OPENING THE CAMPAIGN.
"And, as he musing thus did lye,
He thought for to devise
How he might have her companye,
That so did 'maze his eyes."
The next morning Turbo appeared at his usual hour. He was quite calm. So
was the King. They greeted each other with cold civility, and Kophetua
at once put his formal question, as to what business there was to be
done.
"There is business," said Turbo, "which perhaps will not be so painful
to your majesty as it is to me!"
"Yes?" replied the King unfeelingly.
"Yesterday," the Chancellor continued, "a scene took place between your
majesty and myself which cannot but interrupt the cordial relations that
have hitherto existed between us. I regret and am heartily ashamed of
the part I permitted to myself, and after what has occurred I feel my
only course is to tender to your majesty my resignation."
"Permit me to say, Chancellor," the King replied, for he was touched by
this strong man's dignified humility and self-control, "permit me to
say that your conduct appears to me entirely worthy of the high place
you have won in your sovereign's estimation. You will understand that I
desire no unwilling service, but, at the same time, I feel it is
impossible to meet your magnanimity otherwise than by a request that you
will reconsider your determination."
"Sire, I fear it is useless," answered Turbo. "Your majesty can hardly
appreciate the extent of the breach between us."
"I appreciate it," said the King, "but I do not exaggerate it. We have
differed on a private matter of absurd triviality. I recall nothing
which an apology cannot heal, and that you have already amply given. Of
course," he added, with some nervousness, "it is unnecessary to observe
that I am assuming the abandonment of the intentions you expressed
yesterday."
"Perfectly unnecessary," said the Chancellor gravely.
"You will see," went on Kophetua, almost apologetically, "I am compelled
to insist on this. My royal word is passed. It is impossible not to feel
a strong interest in a person whom one has saved from a horrible death."
"I understand perfectly, sire," replied Turbo, interrupting the King,
who was about to explain the circumstances which compelled him to take
Penelophon under his care. "It is precisely that feeling which carried
me into such excesses yesterday when this person was referred to, and
which now prompts me to embrace cordially the offer of forgiveness and
reconciliation which your majesty so magnanimously offers."
"I hardly comprehend," said the King. "You have not saved my life or
Pen---- or that of this young person."
"I would crave your majesty's permission to pursue this subject no
further," said Turbo.
"Nay, I insist on knowing what you mean," answered the King.
"Then I am forced to tell your majesty," said the Chancellor, with slow
and distinct utterance, "that I was present at the Court of St. Lazarus
during the whole of the ghastly tragedy at which your majesty assisted.
I went thither in order to rescue, if possible, this unhappy young
person from what I knew must be the result of the mistaken generosity
with which your majesty had treated her. I found, with my crippled
frame, I could do nothing. I witnessed your majesty's heroic
intervention at the last moment, and saw at once a possibility of
escape. Unseen by any one I forced pebbles into the lock which had
turned upon you, and having thus secured the necessary delay, I was able
to fetch two of my own servants with the simple means of effecting your
majesty's escape through the prison window."
"But why did you not tell me this?" asked the King, overwhelmed with
surprise. "Why did you run away?"
"I thought it would be only consistent with your majesty's wishes," said
Turbo, "that no one should be, or even appear to be, cognisant of your
adventure."
For a moment Kophetua was overcome with annoyance and humiliation to
think how, all through the piece of knight-errantry on which he had
prided himself so much, Turbo had been watching over and humouring him
as though he were a child. But his better feelings took possession of
him directly.
"Turbo, my dear Turbo," he said with effusion, as he advanced to the
Chancellor and took his hand, "why could you not have told me this
before, and saved me the injustice I have done you? How shall I ever be
able to return your devotion?"
"I beg your majesty will forget the whole affair," answered Turbo. "No
one can know better than yourself how unpleasant is the exposure of the
good we do by stealth."
"My dear Turbo," said the King, "I can never forget it."
So King and Chancellor were at one again, and Penelophon remained in
peace under the protection of Mlle de Tricotrin, happy in the occasional
glimpses she had of Trecenito, and happy in the affection which her
mistress lavished upon her. For Mlle de Tricotrin had taken a real
liking to her gentle handmaid. She had gone through life with hardly a
single friend of her own sex, and Penelophon's simple devotion touched
her not a little. For, to the beggar-maid, her delivery from the
squalor, misery, and cruelty in which she had been brought up was like
being lifted out of hell into heaven; and she adored her beautiful
mistress almost as much as she did her deliverer. So the days went by in
supreme happiness for those two women, and their serenity was in strange
contrast to the storm which was brewing around them. The political
barometer was beginning to show signs of considerable agitation, and it
was clear to the experienced observer that these two women were forming
the centre of an important disturbance, which bade fair to develop a
dangerous energy.
