King Konrad Karl took Gorman's hand and wrung it heartily.
"My friend Gorman," he said. "How are you? But I need not ask. I see.
You are top-tipping."
"Thanks," said Gorman. "Salissa agrees with me. And Paris does not
seem to have done you any harm."
"Paris! Ah, in Paris one lives, and I am in the pink. But, alas and
damn, I leave Paris. I take trains. I travel fast. I embark." He waved
his hand towards the steamer. "Finally, I arrive."
"How did you come to embark in that curious-looking ship? I never saw
a steamer like her before."
"That," said the King, "is the navy of Megalia. I come as a King, in a
state."
"I rather wonder that you trusted yourself to that navy," said Gorman.
"After what you told me about the fate of the late king. It was that
same steamer, I suppose, which brought the Prime Minister and the rest
of them out here to cut your predecessor's throat."
"Otto? Yes. It was the navy. You are right. They killed poor Otto. No
doubt they would jump up to the chance to kill me too. But just now
they cannot, and I am safe as a bank in England. The Emperor----"
"Ah," said Gorman, "I thought we'd get to the Emperor soon."
"The Emperor said, 'Carry the King to Salissa in the navy of Megalia.'
That is all, but that is enough. No, my friend, they will not kill me
now. Afterwards perhaps. But afterwards I shall not be here. I shall
return to Paris."
"I wonder you ever left Paris," said Gorman, "but I suppose that was
the Emperor too."
"You are right. You hit it the first time you shoot. The Emperor sends
to me Steinwitz--a cursed pig--a cur dog with mange on him--an
outsider from the ranks, that is, I think you say a rank outsider--a
bounder, my friend Gorman--a sweeper of chimneys--a swine----"
"I'm sure he's all that. I don't care for the man myself, but tell me
what he said to you."
"Steinwitz came into my hotel. He said, 'The American will not sell
Salissa. It is necessary that you marry the girl.' I said 'Good. Where
is she? To-morrow I will do it.' But he said, 'The girl is not here.
It is for you to go to Salissa at once. She is there.' Conceive it, my
friend. I did not want to leave Paris. We were happy there, Corinne
and I. But at once, in a jiffy, I am off to this place and without
Corinne. It is a hard line, for me the hardest line."
"But why the deuce did you do it? Oh, I needn't ask that. The Emperor,
of course. Well, I don't know whether you'll be pleased to hear it or
not, but you can't marry the girl."
"But--you do not quite understand. For me there is no choice. It is:
Damn it, I must. The Emperor----"
"Even the Emperor can't make the same girl marry two men. I happen to
know that Miss Donovan is engaged to a young fellow called Phillips,
and fifty Emperors yelling at her at once wouldn't make her give him
up."
The King seized Gorman's hand and shook it heartily. His face
expressed great delight.
"Where," he said, "is the young fellow called Phillips? I wish to see
him at once, to embrace him. I shall bestow on him the Order of the
Pink Vulture of Megalia, First Class. I shall make him a Count. Do you
think, my friend, that he would wish to be a Count? His action is most
noble. He is a good sporter. I will now go back to Paris. The Emperor
can say no more to me. The young fellow Phillips has married the
girl."
"Not quite married her," said Gorman, "but it's nearly the same
thing."
The King waved his hand airily.
"It is quite the same thing. No man of honour--the young fellow
Phillips is above all a man of honour--would go backwards from his
word. Besides there is your English court of broken promises of
marriage. He would not face that. I write at once to the Emperor. I
tell him that I regret, that I am desolate, but I can do no more. The
young fellow Phillips has cut me up--no, has cut out--that is, he has
cut me in. Then I return to Paris. To-day I shall start. The navy of
Megalia will get up steam and----"
The King stopped abruptly. The smile died on his face. He had all the
appearance of extreme dejection.
"My friend," he said, "it will not work. I forgot one thing. I am up
in a tree. What am I to do?"
"What's the matter?" said Gorman. "You were just saying you'd go back
to Paris. That strikes me as an excellent plan. What's the matter with
it?"
"I had forgotten one thing," said the King. "If I cannot marry the
girl, I am no longer any use. The Emperor will not care a damn what
happens to me. The Admiral of Megalia is there, Gorman, on the navy.
The Emperor's command no longer protects. The admiral will say, 'Hell
and Hurrah! Now is my chance.'"
"Do you mean to say you think the admiral will assassinate you?"
"It is as certain as two and two and four. If I return to my navy I
follow poor Otto at once. The admiral will know that if I cannot marry
the girl the Emperor will not care about me. Perhaps it is better
after all that I marry her."
"I've told you already that you can't."
"Pooh! You are thinking of the young fellow Phillips. A word to the
admiral and Phillips will no longer blockade the way."
"Look here," said Gorman, "there's no use talking that kind of
nonsense. Your admiral appears to be a man with a taste for murder,
but he can't be allowed to run amok in that way. And Miss Donovan
would not marry you even if Phillips was out of the way. Get that into
your head once for all."
