt whatever 
of the growing unpopularity of the Government in power. 
Little by little, drop by drop, there oozed out the secrets 
of the ' Perousse Policy," which was merely another 
name for Perousse Self-aggrandisement. Little by little, 
certain facts were at first whispered, and then more loudly 
talked about, as to the nature of his financial speculations ; 
and it was soon openly stated that in the formation of 
some of the larger companies, which were beginning to 
be run on the Gargantuan lines of the " American Trust " 
idea, he had enormous shares, — though these " Trusts " 
had been frequently denounced as a means of enslaving 
the country, and ruining certain trade-interests which he 
was in office to protect. Accusations began to be guard- 
edly thrown out against him in the Senate, which he 
parried off with the cool and audacious skill of an expert 
fencer, knowing that for the immediate moment at least, 
he had a " majority " under his thumb. This majority 
was composed of persons who had unfortunately become 
involved in his toils, and were, therefore, naturally afraid 
of him ; — yet it was evident, even to a superficial student 
of events, that if once the innuendoes against his probity 
as a statesman could be veraciously proved, this sense of 
intimidation among his supporters would be removed, and 



"One Way, — One Woman!' 401 

like the props set against a decaying house, their with- 
drawal would result in the ruin of the building. It was 
pretty well known that the Marquis de Lutera had sent 
in his resignation, but it was not at all certain whether the 
King was of a mind to accept it. 

Things were in abeyance, — political and social matters 
whirled giddily towards chaos and confusion ; and the 
numerous hurried Cabinet Councils that were convened, 
boded some perturbation among the governing heads of 
the State. From each and all of these meetings Ministers 
came away more gloomy and despondent in manner, — 
some shook their heads sorrowfully and spoke of ' the 
King's folly," — others with considerable indignation flung 
out sudden invectives against " the King's insolence! " — 
and between the two appellations, it was not ea'sy to meas- 
ure exactly the nature of the conduct which had deserved 
them. For the King himself made no alteration whatever 
in the outward character of his daily routine ; he trans- 
acted business in the morning, lunched, sometimes with 
his family, sometimes with friends ; drove in the after- 
noon, and showed himself punctiliously at different the- 
atres once or twice in the evenings of the week. The only 
change more observant persons began to notice in his 
conduct was, that he had drawn the line of demarcation 
very strongly between those persons who by rank and 
worth, and nobility of life, merited his attention, and those 
who by mere Push and Pocket, sought to win his favour 
bv that servile flattery and obsequiousness which are the 
trademarks of the plebeian and vulgarian. Quietly but 
firmly, he dropped the acquaintance of Jew sharks, lying 
in wait among the dirty pools of speculation ; — with ease 
and absoluteness he ' let go ' one by one, certain ladies of 
particularly elastic virtue, who fondly dreamed that they 
' managed ' him ; and among these, to her infinite rage and 
despair, went Madame Vantine, wife of Vantine the wine- 
grower, a yellow-haired, sensual " femclle d'homme," 
whose extravagance in clothes, and reckless indecency in 
conversation, combined with the King's amused notice, 
and the super-excellence of her husband's wines, had for 
a brief period made her ' the rage ' among a certain set of 
exceedingly dissolute individuals. 

In place of this kind of riff-raff of " nouveaux riches," 

26 



4-0 2 "Temporal Power' 

and plutocrats, he began by degrees to form around him- 
self a totally different entourage, — though he was careful 
to make his various changes slowly, so that they should 
not be too freely noticed and commented upon. Great 
nobles, whether possessed of vast wealth and estates, or 
altogether landless, were summoned to take their rightful 
positions at the Court, where Vantine the wine-grower, 
and Jost the Jew, no more obtained admittance ; — men 
of science, letters and learning, were sought out and hon- 
oured in various ways, their wives and daughters receiv- 
ing special marks of the Royal attention and favour ; and 
round the icy and statuesque beauty of the Queen soon 
gathered a brilliant bevy of the real world of women, not 
the half- world of the ' femme galante ' which having long 
held sway over the Crown Prince while Heir-Apparent 
to the Throne, judged itself almost as a necessary, and 
even becoming, appendage to his larger responsibility 
and state as King. These excellent changes, beneficial 
and elevating to the social atmosphere generally, could 
not of course be effected without considerable trouble 
and heart-burning, in the directions where certain persons 
had received their dismissal from such favour as they had 
previously held at Court. The dismissed ones thirsted 
with a desire for vengeance, and took every opportunity 
to inflame the passions of their own particular set against 
the King, some of them openly declaring their readiness 
to side with the Revolutionary party, and help it to power. 
But over the seething volcano of discontent, the tide of 
fashion moved as usual, to all outward appearances tran- 
quil, and absorbed in trivialities of the latest description; 
and though many talked, few dreamed that the mind of 
the country, growing more compressed in thought, and 
inflammable in nature every day, was rapidly becoming 
like a huge magazine of gunpowder or dynamite, which 
at a spark would explode into that periodically recurring 
fire-of-cleansing called Revolution. 

Weighted with many thoughts, Sir Roger de Launay, 
whose taciturn and easy temperament disinclined him 
for argument and kept him aloof from discussion when- 
ever he could avoid it, sat alone one evening in his own 
room which adjoined the King's library, writing a few 
special letters for his Majesty which were of too friendly 



"One Way, — One Woman!' 403 

a nature to be dealt with in the curt official manner of 
the private secretary. Once or twice he had risen and 
drawn aside the dividing curtain between himself and 
the King's apartment to see if his Royal master had en- 
tered ; but the room remained empty, though it was long 
past eleven at night. He looked every now and again at 
a small clock which ticked with a quick intrusive cheer- 
fulness on his desk, — then with a slight sigh resumed 
his work. Letter after letter was written and sealed, and 
he was getting to the end of his correspondence, when a 
tap at the door disturbed him, and his sister Teresa, the 
Queen's lady-in-waiting, entered. 

" Is the King within?" she asked softly, moving al- 
most on tiptoe as she came. 

Sir Roger shook his head. 

' He has been absent for some time," he replied, — 
then after a pause — ' But what are you here for, Teresa ? 
This is not your department ! " and he took her hand 
kindly, noticing with some concern that there were tears 
in her large dark eyes ; — 'Is anything wrong? " 

" Nothing ! That is, - - nothing that I have any right 

to imagine — or to guess. But " and here she seemed 

a little confused - — ' I am commanded by the Queen to 
summon you to her presence if, — if the King has not 
returned! " 

He rose at once, looking perplexed. Teresa watched 
him anxiously, and the expression of his face did not tend 
to reassure her. 

" Roger," she began timidly — " Would you not tell 
me, — might I not know something of this mystery ? 
Might I not be trusted ? " 

His languid eyes flashed with a sudden tenderness, as 
from his great and stately height he looked down upon 
her pretty shrinking figure. 

" Poor little Teresa! " he murmured playfully ; " What 
is the matter ? What mystery are you talking about ? " 

' You know — you must know ! " answered Teresa, 
clasping her hands with a gesture of entreaty ; " There 
is something wrong, I am sure ! Why is the King so 
often absent — when all the household suppose him to be 
with the Queen ? — or in his private library there ? " and 
she pointed to the curtained-off Royal sanctum beyond ; 



404 "Temporal Power' 

" Why does the Queen herself give it out that he is with 
her, when he is not? Why does he enter the Queen's 
corridor sometimes quite late at night by the private bat- 
tlement-stair ? Does it not seem very strange? And 
since he was so nearly assassinated, his absences have 
been more frequent than ever! " 

Sir Roger pulled his long fair moustache meditatively 
between his fingers. 

" When you were a little girl, Teresa, you must have 
been told the story of Blue-beard; " he said; " Xow take 
my advice ! — and do not try to open forbidden doors 
with your tiny golden key of curiosity! " 

Teresa's cheeks flushed a pretty rose pink. 

" I am not curious ; " she said, with an air of hauteur ; 
" And indeed I am far too loyal to say anything to anyone 
but to you, of what seems so new and strange. Besides 

the Queen has forbidden me only it is just 

because of the Queen- " here she stopped hesitatingly. 

" Because of the Queen? " echoed Sir Roger; "Why?" 

" She is unhappy ! " said Teresa. 

A smile, — somewhat bitter, — crossed De Launay's 
face. 

" Unhappy ! " he repeated ; " She ! You mistake her, 
little girl ! She does not know what it is to be unhappy ; 
nothing so weak and slight as poor humanity affects the 
shining iceberg of her soul ! For it is an iceberg, Teresa ! 
The sun shines on it all day, fierce and hot, and never 
moves or melts one glittering particle ! " 

He spoke with a concentrated passion of melancholy, 
and Teresa trembled a little. She knew, as no one else 
did, the intense and despairing love that had corroded her 
brother's life ever since the Queen had been brought home 
to the kingdom in all her exquisite maiden beauty, as 
bride of the Heir- Apparent. Such love terrified her ; she 
did not understand it. She knew it was hopeless, — she 
felt it was disloyal, — and yet — it was love ! — and her 
brother was one of the truest and noblest of gentlemen, 
devoted to the King's service, and incapable of a mean 
or a treacherous act. The position was quite incompre- 
hensible to her, for she was not thoughtful enough to 
analyse it, — and she had no experience of the tender 
passion herself, to aid her in sympathetically considering 



"One Way, — One Woman!' 405 

its many moods, sorrows, and inexplicable martyrdoms 
of mind-torture. She contented herself now with repeat- 
ing her former assertion. 

" She is unhappy, — I am sure she is ! You may call 
her an iceberg, if you like, Roger! — men have such 
odd names for the women they are unable to under- 
stand ! But I have seen the iceberg shed tears very often 
lately ! " 

He looked at her, surprised. 

" You have ? Then we may expect the Pallas Athene 
to weep in marble? Well! What did you say, Teresa? 
That her Majesty commanded my presence, if the King 
had not returned?" 

Teresa nodded assent. She was a little worried — her 
brother's face looked worn and pale, and he seemed moved 
beyond himself. She watched him nervously as he pushed 
aside the dividing curtain, and looked into the adjoining 
room. It was still vacant. The window stood open, and 
the line of the sea, glittering in the moon, shone far off 
like a string of jewels, — while the perfume of heliotrope 
and lilies came floating in deliciously on the cool night- 
breeze. Satisfied that there was as yet no sign of his 
Royal master, he turned back again, — and stooping his 
tall head, kissed the charming girl, whose anxious and 
timid looks betrayed her inward anxiety. 

" I am ready, Teresa! " he said cheerfully; " Lead the 
way ! 

She glided quickly on before him, along an inner pas- 
sage leading to the Queen's apartments. Arriving at 
one particular door, she opened it noiselessly, and with 
a warning finger laid on her lips, went in softly, — Sir 
Roger following. The light of rose-shaded waxen tapers 
which were reflected a dozen times in the silver-framed 
mirrors that rose up to the ceiling from banks of flowers 
below, shed a fairy-like radiance on the figure of the 
Queen, who, seated at a reading-table, with one hand 
buried in the loosened waves of her hair, seemed absorbed 
in the close study of a book. A straight white robe of 
thick creamy satin flowed round her perfect form, — it 
was slightly open at the throat, and softened with a 
drifting snow of lace, in which one or two great jewels 
sparkled. As Sir Roger approached her with his usual 



406 "Temporal Power" 

formal salute, — she turned swiftly round with an air 
of scarcely-concealed impatience. 

" Where is the King? " she demanded. 

Startled at the sudden peremptory manner of her ques- 
tion, Sir Roger hesitated, — for the moment taken quite 
aback. 

' Did I not tell you," she went on, in the same imperi- 
ous tone; 'that 1 made you responsible for his safety? 
Yet — though you were by his side at the time — you 
could not shield him from attempted assassination ! That 
was left, — to a woman ! " 

Her breast heaved — her eyes flashed glorious light- 
ning, — she looked altogether transformed. 

Had a thunder-bolt fallen through the painted ceiling 
at Sir Roger's feet, he could scarcely have been more 
astounded. 

' Madam ! " he stammered, — and then as the light of 
her eyes swept over him, with a concentration of scorn 
and passion such as he had never seen in them, he grew 
deadly pale. 

' Who, and what is this woman ? " she went on ; " Why 
was it given to her to save the King's life, while you stood 
by? Why was she brought to the Palace to be attended 
like some princess, — and then taken away secretly before I 
could see her? Lotys is her name — I know it by heart !" 

Like twinkling stars, the jewels in her lace scintillated 
with the quick panting of her breath. 

'The King is absent," — she continued — "as usual; 
— but why are you not with him, also as usual ? Answer 
me! " 

'Madam," said De Launay, slowly; "For some few 
days past his Majesty has absolutely forbidden me to 
attend him. To carry out your commands I should be 
forced to disobey his! " 

She looked at him in a suppressed passion of enquiry. 

" Then — is he alone? " she asked. 

' Madam, I regret to say — he is quite alone ! " 

She rose, and paced once up and down the room, a 
superb figure of mingled rage and pride, and humiliation, 
all comingled. Her eyes lighted on Teresa, who had 
timorously withdrawn to a corner of the apartment where 
she stood apparently busied in arranging some blossoms 



"One Way, — One Woman!' 407 

that had fallen too far out of the crystal vase in which 
they were set. 

"Teresa, you can leave us!" she said suddenly; "I 
will speak to Sir Roger alone." 

With a nervous glance at her brother, who stood mute, 
his head slightly bent, himself immovable as a figure of 
stone, Teresa curtseyed and withdrew. 

The Queen stood haughtily erect, — her white robes 
trailing around her, — her exquisite face transfigured into 
a far grander beauty than had ever been seen upon it, 
by some pent-up emotion which to Sir Roger was well- 
nigh inexplicable. His heart beat thickly ; he could al- 
most hear its heavy pulsations, and he kept his eyes 
lowered, lest she should read too clearly in them the 
adoration of a lifetime. 

" Sir Roger, speak plainly," she said, " and speak the 
truth ! Some little time ago you said it was wrong for 
me to shut out from my sight, my heart, my soul, the 
ugly side of Nature. I have remedied that fault! I am 
looking at the ugly side of Nature now, - - in myself ! 
The rebellious side — the passionate, fierce, betrayed side ! 
I trusted you with the safety of the King! " 

" Madam, he is safe ! " said Sir Roger quietly ; - 'I 
can guarantee upon my life that he is with those who will 
defend him far more thoroughly than I could ever do ! 
It is better to have a hundred protectors than one ! ' : 

" Oh, I know what you would imply ! " she answered, 
impatiently ; " I understand, thus far, from what he him- 
self has told me. But — there is something else, some- 
thing else ! Something that portends far closer and more 
intimate danger to him " 

She paused, apparently uncertain how to go on, and 
moving: back to her chair, sat down. 

" If you are the man I have imagined you to be, she 
continued, in deliberate accents ; " You perfectly know — 
you perfectly understand what I mean! " 

Sir Roger raised his head and looked her bravely in 
the eyes. 

" You would imply, Madam, that one, who like myself 
has been conscious of a great passion for many years, 
should be able to recognise the signs of it in others ! 
Your Majesty is right! Once you expressed to me a 



?» 



408 "Temporal Power 

wonder as to what it was like ' to feel.' If that experience 
has come to you now, I cannot but rejoice, — even while 
I grieve to think that you must endure pain at the dis- 
covery. Yet it is only from the pierced earth that the 
flowers can bloom, — - and it may be you will have more 
mercy for others, when you yourself are wounded ! " 

She was silent. 

He drew a step nearer. 

'You wish me to speak plainly?" he continued in a 
lower tone. ' You give me leave to express the lurking 
thought which is in your own heart ? " 

She gave a slight inclination of her head, and he went 
on. 

' You assume danger for the King, — but not danger 
from the knife of the assassin — or from the schemes of 
revolutionists! You judge him — as I do — to be in the 
grasp of the greatest Force which exists in the universe ! 
The force against which there is, and can be no opposi- 
tion ! — a force, which if it once binds even a king — 
makes of him a life-prisoner, and turns mere ' temporal 
power ' to nothingness ; upsetting thrones, destroying 
kingdoms', and beating down the very Church itself in the 
way of its desires — and that force is — Love ! " 

She started violently,  — then controlled herself. 

' You waste your eloquence ! " she said coldly ; " What 
you speak of, I do not understand. I do not believe in 
Love ! " 

" Or jealousy? " 

The words sprang from his lips almost unconsciously, 
and like a magnificent animal who has been suddenly 
stung, she sprang upright. 

' How dare you ! " she said in low, vibrating accents — 
" How dare you ! " 

Sir Roger's breath came quick and fast, — but he was 
a strong man with a strong will, and he maintained his 
attitude of quiet resolution. 

"Madam! — My Queen! — forgive me!' : he said; 
" But as your humblest friend — your faithful servant ! 
— let me have my say with you now — and then — if you 
will — condemn me to perpetual silence ! You despise 
Love, you say ! Yes — because you have only seen its 
poor imitations ! The King's light gallantries, — his sins 



"One Way, — One Woman!' 409 

of body, which in many cases are not sins of mind, have 
disgusted you with its very name! The King has loved 

— or can love — so you think, — many, or any, women ! 
Ah! No — no! Pardon me, dearest Majesty! A man's 
desire may lead him through devious ways both vile and 
vicious, — but a man's love leads only one way to one 
woman ! Believe it ! For even so, I have loved one 
woman these many years ! — and even so — I greatly fear 

— the King loves one woman now ! " 

Rigid as a figure of marble, she looked at him. He met 
her eyes calmly. 

" Your Majesty asked me for the truth ; " he said ; ' I 
have spoken it ! " 

Her lips parted in a cold, strained little smile. 

" And — you — think," she said slowly ; " that I - 
I am what you call ' jealous ' of this ' one woman ' ? Had 
jealousy been in my nature, it would have been provoked 
sufficiently often since my marriage! ' : 

" Madam," responded Sir Roger humbly; ' If I may 
dare to say so to your Majesty, it is not possible to a noble 
woman to be jealous of a man's mere humours of desire ! 
But of Love — Love, the crown, the glory and supremacy 
of life, — who, with a human heart and human blood, 
would not be jealous? Who would not give kingdoms, 
thrones, ay, Heaven itself, if it were not in itself Heaven, 
for its rapturous oblivion of sorrow, and its full measure 
of joy!" 

A dead silence fell between them, only disturbed by a 
small silver chime in the distance, striking midnight. 

The Queen again seated herself, and drew her book 
towards her. Then raising her lovely unfathomable eyes, 
she looked at the tall stately figure of the man before her 
with a slight touch of pity and pathos. 

" Possibly you may be right," she said slowly, " Pos- 
sibly wrong! But I do not doubt that you yourself per- 
sonally ' feel ' all that you express, — and — that you are 
faithful ! " 

Here she extended her hand. Sir Roger bowed low 
over it, and kissed its delicate smoothness with careful 
coldness. As she withdrew it again, she said in a low 
dreamy, half questioning tone : 

" The woman's name is Lotys ? " 



4-io "Temporal Power' 

Silently Sir Roger bent his head in assent. 

''A man's love leads only one way — to one woman! 
And in this particular case that woman is — Lotys!'' 
she said, with a little musing scorn, as of herself, — 
"Strange!" 

She laid her hand on the bell which at a touch would 
summon back her lady-in-waiting. ' You have served 
me well, Sir Roger, albeit somewhat roughly " 

He gave a low exclamation of regret. 

" Roughly, Madam ? " 

A smile, sudden and sweet, which transfigured her 
usually passionless features into an almost angelic love- 
liness, lit up her mouth and eyes. 

