“No, my lord, that I never will give in to. Them as was hasty has made amends, as was proper. Her Majesty come into my nursery this mornin’, and I stood up very stiff-like, as my feelin’s bein’ hurt. But she speaks to me very pleasant, and says, says she, ‘Mrs Jones, I spoke hasty to you a short time ago, and it may be that through ignorance of your language I said more nor I meant. I hope very much that you have made no other arrangements, and will stay with us. I ask it as a favour to myself, and also to the King, as will break his heart if you leave him.’ There, my lord! I was all in a flutter to think of a crowned Queen talkin’ to me of favours, and the little King come runnin’ and says, ‘Nursie not goin’ away. Nursie stay and tell stories,’ and I burst out cryin’ like any old crocodile, as they say, and told the Queen that my heart was just about broke to think of leavin’, and that I asked no better than to stay. And this afternoon her Majesty have sent me a beautiful gown-piece of black silk, that thick you might use it for a parachute if you wanted to, and so I’ve took back my notice, my lord.”
This was extremely satisfactory so far as it went, but Cyril was not long in discovering that the part he had played with respect to Mrs Jones’s remaining a member of the royal household was not appreciated by the Queen. It was tolerably clear that Fräulein von Staubach had repeated verbatim, or, at any rate, rather in an exaggerated than a diminished form, the conversation she had held with him, and that the Queen had taken it to heart. She was very careful in these days to entrench herself behind an impassable barrier of etiquette, and she indulged in no freaks and no outbursts of temper, while yet she kept Cyril at a distance, and made it evident that he was in disgrace. This little exhibition of spite could do Cyril no harm, for he still held the reins of authority and controlled the purse-strings; but it was a very uncomfortable state of affairs for the other members of the Court, who were obliged to do their utmost to keep in favour with both parties. In these circumstances, Cyril thought it a suitable opportunity to ask for a few days’ leave of absence in order to pay his projected visit to Bellaviste, and the permission was granted with a most unflattering readiness, which, however, only caused him amusement.
“I don’t think she’ll be up to much in the way of tricks while I’m gone,” he said to himself; “this last pulling-up has taken her rather aback. She must know that I shall hear of all that goes on, and hurry back if there is anything wrong. I don’t really like going, and yet I must have a word or two with Drakovics. He shall learn to understand that our partnership is not to be all on one side. If he is not going to back me up, he may look out for some one else to pull the chestnuts out of the fire for him. And I’m not sorry to have a little change from this wretched place. I wonder whether there would be time to run up to Vienna for a day or two? Oh no; my precious charge would be getting into mischief, and, after all, Bellaviste is better than this dull hole. Nothing much can happen in five days. The servants know that I am master, and Stefanovics and the Baroness will keep me posted up. If any one launches out on the strength of my being gone, I shall be able to deal with them when I come back.”
But on the day before that fixed for his departure, he discovered that his authority in the household was not quite so firmly rooted as he had imagined. It happened that in the course of the morning a telegram arrived for him, and was brought into his office by one of the royal footmen. The telegram was of little importance, but something unfamiliar in the aspect of the bearer struck Cyril.
“Wait a minute,” he said, as the man was leaving the room. “How is this? You are not Alexander Sergeivics, but Peter, and you were one of the servants left at Bellaviste to look after the Palace.”
“Yes, Excellency; but my brother’s wife is dangerously ill at Bellaviste, and I am taking his place that he may be with her.”
“Indeed! an excellent arrangement; but you will have to learn, and so will your brother, that servants in the royal household are not at liberty to exchange their posts to suit their own convenience.”
“Not if they have her Majesty’s sanction, Excellency?” There was triumph clearly visible under the man’s deferential manner.
“Her Majesty’s pleasure overrides all regulations, of course. I am to understand that your brother obtained her consent?”
“It is so, Excellency. Having obtained leave of absence, I came to Tatarjé to tell my brother about his wife, and her Majesty, on hearing the news, granted him permission to return to Bellaviste immediately. When my brother ventured to suggest that it was requisite for him to obtain leave from your Excellency, her Majesty was pleased to say, ‘What has Count Mortimer to do with it? I have told you to go, I the Queen. That is enough.’”