I
The King sat in a large square chamber with barred windows, awaiting his turn to be attended to.
The crowd of prisoners seated on benches round the walls had become attenuated; only about a score of them now remained. Women had been dealt with first, the residuum were men; the general charge against these was pocket-picking.
He had been sitting there for hours. It was now one o'clock.
"Now then, you!" said the voice of the sergeant in charge. His turn had come.
In an adjoining room he found his two accusers awaiting him. He was led up to a table where sat an official in uniform making entry of the names. A charge-sheet, nearly full, was spread on the table before him.
The policeman who had made the arrest gave in the charge.
"Name?" said the sergeant-clerk sharply, suspending the motion of his pen.
The King, still wearing his cap, took off his snow-glasses and turned down the collar of his coat.
It was no use. The officer looked at him without recognition.
"Name?" he said again; and the policeman upon his right, giving the King a rough jog, said, "Tell the sergeant your name!" And so, it appeared, the useless formality must go on.
The King gave the two essentials—first-christian and surname—out of a long string of appendices for which half the sovereigns of Europe had stood as godfathers.
But the three words "John Ganz-Wurst" meant nothing to the official ear. Over the patronymic he paused in doubt when only halfway through. "Spell it!" he said, and, at the King's dictation, altered his V into a W.
"Foreigner?" he grunted; Jingalese names he could spell properly.
"Of foreign extraction," said the King, "my great-grandfather came over to this country and was naturalized."
"Oh, we don't want to hear about your great-grandfather!" said the sergeant, cutting him short.
At this moment one of the higher inspectors came into the room.
"Address—occupation?" went on his interlocutor, busy with his form.
The King named the dwelling from which he emanated.
"Come, come!" said the official voice, "no nonsense here! What address?"
The inspector was now looking at the prisoner. He touched the sergeant upon the shoulder, and made a gesture for the two constables to stand back.
"Will you please to come this way, sir?" he said, in a tone of very marked respect.
The King followed him to an inner room.
The inspector closed the door. "I beg your Majesty's pardon," he said. "This is a most regrettable occurrence. Fortunately, none of those men know."
The King smiled. "I tried not to give myself away before I was obliged to," he said.
"Your Majesty must think we are all quite mad."
"Not at all. So far as I know, every man I have encountered has merely done his duty. Your methods of arrest are a little—arbitrary, shall I say?"
"That is unavoidable, sir, when we have large crowds to deal with."
"I can understand that. A woman was being crushed; I helped her to get over the railings. I suppose that was wrong?"
The inspector smiled apologetically. "Men have been fined for it, before now, sir," said he.
"Very well, I will pay my fine," smiled the King. "And then, if you don't mind, I will go home."
His Majesty's kindly humor won the inspector's gratitude. "I'm sure it's very good of your Majesty to treat the matter so lightly."
"It was entirely my own fault," said the King. "How was I to be recognized?"
"You took us off guard, sir. We were not informed that your Majesty would be going anywhere to-night."
"Is that the rule?"
"It is always our business to inquire."
"I should not have told any one."
"It would still, sir, have been our business to find out."
"You surprise me!" said the King. It had never dawned upon him that he was so watched. "And so to-night, for the first time, I gave you the slip?"
"I take the blame, sir," said the inspector; his voice was grave.
"Why should you? No harm has been done. The only question now is how am I to get back?"
"I can get you a cab, sir, at once. Or would your Majesty rather I sent word to the palace?"
"No, certainly not. If I have not been missed, nobody need know."
"Your Majesty was missed by us four hours ago. That is what brought me here."
"You come from the palace?"
"Yes, sir. As head of the special department, I have to be there every night."
"I'm sorry to have given you so much trouble."
"Oh, not at all, sir."
And then, a cab having been summoned, he led the way out.
No one was by; the street had not a soul in it, and the King knew that once more foresight and care were watching over him.
"I have paid the cabman, sir," said the inspector, as he closed the door. "And, sir, would you kindly say where he is to go?"
There was a hint of discretion in the man's tone.
"Ah, yes," said the King, "to be sure—yes. Tell him to stop at the park gates."
The inspector, saluting, gave the required direction, and the cab drove off. Arriving a few minutes later at his destination, the King got out, and passed in through the gates.
The palace was now shrouded in gloom; only in the guard-room, within the high-railed quadrangle, a light still burned. Dimly through the night a sentry could be seen pacing up and down.
By a subconscious instinct the King was returning along the same route that he had come. Only as he approached the postern in the wall did it occur to him that it would almost certainly be locked; and yet for no other door had he a key. Attended constantly by servants, and leading a scrupulously regular life, requiring neither secret passages nor late hours, he had never possessed a latch-key of his own.
How, then, was he to get in now without attracting attention?
Having come so far, however, he went forward on chance and tested the door. The attendant policeman was no longer there, the road-lamp had been turned low, giving only a glimmer.
He tried the handle, but found that it would not respond. A figure glided forward and inserted a key. "Allow me, sir," came the inspector's voice.
"You?" exclaimed the King, surprised.
"It was my duty to see your Majesty safe home."
"Very kind of you, I'm sure." He passed in, and the inspector followed.
"Pardon me for asking, sir. Was this the way your Majesty came out?"
"Yes."
"Ah, that accounts for it! We never thought of your Majesty coming this way, and the man put here was only on beat, not on point duty."
"He was here when I came out," said the King.
"He did not report, sir."
"Are they all bound to?"
"Oh, yes, sir, of course we have to know."
The King smiled. "I suppose he did not recognize me. Remember, I was not quite myself."
"All the same, sir, he should have known. It's what he is trained for."
The King's surprise grew. "I never guessed that I had to be guarded like this."
"Of course, sir, we try to keep it out of sight as much as possible. It isn't pleasant always to feel yourself watched."
"I make you my compliments," said the King; "I had not the remotest idea. Whereabouts are we now?"
The walls of the palace loomed black above them; the night was dark.
"Small stair entrance on the north side, sir. If your Majesty is without a key——"
"I have no key at all."
"Then kindly allow me, sir." And again to the inspector's pass-key a door opened.
The King entered, and the inspector still accompanied him. "There may be others locked inside," he said, by way of explanation.
They passed through a short corridor and ascended stairs; a small electric pocket-lamp of the inspector's showing them the way. Three doors he unfastened in turn. Having opened the last he switched on the light, then respectfully drew back, presuming to come no further. "This is where your Majesty's private apartments begin," said he; an indication that his task as conductor was over.
"Ah, yes," replied the King, "now at last I know where I am. Till this moment I felt myself a stranger. I have to thank you, Mr. Inspector, for the kind way in which you have done me the honors of my own house; and," he added, "of the police-station."
"I am very sorry, sir, that any such thing should have happened. I can promise it won't occur again."
"No," said the King, smiling, "I suppose not. But pray do not be sorry! I have seldom spent a more interesting time; or—thanks to you and others—had more things given me to think about."
The inspector did not reply; he stood looking down, pensive and resigned—tired, perhaps, now that the anxieties of the last few hours were over.
"Good-night," said the King.
"Good-night, sir," replied the inspector. He withdrew and the King heard him locking the door after him.