" Yes — roughly ! But no matter ! 1 pardon you 
freely ! Good-night ! " 

" Good-night to your Majesty ! " And as he stepped 
backward from her presence, she rang for Teresa, who at 
once entered. 

" Our excommunication from the Church sits lightly 
upon us, Sir Roger, does it not?" said the Queen then, 
almost playfully ; ' You must know that we say our 
prayers as of old, and we still believe God hears us ! " 

" Surely, Madam," he replied, " God must hear all 
prayers when they are pure and honest! " 

' Truly, I think so," she responded, laying one hand 
tenderly on Teresa's hair, as the girl caressingly knelt 
beside her. "And — so, despite lack of priestcraft, — 
we shall continue to pray, — in these uncertain and dan- 
gerous times, — that all may be well for the country, — 
the people, and — the King ! Good-night ! " 

Again Sir Roger bowed, and this time altogether with- 
drew. He was strung up to a pitch of intense excitement ; 
the brief interview had been a most trying one for him, — 
though there was a warm glow at his heart, assuring him 
that he had done well. His suspicion that the King had 
admired, and had sought out Lotys since the day she saved 
him from assassination, had a very strong foundation in 
fact ; — much stronger indeed than was at present requi- 
site to admit or to declare. But the whole matter was a 
source of the greatest anxiety to De Launay, who, in his 
strong love for his Royal master, found it often difficult 
to conceal his apprehension, — and who was in a large 



"One Way,— One Woman!" 411 

measure relieved to feel that the Queen had guessed 
something of it, and shared in his sentiments. He now 
re-entered his room, and on doing so at once perceived 
that the King had returned. But his Majesty was busy 
writing, and did not raise his head from his papers, even 
when Sir Roger noiselessly entered and laid some letters 
on the table. His complete abstraction in his work was a 
sign that he did not wish to be disturbed or spoken to ; — 
and Sir Roger, taking the hint, retired again in silence. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

THE SONG OF FREEDOM 

REVOLUTION ! The flame-winged Fury that swoops 
t down on a people like a sudden visitation of God, 
with the movement of a storm, and the devastation of 
a plague in one ! Who shall say how, or where, the 
seed is sown that springs so swiftly to such thick harvest ! 
Who can trace its beginnings — and who can predict its 
end ! Tragic and terrible as its work has always seemed 
to the miserable and muddle-headed human units, whose 
faults and follies, whose dissoluteness and neglect of the 
highest interests of the people, are chiefly to blame for 
the birth of this Monster, it is nevertheless Divine Law, 
that, when any part of God's Universe-House is deliber- 
ately made foul by the dwellers in it, then must it be 
cleansed, — and Revolution is the burning of the rubbish, 

— the huge bonfire in which old abuses blazon their de- 
struction to an amazed and terror-stricken world. Yet 
there have been moments, or periods, in history, when the 
threatening conflagration could have been stayed and 
turned back from its course, — when the useless shedding 
of blood might have been foregone — when the fierce 
passions of the people might have been soothed and paci- 
fied, and when Justice might have been nobly clone and 
catastrophe averted, if there had been but one brave man, 

— one only ! — and that man a King ! Bui in nearly all 
the convulsive throes of nations, kings have proved them- 
selves the weakest, tamest, most cowardly and ineffectual 
of all the heads of the time — ready and willing enough to 
sacrifice the lives of thousands of brave and devoted men 
to their own cause, but never prepared to sacrifice them- 
selves. Hence the cause of the triumph of Democracy 
over effete Autocracy. Kings may not be more than men, 

— but, certes, they should never be less. They should not 
.practise vices of which the very day-labourer whom they 



The Song of Freedom 413 

employ, would be ashamed ; nor should they flaunt their 
love of sensuality and intrigue in the faces of their sub- 
jects as a ' Royal example ' and distinctive ' lead ' to vul- 
gar licentiousness. The loftier the position, the greater 
the responsibility ; --and a monarch who voluntarily 
lowers the social standard in his realm has lost more ad- 
herents than could possibly be slain in his defence on the 
field of honour. 

The King who plays his part as the hero of this narra- 
tive, was now fully aware in his own mind and conscience 
of the thousands of opportunities he had missed and 
wasted on his way to the Throne when Heir-Apparent. 
Since the day of his ' real coronation,' when as he had ex- 
pressed it to his thoughts, he had ' crowned himself with 
his own resolve,' he had studied men, manners, persons 
and events, to deep and serious purpose. He had learned 
much, and discovered more. He had been, in a moral 
sense, conquered by his son, Prince Humphry, who had 
proved a match for him in his determined and honourable 
marriage for love, and love only, — though born heir to 
all the conventions and hypocrisies of a Throne. He, 
— in his day, — had lacked the courage and truth that this 
boy had shown. And now, by certain means known best 
to himself, he had fathomed an intricate network of de- 
ception and infamy among the governing heads of the 
State. He had convinced himself in many ways of the 
unblushing dishonesty and fraudulent self-service of Carl 
Perousse. And — yet — with all this information stored 
carefully up in his brain he, to all appearances, took no 
advantage of it, and did nothing remarkable, — save the 
one act which had been so much talked about — the re- 
fusal of land in his possession to the Jesuits for a ' re- 
ligious ' (and political) settlement. This independent 
course of procedure had resulted in his excommunication 
from the Church. Of his ' veto ' against an intended war, 
scarcely anything was known. Only the Government were 
aware of the part he had taken in that matter, — the 
Government and — the Money-market ! But the time 
was now ripe for further movement ; and in the deep and 
almost passionate interest he had recently learned to take 
in the affairs of the actual People, he was in no humour 
for hesitation. 



414 ''Temporal Power' 

He had mapped out in his brain a certain plan of action, 
and he was determined to go through with it. The more 
so, as now a new and close interest had incorporated itself 
with his life, — an emotion so deep and tender and over- 
whelming, that he scarcely dared to own it to himself, — 
scarcely ventured to believe that he, deprived of true love 
so long, should now be truly loved for himself, at last ! 
But on this he seldom allowed his mind to dwell, — ex- 
cept when quite alone, — in the deep silences of night ; — 
when he gave his soul up to the secret sweetness which 
had begun to purify and ennoble his innermost nature, - 
when he saw visioned before him a face, — warm with 
the passion of a love so grand and unselfish that it drew 
near to a likeness of the Divine ; — a love that asked noth- 
ing, and gave everything, with the beneficent glory of the 
sunlight bestowing splendour on the earth. His lonely 
moments, which were few, were all the time he devoted 
to this brooding luxury of meditation, and though his 
heart beat like a boy's, and his eyes grew dim with tender 
ness, as in fancy he dreamed of joy that might be, and 
that yet still more surely might never be his, — his deter- 
mined mind, braced and bent to action, never faltered for 
a second in the new conceptions he had formed of his duty 
to his people, who, as he now considered, had been too 
long and too cruelly deceived. 

Hence, something like an earthquake shock sent its 
tremor through the country, when two things were sud- 
denly announced without warning, as the apparent results 
of the various Cabinet Councils held latterly so often, and 
in such haste. The first was, that not only had his Majesty 
accepted the resignation of the Marquis de Lutera as Pre- 
mier, but that he had decided — provided the selection 
was entirely agreeable to the Government — to ask M. 
Carl Perousse to form a Ministry in his place. The second 
piece of intelligence, and one that was received with much 
more favour than the first, by all classes and conditions of 
persons, was that the Government had issued a decree 
for the complete expulsion of the Jesuits from the country. 
By a certain named date, and within a month, every Jesuit 
must have left the King's dominions, or else must take 
the risk of a year's imprisonment followed by compulsory 
banishment. 



The Song of Freedom 415 

Much uproar and discussion did this mandate excite 
among the clerical parties of Europe, — much indignation 
did it breed within that Holy of Holies situate at the 
Vatican, — which, having launched forth the ban of ex- 
communication, had no further thunderbolts left to throw 
at the head of the recreant and abandoned Royalty whose 
' temporal power ' so insolently superseded the spiritual. 
But the country breathed freely ; relieved from a danger- 
ous and mischievous incubus. The educational author- 
ities gave fervent thanks to Heaven for sparing them 
from long dreaded interference ; — and when it was 
known that the excommunicated King was the chief 
mover in this firm and liberating act, a silent wave of pas- 
sionate gratitude and approval ran through the multi- 
tudes of the people, who would almost have assembled 
under the Palace walls and offered a grand demonstra- 
tion to their monarch, who had so boldly carried the war 
into the enemy's country and won the victory, had they 
not been held back and checked from their purpose by the 
counter-feeling of their disgust at his Majesty's appar- 
ently forthcoming choice of Carl Perousse as Prime 
Minister. 

Swayed this way and that, the people were divided 
more absolutely than before into those two sections which 
always become very dangerous when strongly marked 
out as distinctly separated, — the Classes and the Masses. 
The comfortable wedge of Trade, which, — calling itself 
the Middle-class, — had up to the present kept things 
firm, now split asunder likewise, — the wealthy pluto- 
crats clinging willy-nilly to the Classes, to whom they 
did not legitimately belong ; and the men of moderate 
income throwing in their lot with the Masses, whose 
wrongs they sympathetically felt somewhat resembled 
their own. For taxation had ground them down to that 
particularly fine powder, which when applied to the rocks 
of convention and usage, proves to be of a somewhat 
blasting quality. They had paid as much on their earn- 
ings and their goods as they could or would pay ; — more 
indeed than they had any reasonable right to pay, — and 
being sick of Government mismanagement, and also of 
what they still regarded as the King's indifference to 
their needs, they were prepared to make a dash for liberty. 



41 6 "Temporal Power' 

The expulsion of the Jesuits they naturally looked upon 
as a suitable retaliation on Rome for the excommunica- 
tion of the Royal Family ; but beyond the intense relief 
it gave to all, it could not be considered as affecting or 
materially altering the political situation. So, like the 
dividing waves of the Red Sea, which rolled up on either 
side to permit the passage of Moses and his followers — 
the Classes and the Masses piled themselves up in oppo- 
site billowy sections to allow Sergius Thord and the Rev- 
olutionary party to pass triumphantly through their midst, 
adding thousands of adherents to their forces from both 
sides ; — while they were prepared to let the full weight 
of the billows engulf the King, if, like Pharaoh and his 
chariots, he assumed too much, or proceeded too far. 

Professor von Glauben, seated in his own sanctum, and 
engaged in the continuance of his " Political History of 
Hunger," found many points in the immediate situation 
which considerably interested him and moved him to 
philosophical meditation. 

" For, — take the feeling of the People as it now is," he 
said to himself ; ' It starts in Hunger ! The taxes, — 
the uncomfortable visit of the tax-gatherer ! The price of 
the loaf, — concerning which the baker, or the baker-ess, 
politely tells the customer that it is costly, because of the 
Government tax on corn ; then from the bread, it is mar- 
vellous how the little clue winds upward through the 
spider-webs of Trade. The butcher's meat is dearer, — 
for says he — ' The tax on corn makes it necessary for me 
to increase the price of meat.' There is no logical reason 
given, — the fact simply is! So that Hunger commences 
the warfare, — Hunger of Soul, as well as Hunger of 
body. ' Why starve my thought ? ' says Soul. ' Why tax 
my bread ? ' says Body. These tiresome questions con- 
tinue to be asked, and never answered, — but answers 
are clamoured for, and the people complain — and then 
one fierce day the gods hear them grumble, and begin to 
grumble back ! Ach ! Then it is thunder with a ven- 
geance ! Now in my own so-beloved Fatherland, there 
has been this double grumbling for a long time. And that 
the storm will burst, in spite of the so-excellently-adver- 
tising Kaiser is evident! Hoch ! — or Ach? Which 
should it be to salute the Kaiser ! I know not at all, — 



The Song of Freedom 417 

but I admit it is clever of him to put up a special Hoard- 
ing-announcement for the private view of the Almighty 
God, each time he addresses his troops ! And he will 
come in for a chapter of my history — for he also is 
Hungry ! — he would fain eat a little of the loaf of 
Britain ! — yes ! — he will fit into my work very well for 
the instruction of the helpless unborn generations ! " 

He wrote on for a while, and then laid down his pen. 
His eyes grew dreamy, and his rough features softened. 

" What has become of the child, I wonder ! " he mused ; 
' Where has she gone, the ' Glory-of-the-Sea ' ! I would 
give all I have to look upon her beautiful face again ; — 
and Ronsard — he, poor soul — silent as a stone, weaken- 
ing day after day in the grasp of relentless age, — would 
die happy, — if I would let him ! But I do not intend to 
give him that satisfaction. He shall live ! As I often tell 
him, my science is of no avail if I cannot keep a man 
going, till at least a hundred and odd years are past. 
Barring accidents, or self-slaughter, of course ! " Here 
he became somewhat abstracted in his meditations. ' The 
old fellow is brave enough, — brave as a lion, and strong 
too for his years ; — I have seen him handle a pair of oars 
and take down a sail as I could never do it, — and — he 
has accepted a strange and difficult situation heroically. 
' You must not be involved in any trouble by a knowledge 
of our movements.' So Prince Humphry said, when I 
saw him last, — though I did not then understand the 
real drift of his meaning. And time goes on — and time 
seems wearisome without any tidings of those we love ! " 

A tap at the door disturbed his mental soliloquy, and in 
answer to his ' Come in,' Sir Roger de Launay entered. 

" Sorry to interrupt work, Professor! " he said briefly; 
" The King goes to the Opera this evening, and desires 
you to be of the party." 

" Good ! I shall obey with more pleasure than I have 
obeyed some of his Majesty's recent instructions! ' And 
the Professor pushed aside his manuscript to look through 
his spectacled eyes at the tall equerry's handsome face 
and figure. "You have a healthy appearance, Roger! 
Your complexion speaks of an admirable digestion ! ' : 

De Launay smiled. 

" You think so? Well ! Your professional approval is 

27 



41 8 "Temporal Power' 

worth having! " He paused, then went on ; ' The party 
will be a pleasant one to-night. The King is in high 
spirits." 

" Ah ! " And Von Glauben's monosyllable spoke 
volumes. 

" Perhaps he ought not to be?" suggested Sir Roger 
with a slight touch of anxiety. 

" I do not know — I cannot tell ! This is the way of it, 
Roger — see ! " And taking off his spectacles, he pol- 
ished them with due solemnity. " If I were a King, and 
ruled over a country swarming with dissatisfied subjects, 
— if I had a fox for a Premier, — and was in love with 
a woman who could not possibly be my wife, — I should 
not be in high spirits ! " 

" Nor I ! " said De Launay curtly. " But the fox is not 
Premier yet. Do you think he ever will be? " 

Von Glauben shrugged his shoulders. 

" He is bound to be, I presume. What else remains to 
do ? Upset everything ? Government, deputies and all ? " 

" Just that ! " responded Sir Roger. ' The People will 
do it, if the King does not." 

" The King will do anything he is asked to do — 
now — " said the Professor significantly ; ' If the right 
person asks him! " 

" You forget — she does not know " Here check- 
ing himself abruptly, Sir Roger walked to the window 
and looked out. It was a fair and peaceful afternoon, — 
the ocean heaved placidly, covered with innumerable 
wavelets, over which the seabirds flew and darted, their 
wings shining like silver and diamonds as they dipped and 
circled up and down and round the edges of the rocky 
coast. Far off, a faint rim of amethyst under a slowly 
sailing white cloud could be recognized as the first line 
of the shore of The Islands. 

' Do you ever go and see the beautiful ' Gloria ' girl 
now? " asked Sir Roger suddenly. " The King has never 
mentioned her since the day we saw her. And you have 
never explained the mystery of your acquaintance with 
her, — nor whether it is true that Prince Humphry was 
specially attracted by her. I shrewdly suspect " 

"What?" 

" That he has been sent off, out of harm's way ! " 



The Song of Freedom 419 

" You are right," said the Professor gravely ; ' ' That is 
exactly the position ! He has been sent off out of harm's 
way! 

"I heard," went on De Launay, "that the girl — or 
some girl of remarkable beauty had been seen here — ac- 
tually here in the Palace - - before the Prince left ! And 
such an odd way he left, too — scuttling off in his own 
yacht without — so far as I have ever heard — any fare- 
wells, or preparation, or suitable companions to go with 
him. Still one hears such extraordinary stories " 

"True! — one does!" agreed the Professor; "And 
after proper experience, one hears without listening ! " 

De Launay looked at him curiously. 

" The girl was certainly beautiful," he proceeded medi- 
tatively ; " And her adopted father, — Rene Ronsard, — 
was not that his name ? — was a quaint old fellow. A 
republican, too ! — fiery as a new Danton ! Well ! The 
King's curiosity is apparently satisfied on that score, — 
but " — here he began to laugh — "I shall never forget 
your face. Von Glauben, when he caught you on The 
Islands that day ! — never ! Like an overgrown boy, dis- 
covered with his fingers in a jam-pot! " 

' Thank you ! " said the Professor imperturbably ; ' I 
can assure you that the jam was excellent — and that I 
still remember its flavour ! " 

Sir Roger laughed again, but with great good-humour, 
— then he became suddenly serious. 

" The King goes out alone very often now? " he said. 

" Very often," assented the Professor. 

" Are we right in allowing him to do so? " 

" Allowing him ! Who is to forbid him ? " 

" Is he safe, do you think? " 

' Safer, it would seem, my friend, than when laying a 
foundation-stone, with ourselves and all his suite around 
him! " responded the Professor. ' Besides, it is too late 
now to count the possible risks of the adventure he has 
entered upon. He knows the position, and estimates the 
cost at its correct value. He has made himself the ruler 
of his own destiny ; we are only his servants. Personally, 
I have no fear, — save of one fatality." 

"And that?" 

" Is what kills many strong men off in their middle- 



4-2o Temporal Power 



9» 



age," said Von Glauben ; " A disease for which there is 
no possible cure at that special time of life, — Love ! The 
love of boys is like a taste for green gooseberries, — it 
soon passes, leaving a disordered stomach and a general 
disrelish for acid fruit ever afterwards ; — the love of the 
man-about-town between the twenties and thirties is the 
love of self ; — but the love of a Man, after the Self-and- 
Clothes Period has passed, is the love of the full-grown 
human creature clamouring for its mate, — its mate in 
Soul even more than in Body. There is no gainsaying it 
— no checking it — no pacifying it; it is a most disas- 
trous business, provocative of all manner of evils, — and 
to a king who has always been accustomed to have his 
own way, it means Victory or Death ! '* 

Sir Roger gazed at him perplexedly, — his tone was so 
solemn and full of earnest meaning. 

' You, for example," continued the Professor dicta- 
toriallv, fixing his keen piercing eyes full upon him ; 
'You are a curious subject, — a very curious subject! 
You live on a Dream ; it is a good life — an excellent 
life ! It has the advantage, your Dream, of never becom- 
ing a reality, — therefore you will always love, — and 
while you always love, you will always keep young. 
Your lot is an exceedingly enviable one, my friend! You 
need not frown, — I am old enough — and let us hope 
wise enough — to guess your secret — to admire it from 
a purely philosophic point of view — and to respect it ! " 

Sir Roger held his peace. 

' But," continued the Professor, " His Majesty is not 
the manner of man who would consent to subsist, like you, 
on an idle phantasy. If he loves — he must possess ; it is 
the regal way ! " 

"He will never succeed in the direction you mean!" 
said Sir Roger emphatically. 

