Among the diplomatists who bent their steps towards Therma was one whose advent proved singularly displeasing to the Dowager Princess of Dardania, who had quitted Skandalo, in common with those more deeply interested in the approaching election, for the larger life of the reconstructed city. It was not the first time that Prince Soudaroff had followed in her steps when she had been in charge of a negotiation which she was carrying out with full satisfaction to herself, and she resented extremely the idea that he was appointed to inspect, perhaps to revise, her methods. Nominally, of course, he had no connection with her, but as soon as she had heard of his arrival in the city, and found his name in her visitors’ book, she knew that sooner or later he would ask for a business interview. This time the request came very quickly. He was the bearer of an autograph letter from the Empress of Scythia to Princess Theophanis; would the Princess of Dardania advise him as to the best way of presenting it to her, as he understood she had maintained a strict seclusion since her recent bereavement? The Princess gave him an appointment, and it was without surprise that she remembered afterwards the total omission of any mention of the Empress’s letter.
“It does not strike you, madame, that we are in danger of being too successful?” asked the envoy, after a few preliminary civilities designed to allow Donna Olimpia to be safely despatched out of hearing.
“Too successful, Prince? How could that be?”
“I find, madame, that the candidate we are supporting is too strong. To-day I have examined the secret returns prepared for me as to the predilections of the delegates, and I should say that Prince Theophanis would be elected by an absolutely overwhelming majority. The partisans of Prince Christodoridi are noisy enough, but his behaviour at Hagiamavra, which brought about the final catastrophe, has told against him with many.”
“But so long as the candidate we favour is elected, how can it signify whether the majority is small or large?” cried the Princess.
“On the contrary, madame, it is of supreme importance that the majority should be small. There have been cases before when a parvenu prince, finding himself unexpectedly strong, has repudiated the conditions on which he was raised to the throne. If Prince Theophanis has practically the whole of Emathia at his back, he may even venture to deny the authenticity of the document you hold, and refuse to resign when called upon.”
“He will not dare to break with his wife,” said the Princess eagerly. “To deny his signature would be to expose her, and she is his link with our court, besides being the inheritor of claims rather better than his own.”
“I do not for a moment expect him to denounce her as having practised a fraud upon him, madame. But what if Princess Theophanis should declare the document a forgery?”
“It is impossible!” cried the Princess, in anxious protest. “It is in her own writing, with his signature added.”
“Still, handwriting has been counterfeited before to-day. You know your own sex better than I do, madame, but I must own that a woman who would deliberately deceive a sick husband, even for his advantage, would not seem to me incapable of denying the deception in order to set herself right in his eyes. I assume, as you say, that their interests are identical, and that he has a high respect for her.”