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Savrola: A Tale of the Revolution in Laurania

by Winston Churchill · English · Gutenberg #50906 · 350,746 chars · public domain (US)

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Title: Savrola: A Tale of the Revolution in Laurania

Author: Winston Churchill


        
Release date: January 24, 2016 [eBook #50906]
                Most recently updated: October 22, 2024

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SAVROLA: A TALE OF THE REVOLUTION IN LAURANIA ***

  SAVROLA

  A TALE OF THE REVOLUTION IN LAURANIA



  BY

  WINSTON SPENCER CHURCHILL

  AUTHOR OF "THE RIVER WAR: AN ACCOUNT OF THE RECOVERY
  OF THE SOUDAN" AND "THE STORY OF THE MALAKAND
  FIELD FORCE"



  LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
  91 AND 93 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK
  LONDON AND BOMBAY
  1900




  COPYRIGHT, 1899, BY
  LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED



  TYPOGRAPHY BY J. B. CUSHING & CO., NORWOOD, MASS.




  THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED
  TO
  THE OFFICERS
  OF THE
  IVTH (QUEEN'S OWN) HUSSARS
  IN WHOSE COMPANY THE AUTHOR LIVED
  FOR FOUR HAPPY YEARS




PREFATORY NOTE

This story was written in 1897, and has already appeared in serial form
in _Macmillan's Magazine_.  Since its first reception was not
unfriendly, I resolved to publish it as a book, and I now submit it
with considerable trepidation to the judgment or clemency of the public.

WINSTON S. CHURCHILL.




  CONTENTS

  I.  An Event of Political Importance
  II.  The Head of the State
  III.  The Man of the Multitude
  IV.  The Deputation
  V.  A Private Conversation
  VI.  On Constitutional Grounds
  VII.  The State Ball
  VIII.  "In the Starlight"
  IX.  The Admiral
  X.  The Wand of the Magician
  XI.  In the Watches of the Night
  XII.  A Council of War
  XIII.  The Action of the Executive
  XIV.  The Loyalty of the Army
  XV.  Surprises
  XVI.  The Progress of the Revolt
  XVII.  The Defence of the Palace
  XVIII.  From a Window
  XIX.  An Educational Experience
  XX.  The End of the Quarrel
  XXI.  The Return of the Fleet
  XXII.  Life's Compensations




CHAPTER I.

AN EVENT OF POLITICAL IMPORTANCE.

There had been a heavy shower of rain, but the sun was already shining
through the breaks in the clouds and throwing swiftly changing shadows
on the streets, the houses, and the gardens of the city of Laurania.
Everything shone wetly in the sunlight: the dust had been laid; the air
was cool; the trees looked green and grateful.  It was the first rain
after the summer heats, and it marked the beginning of that delightful
autumn climate which has made the Lauranian capital the home of the
artist, the invalid, and the sybarite.

The shower had been heavy, but it had not dispersed the crowds that
were gathered in the great square in front of the Parliament House.  It
was welcome, but it had not altered their anxious and angry looks; it
had drenched them without cooling their excitement.  Evidently an event
of consequence was taking place.  The fine building, where the
representatives of the people were wont to meet, wore an aspect of
sombre importance that the trophies and statues, with which an ancient
and an art-loving people had decorated its façade, did not dispel.  A
squadron of Lancers of the Republican Guard was drawn up at the foot of
the great steps, and a considerable body of infantry kept a broad space
clear in front of the entrance.  Behind the soldiers the people filled
in the rest of the picture.  They swarmed in the square and the streets
leading to it; they had scrambled on to the numerous monuments, which
the taste and pride of the Republic had raised to the memory of her
ancient heroes, covering them so completely that they looked like
mounds of human beings; even the trees contained their occupants, while
the windows and often the roofs, of the houses and offices which
overlooked the scene were crowded with spectators.  It was a great
multitude and it vibrated with excitement.  Wild passions surged across
the throng, as squalls sweep across a stormy sea.  Here and there a
man, mounting above his fellows, would harangue those whom his voice
could reach, and a cheer or a shout was caught up by thousands who had
never heard the words but were searching for something to give
expression to their feelings.

It was a great day in the history of Laurania.  For five long years
since the Civil War the people had endured the insult of autocratic
rule.  The fact that the Government was strong, and the memory of the
disorders of the past, had operated powerfully on the minds of the more
sober citizens.  But from the first there had been murmurs.  There were
many who had borne arms on the losing side in the long struggle that
had ended in the victory of President Antonio Molara.  Some had
suffered wounds or confiscation; others had undergone imprisonment;
many had lost friends and relations, who with their latest breath had
enjoined the uncompromising prosecution of the war.  The Government had
started with implacable enemies, and their rule had been harsh and
tyrannical.  The ancient constitution to which the citizens were so
strongly attached and of which they were so proud, had been subverted.
The President, alleging the prevalence of sedition, had declined to
invite the people to send their representatives to that chamber which
had for many centuries been regarded as the surest bulwark of popular
liberties.  Thus the discontents increased day by day and year by year:
the National party, which had at first consisted only of a few
survivors of the beaten side, had swelled into the most numerous and
powerful faction in the State; and at last they had found a leader.
The agitation proceeded on all sides.  The large and turbulent
population of the capital were thoroughly devoted to the rising cause.
Demonstration had followed demonstration; riot had succeeded riot; even
the army showed signs of unrest.  At length the President had decided
to make concessions.  It was announced that on the first of September
the electoral writs should be issued and the people should be accorded
an opportunity of expressing their wishes and opinions.

This pledge had contented the more peaceable citizens.  The extremists,
finding themselves in a minority, had altered their tone.  The
Government, taking advantage of the favourable moment, had arrested
several of the more violent leaders.  Others, who had fought in the war
and had returned from exile to take part in the revolt, fled for their
lives across the border.  A rigorous search for arms had resulted in
important captures.  European nations, watching with interested and
anxious eyes the political barometer, were convinced that the
Government cause was in the ascendant.  But meanwhile the people
waited, silent and expectant, for the fulfilment of the promise.

At length the day had come.  The necessary preparations for summoning
the seventy thousand male electors to record their votes had been
carried out by the public officials.  The President, as the custom
prescribed, was in person to sign the necessary writ of summons to the
faithful citizens.  Warrants for election would be forwarded to the
various electoral divisions in the city and the provinces, and those
who were by the ancient law entitled to the franchise would give their
verdict on the conduct of him whom the Populists in bitter hatred had
called the Dictator.

It was for this moment that the crowd was waiting.  Though cheers from
time to time arose, they waited for the most part in silence.  Even
when the President had passed on his way to the Senate, they had
foreborne to hoot; in their eyes he was virtually abdicating, and that
made amends for all.  The time-honoured observances, the long-loved
rights would be restored, and once more democratic government would be
triumphant in Laurania.

Suddenly, at the top of the steps in the full view of the people, a
young man appeared, his dress disordered and his face crimson with
excitement.  It was Moret, one of the Civic Council.  He was
immediately recognised by the populace, and a great cheer arose.  Many
who could not see him took up the shout, which re-echoed through the
square, the expression of a nation's satisfaction.  He gesticulated
vehemently, but his words, if he spoke at all, were lost in the tumult.
Another man, an usher, followed him out hurriedly, put his hand on his
shoulder, appeared to speak with earnestness, and drew him back into
the shadow of the entrance.  The crowd still cheered.

A third figure issued from the door, an old man in the robes of
municipal office.  He walked, or rather tottered feebly down the steps
to a carriage, which had drawn up to meet him.  Again there were
cheers.  "Godoy!  Godoy!  Bravo, Godoy!  Champion of the People!
Hurrah, hurrah!"

It was the Mayor, one of the strongest and most reputable members of
the party of Reform.  He entered his carriage and drove through the
open space, maintained by the soldiery, into the crowd, which, still
cheering, gave way with respect.

The carriage was open and it was evident that the old man was painfully
moved.  His face was pale, his mouth puckered into an expression of
grief and anger, his whole frame shaken with suppressed emotion.  The
crowd had greeted him with applause, but, quick to notice, were struck
by his altered appearance and woeful looks.  They crowded round the
carriage crying: "What has happened?  Is all well?  Speak, Godoy,
speak!"  But he would have none of them, and quivering with agitation
bade his coachman drive the faster.  The people gave way slowly,
sullenly, thoughtfully, as men who make momentous resolutions.
Something had happened, untoward, unforeseen, unwelcome; what this was,
they were anxious to know.

And then began a period of wild rumour.  The President had refused to
sign the writs; he had committed suicide; the troops had been ordered
to fire; the elections would not take place, after all; Savrola had
been arrested,--seized in the very Senate, said one, murdered added
another.  The noise of the multitude changed into a dull dissonant hum
of rising anger.

At last the answer came.  There was a house, overlooking the square,
which was separated from the Chamber of Representatives only by a
narrow street, and this street had been kept clear for traffic by the
troops.  On the balcony of this house the young man, Moret, the Civic
Councillor, now reappeared, and his coming was the signal for a storm
of wild, anxious cries from the vast concourse.  He held up his hand
for silence and after some moments his words became audible to those
nearest.  "You are betrayed--a cruel fraud--the hopes we had cherished
are dashed to the ground--all has been done in vain--  Cheated!
cheated! cheated!"  The broken fragments of his oratory reached far
into the mass of excited humanity, and then he shouted a sentence,
which was heard by thousands and repeated by thousands more.  "The
register of citizenship has been mutilated, and the names of more than
half the electors have been erased.  To your tents, oh people of
Laurania!"

For an instant there was silence, and then a great sob of fury, of
disappointment, and of resolve arose from the multitude.

At this moment the presidential carriage, with its four horses, its
postilions in the Republican livery, and an escort of Lancers, moved
forward to the foot of the steps, as there emerged from the Parliament
House a remarkable figure.  He wore the splendid blue and white uniform
of a general of the Lauranian Army; his breast glittered with medals
and orders; his keen strong features were composed.  He paused for a
moment before descending to his carriage, as if to give the mob an
opportunity to hiss and hoot to their content, and appeared to talk
unconcernedly with his companion, Señor Louvet, the Minister of the
Interior.  He pointed once or twice towards the surging masses, and
then walked slowly down the steps.  Louvet had intended to accompany
him, but he heard the roar of the crowd and remembered that he had some
business to attend to in the Senate that could not be delayed; the
other went on alone.  The soldiers presented arms.  A howl of fury
arose from the people.  A mounted officer, who sat his horse unmoved,
an inexorable machine, turned to a subordinate with an order.  Several
companies of foot-soldiers began defiling from the side street on the
right of the Chamber, and drawing up in line in the open space which
was now partly invaded by the mob.

The President entered his carriage which, preceded by an entire troop
of Lancers, immediately started at a trot.  So soon as the carriage
reached the edge of the open space, a rush was made by the crowd.  The
escort closed up; "Fall back there!" shouted an officer, but he was
unheeded.  "Will you move, or must we move you?" said a gruffer voice.
Yet the mob gave not an inch.  The danger was imminent.  "Cheat!
Traitor!  Liar!  Tyrant!" they shouted, with many other expressions too
coarse to be recorded.  "Give us back our rights--you, who have stolen
them!"

And then some one at the back of the crowd fired a revolver into the
air.  The effect was electrical.  The Lancers dropped their points and
sprang forward.  Shouts of terror and fury arose on all sides.  The
populace fled before the cavalry; some fell on the ground and were
trampled to death; some were knocked down and injured by the horses; a
few were speared by the soldiers.  It was a horrible scene.  Those
behind threw stones, and some fired random pistol shots.  The President
remained unmoved.  Erect and unflinching he gazed on the tumult as men
gaze at a race about which they have not betted.  His hat was knocked
off, and a trickle of blood down his cheek showed where a stone had
struck.  For some moments the issue seemed doubtful.  The crowd might
storm the carriage and then,--to be torn to pieces by a rabble!  There
were other and more pleasant deaths.  But the discipline of the troops
overcame all obstacles, the bearing of the man appeared to cow his
enemies, and the crowd fell back, still hooting and shouting.

Meanwhile the officer commanding the infantry by the Parliament House
had been alarmed by the rushes of the mob, which he could see were
directed at the President's carriage.  He determined to create a
diversion.  "We shall have to fire on them," he said to the Major who
was beside him.

"Excellent," replied that officer; "it will enable us to conclude those
experiments in penetration, which we have been trying with the
soft-nosed bullet.  A very valuable experiment, Sir," and then turning
to the soldiers he issued several orders.  "A very valuable
experiment," he repeated.

"Somewhat expensive," said the Colonel dryly; "and half a company will
be enough, Major."

There was a rattle of breech-blocks as the rifles were loaded.  The
people immediately in front of the troops struggled madly to escape the
impending volley.  One man, a man in a straw hat, kept his head.  He
rushed forward.  "For God's sake don't fire!" he cried.  "Have mercy!
We will disperse."

There was a moment's pause, a sharp order and a loud explosion,
followed by screams.  The man in the straw hat bent backwards and fell
on the ground; other figures also subsided and lay still in curiously
twisted postures.  Every one else except the soldiers fled; fortunately
there were many exits to the square, and in a few minutes it was almost
deserted.  The President's carriage made its way through the flying
crowd to the gates of the palace, which were guarded by more soldiers,
and passed through in safety.

All was now over.  The spirit of the mob was broken and the wide
expanse of Constitution Square was soon nearly empty.  Forty bodies and
some expended cartridges lay on the ground.  Both had played their part
in the history of human developement and passed out of the
considerations of living men.  Nevertheless the soldiers picked up the
empty cases, and presently some police came with carts and took the
other things away, and all was quiet again in Laurania.




CHAPTER II.

THE HEAD OF THE STATE.

The carriage and its escort passed the ancient gateway and driving
through a wide courtyard drew up at the entrance of the palace.  The
President alighted.  He fully appreciated the importance of retaining
the good will and support of the army, and immediately walked up to the
officer who commanded the Lancers.  "None of your men hurt, I trust,"
he said.

"Nothing serious, General," replied the subaltern.

"You handled your troop with great judgment and courage.  It shall be
remembered.  But it is easy to lead brave men; they shall not be
forgotten.  Ah, Colonel, you are quite right to come to me.  I
anticipated some trouble with the disaffected classes, so soon as it
became known that we were still determined to maintain law and order in
the State."  These last words were spoken to a dark, bronzed man who
had hurriedly entered the courtyard by a side gate.  Colonel Sorrento,
for such was the newcomer's name, was the military chief of the Police.
Besides filling this important office, he discharged the duties of
War-Minister to the Republic.  The combination enabled the civil power
to be supplemented by the military with great and convenient
promptitude, whenever it was necessary or desirable to take strong
measures.  The arrangement was well suited to the times.  Usually
Sorrento was calm and serene.  He had seen many engagements and much
war of the type which knows no quarter, had been several times wounded,
and was regarded as a brave and callous man.  But there is something
appalling in the concentrated fury of a mob, and the Colonel's manner
betrayed the fact that he was not quite proof against it.

"Are you wounded, Sir?" he asked, catching sight of the President's
face.

"It is nothing,--a stone; but they were very violent.  Some one had
roused them; I had hoped to get away before the news was known.  Who
was it spoke to them?"

"Moret, the Civic Councillor, from the balcony of the hotel.  A very
dangerous man!  He told them they were betrayed."

"Betrayed?  What audacity!  Surely such language would come within the
20th Section of the Constitution: _Inciting to violence against the
person of the Head of the State by misrepresentation or otherwise_."
The President was well versed in those clauses of the public law which
were intended to strengthen the hands of the Executive.  "Have him
arrested, Sorrento.  We cannot allow the majesty of Government to be
insulted with impunity,--or stay, perhaps it would be wiser to be
magnanimous now that the matter is settled.  I do not want a State
prosecution just at present."  Then he added in a louder voice: "This
young officer, Colonel, discharged his duty with great
determination,--a most excellent soldier.  Please see that a note is
made of it.  Promotion should always go by merit, not by age, for
services and not for service.  We will not forget your behaviour, young
man."

He ascended the steps and entered the hall of the palace, leaving the
subaltern, a boy of twenty-two, flushed with pleasure and excitement,
to build high hopes of future command and success.

The hall was spacious and well-proportioned.  It was decorated in the
purest style of the Lauranian Republic, the arms of which were
everywhere displayed.  The pillars were of ancient marble and by their
size and colour attested the wealth and magnificence of former days.
The tessellated pavement presented a pleasing pattern.  Elaborate
mosaics on the walls depicted scenes from the national history: the
foundation of the city; the peace of 1370; the reception of the envoys
of the Great Mogul: the victory of Brota; the death of Saldanho, that
austere patriot, who died rather than submit to a technical violation
of the Constitution.  And then coming down to later years, the walls
showed the building of the Parliament House: the naval victory of Cape
Cheronta, and finally the conclusion of the Civil War in 1883.  On
either side of the hall, in a deep alcove, a bronze fountain, playing
amid surrounding palms and ferns, imparted a feeling of refreshing
coolness to the eye and ear.  Facing the entrance was a broad
staircase, leading to the state rooms whose doors were concealed by
crimson curtains.

A woman stood at the top of the stairs.  Her hands rested on the marble
balustrade; her white dress contrasted with the bright-coloured
curtains behind her.  She was very beautiful, but her face wore an
expression of alarm and anxiety.  Woman-like she asked three questions
at once.  "What has happened, Antonio?  Have the people risen?  Why
have they been firing?"  She paused timidly at the head of the stairs,
as if fearing to descend.

"All is well," replied the President in his official manner.  "Some of
the disaffected have rioted, but the Colonel here has taken every
precaution and order reigns once more, dearest."  Then turning to
Sorrento, he went on: "It is possible that the disturbances may be
renewed.  The troops should be confined to barracks and you may give
them an extra day's pay to drink the health of the Republic.  Double
the Guards and you had better have the streets patrolled to-night.  In
case anything happens, you will find me here.  Good-night, Colonel."
He walked up a few steps, and the War-Minister, bowing gravely, turned
and departed.

The woman came down the stairs and they met midway.  He took both her
hands in his and smiled affectionately; she, standing one step above
him, bent forward and kissed him.  It was an amiable, though formal,
salutation.

"Well," he said, "we have got through to-day all right, my dear; but
how long it can go on, I do not know; the revolutionaries seem to get
stronger every day.  It was a very dangerous moment just now in the
square; but is over for the present."

"I have passed an anxious hour," she said, and then, catching sight for
the first time of his bruised forehead, she started.  "But you are
wounded."

"It is nothing," said the President.  "They threw stones; now, we used
bullets; they are better arguments."

"What happened at the Senate?"

"I had expected trouble, you know.  I told them in my speech that, in
spite of the unsettled state of affairs, we had decided to restore the
ancient Constitution of the Republic, but that it had been necessary to
purge the register of the disaffected and rebellious.  The Mayor took
it out of the box and they scrambled over each other to look at the
total electorates for the divisions.  When they saw how much they were
reduced they were very angry.  Godoy was speechless; he is a fool, that
man.  Louvet told them that it must be taken as an instalment, and that
as things got more settled the franchise would be extended; but they
howled with fury.  Indeed, had it not been for the ushers and for a few
men of the Guard, I believe they would have assaulted me there and then
in the very Chamber itself.  Moret shook his fist at me,--ridiculous
young ass--and rushed out to harangue the mob."

"And Savrola?"

"Oh, Savrola,--he was quite calm; he laughed when he saw the register.
'It is only a question of a few months,' he said; 'I wonder you think
it worth while.'  I told him that I did not understand him, but he
spoke the truth for all that;" and then, taking his wife's hand in his,
he climbed the stairs slowly and thoughtfully.

But there is little rest for a public man in times of civil
disturbance.  No sooner had Molara reached the top of the stairs and
entered the reception-room, than a man advanced to meet him from a door
at the far end.  He was small, dark, and very ugly, with a face
wrinkled with age and an indoor life.  Its pallor showed all the more
by contrast with his hair and short moustache, both of which were of
that purple blackness to which Nature is unable to attain.  In his hand
he carried a large bundle of papers, carefully disposed into
departments by his long and delicate fingers.  It was the Private
Secretary.

"What is it, Miguel?" asked the President; "you have some papers for
me?"

"Yes, Sir; a few minutes will suffice.  You have had an exciting day; I
rejoice it has terminated successfully."

"It has not been devoid of interest," said Molara, wearily.  "What have
you got for me?"

"Several foreign despatches.  Great Britain has sent a note about the
Sphere of Influence to the south of the African Colony, to which the
Foreign Minister has drafted a reply."

