“If she could be depended upon to play fair, it would be the best temporary solution possible under the circumstances, but that’s where the doubt comes in. However, one may almost say that it’s the only thing to be done, and it certainly gives us a breathing-space. If we can only get through the festivities without an esclandre, we may be able to hit on something. By the bye, Baroness, I believe I was rude enough to interrupt you just now?”
“It is forgotten,” said the Baroness graciously. “I was about to say, my dear Count, that in spite of the horror with which I am bound to regard anything in the nature of a misalliance, I cannot bring myself to hope that this difficulty will end in the breaking-off of the engagement between her Majesty and yourself, as it is, I fear, my duty to do.”
“You are extremely kind, Baroness.”
“I am afraid that I may be failing in my obligations to her Majesty, Count, but it is certain that I have lately come to regard this affair as differing from others of the kind. It may be that one’s judgments soften as one grows older, or it may merely be that I am getting old and foolish, but I hope that it may be possible for her Majesty to marry you. I have watched the sad course of her life, I have seen her misery since her quarrel with you yesterday, and my heart fails me when I think of her suffering if she lost you. You will wonder that I should thus betray the Queen’s feelings to you, but I have a reason. Count, I was aghast when I heard of the definite choice you had placed before her Majesty.”
“I agree with you, Baroness, that the form of the words was unsuitable. If I had been wise I should have employed a different method—entreated and not commanded. I’m afraid the truth is that I lost my head in the excitement of the moment. I never did such a thing before, but my nerve is not what it was. Twenty years of hard work, with practically no holidays, take it out of a man. But it’s no use hedging now, and besides, the Queen’s yielding furnishes the only possible solution of the difficulty.”
“But you would not in any case proceed to the extremities you threatened? You have unfortunately arrayed all her Majesty’s highest feelings against you in thus placing her own happiness in the scale against that of her son. It was not wisely done. And surely, my dear Count, the mental fatigue of which you speak is a warning to you to rest? Marrying her Majesty, you would live quietly and happily, as your English poet says, ‘The world forgetting, by the world forgot.’”
“Are you holding that out as an inducement to me, Baroness? I am afraid you scarcely realise the hold which the world has upon some people. What, you must go? Let me entreat your influence to induce her Majesty to yield, for the sake of the Powers and of European peace, and also, if you will have it, because I cannot pretend to say that if she is obdurate I should not carry out my threat, as you called it just now.”
The Baroness shook her head sadly as Cyril escorted her to her carriage, and he himself failed, for once, to regard the outlook with any confidence. The postponement of the necessity for decision was a great relief, but he could not see any means of saving the situation if the Queen should fail him.
Meanwhile the preparations for the festivities went on apace, and royal guests began to arrive at Bellaviste, until the Palace was fuller than it had been for many years, and extra accommodation had to be found in some of the principal hotels. Among the earliest arrivals was the Crown Prince of Hercynia, representing his father, and attended by Baron de la Mothe von Elterthal. The news that the Imperial Chancellor would visit Thracia had caused much comment, and some excitement, throughout Europe, and it had been freely stated that the object of his coming was to arrange a match between the young King and one of his master’s daughters. The futility of this course under the circumstances had not become generally known, but Cyril was relieved to find that it was not necessary for him to recount to his fellow-statesman the untoward events of the past week. The Hercynian Government had been kept informed by its own representatives of the appearance at Bellaviste of the Princess of Dardania, and of the evident strain which had ensued in the relations of the King and Queen, and had drawn the obvious conclusion, so that Baron de la Mothe von Elterthal had been specially commissioned to ascertain whether Cyril was concerned in the plot, and had played the two Emperors false. If this should prove not to be the case, he was empowered to concert with him as to the means by which the Princess might be baulked of the results of her diplomacy.
Nothing could have come as a more acceptable balm to Cyril’s wounded feelings than this tacit acknowledgment that he alone was considered capable of dealing with the situation satisfactorily, but he was unable to give much comfort in return. Everything depended on the Queen, and although Cyril did his utmost whenever he saw her alone to emphasise the importance of the crisis, he could not flatter himself that he had secured her assistance. He had not expected her to hold out so long after receiving his ultimatum, and he blamed himself ever more and more for the form in which he had chosen to present it. Labouring day by day to remove the unfortunate impression he had produced, he still found himself compelled to report failure to Baron de la Mothe von Elterthal, and when the week of festivity began, he had not so much as obtained from Ernestine a promise to consider her ways. But his ill-success made him only the more determined to win in the end, and he grudged the loss of time caused by the state ceremonies, which kept him from taking active measures, such as were beginning to suggest themselves to his mind, although they were of the doleful nature of counsels of despair.