' Never ! " agreed Von Glauben with a profound shake 
of his head ; "' Strange as it may seem, his case is quite as 
hopeless as yours ! " 

The door opened and closed abruptly, — and there fol- 
lowed silence. Von Glauben looked up to find himself 
alone. He smiled tolerantly. 

' Poor Roger! " he murmured ; " He lives the life of a 
martyr by choice ! Some men do — and like it ! They 



The Song of Freedom 42 1 

need not do it ; — there is not the least necessity in the 
world for their deliberately sticking a knife into their 
hearts and walking about with it in a kind of idiot rap- 
ture. It must hurt ; — but they seem to enjoy it ! Just 
as some women become nuns, and flagellate themselves, 

— and then when they are writhing from their own self- 
inflicted stripes, they dream they are the ' brides of Christ,' 
entirely forgetting the extremely irreligious fact that to 
have so many ' bri'des,' the good Christ Himself might 
possibly be troubled, and would surely occupy an incon- 
venient position, even in Heaven ! Each man, — each 
woman, — makes for himself or herself a little groove or 
pet sorrow, in which to trot round and round and bemoan 
life ; the secret of the whole bemoaning being that he or 
she cannot have precisely the thing he or she wants. That 
is all ! Such a trifle ! Church, State, Prayer and Power 

— it can all be summed up in one line — ' I have not the 
thing I want — give it to me ! ' " 

He resumed his writing, and did not interrupt it again 
till it was time to join the Royal party at the Opera. 

That evening was one destined to be long remembered 
in the annals of the kingdom. The beautiful Opera- 
house, a marvel of art and architecture, was brilliantly 
full ; all the fairest women and most distinguished men 
occupying the boxes and stalls, while round and round, in 
a seemingly never-ending galaxy of faces, and crowded 
in the tiers of balconies above, a mixed audience had gath- 
ered, made up of various sections of the populace which 
filled the space well up to the furthest galleries. The 
attraction that had drawn so large an audience together 
was not contained in the magnetic personality of either 
the King or Queen, for those exalted individuals had only 
announced their intention of being present just two hours 
before the curtain rose. Moreover, when their Majesties 
entered the Royal box, accompanied by their two younger 
sons, Rupert and Cyprian, and attended by their personal 
suite, their appearance created very little sensation. The 
fact that it was the first time the King had showed himself 
openly in public since his excommunication from the 
Church, caused perhaps a couple of hundred persons to 
raise their eyes inquisitively towards him in a kind of half- 
fnorbid, half-languid curiosity, but in these days the sen- 



422 "Temporal Power' 

timent of Self is so strong, that it is only a minority of 
more thoughtful individuals that ever trouble themselves 
seriously to consider the annoyances or griefs which 
their fellow-mortals have to endure, often alone and 
undefended. 

The interest of the public on this particular occasion 
was centred in the new Opera, which had only been given 
three times before, and in which the little dancer, Pequita, 
played the part of a child-heroine. The libretto was the 
work of Paul Zouche, and the music by one of the greatest 
violinists in the world, Louis Valdor. The plot was slight 
enough ; — yet, described in exquisite verse, and scat- 
tered throughout with the daintiest songs and dances, it 
merited a considerably higher place in musical records 
than such works as Meyerbeer's " Dinorah," or Verdi's 
" Rigoletto." The thread on which the pearls of poesy 
and harmony were strung, was the story of a wandering 
fiddler, who, accompanied by his only child (the part 
played by Pequita), travels from city to city earning a 
scant livelihood by his own playing and his daughter's 
dancing. Chance or fate leads them to throw in their 
fortunes with a band of enthusiastic adventurers, who, 
headed by a young hare-brained patriot, elected as their 
leader, have determined to storm the Vatican, and de- 
mand the person of the Pope, that they may convey him 
to America, there to convene an assemblage of all true 
Christians (or ' New Christians '), and found a new and 
more Christ-like Church. Their expedition fails, — as 
naturally so wild a scheme would be bound to do, — but 
though they cannot succeed in capturing the Pope, they 
secure a large following of the Italian populace, who join 
with them in singing " The Song of Freedom," which, 
with Paul Zouche's words, and Valdor's music was the 
great chef d'cewvre of the Opera, rousing the listeners to 
a pitch of something like frenzy. In this, — the last 
great scene, — Pequita, dancing the ' Dagger Dance,' is 
supposed to infect the people with that fervour which 
moves them to sing ' ' The Freedom Chorus," and the 
curtain comes down upon a brilliant stage, crowded with 
enthusiasts and patriots, ready to fight and die for the 
glory of their country. A love-interest is given to the 
piece by the passion of the wandering fiddler-hero for cf 



The Song of Freedom 423 

girl whose wealth places her above his reach ; and who in 
the end sacrifices all worldly advantage that she may 
share his uncertain fortunes for love's sake only. 

Such was the story, — which, wedded to wild and pas- 
sionate music, had taken the public by storm on its first 
representation, not only on account of its own merit, but 
because it gave their new favourite, .Pequita, many oppor- 
tunities for showing off her exquisite grace as a dancer. 
She, while preparing for the stage on this special night, 
had been told that her wish was about to be granted — 
that she would now, at last, really dance before the King ; 
— and her heart beat high, and the rich colour reddened 
in her soft childish face, as she donned her scarlet skirts 
with more than her usual care, and knotted back her raven 
curls with a great glowing damask rose, such as Spanish 
beauties fasten behind tiny shell-like ears to emphasise 
the perfection of their contour. Her thoughts flew to her 
kindest friend, Pasquin Leroy ; — she remembered the 
starry diamond in the ring he had wished to give her, and 
how he had said, ' Pequita, the first time you dance before 
the King, this shall be yours ! ' 

Where was he now, she wondered? She would have 
given anything to know his place of abode, just to send 
him word that the King was to be at the Opera that night, 
and ask him too, to come and see her in her triumph ! But 
she had no time to study ways and means for sending a 
message to him, either through Sholto, her father, who 
always waited patiently for her behind the scenes, — or 
through Paul Zouche, who, though as librettist of the 
opera, and as a poet of new and rising fame, was treated 
by everyone with the greatest deference, still made a 
special point of appearing in the shabbiest clothes, and 
lounging near the side-wings like a sort of disgraced 
tramp all the time the performance was in progress. 
Neither of them knew Leroy 's address ; — they only met 
him or saw him, when he himself chose to come among 
them. Besides, — the sound of the National Hymn played 
by the orchestra, warned her that the King had arrived ; 
and that she must hold herself in readiness for her part 
and think of nothing else. 

The blaze of light in the Opera-house seemed more 
dazzling than usual to the child, when her cue was called, 



424 "Temporal Power' 

— and as she sprang from the wings and bounded towards 
the footlights, amid the loud roar of applause which she 
was now accustomed to receive nightly, she raised her 
eyes towards the Royal box, half-frightened, half-expec- 
tant. Her heart sank as she saw that the King had par- 
tially turned away from the stage, and was chatting 
carelessly with some person or persons behind him, and 
that only a statuesque woman with a pale face, great eyes, 
and a crown of diamonds, regarded her steadily with a 
high-bred air of chill indifference, which was sufficient 
to turn the little warm beating heart of her into stone. A 
handsome youth stared down upon her smiling, — his 
eyes sleepily amorous, — it was the elder of the King's 
two younger sons, Prince Rupert. She hated his expres- 
sion, beautiful though his features were, — and hated 
herself for having to dance before him. Poor little 
Pequita! It was her first experience of the insult a girl- 
child can be made to feel through the look of a budding 
young profligate. On and on she danced, giddily whirl- 
ing ; — the thoughts in her brain circling as rapidly as 
her movements. Why would not the King look at her, — 
she thought? Why was he so indifferent, even when his 
subjects sought most to please him? At the end of the 
second act of the Opera a great fatigue and lassitude 
overcame her, and a look of black resentment clouded her 
pretty face. 

" What ails you ? " said Zouche, sauntering up to her as 
she stood behind the wings ; ' You look like a small 
thunder-cloud ! " 

She gave an unmistakable gesture in the direction of 
that quarter of the theatre where the Royal box was 
situated. 

" I hate him ! '" she said, with a stamp of her little 
foot. 

"The King? So do I!' And Zouche lit a cigarette 
and stuck it between his lips by way of a stop-gap to a 
threatening violent expletive ; " An insolent, pampered, 
flattered fool ! Yet you wanted to dance before him ; 
and now you 've done it ! The fact will serve you as a 
kind of advertisement ! That is all ! " 

" I do not want to be advertised through his favour ! ,; 
And Pequita closed her tiny teeth on her scarlet under-lip 



The Song of Freedom 425 

in suppressed anger ; " Rut I have not danced before him 
yet! I will! " 

Zouche looked at her sleepily. He was not drunk - 
though he had, — of course, — been drinking. 

" You have not danced before him ? Then what have 
you been doing ? " 

"Walking!" answered Pequita, with a fierce little 
laugh, her colour coming and going with all the quick- 
wavering hue of irritated and irritable Spanish blood, " I 
have, as they say ' walked across the stage.' I shall dance 
presently ! " 

He smiled, flicking a little ash off his cigarette. 

" You are a curious child ! " he said ; ' By and by you 
will want severely keeping in order ! " 

Pequita laughed again, and shook back her long curls 
defiantly. 

" Who is that cold woman with a face like a mask and 
the crown of diamonds, that sits beside the King? " 

It was Zouche's turn to laugh now, and he did so with 
a keen sense of enjoyment. 

" Upon my word ! " he exclaimed ; " A little experience 
of the world has given you what newspaper men call 
' local colour.' The ' cold woman with the face like a 
mask,' is the Queen ! " 

Pequita made a little grimace of scorn. 

" And who is the leering boy? " 

" Prince Rupert." 

" The Crown Prince? " 

" No. The Crown Prince is travelling abroad. He 
went away very mysteriously, — no one knows where he 
has gone, or when he will come back." 

"I am not surprised!" said Pequita; ' With such a 
father and mother, and such impudent-looking brothers, 
no wonder he wanted to get away ! " 

Zouche had another fit of laughter. He had never seen 
the little girl in such a temper. He tried to assume 
gravity. 

" Pequita, you are naughty ! The flatteries of the great 
world are spoiling you ! " 

" Bah ! " said Pequita, with a contemptuous wave of 
her small brown hands. " The flatteries of the great 
world ! -To what do they lead? To that? " and she made 



426 



'Temporal Power' 



another eloquent sign towards the Royal box ; — "I 
would rather dance for you and Lotys, and Sergius 
Thord, and Pasquin Leroy, than all the Kings of the 
world together! What I do here is for my father's sake 

— you know that ! " 

" I know ! " and Zouche smoked on, and shook his wild 
head sentimentally, — murmuring in a sotto-voce: 

" What I do here, is for the need of gold, — 

What I do there, is for sweet love's sake only ; 
Love, ever timid there, doth here grow bold, — 
And wins such triumph as but leaves me lonely ! " 

' Is that yours? " said Pequita with a sudden smile. 

' Mine, or Shakespeare's," answered Zouche indolently ; 
" Does it matter which ? " 

Pequita laughed, and her cue being just then called, 
again she bounded on to the stage ; but this time she 
played her part, as the stock phrase goes, ' to the gallery,' 
and did not once turn her eyes towards the place where the 
King sat withdrawn into the shadow of his box, giving no 
sign of applause. She, however, had caught sight of 
Sergius Thord and some of her Revolutionary friends 
seated ' among the gods,' and that was enough inspiration 
for her. Something, — a quite indefinable something, 

— a touch of personal or spiritual magnetism, had been 
fired in her young soul ; and gradually as the Opera went 
on, her fellow-players became infected by it. Some of 
them gave her odd, half-laughing glances now and then, 

— being more or less amazed at the unusual vigour with 
which she sang, in her pure childish soprano, the few 
strophes of recitative and light song attached to her part ; 

— the very prima-donna herself caught fire, — and the 
distinguished tenor, who had travelled all the way from 
Buda Pesth in haste, so that he might ' create ' the chief 
role in the work of his friend Valdor, began to feel that 
there was something more in operatic singing than the 
mere inflation of the chest, and the careful production of 
perfectly-rounded notes. Valdor himself played the 
various violin solos which occurred frequently throughout 
the piece, and never failed to evoke a storm of rapturous 
plaudits, — and many were the half-indignant glances of 
the audience towards the Royal shrine of draped satin, 



The Song of Freedom 427 

gilding, and electric light, wherein the King, like an idol, 
sat, — undemonstrative, and apparently more bored than 
satisfied. There was a general feeling that he ought to 
have shown, — by his personal applause in public, — a 
proper appreciation of the many gifted artists playing 
that evening, especially in the case of Louis Valdor, the 
composer of the Opera itself. But he sat inert, only occa- 
sionally glancing at the stage, and anon carelessly turning 
away from it to converse with the members of his suite. 

The piece went on ; — and more and more the passion 
of Pequita's pent-up little soul communicated itself to the 
other performers, — till they found themselves almost 
unconsciously obeying her ' lead.' At last came the grand 
final act, — where, in accordance with the progress of the 
story, the bold band of ' New Christians ' are fought back 
from the gates of the Vatican by the Papal Guard; and 
the Roman populace, roused to enthusiasm, gather round 
their defeated ranks to defend and to aid them with sym- 
pathy and support in their combat, — breaking forth all 
together at last in the triumphant ' Song of Freedom.' 
Truly grand and majestic was this same song, — pulsat- 
ing with truth and passion, — breathing with the very 
essence of liberty, — an echo of the heart and soul of 
strong nations who struggle, even unto death, for the 
lawful rights of humanity denied to them by the tyrants 
in place and power. As the superb roll and swell of the 
glorious music poured through the crowded house, there 
was an almost unconscious movement among the audi- 
ence, — the people in the gallery rose en masse, and at the 
close of the first verse, responded to it by a mighty cheer, 
which reverberated through and through the immense 
building like thunder. The occupants of the stalls and 
boxes exchanged wondering and half-frightened looks, — 
then as the cheer subsided, settled themselves again to 
listen, more or less spell-bound, as the second verse began. 
Just before this had merged into its accompanying splen- 
did and soul-awakening chorus, — Pequita, — having 
obtained the consent of the manager to execute her ' Dag- 
ger Dance ' in the middle of the song, instead of at the 
end, — suddenly sprang towards the footlights in a pir- 
ouette of extravagant and exquisite velocity — while, — 
checked by a sign from the conductor, the singers ceased. 



428 "Temporal Power' 

Without music, in an absolute stillness as of death, the 
girl swung herself to and fro, like a bell-flower in the 
breeze, — anon she sprang and leaped like a scarlet flame 

— and again sank into a slow and voluptuous motion, as 
of a fairy who dreamingly glides on tiptoe over a field of 
flowers. Then, on a sudden, while the fascinated specta- 
tors watched her breathlessly, — she seemed to wake from 
sleep, — and running forward wildly, began to toss and 
whirl her scarlet skirts, her black curls streaming, her 
dark eyes flashing with mingled defiance and scorn, while 
drawing from her breast an unsheathed dagger, she flung 
it in the air, caught it dexterously by the hilt again, twisted 
and turned it in every possible way, — now beckoning, 
now repelling, now defending, — and lastly threatening, 
with a passionate intensity of action that was well-nigh 
irresistible. 

Caught by the marvellous subtlety of her performance, 
quite one half the audience now rose instinctively, all eyes 
being fixed on the strange evolutions of this whirling, 
flying thing that seemed possessed by the very devil of 
dancing ! The King at last attracted, leaned slightly for- 
ward from his box with a tolerant smile, — the Queen's 
face was as usual, immovable, — the Princes Rupert and 
Cyprian stared, open-mouthed — while over the whole 
brilliant scene that remarkable silence brooded, like the 
sultry pause before the breaking of a storm. Trium- 
phant, reckless, panting, — scarcely knowing what she 
did in her excitement, — Pequita, suddenly running back- 
ward, with the lightness of thistle-down flying before the 
wind, snatched the flag of the country from a super stand- 
ing by, and dancing forward again, waved it aloft, till 
with a final abandonment of herself to the humour of the 
moment, she sprang with a single bound towards the 
Royal box, and there — the youthful incarnation of living, 
breathing passion, fury, patriotism, and exultation in one, 

— dropped on one knee, the flag waving behind her, the 
dagger pointed straight upward, full at the King ! 

A great roar, — like that of hundreds of famished wild 
beasts, — answered this gesture ; mingled with acclama- 
tions, — and when ' The Song of Freedom ' again burst 
out from the singers on the stage, the whole mass of 
people joined in the chorus with a kind of melodious mad- 



The Song of Freedom 429 

ness. Shouts of ' Pequita ! Pequita ! ' rang out on all 

sides, — then ' Yaldor ! Valdor ! ' and then, — all 

suddenly, — a stentorian voice cried ' Sergius Thord ! ' 
At that word the house became a chaos. Men in the gal- 
lery, seized by some extraordinary impulse of doing they 
knew not what, and going they knew not whither, leaped 
over each other's shoulders, and began to climb down by 
the pillars of the balconies to the stalls, — and a universal 
panic and rush ensued. Terrified women hurried from 
the stalls and boxes in spite of warning, and got mixed 
with the maddened crowd, a section of which, pouring out 
of the Opera-house came incontinently upon the King's 
carriage in waiting, — and forthwith, without any reflec- 
tion as to the why or the wherefore, smashed it to atoms ! 
Then, singing again 'The Song of Freedom,' — the 
people, pouring out from all the doors, formed into a huge 
battalion, and started on a march of devastation and 
plunder. 

Sergius Thord, grasping the situation from the first, 
rushed out of the Opera-house in all haste, anxious 
to avert a catastrophe, but he was too late to stop the 
frenzied crowd, — nothing could, or would have stopped 
them at that particular moment. The fire had been too 
long smouldering in their souls ; and Pequita, like a 
little spark of fury, had set it in a blaze. Through pri- 
vate ways and back streets, the King and Queen and their 
sons, escorted by the alarmed manager, escaped from 
the Opera unhurt, — and drove back unobserved to the 
Palace in a common fiacre — and a vast multitude, wait- 
ing to see them come out by the usual doors, and finding 
they did not come, vented their rage and disgust by 
tearing up and smashing everything within their reach. 
Then, remembering in good time, despite their excite- 
ment, that the manager of the Opera had done nothing to 
deserve injury to himself or his property, they paused 
in this work of destruction, and with the sudden caprice 
of children, gave out ringing cheers for him and for 
Pequita ; — while their uncertainty as to what to do next 
was settled for them by Paul Zouche, who, mounting on 
one of the pedestals which supported the columns of the 
entrance to the Opera, where his wild head, glittering 
eyes and eager face looked scarcely human, cried out : 



â– > > 



43 o "Temporal Power 

" Damnation to Carl Perousse ! Why do you idle here, 
my friends, when you might be busy ! If you want Free- 
dom, seek it from him who is to be your new Prime 
Minister ! " 

A prolonged yell of savage approval answered him, — 
and like an angry tide, the crowd swept on and on, 
gathering strength and force as it went, and pouring 
through the streets with fierce clamour of shouting, and 
clash of hastily collected weapons, — on and on to the 
great square, in the centre of which stood the statue of 
the late King, and where the house of Carl Perousse 
occupied the most prominent position. And the moon, 
coming suddenly out of a cloud, stared whitely down 
upon the turbulent scene, — one too often witnessed in 
history, when, as Carlyle says, ' a Nation of men is sud- 
denly hurled beyond the limits. For Nature, as green 
as she looks, rests everywhere on dread foundations, and 
Pan, to whose music the Nymphs dance, has a cry in him 
that can drive all men distracted ! ' 

In such distraction, and with such wild cry, the night 
of Pequita's long-looked-for dance before the King swept 
stormily on towards day. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

"FATE GIVES THE KING!" 