"Ah! these English,--how grasping, how domineering!  But we must be
firm.  I will maintain the territories of the Republic against all
enemies, internal or external.  We cannot send armies, but, thank God,
we can write despatches.  Is it strong enough?"

"Your Excellency need have no fears.  We have vindicated our rights
most emphatically; it will be a great moral victory."

"I hope we shall get material as well as moral good out of it.  The
country is rich; there is paying gold; that explains the note.  Of
course we must reply severely.  What else?"

"There are some papers relating to the army, commissions and
promotions, Sir," said Miguel, fingering one particular bundle of his
papers, the bundle that lay between his first and second fingers.
"Those sentences for confirmation, a draft of Morgon's Budget for
information and opinion, and one or two minor matters."

"H'm, a long business!  Very well, I will come and see to it.  Dearest,
you know how pressed I am.  We shall meet to-night at the dinner.  Have
all the Ministers accepted?"

"All but Louvet, Antonio.  He is detained by business."

"Business, pooh!  He is afraid of the streets at night.  What a thing
it is to be a coward!  Thus he misses a good dinner.  At eight then,
Lucile."  And with a quick and decided step he passed through the small
door of the private office followed by the Secretary.

Madame Antonio Molara remained standing for a moment in the great
reception-room.  Then she walked to the window and stepped out on to
the balcony.  The scene which stretched before her was one of
surpassing beauty.  The palace stood upon high ground commanding a wide
view of the city and the harbour.  The sun was low on the horizon, but
the walls of the houses still stood out in glaring white.  The red and
blue tiled roofs were relieved by frequent gardens and squares whose
green and graceful palms soothed and gratified the eye.  To the north
the great pile of the Senate House and Parliament buildings loomed up
majestic and imposing.  Westward lay the harbour with its shipping and
protecting forts.  A few warships floated in the roads, and many
white-sailed smacks dotted the waters of the Mediterranean Sea, which
had already begun to change their blue for the more gorgeous colours of
sunset.

As she stood there in the clear light of the autumn evening, she looked
divinely beautiful.  She had arrived at that age of life, when to the
attractions of a maiden's beauty are added those of a woman's wit.  Her
perfect features were the mirror of her mind, and displayed with every
emotion and every mood that vivacity of expression which is the
greatest of woman's charms.  Her tall figure was instinct with grace,
and the almost classic dress she wore enhanced her beauty and
harmonised with her surroundings.

Something in her face suggested a wistful aspiration.  Lucile had
married Antonio Molara nearly five years before, when he was in the
height and vigour of his power.  Her family had been among the stoutest
supporters of his cause, and her father and brother had lost their
lives on the battlefield of Sorato.  Her mother, broken down by
calamity and sorrow, lived only to commend her daughter to the care of
their most powerful friend, the general who had saved the State and
would now rule it.  He had accepted the task at first from a feeling of
obligation to those who had followed his star so faithfully, but
afterwards from other motives.  Before a month had passed he fell in
love with the beautiful girl whom Fortune had led to him.  She admired
his courage, his energy, and his resource; the splendours of the office
that he filled were not without their influence; he offered her wealth
and position,--almost a throne; and besides he was a fine figure of a
man.  She was twenty-three when they married.  For many months her life
had been a busy one.  Receptions, balls, and parties had filled the
winter season with the unremitting labour of entertaining.  Foreign
princes had paid her homage, not only as the loveliest woman in Europe,
but also as a great political figure.  Her _salon_ was crowded with the
most famous men from every country.  Statesmen, soldiers, poets, and
men of science had worshipped at the shrine.  She had mixed in matters
of State.  Suave and courtly ambassadors had thrown out delicate hints,
and she had replied with unofficial answers.  Plenipotentiaries had
explained the details of treaties and protocols, with remarkable
elaboration, for her benefit.  Philanthropists had argued, urged, and
expounded their views or whims.  Every one talked to her of public
business.  Even her maid had approached her with an application for the
advancement of her brother, a clerk in the Post Office; and every one
had admired her until admiration itself, the most delicious drink that
a woman tastes, became insipid.

But even during the first few years there had been something wanting.
What it was Lucile had never been able to guess.  Her husband was
affectionate and such time as he could spare from public matters was at
her service.  Of late things had been less bright.  The agitation of
the country, the rising forces of Democracy, added to the already heavy
business of the Republic, had taxed the President's time and energies
to the full.  Hard lines had come into his face, lines of work and
anxiety, and sometimes she had caught a look of awful weariness, as of
one who toils and yet foresees that his labour will be vain.  He saw
her less frequently, and in those short intervals talked more and more
of business and politics.

A feeling of unrest seemed to pervade the capital.  The season, which
had just begun, had opened badly.  Many of the great families had
remained in their summer residences on the slopes of the mountains,
though the plains were already cool and green; others had kept to their
own houses in the city, and only the most formal entertainments at the
palace had been attended.  As the outlook became more threatening it
seemed that she was able to help him less.  Passions were being roused
that blinded the eyes to beauty and dulled the mind to charm.  She was
still a queen, but her subjects were sullen and inattentive.  What
could she do to help him, now that he was so hard pressed?  The thought
of abdication was odious to her, as to every woman.  Must she remain
directing the ceremonies of the Court after the brilliancy had died
out, while enemies were working night and day to overturn all that she
was attached to?

"Can I do nothing, nothing?" she murmured.  "Have I played my part?  Is
the best of life over?" and then, with a hot wave of petulant resolve,
"I will do it,--but what?"

The question remained unanswered; the edge of the sun dipped beneath
the horizon and at the end of the military mole, from the shapeless
mound of earth that marked the protecting battery of the harbour,
sprang a puff of smoke.  It was the evening gun, and the sound of the
report, floating faintly up to her, interrupted the unpleasing
reflections which had filled her thoughts; but they left a memory
behind.  She turned with a sigh and re-entered the palace; gradually
the daylight died away and it became night.




CHAPTER III.

THE MAN OF THE MULTITUDE.

Dismay and bitter anger filled the city.  The news of the fusilade
spread fast and far, and, as is usual on such occasions, its effects
were greatly exaggerated.  But the police precautions were well
conceived and ably carried out.  Nothing like a crowd was allowed to
gather, and the constant patrolling of the streets prevented the
building of barricades.  The aspect of the Republican Guard was
moreover so formidable that, whatever the citizens might feel, they
found it discreet to display an acquiescent, and in some cases even a
contented demeanour.

With the leaders of the Popular party it was however different.  They
immediately assembled at the official residence of the Mayor, and a
furious discussion ensued.  In the hall of the Mayoralty an emergency
meeting was held, at which all the power of the party was represented.
Moret, the Civic Councillor and former editor of the suppressed TRUMPET
CALL, was much cheered as he entered the room.  His speech had appealed
to many, and the Lauranians were always ready to applaud a daring act.
Besides, every one was agitated by the recent riot and was eager to do
something.  The Labour delegates were particularly angry.  Working-men,
assembled in constitutional manner to express their grievances, had
been shot down by a hireling soldiery,--_massacred_ was the word most
generally used.  Vengeance must be taken; but how?  The wildest schemes
were suggested.  Moret, always for bold counsels, was for sallying into
the streets and rousing the people to arms; they would burn the palace,
execute the tyrant, and restore the liberties of the land.  Godoy, old
and cautious, strongly opposed the suggestion, though indeed no
particular eagerness was shown to adopt it.  He advocated a calm and
dignified attitude of reproach and censure, which would appeal to the
comity of nations and vindicate the justice of their cause.  Others
took up the argument.  Renos, the barrister, was for what he called
constitutional methods.  They should form themselves into a Committee
of Public Safety; they should appoint the proper officers of State
(including of course an Attorney-General), and decree the deposition of
the President for violation of the fundamental principles contained in
the preamble of the Declaration of National Rights.  He proceeded to
dilate upon the legal points involved, until interrupted by several
members who were anxious to offer their own remarks.

Several resolutions were passed.  It was agreed that the President had
forfeited the confidence of the citizens, and he was forthwith called
upon to resign his office and submit himself to the Courts of Law.  It
was also agreed that the army had deserved ill of the Republic.  It was
resolved to prosecute at civil law the soldiers who had fired on the
people, and a vote of sympathy was carried in favour of the relations
of the killed and wounded, or _martyrs_ as they were called.

This scene of impotence and futility was ended by the entrance of the
remarkable man who had raised a party from the dust, and had led them
from one success to another until it had seemed that the victory was
won.  Silence fell upon the assemblage; some stood up in respect;
everyone wondered what he would say.  How would he bear the crushing
defeat that had fallen upon them?  Would he despair of the movement?
Would he be angry or sad or cynical?  Above all, what course would he
propose?

He walked to the end of the long table around which the members were
grouped, and sat down deliberately.  Then he looked round the room,
with a face as calm and serene as ever.  In that scene of confusion and
indecision he looked magnificent.  His very presence imparted a feeling
of confidence to his followers.  His high and ample forehead might have
contained the answer to every question; his determined composure seemed
equal to the utmost stroke of Fate.

After a moment's pause, invited by the silence, he rose.  His words
were studiously moderate.  It had been a disappointment to him, he
said, to find that the registers had been mutilated.  The ultimate
success was deferred, but it was only deferred.  He had waited before
coming to the Mayoralty to make a few calculations.  They were
necessarily rough and hurried, but he thought they were approximately
correct.  The President, it was true, would have a majority in the
forthcoming Parliament, and a substantial majority; but they would win
certain seats, in spite of the restricted electorate; about fifty, he
thought, in a house of three hundred.  Smaller minorities than that had
overthrown more powerful Governments.  Every day added to their
strength; every day increased the hatred of the Dictator.  Besides,
there were other alternatives than constitutional procedure,--and at
these words some set their teeth and looked at each other in deep
significance--but for the present they must wait; and they could afford
to wait, for the prize was worth winning.  It was the most precious
possession in the world,--liberty.  He sat down amid brighter faces and
calmer minds.  The deliberations were resumed.  It was decided to
relieve, out of the general funds of the party, those who were in
poverty through the massacre of their relations; that would increase
their popularity with the working classes, and might win the sympathy
of foreign nations.  A deputation should wait on the President to
express the grief of the citizens at the mutilation of their ancient
register, and to beg that he would restore their franchises.  It should
also demand the punishment of the officers who had fired on the people,
and should acquaint the President with the alarm and indignation of the
city.  Savrola, Godoy, and Renos were named as the members of the
deputation, and the Reform Committee then dispersed quietly.

Moret lingered till the end and approached Savrola.  He was surprised
that he had not been suggested as a member of the deputation.  He knew
his leader much better than Renos, a pedantic lawyer who made few
friends: he had followed Savrola from the beginning with blind
enthusiasm and devotion; and he now felt hurt that he should be passed
over like this.

"It has been a bad day for us," he said tentatively; and then as
Savrola did not reply, he continued, "Who would have thought they would
have dared to trick us?"

"It has been a very bad day,--for you," replied Savrola thoughtfully.

"For me?  Why, what do you mean?"

"Have you reflected that you have forty human lives to answer for?
Your speech was useless,--what good could it do?  Their blood is on
your head.  The people too are cowed.  Much harm has been done; it is
your fault."

"My fault!  I was furious,--he cheated us,--I thought only of revolt.
I never dreamed you would sit down tamely like this.  That devil should
be killed now, at once,--before more mischief happens."

"Look here, Moret: I am as young as you; I feel as acutely; I am full
of enthusiasm.  I, too, hate Molara more than is wise or philosophic;
but I contain myself, when nothing is to be gained by giving way.  Now
mark my words.  Either you learn to do so, or you can go your ways, for
I will have none of you,--politically, that is,--as a friend, it is
different."

He sat down and began to write a letter, while Moret, pale with that
mortification which is made up of anger and self-reproach, and
quivering under his rebuke, left the room in haste.

Savrola remained.  There was much business to do that evening; letters
had to be written and read, the tone of the leading-articles in the
Democratic Press explained, and many other matters decided.  The
machinery of a great party, and still more of a great conspiracy,
needed careful and constant attention.  It was nine o'clock before he
finished.

"Well, good-night, Godoy," he said to the Major; "we shall have another
busy day to-morrow.  We must contrive to frighten the Dictator.  Let me
know at what time he will give audience."

At the door of the Mayoralty he called a hackney-coach, a conveyance
which neither the dulness of the social season nor the excitement of
political affairs could restrain from its customary occupation.  After
a short drive he arrived at a small though not inelegant house, for he
was a man of means, in the most fashionable quarter of the town.  An
old woman opened the door to his knock.  She looked rejoiced to see him.

"La," she said, "I have had a fearful time with you away, and all this
shooting and noise.  But the afternoons are chilly now and you should
have had your coat; I fear you will have a cold to-morrow."

"It is all right, Bettine," he answered kindly; "I have a good chest,
thanks to your care; but I am very tired.  Send me some soup to my
room; I will not dine to-night."

He went upstairs, while she bustled off to get him the best dinner she
could improvise.  The apartments he lived in were on the second
storey--a bedroom, a bathroom, and a study.  They were small, but full
of all that taste and luxury could devise and affection and industry
preserve.  A broad writing-table occupied the place of honour.  It was
arranged so that the light fell conveniently to the hand and head.  A
large bronze inkstand formed the centrepiece, with a voluminous
blotting-book of simple manufacture spread open before it.  The rest of
the table was occupied by papers on files.  The floor, in spite of the
ample waste-paper basket, was littered with scraps.  It was the
writing-table of a public man.

The room was lit by electric light in portable shaded lamps.  The walls
were covered with shelves, filled with well-used volumes.  To that
Pantheon of Literature none were admitted till they had been read and
valued.  It was a various library: the philosophy of Schopenhauer
divided Kant from Hegel, who jostled the Memoirs of St. Simon and the
latest French novel; RASSELAS and LA CURÉE lay side by side; eight
substantial volumes of Gibbon's famous History were not perhaps
inappropriately prolonged by a fine edition of the DECAMERON; the
ORIGIN OF SPECIES rested by the side of a black-letter Bible; THE
REPUBLIC maintained an equilibrium with VANITY FAIR and the HISTORY OF
EUROPEAN MORALS.  A volume of Macaulay's Essays lay on the
writing-table itself; it was open, and that sublime passage whereby the
genius of one man has immortalised the genius of another was marked in
pencil.  _And history, while for the warning of vehement, high, and
daring natures, she notes his many errors, will yet deliberately
pronounce that among the eminent men whose bones lie near his, scarcely
one has left a more stainless, and none a more splendid name_.

A half-empty box of cigarettes stood on a small table near a low
leathern armchair, and by its side lay a heavy army-revolver, against
the barrel of which the ashes of many cigarettes had been removed.  In
the corner of the room stood a small but exquisite Capitoline Venus,
the cold chastity of its colour reproaching the allurements of its
form.  It was the chamber of a philosopher, but of no frigid, academic
recluse; it was the chamber of a man, a human man, who appreciated all
earthly pleasures, appraised them at their proper worth, enjoyed, and
despised them.

There were still some papers and telegrams lying unopened on the table,
but Savrola was tired; they could, or at any rate should wait till the
morning.  He dropped into his chair.  Yes, it had been a long day, and
a gloomy day.  He was a young man, only thirty-two, but already he felt
the effects of work and worry.  His nervous temperament could not fail
to be excited by the vivid scenes through which he had lately passed,
and the repression of his emotion only heated the inward fire.  Was it
worth it?  The struggle, the labour, the constant rush of affairs, the
sacrifice of so many things that make life easy, or pleasant--for what?
A people's good!  That, he could not disguise from himself, was rather
the direction than the cause of his efforts.  Ambition was the motive
force, and he was powerless to resist it.  He could appreciate the
delights of an artist, a life devoted to the search for beauty, or of
sport, the keenest pleasure that leaves no sting behind.  To live in
dreamy quiet and philosophic calm in some beautiful garden, far from
the noise of men and with every diversion that art and intellect could
suggest, was, he felt, a more agreeable picture.  And yet he knew that
he could not endure it.  'Vehement, high, and daring' was his cast of
mind.  The life he lived was the only one he could ever live; he must
go on to the end.  The end comes often early to such men, whose spirits
are so wrought that they know rest only in action, contentment in
danger, and in confusion find their only peace.

His thoughts were interrupted by the entrance of the old woman with a
tray.  He was tired, but the decencies of life had to be observed; he
rose, and passed into the inner room to change his clothes and make his
toilet.  When he returned, the table was laid; the soup he had asked
for had been expanded by the care of his house-keeper into a more
elaborate meal.  She waited on him, plying him the while with questions
and watching his appetite with anxious pleasure.  She had nursed him
from his birth up with a devotion and care which knew no break.  It is
a strange thing, the love of these women.  Perhaps it is the only
disinterested affection in the world.  The mother loves her child; that
is material nature.  The youth loves his sweetheart; that too may be
explained.  The dog loves his master; he feeds him; a man loves his
friend; he has stood by him perhaps at doubtful moments.  In all there
are reasons; but the love of a foster-mother for her charge appears
absolutely irrational.  It is one of the few proofs, not to be
explained even by the association of ideas, that the nature of mankind
is superior to mere utilitarianism, and that his destinies are high.

The light and frugal supper finished, the old woman departed with the
plates, and he fell to his musings again.  Several difficult affairs
impended in the future, about the conduct of which he was doubtful.  He
dismissed them from his mind; why should he be always oppressed with
matters of fact?  What of the night?  He rose, walked to the window,
and drawing the curtains looked out.  The street was very quiet, but in
the distance he thought he heard the tramp of a patrol.  All the houses
were dark and sullen; overhead the stars shone brightly; it was a
perfect night to watch them.

He closed the window and taking a candle walked to a curtained door on
one side of the room; it opened on a narrow, spiral stair which led to
the flat roof.  Most of the houses in Laurania were low, and Savrola
when he reached the leads overlooked the sleeping city.  Lines of
gas-lamps marked the streets and squares, and brighter dots indicated
the positions of the shipping in the harbour.  But he did not long look
at these; he was for the moment weary of men and their works.  A small
glass observatory stood in one corner of this aerial platform, the nose
of the telescope showing through the aperture.  He unlocked the door
and entered.  This was a side of his life that the world never saw; he
was no mathematician intent on discovery or fame, but he loved to watch
the stars for the sake of their mysteries.  By a few manipulations the
telescope was directed at the beautiful planet of Jupiter, at this time
high in the northern sky.  The glass was a powerful one, and the great
planet, surrounded by his attendant moons, glowed with splendour.  The
clock-work gear enabled him to keep it under continual observation as
the earth rolled over with the hours.  Long he watched it, becoming
each moment more under the power of the spell that star-gazing
exercises on curious, inquiring humanity.

At last he rose, his mind still far away from earth.  Molara, Moret,
the Party, the exciting scenes of the day, all seemed misty and unreal;
another world, a world more beautiful, a world of boundless
possibilities, enthralled his imagination.  He thought of the future of
Jupiter, of the incomprehensible periods of time that would elapse
before the cooling process would render life possible on its surface,
of the slow steady march of evolution, merciless, inexorable.  How far
would it carry them, the unborn inhabitants of an embryo world?
Perhaps only to some vague distortion of the vital essence; perhaps
further than he could dream of.  All the problems would be solved, all
the obstacles overcome; life would attain perfect developement.  And
then fancy, overleaping space and time, carried the story to periods
still more remote.  The cooling process would continue; the perfect
developement of life would end in death; the whole solar system, the
whole universe itself, would one day be cold and lifeless as a
burned-out firework.

It was a mournful conclusion.  He locked up the observatory and
descended the stairs, hoping that his dreams would contradict his
thoughts.




CHAPTER IV.

THE DEPUTATION.

It was the President's custom to rise early, but before doing so he
invariably received the newspapers and read such remarks as dealt with
the policy of the Government or criticised its actions.  This morning
his literature was exceptionally plentiful.  All the papers had leading
articles on the restriction of the franchise and the great riot which
had followed its announcement.  He first opened THE HOUR, the organ of
orthodox mediocrity, which usually cautiously supported the Government
in consideration of occasional pieces of news with which it was from
time to time favoured.  In a column and a half of print THE HOUR gently
regretted that the President had been unable to restore the franchises
unimpaired; it thus gratified the bulk of its readers.  In a second
column it expressed its severe disapproval--(_unqualified condemnation_
was the actual term)--of the disgraceful riot which had led to such
_deplorable consequences_; it thus repaid the President for sending
round the text of the English note, which had arrived the night before,
and which it printed _verbatim_ with pomp and circumstance as coming
from Our Special Correspondent in London.

