Gorman realized that the development of Megalia was not an enterprise
likely to attract the British capitalist. Still all things are
possible in business, the business of company promoting. He set to
work to collect what information he could about the country. The
library of the House of Commons was useless to him. Megalia is the
only country in the world about which no Blue Book ever has been
published. A belief existed among certain city men interested in
mining speculation, that there was copper in the mountains of Megalia;
but no one had any exact information on the subject. Longwood, the
Balkan correspondent of the New York Press, was in London at this
time, and Gorman got hold of him. He had little to say about Megalia
except that all the inhabitants are brigands. Steinwitz, managing
director of the Cyrenian Sea Steam Navigation Company, professed to be
interested in Megalia. He was certainly interested in the fact that
Gorman was making inquiries about the country. He said that there were
no harbours or possible ports of call on the Megalian coast.
"Nothing," he said, "can be done with that country. Nothing at all.
There is no trade, no traffic of any kind. And there cannot be. If
there were anything to be done in Megalia, we should have had a
steamer going there. Our ships pass the coast. But they do not call.
Never."
This interview, curiously enough, was the one thing which gave Gorman
any hope. Steinwitz was plainly anxious to discourage inquiries about
Megalia. And Steinwitz had the reputation of being a very astute man.
Gorman tabulated the information he had acquired. He produced, after
some thought, a few notes on Megalia which might be embodied in a
plausible prospectus.
1. A Megalian Development Company would have a clear field
and no competition to face. Gorman felt that this was a fair
deduction from the fact that nobody knew anything definite
about the country.
2. The mineral wealth of Megalia is untapped. Nobody had
ever taken any copper from the mountains and nobody denied
that it was there. It was therefore fair to say that the
mineral wealth of the country was untapped.
3. The inhabitants are energetic and enterprising, a
vigorous and courageous race. Sluggards and decadents, so
Gorman felt, do not become brigands.
That was all the material Gorman had to work with. Except the one
fact, which could not be published, that Steinwitz, the director of a
German Shipping Company with its headquarters in London, did not want
public attention turned to Megalia. The floating of a company, even if
the King offered every concession, did not seem to be a hopeful
enterprise.
Gorman did not, in the end, attempt to form that company. A second
dinner at Beaufort's showed him another way of saving the unfortunate
King Konrad Karl from ruin. This time the invitation came from Mr.
Donovan.
The Donovans occupied one of the best suites of rooms in that
sumptuous hotel. The old gentleman had the satisfaction of stretching
himself in beautifully upholstered chairs and dropping cigar ashes on
highly gilt tables. He was suffering, so he believed, from disordered
action of the heart, induced by the toil and excitement of making a
large fortune. Several doctors agreed in recommending complete rest
and quiet. Mr. Donovan was convinced that rest and quiet would be
pleasant as well as beneficial. He left Chicago, where such things are
certainly not to be found, and sought them in London. For a time he
believed he had found them. He sat all day in his room at Beaufort's,
waited on by footmen who wore gold-braided coats, crimson breeches and
silk stockings, looking like very dignified ambassadors. He signed
cheques payable to Miss Daisy. He exerted himself in no other way. But
rest and quiet are hard to come by. Letters pursued him from Chicago.
Thoughtless people even cabled to him. Secretaries of benevolent
societies discovered him. The London agents of American financiers
rang him up on telephones. Finally Miss Daisy, having drunk deep of
the delights of London, became restless.
At first she had enjoyed life thoroughly. She had a marble-fitted
bathroom for her sole use. She slept in a beautiful bed under a
painted ceiling. She tried on dresses for hours every day in front of
huge gilt mirrors. She gathered in immense quantities the peculiar
treasures of Bond Street. Then she began to yearn for something more.
Her father considered her demands, thought of his own disordered heart
and asked Gorman to dinner.
The conversation at first ran along natural lines. The sights of
London were discussed. The plays which Miss Daisy had seen and the
picture galleries she had visited were criticized. Then Gorman was
called on to give opinions about the books she had not found time to
read. London and its attractions were compared with Chicago and
Detroit; Miss Daisy preferred London. Her father said there were
points about Detroit, but that quiet was no more obtainable in one
than the other. Afterwards politics were touched on. Miss Daisy gave
it as her opinion that the Irish Party was rather slow about getting
Home Rule. She displayed a considerable knowledge of affairs, and told
Gorman frankly that he ought to have been able to buy up a substantial
majority of the British House of Commons with the money, many hundred
thousand dollars, which her father and other Americans had subscribed.
Gorman has always been of opinion that women are incapable of
understanding politics. Miss Daisy's direct and simple way of
attacking great problems confirmed him in his belief that Woman
Suffrage would be a profound mistake.
He was relieved when, after dinner, Donovan himself started a new
subject.