As has been previously explained, a storm in the troubled waters of
politics was a normal event in Oneiria during crises like the present;
but never before had there been one which seemed to promise such
violence. The cause was not far to seek. The Marquis de Tricotrin had
been to England. His stay had not been a short one, and he was not a man
to throw away his opportunities. He liked the country and appreciated
its peculiar blessings. It was not long before his sagacity detected the
secret of our amazing political success, and he determined to lose no
time in studying the palladium he had discovered. Fortunately, during
the period of his observations the palladium exhibited itself in violent
action; it therefore seems almost superfluous to add that the Marquis
left the country with quite an uncommon mastery of party tactics and
something approaching to genius in the manufacture and manipulation of
majorities.
All he required was a field. It is said he attempted something during
his sojourn in the Canaries, but his praiseworthy endeavours were
disliked and at once suppressed by the Spanish governor. It was then,
thirsting for an opportunity for the display of his talents, that the
Marquis arrived in Oneiria. Not a day had passed before he recognised
the excellence of his fortune. He found himself in the midst of three
strongly divided parties, practically without experience of modern
methods, and himself and his daughter the bone of contention between
them. It was a moment of pardonable enthusiasm. With a hastiness
excusable in a foreigner he hurried to the conclusion that as there were
three parties there must be three policies, and, what is more, in three
days he was persuaded that he clearly understood what they were. Neither
conviction was entirely justified, but of this the Marquis was naturally
unaware.
To a man of his experience the whole matter was comparatively simple,
and, with a decision which would not have disgraced the oldest
parliamentary hand, he adopted a plan of campaign. There were three
parties, each requiring a policy. All he had to do, then, was to make
each party adopt his daughter as its particular programme. That was the
obvious objective, and the lines of strategy towards it were no less
plain to his penetration. One of the first things he had learned in
England was that simple rule which reiterated success has hallowed into
a dogma: "When it is impossible to find fault with your adversaries'
policy, it is lawful to steal it."
As a policy his daughter was irreproachable. He felt therefore that
little more than a mere suggestion of the stratagem to the party leaders
was necessary in order to ensure its adoption. The conquest which Mlle
de Tricotrin had already made of the Queen was enough to secure the
Agathist party, even had it not been that they had already accepted the
nomination. As for the Kallikagathists, he felt they were at least half
won by the impression his daughter's beauty had made on the soft heart
of their gallant leader. In fact, it is not too much to say that General
Dolabella was quite unhinged. It was a long time since his admiration
for a woman had got so beyond his control as to lead him into
melancholy. But this was certainly his case now, and the Marquis saw it.
As we have said, he was a man of decisive action who did not lose
opportunities, and he determined to occupy the position which the
General's weakness exposed to him before that gallant officer could
recover himself.
The Marquis found it a more difficult task than he had expected. The
General, he confessed, was very stupid, and offered all kinds of
objections. He even went so far as to say that he doubted whether the
suggested stratagem was quite soldierly, but he was at once pooh-poohed
into recantation by the Marquis's English precedents. Still he held out
with confused obstinacy, which the Marquis put down to the General's
denseness, but which was, in fact, due to his own mistaken estimate of
the situation. His hasty and erroneous conclusions as to the real
relations between the respective parties had caused him, as has been
already hinted, to entirely misunderstand Dolabella's position, and he
was adopting a false method of attack.
"But pardon me for saying," said the General, retreating to this point
for the tenth time, "that I cannot see what I or my party is to gain by
adopting the course you propose." The General always distinguished
between himself and his party. It was no doubt entirely due to that
unique and complex condition of Oneirian politics, which was the precise
element in the question, that the Marquis in his haste had failed to
grasp. The shrewd Frenchman began to perceive he was at fault
somewhere, and determined to fathom the mystery.
"I perceive," said he, "that you have more than once spoken of yourself
as something distinct from the party you lead. May I venture to ask
whether the usual procedure in this country is to deal with the two
things separately?"