THE COURTIER, the respectable morning journal of the upper classes,
regretted that so unseemly a riot should have taken place at the
beginning of the season, and expressed a hope that it would not in any
way impair the brilliancy of the State Ball which was to take place on
the 7th.  It gave an excellent account of the President's first
ministerial dinner, with the _menu_ duly appended, and it was concerned
to notice that Señor Louvet, Minister of the Interior, had been
suffering from an indisposition which prevented his attending the
function.  THE DIURNAL GUSHER, a paper with an enormous circulation,
refrained from actual comments but published an excellent account of
the _massacre_, to the harrowing details of which it devoted much
fruity sentiment and morbid imagination.

These were practically the organs on which the Government relied for
support, and the President always read them first to fortify himself
against the columns of abuse with which the Radical, Popular, and
Democratic Press saluted him, his Government, and all his works.  The
worst result of an habitual use of strong language is that when a
special occasion really does arise, there is no way of marking it.  THE
FABIAN, THE SUNSPOT, and THE RISING TIDE had already exhausted every
epithet in their extensive vocabularies on other and less important
incidents.  Now that a severe fusilade had been made upon the citizens
and an ancient privilege attacked, they were reduced to comparative
moderation as the only outlet for their feelings.  They had compared
the Head of the State so often and so vividly to Nero and Iscariot,
very much to the advantage of those worthies, that it was difficult to
know how they could deal with him now.  They nevertheless managed to
find a few unused expressions, and made a great point of the
Ministerial dinner as being an instance of his "brutal disregard of the
commonest instincts of humanity."  THE SUNSPOT was thought by its
readers to have been particularly happy in alluding to the ministers
as, "Indulging in a foul orgie of gluttony and dipping their
blood-stained fingers in choice dishes, while the bodies of their
victims lay unburied and unavenged."

Having finished his perusal the President pushed the last paper off the
bed and frowned.  He cared nothing for criticism, but he knew the power
of the Press and he knew that it reflected as well as influenced public
opinion.  There could be no doubt that the balance was rising against
him.

At breakfast he was moody and silent, and Lucile tactfully refrained
from irritating him by the laboured commonplaces of matutinal
conversation.  By nine o'clock he was always at work and this morning
he began earlier than usual.  The Secretary was already at his table
busily writing when Molara entered.  He rose and bowed, a formal bow,
which seemed an assertion of equality rather than a tribute of respect.
The President nodded and walked to his table on which such parts of
correspondence as needed his personal attention were neatly arranged.
He sat down and began to read.  Occasionally he uttered an exclamation
of assent or disapproval, and his pencil was often employed to express
his decisions and opinions.  From time to time Miguel collected the
papers he had thus dealt with and carried them to the inferior
secretaries in the adjoining room, whose duty it was to elaborate into
the stately pomposity of official language such phrases as "Curt
Refusal" "Certainly not" "Apply to War Office" "Gushing Reply" "I do
not agree" "See last year's Report."

Lucile also had letters to read and write.  Having finished these she
determined to take a drive in the park.  For the last few weeks, since,
in fact, they had returned from their summer residence, she had
discontinued what had been in former years her usual practice; but
after the scenes and riots of the day before she felt it her duty to
display a courage which she did not feel.  It might help her husband,
for her beauty was such that an artistic people invariably showed her
respect.  It could at least do no harm, and besides she was weary of
the palace and its gardens.  With this intention her carriage was
ordered and she was about to enter it, when a young man arrived at the
door.  He saluted her gravely.

It was the boast of the citizens of the Republic of Laurania that they
never brought politics into private life or private life into politics.
How far they justified it will appear later.  The present situation had
undoubtedly strained the principle to the full, but civilities were
still exchanged between political antagonists.  Lucile, who had known
the great Democrat as a frequent visitor at her father's house before
the Civil War, and who had always kept up a formal acquaintance with
him, smiled and bowed in return and asked whether he came to see the
President.

"Yes," he replied.  "I have an appointment."

"Public matters I suppose?" she inquired with the suspicion of a smile.

"Yes," he repeated somewhat abruptly.

"How tiresome you all are," she said daringly, "with your public
businesses and solemn looks.  I hear nothing but matters of State from
morning till night, and now, when I fly the palace for an hour's
relaxation, they meet me at the very door."

Savrola smiled.  It was impossible to resist her charm.  The admiration
he had always felt for her beauty and her wit asserted itself in spite
of the watchful and determined state of mind into which he had thrown
himself as a preparation for his interview with the President.  He was
a young man, and Jupiter was not the only planet he admired.  "Your
Excellency," he said, "must acquit me of all intention."

"I do," she answered laughing, "and release you from all further
punishment."

She signed to the coachman and bowing, drove off.

He entered the palace and was ushered by a footman resplendent in the
blue and buff liveries of the Republic, into an ante-room.  A young
officer of the Guard, the Lieutenant who had commanded the escort on
the previous day, received him.  The President would be disengaged in a
few minutes.  The other members of the deputation had not yet arrived;
in the meantime would he take a chair?  The Lieutenant regarded him
dubiously, as one might view some strange animal, harmless enough to
look at, but about whose strength, when roused, there were
extraordinary stories.  He had been brought up in the most correct
regimental ideas: the people (by which he meant the mob) were "swine";
their leaders were the same, with an adjective prefixed; democratic
institutions, Parliament, and such like, were all "rot."  It therefore
appeared that he and Savrola would find few topics in common.  But
besides his good looks and good manners, the young soldier had other
attainments; his men knew him as "all right" and "all there," while the
Lancers of the Guard polo team regarded him as a most promising player.

Savrola, whose business it was to know everything, inquired respecting
the project lately mooted by the Lauranian Cavalry of sending a polo
team to England to compete in the great annual tournament at
Hurlingham.  Lieutenant Tiro (for that was his name) addressed himself
to the subject with delight.  They disputed as to who should be taken
as "back."  The discussion was only interrupted by the entrance of the
Mayor and Renos, and the Subaltern went off to inform the President
that the deputation waited.

"I will see them at once," said Molara; "show them up here."

The deputation were accordingly conducted up the stairs to the
President's private room.  He rose and received them with courtesy.
Godoy stated the grievances of the citizens.  He recalled the protests
they had made against the unconstitutional government of the last five
years, and their delight at the President's promise to call the Estates
together.  He described their bitter disappointment at the restriction
of the franchise, and their keen desire that it should be fully
restored.  He dilated on their indignation at the cruelty with which
the soldiers had shot down unarmed men, and finally declared that, as
Mayor, he could not vouch for their continued loyalty to the President
or their respect for his person.  Renos spoke in the same strain,
dwelling particularly on the legal aspect of the President's late
action, and on the gravity of its effects as a precedent to posterity.

Molara replied at some length.  He pointed out the disturbed state of
the country, and particularly of the capital; he alluded to the
disorders of the late war and the sufferings it had caused to the mass
of the people.  What the State wanted was strong stable government.  As
things became more settled the franchise should be extended until it
would ultimately be completely restored.  In the meanwhile, what was
there to complain about?  Law and order were maintained; the public
service was well administered; the people enjoyed peace and security.
More than that, a vigorous foreign policy held the honour of the
country high.  They should have an instance.

He turned and requested Miguel to read the reply to the English note on
the African Dispute.  The Secretary stood up and read the paper in
question, his soft, purring voice, proving well suited to emphasising
the insults it contained.

"And that, Gentlemen," said the President, when it was finished, "is
addressed to one of the greatest military and naval powers in the
world."

Godoy and Renos were silent.  Their patriotism was roused; their pride
was gratified; but Savrola smiled provokingly.  "It will take more than
despatches," he said, "to keep the English out of the African sphere,
or to reconcile the people of Laurania to your rule."

"And if stronger measures should be necessary," said the President,
"rest assured they will be taken."

"After the events of yesterday we need no such assurance."

The President ignored the taunt.  "I know the English Government," he
continued; "they will not appeal to arms."

"And I," said Savrola, "know the Lauranian people.  I am not so
confident."

There was a long pause.  Both men faced each other, and their eyes met.
It was the look of two swordsmen who engage, and it was the look of two
bitter enemies; they appeared to measure distances and calculate
chances.  Then Savrola turned away, the ghost of a smile still
lingering on his lips; but he had read the President's heart and he
felt as if he had looked into hell.

"It is a matter of opinion, Sir," said Molara at last.

"It will soon be a matter of history."

"Other tales will have to be told before," said the President, and then
with great formality, "I am obliged to you, Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen,
for representing the dangerous elements of disorder which exist among
certain classes of the people.  You may rely on every precaution being
taken to prevent an outbreak.  I beg you will keep me further informed.
Good morning."

The only course open appeared to be the door, and the deputation
withdrew, after Savrola had thanked the President for his audience and
had assured him that he would lose no opportunity of bringing home to
him the hostile attitude of the citizens.  On the way down-stairs they
were met by Lucile, who had returned unexpectedly early from her drive.
She saw by the expression of their faces that a heated discussion had
taken place.  Godoy and Renos she passed unnoticed, but she smiled
merrily at Savrola, as if to convey to him that she was uninterested by
politics and could not understand how people ever managed to get
excited about them.  The smile did not deceive him; he knew too much of
her tastes and talents, but he admired her all the more for her acting.

He walked home.  The interview had not been altogether unsatisfactory.
He had never hoped to convince the President; that indeed was hardly
likely; but they had expressed the views of the people, and Godoy and
Renos had already sent copies of their remarks to the newspapers, so
that the party could not complain of their leaders' inaction at such a
crisis.  He thought he had frightened Molara, if indeed it were
possible to frighten such a man; at any rate he had made him angry.
When he thought of this he was glad.  Why?  He had always hitherto
repressed such unphilosophic and futile emotions so far as possible,
but somehow to-day he felt his dislike of the President was invested
with a darker tinge.  And then his mind reverted to Lucile.  What a
beautiful woman she was!  How full of that instinctive knowledge of
human feelings which is the source of all true wit!  Molara was a lucky
man to have such a wife.  Decidedly he hated him personally, but that,
of course, was on account of his unconstitutional conduct.

When he reached his rooms, Moret was awaiting him, much excited and
evidently angry.  He had written several long letters to his leader,
acquainting him with his unalterable decision to sever all connection
with him and his party; but he had torn them all up, and was now
resolved to tell him in plain words.

Savrola saw his look.  "Ah, Louis," he cried, "I am glad you are here.
How good of you to come!  I have just left the President; he is
recalcitrant; he will not budge an inch.  I need your advice.  What
course shall we adopt?"

"What has happened?" asked the young man, sulkily but curiously.

Savrola related the interview with graphic terseness.  Moret listened
attentively and then said, still with great ill humour, "Physical force
is the only argument he understands.  I am for raising the people."

"Perhaps you are right," said Savrola reflectively, "I am half inclined
to agree with you."

Moret argued his proposition with vigour and earnestness, and never had
his leader seemed so agreeable to the violent measures he proposed.
For half an hour they discussed the point.  Savrola still appeared
unconvinced; he looked at his watch.  "It is past two o'clock," he
said.  "Let us lunch here and thrash the matter out."

They did so.  The luncheon was excellent, and the host's arguments
became more and more convincing.  At last, with the coffee, Moret
admitted that perhaps it was better to wait, and they parted with great
cordiality.




CHAPTER V.

A PRIVATE CONVERSATION.

"That," said the President to his confidential secretary, so soon as
the door had closed on the retiring deputation, "is over, but we shall
have plenty more in the future.  Savrola will most certainly be elected
for the Central Division, and we shall then have the pleasure of
listening to him in the Senate."

"Unless," added Miguel, "anything should happen."

The President, who knew his man well, understood the implication.  "No,
it is no good; we cannot do that.  Fifty years ago it might have been
possible.  People won't stand that sort of thing now-a-days; even the
army might have scruples.  So long as he keeps within the law, I don't
see how we can touch him constitutionally."

"He is a great force, a great force; sometimes, I think, the greatest
in Laurania.  Every day he grows stronger.  Presently the end will
come," said the Secretary slowly and thoughtfully, who, as the partner
of Molara's dangers, no less than of his actions, had a claim to be
heard.  "I think the end is coming," he continued; "perhaps quite
soon--unless----?" he paused.

"I tell you it can't be done.  Any accident that happened would be
attributed to me.  It would mean a revolution here, and close every
asylum abroad."

"There are other ways besides force, physical force."

"None that I can see, and he is a strong man."

"So was Samson, nevertheless the Philistines spoiled him."

"Through a woman.  I don't believe he has ever been in love."

"That is no reason against the future."

"Wanted a Delilah," said the President dryly.  "Perhaps you will find
one for him."

The Secretary's eyes wandered round the room artlessly, and paused for
a moment on a photograph of Lucile.

"How dare you, Sir!  You are a scoundrel!  You have not an ounce of
virtue in you!"

"We have been associated for some time, General."  He always called him
_General_ on these occasions, it reminded the President of various
little incidents which had taken place when they had worked together
during the war.  "Perhaps that is the cause."

"You are impertinent."

"My interests are concerned.  I too have enemies.  You know very well
how much my life would be worth without the protection of the Secret
Police.  I only remember with whom and for whom these things were done."

"Perhaps I am hasty, Miguel, but there is a limit, even between----"
He was going to say _friends_ but Miguel interposed _accomplices_.
"Well," said Molara, "I do not care what you call it.  What is your
proposition?"

"The Philistines," replied Miguel, "spoiled Samson, but Delilah had to
cut his hair first."

"Do you mean that she should implore him to hold his hand?"

"No, I think that would be useless, but if he were compromised----"

"But she, she would not consent.  It would involve her."

"She need not necessarily know.  Another object for making his
acquaintance might be suggested.  It would come as a surprise to her."

"You are a scoundrel--an infernal scoundrel," said the President
quietly.

Miguel smiled, as one who receives a compliment.  "The matter," he
said, "is too serious for the ordinary rules of decency and honour.
Special cases demand special remedies."

"She would never forgive me."

"The forgiveness would rest with you.  Your charity would enable you to
pardon an uncommitted crime.  You have only to play the jealous husband
and own your mistake later on."

"And he?"

"Fancy the great popular leader.  Patriot, Democrat, what not,
discovered fawning to the tyrant's wife!  Why, the impropriety alone
would disgust many.  And more than that,--observe him begging for
mercy, grovelling at the President's feet,--a pretty picture!  It would
ruin him; ridicule alone would kill him."

"It might," said Molara.  The picture pleased him.

"It must.  It is the only chance that I can see, and it need cost you
nothing.  Every woman is secretly flattered by the jealousy of the man
she loves, even if he be her husband."

"How do you know these things?" asked Molara, looking at the ugly
pinched figure and glistening hair of his companion.

"_I_ know," said Miguel with a grin of odious pride.  The suggestion of
his appetites was repulsive.  The President was conscious of disgust.
"Mr. Secretary Miguel," he said with the air of one who has made up his
mind, "I must request you not to speak to me of this matter again.  I
consider it shows less to the advantage of your heart than of your
head."

"I see by Your Excellency's manner that further allusion is
unnecessary."

"Have you the report of the Agricultural Committee for last year?
Good,--please have a _précis_ made of it; I want some facts.  The
country may be kept, even if we lose the capital; that means a good
part of the army."

Thus the subject dropped.  Each understood the other, and behind lay
the spur of danger.

After the President had finished the morning's business, he rose to
leave the room, but before he did so he turned to Miguel and said
abruptly: "It would be a great convenience for us to know what course
the Opposition intends to pursue on the opening of the Senate, would it
not?"

"Assuredly."

"How can we induce Savrola to speak?  He is incorruptible."

"There is another method."

"I tell you physical force is not to be thought of."

"There is another method."

"And that," said the President, "I directed you not to speak of again."

"Precisely," said the Secretary, and resumed his writing.

The garden into which Molara walked was one of the most beautiful and
famous in a country where all vegetation attained luxuriant forms.  The
soil was fertile, the sun hot, and the rains plentiful.  It displayed
an attractive disorder.  The Lauranians were no admirers of that
peculiar taste which finds beauty in the exact arrangement of an equal
number of small trees of symmetrical shape in mathematical designs, or
in the creation of geometrical figures by means of narrow paths with
box-hedges.  They were an unenlightened people, and their gardens
displayed a singular contempt for geometry and precision.  Great blazes
of colour arranged in pleasing contrasts were the lights, and cool
green arbours the shades of their rural pictures.  Their ideal of
gardening was to make every plant grow as freely as if directed by
nature, and to as high perfection as if cultivated by art.  If the
result was not artistic, it was at least beautiful.

The President, however, cared very little for flowers or their
arrangement; he was, he said, too busy a man to have anything to do
with the beauties of colour, harmony, or line.  Neither the tints of
the rose nor the smell of the jasmine awakened in him more than the
rudimentary physical pleasures which are natural and involuntary.  He
liked to have a good flower garden, because it was the right thing to
have, because it enabled him to take people there and talk to them
personally on political matters, and because it was convenient for
afternoon receptions.  But he himself took no interest in it.  The
kitchen garden appealed to him more; his practical soul rejoiced more
in an onion than an orchid.

He was full of thought after his conversation with Miguel, and turned
down the shady path which led to the fountains with long, hasty
strides.  Things were looking desperate.  It was, as Miguel had said, a
question of time, unless,--unless Savrola were removed or discredited.
He refrained from precisely formulating the idea that had taken
possession of his mind.  He had done many things in the rough days of
the war when he was a struggling man, the memory of which was not
pleasant.  He remembered a brother officer, a rising man, the colonel
of a regiment, who had been a formidable rival; at a critical moment he
had withheld the supports, and left it to the enemy to remove one
obstacle from his path.  Then another tale came into his mind which
also was not a pretty one, a tale of a destroyed treaty, and a broken
truce; of men, who had surrendered to terms, shot against the wall of
the fort they had held so long.  He also recalled with annoyance the
methods he had adopted to extract information from the captured spy;
five years of busy life, of success and fortune, had not obscured the
memory of the man's face as it writhed in suffering.  But this new idea
seemed the most odious of all.  He was unscrupulous, but like many men
in history or modern life, he had tried to put away a discreditable
past.  Henceforth, he had said when he obtained power, he would abandon
such methods: they would no longer be necessary; and yet, here was the
need already.  Besides, Lucile was so beautiful; he loved her in his
hard way for that alone; and she was such a consort, so tactful, so
brilliant, that he admired and valued her from a purely official
standpoint.  If she ever knew, she would never forgive him.  She never
should know, but still he hated the idea.

But what other course remained?  He thought of the faces of the crowd
the day before; of Savrola; of the stories which reached him from the
army; of other tales of a darker and more mysterious kind,--tales of
strange federations and secret societies, which suggested murder, as
well as revolution.  The tide was rising; it was dangerous to tarry.

And then the alternative presented itself; flight, abdication, a
squalid existence in some foreign country, despised, insulted,
suspected; and exiles always lived to a great age he had heard.  He
would not think of it; he would die first; nothing but death should
drag him from the palace, and he would fight to the last.  His mind
returned to the starting point of his reflections.  Here was a chance,
the one solution which seemed possible; it was not an agreeable one,
but it was that or none.  He had reached the end of the path and
turning the corner saw Lucile seated by the fountain.  It was a
beautiful picture.

She saw his preoccupied look and rose to meet him.  "What is the
matter, Antonio?  You look worried."

"Things are going wrong with us, my dear.  Savrola, the deputation, the
newspapers, and, above all, the reports I receive of the people, are
ominous and alarming."

"I noticed black looks this morning when I drove.  Do you think there
is danger?"

"I do," he answered in his precise official manner, "grave danger."

"I wish I could help you," she said, "but I am only a woman.  What can
I do?"  He did not answer and she continued: "Señor Savrola is a kind
man.  I used to know him quite well before the war."

"He will ruin us."

"Surely not."

"We shall have to fly the country, if indeed they allow us to do that."

She turned paler.  "But I know what men look like; there is a sympathy
between us; he is no fanatic."

"There are powers behind and beneath him of which he knows little,
which he cannot control, but which he has invoked."

"Can you do nothing?"

"I cannot arrest him; he is too popular, and besides he has broken no
law.  He will go on.  In a fortnight are the elections; he will be
returned in spite of my precautions; then the trouble will begin."  He
paused, and then speaking as if to himself continued: "If we could
learn what he means to do, perhaps we might defeat it."

"Can I not help you?" she asked quickly.  "I know him; I think he likes
me.  He might whisper to me what he would not tell to others."  She
thought of many victories in the past.

"My darling," said Molara, "why should you spoil your life by mixing in
the darker side of politics?  I would not ask you."

"But I want to.  I will try if it would help you."

"It might do much more."

