Part 38 (2/2)

”BARUGH FRANKL”.

Hogarth 'phoned up: ”Give Frankl food now, and put him where it is not cold....” and to Loveday he said, ”Well, you see, she is there: 'No. 11, Market Street'. And under the name of--what? 'Rachel Oppenheimer'...John Loveday, do you fathom the meaning of that?”

”No--don't bother me about meanings, but shout, like her, 'O Happy Day!'

I say, Richard, you remember that singing? how we would hear her from the forge? All day, was.h.i.+ng, cooking--melodious soul! There was 'O Happy Day', and there was--By G.o.d, how charmingly holy! how Englis.h.!.+ And, Richard, you remember--?”

Another telephone bell: Hogarth turned to hear.

”Just arrived in the yacht, _Tyre_, my Lord King”, said Quilter-Beckett's voice, ”four Jewish ladies, a Jewish gentleman, and a rabbi, who request early audience to-morrow; they lie-to, and have sent a boat--”

”Rubbis.h.!.+ I shall not be here to-morrow, and even if I was--Who are they? By the way, no sign of the yacht?”

”Not yet. They are Miss Frankl--”

”Who?”

”Miss Rebekah Frankl--”

”G.o.d”, went Hogarth faintly, stabbed to the heart.

”Miss Agnes Friedrich, Mrs.--”

But the rest fell upon ears deaf as death, the teeth of Hogarth now chattering as with cold, that haggard, gaunt yellow, which was his pallor, overspreading his face. So long was he speechless, that Quilter-Beckett asked: ”Are you there, my Lord King?”

”Quilter-Beckett!”

”Yes, my Lord King?”

”Will you go _yourself_--for me--to them? _Make_ them sleep here, will you? This is most urgent, I a.s.sure you. And go quick, will you?”

That night did not the Lord of the Sea sleep: she under his roof...

Nor did he go that night to find Margaret--nor the next day, nor the next, though Loveday chafed: for, gyrating through the giddy air of a galaxy where Margaret was not, he forgot her.

XLII

REBEKAH TELLS

At that time Hogarth, personally, was in close relation with the score of Emba.s.sies that inhabited the belly of the _Boodah_, these intriguing incessantly for half-hours at his ear, and in communication, meanwhile, with their Governments through O'Hara's _Mahomet_: so that Hogarth had to get up early, and his mornings sweated with audience and negotiation.

The German and Russian Emperors, with the Prince of Wales (then virtually Regent), had hurriedly met at Vienna--presumably for the discussion of the Manifesto; and immediately after it, the Prince, who had the reputation of being one of the most tactful of men-of-the-world, took a step which hinted that the Royal House, as often before, meant to come to the rescue of the country which loved it however the politicians might bungle: Hogarth was invited to accept the Garter.

He accepted: and the ceremony in the _Boodah_ was witnessed, as it were, by Europe, King-at-Arms in a new tabard, with his suite, going to invest him, taking the Statute of the Chapter, with the Great Seal of England, and a set of habiliments--white-silk stockings, gold sword Spanish hat, stars, gloves. And the effect was speedy, the other rulers, dumbfounded before, said now: ”England will comply with the Manifesto; and, if before us, the taxed sea opens to her....Yield, moreover, we must: let us make haste!”

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