"Great Scott and damn!" said the King. "Do you think I want to marry
her. No, my friend, there is nothing I desire less except to follow
poor Otto. I do not want to marry the girl. To be married to her would
make me bored, but it would make me much more bored to die."
"The thing for you to do," said Gorman, "is to stay where you are.
Don't go on board your navy. Donovan has asked you to stay at the
palace. You'll be safe here. We won't even ask the admiral to dinner
if you'd rather we didn't."
"It will be dull, dull as the water of a ditch," said the King
mournfully.
"You needn't stay here for ever," said Gorman. "There'll be an English
ship back in a short time and you can go home in her. Madame will be
waiting for you all right."
"Poor Corinne!" said the King. "I left her in Paris. Steinwitz said
so, and he spoke for the Emperor. 'You go to marry,' he said,
'therefore Madame must stay.'"
"From his point of view he was right there," said Gorman, "and it's
just as well that Madame did not come with you. Donovan is a
broad-minded man; but you couldn't expect him to put up you and
Madame in the palace. It would be trying him rather high."
"Ah," said the King. "Poor Corinne! She will be desolate."
"Well," said Gorman, "you'd better come along now and see Donovan.
He ought to be down here to receive you, of course. But these
Americans--I'm sure you'll understand--they're not accustomed to
kings."
"Say no more," said the King, "not a word. I go to pay my respects. I
bow. I abase myself. I am a king. It is true. But I have no money,
only a little, a very little left. He is not a king, but he has money.
Gorman, I am not a Bourbon. I am able to learn and forget. He who can
write a cheque is a greater man than he who can confer the Order of
the Pink Vulture of Megalia. I have learned that. Also I can forget,
forget that I am a king."
We must do Konrad Karl justice. No king was ever more willing to
forget his rank than he was. The real trouble with him was that he
seldom remembered it.
"Come along then," said Gorman, "but don't get talking business to
Donovan."
"Business! Why do you so often misunderstand me, you who ought to know
me well? First you think that I desire to marry that girl--as if it
were possible that I should. Then you fear that I will talk business.
Am I one that talks business ever, to any one, if I can help it?"
"I mean," said Gorman, "don't say anything about buying the island or
marrying the girl. Donovan's heart is dicky, or he thinks it is, which
comes to the same thing--and any sort of worry upsets him."
"I see it," said the King. "I understand. Trust me. Mumm will be the
word. Mumm extra sec. Mumm at 190 shillings a dozen. You can trust
me."
King Konrad Karl made himself most agreeable to Donovan. He did
not once mention the sale of the island or hint at a marriage
with the Queen. He talked about the scenery. He discussed the
character, manners and customs of the inhabitants. He inquired whether
Donovan were satisfied with the palace, admitted frankly that the
accommodation was not all that could be desired. In just such a way an
English gentleman might converse with a satisfactory tenant to whom he
had let his country house for the hunting season. Donovan repeated the
invitation which Gorman had given in his name, and pressed the King to
treat the palace as his own during his stay in Salissa. The King
accepted the invitation with profuse thanks. Donovan rang a bell which
lay on the table beside him.
"I'll tell Smith," he said, "to get your luggage ashore right now and
fix up a room for you."
I have always admired Smith. He is not only competent in practical
affairs. He has nerve and coolness of a very high order. He found
himself in a difficult position when Donovan's bell sounded. He knew
that the King had landed, knew that he was with Donovan and Gorman on
the balcony. In Smith's position I think I should have sent some one
else to take Donovan's orders, one of the island girls, or one of the
boys who were by that time presentable footmen. I should, I feel sure,
have concealed myself, feigned sickness, made any excuse, rather than
face the King in the presence of Donovan and Gorman. But Smith is
greatly my superior. He appeared at once in answer to the summons of
the bell. He stood half-way between Donovan's chair and the door which
opened on the balcony. He did not even glance at the King. But the
King recognized him at once.
"Ah," he said. "It is, yes. Hell's delight! It is the excellent Fritz.
It is so long since I have seen you, Fritz, I began to think you were
dead."
"No, your Majesty, not yet," said Smith. "I hope your Majesty is quite
well, and Mr. Steinwitz, if you'll excuse my asking. I hope Mr.
Steinwitz is quite well."
"That swine," said the King, "is, as always, swallowing in the mire."
"You'll excuse my asking, your Majesty," said Smith, "but I like to
hear about Mr. Steinwitz. It was Mr. Steinwitz who got me my present
situation--a very good situation, your Majesty."
"Smith," said Donovan, "get the King's luggage ashore. He's going to
stay here for a bit. You must make him as comfortable as you can."
"Yes, sir," said Smith. "I'll see to that, sir, at once. Anything
else, sir?"
"Not now," said Donovan.
"Thank you, sir," said Smith.
Then he left the balcony. Many men, perhaps most men, would not have
gone far away, would have lingered near one of the open windows which
gave on the balcony, nervously anxious to hear what was said about
them. Smith was not in the least nervous. He went straight to the
landing steps and was to be seen a few moments later rowing out to the
steamer. He probably guessed pretty accurately what questions Donovan
and Gorman would ask. He must have known what King Konrad Karl would
tell them. He would discover in due time what they decided to do.