"Very well, I will find out for you; in a fortnight you shall know.  He
must come to the State Ball; I will meet him there."

"I am loth to let you talk to such a man, but I know your wit, and the
need is great.  But will he come?"

"I will write him a note with the invitation," she said, "laugh at
politics and advise him to keep his private life at least free from
them.  I think he will come; if not, I will find some other way of
seeing him."

Molara looked at her with admiration.  At no time did he love her more
than when he realised of what use she was to him.  "I leave it to you,
then.  I fear you will fail, but if you can do it, you may have saved
the State.  If not, no harm will have been done."

"I shall succeed," she answered confidently, and rising from her seat
began to walk towards the house.  She saw from her husband's manner
that he would like to be alone.

He remained seated there for a long time, staring into the water in
which the fat, lazy, gold fish swam placidly.  His face wore the
expression of one who has swallowed some nasty thing.




CHAPTER VI.

ON CONSTITUTIONAL GROUNDS.

The sagacious founders of the Lauranian Republic had recognised the
importance of preserving and promoting the practice of social
civilities between the public men of the State, irrespective of party.
It had therefore long been the custom for the President to give several
official entertainments during the autumn season, to which all the
distinguished characters of either side were invited, and which it was
considered _etiquette_ to attend.  This year feeling ran so high and
relations were so strained that Savrola had decided not to accept, and
had already formally declined the invitation; he was therefore not a
little surprised when he received a second card, and still more when he
read Lucile's note which accompanied it.

He saw she had exposed herself to a rebuff with her eyes open, and
wondered why she had done so.  Of course she counted on her charms.  It
is hard, if not impossible, to snub a beautiful woman; they remain
beautiful and the rebuke recoils.  He might indeed have made political
capital out of so pressing an invitation sent at such a critical time;
but he felt she had judged him well, and knew she was safe at least
from that.  This pleased him.  He was sorry he could not go; but he had
made up his mind, and sat down to write and decline.  Half way through
the letter, he paused; the thought occurred to him, that perhaps she
might stand in need of his help.  He read the letter again and fancied,
though the words did not warrant it, that he detected a note of appeal.
And then he began to look for reasons for changing his mind: the old
established custom; the necessity of showing his followers that for the
present he was in favour of constitutional agitation only; the
opportunity of displaying his confidence in the success of his plans;
in fact, every argument, but the true one, was arrayed against his
determination.

Yes, he would go: the party might object, but he did not care; it was
none of their business, and he was strong enough to face their
displeasure.  These reflections were interrupted by the entrance of
Moret, his face glowing with enthusiasm.

"The Central Division Committee have nominated you unanimously as their
candidate at the elections.  The Dictator's puppet, Tranta, was howled
down.  I have arranged for a public meeting on Thursday night for you
to address.  We are on the crest of the wave!"

"Capital!" said Savrola.  "I had expected to be nominated; our
influence in the capital is supreme.  I am glad of an opportunity of
speaking; I have not had a meeting for some time, and there is a good
deal to talk about just now.  What day did you say you had arranged it
for?"

"Thursday in the City-Hall at eight in the evening," said Moret, who,
though sanguine, was not unbusiness-like.

"Thursday?"

"Yes, you are not engaged anywhere."

"Well," said Savrola speaking slowly and appearing to weigh his words,
"Thursday is the night of the State Ball."

"I know," said Moret, "that was why I arranged it so.  They will feel
they are dancing on a volcano; only a mile from the palace will be the
people, massed, agreed, determined.  Molara will not enjoy his evening;
Louvet will not go; Sorrento will be making arrangements to massacre,
if necessary.  It will spoil the festivities; they will all see the
writing on the wall."

"Thursday will not do, Moret."

"Not do!  Why not?"

"Because I am going to the ball that night," said Savrola deliberately.

Moret gasped.  "What," he cried, "you!"

"Most certainly I shall go.  The ancient customs of the State cannot be
set aside like this.  It is my duty to go; we are fighting for the
Constitution, and we are bound to show our respect for its principles."

"You will accept Molara's hospitality,--enter his house,--eat his food?"

"No," said Savrola; "I shall eat the food provided by the State.  As
you well know, the expenses of these official functions are chargeable
to the public."

"You will talk to him?"

"Certainly, but he will not enjoy it."

"You will insult him, then?"

"My dear Moret, what should make you think that?  I shall be very
civil.  That will frighten him most of all; he will not know what is
impending."

"You cannot go," said Moret decidedly.

"Indeed I am going."

"Think what the Trade-Unions will say."

"I have thought about all these things and have made up my mind," said
Savrola.  "They may say what they like.  It will show them that I do
not intend to discard Constitutional methods for a long time yet.
These people want their enthusiasm cooling from time to time; they take
life too seriously."

"They will accuse you of betraying the cause."

"I have no doubt stupid people will make characteristic remarks, but I
trust none of my friends will bore me by repeating them to me."

"What will Strelitz say?  It will very likely make him cross the
frontier with his followers.  He thinks we are lukewarm, and has been
growing more impatient every week."

"If he comes before we are ready to help, the troops will make short
work of him and his rabble.  But he has definite orders from me and
will, I hope, obey them."

"You are doing wrong, and you know it," said Moret harshly and
savagely; "to say nothing of the contemptible humiliation of cringing
to your enemy."

Savrola smiled at his follower's anger.  "Oh," he said, "I shall not
cringe.  Come, you have not yet seen me do that," and he put his hand
on his companion's arm.  "It is strange, Louis," he continued, "that we
differ in so many things, and yet, if I were in difficulty and doubt,
there is no one to whom I would go sooner than to you.  We squabble
about trifles, but if it were a great matter, your judgment should rule
me, and you know it well."

Moret yielded.  He always yielded to Savrola when he talked like that.
"Well," he said, "when will you speak?"

"Whenever you like."

"Friday, then, the sooner the better."

"Very well; do you make the arrangements; I will find something to say."

"I wish you were not going," said Moret, reverting to his former
objection; "nothing on earth would induce me to go."

"Moret," said Savrola with strange earnestness, "we have settled that;
there are other things to talk about.  I am troubled in my mind.  There
is an undercurrent of agitation, the force of which I cannot gauge.  I
am the acknowledged leader of the party, but sometimes I realise that
there are agencies at work, which I do not control.  That secret
society they call the League is an unknown factor.  I hate that fellow,
that German fellow, Kreutze, Number One as he styles himself.  He is
the source of all the opposition I encounter in the party itself; the
Labour Delegates all seem to be under his influence.  Indeed there are
moments when I think that you and I and Godoy and all who are striving
for the old Constitution, are but the political waves of a social tide
that is flowing we know not whither.  Perhaps I am wrong, but I keep my
eyes open and their evidence makes me thoughtful.  The future is
inscrutable but appalling; you must stand by me.  When I can no longer
restrain and control, I will no longer lead."

"The League is nothing," said Moret, "but a small anarchist group, who
have thrown in their lot, for the present, with us.  You are the
indispensable leader of the party; you have created the agitation, and
it is in your hands to stimulate or allay it.  There are no unknown
forces; you are the motive power."

Savrola walked to the window.  "Look out over the city," he said.  "It
is a great mass of buildings; three hundred thousand people live there.
Consider its size; think of the latent potentialities it contains, and
then look at this small room.  Do you think I am what I am, because I
have changed all those minds, or because I best express their views?
Am I their master or their slave?  Believe me, I have no illusions, nor
need you."

His manner impressed his follower.  It almost seemed to him, as he
watched the city and listened to Savrola's earnest words, that he heard
the roar of a multitude, distant, subdued, but intense as the thunder
of the surf upon a rocky coast when the wind is off the sea.  He did
not reply.  His highly wrought temperament exaggerated every mood and
passion; he always lived in the superlative.  He had no counterpoise of
healthy cynicism.  Now he was very solemn, and bidding Savrola
good-morning, walked slowly down the stairs, swayed by the vibrations
of a powerful imagination which had been stimulated to an extreme.

Savrola lay back in his chair.  His first inclination was to laugh, but
he realised that his mirth would not be entirely at Moret's expense.
He had tried to trick himself as well, but the parts of that subtle
brain were too intimately connected to have secrets from one another.
Still he would not allow them to formulate the true reason of his
change of mind.  It was not so, he said to himself several times, and
even if it were it was of no importance and signified nothing.  He took
a cigarette from his case, and lighting it, watched the coiling rings
of smoke.

How much of what he had said had he believed?  He thought of Moret's
serious face; that was not entirely produced by his influence.  The
young revolutionist had noticed something too, but had feared, or
failed, to reduce his impressions to words.  There was an undercurrent
then; there were many dangers ahead.  Well, he did not care; he was
confident in his own powers.  As the difficulties arose, he would meet
them; when dangers threatened he would overcome them.  Horse, foot, and
artillery, he was a man, a complete entity.  Under any circumstances,
in any situation he knew himself a factor to be reckoned with; whatever
the game, he would play it to his amusement, if not to his advantage.

The smoke of his cigarette curled round his head.  Life,--how unreal,
how barren, and yet, how fascinating!  Fools, calling themselves
philosophers, had tried to bring home the bitter fact to men.  His
philosophy lent itself to a pious fraud--taught him to minimise the
importance of his pains, and to magnify that of his pleasures; made
life delightful and death incidental.  Zeno had shown him how to face
adversity, and Epicurus how to enjoy pleasure.  He basked in the smiles
of fortune, and shrugged his shoulders at the frowns of fate.  His
existence, or series of existences, had been agreeable.  All that he
remembered had been worth living.  If there was a future state, if the
game was to begin again elsewhere, he would take a hand.  He hoped for
immortality, but he contemplated annihilation with composure.
Meanwhile the business of living was an interesting problem.  His
speech,--he had made many and knew that nothing good can be obtained
without effort.  These impromptu feats of oratory existed only in the
minds of the listeners; the flowers of rhetoric were hothouse plants.

What was there to say?  Successive cigarettes had been mechanically
consumed.  Amid the smoke he saw a peroration, which would cut deep
into the hearts of a crowd; a high thought, a fine simile, expressed in
that correct diction which is comprehensible even to the most
illiterate, and appeals to the most simple; something to lift their
minds from the material cares of life and to awake sentiment.  His
ideas began to take the form of words, to group themselves into
sentences; he murmured to himself; the rhythm of his own language
swayed him; instinctively he alliterated.  Ideas succeeded one another,
as a stream flows swiftly by and the light changes on its waters.  He
seized a piece of paper and began hurriedly to pencil notes.  That was
a point; could not tautology accentuate it?  He scribbled down a rough
sentence, scratched it out, polished it, and wrote it in again.  The
sound would please their ears, the sense improve and stimulate their
minds.  What a game it was!  His brain contained the cards he had to
play, the world the stakes he played for.

As he worked, the hours passed away.  The housekeeper entering with his
luncheon found him silent and busy; she had seen him thus before and
did not venture to interrupt him.  The untasted food grew cold upon the
table, as the hands of the clock moved slowly round marking the
measured tread of time.  Presently he rose, and, completely under the
influence of his own thoughts and language, began to pace the room with
short rapid strides, speaking to himself in a low voice and with great
emphasis.  Suddenly he stopped, and with a strange violence his hand
descended on the table.  It was the end of the speech.

The noise recalled him to the commonplaces of life.  He was hungry and
tired, and with a laugh at his own enthusiasm sat down at the table and
began his neglected luncheon.

A dozen sheets of note paper, covered with phrases, facts, and figures,
were the result of the morning's work.  They lay pinned together on the
table, harmless insignificant pieces of paper; and yet Antonio Molara,
President of the Republic of Laurania, would have feared a bombshell
less.  Nor would he have been either a fool or a coward.




CHAPTER VII.

THE STATE BALL.

The palace of Laurania was admirably suited to the discharge of the
social ceremonies of the State.  The lavish expenditure on public
entertainments, which the constitutional practice encouraged, allowed
the hospitalities of the Republic to be extended upon the most
magnificent scale.  The opening State Ball of the season was in many
ways the most important of these affairs.  It was at this function that
the great men of both parties met, for the first time after the summer
heats, before the autumn session, and the brilliant society of the
capital reunited after their absence in their country and mountain
villas.  Taste, elegance, and magnificence were equally displayed.  The
finest music, the best champagne, the most diverse, yet select, company
were among the attractions of the evening.  The spacious courtyard of
the palace was completely covered by a gigantic awning.  Rows of the
Infantry of the Guard lined the approaches, and with their bright steel
bayonets increased the splendour and the security of the occasion.  The
well-lit streets were crowded with the curious populace.  The great
hall of the palace, at all times imposing and magnificent, displayed a
greater pomp when filled with a gaily dressed company.

At the head of the stairs stood the President and his wife, he
resplendent in his orders and medals, she in her matchless beauty.  As
the guests ascended, an aide-de-camp, a gorgeous thing in crimson and
gold, inquired their names and styles and announced them.  Many and
various was the company; every capital in Europe, every country in the
world, was represented.

The guest of the evening was the King of Ethiopia, a mass of silk and
jewels framing a black but vivacious face.  He came early,--unwisely
as, had he come later, there would have been a better audience to watch
his arrival; however, to his untutored mind perhaps this was a matter
of little importance.

The Diplomatic Corps followed in a long succession.  Coach after coach
drew up at the entrance and discharged its burden of polite astuteness,
clothed in every conceivable combination of gold and colour.  Arrived
at the top of the stairs, the Russian Ambassador, grey but gallant,
paused and, bowing with a stately courtesy, kissed the hand Lucile
extended.

"The scene is an appropriate setting to a peerless diamond," he
murmured.

"Would it sparkle as brightly in the Winter Palace?" inquired Lucile
lightly.

"Assuredly the frosty nights of Russia would intensify its brilliancy."

"Among so many others it would be lost."

"Among all others it would be unrivalled and alone."

"Ah," she said, "I hate publicity, and as for solitude, frosty
solitude, the thought of it alone makes me shiver."

She laughed.  The diplomatist threw her a look of admiration, and
stepping into the crowd, that already blocked the head of the stairs,
received and returned the congratulations of his numerous friends.

"Madame Tranta," said the aide-de-camp.

"I am so glad to see you," said Lucile.  "What a pity your daughter
could not come; it has been a great disappointment to many."

The ugly old woman thus addressed beamed with delight, and moving up
the stairs pushed her way to the marble balustrade of the balcony.  She
watched the later arrivals, and commented freely to her acquaintance on
their dresses and deportments; she also gave a little information about
each one, which would have been ill-natured even had it not been
untrue; but though she told her friends many things, she did not
mention that she had had to make Tranta write and threaten to desert
the President's party unless she was asked to the ball, and that even
this had failed to procure an invitation for her daughter, an
unfortunate girl who added a bad complexion to the family features.

Louvet came next, looking anxiously at the crowd of faces which gazed
from the landing, and imagining bombs and daggers at every step.  He
regarded Lucile with apprehension, but her smile seemed to give him
courage and he mingled with the throng.

Then Sir Richard Shalgrove, the British Ambassador, whose genial and
cheery face displayed an innocence which contrasted with his
reputation, advanced to make his bow.  The strained relations between
Laurania and Great Britain seemed to disappear in that comprehensive
salutation.  Lucile engaged him for a moment in conversation; she
pretended to know little or nothing.  "And when," she asked merrily,
"do we declare war?"

"Not until after I have had the pleasure of the third waltz, I hope,"
said the Ambassador.

"How annoying!  I wanted so much to dance it with you."

"And you will not?" he asked in great concern.

"Dare I plunge two nations into war for the sake of a waltz?"

"Had you my inducement you would not hesitate," he replied gallantly.

"What, to precipitate hostilities!  What have we done?  What is your
great inducement to fight?"

"Not to fight,--to dance," said Sir Richard with a little less than his
usual assurance.

"For a diplomatist you are indeed explicit.  While you are in so good a
mood, tell me what has happened; is there danger?"

"Danger?  No--how could there be?"  He selected a formula: "Between
traditionally friendly powers arbitration settles all disputes."

"You realise," she said earnestly and with an entire change of manner,
"that we have to consider the political situation here?  A strong
despatch improves the position of the Government."

"I have felt all through," said the Ambassador uncompromisingly, "that
there was no danger."  He did not however mention that H.M. battleship
_Aggressor_ (12,000 tons displacement and 14,000 horse power, armed
with four 11-inch guns) was steaming eighteen knots an hour towards the
African port of the Lauranian Republic, or that he himself had been
busy all the afternoon with cipher telegrams relating to ships, stores,
and military movements.  He thought that would be only boring her with
purely technical details.

While this conversation had been taking place, the stream of people had
passed continuously up the stairs, and the throng on the wide balcony
that ran round the entire hall had become dense.  The wonderful band
was almost drowned by the hum of conversation; the perfect floor of the
ball-room was only occupied by a few young couples whose own affairs
absorbed their minds and excluded all other interests.  A feeling of
expectancy pervaded the hall; the rumour that Savrola would come had
spread far and wide throughout Laurania.

Suddenly everyone became hushed, and above the strains of the band the
distant sound of shouting was heard.  Louder and louder it swelled,
swiftly approaching until it was at the very gate; then it died away,
and there was a silence through the hall filled only by the music.  Had
he been hooted or cheered?  The sound had seemed strangely ambiguous;
men were prepared to wager about it; his face would tell them the
answer.

The swing-doors opened and Savrola entered.  All eyes were turned on
him, but his face showed them nothing, and the bets remained undecided.
As he leisurely ascended the stairs, his eye travelled with interest
round the crowded galleries and the brilliant throng who lined them.
No decorations, no orders, no star relieved the plain evening dress he
wore.  Amid that blaze of colour, that multitude of gorgeous uniforms,
he appeared a sombre figure; but, like the Iron Duke in Paris, he
looked the leader of them all, calm, confident, and composed.

The President walked down a few steps to meet his distinguished guest.
Both bowed with grave dignity.

"I am glad you have come, Sir," said Molara; "it is in harmony with the
traditions of the State."

"Duty and inclination combined to point the way," answered Savrola with
a smile marked by a suggestion of irony.

"You had no difficulty with the crowd?" suggested the President acidly.

"Oh, no difficulty, but they take politics a little seriously; they
disapproved of my coming to your palace."

"You are right to come," said Molara.  "Now we who are engaged in
matters of State know what these things are worth; men of the world do
not get excited over public affairs, nor do gentlemen fight with
bludgeons."

"I prefer swords," said Savrola reflectively.  He had reached the head
of the stairs and Lucile stood before him.  What a queen she looked,
how peerless and incomparable among all women!  The fine tiara she wore
suggested sovereignty, and democrat as he was, he bowed to that alone.
She held out her hand; he took it with reverence and courtesy, but the
contact thrilled him.

The President selected a fat but famous woman from the aristocracy of
Laurania, and led the way into the ball-room.  Savrola did not dance;
there were some amusements which his philosophy taught him to despise.
Lucile was captured by the Russian Ambassador, and he remained a
spectator.

Lieutenant Tiro saw him thus alone and approached him, wishing to
finish their discussion about the "back" of the polo team, which had
been interrupted the week before.  Savrola received him with a smile;
he liked the young soldier, as indeed did everyone.  Tiro was full of
arguments; he was in favour of a strong heavy player who should lie
back in the game and take no chances.  Savrola, having remarked on the
importance of the Lauranian Army being properly represented in an
international contest, favoured a light weight, playing right up to his
forwards and ready to take the ball on himself at any moment.  It was
an animated discussion.

"Where have you played?" asked the Subaltern, surprised at his
knowledge.

"I have never played the game," answered Savrola; "but I have always
thought it a good training for military officers."

The subject was changed.

"Explain to me," said the great Democrat, "what all these different
orders are.  What is that blue one that Sir Richard, the British
Ambassador, is wearing?"

"That is the Garter," replied the Subaltern; "the most honourable order
in England."

"Really, and what is this that you are wearing?"

"I!  Oh, that's the African medal.  I was out there in '86 and '87, you
know."  As Savrola had anticipated, he was intensely pleased at being
asked.

"It must have been a strange experience for you, who are so young."

"It was damned good fun," said the Subaltern with decision.  "I was at
Langi Tal.  My squadron had a five-mile pursuit.  The lance is a
beautiful weapon.  The English in India have a sport called
pig-sticking; I have never tried it, but I know a better."

"Well, you may have another chance soon.  We seem to be getting into
difficulties with the British Government."

"Do you think there is any chance of war?" asked the boy eagerly.

"Well, of course," said Savrola, "a war would distract the attention of
the people from internal agitation and the Reform movement.  The
President is a clever man.  There might be war.  I should not care to
prophesy; but do you wish for it?"

