Part 33 (1/2)
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 extraordinary 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 so, as one who has seen more of life than you,--as one who takes things philosophically--and 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 movement 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 a.s.sent; ”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 impatiently; ”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 marriage 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 pa.s.sion which invigorated him, and his father looking at him, thought for a moment that so might the young G.o.ds of the fabled Parna.s.sus have appeared in the height of their symbolic power and charm. His own eyes grew melancholy, as he studied this vigorous incarnation of ardent love and pa.s.sionate 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? Perhaps she will hate you for the deception, as much as she now loves you!”
A shadow darkened the young Prince's open countenance, but it soon pa.s.sed 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 circ.u.mstance 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 marriage 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 cla.s.s 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 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?”