“What do you mean?” she asked.
“That the situation now is a great deal more serious than your Majesty seems to understand. We are victorious, yes. But it is as difficult to maintain a victory as to win one. To-day the crowd throw up their caps for Beatrice, but if Beatrice spurns them and ignores their loyal cheers, it takes but a trifle to turn their thoughts the other way. Let me escort your Majesty through the city; let me establish you in the palace which has been graced by so many of your kin; let them see you where their grandfathers saw your brave aunt, and the last drop of blood in their veins is yours.”
She pouted like a child, her thoughts still upon other things than crowns of human make.
“But I don’t want their blood. I don’t want to be Queen. I want to be left alone.”
She looked out the window to the blue sky so full of gold and peace, where the birds tumbled at will, their throats bursting with song.
“General,” she said, “leave me to-day, at any rate. That is all I ask,––just to-day.”
“Your Majesty,” he answered slowly, “it is not mine to grant, not yours to take. Many things may happen in a night,––too many. There will be much talking in the cafés this evening, many gatherings of men, much afoot before dawn. The forces brought in by General Danbury already belong to anyone who will pay them. It is not his fault,––they fought well for their money; but now they are equally ready to fight again for someone else. You alone can hold 211 them to your cause. President Arlano escaped us and is doubtless busy. If we gain the crowd, we are safe against anything he may do; without the crowd, we are in jeopardy. Once the people see you crowned––once they can shout for Beatrice with her before their eyes, a living thing to fight for––they are ours forever.”
“But–––”
“Your Majesty has not fully considered the alternative; it is that you and I and all the brave men who fought to-day for you will be at the mercy of Arlano,––at the mercy of the man whose father slew your aunt,––at the mercy of the man who tortured to death Banaca. It is a bloody mercy we would get. Beside your own, a thousand lives depend upon what you do before night.”