NIGHT-LIGHT
I
And meanwhile the Prince of Schnapps-Wasser had arrived; and Max,
instead of pursuing his own love-affair, ought to have been busy
entertaining him.
The first meeting between Charlotte and her suitor had been tactfully
arranged; they had met riding to a review of troops in the great Field
of Mars which occupied a central space in the largest of the royal
parks. The Princess had a healthy taste for riding in thoroughly cold
weather; she also particularly disliked to be in a carriage when those
round her were on horseback; and so, by following her own taste, when
the Prince met her she was looking her very best. Down a white-frosted
avenue of lindens she and her escort came trotting to the
saluting-point; and there, once more in his sky-blue with its sable and
silver trimmings, the Prince was presented, and opening upon her mild
blue eyes that looked curiously light in his bronzed and ruddy
countenance, with dutiful promptness he fell in love with her.
By a little quiet maneuvering and attendance to other matters the
King left them side by side for a while. Troops stood massed in the
distance waiting the signal to advance.
"Do you like soldiers?" inquired the Prince.
"It rather depends upon the uniform," replied Charlotte.
"Oh! Do you like mine?"
She looked at it, and smiled; for there were no sky-blue tunics in
Jingalo; and such cerulean tones on a man were to her eyes a little
incongruous.
"It would be rather trying to some complexions," she observed. "But you
look very well in it."
"Ah! I have been abroad," he explained. "That has given me the colors of
a Red Indian."
"You look just as if you had dropped from the sky," she said, smiling
still at him.
"Oh, no, not this sky!" and he cast up a grudging glance at the opaque
grayness overhead. "Here you seem to have a sun that looks only the
other way."
She threw back a light remark, while her eye strayed over the field.
Presently he returned to the subject.
"So you only like soldiers because of their uniforms?"
"And when they ride well. I like drums too," she added.
"Ah! good! I can play on the drum. It is my one instrument."
"Does it require much practice?"
"Oh, yes; it is very difficult--to play well. But it has been very
useful to me. I took a drum with me to South America. That is music that
the natives can understand, it can make them afraid; and when one is all
by oneself in the forest, then it helps that one shall not feel lonely.
One night when I had no fire left, I was saved my life from wild beasts
just by beating at them with my drum. It is funny that you should like
drums."
"I like something with them as well," said Charlotte.
"Ah," grunted the Prince, "that depends. There is some music in the
world that ought never to be allowed."
"Well, there is some of ours," said the Princess, as the massed bands of
three regiments sent forth their blast. "How does that strike you?"
The Prince listened with the ear of a connoisseur. "For you here, that
is good," he said judicially; "but you are not a musical nation. And
there is a man there that is playing his drum as it ought not to be
played."
And then his formal duties called him away. This was their first
exchange of compliments. Old Uncle Nostrum, who had kept within ear-shot,
reported to the King that things had gone sufficiently well. There was
no secrecy about the intended affair in the royal circle now; everybody
knew of it.
And that evening, at a State ball given in the Prince's honor, the
destined pair met again.
Nothing very much happened at the ball. The Prince danced once with
Charlotte and once with the Queen, and with nobody else; while Charlotte
danced nearly the whole evening; and Max, moving about with a pensive
and preoccupied air, danced with nobody. But the only reason why this
ball has to be mentioned is because of something that happened
immediately after, quite unconnected either with the about-to-be-linked
or the about-to-be-separated lovers--something which takes us back to
those underground workings of the body politic which his Majesty was
only now beginning fully to apprehend.
State balls end punctually, and as it were upon the stroke; as soon as
the royal countenance is withdrawn they come to an end. And so within
half-an-hour of the retirement of the royal party all the great suite of
chambers was empty, and in less than an hour light and movement had
ceased in all that part of the palace wherein the royal family resided.
But the King, hindered during the day by constant attendance upon his
guest, had some papers to look through before his next meeting with the
Prime Minister. He went into his study, switched on the light, and for
an hour sat at work. Outside traffic died away; the sense of silence
grew deep; the whole palace became permeated by it. Wearying for bed,
having got through his last batch of papers, the King looked at the
clock; it was half-past one.
