The next month was the busiest of my life--not excepting those at the
Point. I was learning to be Royal, and I was starting a generation and
a half behind time. My hardest task was in meeting the Nobility. I
had been bred a soldier and had despised the politician--secretly,
however, as is necessary for the Army officer in America; but no rural
candidate at a Fall election ever worked harder to ingratiate himself
with the people and to secure their votes, than did I to win favor with
the Lords and high officers of State. And, with it all, I could feel
no assurance of success--for they were courtiers, and I had not yet
learned to read behind their masks; though, here, Bernheim was
invaluable. Indeed, he was a wonder. I have yet to find him miss his
guess.
There were constant Cabinet meetings to attend, at which my views were
expected; and this entailed a study of conditions and policies
absolutely new to me. Then, I was delegated frequently by the King to
represent him on occasions of ceremony; and, for them, I needed careful
coaching. In fact, there were a thousand matters which occupied me to
exhaustion. And, through it all, I was trying to get familiar with the
organization and administration and methods of the Valerian Army, so as
to be fitted to discharge the duties of my high rank. I confess this
was my most congenial labor. If I might have been simply a soldier
Archduke, I think I would have been entirely satisfied.
After a few weeks I had taken up my residence in the Epsau Palace--one
of my recent inheritances--and there maintained my own Archducal Court.
It was a bit hard for me to take myself seriously and to accept calmly
the obsequious deference accorded me by everyone. I fear I smiled many
times when I should have looked royally indifferent; and was royally
indifferent when I should have smiled. I know there were scores of
instances when I felt like kicking some of the infernally omnipresent
flunkeys down the stairs. But I did not; for I knew that the poor
devils were doing only their particular duty in the manner particularly
proper.
Yet, there were compensations, so many and so satisfying, I never, for
a moment, considered a return to my former estate. I was--I admit
it--enamored of my rank and power; and, it may be, even of that very
obsequiousness and flattery which I thought I despised. I know there
was a supreme satisfaction when I passed through the saluting crowds in
the Alta Avenue. It became almost elation when I rode upon the parade
ground to take the Review and the March By.
During this month, I had seen the Duke of Lotzen very frequently. I
had sat beside him at the Council table; I had dined with him formally
as the new Archduke, and informally as his cousin. And, on my part, I
had repaid his courtesies in kind. He had been thoughtful and
considerate to me to an exceptional degree, but, at the same time,
without undue effusiveness. In a word, he had treated me with every
possible attention our rank and consanguinity demanded.
Even Courtney could find nothing to criticise in Lotzen's behavior; nor
had his secret agents been able to detect anything _sub rosa_.
"However, all this proves nothing one way or the other," he remarked
one day, as we sat in my inner library. "If he intend the worst sort
of harm to you he would begin just as he has."