"I hear," he said, "that there is a king, a European monarch, resident
in this hotel. That so?"
"King Konrad Karl II of Megalia," said Gorman.
"Friend of yours?"
"Well, yes," said Gorman. "I've had some business connection with
him."
"I'm interested in that monarch," said Donovan. "It was Daisy drew my
attention to him first, and then I made inquiries. He's not considered
a first-class king, I reckon. Doesn't move in the best royal circles.
He could be approached, without diplomatic formalities, by a plain
American citizen."
"There's not the least difficulty about approaching him," said Gorman.
"I don't believe you'd care for him much if you knew him, and----"
Gorman cast about for the best way of saying that King Konrad Karl
would not be a desirable friend for Miss Daisy. Donovan saved him the
trouble of finding a suitable phrase.
"He could be approached," he said, "by a plain American citizen, if
that citizen came with a business proposition in his hand."
Gorman saw what he believed to be an opportunity. Donovan apparently
wanted to do business with the King. Such business must necessarily
be connected with Megalia. A company for the development of that
country could be founded without difficulty if a man of Donovan's
enormous wealth took up a substantial block of shares. Gorman poured
out all the information he had collected about Megalia. Donovan
listened to him in silence. It was Miss Daisy who spoke at last.
"What you say about the enterprising nature of those inhabitants
interests me," she said, "but I am not much taken with the notion of
copper mining. It seems to me that copper mines would be liable to
spoil the natural beauty of the landscape."
Gorman was, for the moment, too much surprised to speak. He had been
in America several times and knew a good many American women. He
realized their independence of character and mental vigour. But he did
not expect that a young girl, fresh from college, enjoying the first
taste of London, would take a leading part in discussing a matter of
business. Before he had made up his mind what line to take with Miss
Daisy, Donovan shot a question at him.
"What size is that monarchy?" he said.
"The actual boundaries are a little uncertain," said Gorman, "but I
think we may say a hundred miles by about thirty."
"Inhabitants? Is it considerably settled?"
"I should guess the population at about 10,000."
Gorman glanced at his daughter. Miss Daisy's eyes gleamed with
pleasurable excitement.
"I'll buy that monarchy," said Donovan, "money down, and I expect the
King and I won't fall out about the price. But if I buy, I buy the
section and all fixings, royal palace, throne, crown and title. I'm
particular about the title."
Miss Daisy jumped from her chair and ran round the table. She flung
her arms round her father's neck and kissed him heartily, first on one
cheek, then on the other.
"You darling!" she said.
Donovan disengaged his head from her embrace and turned to Gorman.
"My little girl has taken a notion," he said, "that she'd like to be a
queen. The thing might be worked by marrying; but we don't either of
us care for that notion. She'd be tied up if she married, and she
might tire. My idea--and hers--is that it's better to buy what we want
right out. I don't say that Megalia is precisely the kingdom I'd have
chosen for her. I'd have preferred a place with a bigger reputation,
one better advertised by historians. But I realize that the European
monarchy market has been cornered by a syndicate, and I can't just
step down and buy what I like. Your leading families, so I understand,
have secured options on the best kingdoms and won't part."
Miss Daisy was still standing with her arms round her father's neck.
She hugged him as she spoke.
"I shall just love Megalia," she said. "I'd far rather have it than
one three times the size."
"Well," said her father, "I guess there's no reason why you shouldn't
have it."
Gorman saw several reasons, excellent ones, why Daisy Donovan could
never be queen of Megalia. He began to explain them. Kingdoms cannot
be bought and sold like horses. There are emperors and other kings to
consider. There is the Balance of Power in Europe. There are
ambassadors, chancelleries, statesmen. He was not at all sure that the
Monroe Doctrine, in an inverted form, might not be an absolute bar to
the purchase of a European kingdom by an American. Donovan brushed the
difficulties aside.
"Those points," he said, "will be considered in settling the price.
I'm aware that Europe has its prejudices. I'm not out to trample on
them. Genuine vested interests owned by other monarchs will be paid
for. Ambassadors and chancellors will be taken on and employed at
their old salaries as part of a going concern."
Gorman is, like the Megalians, enterprising and full of courage. He
did not believe that the sale of the Crown of Megalia could possibly
be carried through; but something might be done which would satisfy
Donovan. An estate, carrying with it a title like that of Grand
Duchess, might be made over to Miss Daisy. All kings possess the power
of conferring titles. If such honours are freely sold in a country
like England, there could be no possible objection to the King of
Megalia taking a reasonable price for creating a Grand Duchess, even,
perhaps, a princess. Donovan's next words made Gorman determine to
try what he could do.
"There'll be a rake-off from the purchase price," said Donovan, "for
the man who arranges the sale. I don't kick against a reasonable
percentage."