NEWS of this fresh and more violent disturbance 
among- the people brought the soldiery out in hot 
haste, who galloped down to the scene of excitement, 
only to find the mounted police before them, headed by 
General Bernhoff, who careering to and fro, cool and com- 
posed, forbade, ' in the name of the King ! ' any attempt 
to drive the mob out of the square. Swaying uneasily 
round and round, the populace yelled and groaned, and 
cheered and hissed ; not knowing exactly whereunto they 
were so wildly moved, but evidently waiting for a fresh 
' lead.' The house of Carl Perousse, with its handsome 
exterior and stately marble portico, offered itself as a 
tempting target to the more excitable roughs, and a 
stone sent crashing through one of the windows would 
have certainly been the signal for a general onslaught had 
not a man's figure suddenly climbed the pedestal which 
supported the statue of the late King in the centre of the 
square, and lifted its living visible identity against the 
frowning cold stone image of the dead. A cry went up 
from thousands of throats — ' Sergius Thord ! ' — fol- 
lowed by an extraordinary clamour of passionate plaudits, 
as the excited people recognised the grand head and com- 
manding aspect of their own particular Apostle of Liberty. 
He, — stretching out his hands with a gesture of mingled 
authority and entreaty, — pacified the raging sea of con- 
tradictory and conflicting voices as if by magic, — and 
the horrid clamour died down into a dull roar, which in 
its turn subsided into silence. 

' Friends and brothers ! ' : he cried ; " Be calm ! Be 
patient! What spirit possesses you to thus destroy the 
chances of your own peace ! What is your aim ? Justice? 
Ay — justice ! — but how can you gain this by being your- 



43 2 "Temporal Power' 

selves unjust? Will you remedy Wrong by injuring 
Right? Nay — this must not be! — this cannot be, with 
you, whose passion for liberty is noble, — whose love for 
truth is fixed and resolute, — and who seek no more than is 
by human right your own ! This sudden tempest, by which 
your souls are tossed, is like an angry gust upon the sea, 
which wrecks great vessels and drowns brave men ; — be 
something more than the semblance of the capricious wind 
which destroys without having reason to know why it is 
bent on destruction ! What are you here for ? What 
would you do? " 

A confused shouting answered him, in which cries of 
' Perousse ! ' and ' The King ! ' were most prominent. 

Sergius Thord looked round upon the seething mass 
below him, with a strange sense of power and of triumph. 
He — even he — who could claim to be no more than 
a poor Thinker, speaker and writer, — had won these 
thousands to his command ! — he had them here, willing 
to obey his lightest word, — ready to follow his signal 
wheresoever it might take them ! His eyes glowed, — 
and the light of a great and earnest inspiration illumined 
his strong features. 

'You call for Carl Perousse!" he said; "Yonder he 
dwells ! — in the regal house he has built for himself out 
of the sweating work of the poor ! " A fierce yell from 
the populace and an attempt at a rush, was again stopped 
by the speaker's uplifted hand ; " Wait, friends — wait ! 
Think for a moment of the result of action, before you 
act ! Suppose you pulled down that palace of fraud ; 
suppose your strong hands righteously rent it asunder ; — 
suppose you set fire to its walls, — suppose you dragged 
out the robber from his cave and slew him here, before 
sunrise — what then ? You would make of him a martyr ! 
— and the hypocritical liars of the present policy, who are 
involved with him in his financial schemes, — would chant 
his praises in every newspaper, and laud his virtues in 
every sermon ! Nay, we should probably hear of a special 
' Memorial Service ' being held in our great Cathedral 
to sanctify the corpse of the vilest stock-jobbing rascal 
that ever cheated the gallows ! Be wiser than that, my 
friends ! Do not soil your hands either with the body of 
Carl Perousse or his ill-gotten dwelling. What we want 



"Fate Gives — The King!' 433 

for him is Disgrace, not Death ! Death is far too easy ! 
An innocent child may die ; do not give to a false-hearted 
knave the simple exit common to the brave and true ! Dis- 
grace ! — disgrace ! Shame, confusion, and the curse of the 
country, — let these be your vengeance on the man who 
seeks to clutch the reins of government ! — the man who 
would drive the people like whipped horses to their ruin ! '' 

Another roar answered him, but this time it was min- 
gled with murmurs of dissatisfaction. Thord caught 
these up, and at once responded to them. 

" I hear you, O People ! I hear the clamour of your 
hearts and souls, which is almost too strong to find ex- 
pression in speech ! You cannot wait, you would tell me ! 
You would have Perousse dragged out here, — you would 
tear him to pieces among you, if you could, and carry 
the fragments of him to the King, to prove what a people 
can do with a villain proposed to them as their Prime 
Minister ! " Loud and ferocious shouts answered these 
words, and he went on ; " I know — I understand ! — and 
I sympathise! But even as I know you, you know me! 
Believe me now, therefore, and hear my promise ! I swear 
to you before you all " — and here he extended both 
arms with a solemn and impressive gesture — " that this 
month shall not be ended before the dishonesty of Carl 
Perousse is publicly and flagrantly known at every street 
corner, — in every town and province of the land ! — and 
before the most high God, I take my oath to you, the 
People, — that he shall never be the governing head of 
the country ! " 

A hurricane of applause answered him — a tempest 
of shouting that seemed to surge and sway through the 
air and down to the earth again like the beating of a 
powerful wind. 

" Give me your trust, O People ! " he cried, carried 
beyond himself with the excitement and fervour of the 
scene — " Give me yourselves ! " 

Another roar replied to this adjuration. He stood 
triumphant ; — the people pressing up around him, — 
some weeping — some kneeling at his feet — some climb- 
ing to kiss his hand. A few angry voices in the distance 
cried out — ' The King ! ' — and he turned at once on 

the word. 

28 



434 "Temporal Power' 

'Who needs the King?" he demanded; "Who calls 
for him ? What is he to us ? What has he ever been ? 
Look back on his career ! — see him as Heir-Apparent 
to the Throne, wasting his time with dishonest associates, 
— dealing with speculators and turf gamblers — involv- 
ing himself in debt — and pandering to vile women, who 
still hold him in their grasp, and who in their turn rule 
the country by their caprice, and drain the Royal coffers 
by their licentious extravagance! Now look on him as 
the King, — a tool in the hands of financiers — a specu- 
lator among speculators — steeped to the very eyes in 
the love of money, and despising all men who do not bear 
the open blazon of wealth upon them, — what has he 
done for the people ? Nothing ! What will he ever do 
for the People ? Nothing ! Flattered by self-seekers — 
stuffed with eulogy by a paid Press — his name made a 
byword and a mockery by the very women with whom 
he consorts, what should we do with him in Our work ! 
Let him alone ! — let him be ! Let him eat and drink as 
suits his nature — and die of the poison his own vices 
breed in his blood ! — we want naught of him, or his 
heirs ! When the time ripens to its full fruition, we, the 
People, can do without a Throne ! " 

At this, thousands of hats and handkerchiefs were 
tossed in the air, — thousands of voices cheered to the 
very echo, and to relieve their feelings still more com- 
pletely the vast crowd once more took up ' The Song of 
Freedom ' and began singing it in unison steadily and 
grandly, with all that resistless force and passion which 
springs from deep-seated emotion in the soul. And while 
they were singing, Thord, glancing rapidly about him, 
saw Johan Zegota close at hand, and to his still greater 
satisfaction, Pasquin Leroy ; and beckoning- them both 
to his side whispered his brief orders, which were at 
once comprehended. The day was breaking ; and in the 
purple east a line of crimson showed where the sun 
would presently rise. A few minutes' quick organisation 
worked by Leroy and Zegota, and some few other of their 
comrades sufficed to break up the mob into three sections, 
and in perfect order they stood blocked for a moment, 
like the three wings of a great army. Then once more 
Thord addressed them : 



"Fate Gives — The King!' 435 

' People, you have heard my vow! If before the end 
of the month Carl Perousse is not ejected with contempt 
from office, I will ask my death at your hands ! A meet- 
ing will be convened next week at the People's Assembly 
Rooms where we shall make arrangements to approach 
the King. If the King refuses to receive us, we shall find 
means to make him do so ! He shall hear us ! He is our 
paid servant, and he is bound to serve us faithfully, — 
or the Throne shall be a thing of the past, to be looked 
back upon with regret that we, a great and free people, 
ever tolerated its vice and tyranny! " 

Here he waited to let the storm of plaudits subside, — 
and then continued: " Now part, all of you friends! — 
go your ways, — and keep order for yourselves with 
vigilance ! The soldiery are here, but they dare not fire ! 
— the police are here, but they dare not arrest ! Give 
them no cause even to say that it would have been well 
to do either ! Let the spiritual force of your determined 
minds, — fixed on a noble and just purpose, over-rule 
mere temporal authority ; let none have to blame you 
for murder or violence, — take no life, — shed no blood ; 
but let your conquest of the Government, — your capture 
of the Throne, — be a glorious moral victory, outweigh- 
ing any battle gained only by brute force and rapine ! ' 

He was answered by a strenuous cheer ; and then the 
three great sections of the multitude began to move. 
Out of the square in perfect order they marched, — still 
singing ; one huge mass of people being headed by Pas- 
quin Leroy, the other by Johan Zegota, — the third by 
Sergius Thord himself. The soldiery, seeing there was 
no cause for interference, withdrew, — the police dis- 
persed, and once again an outbreak of popular disorder 
was checked and for a time withheld. 

But this second riot had startled the metropolis in good 
earnest. Everyone became fully alive to the danger and 
increasing force of the disaffected community, — and the 
Government, — lately grown inert and dilatory in the 
transaction of business, — began seriously to consider 
ways and means of pacifying general clamour and public 
dissatisfaction. None of the members of the Cabinet were 
much surprised, therefore, when they each received a 
summons from the King to wait upon him at the Palace 



436 "Temporal Power' 

that day week, — ' to discuss affairs of national urgency,' 
and the general impression appeared to be, that though 
Carl Perousse dismissed the ' street rowdyism,' as he 
called it, with contempt, and spoke of ' disloyal traitors 
opposed to the Government,' he was nevertheless riding 
for a fall : and that his chances of obtaining the Premier- 
ship were scarcely so sure as they had hitherto seemed. 

Meanwhile, Pequita, whose childish rage against the 
King for not noticing her dancing or applauding it, had 
been the trifling cause of the sudden volcanic eruption of 
the public mind, became more than ever the idol of the 
hour. The night after the riot, the Opera-house was 
crowded to suffocation, — and the stage was covered with 
flowers. Among the countless bouquets offered to the tri- 
umphant little dancer, came one which was not thrown 
from the audience, but was brought to her by a messenger ; 
it was a great cluster of scarlet carnations, and attached to 
it was a tiny velvet case, containing the ring promised to 
her by Pasquin Leroy, when, as he had said, she ' should 
dance before the King.' A small card accompanied it 
on which was written ' Pequita, from Pasquin ! ' Turn- 
ing to Lotys, who, in the event of further turbulence, had 
accompanied her to the Opera that night to take care of 
her, and who sat grave, pale, and thoughtful, in one of 
the dressing-rooms near the stage, the child eagerly 
showed her the jewel, exclaiming: 

" See ! He has kept his promise ! " 

And Lotys, — sighing even while she smiled, — 
answered : 

' Yes, dear ! He would not be the brave man he is, 
if he ever broke his word ! " 

Whereat Pequita slipped the ring on her friend's fin- 
ger, kissing her and whispering: 

1 Take care of it for me ! Wear it for me ! For to- 
night, at least ! " 

Lotys assented, — though with a little reluctance, — 
and it was only while Pequita was away from her, per- 
forming her part on the stage, that this strange lonely 
woman bent her face down on the hand adorned with the 
star-like gem and kissed it, — tears standing in her eyes 
as she murmured : 

'My love — my love! If you only knew!'' 



"Fate Gives — The King!' 437 

And then the hot colour surged into her cheeks for 
sheer shame of herself that she should love ! — she — no 
longer in her youth, — and utterly unconscious that there 
was, or could be any beauty in her deep lustrous eyes, 
white skin, and dull gold hair. What had she to do with 
the thoughts of passion? — she whose life was devoted 
to the sick and needy, — and who had no right to think 
of anything else but how she should aid them best, so 
long as that life should last ! She knew well enough that 
love of a great, jealous, and almost savage kind, was hers 
if she chose to claim it — the love of Sergius Thord, who 
worshipped her both as a woman and an Intellect ; but 
she could not contemplate him as her lover, having grown 
up to consider him more as a sort of paternal guardian 
and friend. In fact, she had thoroughly resigned herself 
to think of nothing but work for the remainder of her 
days, and to entirely forego the love and tenderness which 
most women, even the poorest, have the natural right to 
win ; and now slowly, — almost unconsciously to herself, 
— Love had stolen into her soul and taken possession of 
it ; — secret love for the man, who brave almost to reck- 
lessness, had joined his fortunes in with Sergius Thord 
and his companions, and had assisted the work of pushing 
matters so far forward, that the wrongs done to the poor, 
and the numerous injustices of the law, which for years 
had been accumulating, and had become part and parcel 
of the governing system of the country, now stood a fair 
chance of being remedied. She, with her quick woman's 
instinct, had perceived that where Sergius Thord, in his 
dreamy idealism, halted and was uncertain of results, 
Pasquin Leroy stepped into the breach and won the vic- 
tory. And, like all courageous women, she admired a 
courageous man. Not that Thord lacked courage, — he 
had plenty of the physical brute force known as such, — 
but he had also a peculiar and uncomfortable quality of 
rousing desires, both in himself and others which he had 
not the means of gratifying. 

Thus Lotys foresaw' that, unless by some miraculous 
chance he obtained both place and power, and a share in 
the ruling of things, there was every possibility of a split 
in the Revolutionary Committee, — one half being in- 
clined to indulge in the criminal and wholly wasteful 



43 8 "Temporal Power" 

spirit of Anarchy, — the other disposed to throw in its 
lot with the Liberal or Radical side of politics. And she 
began to regard Pasquin Leroy, with his even tempera- 
ment, cool imperturbability, intellectual daring, and liter- 
ary ability, as the link which kept them all together, and 
gave practical force to the often brooding and fantastic 
day-dreams of Thord, who, though he made plans night 
and day for the greater freedom and relief of the People 
from unjust coercion, had not succeeded in obtaining as 
yet sufficient power to carry them into execution. 

It was evident, however, to the whole country that the 
times were in a ferment, — that the Government was 
growing more unpopular, and that Carl Perousse, the 
chief hinge on which Governmental force turned, was 
under a cloud of the gravest suspicion. Meetings, more 
or less stormy in character, were held everywhere by 
every shade of party in politics, — and strong protests 
against his being nominated as Premier were daily sent 
to the King. But to the surprise of many, and the annoy- 
ance of most, his Majesty gave no sign. The news- 
papers burst into rampant argument, — every little editor 
issued his Jovian ' opinion ' on the grave issues at stake ; 
— David Jost kept his' Hebraic colours flying for the 
King, — judging that to flatter Royalty was always a 
safe course for most Jews; — while in the rival journal, 
brilliant essays, leaders and satires on the political situ- 
ation, combined with point-blank accusations against the 
Secretary of State, (which that distinguished personage 
always failed to notice,) flew from the pen of the mys- 
terious writer, Pasquin Leroy, and occupied constant 
public attention. Unlike the realm of Britain, — where 
the ' golden youth ' enfeeble their intellects by the perusal 
of such poor and slangy journalism that they have lost 
both the art and wit to comprehend brilliant political 
writing, — the inhabitants of this particular corner of 
the sunny south were always ready to worship genius 
wherever even the smallest glimmer of it appeared, — and 
the admiration Leroy's writings excited was fast becoming 
universal, though for the most part these writings were 
extremely inflammable in nature, and rated both King 
and Court soundly. But with the usual indifference of 
Royalty to ' genius ' generally, the King, when asked if 



"Fate Gives — The King!' 439 

he had taken note of certain articles dealing very freely 
with both him and his social conduct, declared he had 
never heard of them, or of their writer ! 

" I never," he said with an odd smile, " pay any atten- 
tion to clever literature! I should be establishing a pre- 
cedent which would be inconvenient and disagreeable to 
my fellow sovereigns ! ' 

The time went on ; the King met his Ministers on the 
day he had summoned them in private council, — and on 
the other hand Sergius Thord convened a mighty mass- 
meeting for the purpose of carrying a resolution formed 
to address his Majesty on the impending question of the 
Premiership. From the King's council, the heads of Gov- 
ernment came away in haste, despair and confusion ; from 
the mass-meeting whole regiments marched through the 
streets in triumphant and satisfied order. 

After these events there came a night, when the sweet 
progress of calm weather was broken up by cloud and 
storm, — and when heavy thunder boomed over the city 
at long dull intervals, like the grinding and pounding of 
artillery, without any rain to cool the heated ether, which 
was now and again torn asunder by flashes of lightning. 
There was evidently a raging tempest far out at sea, 
though the land only received suggestions of this by the 
occasional rearing up of huge dark green billows which 
broke against the tall cliffs, plumed with mimosa and 
myrtle, that guarded the coast. Heavy scents of flowers 
were in the air — heavy heat weighed down the atmos- 
phere, — and there was a languor in the slow footsteps 
of the men, who, singly, or in groups, arrived at the door 
of Sergius Thord's house to fulfil the dread compact bind- 
ing upon them all in regard to the ' Day of Fate.' Pasquin 
Leroy and his two companions were among the first to 
arrive, and to make their way up the dark steep stairs to 
the Committee room, where, when they entered, they 
found the usual aspect of things strangely altered. The 
table no longer occupied its position in the middle of the 
floor; it was set on a raised platform entirely draped with 
black. Large candelabra, holding six lights each, occu- 
pied either end, — and in the centre one solitary red lamp 
was placed, shedding its flare over a large bronze vessel 
shaped like a funeral urn. The rest of the room was in 



44° "Temporal Power' 

darkness, — and with the gathering groups of men, who 
moved silently and spoke in whispers, it presented a 
solemn and eerie spectacle. 

'Ah! You have now arrived," said Max Graub, in a 
cautious sotto voce to Leroy, " at the end of your adven- 
tures ! Behold the number Thirteen ! Six lights at one 
end, six lights at the other, — that is twelve ; and in the 
centre the Thirteenth — the red Eye looking into the 
sepulchral urn ! It is all up with us ! " 

Leroy said nothing, — but the face of the man called 
Axel Regor grew suddenly very pale. He drew Leroy 
a little aside. 

" This is no laughing matter ! " he said very earnestly ; 
" Let me stand near you — let me keep close at your side 
all the evening ! " 

Leroy smiled and pressed his hand. 

' My dear fellow ! " he said ; " Have no fear ! Or if 
you have fear, do not show it ! You stand in precisely 
the same danger as myself, or as any of us ; you may 
draw the fatal Signal ! — but if you do, I promise you I 
will volunteer myself in your place." 

" You!" said Regor with a volume of meaning in the 
utterance ; ' You would stand in my place ? " 

" Why, of course! " replied Leroy cheerily; ' Life is 
not such a wonderful business, that death for a friend's 
sake is not better ! " 

Regor looked at him, and a speechless devotion filled 
and softened his eyes. Certain words spoken to him by 
a woman he loved echoed through his brain, and he 
murmured : 

" Nay, by the God above us, if death is in question, / 
will die rather than let you die ! " 

" That will depend on my humour! " said Leroy, still 
smiling ; " You will require my permission to enter into 
combat with the last enemy before he offers challenge ! " 

Max Graub here approached them with a warning 
ringer laid on his lips. 

