Jawkins heard the King mutter a curse to himself. He hastened to complete his victory, and pulling out a sealed document, unrolled it, and handed it to the King. It was the reappointment, signed by Bagshaw, of Oswald Carey to the Stamp and Sealing-Wax Office.
"This, your Majesty, was handed to me by President Bagshaw himself, to give to Mrs. Carey, as his private agent."
King George looked over it hastily, and then rising, paced nervously up and down the room. Jawkins kept silence.
After some minutes the King stopped in his walk. "Well—if this be true—Mrs. Carey is an agreeable woman. Suppose I chose, without trusting her, to permit her company—"
The King interrupted himself for a moment, as he caught Jawkins's eye. Then he resumed his walk hastily. "Yes, yes," he concluded, "I suppose you are right."
Jawkins looked carefully around the room, and then continued in a lower voice, "Does your Majesty know—what they say at court—that Mrs. Carey wishes to be the King's—" George stopped him with a look.
"Yes, yes—I know all that."
"The American divorce laws are very lax, they say," Jawkins went on, "and if the King were to marry her—"
"Marry her!" thundered the King; "God, man, what do you mean?"
"If I proved to your Majesty that such was her aim?"