Just as he was getting up from his seat the mere ghost of a sound caught
his ear. The door, silent on its hinges, had softly opened; and within
its frame stood a figure in dark civil uniform who gave the military
salute.
II
"Mr. Inspector!" cried the King in surprise, recognizing the face.
"I beg your Majesty's pardon."
"Ah! You came to see that everything was safe? This time you were a
little too early. Still, as you are here, I should rather like to know
how far those keys do allow you to penetrate?"
"Everywhere, your Majesty."
"You mean, even to the private apartments?"
Apparently he did.
"Do you often have occasion to use them?"
"Not after to-night, your Majesty--never again."
"Oh, do not suppose that I am objecting, if it is really necessary."
"I give these keys up to-morrow, sir," said the man. "I ought to have
given them up to-day; but I wanted to see your Majesty."
The King drew himself up; this seemed an intrusion.
"You could have asked for an interview," he said.
"I could have asked to the day of my death, sir; you would never have
heard of it."
"You could have written."
"Does your Majesty think that all letters personally addressed are even
reported to your Majesty?"
"I suppose not all of them," said the King after considering the matter.
"Not one in a hundred, sir."
"Still, any that are important I hear of."
"Mine, sir, would not have been reckoned important," said the man
bitterly.
The King looked hard at him, not with any real suspicion, for his
straightforward bearing inspired liking as well as confidence. But here
was a man whose measure must be carefully taken, for he was certainly
doing a very extraordinary thing.
"And have you something really important to tell me?"
Their eyes met on a pause that spoke better than words.
"Yes," said the man. Quietly he shut the door.
"Won't you come nearer?" said the King, for the depth of a large chamber
divided them. But the disciplined figure kept its place. Slowly but
without hesitation he gave what he had to say.
"I am dismissed the force," he began; "but that's not important--at
least only to me--though I suppose that's partly why I'm here, for a man
must fight when his living is taken from him. I am dismissed because
your Majesty got out of the palace the other night without my hearing of
it."
The King breathed his astonishment, but said nothing.
"I admit I ought to have known, but the man we had on duty at that door
didn't know your Majesty--at least not so as to be sure. I asked him
yesterday who it was went out, and he said--well, sir, he thought it was
one of the palace stewards. They use that door a good deal at night, so
I'm told."
"That he did not recognize me was, of course, my own doing," said the
King.
"I know that, sir," replied the man, "but in the detective force we
can't afford to make those sort of allowances. The consequence is--I'm
out of it."
"I'm sorry, Inspector. What do you want me to do?"
"Well, sir, I'm here because I know something that I can't tell to
another soul on earth. If I could have gone to them with it, I needn't
have troubled your Majesty. But, so happens, I haven't got the proof."
"Are you going to ask me to believe you without proof?"
"Your Majesty can get the proof--or see it anyway. It's there at Dean's
Court."
"Dean's Court? What is that?"
"Where the police museum is, sir. The proof of what I'm going to tell
your Majesty lies there."
This was getting interesting. "Pray go on," said the King.
"That bomb," said the man, "the one that was thrown at your Majesty the
other day--all the pieces of it are in the museum now."
He paused, then added--
"They have gone back to the place they came from."
It was evident then, from the man's tone, that to his own mind he had
stated the essential part of his case.
But the King, his brain working on unfamiliar ground, missed the
connection.
"I do not quite understand," he said.
"No, sir? Well, then, it's like this. After the bomb was thrown, we were
put on to the ground, and the public were kept off. All the pieces
picked up were brought to me. It must have been a very mild sort of
charge, sir, nothing much besides gunpowder I should say; no slugs nor
anything. Most of the shell I was able to put together again. It was
blackened all over, partly by fire, partly new painted I think, but,
under the black, I found lettering and numbers, all quite faint. I've
got them here." (He drew out a pocket-book as he spoke.) "D.C.M. 5537."
He closed the book with a snap as though clinching an argument.
"The bomb that had that number on it," said he, "came from Dean's Court
Museum; it's been there fifteen years. I've been in to look; that number
is missing now. You'd have thought, sir, they might have been more
careful than that!" He spoke with professional contempt for a job that
had been bungled.
The solemnity of the man's manner, and the queer mystery of it all sent
a cold sensation through the King's blood; he felt now that he was up
against something dangerous and sinister.