"Certainly I do; it is my profession.  I am sick of being a lap-dog in
this palace; I long for the camp and the saddle again.  Besides, these
English will be worth fighting; they will give us a gallop all right.
There was one of their officers with me at Langi Tal, a subaltern; he
came as a spectator searching for adventure."

"What happened to him?"

"Well, you know, we pursued the enemy all the way to the hills and
played the devil with them.  As we were galloping along, he saw a lot
making off towards a wood, and wanted to cut them off.  I said there
wasn't time; he laid me six to four there was, so I sent a troop,--I
was in command of the squadron that day--you know.  He went with them
and showed them the way straight enough,--but I bore you?"

"On the contrary, I am greatly interested; what then?"

"He was wrong; the enemy got to the wood first and picked him off in
the open.  Our fellows brought him back, shot through the big artery of
the leg; that doesn't take long, you know.  All he said was: 'Well,
you've won, but how the deuce you'll get paid, I can't think.  Ask my
brother,--Royal Lancers.'"

"And then?" asked Savrola.

"Well, I couldn't find the artery to compress it, and none of the
doctors were about.  He died,--a gallant fellow!"

The Subaltern paused, rather ashamed at having talked so much about his
military adventures.  Savrola felt as if he had looked into a new
world, a world of ardent, reckless, warlike youth.  He was himself
young enough to feel a certain jealousy.  This boy had seen what he had
not; he possessed an experience which taught him lessons Savrola had
never learned.  Their lives had been different; but one day perhaps he
would open this strange book of war, and by the vivid light of personal
danger read the lessons it contained.

Meanwhile the dances had succeeded each other and the night was
passing.  The King of Ethiopia, horrified at the low dresses of the
unveiled women and dreading the prospect of eating with odious white
people, had taken his departure.  The President, approaching Savrola,
invited him to take his wife down to supper; a procession was formed;
he offered Lucile his arm and they descended the stairs.  The supper
was excellent: the champagne was dry and the quails fat.  A profusion
of rare and beautiful orchids covered the table; Savrola's surroundings
were agreeable, and he sat next the most beautiful woman in Laurania,
who, though he did not know it, was exerting herself to captivate him.
At first they talked amusing frivolities.  The President, whose manners
were refined, showed himself a pleasant companion and an accomplished
talker.  Savrola, who delighted in sparkling conversation, found it
difficult to keep to the part of a purely official visitor which he had
determined to observe.  The influence of wit, wine, and beauty were
combined to break his reserve; before he knew it, he had joined in a
discussion, one of those half cynical, half serious discussions which
are characteristic of an age which inquires because it doubts, and
doubts the more because it has inquired.

The Russian Ambassador had said that he worshipped beauty, and had told
his partner, the youthful Countess of Ferrol, that he regarded taking
her into dinner as a religious observance.

"I suppose that means you are bored," she replied.

"By no means; in my religion the ceremonies are never dull; that is one
of the principal advantages I claim for it."

"There are few others," said Molara; "you devote yourself to an idol of
your own creation.  If you worship beauty, your goddess stands on no
surer pedestal than human caprice.  Is it not so, Princess?"

The Princess of Tarentum, who was on the President's right, replied
that even that foundation was more secure than that on which many
beliefs repose.

"You mean that in your own case human caprice has been sufficiently
constant?  I can well believe it."

"No," she said; "I only mean that the love of beauty is common to all
human beings."

"To all living things," corrected Savrola.  "It is the love of the
plant that produces the flower."

"Ah," said the President, "but, though the love of beauty may be
constant, beauty itself may change.  Look how everything changes: the
beauty of one age is not the beauty of the next; what is admired in
Africa is hideous in Europe.  It is all a matter of opinion, local
opinion.  Your goddess, Monsieur, has as many shapes as Proteus."

"I like change," said the Ambassador.  "I regard variability of form as
a decided advantage in a goddess.  I do not care how many shapes I look
at, so long as all are beautiful."

"But," interposed Lucile, "you make no distinction between what is
beautiful and what we think is beautiful."

"There is none," said the President.

"In Her Excellency's case there would be none," interposed the
Ambassador politely.

"What is beauty," said Molara, "but what we choose to admire?"

"Do we choose?  Have we the power?" asked Savrola.

"Certainly," answered the President; "and every year we alter our
decisions; every year the fashion changes.  Ask the ladies.  Look at
the fashions of thirty years ago; they were thought becoming then.
Observe the different styles of painting that have succeeded each
other, or of poetry, or of music.  Besides, Monsieur de Stranoff's
goddess, though beautiful to him, might not be so to another."

"I regard that also as a real advantage; you make me more enamoured
with my religion each moment.  I do not worship my ideals for the
_reclamé_," said the Ambassador with a smile.

"You look at the question from a material point of view."

"Material rather than moral," said Lady Ferrol.

"But in the spirit-worship of my goddess the immorality is immaterial.
Besides, if you say that our tastes are always changing, it seems to me
that constancy is the essence of my religion."

"That is a paradox which we shall make you explain," said Molara.

"Well, you say I change each day, and my goddess changes too.  To-day I
admire one standard of beauty, to-morrow another, but when to-morrow
comes I am no longer the same person.  The molecular structure of my
brain is altered; my ideas have changed; my old self has perished,
loving its own ideal; the renovated _ego_ starts life with a new one.
It is all a case of wedded till death."

"You are not going to declare that constancy is a series of changes?
You may as well assert that motion is a succession of halts."

"I am true to the fancy of the hour."

"You express my views in other words.  Beauty depends on human caprice,
and changes with the times."

"Look at that statue," said Savrola suddenly, indicating a magnificent
marble figure of Diana which stood in the middle of the room surrounded
by ferns.  "More than two thousand years have passed since men called
that beautiful.  Do we deny it now?"  There was no answer and he
continued: "That is true beauty of line and form, which is eternal.
The other things you have mentioned, fashions, styles, fancies, are but
the unsuccessful efforts we make to attain to it.  Men call such
efforts art.  Art is to beauty what honour is to honesty, an unnatural
allotropic form.  Art and honour belong to gentlemen; beauty and
honesty are good enough for men."

There was a pause.  It was impossible to mistake the democratic tone;
his earnestness impressed them.  Molara looked uneasy.  The Ambassador
came to the rescue.

"Well, I shall continue to worship the goddess of beauty, whether she
be constant or variable"--he looked at the Countess; "and to show my
devotion I shall offer up a waltz in that sacred fane, the ball-room."

He pushed his chair back, and, stooping, picked up his partner's glove,
which had fallen to the floor.  Everyone rose, and the party separated.
As Savrola walked back to the hall with Lucile, they passed an open
doorway leading to the garden.  A multitude of fairy lights marked out
the flower-beds or hung in festoons from the trees.  The paths were
carpeted with red cloth; a cool breeze fanned their faces.  Lucile
paused.

"It is a lovely night."

The invitation was plain.  She had wanted to speak to him, then, after
all.  How right he was to come,--on constitutional grounds.

"Shall we go out?" he said.

She consented, and they stepped on to the terrace.




CHAPTER VIII.

"IN THE STARLIGHT."

The night was very still.  The soft breeze was not strong enough to
stir even the slender palms which rose on all sides, and whose
outlines, above the surrounding foliage, framed the starlit sky.  The
palace stood on high ground, and the garden sloped on the western side
towards the sea.  At the end of the terrace was a stone seat.

"Let us sit here," said Lucile.

They sat down.  The dreamy music of a waltz floated down as a distant
accompaniment to their thoughts.  The windows of the palace blazed with
light and suggested glitter, glare, and heat; in the garden all was
quiet and cool.

"Why do you sneer at honour?" asked Lucile, thinking of the interrupted
conversation.

"Because it has no true foundation, no ultra-human sanction.  Its codes
are constantly changing with times and places.  At one time it is
thought more honourable to kill the man you have wronged than to make
amends; at another it is more important to pay a bookmaker than a
butcher.  Like art it changes with human caprice, and like art it comes
from opulence and luxury."

"But why do you claim a higher origin for beauty and honesty?"

"Because, wherever I have looked, I see that all things are perpetually
referred to an eternal standard of fitness, and that right triumphs
over wrong, truth over falsehood, beauty over ugliness.  _Fitness_ is
the general expression!  Judged by this standard art and honour have
little value."

"But are these things so?" she asked wonderingly.  "Surely there are
many exceptions?"

"Nature never considers the individual; she only looks at the average
fitness of the species.  Consider the statistics of mortality.  How
exact they are: they give to a month the expectation of life to men;
and yet they tell a man nothing.  We cannot say that a good man will
always overcome a knave; but the evolutionist will not hesitate to
affirm that the nation with the highest ideals would succeed."

"Unless," said Lucile, "some other nation with lower ideals, but
stronger arms, intervenes."

"Well, even then might is a form of fitness; I think a low form, but
still physical force contains the elements of human progress.  This is
only the instance; we must enlarge our view.  Nature does not consider
the individual species.  All we will now assert is that organisms
imbued with moral fitness would ultimately rise above those whose
virtue is physical.  How many times has civilisation, by which I mean a
state of society where moral force begins to escape from the tyranny of
physical forces, climbed the ladder of Progress and been dragged down?
Perhaps many hundred times in this world alone.  But the motive power,
the upward tendency, was constant.  Evolution does not say 'always,'
but 'ultimately.'  Well, ultimately civilisation has climbed up beyond
the reach of barbarism.  The higher ideals have reached the surface by
superior buoyancy."

"Why do you assume that this triumph is permanent?  How do you know
that it will not be reversed, as all others have been?"

"Because we have got might on our side, as well as moral ascendancy."

"Perhaps the Romans in the summit of their power thought that too?"

"Very likely, but without reason.  They had only their swords to fall
back upon as an ultimate appeal; and when they became effete they could
no longer wield them."

"And modern civilisation?"

"Ah, we have other weapons.  When we have degenerated, as we must
eventually degenerate, when we have lost our intrinsic superiority, and
other races, according to the natural law, advance to take our place,
we shall fall back upon these weapons.  Our morals will be gone, but
our Maxims will remain.  The effete and trembling European will sweep
from the earth by scientific machinery the valiant savages who assail
him."

"Is that the triumph of moral superiority?"

"At first it would be, for the virtues of civilisation are of a higher
type than those of barbarism.  Kindness is better than courage, and
charity more than strength.  But ultimately the dominant race will
degenerate, and as there will be none to take its place, the
degeneration must continue.  It is the old struggle between vitality
and decay, between energy and indolence; a struggle that always ends in
silence.  After all, we could not expect human developement to be
constant.  It is only a question of time before the planet becomes
unfitted to support life on its surface."

"But you said that fitness must ultimately triumph."

"Over relative unfitness, yes.  But decay will involve all, victors and
vanquished.  The fire of life will die out, the spirit of vitality
become extinct."

"In this world perhaps."

"In every world.  All the universe is cooling--dying, that is,--and as
it cools, life for a spell becomes possible on the surface of its
spheres, and plays strange antics.  And then the end comes; the
universe dies and is sepulchred in the cold darkness of ultimate
negation."

"To what purpose then are all our efforts?"

"God knows," said Savrola cynically; "but I can imagine that the drama
would not be an uninteresting one to watch."

"And yet you believe in an ultra-human foundation, an eternal ideal for
such things as beauty and virtue."

"I believe that the superiority of fitness over relative unfitness is
one of the great laws of matter.  I include all kinds of
fitness,--moral, physical, mathematical."

"Mathematical!"

"Certainly; words only exist by conforming to correct mathematical
principles.  That is one of the great proofs we have that mathematics
have been discovered, not invented.  The planets observe a regular
progression in their distances from the sun.  Evolution suggests that
those that did not observe such principles were destroyed by collisions
and amalgamated with others.  It is a universal survival of the
fittest."  She was silent.  He continued: "Now let us say that in the
beginning there existed two factors, matter animated by the will to
live, and the eternal ideal; the great author and the great critic.  It
is to the interplay and counter-action of these two that all
developement, that all forms of life are due.  The more the expression
of the will to live approximates to the eternal standard of fitness,
the better it succeeds."

"I would add a third," she said; "a great Being to instil into all
forms of life the desire to attain to the ideal; to teach them in what
ways they may succeed."

"It is pleasant," he replied, "to think that such a Being exists to
approve our victories, to cheer our struggles, and to light our way;
but it is not scientifically or logically necessary to assume one after
the two factors I have spoken of are once at work."

"Surely the knowledge that such an ultra-human ideal existed must have
been given from without."

"No; that instinct which we call conscience was derived as all other
knowledge from experience."

"How could it be?"

"I think of it in this way.  When the human race was emerging from the
darkness of its origin and half animal, half human creatures trod the
earth, there was no idea of justice, honesty, or virtue, only the
motive power which we may call the 'will to live.'  Then perhaps it was
a minor peculiarity of some of these early ancestors of man to combine
in twos and threes for their mutual protection.  The first alliance was
made; the combinations prospered where the isolated individuals failed.
The faculty of combination appeared to be an element of fitness.  By
natural selection only the combinations survived.  Thus man became a
social animal.  Gradually the little societies became larger ones.
From families to tribes, and from tribes to nations the species
advanced, always finding that the better they combined, the better they
succeeded.  Now on what did this system of alliance depend?  It
depended on the members keeping faith with each other, on the practice
of honesty, justice, and the rest of the virtues.  Only those beings in
whom such faculties were present were able to combine, and thus only
the relatively honest men were preserved.  The process repeated itself
countless times during untold ages.  At every step the race advanced,
and at every step the realisation of the cause increased.  Honesty and
justice are bound up in our compositions and form an inseparable part
of our natures.  It is only with difficulty that we repress such
awkward inclinations."

"You do not then believe in God?"

"I never said that," said Savrola.  "I am only discussing the question
of our existence from one standpoint, that of reason.  There are many
who think that reason and faith, science and religion, must be
everlastingly separated, and that if one be admitted the other must be
denied.  Perhaps it is because we see so short a span, that we think
that their lines are parallel and never touch each other.  I always
cherish the hope that somewhere in the perspective of the future there
may be a vanishing point where all lines of human aspiration will
ultimately meet."

"And you believe all this that you have said?"

"No," he answered, "there is no faith in disbelief, whatever the poets
have said.  Before we can solve the problems of existence we must
establish the fact that we exist at all.  It is a strange riddle, is it
not?"

"We shall learn the answer when we die."

"If I thought that," said Savrola, "I should kill myself to-night out
of irresistible curiosity."

He paused, and looked up at the stars, which shone so brightly
overhead.  She followed his gaze.  "You like the stars?" she asked.

"I love them," he replied; "they are very beautiful."

"Perhaps your fate is written there."

"I have always admired the audacity of man in thinking that a Supreme
Power should placard the skies with the details of his squalid future,
and that his marriage, his misfortunes, and his crimes should be
written in letters of suns on the background of limitless space.  We
are consequential atoms."

"You think we are of no importance?"

"Life is very cheap.  Nature has no exaggerated idea of its value.  I
realise my own insignificance, but I am a philosophic microbe, and it
rather adds to my amusement than otherwise.  Insignificant or not, I
like living, it is good to think of the future."

"Ah," said Lucile impetuously, "whither are you hurrying us in the
future,--to revolution?"

"Perhaps," said Savrola calmly.

"You are prepared to plunge the country in a civil war?"

"Well, I hope it will not come to that extreme.  Probably there will be
some street-fighting and some people will be killed, but----"

"But why should you drive them like this?"

"I discharge a duty to the human species in breaking down a military
despotism.  I do not like to see a Government supported only by
bayonets; it is an anachronism."

"The Government is just and firm; it maintains law and order.  Why
should you assail it merely because it does not harmonise with your
theories?"

"My theories!" said Savrola.  "Is that the name you give to the lines
of soldiers with loaded rifles that guard this palace, or to the
Lancers I saw spearing the people in the square a week ago?"

His voice had grown strangely vehement and his manner thrilled her.
"You will ruin us," she said weakly.

"No," he replied with his grand air, "you can never be ruined.  Your
brilliancy and beauty will always make you the luckiest of women, and
your husband the luckiest of men."

His great soul was above the suspicion of presumption.  She looked up
at him, smiled quickly, and impulsively held out her hand.  "We are on
opposite sides, but we will fight under the rules of war.  I hope we
shall remain friends even though----"

"We are officially enemies," said Savrola, completing the sentence, and
taking her hand in his he bowed and kissed it.  After that they were
both very silent, and walking along the terrace re-entered the palace.
Most of the guests had already gone, and Savrola did not ascend the
stairs, but passing through the swing-doors took his departure.  Lucile
walked up to the ball-room in which a few youthful and indefatigable
couples were still circling.  Molara met her.  "My dear," he said,
"where have you been all this time?"

"In the garden," she replied.

"With Savrola?"

"Yes."

The President repressed a feeling of satisfaction.  "Did he tell you
anything?" he asked.

"Nothing," she answered, remembering for the first time the object with
which she had sought the interview; "I must see him again."

"You will continue to try and find out his political intentions?"
inquired Molara anxiously.

"I shall see him again," she replied.

"I trust to your wit," said the President; "you can do it, if anyone
can, my dearest."

The last dance came to an end and the last guest departed.  Very weary
and thoughtful Lucile retired to her room.  Her conversation with
Savrola filled her mind; his earnestness, his enthusiasm, his hopes,
his beliefs, or, rather, his disbeliefs, all passed again in review
before her.  What a great man he was!  Was it wonderful the people
followed him?  She would like to hear him speak to-morrow.

Her maid came in to assist her to undress.  She had looked from an
upper balcony and had seen Savrola.  "Was that," she asked her mistress
curiously, "the great Agitator?"  Her brother was going to hear him
make his speech to-morrow.

"Is he going to make a speech to-morrow?" asked Lucile.

"So my brother says," said the maid; "he says that he is going to give
them such a dressing down they will never forget it."  The maid paid
great attention to her brother's words.  There was much sympathy
between them; in fact she only called him her brother because it
sounded better.

Lucile took up the evening paper which lay on the bed.  There on the
first page was the announcement, the great meeting would take place at
the City-Hall at eight the next evening.  She dismissed the maid and
walked to the window.  The silent city lay before her; to-morrow the
man she had talked with would convulse that city with excitement.  She
would go and hear him; women went to these meetings; why should she not
go, closely veiled?  After all it would enable her to learn something
of his character and she could thus better assist her husband.  With
this reflection, which was extremely comforting, she went to bed.

The President was going up-stairs, when Miguel met him.  "More
business?" he asked wearily.

"No," said the Secretary; "things are going on very well."

Molara looked at him with quick annoyance; but Miguel's face remained
impassive, so he simply replied, "I am glad of that," and passed on.




CHAPTER IX.

THE ADMIRAL.

The disapproval which Moret had expressed at Savrola's determination to
go to the State Ball was amply justified by the result.  Every paper,
except those actually controlled by the party organisation, commented
severely or contemptuously on his action.  THE HOUR alluded to the
groans with which the crowd had received him, as marking the decline of
his influence with the masses and the break-up of the Revolutionary
party.  It also reminded its readers that social distinction was always
the highest ambition of the Demagogue, and declared that, by accepting
the President's invitation, Savrola had revealed "his sordid personal
aims."  The other Government organs expressed a similar opinion in an
even more offensive manner.  "These agitators," said THE COURTIER,
"have at all times in the history of the world hankered after titles
and honours, and the prospect of mixing with persons of rank and
fashion has once again proved irresistible to an austere and unbending
son of the people."  This superior vulgarity, though more unpleasant,
was less dangerous than the grave and serious warnings and protests
which the Democratic journals contained.  THE RISING TIDE said plainly
that, if this sort of thing continued, the Popular party would have to
find another leader, "One who did not cringe to power nor seek to
ingratiate himself with fashion."

Savrola read these criticisms with disdain.  He had recognised the fact
that such things would be said, and had deliberately exposed himself to
them.  He knew he had been unwise to go: he had known that from the
first; and yet somehow he did not regret his mistake.  After all, why
should his party dictate to him how he should rule his private life?
He would never resign his right to go where he pleased.  In this case
he had followed his own inclination, and the odium which had been cast
upon him was the price he was prepared to pay.  When he thought of his
conversation in the garden, he did not feel that he had made a bad
bargain.  The damage however must be repaired.  He looked over the
notes of his speech again, polished his sentences, considered his
points, collected his arguments, and made some additions which he
thought appropriate to the altered state of public feeling.

