The Weight of the Crown

by Fred M. White

"Let us have the pith of it," she said. "I am curious to know what it all means."

Lechmere proceeded to read the article aloud. It was well done and the insinuations it conveyed were worse than the actual truth. For instance, it was not boldly said that the King of Asturia had visited the offices of the Mercury in a state of intoxication, but it was shrewdly inferred. The brutal callous indifference of the whole thing was most strongly marked. The king had abdicated his throne, he cared nothing for his country or what his subjects thought of it. Here was an article calculated to arouse the greatest sensation in Europe. The queen was not slow to see the danger of it.

"But the thing is all a lie," she cried. "It is impossible. We know that the king has not left Merehaven House since dinner-time. And this interview is stated to have taken place later. Is this what your journalism is coming to in this country, Mr. Lechmere?"

"Not our journalism, madame," Lechmere said coolly. "No English daily paper would have been so depraved and unpatriotic as to print that interview without consulting some Minister of State. As a matter of fact the Mercury is American, it is published to sell, it is the pioneer paper floated to capture the cream of our Press. Hunt has no scruples."

"But he has invented the whole thing," the queen said. "It is a dastardly fraud."

"No," Lechmere said calmly. "No doubt somebody called on Hunt and told him that story. I believe Hunt to be genuinely under the impression that he had the honour of the confidence of the King of Asturia. In a way he has been hoaxed with the rest."

"If we could only prove it," the queen said under her breath. "If we could only prove it."

"I hope to be able to do so within the next half hour," Lechmere went on in his cool way. "I have a pretty shrewd idea what has taken place. In a measure we have to thank the little scheme planned out between this young lady here and her double, Miss Vera Galloway. It suggested an idea to Countess Saens. And fortunately for her the material was at hand. After all said and done the Editor of the Mercury could only have seen the king in the most casual way and he would be easily imposed on. In the circumstances, he would be quite ready and even eager to be imposed upon. The fact that the whole affair subsequently proved to be a hoax would not in the least disturb Hunt. He would get his sensation and his extra copies sold, the mistake itself would be forgotten in a day or two."

"But not in Europe," the queen cried. "By to-morrow Europe will be ringing with that vile lie. The telegraph will be put in motion, our enemies will see that it is promptly reported from one end of Asturia to another. Once the lie is floated on the stream of public opinion we shall never catch it up again. The whole thing has been engineered with the deliberate intention of ruining us. What can we do?"

"What man can do I have already done," Lechmere said. "The thing will be contradicted and proved to be a lie by the Herald newspaper, to whose Editor I have told everything. The two papers will start fairly, the one with the lie and the other with the truth. And as you know the Herald is looked upon as a respectable journal. The telegraph that flashes the news for the one will flash the refutation for the other. And I have taken an extremely bold step. The Herald to-morrow will be responsible for the announcement that so far from resigning his crown, King Erno of Asturia has started already by a series of special trains to Asturia. Madame, you will see that this is done?"