"God forbid!" cried the General in alarm. "To hint of such a thing would
smell of disloyalty in any but a foreigner who does not understand us."
"Forgive my ignorance, General," said the Marquis, "and show your pity
for it so far as to explain your unintelligible position."
"With great pleasure, my dear Marquis," answered the General, with a
look of painful worry at the almost impossible feat demanded of him. "It
is a little complicated, but I think I can show you how things lie. You
see, although I lead the Kallikagathist party, it does not follow me."
"That _is_ a little difficult," answered the Marquis gravely. "You mean
that I should arrange with your party which way it means to go, that you
may be in a position to know how to lead it?"
"Not at all," said the General. "We are entirely at one. Our lines of
thought are identical. It is only in our lines of action that we
differ."
"Which is, of course," replied the Marquis, "a mere detail."
"Precisely," said Dolabella, in a somewhat relieved tone. "You see, my
practical policy is to elect the Queen, theirs to elect the Speaker, but
both elections are governed by the same principles."
"Your explanation is really masterly," said the Marquis. "I wonder I was
so stupid; I see your point now quite clearly. You mean that you cannot
make your party responsible for a policy which will not tend to improve
the chances of their candidate for the chair."
"Yes," said the General, a little doubtfully, "that does seem to be what
I mean."
"Very well," continued De Tricotrin; "then if I could ensure them the
support of the Agathist party for their candidate, they would be
prepared to accept my daughter at your nomination?"
"But, unfortunately," objected the General, "we have no candidate of
sufficient weight to bring about such a coalition."
"Then why don't you stand yourself?" said the Marquis.
"My dear Marquis!" cried the General, completely taken aback. "Such a
thing was never heard of."
"So much the better," replied the tempter. "The more unexpected our
moves, the better chance we have of success. The idea seems to me to
meet every difficulty. What you yourself gain it would not become me to
point out. I need only remark that your election would be highly
pleasing to my daughter. It is no breach of confidence to say that the
poor girl has been more than touched by the chivalrous admiration of a
distinguished officer and statesman like yourself. The speakership in
this country is an office which bears a peculiar and delicate relation
to the Queen. It would be a source of greater pleasure to my daughter
than perhaps I ought to reveal, to know that you were to occupy the
chair at her coronation, and I am sure that her influence with the
Queen-mother and the leaders of the Agathist party is sufficient to
ensure their adhesion to her favoured candidate. At the last moment the
nominal candidate of their party shall be withdrawn and the coast left
clear for your certain return. Say now, my dear General, will you give
my daughter this one last satisfaction before her marriage?"
During the beginning of this speech the General had been staring at the
Frenchman, with eyes wide with amazement, but as he proceeded, the
blissful picture which was artfully called up before him was too much
for his susceptible nature. To kiss those lovely lips, and embrace that
bewitching form! It was a rapture of which he had not dared to dream. He
closed his eyes as he listened, and a foolish smile of complacent and
inexpressible satisfaction overspread his rouged and powdered face.
When the Marquis ceased he collected himself with a sudden effort to a
more dignified expression. He rose with the air of a statesman who is
resolved to pursue a policy worthy of his magnanimity, and took the
Marquis solemnly by the hand.
"Marquis!" said he, "you are a great man. Your generalship will ensure
the election of this lady, whose beauty, virtue, and intelligence make
it the duty of every loyal subject of the King's to espouse her cause.
Your admirably conceived plan demands of me and my party a sacrifice.
Monsieur le Marquis, we will make that sacrifice!"
Thereupon Monsieur de Tricotrin embraced the gallant martyr, told him he
had a noble heart, and assured him with effusion that courage, devotion,
intelligence, and sensibility would be carved in highest relief upon the
imperishable fabric of his memory. And so he took his departure, leaving
the General to wonder whether Madame Dolabella would view his conduct in
the same light.
The Agathist and Kallikagathist parties were practically won. There
remained still the most difficult task. The Marquis was perfectly aware
of the King's antipathy to matrimony, and was fully convinced that there
was still a great chance of failure, unless Turbo's support could be
gained. To achieve this he felt was a task of the greatest delicacy and
difficulty, and one worthy of his skill as a politician. There was
clearly but one way in which it could be done. To approach the
Chancellor directly was out of the question. Pressure must be put on him
through his party.
With a light heart, which confidence in his abilities can alone give a
man, the Marquis set about his task, little imagining the extraordinary
result his ingenious manoeuvres were to have.