"What do you mean me to understand from all this?" he asked?
"Well, sir," said the man, "it doesn't need me to tell your Majesty
that when anarchists or any of that sort want to do a bit of
bomb-throwing they don't go to our police museum for their materials.
But that's not all. They found out, down at head office--after it was
over, only then--that the local authorities had given permit for a
cinematograph record to be taken from a stand just opposite, overlooking
the new buildings, so as to get the procession as it came along under
the arch. And so, as it happened, those films had got the whole thing
recorded. We only heard of it when they were announced to be shown at
the theater that night. I was sent down to get hold of them, and I
brought them back with me.
"I've been through every one; most people wouldn't see anything. The
point where the bomb went off was about fifty yards away; and those
films give a view that just takes in a bit of the palisade. At number
139 you see an arm come up, and a face just behind it, very small, under
the scaffolding; you'd hardly know it was there. But if that were put
under a good microscope I shouldn't be surprised but what it could be
recognized."
By this time the King's understanding had become clear; he saw where the
argument was leading.
"Before I could do that," the man went on, "they were locked away. I
didn't say anything about it--didn't point it out to them, I mean--for
I'd begun to have a feeling that things weren't all right; and I daresay
they haven't noticed what _I_ noticed. If they have, number 139 and the
ten plates following will be gone. Whether they have or not--that's my
proof."
The King was now following the man's narrative with tense interest;
every moment its import grew more clear; yes, clearer than day, sharp
and bright as a rocket shot up against the blackness of a midnight sky.
The inspector paused for a moment and wiped his hand over dry lips; in
the telling of that tale his face had grown white.
"Whom do you mean by 'they'?" inquired the King.
The man hesitated. "Well, your Majesty, I'd rather not say."
"I ought to know."
"Oh, yes, sir, I can't deny that! But, there, I've got no proof--so it's
not the same thing. But I do say this, your Majesty, that to be able to
lay hands on those things in the first place, and now to keep them
locked away, needs somebody higher up in the department than I'd like to
name. If I may leave it at that?"
"That will do," said the King.
"Your Majesty sees I couldn't safely go to anybody else with that proof;
either it would be somebody who couldn't get at it before it was
destroyed, or it would be those who had the whole thing in their own
hands."
"I quite see that," said the King.
"That's all I had to say, then, sir."
"I am very much in your debt; I shall not forget what I owe you. There
is one question I want to ask--you say that the charge must have been a
very feeble one?"
"Yes, sir, much less than an ordinary shell."
"What do you deduce from that fact?"
"Well, your Majesty, I should say that killing had never been intended."
"That it was only done to frighten some one?"
"That is about it, your Majesty."
"Thank you; that is what I wanted to know. And if you will leave me your
name, I think I can promise that you shall be at no disadvantage after I
have gone into the matter."
"I am much obliged, your Majesty." The inspector came forward, drew out
a card, and respectfully presenting it, retired again.
"Then, for the present, that is all," said the King. "It is now nearly
two o'clock. You can, I believe, let yourself out?"
And in the light of a gentle, half-quizzical smile from the royal
countenance, the inspector withdrew.
"What an amazing thing!" said the King to himself. "And oh! if it is
true!"
III
He knew that it was true; for in a flash he had seen the meaning of it.
And instead of angering him, it filled him with an almost intoxicating
sense of power. For it meant that the Prime Minister, or the
Government, could not do without him, he had been necessary to their
plans.
He could not distinctly see why, whether it were a fear of Max
succeeding to the throne at such a juncture or of popular resentment at
the sovereign being driven to so desperate a remedy for his griefs, or
fear merely of the damage that might be done to the monarchical system
while bureaucracy was still depending upon it as a cloak for
constitutional encroachments--whether one or all of these fears impelled
his minister, the King did not know; but he saw clearly enough that to
force him into withdrawal of his abdication the Prime Minister had
adopted a desperate and almost heroical remedy.