In this occupation the morning passed.  Moret came in to luncheon.  He
refrained from actually saying "I told you so," but his looks showed
that he felt his judgment was for the future established on unshakable
foundations.  His was a character easily elated or depressed.  Now he
was gloomy and despondent, regarding the cause as already lost.  Only a
forlorn hope remained; Savrola might express his regret at the meeting,
and appeal to the people to remember his former services.  He suggested
this to his leader, who laughed merrily at the idea.  "My dear Louis,"
he said, "I shall do nothing of the sort.  I will never resign my own
independence; I shall always go where I like and do what I like, and if
they are not pleased, they can find someone else to discharge their
public business."  Moret shuddered.  Savrola continued: "I shall not
actually tell them so, but my manner will show them that I fear their
reproaches as little as Molara's enmity."

"Perhaps they will not listen; I hear reports that there will be some
hostility."

"Oh, I shall make them listen.  There may be some howling at first, but
they will change their note before I have gone very far."

His confidence was contagious.  Moret's spirits revived under its
influence and that of a bottle of excellent claret.  Like Napoleon the
Third, he felt that all might yet be regained.

Meanwhile the President was extremely well satisfied with the first
result of his schemes.  He had not foreseen that Savrola's acceptance
of the invitation to the ball would involve him in so much
unpopularity, and, although it was a poor compliment to himself, it was
an unexpected advantage.  Besides, as Miguel had remarked, everything
was going on very well in other directions.  He had hardened his heart
and dismissed his scruples; stern, bitter necessity had thrust him on
an unpleasant course, but now that he had started he was determined to
go on.  In the meantime affairs pressed on all sides.  The British
Government were displaying an attitude of resolution on the African
Question.  His violent despatch had not settled the matter, as he had
hoped and even anticipated; it had become necessary to supplement his
words by actions.  The African port must not be left undefended; the
fleet must go there at once.  It was not a moment when he could well
afford to be without the five ships of war whose presence in the
harbour overawed many of the discontented; but he felt that a vigorous
foreign policy would be popular, or at least sufficiently interesting
to keep the public mind from domestic agitation.  He also knew that a
disaster abroad would precipitate a revolution at home.  It was
necessary to be very careful.  He recognised the power and resources of
Great Britain; he had no illusions on the subject of the comparative
weakness of Laurania.  In that indeed lay their only strength.  The
British Government would do all in their power to avoid fighting
(bullying, polite Europe would call it) so small a State.  It was a
game of bluff; the further he could go, the better for the situation at
home, but one step too far meant ruin.  It was a delicate game to play,
and it taxed to the utmost the energies and talents of a strong, able
man.

"The Admiral is here, Your Excellency," said Miguel entering the room,
followed immediately by a short, red-faced man in naval uniform.

"Good-morning, my dear de Mello," cried the President, rising and
shaking the newcomer's hand with great cordiality.  "I have got some
sailing-orders for you at last."

"Well," said de Mello bluntly, "I am sick of lying up waiting for your
agitators to rise."

"There is work of a difficult and exciting nature before you.  Where's
that translation of the cipher telegram, Miguel?  Ah, thank you,--look
here, Admiral."

The sailor read the paper, and whistled significantly.  "It may go
further than you wish, Molara, this time," he said unceremoniously.

"I shall place the matter in your hands; you will be able to save this
situation, as you have saved so many others."

"Where did this come from?" asked de Mello.

"From French sources."

"She is a powerful ship, the _Aggressor_,--latest design, newest guns,
in fact all the modern improvements; I have nothing that she could not
sink in ten minutes; besides, there are some gunboats there as well."

"I know the situation is difficult," said the President; "that is why I
am entrusting it to you!  Now listen; whatever happens I don't want
fighting; that would only end in disaster; and you know what disaster
would mean here.  You must argue and parley and protest on every point,
and cause as much delay as possible.  Consult me by telegraph on every
occasion, and try to make friends with the English admiral; that is
half the battle.  If it ever comes to a question of bombardment, we
shall give in and protest again.  I will have your instructions
forwarded to you in writing this evening.  You had better steam
to-night.  You understand the game?"

"Yes," said de Mello, "I have played it before."  He shook hands and
walked to the door.

The President accompanied him.  "It is possible," he said earnestly,
"that I shall want you back here before you have gone very far; there
are many signs of trouble in the city, and after all Strelitz is still
on the frontier waiting for a chance.  If I send for you, you will
come?"  There was almost an appealing note in his tone.

"Come?" said the Admiral.  "Of course I will come,--full steam ahead.
I have had my big gun trained on the Parliament House for the last
month, and I mean to let it off one day.  Oh, you can trust the fleet."

"Thank God I never doubted that," said the President with some emotion,
and shaking de Mello's hand warmly, he returned to his writing-table.
He felt that the Admiral was thoroughly loyal to the Government.

These men who live their lives in great machines, become involved in
the mechanism themselves.  De Mello had lived on warships all his days,
and neither knew nor cared for anything else.  Landsmen and civilians
he despised with a supreme professional contempt.  Such parts of the
world as bordered on the sea, he regarded as possible targets of
different types; for the rest he cared nothing.  With equal interest he
would burst his shells on patriots struggling to be free or foreign
enemies, on a hostile fort or on his native town.  As long as the
authority to fire reached him through the proper channel, he was
content; after that he regarded the question from a purely technical
standpoint.

The afternoon was far advanced before the President finished the varied
labours of his office.  "There is a great meeting to-night, is there
not?" he asked Miguel.

"Yes," said the Secretary, "in the City-Hall; Savrola is going to
speak."

"Have you arranged about an opposition?"

"Some of the secret police are going to make a little, I believe;
Colonel Sorrento has arranged that.  But I fancy Señor Savrola's party
are rather displeased with him, as it is."

"Ah," said Molara, "I know his powers; he will tear their very hearts
out with his words.  He is a terrible force; we must take every
precaution.  I suppose the troops have been ordered to be under arms?
There is nothing he cannot do with a crowd,--curse him!"

"The Colonel was here this morning; he told me he was making
arrangements."

"It is good," said the President; "he knows his own safety is involved.
Where do I dine to-night?"

"With Señor Louvet, at the Home Office, an official dinner."

"How detestable!  Still he has a plain cook and he will be worth
watching to-night.  He gets in such a state of terror when Savrola
holds forth that he is ridiculous.  I hate cowards, but they make the
world the merrier."

He bade the Secretary good-night and left the room.  Outside he met
Lucile.  "Dearest," he said, "I am dining out to-night, an official
dinner at Louvet's.  It is a nuisance, but I must go.  Perhaps I shall
not be back till late.  I am sorry to leave you like this, but in these
busy days I can hardly call my soul my own."

"Never mind, Antonio," she replied; "I know how you are pressed with
work.  What has happened about the English affair?"

"I don't like the situation at all," said Molara.  "They have a Jingo
Government in power and have sent ships as an answer to our note.  It
is most unfortunate.  Now I have to send the fleet away,--at such a
moment."  He groaned moodily.

"I told Sir Richard that we had to think of the situation here, and
that the despatch was meant for domestic purposes," said Lucile.

"I think," said the President, "that the English Government also have
to keep the electorate amused.  It is a Conservative ministry; they
must keep things going abroad to divert the public mind from advanced
legislation.  What, more still, Miguel?"

"Yes, Sir; this bag has just arrived, with several important despatches
which require your immediate attention."

The President looked for a moment as if he would like to tell Miguel to
take himself and his despatches to the infernal regions; but he
repressed the inclination.  "Good, I will come.  I shall see you at
breakfast to-morrow, my dear, till then, farewell," and giving her a
weary smile he walked off.

Thus it is that great men enjoy the power they risk their lives to gain
and often meet their deaths to hold.

Lucile was left alone, not for the first time when she had wanted
companionship and sympathy.  She was conscious of an unsatisfactory
sensation with regard to existence generally.  It was one of those
moments when the prizes and penalties of life seem equally stale and
futile.  She sought refuge in excitement.  The project she had
conceived the night before began to take actual shape in her mind; yes,
she would hear him speak.  Going to her room she rang the bell.  The
maid came quickly.  "What time is the meeting to-night?"

"At eight, Your Excellency," said the girl.

"You have a ticket for it?"

"Yes, my brother----"

"Well, give it to me; I want to hear this man speak.  He will attack
the Government; I must be there to report to the President."

The maid looked astonished, but gave up the ticket meekly.  For six
years she had been Lucile's maid, and was devoted to her young and
beautiful mistress.  "What will Your Excellency wear?" was her only
remark.

"Something dark, with a thick veil," said Lucile.  "Don't speak of this
to anyone."

"Oh no, Your Ex----"

"Not even to your brother."

"Oh, no, Your Excellency."

"Say I have a headache and have gone to bed.  You must go to your room
yourself."

The maid hurried off to get the dress and bonnet.  Lucile felt full of
the nervous excitement her resolve had raised.  It was an adventure, it
would be an experience, more than that, she would see him.  The
crowd,--when she thought of them she felt a little frightened, but then
she remembered that women frequently went to these demonstrations, and
there would be plenty of police to keep order.  She dressed herself
hastily in the clothes that the maid brought, and descending the
stairs, entered the garden.  It was already dusk, but Lucile had no
difficulty in finding her way to a small private gate in the wall,
which her key unlocked.

She stepped into the street.  All was very quiet.  The gas lamps flared
in a long double row till they almost met in the distant perspective.
A few people were hurrying in the direction of the City-Hall.  She
followed them.




CHAPTER X.

THE WAND OF THE MAGICIAN.

The City-Hall was a gigantic meeting-house in which for many years all
the public discussions of the Lauranian people had taken place.  Its
stone façade was showy and pretentious, but the building itself
consisted merely of the great hall and of a few smaller rooms and
offices.  The hall was capable of holding nearly seven thousand people;
with its white-washed roof sustained by iron girders, and well lit with
gas, it served its purpose well without any affectation of display.

Lucile was caught in the stream of those who were entering and carried
inside.  She had expected to find a seat, but, in view of a great
crowd, all the chairs had been removed from the body of the hall, and
only standing room remained.  In this solid mass of humanity she found
herself an atom.  To move was difficult; to go back almost impossible.

It was a striking scene.  The hall, which was hung with flags, was
crowded to overflowing; a long gallery, which ran round three sides,
was densely packed to the very ceiling; the flaring gas-jets threw
their yellow light on thousands of faces.  The large majority of the
audience were men, but Lucile noticed with relief that there were
several women present.  A platform at the far end of the hall displayed
the customary table and the inevitable glass of water.  In front of the
platform were two long rows of reporters, getting their pads and
pencils ready,--a kind of orchestra.  Behind and above were again rows
and rows of chairs filled by the numerous delegates, officials, and
secretaries of the various political clubs and organisations, each
distinguished by the badge and sash of his society.  Moret had exerted
himself to whip up the utmost power of the Party, and had certainly
succeeded in organising the greatest demonstration Laurania had ever
seen.  All the political forces arrayed against the Government were
represented.

There was a loud hum of conversation, broken at intervals by cheers and
the choruses of patriotic songs.  Suddenly the clock in the tower of
the building chimed the hour.  At the same instant, from a doorway on
the right of the platform, Savrola entered, followed by Godoy, Moret,
Renos, and several other prominent leaders of the movement.  He made
his way along the row of chairs, until he reached that on the right of
the table, sat down and looked quietly about him.  There was a storm of
discordant shouting, no two men seeming to hold the same opinion.  At
one moment it sounded as if all were cheering; at another hoots and
groans obtained the supremacy.  The meeting in fact was about equally
divided.  The extreme sections of the Reform' Party, regarding
Savrola's attendance at the ball as an action of the grossest
treachery, howled with fury at him; the more moderate cheered him as
the safest man to cling to in times of civil disturbance.  The
delegates and regular officials, who occupied the chairs on the
platform, were silent and sullen, like men who await an explanation
without belief in its sufficiency.

At length the shouting ceased.  Godoy, who was in the chair, rose and
made a short speech, in which he studiously avoided any contentious
allusion to Savrola, confining himself only to the progress of the
movement.  He spoke well and clearly, but nobody wanted to hear him,
and all were relieved when he concluded by calling upon "our leader,"
Savrola, to address the meeting.  Savrola, who had been talking
unconcernedly with one of the delegates on his right, turned round
quickly towards the audience, and rose.  As he did so, a man in a blue
suit, one of a little group similarly clad, shouted out, "Traitor and
toady!"  Hundreds of voices took up the cry; there was an outburst of
hooting and groaning; others cheered half-heartedly.  It was an
unpromising reception.  Moret looked around him in blank despair.

In spite of the heat and the pressure, Lucile could not take her eyes
off Savrola.  She could see that he was quivering with suppressed
excitement.  His composure had merely been assumed; crowds stirred his
blood, and when he rose he could wear his mask no longer.  He looked
almost terrible, as he waited there, facing the outburst with defiance
written in every line of his pale, earnest face and resolute figure.
Then he began to speak, but his words could not at first be
distinguished through the persistent shouts of the man in blue and his
friends.  At length, after five minutes of intense disorder, the
curiosity of the audience triumphed over all other emotions, and they
generally sank into silence, to hear what their leader had to say.

Again Savrola began.  Though he spoke very quietly and slowly, his
words reached the furthest ends of the hall.  He showed, or perhaps he
feigned, some nervousness at first, and here and there in his sentences
he paused as if searching for a word.  He was surprised, he said, at
his reception.  He had not expected, now when the final result was so
nearly attained, that the people of Laurania would change their minds.
The man in blue began to howl his odious cry.  There was another
outbreak of hooting; but the majority of the audience were now anxious
to listen, and silence was soon restored.  Savrola continued.  He
briefly reviewed the events of the last year: the struggle they had had
to form a party at all; the fierce opposition they had encountered and
sustained; the success that had attended their threat of taking arms;
the President's promise of a free Parliament; the trick that had been
played on them; the firing of the soldiery on the crowd.  His earnest,
thoughtful words evoked a hum of approval.  These were events in which
the audience had participated, and they liked having them recalled to
their memories.

Then he went on to speak of the Deputation and of the contempt with
which the President had thought fit to treat the accredited
representatives of the citizens.  "Traitor and toady!" shouted the man
in blue loudly; but there was no response.  "And," said Savrola, "I
will invite your attention to this further matter.  It has not been
sufficient to strangle the Press, to shoot down the people, and to
subvert the Constitution, but even when we are assembled here in
accordance with our unquestioned right to discuss matters of State and
decide upon our public policies, our deliberations are to be
interrupted by the paid agents of the Government,"--he looked towards
the man in blue, and there was an angry hum--"who insult by their
abusive cries not only myself, a free Lauranian, but you also, the
assembled citizens who have invited me to place my views before you."
Here the audience broke out into indignant applause and agreement;
cries of "Shame!" were heard, and fierce looks turned in the direction
of the interrupters, who had, however, dispersed themselves
unobtrusively among the crowd.  "In spite of such tactics," Savrola
continued, "and in the face of all opposition, whether by bribes or
bullets, whether by hired bravos or a merciless and mercenary soldiery,
the great cause we are here to support has gone on, is going on, and is
going to go on, until at length our ancient liberties are regained, and
those who have robbed us of them punished."  Loud cheers rose from all
parts of the hall.  His voice was even and not loud, but his words
conveyed an impression of dauntless resolution.

And then, having got his audience in hand, he turned his powers of
ridicule upon the President and his colleagues.  Every point he made
was received with cheers and laughter.  He spoke of Louvet, of his
courage, and of his trust in the people.  Perhaps, he said, it was not
inappropriate that the Ministry of the Interior should be filled by "a
glutton," the Home Office by a "stay-at-home" who was afraid to go out
among his countrymen at night.  Louvet was indeed a good object for
abuse; he was hated by the people, who despised his cowardice and had
always jeered at him.  Savrola continued.  He described the President
as clinging to office at whatever cost to himself or others.  In order
to draw the attention of the people from his tyrannical actions and
despotic government at home, he had tried to involve them in
complications abroad, and he had succeeded, more completely than he had
bargained for.  They were embroiled now in a dispute with a great
Power, a dispute from which they had nothing to gain and everything to
lose.  Their fleets and armies must be despatched, to the cost of the
State; their possessions were endangered; perhaps the lives of their
soldiers and sailors would be sacrificed.  And all for what?  In order
that Antonio Molara might do as he had declared he would, and die at
the head of the State.  It was a bad joke.  But he should be warned;
many a true word was spoken in jest.  Again there was a fierce hum.

Lucile listened spell-bound.  When he had risen, amid the groans and
hisses of that great crowd, she had sympathised with him, had feared
even for his life, had wondered at the strange courage which made him
attempt the seemingly impossible task of convincing such an audience.
As he had progressed and had begun to gain power and approval, she had
rejoiced; every cheer had given her pleasure.  She had silently joined
in the indignation which the crowd had expressed against Sorrento's
police-agents.  Now he was attacking her husband; and yet she hardly
seemed to feel an emotion of antagonism.

He left the subject of the Ministers with contemptuous scorn, amid the
earnest assent of the audience and on the full tide of public opinion.
They must now, he said, treat of higher matters.  He invited them to
consider the ideals at which they aimed.  Having roused their tempers,
he withheld from them the outburst of fury and enthusiasm they desired.
As he spoke of the hopes of happiness to which even the most miserable
of human beings had a right, silence reigned throughout the hall,
broken only by that grave melodious voice which appealed to everyone.
For more than three quarters of an hour he discussed social and
financial reforms.  Sound practical common sense was expressed with
many a happy instance, many a witty analogy, many a lofty and luminous
thought.

"When I look at this beautiful country that is ours and was our fathers
before us, at its blue seas and snow-capped mountains, at its
comfortable hamlets and wealthy cities, at its silver streams and
golden corn-fields, I marvel at the irony of fate which has struck
across so fair a prospect the dark shadow of a military despotism."

The sound of momentous resolution rose again from the crowded hall.  He
had held their enthusiasm back for an hour by the clock.  The steam had
been rising all this time.  All were searching in their minds for
something to relieve their feelings, to give expression to the
individual determination each man had made.  There was only one mind
throughout the hall.  His passions, his emotions, his very soul
appeared to be communicated to the seven thousand people who heard his
words; and they mutually inspired each other.

Then at last he let them go.  For the first time he raised his voice,
and in a resonant, powerful, penetrating tone which thrilled the
listeners, began the peroration of his speech.  The effect of his
change of manner was electrical.  Each short sentence was followed by
wild cheering.  The excitement of the audience became indescribable.
Everyone was carried away by it.  Lucile was borne along, unresisting,
by that strong torrent of enthusiasm; her interests, her objects, her
ambitions, her husband, all were forgotten.  His sentences grew longer,
more rolling and sonorous.  At length he reached the last of those
cumulative periods which pile argument on argument as Pelion on Ossa.
All pointed to an inevitable conclusion.  The people saw it coming and
when the last words fell, they were greeted with thunders of assent.

Then he sat down, drank some water, and pressed his hands to his head.
The strain had been terrific.  He was convulsed by his own emotions;
every pulse in his body was throbbing, every nerve quivering; he
streamed with perspiration and almost gasped for breath.  For five
minutes everyone shouted wildly; the delegates on the platform mounted
their chairs and waved their arms.  At his suggestion the great crowd
would have sallied into the streets and marched on the palace; and it
would have taken many bullets from the soldiers that Sorrento had so
carefully posted to bring them back to the realisation of the squalid
materialities of life.

The resolutions which Moret and Godoy proposed were carried by
acclamation.  Savrola turned to the former.  "Well, Louis, I was right.
How did it sound?  I liked the last words.  It is the best speech I
have ever made."

Moret looked at him as at a god.  "Splendid!" he said.  "You have saved
everything."

And now the meeting began to break up.  Savrola walked to a side-door,
and in a small waiting-room received the congratulations of all his
principal supporters and friends.  Lucile was hurried along in the
press.  Presently there was a block.  Two men, of foreign aspect, stood
in front of her, speaking in low tones.

"Brave words, Karl," said one.

"Ah," said the other, "we must have deeds.  He is a good tool to work
with at present; the time will come when we shall need something
sharper."

"He has great power."

"Yes, but he is not of us.  He has no sympathy with the cause.  What
does he care about a community of goods?"

"For my part," said the first man with an ugly laugh, "I have always
been more attracted by the idea of a community of wives."

"Well, that too is part of the great scheme of society."

"When you deal them out, Karl, put me down as part proprietor of the
President's."

He chuckled coarsely.  Lucile shuddered.  Here were the influences
behind and beneath the great Democrat of which her husband had spoken.

The human stream began to flow on again.  Lucile was carried by a
current down a side street which led to the doorway by which Savrola
would leave the hall.  A bright gas-lamp made everything plainly
visible.  At length he appeared at the top of the steps, at the foot of
which his carriage had already drawn up to receive him.  The narrow
street was filled with the crowd; the pressure was severe.

