The Chancellor's eyes seemed starting from his head, his jaw dropped,
a moan broke from his throat; then with a sharp effort he drew
himself together, and pointed at the papers.
"That--that--" he gasped, "that accuses me, much more it accuses you.
That you, an Emperor, set such a trap is a disgrace crying aloud to
Europe, that--that your Majesty is unfitted for a throne. I dare
you, I challenge you. Publish those papers, and not an ambassador
would remain at the Russian capital!"
"That I set the trap?" Hot fury darkened the Russian's face, "This
scullion work is not in the hands of kings. Would you make me your
partner?"
"Sir," Ulster instantly shot out his arm, extended upwards over the
papers. "Look! The yacht has signalled!"
The Emperor folded the papers, and jammed them back into the breast
of his cloak.
"Let her signal," he answered; "I am not your partner, neither am I
your dupe."
"Take the two millions," cried Ulster, "and give me these papers."
"I do not bargain with your Grace," answered Nicholas.
"What do you want me to do? I'll resign the Chancellorship, retire,
anything!"
"And cheat me of what I bought?"
"If you expose me, you take my life."
"I have taken it, and paid for it such as it is."
"You can't force me to live! I repeat, to live!"
"As you please. If you die, these papers shall be published as a
memorial volume. If you disobey me, they shall be published. If you
attempt to cheat me, they shall be published. You have sold yourself
to me, and I claim you."
Ulster shrank back into his chair, covering his face, and for some
time remained in silence. At last in despair he muttered into his
breast--
"What are the terms?"
"I will give you back these papers when you have earned them. You
shall live on, Chancellor of the British Empire, honoured,
reverenced. When you die a state funeral will attend you to the
grave, and another truly British monument will disfigure that poor
old Abbey."
Ulster cast about for a weapon, and the Emperor, divining this,
chuckled.
"Under my cloak," he said, "I've got an automatic, over your house my
yacht. You need have no fear. Indeed, I know the limitations of
your power as Chancellor, and shall not press too hard. Now as to
terms: I permit you, my Lord Duke, to save your country from the
Franco-German invasion. But you will complete the Anglo-Russian
Treaty on the terms proposed by my ambassador."
"My colleagues would never consent," cried Ulster, "I should be
thrown out of office."
"Tell your colleagues that unless the treaty is signed, Russia will
join the Franco-German alliance. My share is India. They will
consent.
"Secondly, your Grace, I have to tell you that my brother the Grand
Duke Alexander Alexandrovitch was lately slighted by the young Queen.
She shall marry him."
"Sir, she would die first!"
"She shall marry him, and your Government shall make the offer of her
hand.
"Thirdly, my Lord Duke, I will be secured from any future treachery.
You will personally entrust me with the Formula of the Fleets."
When England's great enemy demanded the Formula of the Fleets,
Ulster's brain refused to receive his meaning. The naval airship of
the period carried no stored force, but the power driving her engines
was flashed to her through space from the nearest fortified station
of the Admiralty. Each station gave its ships a power-field
extending two thousand miles in all directions. Thus the Home
station was a fortified position in the coal measures of
Staffordshire. Groups of stations covered Canada, the West Indies,
and South America; South Africa was in the power-field of the
Victoria Falls, Central Africa was controlled from the White Nile,
West Africa from the Niger Valley. Another chain of power-fields
centred in the Ocean Fortresses: Gibraltar, Malta, Alexandria, Aden,
Colombo, Rangoon, Singapore, Hong Kong. From the Arctic regions to
the Antarctic ice, no corner of the world was secured from the
visitation of our fleets. To debar foreign navies from using our
stores of power, each ship had her engines keyed to an exact
adjustment known as the Formula of the Fleets. Given that formula, a
foreign ship could traverse the whole planet. The British Empire and
the United States used one formula, entrusted only to the Chancellor,
the President, and the Adjusters-General, and one can readily
understand that this key of space conferred most awful powers.
And were the formula changed without due warning, every ship afloat
would be plunged through space to destruction.
"The Formula of the Fleets," Ulster repeated vaguely. "You!" Then
he seemed to awake. "You devil!" he cried furiously. "No!"
He choked, he could find no utterance, but wrung his hands, and,
starting to his feet, shook his arms upward at the heavens. Then he
saw the Emperor's cold face between the lamplight and the moonlight
smiling, and at the sight drew back. A strangled sob broke from him.
"I am trapped, shamed, broken; I have sinned, but still I am an
Englishman, and all my years are given to England's service!"
The Chancellor had back his dignity and a new courage.
"The claims of the Russian ambassador insult this nation; the
proposals of that drunken and disgusting beast, your brother, insult
my sovereign; the demand for the Formula of the Fleets is a deadly
insult to myself. You have forfeited all claims to treatment as a
sovereign; but such claims as you have presumed to make to me, I
shall lay before my colleagues, before the Empire, and before the
world. As to your charges against me, they come not from a friendly
prince, but from an enemy too base even for the courtesies of war.
Our people will not see the sin of the Chancellor in this crime of
Russia."
The Emperor's cruel eyes glittered, the moonlight caught a gleam from
his teeth.
"Most noble patriot," he answered softly, "most courteous statesman,
no doubt the English can be gulled into a belief that the Russian
Emperor came secretly and at night, and behaved in an unseemly and
ridiculous manner. They would even believe that I danced on your
terrace by moonlight. Proof would at once appear that I never left
my house at Pera, and the mad Chancellor would become the
laughing-stock of Europe. Consider the cartoons!"
Ulster sank back into his chair, and his face writhed, for the most
heroic are unarmed against ridicule.
"Moreover," the Emperor smiled, "already a copy of the documents I
have shown you has been placed by an Englishman in the hands of the
editor of the _Times_--sealed, and awaiting my orders. In these
papers there is no reference to Russia, only to certain transactions
between Prince Ali and his Grace the Duke of Ulster. Russia does not
appear in such affairs of bribery, fraud, and betrayal. After the
Chancellor's disgrace, and shameful end, the Germans and the French
will make declaration of war, will be joined by Russia, and this
country swept from the map of Europe which it has marred too long.
The British Empire will be divided among the allies. I have offered
to give you back your life, and the immortal fame of saving your
country. Refuse, and I give you to shame and death, the British
Empire to destruction. Of course, if you want my mercy, you will
apologize first for insulting me." The Emperor stood up and waved
his hand. "I have called my yacht," he said not unkindly. "I give
you this minute to surrender."
Far up in the heavens a white light flashed like a star, and from the
great spaces of the night, a shadow swooped down, winged, swift,
instantly growing gigantic against the moon, then gleaming in her
rays. The Chancellor watched spellbound, and as he watched the
terror seized his brain, the doom of a great Empire, condemned to
this death, abandoned by God.
Then the agony of a broken man rang out in one great cry, "I have
surrendered!" and the echoes of walls and trees heard him, and
answered.