“Not at all. You are judging yourself too hardly. You did a kindness to a poor beggar in a tight place. Well, don’t try to get behind that. You may be sure that I shall keep your act of charity dark, and I don’t think you’ll want to publish it abroad, though I fancy you had some idea in your head of preventing me from returning to Thracia by making known the manner of my leaving it, eh? If I had not been so anxious to keep you from getting into trouble I should have taken you into my confidence, so be grateful.”
“You know perfectly well that if you had told me your intentions I should have refused entirely to take any part in furthering them.”
“Ah, well, perhaps that was one of my reasons for reticence. But you shouldn’t go back on your good deed now it’s done.”
“I have not asked advice from you, Count Mortimer, and after what has happened, I am scarcely likely to take it. You succeeded in getting my help in a discreditable job by means of a dirty trick, which was successful because I regarded you as a friend and an honourable man. Now that you are proved not to be the one, it is impossible for you to continue to be the other. I wish you a very good morning. In future, if you should take the trouble to call at the Legation, Lady Stratford will not be at home.”
“I knew Stratford would be fearfully wild when he realised that he had been had,” reflected Cyril, as the British representative departed, “but I didn’t expect he would put on frills quite to such an extent. I suppose he can’t get over my having worked on his feelings. Well, the best of friends must part. But it will be a bore not to be able to drop in at the Legation in the evenings.”
CHAPTER XXII.
THE EDUCATION QUESTION.
The coup d’état was complete. M. Drakovics had accepted the ultimatum conveyed to him by Stefanovics with a submission which was as touching as it was generally unexpected. It was true, he said, that the overwork and excitement of the last few weeks had so affected his health that in a moment of irritation he had lost command of his temper, and addressed the Queen in terms which were wanting in the respect due to her position. That this one indiscretion should blot out the remembrance of long years of faithful service to the Crown and to Thracia was only just, and he would retire meekly into private life, not to leave it again unless summoned by some peril threatening his beloved country. This pathetic farewell was not, of course, intended for the public ear. The ‘Gazette’ and other newspapers announced merely that the Premier’s resignation was due to the state of his health, but a more detailed explanation was necessary for the benefit of the Ministry and of the foreign Courts which were connected by ties of relationship or of traditional policy with that of Bellaviste. By these Courts the news of the fall of M. Drakovics and of Cyril’s accession to power was received and acknowledged without comment or opposition—a fact which would have confirmed Cyril, had he needed confirmation, in the belief that the end was not yet. The Powers were waiting for some further development of the situation.
As for the members of the Drakovics Cabinet, they accepted the state of affairs, for the most part, with great philosophy. One or two of the more violent partisans of Bishop Philaret resigned rather than become involved in the nomination of Bishop Socrates as Metropolitan; but the rest, the most important of whom was M. Milénovics, the Minister of Public Works, transferred their allegiance to Cyril without difficulty. A possible cause of unpleasantness was also removed by the resignation of Vassili Drakovics, who had occupied the position which in England would be called that of Parliamentary Under-Secretary to his more distinguished relative. If he had not taken this step, it would have been difficult to know what to do with him, since to allow him to remain in the Treasury would have been to keep M. Drakovics informed of the financial circumstances of his successors, with which it was most undesirable that he should be acquainted; but his appointment to the lucrative, if slightly incongruous, post of curator of the National Museum in Bellaviste immediately upon his resignation, satisfied all parties. The populace of Bellaviste, finding the streets patrolled by troops, public meetings prohibited, and a strict censorship maintained over the Press, realised that the new Administration was as well able to protect itself as the old one had been, and that it did so in much the same way, and they acquiesced contentedly in the change.
Cyril was far too prudent to expose his slender forces to defeat in a Legislature elected to support M. Drakovics, and the only business which he laid before the House was the voting of a valedictory address to the ex-Premier—a patriotic duty to which no opposition could be offered. As soon as the address had been voted, the Legislature was dissolved, and Thracia found itself in the throes, somewhat artificial in the case of a Balkan State, of a General Election. Thanks to the custom of the country, according to which it was unnecessary for a Minister to occupy a seat in the Legislature, Cyril and the majority of his colleagues were not troubled by any need of looking after their own positions; but the fight was none the less carefully organised. During the time which elapsed between the dissolution and the actual election, Cyril worked out his dispositions with the greatest precision, observing with amusement that M. Drakovics was still acting the part of the sulky Achilles, evidently waiting until the sinews of war should fail the opposite party. His expectation that victory would fall into his hands without an effort on his part was so obvious that his inaction began at last to alarm the more nervous of Cyril’s colleagues, who thought that the ex-Premier must have some great coup in preparation. Their leader succeeded in calming their apprehensions by reminding them of the solid financial basis on which the Cabinet rested, but not before the uneasiness had spread to the Palace, where M. Drakovics was regarded much as a foreign foe would have been.
“Cyril,” said Ernestine, when her Prime Minister sought an interview with her one day, “are you sure we shall win?”