“My dearest”—Cyril kept his temper admirably—“you will always find me ready to help you in any enterprise that has the faintest chance of success; but I am not the man to throw everything away for a miserable fizzle.”
“I do not know that word,” said the Queen, with great dignity. They were speaking English.
“I am sorry my words do not please you. They enshrine a weighty truth, even if it is an unpleasant one. You know what fiasco means, I suppose, and you can guess that I should object to figure in such an exploit?”
“No; you would not—for me,” she said, with sudden softness, crossing the room to where he sat, and laying her hands on his shoulders. “Dear Cyril, you will not leave me to fight this battle all alone?”
“Never, dearest; but you must allow me to choose the ground. Is that settled?” He looked up at her, but her face showed no signs of yielding, and he went on. “Unfortunately for your heroic scheme, it is just what Drakovics has been counting upon, and he has laid beautiful traps for us in every direction in case we adopt it.”
“In what way?” asked Ernestine doubtfully.
“You may not have heard, as I have frequently of late, expressions of astonishment at the way in which Drakovics has neglected to bring in the Estimates this year, although the legislative session is nearly over. It is evident that he had private knowledge that the Metropolitan’s illness was more serious than was generally supposed, and laid his plans accordingly. To use a classic phrase, there are three courses open to us, and whichever we adopt, he stands to win.”
“But how can this be?”
“It is tolerably simple. Let us first suppose that you dismiss him, and that I take office, supported by Mirkovics and his party. But the Legislature is delivered over body and soul to Drakovics, and refuses to pass our Estimates. We resign, and you have no option but to send for him again. Next, we might dispense with the Estimates, and proceed to dissolve the Legislature at once. Then we should find ourselves without money to pay the army or carry on the government, or—which is more important—to carry through a general election. The provincial treasuries dare not hand us over the revenue until they have been authorised to do so by the Legislature.”
“But I thought it was usual to make some arrangement——”