He bore the man no grudge; the more he envisaged the risks, the more he
admired and respected him. Feebly though the bomb had been charged,
carefully though directed by slow underhand bowling only at the legs of
horses, at a moment when the royal carriage had actually passed, still a
bomb is an incalculable weapon--pieces of it fly in the most unexpected
directions; and it was evident that for the execution of this
ministerial veto on the Crown's action it had been necessary to risk the
lives not merely of a picked body of troops, but of several high court
officials and staff-officers riding in close attendance upon the royal
coach. And a child in politics could see that if all this risk had been
run to make abdication impossible, then abdication had been the right
card to play.
And now that game was over, and another had begun, and if, in a certain
sense, the leading cards had reverted to the ministerial hand, the King
had the advantage of knowing what they were; and by leading off in
another suit he might prevent the Ministry from playing them till too
late for effect.
It was necessary, however, first to get his proofs. They lay at Dean's
Court under official lock and key; and the hand which held that key was,
for all he knew, the same which had thrown the bomb in order to
frighten him. How, then, was he to get at it?
A brilliant idea occurred to him; so simple and easy that without
worrying himself further he went to bed and slept upon it. And next
morning, at their first meeting, he said to the Prince of
Schnapps-Wasser, "Would you not like to come and see our police museum?
Just now it contains some rather interesting exhibits--especially for us
personally--that bomb, you know." And he proceeded to give details. "The
actual pieces are all there, and a whole set of photographs, showing how
the explosion took place."
Her Majesty, hearing of the project, backed it warmly.
"You will find it quite an intellectual treat," said she, "our police
are such intelligent creatures. I went all over the museum myself once;
and it felt exactly like being in a kaleidoscope--everything so
wonderfully arranged."
"Ah, yes," said the Prince, "that should be very interesting."
And so, though it was not in the day's program, quite at an early hour
the King and his guest drove down together to the Prefecture.
The Prefect himself had not arrived, but they saw one of the high
permanent officials; and stating the purpose of their visit were
formally handed over to the Superintendent of detectives. The department
was his.
"Mr. Superintendent," said the King, "we come upon you by surprise; are
you sufficiently prepared for us?"
The Superintendent declared that his department was ready at all hours.
"I wanted to show the Prince some of your relics," his Majesty went on,
"particularly those connected with the recent outrage."
Of course the Superintendent was delighted; he led the way into the
museum; and before long the Prince of Schnapps-Wasser became very much
interested in all the things that were shown him.
Case after case was opened; and the King, seeing how smoothly matters
were shaping, made no hurry toward the attainment of his goal.
Presently, pointing toward a case that stood in a window recess, the
official remarked with a smile, "There lies your Majesty's
death-warrant--what is left of it."
The case was opened; the King took up the fragments.
"Very interesting," he said. "There are also some photographs showing
the actual event, are there not?"
"They are here, your Majesty." The Superintendent produced a small box
with numbered slides.
"Very interesting," murmured the King again as he continued to handle
the shards.
Presently he detected in one of these a faint trace of figures and
lettering; he laid it to one side, took up the films, and began to
examine them. Film after film he held up to the light; the scale was
very small. Unable to decipher them in detail he sought only for the
identifying numbers under which they stood catalogued.
After a while he came to the one he was in search of; that and the other
two or three which immediately followed it he selected for closer
scrutiny. Two of them he handed to the Prince. "This is just before," he
said by way of explanation. "It was from behind those palisades that the
bomb was thrown after our coach had passed."
"Here your Highness can see the actual explosion taking place," said
their guide.
"Ah, very good! Very interesting!" murmured the Prince, with cordial
appreciation. "That seems to have gone off quite well."
The King meanwhile had re-collected the four innocuous-looking films and
set them apart from the rest. "And have you been quite unable," he
inquired, "to trace the bomb to its origin, or to discover anything as
to who threw it?"
"No trace at all, sir. The whole thing is a perfect mystery."
"Remarkable!" said the King.
And then with the leisurely air of a collector of curios he took up
again the four films and the shard bearing the faint trace of figures,
and before the astonished eyes of the Superintendent put them into his
breast-pocket.
"I will keep these as a souvenir," he observed. "They will always be of
great interest to me."
"I ask pardon, your Majesty," replied the official a little stiffly,
"but it is against all regulations for anything to go out of this museum
when it has once been catalogued."
