Part 63 (1/2)
”Well, I 'm not so sure they 'll take the same comfortable view of it that you do, Sir Horace,” said Stubber; ”nor can I see who can possibly want livery stables, or smart bonnets, or even a fine butler, when the resources of the Court are withdrawn, and the city left to its own devices.”
”Stubber suspects,” said Upton, ”that the policy which prevails amongst our great landed proprietors against small holdings is that which at present influences the larger states of Europe against small kingdoms; and so far he is right. It is unquestionably the notion of our day that the influences of government require s.p.a.ce for their exercise.”
”If the happiness of the people was to be thought of, which of course it is not,” said Stubber, ”I'd say leave them as they are.”
”Ah, my dear Stubber, you are now drawing the question into the realm of the imaginary. What do any of us know about our happiness?”
”Enough to eat and drink, a comfortable roof over you, good clothes, nothing oppressive or unequal in the laws,--these go for a good way in the kind of thing I mean; and let me observe, sir, it is a great privilege little states, like little people, enjoy, that they need have no ambitions. They don't want to conquer anybody; they neither ask for the mouth of a river here, or an island there; and if only let alone, they 'll never disturb the peace of the world at large.”
”My dear Stubber, you are quite a proficient at state-craft,” said Upton, with the very least superciliousness in the accent.
”Well, I don't know, Sir Horace,” said the other, modestly, ”but as my master's means are about the double of what they were when I entered his service, and as the people pay about one-sixth less in taxes than they used to do, mayhap I might say that I have put the saddle on the right part of the back.”
”Your foreign policy does not seem quite as un.o.bjectionable as your home management. That was an ugly business about that boy you gave up to the Austrians.”
”Well, there were mistakes on all sides. You yourself, Sir Horace, gave him a false pa.s.sport; his real name turns out to be Ma.s.sy: it made an impression on me, from a circ.u.mstance that happened when I was a young fellow living as pad-groom with Prince Tottskoy. I went over on a lark one day to Capri, and was witness to a wedding there of a young Englishman called Ma.s.sy.”
”Were you, then, present at the ceremony?”
”Yes, sir; and what's stranger still, I have a voucher for it.”
”A voucher for it. What do you mean?”
”It was this way, sir. There was a great supper for the country people and the servants, and I was there, and I suppose I took too much of that Capri wine; it was new and hot at the time, and I got into a row of some sort, and I beat the Deputato from some place or t' other, and got locked up for three days; and the priest, a very jolly fellow, gave me under his handwriting a voucher that I had been a witness of the marriage, and all the festivities afterwards, just to show my master how everything happened. But the Prince never asked me for any explanations, and only said he 'hoped I had amused myself well;' and so I kept my voucher to myself, and I have it at this very hour.”
”Will you let me see it, Stubber?”
”To be sure, sir, you shall have it, if I can lay my hand on 't in the course of the day.”
”Let me beg you will go at once and search for it; it may be of more importance than you know of. Go, my dear Stubber, and look it up.”
”I'll not lose a moment, since you wish to have it,” said Stubber; ”and I am sure your ladys.h.i.+p will excuse my abrupt departure.”
The Princess a.s.sured him that her own interest in the doc.u.ment was not inferior to that of Sir Horace, and he hastened off to prosecute his search.
”Here, then, are all my plans altered at once,” exclaimed she, as the door closed after him. ”If this paper mean only as much as he a.s.serts, it will be ample proof of marriage, and lead us to the knowledge of all those who were present at it.”
”Yet must we well reflect on the use we make of it,” said Upton.
”Glencore is now evidently balancing what course to take. As his chances of recovery grow less each day, he seems to incline more and more to repair the wrong he has done. Should we show on our side the merest semblance of compulsion, I would not answer for him.”
”So that we have the power, as a last resource, I am content to diplomatize,” said the Princess; ”but you must see him this evening, and press for a decision.”
”He has already asked me to come to him after we return from Court. It will be late, but it is the hour at which he likes best to talk. If I see occasion for it, I can allude to what Stubber has told us; but it will be only if driven by necessity to it.”
”I would act more boldly and more promptly,” said she.
”And rouse an opposition, perhaps, that already is becoming dormant. No, I know Glencore well, and will deal with him more patiently.”
”From the Chevalier Stubber, your Excellency,” said a servant, presenting a sealed packet; and Sir Horace opened it at once. The envelope contained a small and shabby slip of paper, of which the writing appeared faint and indistinct. It was dated 18--, Church of St. Lorenzo, Capri, and went to certify that Guglielmo Stubber had been present, on the morning of the 18th August, at the marriage of the Most n.o.ble Signor Ma.s.sy with the Princess de la Torre, having in quality as witness signed the registry thereof; and then went on to state the circ.u.mstance of his attendance at the supper, and the event which ensued. It bore the name of the writer at foot, Basilio Nardoni, priest of the aforesaid church and village.