XIX
IT WAS JUDSON'S FAULT
Calvert Carter had a very democratic conversation with His Majesty of Krovitch. They were standing on the platform of the station at Vienna waiting with ill-concealed impatience for the train which was to carry them into Krovitch. Needless to say, their talk turned upon the King's recent misbehavior. It contained a sketchy outline of what the American considered would happen did the monarch again put such an affront upon Her Grace.
"You threaten, Major Carter?" asked Stovik with the insolence inseparable from a recent exaltation from humble life.
"No, Your Majesty," replied Carter, no whit annoyed by the other's ill-temper; "I never threaten. I promise." That was all that was said. Neither Eugene Delmotte in his proper person nor the future ruler of Krovitch was able, however, to withstand the cool, hard glitter in the American's eyes.
They boarded the waiting train as they came to this understanding. King Stovik's conduct for this new journey was exemplary. Nor were there other pretty coquettes available. He even exerted himself sufficiently to take an interest in the general conversation, at which Trusia's face brightened with appreciation.
Houses, fields, woods, mountains and sky fled by as the train sped on. At last the Vistula was crossed. Trusia's face grew radiant as the landmarks of her country began to appear on every hand. With grumbling wheels the cars drew nearer Schallberg.
"See, away off there to the northeast. There, that tiny speck against the sky," she cried rapturously as one returning home from a long sojourn abroad. "That is my castle. Do you see it, Your Majesty?" she asked, as she turned appealingly to him. "Schallberg, your capital, lies this side of it. The city is in a valley on the far side of this mountain we are now climbing." The whole party were peering out of the windows on the rapidly changing landscape, eagerly awaiting the first view of the place of their hopes.
The train, sobbing out its protests against the steep ascent, soon brought them into a region of puzzling circumstances. Flashing past rural crossroads, they could see large groups of excited peasants talking, gesticulating and laughing, as they one and all were pointing in the direction of the capital. To their greater bewilderment, videttes in jaunty black and gold could be seen, as if courting publicity, patroling the public highways.