"Ah, yes," retorted the King, smiling pleasantly, "but then it is
against all regulations for bombs to be thrown at the royal coach when I
am in it; so you must allow, for once, this small breach that I make in
your chain of evidence. There is plenty of material for conviction still
left, should you ever discover the criminal."
"I am afraid, sir," said the Superintendent, speaking gravely, "that
this will get me into trouble with the Prefect. May I express a hope
that your Majesty will reconsider the matter?"
"Oh, no, not at all!" said the King. "Tell the Prefect that the
responsibility rests with me. The Prince here is witness that I robbed
you and that you were helpless. Lay all the blame upon me without any
scruple! And if it is a very grave breach of the regulations--well--you
can inform the Prime Minister; and then, no doubt I shall hear of it."
The Superintendent stood mute; he had made his protest, and he could not
pretend that he was satisfied.
"By the way," went on the King, "I have a very particular request to
make which I think concerns your department. In connection with a
certain incident that took place the other night--and which shall be
nameless--one of your special inspectors has been dismissed, I hear?"
"That is so, your Majesty."
"Well, I do not wish to interfere in anything that makes for efficiency;
but I have to request--will you please to make a particular note of
it--that he shall be retired on a full pension."
For a moment the official hesitated. "May I ask why, sir?"
"Because practically I have promised it. It is either that or I
re-engage him for my own personal service. He is a man whom I have
trusted in matters of an exceedingly confidential character. Pray see to
it."
The head of the department could hold out no longer. "It shall be as
your Majesty wishes," said he.
"Very well," said the King. "Please report when you have seen the matter
through. And now, Prince, I think that we have exhausted
everything--including, I fear, your patience, Mr. Superintendent. What a
very criminal part of society you have to deal with! I hope that the
influences of the place are not catching."
"As to that, sir, I can hardly say," replied the other with a wry smile.
"Your Majesty has just committed a robbery which I shall have to report;
the first that has ever taken place in this department."
"Oh, surely not quite the first!" protested the King.
Then he checked himself. "Well, if that is so, you can but take out an
order for my arrest. And you will find," he added slyly, "that I am
already well known to the police."
And so saying, he and the Prince took their departure.
IV
But if the King was satisfied with his morning's exploit--a raid so
successfully conducted--he had harassment to face before the day was
over. His message to Council, on the matter of the Women Chartists and
their grievances, was received by the Prime Minister not only with
disfavor but with a clear though respectful intimation that it would not
be allowed to effect the ministerial program.
"I must remind you, Mr. Prime Minister," said his Majesty, "that the
Constitution gives me this right."
"That, sir, I do not question. But it gives to us also a discretion as
to when time can be found for attending to it."
"Well," said the King, "you may fix your own date within reason."
"I can fix no date, your Majesty."
That was flat, and the monarch could not help showing his annoyance.
"If you think that that answer satisfies me," he said, "you are
mistaken."
"I fear," replied the Prime Minister, "that it is often my duty to give
your Majesty dissatisfaction."
"Well, well," said the King, "we shall see!"
He had drawn out of his pocket a small shard and was toying with it as
he spoke.
"By the way," he said, considerately changing the subject, "I was at the
Prefecture this morning; I took the Prince to see the museum."
"So I was informed, sir."
The Prime Minister showed no discomposure; his demeanor was wholly
urbane and conciliatory.
"I brought away with me a small memento," went on the King.
"I was told of that too, sir," replied the Premier, smiling. "It was a
little irregular; but if your Majesty wishes for it I do not think there
can be any real objection."
"Really," thought the King to himself, "is he going to pretend that he
knows nothing about it?" Yet the good face which his minister put upon
the matter did not fail to win the King's admiration; he respected the
man's courage and ability to brazen the thing out. The Superintendent,
he judged, was not actually in the secret; but of the Premier he was now
quite sure. That air of calm was just a little bit overdone. "I suppose
he thinks that I can't do anything," mused the King. "Well, well, we
shall see."
And then he inquired whether the Prime Minister had interviewed Prince
Max.
"I have not, sir; but I have seen the Archbishop."
"You have been talking to the Archbishop about it?" cried the King
sharply.
"At great length, sir," replied the Prime Minister.
