Part 65 (1/2)
”Lotys!”
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! Hus.h.!.+--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 pa.s.sed quietly out of the door with a bland 'Good-night' to Sholto, and joining his two companions, raised his hat to Lotys with a courteous 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 x.x.x
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 appears, 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' Entertainment,' 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 Haroun 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 well if some rowdy 'clubs' could be restrained by the idea that the Sovereign of the Realm might step in unexpectedly,--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 years. It is generally 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 purpose, that they are almost entirely blind to the singular advantages which they might obtain, not only for themselves, 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 communities 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 const.i.tutionally 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 monarch 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 information must be obtained or given through this person or that person,--for the old maxim that 'if you want anything done, do it yourself' applies to kings as well as to all other cla.s.ses 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 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 incredible 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 Government,--and some oracular journals were of the opinion that he was acting in an 'unconst.i.tutional 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,--ostensibly for his health, which, everyone was a.s.sured, had completely broken down. People shook their heads ominously, 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 att.i.tude, 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 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; ”However, 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 politicians? 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 G.o.d!” 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!”