“Not at all,” said the Premier quickly. “To have a king of their own faith is the great desire of the Thracians. They would rally round the throne to an extraordinary degree if the conversion took place. It would be simply and wholly in response to their wishes, and the Queen would gain enormously in popularity.”
“Quite so,” said Cyril. “Explain that to Pannonia and Hercynia, and see how they will look at it. Sigismund of Hercynia might be brought to acquiesce if he were allowed to exhibit his powers as a theologian by conducting the conversion himself, but otherwise he is more likely to preach a crusade against you. Do you really believe that they would not see the finger of Scythia in the event?”
“I suppose you are right. Nevertheless——”
“And Queen Ernestine would pose as a Christian martyr for the benefit of all Europe. She would take her stand on the marriage settlement, as she has every right to do, and all the men with the faintest spark of chivalry about them, and all women with children of their own, would adopt her cause.” He spoke strongly, with a vivid recollection of the picture which he persuaded himself had been devised for his benefit. “Statecraft is a good thing, my dear Drakovics, but sentiment occasionally goes one better.”
“You are right; I give up the plan. For a week I have been trying to find a way of working it out, but I feared it would prove insuperable. Happily I had not adopted it as one of my measures.”
“Or you would have felt bound to carry it out by fair means or foul? You broached it to no one, I suppose?”
“To no one. I disregarded studiously Prince Soudaroff’s remarks during our interview, in order to gain time for thought.”
“Ah, he expected that, of course. He may be trusted to have said nothing to any one else, you think?”
“He paid private visits to no one but the Metropolitan, besides myself, and he would scarcely enter upon the subject with him.”
“I wish we could be sure of that, for the Metropolitan is just the sort of weak man to be persuaded into believing that he has a mission to bring the conversion about. However, it’s quite certain that we can’t arrest him on suspicion, although I shouldn’t wonder if we have to do it after he has preached to-morrow. It would be his business to try to stir the people’s curiosity by vague hints, and he is fanatic enough to rejoice in running the risk. One would do one’s best to secure his silence beforehand, if one didn’t know that it would be the safest way of setting him talking. If only Prince Soudaroff had been a Catholic or a Mohammedan, and had not paid him more than a formal visit!”