"Then I must say that you have taken a most unwarranted liberty! You
have gone entirely beyond and behind my authority. No, it is no use for
you to protest, Mr. Premier; I did consent that you should speak to the
Prince; but beyond that--until it had been thoroughly discussed with
him--what I communicated to you was entirely confidential and private."
"An affair of such importance, sir, cannot possibly be private."
"It can have its private preliminaries--otherwise where would be
diplomacy?"
"The Prince might any day have taken overt action--he might even have
announced the engagement."
"He might, but he did not! And without even seeing him you have been
behind his back and discussed it with the Archbishop! And pray, with
what result?"
"At present, sir, I am not in a position to say, but I have good hopes.
We are still in correspondence. I assure your Majesty that my conscience
is clear in the matter."
"Your conscience, Mr. Prime Minister, has an easy way of clearing
itself; you lay the burden of it on me! Yes, this is the second bomb
that has been dropped upon me from Government back premises, and I am
tired of it; I am not going to stand it any longer! In this matter of
the Prince's engagement you and I were in entire agreement; but now you
have so acted that you have endangered the relations--the very friendly
and affectionate relations--between the Prince and myself. I hardly know
how I shall be able to look him in the face. I give him my consent; and
then I suddenly turn round and I work against him; I go behind his back,
yes, I steal a march upon him--that is how it will appear. And if he so
accuses me, what am I to say?"
"I appreciate your Majesty's feelings; but I say, sir, that any
sacrifice was necessary to prevent so dangerous a proposal from going
further."
"No!" cried the King, "no! not of straightforward dealing and of honor!
That is what comes of being mixed up in politics. People forget what
honor means, their sense of it becomes blunted. Unfortunately mine does
not! Mr. Premier, you have profoundly distressed me; you have made my
position extremely difficult. And I do not think that you had any excuse
for it."
The Prime Minister had never seen the King so disturbed and agitated. He
moved quickly up and down the room beating the air with his hands; and
when his minister endeavored to put in a word he threw him off
impatiently, almost refusing to hear him.
"No," he said, "no, you had better leave me! With the Prince I must make
my peace as best I can. With you I no longer intend peace; it has become
impossible! I have my material; and now my mind is made up, and I mean
to use it! Yes, Mr. Prime Minister, you can go!"
And thereupon they parted.
V
Max was far gentler to his father than the King could have hoped. They
did not meet till the next day; and for the first time in his life the
King found him utterly cast down and dejected.
"Oh, do not blame yourself," he said in answer to his parent's
explanations and apologies; "I do not suppose that what you have done
makes any real difference. I have spent my life despising convention,
occasionally defying it, and now it has overthrown me. Yes, sir, that is
the true solvent of the situation; my morals have been weighed in the
balance and found wanting."
"Dear me," said his father, "is that so? Well, well!" and he sighed.
"Of course, sir, I cannot expect you to be sorry about it."
"I am sorry, my dear boy--very sorry. Don't think because I have still
to be King that I have not the feelings of a father. Ah, if you only
knew how hard I have tried to get out of it all, you would believe what
I say."
"Out of what?"
"Being King at all. Yes, Max, I have yet another confession to make; I
meant to conceal it from you, but now I would rather that you knew.
Perhaps you will think it wasn't quite fair; I intended to leave the
responsibility of all this to you; and--well, it so happens that when
you asked me I had determined to abdicate."
Max opened his eyes.
"I actually did abdicate. And then the bomb came, and that made it
impossible. And so--here I still am; and that is how you got my
consent!"
"You abdicated?"
"Yes, my boy, I really did. And if that bomb had not happened I should
have been off the throne and you would have been on it. So now, Max, I
am going to tell you everything." And he did, from beginning to end.
And when it came to giving Max the actual proof, he got up and unlocked
a drawer, and handed out of it the shard and the four films for him to
look at.
"Take a magnifying-glass," said the King. "The face and the raised arm
are behind the palisade to the right."
"I can't see them," said Max.
"Very small," said the King; "a man with a dark beard."
Max continued to look without result. "I can't find it," he said.
"Well, look at the figures and lettering on the shard; you can see
those."
"No," said Max, "I can't."
The King came impatiently across and took them off him. Then, as he
examined them, he saw that the shard and the four films had been
changed.
He had his souvenir; but the incriminating evidence was gone.