"Louis, come with me," said Savrola to Moret; "you can drop me and take
the carriage on."  Like many highly-wrought minds he yearned for
sympathy and praise at such a moment; and he knew he would get them
from Moret.

The throng, on seeing him, surged forward.  Lucile, carried off her
feet, was pushed into a dark burly man in front of her.  Chivalrous
gallantry is not among the peculiar characteristics of excited
democracy.  Without looking round the man jobbed backwards with his
elbow and struck her in the breast.  The pain was intense;
involuntarily she screamed.

"Gentlemen," cried Savrola, "a woman has been hurt; I heard her voice.
Give room there!"  He ran down the steps.  The crowd opened out.  A
dozen eager and officious hands were extended to assist Lucile, who was
paralysed with terror.  She would be recognised; the consequences were
too awful to be thought of.

"Bring her in here," said Savrola.  "Moret, help me."  He half carried,
half supported her up the steps into the small waiting-room.  Godoy,
Renos, and half a dozen of the Democratic leaders, who had been
discussing the speech, grouped themselves around her curiously.  He
placed her in a chair.  "A glass of water," he said quickly.  Somebody
handed him one, and he turned to offer it to her.  Lucile, incapable of
speech or motion, saw no way of escape.  He must recognise her.  The
ridicule, the taunts, the danger, all were plain to her.  As she made a
feeble effort with her hand to decline the water, Savrola looked hard
at her through her thick veil.  Suddenly he started, spilling the water
he was holding out to her.  He knew her then!  Now it would come--a
terrible exposure!

"Why, Mirette," he cried, "my little niece!  How could you come alone
to such a crowded place at night?  To hear my speech?  Godoy, Renos,
this is indeed a tribute!  This means more to me than all the cheers of
the people.  Here is my sister's daughter who has risked the crowd to
come and hear me speak.  But your mother," he turned to Lucile, "should
never have allowed you; this is no place for a girl alone.  I must take
you home.  You are not hurt?  If you had asked me, I could have ensured
a seat for you out of the crowd.  Is my carriage there?  Good, we had
better get home at once; your mother will be very anxious.  Good-night,
gentlemen.  Come, my dear."  He offered her his arm and led her down
the steps.  The people who filled the street, their upturned faces pale
in the gas-light, cheered wildly.  He put her into his carriage.
"Drive on, coachman," he said, getting in himself.

"Where to, Sir?" asked the man.

Moret advanced to the carriage.  "I will go on the box," he said.  "I
can take the carriage on after dropping you," and before Savrola could
say a word he had climbed on to the seat beside the driver.

"Where to, Sir?" repeated the coachman.

"Home," said Savrola desperately.

The carriage started, passed through the cheering crowds, and out into
the less frequented parts of the city.




CHAPTER XI.

IN THE WATCHES OF THE NIGHT.

Lucile lay back in the cushions of the brougham with a feeling of
intense relief.  He had saved her.  An emotion of gratitude filled her
mind, and on the impulse of the moment she took his hand and pressed
it.  It was the third time in their renewed acquaintance that their
hands had met, and each time the significance had been different.

Savrola smiled.  "It was most imprudent of your Excellency to venture
into a crowd like that.  Luckily I thought of an expedient in time.  I
trust you were not hurt in the throng?"

"No," said Lucile; "a man struck me with his elbow and I screamed.  I
should never have come."

"It was dangerous."

"I wanted to----"  She paused.

"To hear me speak," he added, finishing her sentence for her.

"Yes; to see you use your power."

"I am flattered by the interest you take in me."

"Oh, it was on purely political grounds."

There was the suspicion of a smile on her face.  He looked at her
quickly.  What did she mean?  Why should it be necessary to say so?
Her mind had contemplated another reason, then.

"I hope you were not bored," he said.

"It is terrible to have power like that," she replied earnestly; and
then after a pause, "Where are we going to?"

"I would have driven you to the palace," said Savrola, "but our
ingenuous young friend on the box has made it necessary that we should
keep up this farce for a little longer.  It will be necessary to get
rid of him.  For the present you had best remain my niece."

She looked up at him with an amused smile, and then said seriously: "It
was brilliant of you to have thought of it, and noble of you to have
carried it out.  I shall never forget it; you have done me a great
service."

"Here we are," said Savrola at length, as the brougham drew up at the
entrance of his house.  He opened the carriage-door; Moret jumped off
the box and rang the bell.  After a pause the old housekeeper opened
the door.  Savrola called to her.  "Ah, Bettine, I am glad you are up.
Here is my niece, who has been to the meeting to hear me speak and has
been jostled by the crowd.  I shall not let her go home alone to-night.
Have you a bedroom ready?"

"There is the spare room on the first floor," answered the old woman;
"but I fear that would never do."

"Why not?" asked Savrola quickly.

"Because the sheets for the big bed are not aired, and since the
chimney was swept there has been no fire there."

"Oh, well, you must try and do what you can.  Good-night, Moret.  Will
you send the carriage back as soon as you have done with it?  I have
some notes to send to THE RISING TIDE office about the articles for
to-morrow morning.  Don't forget,--as quickly as you can, for I am
tired out."

"Good-night," said Moret.  "You have made the finest speech of your
life.  Nothing can stop us while we have you to lead the way."

He got into the carriage and drove off.  Savrola and Lucile ascended
the stairs to the sitting-room, while the housekeeper bustled off to
make preparations for the airing of sheets and pillow-cases.  Lucile
looked round the room with interest and curiosity.  "I am in the heart
of the enemy's camp now," she said.

"You will be in many hearts during your life," said Savrola, "whether
you remain a queen or not."

"You are still determined to drive us out?"

"You heard what I said to-night."

"I ought to hate you," said Lucile; "and yet I don't feel that we are
enemies."

"We are on opposite sides," he replied.

"Only politics come between us."

"Politics and persons," he added significantly, using a hackneyed
phrase.

She looked at him with a startled glance.  What did he mean?  Had he
read deeper into her heart than she herself had dared to look?  "Where
does that door lead to?" she asked irrelevantly.

"That?  It leads to the roof,--to my observatory."

"Oh show it me," she cried.  "Is it there you watch the stars?"

"I often look at them.  I love them; they are full of suggestions and
ideas."

He unlocked the door and led the way up the narrow winding stairs on to
the platform.  It was, as is usual in Laurania, a delicious night.
Lucile walked to the parapet and looked over; all the lamps of the town
twinkled beneath, and above were the stars.

Suddenly, far out in the harbour, a broad white beam of light shot out;
it was the search-light of a warship.  For a moment it swept along the
military mole and rested on the battery at the mouth of the channel.
The fleet was leaving the port, and picking its way through the
difficult passage.

Savrola had been informed of the approaching departure of the admiral,
and realised at once the meaning of what he saw.  "That," he said, "may
precipitate matters."

"You mean that when the ships are gone you will no longer fear to rise?"

"I do not fear; but it is better to await a good moment."

"And that moment?"

"Is perhaps imminent.  I should like you to leave the capital.  It will
be no place for women in a few days.  Your husband knows it; why has he
not sent you away to the country?"

"Because," she replied, "we shall suppress this revolt, and punish
those who have caused it."

"Have no illusions," said Savrola.  "I do not miscalculate.  The army
cannot be trusted; the fleet is gone; the people are determined.  It
will not be safe for you to stay here."

"I will not be driven out," she answered with energy; "nothing shall
make me fly.  I will perish with my husband."

"Oh, we shall try to be much more prosaic than that," he said.  "We
shall offer a very handsome pension to the President, and he will
retire with his beautiful wife to some gay and peaceful city, where he
can enjoy life without depriving others of liberty."

"You think you can do all this?" she cried.  "Your power can rouse the
multitude; but can you restrain them?"  And she told him of the words
she had heard in the crowd that night.  "Are you not playing with
mighty forces?"

"Yes, I am," he said; "and that is why I have asked you to go away to
the country for a few days, until things become settled one way or the
other.  It is possible that either I or your husband will go down.  I
shall of course try to save him, if we are successful; but, as you say,
there are other forces which may be beyond control; and if he gets the
upper hand----"

"Well?"

"I suppose I should be shot."

"Fearful!" she said.  "Why will you persist?"

"Oh, it is only now, when the play is growing high, that I begin to
appreciate the game.  Besides, death is not very terrible."

"Afterwards may be."

"I do not think so.  Life, to continue, must show a balance of
happiness.  Of one thing I feel sure; we may say of a future
state,--'If any, then better.'"

"You apply your knowledge of this world to all others."

"Why not?" he said.  "Why should not the same laws hold good all over
the universe, and, if possible, beyond it?  Other suns show by their
spectra that they contain the same elements as ours."

"You put your faith in the stars," she said doubtingly, "and think,
though you will not admit it, they can tell you everything."

"I never accused them of being interested in our concerns; but if they
were, they might tell strange tales.  Supposing they could read our
hearts for instance?"

She glanced up and met his eye.  They looked at each other hard.  She
gasped; whatever the stars might know, they had read each other's
secret.

There was a noise of someone running up-stairs.  It was the housekeeper.

"The carriage has returned," said Savrola in a quiet voice.  "It can
now take you back to the palace."

The old woman stepped out on to the roof, breathing hard from her
climb.  "I have aired the sheets," she said with exultation in her
voice, "and the fire is burning brightly.  There is some soup ready for
the young lady, if she will come and take it, before it gets cold."

The interruption was so commonplace that both Lucile and Savrola
laughed.  It was a happy escape from an awkward moment.  "You always
manage, Bettine," he said, "to make everyone comfortable; but after all
the bedroom will not be needed.  My niece is afraid lest her mother be
alarmed at her absence, and I am going to send her back in the carriage
so soon as it returns."

The poor old soul looked terribly disappointed; the warm sheets, the
cosy fire, the hot soup were comforts she loved to prepare for others,
enjoying them, as it were, by proxy.  She turned away and descended the
narrow staircase mournfully, leaving them again alone.

So they sat and talked, not as before, but with full knowledge of their
sympathy, while the moon climbed higher in the sky and the soft breezes
stirred the foliage of the palm-trees in the garden below.  Neither
thought much of the future, nor did they blame the coachman's delay.

At length the silence of the night, and the train of their conversation
were broken by the noise of wheels on the stony street.

"At last," said Savrola without enthusiasm.  Lucile rose and looked
over the parapet.  A carriage approached almost at a gallop.  It
stopped suddenly at the door, and a man jumped out in a hurry.  The
door-bell rang loudly.

Savrola took both her hands.  "We must part," he said; "when shall we
meet again,--Lucile?"

She made no answer, nor did the moonlight betray the expression of her
features.  Savrola led the way down the stairs.  As he entered the
sitting-room, the further door was opened hastily by a man who, seeing
Savrola, stopped short, and respectfully took off his hat.  It was
Moret's servant.

With considerable presence of mind Savrola shut the door behind him,
leaving Lucile in the darkness of the staircase.  She waited in
astonishment; the door was thin.  "My master, Sir," said a stranger's
voice, "bade me bring you this with all speed and give it direct into
your hand."  There followed the tearing of paper, a pause, an
exclamation, and then Savrola, in a voice steady with the steadiness
which betrays intense emotion under control, replied: "Thank you very
much; say I shall await them here.  Don't take the carriage; go on
foot,--stay, I will let you out myself."

She heard the other door open and the sound of their footsteps going
down-stairs; then she turned the handle and entered.  Something had
happened, something sudden, unexpected, momentous.  His voice,--strange
how well she was beginning to know it!--had told her that.  An envelope
lay on the floor; on the table,--the table where the cigarette-box and
the revolver lay side by side,--was a paper, half curled up as if
anxious to preserve its secret.

Subtle, various, and complex are the springs of human action.  She felt
the paper touched her nearly; she knew it concerned him.  Their
interests were antagonistic; yet she did not know whether it was for
his sake or her own that she was impelled to indulge a wild curiosity.
She smoothed the paper out.  It was brief and in a hurried hand, but to
the point: _Code wire just received says, Strelitz crossed frontier
this morning with two thousand men and is marching hither via Turga and
Lorenzo.  The hour has come.  I have sent to Godoy and Renos and will
bring them round at once.  Yours through hell_, MORET.

Lucile felt the blood run to her heart; already she imagined the sound
of musketry.  It was true the hour had come.  The fatal paper
fascinated her; she could not take her eyes from it.  Suddenly the door
opened and Savrola came in.  The noise, her agitation, and above all
the sense of detection wrung from her a low, short, startled scream.
He grasped the situation immediately.  "Bluebeard," he said ironically.

"Treason," she retorted taking refuge in furious anger.  "So you will
rise and murder us in the night,--conspirator!"

Savrola smiled suavely; his composure was again perfect.  "I have sent
the messenger away on foot, and the carriage is at your disposal.  We
have talked long; it is now three o'clock; your Excellency should not
further delay your return to the palace.  It would be most imprudent;
besides, as you will realise, I expect visitors."

His calmness maddened her.  "Yes," she retorted; "the President will
send you some,--police."

"He will not know about the invasion yet."

"I shall tell him," she replied.

Savrola laughed softly.  "Oh no," he said, "that would not be fair."

"All's fair in love and war."

"And this----?"

"Is both," she said, and then burst into tears.

After that they went down-stairs.  Savrola helped her into the
carriage.  "Good-night," he said, though it was already morning, "and
good-bye."

But Lucile, not knowing what to say or think or do, continued to cry
inconsolably and the carriage drove away.  Savrola closed the door and
returned to his room.  He did not feel his secret was in any danger.




CHAPTER XII.

A COUNCIL OF WAR.

Savrola had scarcely time to smoke a cigarette before the Revolutionary
leaders began to arrive.  Moret was the first; he rang the bell
violently, stamping about on the doorstep till it was answered, ran
upstairs three steps at a time, and burst impetuously into the room,
aquiver with excitement.  "Ah," he cried, "the hour has come,--not
words but deeds now!  We draw the sword in a good cause; for my part I
shall fling away the scabbard; Fortune is on our side."

"Yes," said Savrola; "have some whisky and soda-water,--on the
sideboard there.  It is a good drink to draw the sword on,--the best in
fact."

Moret somewhat abashed turned and walking to the table began opening a
soda-water bottle.  As he poured out the spirit the clinking of glass
and bottle betrayed his agitation.  Savrola laughed softly.  Turning
swiftly, his impetuous follower sought to hide his agitation by a fresh
outburst.  "I have told you throughout," he said, holding his glass on
high, "that force was the only solution.  It has come, as I predicted.
I drink to it,--war, civil war, battle, murder, and sudden death,--by
these means liberty will be regained!"

"Wonderful soothing effect these cigarettes have.  There's no opium in
them either,--soft, fresh Egyptians.  I get them every week from Cairo.
A little, old man I met there three years ago makes them,--Abdullah
Rachouan."

He held out the box.  Moret took one; the business of lighting it
steadied him; he sat down and began to smoke furiously.  Savrola
watched him in dreamy calmness, looking often at the smoke-wreathes
that rose about him.  Presently he spoke.  "So you are glad there is to
be war and that people are to be killed?"

"I am glad that this tyranny is to be ended."

"Remember that we pay for every pleasure and every triumph we have in
this world."

"I will take my chance."

"I trust, I would be glad if I could say with conviction, I pray, that
the lot may not fall on you.  But it is true nevertheless that we must
pay, and for all the good things in life men pay in advance.  The
principles of sound finance apply."

"How do you mean?" asked Moret.

"Would you rise in the world?  You must work while others amuse
themselves.  Are you desirous of a reputation for courage?  You must
risk your life.  Would you be strong morally or physically?  You must
resist temptations.  All this is paying in advance; that is prospective
finance.  Observe the other side of the picture; the bad things are
paid for afterwards."

"Not always."

"Yes, as surely as the headache of Sunday morning follows the debauch
of Saturday night, as an idle youth is requited by a barren age, as a
gluttonous appetite promotes an ungainly paunch."

"And you think I shall have to pay for this excitement and enthusiasm?
You think I have paid nothing so far?"

"You will have to take risks, that is paying.  Fate will often throw
double or quits.  But on these hazards men should not embark with
levity; the gentleman will always think of settling-day."

Moret was silent.  Brave and impetuous as he was, the conversation
chilled him.  His was not the courage of the Stoic; he had not schooled
himself to contemplate the shock of dissolution.  He fixed his thoughts
on the struggles and hopes of the world, as one might look at the
flowers and grasses that were growing on the edge of a precipice
towards which he was being impelled.

They remained for a few moments without speaking, till Godoy and Renos
entered, having arrived simultaneously.

Each man of the four had taken the news, which meant so much to them,
according to their natures.  Savrola had put on the armour of his
philosophy, and gazed on the world as from a distance.  Moret had been
convulsed with excitement.  The other two, neither composed nor elated
by the proximity and the approach of danger, showed that they were not
the men for stirring times.

Savrola greeted them amiably, and all sat down.  Renos was crushed.
The heavy hammer of action had fallen on the delicate structures of
precedent and technicality in which he had always trusted, and smashed
them flat.  Now that the crisis had arrived, the law, his shield and
buckler, was first of all to be thrown away.  "Why has he done this?"
he asked.  "What right had he to come without authorisation?  He has
committed us all.  What can we do?"

Godoy too was shocked and frightened.  He was one of those men who fear
danger, who shrink from it, but yet embark deliberately on courses
which they know must lead to it.  He had long foreseen the moment of
revolt, but had persisted in going on.  Now it was upon him, and he
trembled; still, his dignity strengthened him.

"What is to be done, Savrola?" he asked, turning instinctively to the
greater soul and stronger mind.

"Well," said the leader, "they had no business to come without my
orders; they have, as Renos has observed, committed us, while our plans
are in some respects incomplete.  Strelitz has disobeyed me flatly; I
will settle with him later.  For the present, recriminations are
futile; we have to deal with the situation.  The President will know of
the invasion in the morning; some of the troops here will, I take it,
be ordered to strengthen the Government forces in the field.  Perhaps
the Guard will be sent.  I think the others would refuse to march; they
are thoroughly in sympathy with the Cause.  If so we must strike, much
as we have arranged.  You, Moret, will call the people to arms.  The
Proclamation must be printed, the rifles served out, the Revolution
proclaimed.  All the Delegates must be notified.  If the soldiers
fraternise, all will be well; if not, you will have to fight--I don't
think there will be much opposition--storm the palace and make Molara
prisoner."

"It shall be done," said Moret.

"Meanwhile," continued Savrola, "we will proclaim the Provisional
Government at the Mayoralty.  Thence I shall send you orders; thither
you must send me reports.  All this will happen the day after
to-morrow."

Godoy shivered, but assented.  "Yes," he said; "it is the only course,
except flight and ruin."

"Very well; now we will go into details.  First of all, the
Proclamation.  I will write that to-night.  Moret, you must get it
printed; you shall have it at six o'clock to-morrow morning.  Then
prepare the arrangements we had devised for assembling and arming the
people; wait till you get a written order from me to put them into
action.  You, Renos, must see the members of the Provisional
Government.  Have the constitution of the Council of Public Safety
printed, and be ready to circulate it to-morrow night; yet again, wait
till I give the word.  Much depends on the attitude of the troops; but
everything is really ready.  I do not think we need fear the result."

The intricate details of the plot, for plot it was, were well known to
the leaders of the revolt.  For several months they had looked to force
as the only means of ending the government they detested.  Savrola was
not the man to commit himself to such an enterprise without taking
every precaution.  Nothing had been forgotten; the machinery of
revolution only needed setting in motion.  Yet in spite of the
elaborate nature of the conspiracy and its great scale, the President
and his police had been able to learn nothing definite.  They feared
that a rising was imminent; they had realised the danger for some
months; but it was impossible to know where the political agitation
ended, and the open sedition began.  The great social position and
almost European reputation of the principal leaders had rendered their
arrest without certain proof a matter of extreme difficulty.  The
President, believing that the people would not rise unless spurred
thereto by some act of power on the part of the Executive, feared to
rouse them.  But for this Savrola, Moret, and the others would have
already filled cells in the State Prison; indeed, they would have had
much to be thankful for had their lives been spared.

But Savrola understood his position, and had played his game with
consummate tact and skill.  The great parade he made of the political
agitation had prevented the President from observing the conspiracy to
deliberate violence which lay beneath.  At length the preparations were
approaching completion.  It had become only a matter of days;
Strelitz's impetuous act had but precipitated the course of events.
One corner of the great firework had caught light too soon; it was
necessary to fire the rest lest the effect should be spoiled.