" Hush — sh — sh ! ' : he said ; " Think as much as 
you like, — but talk as little as you can ! I assure you 
this is a most uncomfortable business ! — and here comes 
the axis of the revolving wheel ! " 

They made way, — as did all the men grouped together 



"Fate Gives — The King!' 441 

in the room, — for the entrance of Sergius Thord and 
Lotys. These two came in together ; and with a silent 
salute which included the whole Committee, ascended the 
raised platform. Lotys was deadly pale ; and the white 
dress she wore, with its scarlet sash, accentuated that pale- 
ness. She appeared for once to move under the domi- 
nance of some greater will than her own, — she moved 
slowly, and her head was bent, — and even to Pasquin 
Leroy as she passed him, her faint smile of recognition 
was both sad and cold. Once on the platform, she seated 
herself at the lower end of the funereally-draped table ; 
and leaning her head on one hand, seemed lost in thought. 
Thord took his place at the opposite end, — whereupon 
Johan Zegota moving stealthily to the door, closed it, 
locked it, and put the key in his pocket. Then he in turn 
mounted the platform, and began in a clear but low voice 
to call the roll of the members of the Committee. 

Each man answered to his name in the same guarded 
tone ; all without a single exception were present ; — and 
Zegota, having completed the catalogue, turned to Thord 
for further instructions. The rest of the company then 
seated themselves, — finding their chairs with some little 
difficulty in the semi-darkness. When the noise of their 
shuffling feet had ceased, Thord rose and advanced to the 
front of the platform. 

" Friends," he said slowly ; ' You are here to-night to 
determine by the hand of Chance, or Destiny, which of 
certain traitors among many thousands, shall meet with 
the punishment his treachery deserves. In the list of those 
who are to-night marked down for death is Carl Perousse ; 

— happy the man that draws that name and is able to 
serve as the liberator to his country ! Another, is the Jew, 
David Jost, — because it has been chiefly at his persua- 
sion that the heads of the Government have been tempted 
to gamble for their own personal motives with the secrets 
of State policy. Another, is the Marquis de Lutera ; — 
who though he has, possibly through fear, resigned office, 
is to blame for having made his own private fortune, — 
as well as the fortunes of all the members of his family, 

— out of the injuries and taxations inflicted on the People. 
To his suggestion we owe the cruel price of bread, — the 
tax on corn, a necessity of life ; — on his policy rests the 



44 2 "Temporal Power' 

responsibility of opening our Trades to such an over- 
excess of Foreign Competition and Supply that our native 
work and our native interests are paralysed by the strain. 
To him, — as well as to Carl Perousse, we owe the ridicu- 
lous urbanities of such extreme foreign diplomacies as 
expose our secret forces of war to our rivals ; — from him 
emanates the courteous and almost servile attention with 
which we foolishly exhibit our naval and military defences 
to our enemies. _ We assume that a Minister who gra- 
ciously permits a foreign arsenal to copy our guns — a 
foreign dockyard to copy and to emulate our ships, — is 
a traitor to the prosperity and continued power of the 
country. Two of the great leaders in Trade are named 
on the Death-list ; — one because, in spite of many warn- 
ings, he employs foreign workmen only ; the other, be- 
cause he ' sweats ' native labour. The removal of all these 
persons will be a boon to the country — the clearing of a 
plague of rats from the national House and Exchequer! 
Lastly, the King is named ; — because, — though he has 
rescued the system of National Education from Jesuit 
interference and threatening priestly dominance, he has 
turned a deaf ear to other equally pressing petitions of 
his People, — and also because he does nothing to either 
influence or guide society to its best and highest ends. 
Under his rule, learning is set at naught — Art, Science 
and Literature, the three saving graces which make for 
the peace, prosperity and fraternity of nations, — are ren- 
dered valueless, because no example is set which would 
give them their rightful prominence, — and wine, cards 
and women are substituted, — the three evil fates between 
which the honour of the Throne is brought into contempt. 
We should know and remember that Lotys, when she 
lately saved the life of the King, did, — as she herself 
can tell you, — plead personally with him to save the 
people from the despotic government of Carl Perousse and 
his pernicious 'majority'; — but though she rescued the 
monarch at the risk of her own much more valuable ex- 
istence — and equally at the risk of being misunderstood 
and condemned by this very Society to which her heart 
and soul are pledged, — he refused to even consider her 
entreaty. Therefore, we may be satisfied that he has been 
warned ; — but it would seem that the warning is of no 



"Fate Gives — The King!' 443 

avail ; — and whosoever to-night draws the name of the 
King must be swift and sure in his business ! " 

There was a deep pause. Suddenly Max Graub rose, 
his bulky form and great height giving him an almost 
Titanesque appearance in the gloom of the chamber. 
Raising one hand as a signal, he asked permission to 
speak, which was instantly accorded. 

" To my chief, Sergius Thord, and my comrades," he 
said with a slight military salutation ; '" I wish to explain 
what perhaps they have already discovered, — that I am 
a poor and uncouth German, — not altogether conversant 
with your language, — and considerably bewildered by 
your social ethics ; — so that if I do not entirely understand 
things as I should, you will perhaps pardon my ignorance, 
which includes other drawbacks of my disposition. But 
when death is in question, I am always much interested, 
— having spent all my days in trying to find out ways and 
means of combating man's chief enemy on his own ground. 
Because, — though I fully admit the usefulness of death 
as a cleanser and solvent; and as a means of clearing 
off hopelessly-useless persons, I am not at all sure that 
it is an advisable way to get rid of the healthy and the 
promising. I speak as a physician merely, — with an eye 
to what is called the ' stock ' of the human race ; and what 
I now want to know is this : On what scientific, ethical, 
or religious grounds, do you wish to get rid of the 
King? Science, ethics, and religion being only in the 
present day so many forms of carefully ministering to 
one's Self, and one's own particular humour, you 
will understand that I mean, — as concerns the ' happy 
dispatch ' of this same King, — what good will it do 
to you ? " 

There was a silence. No one vouchsafed any explana- 
tion. After a considerable pause, Thord replied. 

" It will do us no good. But it will show the country 
that we exist to revenge injustice! " 

" But — is the King unjust? " 

" Can you ask it ? " replied Thord with a certain grave 
patience. " During your association with us, have you not 
learned ? — and do you not know ? " 

" Sit down, Graub ! " interrupted Pasquin Leroy sud- 
denly ; " I know the King's ways well enough, — and I 



444 "Temporal Power' 

can swear upon my honour that he deserves the worst 
that can be done to him! " 

A murmur of sullen approval ran through the room, 
and somewhat lowering glances were cast at the audacious 
Graub, who had, by his few words, created the very unde- 
sirable impression that he wished, in some remote way, 
to interfere with the Committee solemnities in progress, 
and to defend the King from attack. He sat down again 
looking more or less crushed and baffled, — and Thord 
went on. 

' We have little time to spend together to-night, and 
none to waste. Let each man come forward now, and take 
his chance, — remembering, — lest his courage fail him, 

— that whatever work is given him to do, this Committee 
are sworn to stand by him as their associate and comrade ! 

— to defend him, — even at the risk of their own lives ! 

— and to share completely in the consequences of what- 
ever act he may be called upon to perform in the faithful 
following of his duty ! Friends, repeat with me all to- 
gether, the Vow of Fealty ! " 

At once every man rose, — and all lifting their right 
hands on high repeated in steady tones the following 
formula after their Chief, — 

' We swear in the name of God, and by the eternal 
glory of Freedom ! That whosoever among us this night 
shall draw the Red Cross Signal which destines him to 
take from life, a life proved unworthy, — shall be to us 
a sacred person, and an object of defence and continued 
protection ! We guarantee to shield him at all times and 
under all circumstances ; — we promise to fight for him 
against the utmost combined power of the law ; — we are 
prepared to maintain an inviolate silence concerning his 
movements, his actions and their ultimate result, — even 
to the sufferance of imprisonment, punishment and death 
for his sake ! And may the curse of the Almighty Creator 
of Heaven and Earth be upon us and our children, and 
our children's children, if we break this vow. Amen ! ' : 

The stern and impressive intensity with which these 
words were spoken sent a slight tremor along even such 
steel-like nerves as those of Pasquin Leroy, though he 
repeated the formula after Sergius Thord with the atten- 
tive care of a child saying a lesson. At its conclusion, 



"Fate Gives — The King!' 445 

however, a sudden thought flashed through his brain 
which brought a wonderful smile to his lips, and a rare 
light in his eyes, and touching the arm of Axel Regor, he 
whispered. 

"Could anything be more protective to me, — as you 
know me, — than this Vow of Fealty? By my faith, a 
right loyal vow ! " 

The man he so questioned looked at him doubtfully. 
He did not understand. He himself had repeated the vow 
mechanically and without thought, being occupied in 
serious and uncomfortable meditation as to what possible 
dangerous lengths the evening's business might be car- 
ried. And, accustomed as he now was to the varying and 
brilliant moods of one whom he had proved to be of most 
varying and brilliant intelligence, his brain was not quick 
enough to follow the lightning-like speed of the chain of 
ideas, — all moving in a perfectly organised plan, — con- 
ceived by this daring, scheming and original brain, which 
had been so lately roused to its own powers and set in 
thinking, working order. He therefore merely expressed 
his mind's bewilderment by a warning glance mingled 
with alarm, which caused Leroy to smile again, — but 
the scene which was being enacted, now demanded their 
closest attention, and they had no further opportunity of 
exchanging so much as a word. 

The Vow of Fealty being duly sworn, Sergius Thord 
stood aside, and made way for Lotys, who, rising from 
her seat, lifted the funeral urn from the table and held it 
out towards the men. She made a strange and weird 
picture standing thus, — her white arms gleaming like 
sculptured ivory against the dark bronze of the metal 
vasej — her gold hair touched with a blood-like hue from 
the reflection of the red lamp behind her, — and her face, 
— infinitely mournful and resigned, — wearing the ex- 
pression of one who, forced to behold evil, has no active 
part in it. As she took up her position in the front of the 
platform, Thord again spoke. 

" Let each man now advance and draw his fate ! Who- 
soever receives a blank is exempt for another year ; — 
whosoever draws the name of a victim must be prepared 
to do his duty ! " 

This order was at once obeyed. Each man rose sepa- 



446 "Temporal Power' 

rately and approaching Lotys, saluted her first, and then 
drew a folded paper from the vessel she held. But they 
moved forward reluctantly, - — and most of their faces 
were very pale. When Pasquin Leroy's turn came to 
draw, he raised his eyes to the woman's countenance above 
him and marvelled at its cold fixity. She seemed scarcely 
to be herself, — and it was plainly evident that the part 
she was forced to play in the evening's drama was a most 
reluctant one. 

At last all the lots were taken, and Johan Zegota lit up 
the gas-burners in the centre of the room. A sigh of relief 
came from the lips of many of the men who, on opening 
their papers found a blank instead of a name. But Leroy, 
unfolding his, sat in dumb amazement, — feeling, and not 
for the first time either, that surely God, or some special 
Providence, is always on the side of a strong man's just 
aim, fulfilling it to entire accomplishment. For to him 
was assigned the Red Cross, marked with the name of 
' The King ! ' The words of Sergius Thord, uttered that 
very night, rushed back on his mind; — "Whosoever 
draws the name of the King must be swift and sure in 
his business ! " 

His heart beat high ; he occupied at that moment a 
position no man in all the world had ever occupied before ; 
— he was the centre of a drama such as had never before 
been enacted, — he had the greatest move to play on the 
chess-board of life that could possibly be desired ; — and 
the greatest chance to prove himself the Man he was, that 
had ever been given to one of his quality. His brain 
whirled, — his pulses throbbed, — his eyes rested on Lotys 
with a passionate longing; something of the god-like as 
well as the heroic warmed his soul, — for Danger and 
Death stood as intimately close to him as Safety and Vic- 
tory ! What a strange, what a marvellous card he held 
in the game of life! — and yet one false move might 
mean ruin and annihilation ! As in a dream he saw the 
members of the Committee go up, one by one, to Sergius 
Thord, who, as each laid their open papers before him, 
declared their contents. When Paul Zouche's paper was 
declared he was found to have drawn Carl Perousse, 
whereat he smiled grimly ; and retired to his seat, walk- 
ing rather unsteadily. Max Graub had drawn a blank, — 



"Fate Gives — The King!' 447 

so had Axel Regor, — so had Louis Valdor and many 
others. 

At last it came to Leroy's turn, and as he walked up to 
the platform and ascended it, there was a look on his face 
which attracted the instant attention of all present. His 
eyes were singularly bright, — his lithe handsome figure 
seemed taller and more erect, — he bore himself with, a 
proud, even grand air, — and Lotys, moved at last from 
her chill and melancholy apathy, gazed at him as he ap- 
proached, with eyes in which a profound sadness was 
mingled with the dark tenderness of many passionate 
thoughts and dreams. He laid down his paper before 
Thord, who, taking it up read aloud : 

" Our friend and comrade, Pasquin Leroy, has received 
the Red Cross Signal." 

Then pausing before uttering his next words he raised 
his voice a little, so that he might be heard by everyone in 
the room, and added slowly : 

" To Pasquin Leroy, Fate gives — the King! " 

A low murmur of deep applause ran through the room. 
Max Graub and Axel Regor sprang up with a kind of 
smothered cry, but Leroy stood immovable. Instead of 
returning to his seat as the others had done, he remained 
standing on the platform in front of the Committee table, 
between Lotys and Sergius Thord. A strange smile 
rested on his lips, — his attitude was inexplicable. Sur- 
veying all the men's faces which were grouped before him 
in a kind of chiaro-oscuro, he studied them for a moment, 
and then turned his head towards Thord. 

" Sergius, — so far, I have served you well ! Destiny 
has now chosen me out for even a greater service ! May 
I speak a few words ? " 

Thord assented, — but a sudden sense of inquietude 
stirred in him as he saw that Lotys had half risen, that her 
lips quivered, and that great tears stood in her eyes. 

'' She grieves ! " he thought, sullenly, in his strange 
and confused way of balancing justice and injustice — 
" She grieves that the worthless life of the King she saved, 
is now to be taken by a righteous hand ! " 

Meanwhile Leroy faced the assembly. 

" Comrades ! " he said ; ' This is the first time I have 
assisted in the work of your Day of Fate, — the first time 



»» 



448 "Temporal Power 

I have recognised how entirely Providence moves with 
you and for you in the ruling of your destinies ! And be- 
cause it is the first time, our Chief permits me to address 
you with the same fraternal liberty which was allowed to 
me on the night I became enrolled among you, as one of 
you! Since then, I have done my best to serve yoiii — " 
here he was interrupted by applause — " and so far as 
it has been humanly possible, I have endeavoured to carry 
out your views and desires because, — though many of 
them spring from pure idealism, and are, I fear, impos- 
sible of realisation in this world, — they contain the seed 
of much useful and necessary reform in many institutions 
of this country. I have — as I promised you — shaken 
the stronghold of Carl Perousse ; " — again the applause 
broke out, none the less earnest because it was restrained. 
' I have destroyed the press-power and prestige of that 
knavish Jew-speculator in false news, David Jost ; and 
wherever the wishes of this Society could be fulfilled, I 
have honestly sought to fulfil them. On this night, of all 
nights in the year, I should like to feel, and to know, that 
you acknowledge me as your true comrade and faithful 
friend ! " 

At this, the whole of the company gave vent to an out- 
burst of cheering. 

' Do you doubt our love, that you ask of it ? — or our 
gratitude that you seek to have it expressed? " said Thord, 
leaning forward to clasp his hand ; — " Surely you know 
you have given new life and impetus to our work ! — and 
that you have gained fresh triumph for our Cause ! " 

Leroy smiled, — but though returning his grasp cor- 
dially, he said nothing to him in person by way of reply, 
evidently preferring rather to address the whole com- 
munity than one, even though that one was his acknowl- 
edged Chief. 

' I thank you all ! " he said in response to the acclama- 
tions around him. " I thank you for so heartily acknowl- 
edging me as your fellow-worker ! I thank you for giving 
me your confidence and employing my services ! To- 
night — the most important night of my destiny — Fate 
has determined that I shall perform the greatest task of 
all you have ever allotted to me ; and that with swiftness 
and sureness in the business I shall kill the King ! He is 



"Fate Gives — The King!' 449 

my marked victim ! I am his chosen assassin ! " Here 
interrupting himself with a bright smile, he said : ' Will 
someone restrain my two friends, Max Graub and Axel 
Regor from springing out of their seats? They are both 
extremely envious of the task which has been allotted to 
me ! — both are disappointed that it did not fall to them to 
perform, — but I am not in the humour for arguing so 
nice a point of honour with them just now ! ' : 

A laugh went round the company, and the two delin- 
quents thus called to order, and who had really been seek- 
ing in quite a wild and aimless way, to scramble out of 
their seats and make for the platform, resumed their places 
with heads bent low, lest those around them should see 
the deadly pallor of their countenances. Leroy resumed. 

" I rejoice, friends and comrades, that I have been 
elected to the high task of removing from the Throne one 
who has long been unworthy of it ! — one who has wasted 
his opportunities both in youth and middle-age, — and 
who, by his own fault in a great measure, has lost much 
of the love and confidence of his people ! I am glad and 
proud to be the one chosen to put an end to the career of 
a monarch whose vices and follies — which might have 
suited a gambler and profligate — are entirely unbecom- 
ing to the Sovereign Ruler of a great Realm ! I shall 
have no fear in carrying out my appointed duty to the 
letter ! I here declare my acceptance of whatever punish- 
ment may be visited on one who removes from life a King 
who brings kingliness into contempt ! And, — as our 
Chief, Sergius Thord, suggested to-night, — I shall be 
swift and sure in the business ! — there shall be no 
delay ! " 

Here, as he spoke he drew a pistol from his pocket and 
turned the muzzle towards himself, — at which unex- 
pected action there was a hasty movement of surprise, 
terror and confusion among the company. 

''Gentlemen all! Friends! Brothers! — as you have 
been, — and are to me, — by the binding of our compact 
in the name of Lotys ! It is the determination of destiny, 
— as it is your desire, — that I should kill the King ! You 
have resolved upon it. You are sure that his death will 
benefit the country. You have decided not to take into 
consideration any of his possible good qualities, or to pity 

29 



450 "Temporal Power' 

any of the probable sorrows and difficulties besetting him 
in the uneasy position he is compelled to occupy. You are 
quite certain among yourselves, that somehow or other 
his removal will bring about that ideal condition of society 
which many philosophers have written of, and which 
many reformers have desired, but which has till now, 
proved itself incapable of being realised. The King's 
death, you think, will better all existing conditions, and 
you wish me to fulfil not only the call of destiny, but your 
own desire. Be it so ! I am ready to obey ! I will kill 
the King at once! — here and now! I am the King! " 



CHAPTER XXIX 

THE COMRADE OF HIS FOES 

THIS bold declaration, boldly spoken, had the start- 
ling effect of a sudden and sharp flash of lightning 
in dense darkness. Amazement and utter stupefaction 
held every man for the moment paralysed. Had a volcano 
suddenly opened beneath their feet and belched forth its 
floods of fire and lava, it could not have rendered them 
more helplessly stricken and speechless. 

