“The Prince will say that if it is for the good of Emathia, he will agree to it,” said Prince Romanos boldly.
“Very likely,” grumbled Wylie. “I am not the person to judge. It takes a poet to think of a thing of this kind——”
“And a fool to agree to it?” said Maurice. “But if it will give the strength we need for the struggle against disruption? After all, it would only be doing on a large scale what we tried on a small one at Hagiamavra.”
“Where it was not exactly successful,” said Wylie. “Oh, I know it’s ideally desirable, but these things want ideal people to carry them out.”
“There is no idea of binding ourselves by a hard and fast agreement,” said Maurice, as Prince Romanos laughed and bowed. “It must be understood that the thing is purely tentative. If the man in possession finds that the other is not working loyally with him, or if the other—the under dog—finds he is thwarted in his pet schemes without good cause, either may terminate it. We must have arrangements for talking things over thoroughly together at frequent intervals, of course.”
“Then you agree?” cried Prince Romanos joyfully. “Welcome, then, my colleague! You observe that I at once claim for myself the part of upper dog—what is that you say, top dog?—and proceed to constitute my cabinet. Prince Theophanis my Prime Minister, my Protector of Slavs, my second self; Colonel Wylie my War Minister; Professor Panagiotis my Foreign Secretary, Press Censor, Director of Public Education and of my political conscience; Dr Terminoff, Minister of Public Health. This day week the Prince of Emathia will claim your services, gentlemen.”
CHAPTER XXVI.
PAYING THE BILL.
By a majority of thirty-three, Prince Romanos Christodoridi was elected High Commissioner of Emathia. This result caused no surprise at the Theophanis headquarters, where hope was practically extinct from the moment that a pencil note was received from Professor Panagiotis shortly after the opening of the poll:—
“Treachery. Nilischeff has demanded that he and his followers should be allowed to vote in favour of union with Thracia. Informed that this is not the question before the delegates, he declines to vote at all. He influences seventy-eight votes.”
The abstention of these delegates, all Slavs, coupled with the adverse voting of those who had been led to believe that Maurice was merely the tool of Scythia, turned the scale in favour of Prince Romanos, and led to much lively mutual recrimination afterwards. This ceased only in presence of the astonishing sight of the defeated candidate shaking hands with his successful rival, and promising him all the help he could give in his arduous task. The world, as represented by the diplomatists of Europe and the sightseers, looked on cynically, as at a formal ceremony that meant nothing whatever, but the unsophisticated Emathians accepted the scene in good faith, possibly considering that the experiences of Hagiamavra gave them a more intimate knowledge of the two men than that enjoyed by the politicians.