He continued to go over the details of the scheme for nearly an hour,
to make sure that there should be no mistakes.  At last all was
finished, and the members of the embryo Council of Public Safety took
their departure.  Savrola let them out himself, not wishing to wake the
old nurse.  Poor soul, why should she feel the force of the struggles
of ambitious men?

Moret went off full of enthusiasm; the others were gloomy and
preoccupied.  Their great leader shut the door, and once more that
night climbed the stairs to his chamber.

As he reached it, the first streaks of morning came in through the
parted curtains of the windows.  The room, in the grey light with its
half-empty glasses and full ashtrays, looked like a woman, no longer
young, surprised by an unsympathetic dawn in the meretricious paints
and pomps of the previous night.  It was too late to go to bed; yet he
was tired, weary with that dry kind of fatigue which a man feels when
all desire of sleep has passed away.  He experienced a sensation of
annoyance and depression.  Life seemed unsatisfactory; something was
lacking.  When all deductions had been made on the scores of ambition,
duty, excitement, or fame, there remained an unabsorbed residuum of
pure emptiness.  What was the good of it all?  He thought of the silent
streets; in a few hours they would echo with the crackle of musketry.
Poor broken creatures would be carried bleeding to the houses, whose
doors terrified women would close in the uncharitable haste of fear.
Others, flicked out of human ken from solid concrete earth to unknown,
unformulated abstractions, would lie limp and reproachful on the
paving-stones.  And for what?  He could not find an answer to the
question.  The apology for his own actions was merged in the much
greater apology nature would have to make for the existence of the
human species.  Well, he might be killed himself; and as the thought
occurred to him he looked forward with a strange curiosity to that
sudden change, with perhaps its great revelation.  The reflection made
him less dissatisfied with the shallow ends of human ambition.  When
the notes of life ring false, men should correct them by referring to
the tuning-fork of death.  It is when that clear menacing tone is heard
that the love of life grows keenest in the human heart.

All men, from such moods and reflections, are recalled to earth by hard
matters of fact.  He remembered the proclamation he had to write, and
rising plunged into the numerous details of the business of living, and
thus forgot the barrenness of life.  So he sat and wrote, while the
pale glimmer of the dawn glowed into the clear light of sunrise and the
warm tints of broad day.




CHAPTER XIII.

THE ACTION OF THE EXECUTIVE.

The private breakfast-room of the Presidential palace was a small but
lofty apartment.  The walls were hung with tapestries; over the doors
weapons of ancient type and history were arranged in elaborate
patterns.  The great French windows were deeply set in the wall, and
the bright light of the morning was softened by heavy crimson curtains.
Like the rest of the house it wore an official aspect.  The windows
opened on to the stone terrace, and those who passed through them
experienced a feeling of relief in exchanging the severe splendours of
the palace for the beautiful confusion of the garden, where between the
spreading trees and slender palms the sparkling waters of the harbour
were displayed.

The table, which was set for two, was comfortably small and well
arranged.  The generous revenue which it had long been the principle of
the Lauranian Republic to bestow on her First Magistrate enabled the
President to live in a style of elegance and luxury, and to enjoy the
attractions of good silver, fresh-cut flowers, and an excellent cook.
But it was with a clouded brow that Molara met his wife at breakfast on
the morning after the events which have just been chronicled.

"Bad news,--tiresome news again, dear," he said as, sitting down and
depositing a handful of papers on the table, he signed to the servants
to leave the room.

Lucile experienced a feeling of intense relief.  After all she would
not have to tell him the secret she had learned.  "Has he started?" she
asked incautiously.

"Yes, last night; but he will be stopped."

"Thank heaven for that!"

Molara looked at her in amazement.

"What do you mean?  Why are you glad that the Admiral and the fleet are
prevented from carrying out my orders?"

"The fleet!"

"Good gracious!  What did you think I meant?" he asked impatiently.

A loophole of escape presented itself.  She ignored his question.  "I
am glad the fleet is stopped because I think they will be wanted here,
now that the city is so unsettled."

"Oh," said the President shortly,--suspiciously, she thought.  To cover
her retreat she asked a question.  "Why are they stopped?"

Molara pulled out a Press telegram slip from among his papers.

"_Port Said, September 9th, 6.0 a.m._," he said, reading; "_British
steam-collier Maude, 1,400 tons, grounded this morning in canal, which
is in consequence blocked for traffic.  Every effort is being made to
clear the fairway.  Accident is believed to be due to the silting up of
channel caused by extreme draught of H.B.M.S. Aggressor which passed
through last night._"  He added: "They know their business, these
English pigs."

"You think they have done it on purpose?"

"Of course."

"But the fleet is not there yet."

"It will be there to-morrow night."

"But why should they block the channel now,--why not wait?"

"Characteristic dislike of _coups de théâtre_, I suppose.  Now the
French would have waited till we were at the entrance of the channel,
and then shut the door in our faces neatly.  But British Diplomacy does
not aim at effects; besides, this looks more natural."

"How abominable!"

"And listen to this," said the President, as giving way to keen
irritation he snatched another paper from his bundle and began to read.
"From the Ambassador," he said: "_Her Majesty's Government have
instructed the officers commanding the various British coaling-stations
south of the Red Sea, to render every assistance to the Lauranian fleet
and to supply them with coal at the local market-rate_."

"It is an insult," she said.

"It is a cat playing with a mouse," he rejoined bitterly.

"What will you do?"

"Do?  Sulk, protest,--but give in.  What else can we do?  Their ships
are on the spot; ours are cut off."

There was a pause.  Molara read his papers and continued his breakfast.
Lucile came back to her resolution.  She would tell him; but she would
make terms.  Savrola must be protected at all costs.  "Antonio," she
said nervously.

The President, who was in a thoroughly bad temper, went on reading for
a moment and then looked up abruptly.  "Yes?"

"I must tell you something."

"Well, what is it?"

"A great danger is threatening us."

"I know that," he said shortly.

"Savrola----"  She paused uncertain and undecided.

"What of him?" said Molara, suddenly becoming interested.

"If you were to find him guilty of conspiracy, of plotting revolution,
what would you do?"

"I should shoot him with the greatest pleasure in the world."

"What, without a trial?"

"Oh no!  He should have a trial under martial law and welcome.  What of
him?"

It was a bad moment.  She looked round for another loophole.

"He--he made a speech last night," she said.

"He did," said the President impatiently.

"Well, I think it must have been very inflammatory, because I heard the
crowds cheering in the streets all night."

Molara looked at her in deep disgust.  "My dear, how silly you are this
morning," he said and returned to his paper.

The long silence that followed was broken by the hurried entrance of
Miguel with an opened telegram.  He walked straight up to the President
and handed it to him without speaking; but Lucile could see that he was
trembling with haste, excitement, or terror.

Molara opened the folded paper leisurely, smoothed it on the table and
then jumped out of his chair as he read it.  "Good God! when did this
come?"

"This moment."

"The fleet," he cried, "the fleet, Miguel,--not an instant must be
lost!  Recall the Admiral!  They must return at once.  I will write the
telegram myself."  Crumpling the message in his hand he hurried out of
the room, Miguel at his heels.  At the door he found a waiting servant.
"Send for Colonel Sorrento,--to come here immediately.  Go! be off!
Run!" he cried as the man departed with ceremonious slowness.

Lucile heard them bustle down the corridor and the slam of a distant
door; then all was silent again.  She knew what that telegram
contained.  The tragedy had burst upon them all, that tragedy whose
climax must strike her so nearly; but she felt glad she had meant to
tell her husband,--and yet more glad that she had not told him.  A
cynic might have observed that Savrola's confidence, in the safety of
his secret, was well founded.

She returned to her sitting-room.  The uncertainty of the immediate
future terrified her.  If the revolt succeeded, she and her husband
would have to fly for their lives; if it were suppressed the
consequences seemed more appalling.  One thing was clear: the President
would send her out of the capital at once to some place of safety.
Whither?  Amid all these doubts and conflicting emotions one desire
predominated,--to see Savrola again, to bid him good-bye, to tell him
she had not betrayed him.  It was impossible.  A prey to many
apprehensions she walked aimlessly about the room, awaiting the
developements she feared.

Meanwhile the President and his secretary had reached the private
office.  Miguel shut the door.  Both looked at each other.

"It has come," said Molara with a long breath.

"In an evil hour," replied the Secretary.

"I shall win, Miguel.  Trust to my star, my luck,--I will see this
thing through.  We shall crush them; but much is to be done.  Now write
this telegram to our agent at Port Said; send it in cipher and clear
the line: _Charter at once fast despatch-boat and go personally to meet
Admiral de Mello, who with fleet left Laurania midnight 8th instant for
Port Said.  Stop.  Order him in my name return here urgent.  Stop.
Spare no expense_.  Now send that off.  With good luck the ships should
be here to-morrow night."

Miguel sat down and began to put the message into code.  The President
paced the room excitedly; then he rang the bell; a servant entered.

"Has Colonel Sorrento come yet?"

"No, Your Excellency."

"Send and tell him to come at once."

"He has been sent for, Your Excellency."

"Send again."

The man disappeared.

Molara rang the bell once more.  He met the servant in the doorway.

"Is there a mounted orderly?"

"Yes, Your Excellency."

"Finished, Miguel?"

"Here," said the Secretary, getting up and handing the message to the
startled attendant,--"at speed."

"Go on," shouted the President, striking the table with his open hand,
and the man fled from the room.  The sound of the galloping horse
somewhat allayed Molara's impatience.

"He crossed the frontier last night at nine o'clock, Miguel; he should
have been at Turga at daybreak.  We have a garrison there, a small one,
but enough to delay the advance.  Why is there no news?  This telegram
comes from Paris, from the Foreign Minister.  We should have heard
from--who is it commands the post?"

"I don't know, Your Excellency.  The Colonel will be here directly; but
the silence is ugly."

The President set his teeth.  "I cannot trust the army; they are all
disaffected.  It is a terrible game; but I shall win, I shall win!"  He
repeated the sentence to himself several times with more energy than
conviction, as if to fortify his heart.

The door opened.  "Colonel Sorrento," announced the usher.

"Look here, old man," said Molara familiarly,--he felt he wanted a
friend rather than a subordinate--"Strelitz has invaded us.  He crossed
the frontier last night with two thousand men and several Maxim guns,
marching here by Turga and Lorenzo.  We have no news from the
Commandant at Turga; who is he?"

Sorrento was one of those soldiers, not an uncommon type, who fear
little but independent responsibility.  He had served under the
President for many years in the field and in the Government.  Had he
been alone when the news arrived, he would have been thunderstruck; now
that he had a leader he followed and obeyed with military precision.
Without any appearance of surprise he thought for a moment and then
replied: "Major de Roc.  He has four companies,--a good officer,--you
can trust him, Sir."

"But the troops?"

"That's another matter altogether.  The whole army, as I have several
times informed you, Sir, is disturbed.  Only the Guard can be relied
on, and, of course, the officers."

"Well, we shall see," said the President stoutly.  "Miguel, get the
map.  You know the country, Sorrento.  Between Turga and Lorenzo, the
Black Gorge must be held.  Here," he pointed on the map, which the
Secretary unrolled, "here they must be stopped or at any rate delayed,
till the fleet comes back.  What is there at Lorenzo?"

"A battalion and two machine-guns," replied the War-Minister.

The President took a turn up and down the room.  He was used to
deciding quickly.  "A brigade would do it for certain," he said.  He
took another turn.  "Rail two battalions of the Guard at once to
Lorenzo."  Sorrento, who had produced his note-book, began to write.
"Two field-batteries," said the President.  "Which two are fit,
Colonel?"

"The first and second will do," answered Sorrento.

"And the Lancers of the Guard."

"All?"

"Yes, all, except details for orderly-work."

"That leaves you only one trustworthy battalion."

"I know," said the President.  "It is a bold course, but the only one.
Now what about the Line regiments in the city?  Which are the worst?"

"The third, fifth, and eleventh have caused us most uneasiness."

"Very well; we will get them out of the way.  Let them march to-day
towards Lorenzo and halt anywhere ten miles out of the city as a
supporting brigade.  Now, who is to command?"

"Rollo is senior, Sir."

"A fool, a fossil, and out of date," cried the President.

"Stupid, but steady," said Sorrento.  "You can rely upon his attempting
nothing brilliant; he will do what he is told, and nothing more."

Molara reflected on this tremendous military virtue.  "Very well; give
him the supporting brigade; they will have no fighting.  But the other
business; that is different.  Brienz should have it."

"Why not Drogan?" suggested the War-Minister.

"I can't stand his wife," said the President.

"He is a good musician, Sir," interposed Miguel.

"Guitar,--very melodious."  He shook his head appreciatively.

"And has a capital cook," added Sorrento.

"No," said Molara; "this is a matter of life and death.  I cannot
indulge my prejudices, nor yours; he is not a good man."

"A good Staff would run him all right, Sir; he is very placid and
easily led.  And he is a great friend of mine; many's the good
dinner----"

"No, Colonel, it's no good; I cannot.  Is it likely that when so much
is at stake, when my reputation, my chances in life, indeed life
itself, are on the hazard, that I or any one would give a great command
on such grounds?  If claims were equally balanced, I would oblige you;
but Brienz is a better man and must have it.  Besides," he added, "he
has not got a horrid wife."  Sorrento looked terribly disappointed but
said no more.  "Well, that is all settled.  I leave all details to you.
The Staff, everything, you may appoint; but the troops must start by
noon.  I will speak to them myself at the station."

The War-Minister bowed and departed, solaced by the minor appointments
which the President had left to his decision.

Molara looked at his secretary dubiously.  "Is there anything else to
do?  None of the revolutionaries in the city have moved, have they?"

"They have given no sign, Sir; there is nothing to incriminate them."

"It is possible this has surprised them; their plans are not ready.  At
the first overt act of violence or sedition, I will arrest them.  But I
must have proofs, not for my own satisfaction, but for the country."

"This is a critical moment," said the Secretary.  "If the leaders of
the sedition could be discredited, if they could be made to appear
ridiculous or insincere, it would have a great effect on public
opinion."

"I had thought," replied Molara, "that we might hope to learn something
of their plans."

"You have informed me that Her Excellency has consented to ask Señor
Savrola for information on this point?"

"I dislike the idea of any intimacy between them; it might be
dangerous."

"It might be made most dangerous for him."

"In what way?"

"In the way I have already indicated to you, General."

"Do you mean in the way I forbade you to suggest, Sir?"

"Certainly."

"And this is the moment?"

"Now or never."

There was a silence, after which they resumed the morning's business.
For an hour and a half both worked busily.  Then Molara spoke.  "I hate
doing it; it's a dirty job."

"What is necessary, is necessary," said the Secretary sententiously.
The President was about to make a reply when a clerk entered the room
with a deciphered telegram.  Miguel took it from him, read it, and
passed it to his chief, saying grimly as he did so: "Perhaps this will
decide you."

The President read the message, and as he read his face grew hard and
cruel.  It was from the Police Commissary at Turga, brief but terrible;
the soldiers had deserted to the invaders, having first shot their
officers.

"Very well," said Molara at last, "I shall require you to accompany me
to-night on a mission of importance.  I will take an aide-de-camp as
well."

"Yes," said the Secretary; "witnesses are necessary."

"I shall be armed."

"That is desirable, but only as a threat, only as a threat," said the
Secretary earnestly.  "He is too strong for violence; the people would
be up in a moment."

"I know that," curtly replied the President, and then with savage
bitterness he added: "but for that there would be no difficulty."

"None whatever," said Miguel, and went on writing.

Molara rose and went in search of Lucile, choking down the disgust and
repugnance he felt.  He was determined now; it might just make the
difference to him in the struggle for power, and besides, it contained
the element of revenge.  He would like to see the proud Savrola grovel
and beg for mercy at his feet.  All mere politicians, he said to
himself, were physical cowards; the fear of death would paralyse his
rival.

Lucile was still in her sitting-room when her husband entered.  She met
him with an anxious look.  "What has happened, Antonio?"

"We have been invaded, dearest, by a large force of revolutionaries.
The garrison of Turga have deserted to the enemy, and killed their
officers.  The end is now in sight."

"It is terrible," she said.

"Lucile," he said with unwonted tenderness, "one chance remains.  If
you could find out what the leaders of the agitation in this city
intend to do, if you can get Savrola to show his hand, we might
maintain our position and overcome our enemies.  Can you,--will you do
this?"

Lucile's heart bounded.  It was, as he said, a chance.  She might
defeat the plot, and at the same time make terms for Savrola; she might
still rule in Laurania, and, though this thought she repressed, save
the man she loved.  Her course was clear; to obtain the information and
sell it to her husband for Savrola's life and liberty.  "I will try,"
she said.

"I knew you would not fail me, dearest," said Molara.  "But the time is
short; go and see him to-night at his rooms.  He will surely tell you.
You have power over men and will succeed."

Lucile reflected.  To herself she said, "I shall save the State and
serve my husband;" and herself rejoined, "You will see him again."
Then she spoke aloud.  "I will go to-night."

"My dear, I always trusted you," said the President; "I will never
forget your devotion."

Then he hurried away, convulsed with remorse,--and shame.  He had
indeed stooped to conquer.




CHAPTER XIV.

THE LOYALTY OF THE ARMY.

The military force of the Lauranian Republic was proportioned to the
duties of protecting its territories from invasion and of maintaining
law and order within them, but was by the wisdom of former days
restricted to limits which did not encourage great schemes of foreign
conquest nor any aggressive meddling in the affairs of the neighbouring
principalities.  Four regiments of cavalry, twenty battalions of foot,
and eight field-batteries comprised the Army of the Line.  Besides
these there was the Republican Guard, which consisted of a regiment of
Lancers and three strong battalions of veteran infantry and supported
by their discipline the authority, and by their magnificence the
dignity, of the State.

The great capital city, which exceeded in wealth, population, and
turbulence the aggregate of the provincial towns, had for its garrison
the Guard and half of the entire army.  The remaining troops were
scattered in small country stations and on the frontiers.

All the pains that the President had taken to maintain the good will of
the soldiery had proved vain.  The revolutionary movement had grown
apace in the ranks of the army, till they were now thoroughly
disaffected, and the officers felt that their orders would be obeyed
only so far as they were agreeable.  With the Guard it was different.
All, or nearly all, had borne their part in the late war and had
marched to victory under the generalship of the President.  They
honoured and trusted their former commander, and were in turn honoured
and trusted by him; indeed the favour he had shewn them may have been
among the causes which had alienated the rest.

It was the greater part of this Guard that Molara, in his heavy need,
was about to send against the invaders.  He well knew the danger of
depriving himself of the only troops he could rely on, should the city
itself rise; but the advancing forces must be stopped at all hazards,
and the Guard alone were able and willing to do the work.  He would be
left almost alone amid the populace who detested him, in the city he
had ruled so sternly, with mutinous soldiers as his only defenders.  It
was not an inviting prospect, yet it presented some chances of success.
It displayed a confidence which, though assumed, might decide the
waverers and disgust his foes; and it dealt with the most pressing
emergency, which was after all the first duty of the Executive.  He did
not doubt the ability of the troops he had despatched to disperse, if
not to destroy, the rabble that had crossed the frontier.  That danger
at least was removed by his action.  In two days the fleet would
return, and under its guns his Government might still continue, feared
and respected.  The intervening period was the crisis, a crisis which
he hoped to pass safely through, partly by the force of his
personality, and partly by the ridicule and contempt in which he
intended to plunge his terrible rival.

Punctually at eleven o'clock he left his private office to attire
himself in his full uniform as a general of the army, in order that at
the parade the troops might be reminded that he too was a soldier and
one who had seen much war.

At the door Lieutenant Tiro presented himself, in a great state of
perturbation.  "Sir," he said, "you will allow me to go with my
squadron to the front?  There will be nothing for me to do here."

"On the contrary," replied the President, "there will be a great deal
for you to do here.  You must stay."

Tiro turned pale.  "I do beg you, Sir, to allow me to go," he said
earnestly.

"Impossible,--I want you here."

"But, Sir----"

"Oh, I know," said Molara impatiently; "you want to get shot at.  Stay
here, and I promise you shall hear bullets in plenty before you have
done."  He turned away, but the look of bitter disappointment on the
young officer's face induced him to pause.  "Besides," he added,
assuming that charm of manner of which few great men are destitute, "I
require you for a service of difficulty and extreme danger.  You have
been specially selected."

The Subaltern said no more, but he was only half consoled.  He thought
ruefully of the green country, the glinting lances, the crack of the
rifles, and all the interest and

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