" I am the King ! " 

The words appeared to blaze on the air before them, — 
like the handwriting on the wall at Belshazzar's feast. 
The King ! He, — their friend, their advocate, he — 
Pasquin Leroy, — the most obedient, the most daring and 
energetic of all the workers in their Cause — he — even 
he — was the King ! Was it, — could it be possible ! 
Their eyes — all riveted in fearful fascination upon him 
as he stood before them wholly at their mercy, but cool, 
dauntless, and smilingly ready to die, — .had the wild 
uncomprehending stare of delirium; — the silence in the 
room was intense, breathless and terrible. Suddenly, 
like a lion roused, Sergius Thord, with a half-savage 
movement, sprang forward and seized him roughly by 
the arm. 

" You, — you are the King? " he said ; " You, - - Pas- 
quin Leroy? " and struggling for breath, his words almost 
choked him. "You! "Enemy in the guise of friend! 
You have fooled us ! You have deceived us — you ! " 

" Take care, Sergius ! " said the monarch smiling, as he 
gently disengaged himself from the fierce hand that 
clutched him ; " This pistol is loaded, — not to shoot you 
with ! — but myself ! — at your command ! It would be 
unfortunate if it went off and killed the wrong man by 
accident ! " 

His indomitable courage was irresistible ; and Thord, 



452 "Temporal Power' 

relaxing his grasp, fell back in something like awe. And 
then the spell of horror and amazement that had struck 
the rest of the assemblage dumb, broke all at once into 
a sort of wild-beast clamour. Every man ' rushed ' for 
the platform — and Max Graub and Axel Regor, taking 
swift and conscious possession of their true personalities 
as Professor von Glauben and Sir Roger de Launay, 
fought silently and determinedly to keep back the crowd- 
ing hands that threatened instant violence to the person 
of their Royal master. 

A complete hubbub and confusion reigned ; — cries of 
"Traitor!" and "Spy!" were hurled from one voice 
to another ; but before a single member of the Committee 
could reach the spot where stood the undaunted Sover- 
eign whom they had so lately idolised as their friend and 
helper, and whom they were now ready to tear to pieces, 
Lotys flung herself in front of him, while at the same 
moment she snatched the pistol he held from his hand, 
and fired it harmlessly into the air. The loud report — 
the flash of fire, — startled all the men, who gaped upon 
her, thunderstruck. 

" Through me ! " she cried, her blue eyes flashing 
glorious menace ; "Through me your shots ! Through me 
your daggers ! On me your destroying hands ! Through 
my body alone shall you reach this King! Stand back 
all of you ! What would you do ? King or commoner, 
he is your comrade and associate ! Sovereign or servant, 
he is the bravest man among you ! Touch him who dare ! 
Remember your Vow of Fealty!" 

Transfigured into an almost sublime beauty by the 
fervour of her emotion, she looked the supreme incar- 
nation of inspired womanhood, and the infuriated men 
fell back, dismayed and completely overwhelmed by 
the strong conviction of her words, and the amazing 
situation in which they found themselves. 

It was true ! — he, the King, — whom they bad ac- 
cepted and known as Pasquin Leroy, — was verilv their 
own comrade! He had proved himself a thousand times 
their friend and helper ! — they had sworn to defend him 
at the cost of their own lives, if need be, — to shelter 
and protect him in all circumstances, and to accept all 
the consequences of whatever danger he might run in 



The Comrade of His Foes 453 

the performance of his duty. His duty now, — according 
to the fatal drawing of lots, — was that he should kill 
the King; and he had declared himself ready to fulfil 
the task by killing himself ! Hut — as he was their com- 
rade — they were bound in honour to guard his life! 

These bewildering and maddening thoughts coursed 
liice fire through the brain of Sergius Thord, — the while 
his eyes, grown suddenly dark and bloodshot, rested 
wonderingly on the tall upright figure of the monarch, 
standing quietly face to face with the blood-thirsty Rev- 
olutionary Committee, entirely unmoved by their fierce 
and lowering looks, and on Lotys, white, beautiful and 
breathless, kneeling at his feet ! A crushing sense of 
impotence and failure rushed over his soul like a storm 
wave, — his brain grew thick with the hurrying confu- 
sion, and a great cry, like that of a wounded animal, broke 
from his lips. 

" My God ! My God ! All my life's work lost in a 
single moment ! " 

The King heard. Gently, and with careful courtesy, 
raising Lotys from the position in which she had thrown 
herself to guard him from attack for the second time, he 
pressed her hands tenderly in his own. 

"Trust me!" he whispered; "Have no fear! Not a 
man among them will touch me now ! " 

With a slight gesture he signed her back to the chair 
she had previously occupied. She sank into it, trembling 
from head to foot, but her eyes feverishly brilliant and 
watchful, were widely open and alert, ready to note the 
least movement or look that indicated further danger. 
Then the King addressed himself to Thord. 

" Sergius, I am entirely in your hands ! I wait your 
word of command ! Yon are armed, — all my compan- 
ions here are armed also ! But Lotys has deprived me 
of the only weapon I possessed, — though there are plenty 
more in the room to be had on loan. What sav you? 
Shall I kill the King? Or will you? " 

Thord was silent. A strong shudder shook his frame. 
The King laid a firm hand on his shoulder. 

'Friend!' he said in a low voice; "Believe me, I 
am your friend more than ever ! — you never had, and 
never will have a truer one than I ! All your life's work 



454 "Temporal Power" 

lost, you say ? Nay, not so ! It is gained ! You con- 
quered the People before I knew you, — and now you 
have conquered the People's King ! " 

Slowly Thord raised his great, dark, passionate eyes, 
clouded black with thoughts which could find no adequate 
expression. The look in them went straight to the mon- 
arch's heart. Baffled ambition, — the hunger of great- 
ness, — the desire to do something that should raise his 
soul above such common ruck of human emmets as make 
of the earth the merest ant-hill whereon to eat and breed 
and die ; — all this pent-up emotion swam luminously 
in the fierce bright orbs, which like mirrors, reflected the 
picture of the troubled mind within. The suppressed 
power of the man, who, apart from his confused notions 
of ' liberty, equality, and fraternity ' could resort to the 
sternest and most self-endangering measures for destroy- 
ing what he considered the abuses of the law, had moved 
the King, while disguised as Pasquin Leroy, to the pro- 
foundest admiration for his bold character; — but perhaps 
he was never more moved than at this supreme moment, 
when, hopelessly entangled in a net of most unexpected 
weaving, the redoubtable Socialist had to confess himself 
vanquished by the simple friendship and service of the. 
very monarchy he sought to destroy. 

: ' Sergius," said the King again, — " Trust me ! Trust 
me as your Sovereign, with the same trust that you gave 
to me as your comrade, Pasquin ! For I am still your 
comrade, remember! Nothing can undo the oath that 
binds me to you and to the People ! I have not become 
one of you to betray you ; but to serve you ! Our pres- 
ent position is certainly a strange one ! — for by the 
tenets you hold, we should be sworn opponents, instead 
of, as we are, sworn friends ! Political agitators would 
have set us one against the other for their own selfish 
ends ; as matters stand, we are united in the People's 
Cause ; and I may perhaps do you more good living than 
dead ! Give me a chance to serve you even better than 
I have done as yet! Still, — if you judge my death 
would be an advantage to the country, — you have but 
to say the word ! I have sworn, — and I am ready to 
carry out the full accomplishment of my vow ! Do you 
understand? You are, by the rules of this Committee 



The Comrade of His Foes 455 

my Chief ! — there are no kings here ; and I am good 
soldier enough to obey orders ! It is for you to speak ! — 
straightly, plainly, and at once, — to the Committee, — 
and to me ! " 

" Before God, you are brave! " muttered Thord, gaz- 
ing at him in reluctant admiration. " So brave, that it 
is almost impossible to believe that you can be a King! " 

He smiled. 

" Speak! Speak, my friend! " he urged; " Our com- 
rades are watching our conference like famished tigers ! 
Give them food ! " 

Thus adjured, Thord advanced, and confronted the 
murmuring, gesticulating crowd of men, some of whom 
were wrathfully expostulating with Johan Zegota, because 
he declined to unlock the door of the room and let them 
out, till he had received his Chief's commands to do so. 
Others were grouped round Paul Zouche, who had sat ap- 
parently stricken immovable in his chair ever since the 
King had declared his identity ; and others showed them- 
selves somewhat inclined to ' hustle ' Sir Roger de Launay 
and Professor von Glauben, who guarded the approach 
to the platform like sentinels, — though they were dis- 
creet enough to show no weapons of defence. 

" Comrades ! " 

The rich, deep voice of their leader thrilled through the 
room, and brought them all to silence and attention. 

" Comrades ! " said Thord slowly, — his accents vi- 
brating with the deepest emotion. ' I desire and com- 
mand you all to be satisfied that no wrong has been done 
to you ! I ask you all to understand, fully and surely, 
that no wrong is intended to you ! The man whom we 
have loved, — the man who has served us faithfully as 
Pasquin Leroy, — is still the same man, though the King ! 
Rank cannot alter his proved friendship and service, — 
nor kingship break his bond ! He is one of us, — signed 
and sealed in the blood of Lotys ; — and as one of us he 
must, and will remain ! Have I spoken truly ? " he added, 
turning to the King, " or is there more that I should 
say ? " 

Before any reply could be given a hubbub of voices 
cried : — 

" Explain ! Confess ! Bind him to his oath ! '' 



45 6 "Temporal Power' 

Whereat the King, stepping forward a pace or two, 
confronted his would-be doubters and detractors with a 
dauntless composure. 

"Explain? Confess? Friends, I will do both! but 
for binding me to my oath, there is no need, — for it is 
too strong a compact of faith and friendship ever to be 
broken! Would you have me remind you of your Vow 
of Fealty pronounced so solemnly this evening? Did 
you not swear that ' Whosoever among us this night 
shall draw the Red Cross Signal which destines him to 
take from life a life proved unworthy, shall be to us a 
sacred person, and an object of defence and continued 
protection ' ? As Pasquin Leroy, this vow applied to 
me, — as King, I ask no better or stronger pledge of 
loyalty! " 

All eyes were fixed upon him as he spoke. For some 
moments there was a dead silence. 

This silence was presently broken by a murmur of con- 
flicting wonder, impatience and uncertainty, — deepen- 
ing as it ran, — and then, — as the full situation became 
more and more apparent, coupled with the smiling and 
heroic calm of the monarch who had thus placed himself 
voluntarily in the hands' of his sworn enemies, all their 
struggling passions were suddenly merged in one great 
wave of natural and human admiration for a brave man 
and a burst of impetuous cheering broke impulsively from 
every lip. Once started, the infection caught on like a 
fever, — and again and yet again the excited Revolu- 
tionists cheered ' for the King ! ' — till they made the 
room echo. 

The tumult was extraordinary. Lotys sat silent, with 
clasped hands, her eyes dilated with feverish watchful- 
ness and excitement, — the tempest of emotion in her own 
poor tortured soul, being of such a character which no 
words, no tears, no exclamations could possibly relieve. 
The memory of her interview with the King in his own 
Palace flashed across her like a scene limned in fire. She 
had no power to think — she was simply stunned and 
overwhelmed, — and held only one idea in her mind, 
and that was to save him at all costs, even at the sacrifice 
of her own life. Thord, carried away from his very self 
by the force of such a ' Revolution ' as he had never 



The Comrade of His Foes 457 

planned or anticipated, stood more in the attitude of one 
who was trying to think, rather than of one who was 
thinking. 

" For the King! " cried Johan Zegota, suddenly giving 
vent to the feelings he had long kept in check, — feelings 
which had made him a greater admirer of the so-called 
" Pasquin Leroy " than of Thord himself; — "For our 
sworn comrade, the King! " 

Again the cheers broke out, to be redoubled in intensity 
when Louis Valdor added his voice to the rest and ex- 
claimed : 

" For the first real King I have ever known ! " 

Then the excitement rose to its zenith, — and amidst 
the tempest of applause, the King himself stood quiet, 
watching the turbulence with the thoughtful eyes of a 
student who seeks to unravel some difficult problem. 
Raising his hand gently, he, by this gesture created im- 
mediate silence, — and so, in this hush remained for an 
instant, leaning slightly against the Committee Table, 
draped as it was in its funereal black, — the lights at 
either end of it, and the red lamp in its centre flinging 
an unearthly radiance on his fine composed features. 
Long, long afterwards, his faithful servants, Sir Roger 
de Launay and Heinrich von Glauben retained a mental 
picture of him in that attitude, — the dauntless smile 
upon his lips, — the dreamful look in his eyes, — resting, 
as it seemed against a prepared funeral-bier, with the 
watch-lights burning for burial, — and the face of Lotys, 
pale as a marble mask, yet wearing an expression of 
mingled triumph and agony, shining near him like a star 
amid the gloom, while the tall form of Sergius Thord 
in the background loomed large, — a shadow of impend- 
ing evil. 

After a pause, he spoke. 

" Comrades ! I thank you for the expressed renewal 
of your trust in me. In my heart and soul, as a man, I 
am one of you and with you : — even though fate has 
made me a king ! You demand an explanation — a con- 
fession. You shall have both ! When I enrolled myself 
as a member of your Committee, I did so in all honesty 
and honour, — wishing to discover the object of your 
Cause, and prepared to aid it if I found it worthy. When 



45 8 "Temporal Power' 

I sealed my compact with you in the blood of Lotys, the 
Angel of our Covenant," — here the cheering again broke 
out, — and Lotys, turning aside, endeavoured to restrain 
the tears that threatened to fall ; — then, as silence was 
restored, he resumed ; — " When as I say, I did this, — 
you will remember that pn being asked of my origin and 
country, I answered that I was a slave. I spoke truly! 
There is no greater slave in all the length and breadth of 
the world than a king! Bound by the chains of conven- 
tion and custom, he is coerced more violently than any 
prisoner, — his lightest word is misunderstood — his 
smallest action is misconstrued, — his very looks are 
made the subject of comment — and whether he walks 
or stands, — sits to give wearisome audience, or lies down 
to forget his sorrows in sleep, he should assuredly be 
an object of the deepest pity and consideration, instead 
of being as he often is, a target for the arrows of slander, 
— a pivot round which to move the wheel of social evil 
and misrule! The name of Freedom sounds sweet in 
your ears, my friends ! — how sweet it is — how dear it 
is, we all know ! You are ready to fight for it — to die 
for it! Then remember, all of you, that it is a glory 
utterly unknown to a king! Were he to take sword in 
hand and do battle for it unto the death, he could never 
obtain it; — he might win it for his country, but never 
for himself ! Nothing so glorious as Liberty ! — you 
cry ! True ! — but kings are prisoners from the moment 
they ascend thrones ! And you never set them free, save 
in the way you suggested this evening ; " and he smiled, 
" which way is still open to you — and — to me ! But 
while you take time to consider whether I shall or shall 
not fulfil the duty which the drawing of lots on this Day 
of Fate has assigned to me, — whether you, on your parts, 
will or will not maintain the Vow of Fealty which we all 
have sworn together, — I will freely declare to you the 
motives which led me to depart from the conventional 
rule and formality of a merely ' Royal ' existence, and to 
become as a Man among men, — for once at least in the 
history of modern sovereigns ! " 

He paused, — every eye was fixed upon him ; and the 
stillness was so intense that the lightest breath might be 
heard. 



The Comrade of His Foes 459 

' I came to the Throne three years ago," he resumed, 
" and I accepted its responsibilities with reluctance. As 
Heir-Apparent, you all know, or think you know, my 
career; for some of you have very freely expressed your 
convictions concerning it ! It was discreditable, — ac- 
cording to the opinions formed and expressed by this 
Committee. No doubt it was ! Let any man among you 
occupy my place ; — and be surrounded by the same temp- 
tations, — and th«n comport himself wisely — if he can ! 
Such an one would need to be either god or hero ; 
and I profess to be neither. But I do not wish to pal- 
liate or deny the errors of the past. The present is 
my concern, — the present time, and the present People. 
Great changes are fermenting in the world ; and of these 
changes, especially of those directly affecting our own 
country, I became actively conscious, shortly after I 
ascended the Throne. I heard of disaffections, — dis- 
loyalties ; I gathered that the Ministry were suspected 
of personal self-aggrandisement. I learned that a disas- 
trous policy was on foot respecting National Education — 
in which priestcraft would be given every advantage, 
and Jesuitry obtain undue influence over the minds of the 
rising generation. I heard, — I studied, — and finding 
that I could get no true answer on any point at issue from 
anyone of my supposed ' reliable ' ministers, I resolved 
to discover things for myself. I found out that the dis- 
affected portion of the metropolis was chiefly under the 
influence of Sergius Thord — and accordingly I placed 
myself in his way, and became enrolled among you as 
' Pasquin Leroy ' ; his sworn associate. I am his sworn 
associate still ! I am proud that he should call me friend ; 
— and even as we have worked already for the People, 
so we will work still — together ! " 

No restraint could have availed to check the wild plau- 
dits that broke out afresh at these words. Still thought- 
fully and with grave kindness contemplating all the eager 
and excited faces upturned to him, the King went on. 

' You know nearly all the rest. As Pasquin Leroy, I 
discovered all the shameful speculations with the public 
money, carried on by Carl Perousse, — and found that 
so far, at any rate, your accusations against him were 
founded in fact. At the first threatening suspicion of 



460 "Temporal Power' 

possible condemnation the Marquis de Lutera resigned, 

— thus evidencing his guilty participation in the intended 
plunder. A false statement printed by David Jost, stating 
that I, — the King, — had revoked my decision concern- 
ing the refusal of land to the Jesuits, caused me to 
announce the truth of my own action myself, in the rival 
newspaper. Of my excommunication from the Church 
it is unnecessary to speak ; a man is not injured in God's 
sight by that merely earthly ban. Among other things " 

— and he smiled, — "I found myself curiously possessed 
of a taste for literature ! — and proved, that whereas some 
few monarchs of my acquaintance cannot be quite sure 
of their spelling, I could, at a pinch, make myself fairly 
well understood by the general public, as a skilled writer 
of polemics against myself ! — as well as against the Sec- 
retary of State. This, so far as I personally am con- 
cerned, has been the humorous side of my little drama 
of disguise ! — for sometimes I have had serious thoughts 
of appearing as a rival to our friend, Paul Zouche, in 
the lists of literary Fame ! " 

A murmur of wondering laughter ran round the room, 

— and all heads were turned to one corner, as the King, 
with the kindly smile still lighting up his eyes and lips, 
called : 

" Zouche, are you there? Do you hear me? " 

Zouche did hear. He had been sitting in a state of 
semi-stupor all the evening, — his chaotic mind utterly 
confused and bewildered by the events which had taken 
place; — but now, on being called, his usual audacious 
and irrepressible spirit came to his aid, and he answered : 

" O King, I hear! O King, your Majesty would make 
the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak ! And if there 
is anything to be done to me for abominating you, O 
King, who had the impudence to offer me a hundred 
gold pieces a year for my poems, I, O King, will submit 
to the utmost terrors of the law ! " 

A burst of laughter long and loud, relieved the pent-up 
feelings of the company. The King laughed as heartily 
as the rest, and over the brooding features of Thord 
himself came the shadow of a smile. 

