‘Monsieur V----! Is this really you?’ he exclaimed.
‘My voice may be more familiar to you than my face, sire,’ I
responded.
‘I am delighted. Sit down. I have a most extraordinary thing to
consult you about. This----’
I ventured to hold up my hand. For the first time in my life I
presumed to interrupt royalty.
‘A thousand pardons, sire! I beg of you to let me speak first.’
‘Why, what does this mean, sir,’ Wilhelm II. inquired sternly.
‘It means, sire, that I am compelled to presume on the many faithful
services I have rendered to your Majesty to ask you for a favour
which alone can extricate me from a position of cruel embarrassment.’
‘Proceed, sir.’
The Kaiser’s tone was still reserved, but I fancied I observed a
slight softening in the glance.
‘I already know the business in which you desire my aid.’
[Illustration: “Wilhelm II. strode to me, seized me by the shoulder,
and thrust me out of the room.”]
‘You know it!’ cried the Emperor, fairly confounded.
‘It is my business to know things, and I know this. Now, let me put
it to your Majesty, what can you possibly gain by following up an
inquiry which can have no tangible result? I say no tangible result,
because there is simply no means by which you can arrive at the
proof of what you suspect. And, if it were otherwise, how could your
Majesty possibly turn the information to account?
‘You could not entertain the idea of confessing to the world that you
had been duped. Consider, sire, what use the wits of the boulevards
would make of such a revelation! Imagine the pencil of Caran d’Ache
at work on the episode!’
I saw Wilhelm II. fidget uneasily, and I knew that my cause was
gained.
‘On the other hand,’ I resumed, ‘suppose that you have harboured
a suspicion which is unjust. You run the risk of affronting a
submissive enemy--of insulting the fallen. And it would be too late
to repair the injury to your own prestige; the Paris mockers would
never abandon so good a joke.’
The Kaiser frowned and tugged at his moustache. It was evident that
he only sought an excuse to yield.
‘Consider, sire, that what is merely a question of politics with you
is one of religion with the poor woman you have humiliated to-day.
Your end is gained; the Imperial House of China has humbled itself
in the dust before the Hohenzollerns. If a religious scruple has
caused this public act to be done by proxy, that is a secret known
only to a few persons who, for their own sakes, will never dare to
reveal it.’
By this time the Kaiser was as anxious to pass the matter over as he
had been just before to investigate it.
‘If I consent to take your advice, and dismiss the suspicion I have
formed, will you in turn tell me two things?’
‘I have no doubt I shall, sire.’
‘Then, why are you in Berlin, and how is it you know so much?’
‘I am here, sire, in the train of his Imperial Highness, as the
confidential agent of the Dowager Empress of China.’
The Kaiser glared at me, biting his lip to repress the amused smile
that struggled forth nevertheless.
‘M. V----, you are a wonderful man! I am not sure whether I ought to
arrest you or to pardon you freely; however, I will cry quits if you
will tell me who this fellow really is?’
‘He is, of course, sire, the brother of his Imperial Maj----’
Wilhelm II. strode to me, seized me by the shoulders, and thrust me
out of the room.