There was no real need for eavesdropping. Yet I think most men would
have tried to listen.
"Seems to me," said Donovan to the King, "that you're acquainted with
Smith. I'm not asking questions. It's no affair of mine, anyway. Don't
say a word unless you like. I'm not curious."
"I am," said Gorman, "infernally curious. Who is Smith?"
"For five years," said the King, "perhaps for more--who knows--he has
walked on my shadow. He has been a beagle hound, nose down, on my
smell, pursuing it. Never until last April has he run off the tracks."
"Blackmail?" said Donovan.
The King looked puzzled, though "blackmail" is a word he might have
been expected to know. Gorman explained.
"Getting money out of you," he said, "for hushing up any inconvenient
little episodes, undertaking not to tell stories he happened to have
heard. You know the sort of thing I mean."
"No man," said the King sadly, "can get money out of me. It is
like--how do you say?--the riding breeches of the Scottish soldiers,
not there. Nor do I say hush about my little episodes. Pooh! my friend
Gorman. These episodes, what are they? The English middling classes
like to pretend that there are no episodes. But there are, always, and
we others--we do not say hush."
"If it wasn't blackmail," said Donovan, "what kept him tracking you?"
"Ask my friend Gorman," said the King. "He knows."
"I do not," said Gorman, "unless----"
King Konrad Karl smiled pleasantly.
"Unless----" said Gorman. "Oh, damn it all. I suppose it was the
Emperor."
"You have it," said the King. "He is of the Emperor's secret service.
He and Steinwitz. Steinwitz I do not like. He is an arrogant. He
assumes always the attitude of the dog on top. But of Fritz I make no
complaint. He is always civilian."
"I'd gather that," said Gorman, "from the little I've seen of him. If
we must have a spy here--and of course there's no help for that since
the Emperor says so--it's better to have an agreeable one. His job at
present, I suppose, is to keep an eye on Donovan and the island
generally."
"That Emperor," said Donovan, "seems to me to butt in unnecessarily.
But I'm obliged to him. Smith is the best servant I've struck since I
first took to employing a hired help."
"It will be sad," said the King, "when you kill him. A great loss."
"I don't know," said Donovan, "that I mean to kill him. He's a
valuable man."
"The proper thing to do," said Gorman, "is to put him on board the
Megalian navy and leave him to the admiral."
"Seems a pity," said Donovan. "I don't see how I could make my way
along the rugged path of life without Smith. He hasn't done me any
kind of harm so far. I think I'll wait a bit. It would worry me to
have to step down and take hold now. My heart----"
"What I can't get at even yet," said Gorman, "is the idea in the
Emperor's mind. He piles up scrap iron and ridiculous-looking cisterns
in a cave. He deluges the place with petrol. He sets a spy on Donovan.
Now what the devil does he do it for?"
The King shrugged his shoulders.
"_Real Politik_, perhaps," he said. "But how do I know? I am a king,
certainly. But I am not a whale on the sea of _Real Politik_. Your
whale is a fish that bores, always. Perhaps if you ask Fritz he will
know."
"By the way," said Donovan, "what's the man's real name?"
"Once," said the King, "he was Calmet, M. de Calmet. At that time he
was French. Later he was Heyduk, a Captain in the army of Megalia.
Also he was Freidwig, and he came from Stockholm. He was for some time
the Count Pozzaro. I have also heard----"
"That's enough for me," said Donovan. "I'll stick to Smith as long as
he'll answer to it. Seems simpler."
Gorman rose from his chair and crossed the balcony. He stood for a
minute or two looking out at the bay. Smith's boat, rowed steadily,
reached the side of the steamer. Smith climbed on board.
"I shouldn't wonder," said Gorman, "if we've seen the last of our
friend Smith."
"I hope not," said Donovan. "Why do you think so?"
"Well," said Gorman, "if I were in his shoes I think I should stay in
the Megalian navy. It'll be rather awkward for him now we've found him
out."
"He will return," said the King.
"I shouldn't," said Gorman. "Of course that admiral, being the kind of
man he is, it's risky to stay with him; but then Smith has got to take
risks whatever he does. And he may have some sort of safe conduct from
the Emperor which will make the admiral nervous about cutting his
throat."
"He will return," said the King. "It is plain that the Emperor has
said to him: 'Follow the smell of the American.' He will not leave
it."
"Oh, of course," said Gorman. "I'm always forgetting the Emperor. If
he has given definite orders of that kind they'll be obeyed. I daresay
Smith is telegraphing for definite instructions at this moment. They
have a wireless installation, so I suppose he can."
"Behold," said the King. "My luggage descends to the boat. Smith will
follow. Did I not tell you?"
Two sailors were lowering various suit-cases and bags into the boat. A
few minutes later Smith dropped from the steamer's side and took the
oars.
"Donovan," said Gorman, "the Emperor is evidently really anxious about
your smell."