' We will settle our accounts together later on, 
Zouche ! " said the monarch gaily ; " Meanwhile, I beg 



The Comrade of His Foes 461 

you to continue your harmless abomination of me at your 
leisure! " 

Another laugh went round, and then the King resuming 
his speech continued : 

' I have played two parts at once, — Revolutionist and 
King! But both parts are after all but two sides of the 
same nature. When I first came among you, I bade you 
all look at me well, — I asked you to note the resemblance 
I bore to the ruling Sovereign. I called myself ' the 
living copy of the man I most despise.' That was quite 
true ! For there is no one I despise more utterly than 
myself, — when I think what I might have done with my 
million opportunities, and how much time I have wasted ! 
You all scrutinised me closely ; — and I did not flinch ! 
You all accepted my service, — and T have served you 
well ! I have noted every one of your desires. Where 
possible, I have sought to fulfil them. Every accusation 
you have brought against the Ministry has been sifted to 
the bottom, and proved down to the hilt. My publicly- 
proclaimed decision to nominate Carl Perousse as Premier 
was merely thrown out as a test to try the temper and 
quality of the nation. That test has answered its purpose 
well ! But there is no need for fear, — Carl Perousse will 
never be nominated to anything but disgrace ! All his 
schemes are in my hand, — I hold complete documentary 
proofs of his dishonesty and guilt ; and the very day 
which you have chosen as that on which to appeal to 
the King against the choice of him as Prime Minister, 
will see him denounced by myself in person to the 
Government." 

A storm of applause greeted this welcome announce- 
ment. For a moment all the men went mad with excite- 
ment, shouting, stamping and singing, — while again and 
yet again the cry : ' For the King ! ' echoed round and 
round in tempestuous cheering. 

Sergius Thord gazed blankly at the scene with a strange 
sense of being the dreaming witness of some marvellous 
drama enacted altogether away from the earth. He could 
not yet bring himself to realise that by such a simple 
method as the independent working of one individual in- 
telligence, all his own followers had been swept round to 
loyalty and love for a monarch, whom previously, though 



462 



it. 



Temporal Power' 



without knowing him, they had hated — and sworn to 
destroy ! Yet, in very truth, all the hatreds and envys, — 
all the slanders and cruelties of the members of the human 
race towards each other, spring from ignorance ; and 
when disaffected persons hate a king, they do so mostly 
because they do not know him, and because they can form 
no true opinion of his qualities or the various difficulties 
of his position. If the Anarchist, bent on the destruction 
of some person in authority, only had the culture and 
knowledge to recognise how much that person already 
suffers, by being in all probability forced to fulfil duties 
for which he has no heart or mind, he would stay his 
murderous hand, and pity rather than condemn. For the 
removal of one ruler only means the installation of an- 
other, — and the wild and often gifted souls of reformers, 
stumbling through darkness after some great Ideal which 
resolves itself into a shadow and delusion the nearer one 
approaches to it, need to be tenderly dealt with from the 
standpoint of plainest simplicity and truth, — so that they 
may feel the sympathetic touch of human love and care 
emanating from those very quarters which they seek to 
assail. This had been the self-imposed mission of the 
King who had played the part of ' Pasquin Leroy ' ; — 
and thus, fearing nothing, doubting nothing, and relying 
simply on his own strength, discretion, and determination, 
he had gained a moral victory over the passions of his 
secret foes such as he had never himself anticipated. 
When silence was again restored, he proceeded : 

' The various suggestions made in my presence during 
the time I have been a member of this Committee, will 
all be carried out. The present Government will naturally 
oppose every measure, — but I, — backed by such sup- 
porters as I have now won, — will elect a new Govern- 
ment — a new Ministry. When I began this bloodless 
campaign of my own, the present Ministry were on the 
edge of war. Determined to provoke hostilities with a 
peaceful Power, they were ready even with arms and 
ammunition, manufactured by a ' Company,' of which 
Perousse was the director and chief shareholder! Con- 
tracts for army supplies were being secretly tendered ; 
and one was already secretly accepted and arranged for, 
— in which Carl Perousse and the Marquis de Lutera 



The Comrade of His Foes 463 

were to derive enormous interest ; — the head of the con- 
cern being David Jost. This plan was concocted with 
devilish ingenuity, - - for, if the war had actually broken 
out, the supplies of our army would have been of the 
worst possible kind, in order to give the best possible 
profit to the contractors*; and Jost, with his newspaper 
influence, would have satisfied the public mind by printing 
constant reiterations of the completeness and excellence 
of the supplies, and the entire contentment and jubilation 
of the men ! But I awoke to my responsibilities in time 
to checkmate this move. I forbade the provocation in- 
tended ; — I stopped the war. In this matter at least — 
much loss of life, much heavy expenditure, and much 
ill-will among other nations has been happily spared to 
us. For the rest, — everything you have been working 
for shall be granted, — if you yourselves will help me to 
realise your own plans ! I want you in your thousands ! 
— ay, in your tens of thousands ! I want you all on my 
side ! With you, — the representatives of the otherwise 
unvoiced People, — I will enforce all the measures which 
you have discussed before me, showing good and ade- 
quate reason why they should be carried. The taxes you 
complain of shall be instantly removed ; — and for the 
more speedy replenishment of the National Exchequer, I 
gladly resign one half my revenues from all sources 
whatsoever for the space of five years ; or longer, if 
considered desirable. But I want your aid ! Will you 
all stand by me? " 

A mighty shout answered him. 

"To the death!" 

He turned to Thord. 

" Sergius," he said, "my task is finished — my con- 
fession made ! The next Order of this meeting must 
come from you ! " 

Thord looked at him amazedly. 

" From me ? Are you not the King ? " 

" Only so long as the People desire it ! " replied the 
monarch gently ; " And are you not the representative of 
the People?" 

Thord's chest heaved. Burning tears stood in his eyes. 
The strangeness of the situation — the deliberate coolness 
and resolve with which this sovereign ruler of a powerful 



4 6 4 



"Temporal Power' 



kingdom laid his life trustingly in his hands, was too 
much for his nerve. 

" Lotys ! " he said huskily ; " Lotys ! " 

She rose at once and came to him, moving ghostlike in 
her white draperies, her eyes shining — her lips tremulous. 

" Lotys," he said, " The King is in our hands ! You 
saved his life once — will you save it again ? " 

She raised her bent head, and the old courageous light 
flashed in her face, transfiguring its every feature. 

' It is not for me to save ! " she replied in clear firm 
tones ; " It is for you — and for all of us, — to defend ! " 

A ringing cheer answered her. Sergius Thord slowly 
advanced, and as he did so, the King, seeing his move- 
ment frankly held out his hand. For a moment the 
Socialist Chief hesitated — then suddenly yielding to his 
overpowering impulse, caught that hand and raised his 
dark eyes full to the monarch's face. 

'You have conquered me!" he said, "But only by 
your qualities as a man - — not by your authority as a 
king ! You have won my honour — my respect — my 
gratitude — my friendship — and with these, so long as 
you are faithful to our Cause, take my allegiance ! More 
I cannot say — more I will not promise ! " 

' I need no more ! " responded the King cheerily, en- 
closing his hand in a warm clasp. " We are friends and 
fellow-workers, Sergius ! — we can never be rivals ! " 

As he spoke, his glance fell on Lotys. She shrank 
from the swift passion of his gaze, — and her eyelids 
drooped half-swooningly over the bright star-windows of 
her own too ardent soul. Abruptly turning from both 
her and Thord, the King again addressed the company : 

" One word more, my friends ! It is arranged that 
you, with all your thousands of the People are to convene 
together in one great multitude, and march to the Palace 
to demand justice from the King. There is now no need 
to do this, — - for the King himself is one of you ! — the 
King only lives and reigns that justice in all respects may 
be done ! I will therefore ask you to change your plan ; 
— and instead of marching to the Palace, march with me 
to the House of Government. You would have demanded 
justice from the King; the King himself will go with 
you to demand justice for the People! " 



The Comrade of His Foes 465 

A wild shout answered him ; and he knew as he looked 
on the faces of his hearers that he had them all in his 
power as the servants of his will. 

" And now, gentlemen," he proceeded ; " I should per- 
haps make some excuses for my two friends, known to 
you as Max Graub and Axel Regor. I told you I would 
be responsible for their conduct, and, so far as they have 
been permitted to go, they have behaved well! 1 must, 
however, in justice to them, assure you that whereas I 
became a member of your Committee gladly, they fol- 
lowed my example reluctantly, and only out of fidelity 
and obedience to me. They have lived in the shadow of 
the Throne, — and have learned to pity, — and I think, - 
to love its occupant ! Because they know, — as you have 
never known, — the heavy burden which a king puts on 
with his crown ! They have, however, in their way, 
served you under my orders, and under my orders will 
continue to serve you still. Max Graub, or, to give him 
his right name, Heinrich von Glauben, has a high repu- 
tation in this country for his learning, apart from his 
position as Household Physician to our Court ; — Axel 
Regor is my very good friend Sir Roger de Launay, who 
is amiable enough to support the monotony of his duty 
as one of my equerries in waiting. Now you know us as 
we are! But after all, nothing is changed, save our 
names and the titles we bear ; we are the same men, the 
same friends, the same comrades ! — and so I trust we 
shall remain ! " 

The cheering broke out again, and Sir Roger de 
Launay, who was quite as overwhelmed with astonish- 
ment at the courage and coolness of his Royal master 
as any Revolutionist present, joined in it with a will, as 
did Von Glauben. 

" One favour I have to ask of you," proceeded the 
King, " and it is this : If you exempt me to-night from 
killing the King;" and he smiled, — "you must also 
exempt all the members of the Revolutionary Committee 
from any similar task allotted to them by having drawn 
the fatal Signal ! Our friend, Zouche, for instance, has 
drawn the name of Carl Perousse. Now I want Zouche 
for better work than that of killing a rascal ! ,: 

33 



466 "Temporal Power" 

Loud cheers answered him, and Zouche rising- from 
his place advanced a little. 

'Majesty!" he cried, "You are right! I hand your 
Majesty's intended Premier over to you with the greatest, 
pleasure in the world ! Apart from the fact of your being 
the King, I am compelled to admit that you have common 
sense ! " 

Laughter and cheers resounded through the room 
again, and the King quietly turning round, extinguished 
the red lamp on the table. The thirteenth light was 
quenched ; the Day of Fate was ended. As the ominous 
crimson flare sank out, a sudden silence prevailed, and 
the King fixed his eyes on Lotys. 

" From you, Madame, must come my final exoneration ! 
If you still condemn me as a King, I shall be indeed 
unfortunate ! If you still think well of me as a man, I 
shall be proud! I have to thank you, not only for my 
life, but for having helped me to make that life valuable ! 
As Pasquin Leroy, I have sought to serve you, — as 
King, I seek to serve you still ! " 

The silence continued. Every man present watched 
the visible emotion which swept every vestige of colour 
from the face of Lotys, and made her eyes so feverishly 
bright. Every man gazed at her as she rose from her 
chair and came forward a little to the front of the plat- 
form. It was with a strong effort that she raised her 
eyes to those of the King, and in that one glance between 
them, the lightning flash of a resistless love tore the veil 
of secrecy from their souls. But she spoke out bravely. 

' I thank your Majesty! " she said; " I thank you for 
all you have done for us as our comrade and associate, — 
for all you will yet do for us as our comrade and associate 
still ! It is better to be a brave man than a weak King — 
but it is best to be a strong man and a strong king both 
together ! You have disproved the thoughts I had of you 
as King ! You have ratified — " here she paused, while 
the colour suddenly sprang to her cheeks, and her breath 
came pantingly and quick, — " and strengthened the 
thoughts I had of you as our Pasquin ! " Her eyes soft- 
ened with tears, though she smiled. " We have believed 
in you ; we believe in you still ! All is as it was, — save 
in the one thing new, — that where we were banded to- 



The Comrade of His Foes 467 

gether against the King, we are now united for, and with 
the King ! " 

These words were all that were needed to reawaken 
and confirm the enthusiasm of the Revolutionists, whose 
' revolutionary ' measures were now accepted and sworn 
to by the Crowned Head of the Realm. Thereupon, 
they gave themselves up to the wildest cheering. 

" Comrades ! " cried Paul Zouche, in the midst of the 
uproar ; " There is one point you seem to have missed ! 
The King, — God bless him ! — does n't see it, — Thord, 
glowering like an owl in his ivy-bush of hair, does n't 
see it ! It is only left to me to perceive the chief result 
of this evening's disclosures ! " 

All the men laughed. 

" What is it, Zouche ? " demanded Louis Valdor. 

" Ay ! What is it ? " echoed Zegota. 

" Speak, Zouche! " said the King; " Whatever strange 
conclusion your poetic brain discovers, doubt not but 
that we shall accept it, — from you ! " 

" Accept it ? I should think so ! " cried Zouche ; " You 
are bound to accept it whether you like it or not ; there is 
no other way out of it ! " 

" Well, what is it? " repeated Zegota impatiently ; " De- 
clare it ! " 

" It is this ; " said Zouche, " Simply this, — that, with 
the King as our comrade and associate, the Revolutionary 
Committee is no use ! It is finished ! There can be no 
longer a Revolutionary Committee! ' : 

" That is true! " said the King; " It may henceforth be 
known as a new Parliament ! " 

Cheer after cheer echoed through the crowded room, 
and while the noise was at its height a knocking was 
heard outside and Sholto, the hunchback father of 
Pequita, demanded admittance. Zegota unlocked the 
door, and in a few minutes the situation was explained 
to the astonished landlord of the Revolutionary Com- 
mittee quarters. Overwhelmed at the news, and full 
of gratitude for the kindness shown to his child, which 
he now knew had emanated from the King in person, he 
would have knelt to kiss the Royal hand, had not the 
monarch prevented him. 

" No, my good Sholto ! " he said gently ; " Enough of 



468 "Temporal Power' 

such humility wearies me in the monotonous routine of 
Court life; and were it not for custom and prejudice, I 
would suffer no self-respecting man to abase himself be- 
fore me, simply because my profession is that of King ! 
Tell Pequita that I would not look at her, or applaud her 
dancing the other night, because I wished her to hate 
the King and to love Pasquin ! — but now you must ask 
her for me, to love them both ! " 

Sholto bowed low, profoundly overcome. Was this the 
King against whom they had all been in league ? — this 
simple, unaffected man, who. seemed so much at home and 
at one with them all ? Amazed and bewildered, he, by 
general invitation, mixed with the rest of the men, for 
each of whom the King had a kind and appreciative word, 
or a fresh pledge of his good faith and intention towards 
them and the reforms they sought to effect. Von Glauben 
was surrounded by a group of those among whom he had 
made himself popular ; and a* hundred eager questions 
were asked of both him and De Launay, who were ready 
enough to eulogise the daring of their Royal master, and 
the determination with which he had resolved on making 
his secret foes his open friends. 

"After all," said Zegota deprecatingly, " it is not so much 
the King whom we were against, as the Government." 

"Ah! You forget, no doubt," said Von Glauben. 
" that the King — any King — is usually a Dummy in the 
hands of Government, unless, as in the present instance, 
he chooses to become a living Personality for himself ! " 

" The King has created an autocracy ! " said Louis Val- 
dor ; " and it will last for his lifetime. But after ! " 

" After him, — if his eldest son, Prince Humphry, 
comes to the Throne, — the autocracy will be continued ; " 
said Von Glauben decisively ; " For he is a young man 
who is singularly fond of having his own way! " 

The conversation now became general ; and the big, 
bare, common room assumed in a few minutes almost the 
aspect of a Royal levee. This was curious enough, — and 
furnished food for meditation to Professor von Glauben, 
who was considerably excited by the dramatic denoue- 
ment of the Day of pate, — a climax for which neither 
he nor Sir Roger had been in the least prepared. He said 
something of it to Sir Roger who was watching Lotys. 



The Comrade of His Foes 469 

"You look at the woman," he said; "I look at the 
man! Do you think this drama is finished?" 

" Not yet ! " answered De Launay curtly ; " Nor is the 
danger over! " 

The hum of talk continued ; and the good feeling of 
friendship and unity of the assemblage was intensified 
with every cordial handshake. When the time came to 
break up, someone suggested that a carriage should be 
sent for to convey the King and his two companions to 
the Palace. Whereat the monarch laughed aloud and 
right joyously. 

" By my faith ! " he exclaimed ; " You, my friends, 
would actually pamper me already, by offering me a 
luxury which you yourselves do not propose to enjoy ! 
Ah, my friends, here comes in the mischief of the mon- 
archical system ! What of your ' Liberty, Equality, and 
Fraternity ' ? Do I ask to have anything different to your- 
selves ? Can I not walk, even as you do ? Have I n<pt 
walked to, and from these meetings often ? And even so, 
I purpose to walk now ! If you are true Revolutionists 
— as I am — do not reverse your own theories ! You 
complain, — and justly, — that a king is over-flattered; do 
not then flatter him yourselves by insisting on such conven- 
ience for him as he does not even demand at your hands ! " 

" You take us too literally, Sir," said Louis Valdor ; 
" Even Revolutionists owe respect to their chief ! " 

" Sergius Thord is your Chief, my friend ! " replied 
the monarch ; " And, from a Revolutionary point of 
view, mine! But you have never thought of sending him 
anywhere in a carriage ! Ah ! — what children we are ! 
What slaves of convention ! ' Liberty, Equality and Fra- 
ternity ' have been the ideals of ages : — - yet despite them, 
we are always ready to follow a Leader, — and form our- 
selves into one body under a Head ! " 

"Provided the Head has brains in it!" said Zouche. 
" But otherwise " 

" You cut it off ! " laughed the monarch — " and quite 
right too ! " 

They now began to separate. The hunchback Sholto 
explained that it was long after midnight, and that he had 
already put out all the lights in the basement. 

Whereupon the King, turning to Sergius Thord said : 



47° "Temporal Power' 

' Farewell for the moment, Sergius ! Come to me at 
the Palace with the whole plan of the meeting you are 
now organising ; I shall hold myself ready to fall in with 
)*}ur plans ! Gather your thousands, and — leave the rest 
to me! " 

Thord clasped his extended hand, — and was moved by 
a curious instinct to bend down low over it after the 
fashion of a courtier, but restrained himself almost by 
force. The men began to move ; one after the other bade 
good-night to the King — then to Thord, and last to 
Lotys, who, drawing on her cloak, prepared to leave also. 

' I will see you safely down the stairs," said the King 
smilingly, to her. ' It is not the first time I have done 
so! How now, Zouche? " 

Paul Zouche stood before him, his eyes full of a strange 
mingled pathos and scorn. 

' I have to thank your Majesty," he said slowly, " for 
something I do not in the least value, — Fame ! It has 
come too late ! Had it been my portion three years ago, 
the woman I loved would have been proud of me, and I 
should have been happy ! She is dead now — and nothing 
matters ! " 

The King was silent. There was something both 
solemn and pitiful about this wreck of manhood which 
was still kept alive by the fire of genius. 

"With one word vou micrht have saved me — and 
her ! " he went on. ' When you came to the Throne, — 
and all the wretched versifiers in the kingdom were 
scribbling twaddle in the way of ' Coronation odes ' and 
medleys, I wrote ' The Song of Freedom ' for your glory ! 
All the people of the land know that song now ! — but 
you might have known it then ! For now it is too late ! — 
too late to call her back ; — too late to give me peace ! ' : 

He paused ; — then — without another word — turned, 
and went out. 

" Poor Zouche! " said the King gently; ' I accept his 
reproach and understand it ! He is right ! The recogni- 
tion of his genius is one of the thousand chances I have 
missed ! But, as God lives, I will miss no more ! " 

A great quietude fell on the house as the Revolutionary 
Committee dispersed. The last to leave was the King, 
his two friends, and Lotys. Lotys declined all escort 



The Comrade of His Foes 47 1 

somewhat imperatively, refusing to allow Sergius Thorcl 
to see her to her own home. 

'I must be alone!" she said; 'Do you not under- 
stand ! I want to think — I want to realise our change of 
position. I cannot talk to you, Sergius, — no — not till 
to-morrow — you must let me be ! " 

He drew back, chilled and hurt by her tone, but forbore 
to press his company on her. With another farewell to 
the King, he stood at the top of the long dark winding 
stair watching the group descend, — first Von Glauben, 
next De Launay, — thirdly, the King, — and lastly. 
Lotys. 

" Good-night ! " he called, as her white robes vanished 
in the gloom. 

" Good-night ! " she answered tremulously, as she 
disappeared. 

And he, returning to the empty room, stared vacantly 
at the table draped with black, and the funeral urn set 
upon it, — stared at the empty chairs and bare walls, and 
listened as it were, to the midnight silence, — realising 
that he as Chief of the Revolutionary Committee, was no 
longer a chief but a servant ! — and that the power he 
sought — that power which he had endeavoured to attain 
in order that he might make of Lotys, as he had said, ' a 
queen among women ! ' was only to be won through, — 
the King ! The King knew all his secret plans and his 
aims, — he held the clue to the whole network of his Rev- 
olutionary organisation, — and the only chance he now 
had of ever arriving at the highest goal of his ambition 
was in the King's hands ! Thus was he, — Socialist and 
Revolutionist, — made subject to the Throne; the very 
rules he had drawn up for himself and his Committee 
making it impossible that he could be otherwise than loyal, 
to a monarch who was at the same time his comrade ! 

Meanwhile, in the thick darkness of the hall below, 
while Von Glauben and De Launay were groping their 
way to the door which was cautiously held open by Sholto, 
Lotys, moving with hesitating steps down the stairs, felt 
rather than saw a head turned back upon her, — a flash 
of eves in the darkness, and heard her name breathed 
softly : 

" Lotys ! " 



47 2 "Temporal Power 



55 



She grew dizzy and uncertain of her footing ; she 
could not answer. Suddenly a strong arm caught her, — 
she was drawn into a close, fierce, jealous clasp; warm 
lips caressed her hair, her brow, her eyes ; and a voice 
whispered in her ear : 

"You love me, Lotys ! You love me! Hush! — do 

not deny it — you cannot deny it ! you know it, as 

I know it ! — you have told me you love me ! You love 
me, my LoVe ! You love me ! " 

Another moment — and the King passed quietly out of 
the door with a bland ' Good-night ' to Sholto, and joining 
his two companions, raised his hat to Lotys with a cour- 
teous salutation. 

" Good-night, Madame ! " 

She stood in the doorway, shuddering violently from 
head to foot, — watching his tall figure disappear in the 
shadows of the street. Then stretching out her hands 
blindly, she gave a faint cry, and murmuring something 
inarticulate to the alarmed Sholto, fell senseless at his 
feet. 



CHAPTER XXX 

KING AND SOCIALIST 

TO many persons of the servile or flunkey habit, the 
idea that a king should ever comport himself as an 
ordinary, — or extraordinary, — man, seems more or less 
preposterous ; while to conceive him as endowed with 
dash, spirit, and a love of adventure is judged almost as 
absurd and impossible. The only potentate that ever ap- 
pears, in legendary lore, to have indulged himself to his 
heart's content in the sport of adopting a disguise and 
going about unrecognised among his subjects, is the 
witty and delightful hero of the 'Arabian Nights' En- 
tertainment,' Caliph Haroun Alraschid, who, as Tennyson 
describes him, had 

" Deep eyes, laughter-stirred 

With merriment of kingly pride ; 
Sole star of all that place and time, 
I saw him in his golden prime, 
The good Ha/oun Alraschid ! " 

We accept Haroun ; and acknowledge him to have 
been wise in the purport of his wanderings through the 
streets of the city, — gaining new experience with every 
hour, and studying the needs and complaints of his people 
for himself; — but if we should be told of a modern 
monarch doing likewise in our own day, we should mount 
on the stiff hobby-horse of our ridiculous conventionality, 
and accuse him of having brought the dignity of the 
Throne into contempt. Yet nothing perhaps can be more 
contemptible than a monarch who is too surrounded by 
flunkeyism to be a Man, — and, on the other hand, nothing 
could be more beneficial than the feeling that perhaps a 
monarch may be so much of a man after all that no one 
can be quite certain as to his whereabouts. It would be 



474 "Temporal Power" 

well if some rowdy ' clubs ' could be restrained by the 
idea that the Sovereign of the Realm might step in unex- 
pectedly, — or if the ' slums ' could scarcely be able to tell 
when he might not be among their inmates, disguised as 
one of them, studying and knowing more in a day than 
his ministers would tell him in several vears. It is sren- 
erally admitted that no man is fit for a profession till he 
has thoroughly mastered its possibilities, -  yet it is not 
too much to declare that in the profession of Sovereignty 
the few who practise it, have mastered it to so little pur- 
pose, that they are almost entirely blind to the singular 
advantages which they might obtain, not only for them- 
selves, but for the entire world, if they chose to put forth 
their own individuality, and, instead of wasting: their 
time on the scheming and self-seeking sections of Society, 
elected to try their powers on the working and trade com- 
munities of the nation. But throughout all history, the 
various careers of kings and emperors contain instructive 
lessons of Lost Opportunity. Allowing for the differences 
of climate and temperament, it may be taken for granted 
that no people of any country are constitutionally able to 
rise above a certain height of enthusiasm ; and that when 
the high-water mark is reached, their enthusiasm cools, 
and a reaction invariably sets in. For this cause a mon- 
arch should never rely too much on the plaudits of the 
mob in a time of conquest, or public festival of jubilation. 
He should look upon such acclamation as the mere rising 
of a wave, which must in due time sink again, — and if he 
would know his people thoroughly, he should study that 
same shouting mob, not when it is affected by hysteria, 
but during its everyday level condition of stubborn and 
patient toil. So will he perhaps be able to lay his finger 
on the sore places of life, and to find out where the seed 
of mischief is planted, before it begins to grow. But he 
must give an individual interest to such work ; no infor- 
mation must be obtained or given through this person or 
that person, — for the old maxim that ' if you want any- 
thing done, do it yourself ' applies to kings as well as to 
all other classes of men. 

That the old adage had been amply practised by one 
king at least, was soon known throughout the capital of 
the country over which the monarch here written of held 



King and Socialist 475 

dominion. Somehow, and by some means or other, the 
story oozed out bit by bit and in guarded whispers, that 
the King had ' trapped ' Carl Perousse, as well as several 
other defaulting ministers, — and that, strange and in- 
credible as it appeared, he himself was the very ' Pasquin 
Leroy ' whose political polemics had created such a stir. 
Once started, the rumour flew ; — some disbelieved it ; - 
others listened, with ears stretched wide, greedy for more 
detail, — but presently the scattered threads of gossip 
became woven into a consecutive web of certainty so far 
as one point, at least, was concerned, — and this was, 
that the King would personally address his Parliament 
during the ensuing week on matters of national safety 
and importance. Such an announcement was altogether 
unprecedented, and excited the whole country's attention. 
Plenty of discussion there was, as to whether the King 
had any right to so address the members of the Govern- 
ment, — and some oracular journals were of the opinion 
that he was acting in an ' unconstitutional manner.' On 
the other hand, it was discovered and proved that there 
was no actual law forbidding the Sovereign to speak when 
any question of urgency appeared to call for his expressed 
opinion. 

While this affair was being contested and argued, a 
considerable sensation was created by the news that the 
Marquis de Lutera had suddenly left the country, — os- 
tensibly for his health, which, everyone was assured, had 
completely broken down. People shook their heads omin- 
ously, and wondered when the King would give M. 
Perousse the task of forming a new Ministry, — while 
they watched with deepening interest the progress of the 
various Government debates, which were carried on in 
the usual way, following the lines laid down by the absent 
Premier, Marquis de Lutera. Carl Perousse, confronted 
by a thousand difficulties, maintained his usual equable 
and audacious attitude, scouting with scorn the rumour 
that the Socialist writer, ' Pasquin Leroy ' was merely a 
disguise adopted by the King himself, — and he was as 
cool and imperturbable as ever when one morning David 
Jost succeeded in finding him at home, and obtaining an 
audience. 

" It was the King! " burst out Jost, as soon as he found 



476 "Temporal Power" 

himself alone with his ally ; "It was the King himself 
who wore Lutera's signet, and came to me disguised so 
well that his own father would not have known him ! The 
King himself, I say! And I told him everything! " 

' More fool you ! " returned Perousse quietly ; " How- 
ever, fools generally have to pay the price of their folly ! " 

" And knaves! " said Jost furiously; " But there is a 
power which cannot be controlled, even by kings or 
statesmen — and that is — the pen ! " 

"And do you think you can use the pen?" queried 
Perousse indolently ; ' Excellent Shylock, you know you 
cannot ! You can pay others to use it for you ! That is 
all ! " 

' I can make short work of you at any rate ! " said Jost, 
his little eyes sparkling with rage ; ' For I see plainly 
enough now that even if our plans had succeeded, you 
would have left me in the lurch ! " 

" Of course ! " smiled Perousse ; " Are you so simple 
in the world's ways as not to be able to realise that such 
Jew pressmen as you are only made for the use of poli- 
ticians ? We drop you, when we have done with you ! 
Go to London, Jost ! Start a paper there ! It is the very 
place for you ! Get a Cardinal to back you up, with funds 
to be used for the ' conversion ' of England ! Or give a 
hundred thousand pounds to a hospital ! You can become 
naturalised as an Englishman if you like ; any country 
does for a Jew ! And you will be a power of the realm 
in no time ! They manage these sort of things capitally 
there ! " 

" By God ! " said Jost ; " I could kill you ! " 

"What for?" demanded Perousse; "Because you 
think I am going to be proved a political fraud ? Wait 
and see ! If the King denounces me, I am prepared to 
denounce the King ! " 

Jost stared, then laughed aloud. 

' Denounce the King ! You are bold ! But you make 
up your sum with the wrong numerals this time! The 
King holds the complete list of your speculations in his 
hand, — he has got them through the agency of the Revo- 
lutionary Committee, to which your stockbroker's confi- 
dential clerk belongs ! You fool ! All your schemes — 
all your ' companies ' are known to him root and branch 



King and Socialist 477 

— and you say you will ' denounce ' him! If you do, it 
will be a real comedy! — the case of a thief denouncing 
the officer who has caught him red-handed in the act of 
thieving! " 

With this parting shot, he made a violent exit. Pe- 
rousse left alone, dismissed him, with all other harass- 
ments from his mind ; for being entirely without a con- 
science, he had very little care as to the results of the 
King's reported intentions. He was preparing a brilliant 
speech, which he intended to deliver if occasion de- 
manded ; and on his own coolness, mendacity and pluck, 
he staked his future. 

' If I fail," he said to himself ; " I will go to the United 
States, and end by becoming President ! There are many 
such plans open to a man of resources ! " 

During the ensuing few days there were some extra 
gaieties at the Palace, — and the King and Queen were 
seen daily in public. Everywhere, they were greeted with 
frantic outbursts of cheering, and the recent riotous out- 
breaks seemed altogether forgotten. The Opera was 
crowded nightly, and undeterred by the fear of any fresh 
manifestations of popular discontent, their Majesties 
were again present. This time the King was the first to 
lead off the applause that hailed Pequita's dancing. And 
how her little feet flew! — how her eyes sparkled with 
rapture — how the dark curls tossed, and the cherry lips 
smiled ! To her the King remained Pasquin ! — a kind 
of monarch in a fairy tale, who scattered benefits at a 
touch, and sunshine with a glance, and who deserved all 
the love and loyalty of every subject in the kingdom ! But 
she had never had any idea of ' Revolution,' poor child ! 

— save such a revolving of chance and circumstance as 
should enable her father to live in comfort, without 
anxiety for his latter days. And perhaps at the bottom of 
all political or religious fanaticism we should find an 
equally simple root of cause for the effect. 

The day at last came when Sergius Thord held his 
mighty ' mass meeting,' convened in the Cathedral square, 

— all ready for marching orders. No interference was 
offered either from soldiery or police ; and the people 
came pouring up from every quarter of the city in their 
thousands and tens of thousands. By noon, the tall 



47 8 "Temporal Power' 

lace-like spire of the Cathedral towered above a vast sea 
of human heads, which from a distance looked like swarm- 
ing bees ; and as the bells struck the hour, Thord, mount- 
ing the steps of a monument erected to certain heroes 
who had long ago fallen in battle, was greeted with a roar 
of acclamation like the thunder of heaven's own artillery. 
But even while the multitude still shouted and cheered, 
the sight of another figure, which quietly ascended to the 
same position, caused a sudden hush, — a gradually deep- 
ening silence of amazement and awe, — and then finally 
swift recognition. 

"The King! " cried a voice. 

" Pasquin Leroy ! " shouted another, who was answered 
by yells and shrieks of derision. 

" The King ! " was again the cry. And as the vast 
crowd circled round and round, its million eyes wonder- 
ingly upturned, Sergius Thord suddenly lifted his cap 
and waved it : 

" Ay ! The King ! ' ; His voice rang over the heads of 
the people with a rich thrill of command. " The King, 
who here declares himself the friend of our Cause ! The 
King, who is with us to-day of his own will, at his own 
request, by his own choice ! — without escort, — unarmed 
— defenceless ! The King ! The King who has resolved 
to go with us, and demand justice for his overtaxed and 
suffering subjects! The King, who is one with us! — 
who seeks no greater kingliness than that of being loved 
and trusted by his People ! " 

The surprise of this announcement was so truly over- 
powering, that for the moment the mighty mass of men 
stood inert ; then, — as the situation flashed upon them, 
such a thunder of cheering broke out as seemed to make 
the very earth rock and the houses in the square tremble. 
The King himself, standing by Thord, grew pale as he 
heard it, and his eyes were suffused with something like 
tears. 

" By Heaven ! " he murmured ; " The love of this 
people is worth having ! " 

" Did you ever doubt it? " queried Thord slowly, eyeing 
him with a touch of wonder not unmixed with jealousy ; 
" There is only one power which keeps a king on his 
throne — the confidence of the nation ! You had nearlv 



King and Socialist 479 

lost that ! For though there is nothing so easy to win, 
there is nothing so easy to lose ! " 

'True!" said the monarch, his eyes still resting ten- 
derly on the excited multitude below him. ' I have de- 
served little at the people's hands — but perhaps — when 

1 am gone " he paused abruptly, then with a smile 

added — " Give us our marching orders, Sergius ! ' : 

Thord obeyed, — and very soon, under his command, 
the huge multitude arranged itself in blocks, or regi- 
ments, perfectly organised in different companies, and 
entirely prepared to keep order. Dividing into equal 
lines they made way quickly and with enthusiasm as they 
perceived the King's charger, which, richly caparisoned, 
had been brought for his Majesty at Thord's own earnest 
request. 

When all was ready, the King sprang into the saddle, 
and gathering the reins in one hand, sat for a moment 
bare-headed, the people surging round him with repeated 
outbursts of applause. Without a weapon, — without a 
single man of his own household to bear him company, — 
without any armed escort, — he remained there enthroned ; 

— the centre, — not of ' society,' — but of the People, 
who gathered round him as their visible Head, with as 
much shouting and enthusiasm and worship, as if he had, 
in his own person, made the conquest, single-handed, of 
a hundred nations ! Never, in his most gorgeous apparel, 

— never, even when robed and crowned in state, had he 
looked so noble ; never liad he seemed so worthy of the 
highest honour, reverence and admiration, as now ! At a 
signal from Thord, who led the way on foot, the thousands 
of the city began to march to the House of Government, 
all gathering round one principal figure, that of their 
King. A group of workmen constituted themselves his 
body-guard, protecting his proudly-stepping charger from 
so much as a stone that might startle it or check its prog- 
ress, and thus — liberated from the protection of flunkeys 
and flatterers, — the monarch, surrounded by his true 
subjects advanced together as one Body, to challenge and 
overthrow a fraudulent Ministry, whose measures had 
been drawn up and passed, not for the good of the 
country, but for the financial advantage and protection of 
themselves. 



>J 



480 "Temporal Power 

Never was such a wondrous sight seen, as that almost 
interminable procession through the broad thoroughfares 
of the city, headed by a Socialist, and centred by a King ! 
No Royal ceremonial, overburdened with snobbish con- 
ventionalities and hypocritical parade, ever presented so 
splendid and imposing a sight as that concentrated mass 
of the actual people, — the working muscle and sinew of 
the land's common weal, marching in steady and trium- 
phant order, — surging like the billows of the sea around 
that brave ship, their Sovereign, cheering him to the 
echo, and waving around him the flags of the country, 
while he, still bare-headed, rode dauntless in their midst 
looking every inch a king ! — more kingly indeed than 
he had ever seemed, and more established in the affections 
of his subjects than any living monarch of the time. So 
was he brought with ceaseless acclamation to the Govern- 
ment House, where, as all knew, he purposed denouncing 
Carl Perousse ; — and thus did he assert in his own per- 
son that a king, supported by a nation, is more powerful 
than any government built up by mere party agency ! 

And even so, at his best and bravest, two women looked 
upon him and loved him ! One, from the outskirts of the 
great crowd where, shrouded close in her veil, she waited 
tremblingly near the Government buildings, and saw him 
alight from his charger, and enter there, amid the wild 
shoutings of the populace, — the other, from a high win- 
dow in the Royal Palace, where she leaned watching the 
crowd, — the sunlight catching the diamonds at her breast 
and sparkling in her proud cold eyes. And over the 
whole city rang the continuous and exultant cry : 

" The King ! The King ! " 

And perhaps only one soul, prophetic in instinct, 
foresaw any terror in the triumph ! — only one voice, 
low and tremulous and weighted with tears and prayers, 
murmured : 

" Ah, dear God ! Would he were not a King! " 



CHAPTER XXXI 

A VOTE FOR LOVE 

NEXT clay it was known through the length and 
breadth of the city that the King, so long judged 
as a political Dummy, had proved himself a living, act- 
ing authority. Every journal in city and province led 
off its news under the one chief heading, — ' The King's 
Speech.' The King had spoken; — and with no uncer- 
tain voice. Cool, brilliant in wording, concise in state- 
ment, — cuttingly correct in facts, convincing in argument, 
his unexpected denouncement of Carl Perousse, and the 
Perousse ' majority,' swept the Government off their feet 
by its daring courage, and still more daring veracity. 
Documentary evidence of the dishonourable speculations 
with the public money which had been so freely in- 
dulged in by the Secretary of State, aided and abetted 
by the Premier, was handed by the King in person to 
the authorities whose business it was to examine such 
proofs, — the dishonourable measures used to retain 
the ' majority ' were fully exposed, and the whole House 
stood thunderstruck and mentally paralysed, under the 
straight accusation and merciless condemnation launched 
at their own lax tolerance of such iniquitous practices, 
by their reigning monarch. With perfect dignity and 
impressive calm, the King quietly demanded whether 
M. Carl Perousse would be pleased to explain his 
actions ? Whether he had anything to say in response to 
the charges brought against him ? To this last query, 
after a dead silence, during which every eye was fixed 
on the defaulting Minister, who, in the course of the 
Royal speech had seen every bulwark of his own intended 
defence torn away from him, Perousse, with an ashy 
white countenance answered : 

"Nothing! " 

And