Temporal Power: A Study in Supremacy Part 47

A shadow of annoyance darkened the Queen's fair brows.

"Since you have no fear, you may equally have no shame!" she said in icy-cold accents; "Therefore it is easy to understand why you deliberately refuse to see the harm and cruelty done to our son, the Crown Prince, by his marriage with you, if such marriage were in the least admissible, which fortunately for all concerned, it is not. He is destined to occupy the Throne, and he must wed someone who is fit to share it. Kings and princes may love where they choose,--but they can only marry where they must! You are my son's first love;--the thought and memory of that may perhaps be a consolation to you,--but do not a.s.sume that you will be his last!"

Gloria drew back from her; her face had paled a little.

"You can speak so!" she said sorrowfully; "You,--his mother! Poor Queen--poor woman! I am sorry for you!"

Without pausing to notice the crimson flush of vexation that flew over the Queen's delicate face at her words, she turned, now with some haughtiness, to the King.

"Speak plainly!" she said; "What is it you want of me?"

Her flashing eyes, her proud look startled him--he moved back a step or two. Then he replied with as much firmness and dignity as he could a.s.sume.

"Nothing is wanted of you, my child, but obedience and loyalty! Resign all claim upon the Crown Prince as his wife; promise never to see him again, or correspond with him,--and--you shall lose nothing by the sacrifice you make of your little love affair to the good of the country."

"The good of the country!" echoed Gloria in thrilling tones. "Do _you_ know anything about it? You--who never go among your people except to hunt and shoot and amuse yourself generally? You, who permit wicked liars and spendthrifts to gamble with the people's money! The good of the country! If my life could only lift the burden of taxation from the country, I would lay it down gladly and freely! If I were Queen, do you think I could be like her?" and she stretched forth her white arm to where the Queen, amazed, had risen from her seat, and now stood erect, her rich robes trailing yards on the ground, and flashing at every point with jewels. "Do you think I could sit unmoved, clad in rich velvet and gems, while one single starving creature sought bread within my kingdom?

Nay, I would sell everything I possessed and go barefoot rather! I would be a sister, not a mere 'patroness' to the poor;--I would never wear a single garment that had not been made for me by the workers of my own land;--and the 'good of the country' should be 'good' indeed, not 'bad,'

as it is now!"

Breathless with the sudden rush of her thoughts into words, she stood with heaving bosom and sparkling eyes, the incarnation of eloquence and inspiration, and before the astonished monarch could speak, she went on.

"I am your son's wife! He loves me--he has wedded me honourably and lawfully. You wish me to disclaim that. I will not! From him and him alone, must come my dismissal from his heart, his life and his soul. If he desires his marriage with me dissolved, let him tell me so himself face to face, and before you and his mother! Then I shall be content to be no more his wife. But not till then! I will promise nothing without his consent. He is my husband,--and to him I owe my first obedience.

I seek no honour, no rank, no wealth,--but I have won the greatest treasure in this world, his love!--and that I will keep!"

A door opened at the further end of the room--a curtain was quietly pushed aside, and the Crown Prince entered. With a composed, almost formal demeanour, he saluted the King and Queen, and then going up to Gloria, pa.s.sed his arm around her waist, and held her fast.

"When you have concluded your interview with my wife, Sir,--an interview of which I had no previous knowledge," he said quietly, addressing the King; "I shall be glad to have one of my own with her!"

The King answered him calmly enough.

"Your wife,--as you call her,--is a very incorrigible young person," he said. "The sooner she returns to her companions, the fisher-folk on The Islands, the better! From her looks I imagined she might have sense; but I fear that is lacking to her composition! However, she is perfectly willing to consider her marriage with you dissolved, if you desire it. I trust you _will_ desire it;--here, now, and at once, in my presence and that of the Queen, your mother;--and thus a very unpleasant and unfortunate incident in your career will be satisfactorily closed!"

Prince Humphry smiled.

"Dissolve the heavens and its stars into a cup of wine, and drink them all down at one gulp!" he said; "And then, perhaps, you may dissolve my marriage with this lady! If you consider it illegal, put the question to the Courts of Law;--to the Pope, who most strenuously supports the sanct.i.ty of the marriage-tie;--ask all who know anything of the sacrament, whether, when two people love each other, and are bound by holy matrimony to be as one, and are mutually resolved to so remain, any earthly power can part them! 'Those whom G.o.d hath joined together, let no man put asunder.' Is that mere lip mockery, or is it a holy bond?"

The King gave an impatient gesture.

"There is no use in argument," he said, "when argument has to be carried on with such children as yourselves. What cannot be done by persuasion, must be done by force. I wished to act kindly and reasonably by both of you--and I had hoped better things from this interview,--but as matters have turned out, it may as well be concluded."

"Wait!" said Gloria, disengaging herself gently from her husband's embrace; "I have something to say which ought to meet your wishes, even though it may not be all you desire. I will not promise to give up my husband;--I will not promise never to see him, and never to write to him--but I will swear to you one thing that should completely put your fears and doubts of me at rest!"

Both the King and Queen looked at her wonderingly;--a brighter, more delicate beauty seemed to invest her,--she stood very proudly upright, her small head lifted,--her rich hair glistening in the soft sunshine that streamed in subdued tints through the high stained-gla.s.s windows of the room,--her figure, slight and tall, was like that of the G.o.ddess dreamt of by Endymion.

"You are so unhappy already," she continued, turning to the Queen; "You have lost so much, and you need so much, that I should be sorry to add to your burden of grief! If I thought I could make you glad,--if I thought I could make you see the world through my eyes, with all the patient, loving human hearts about you, waiting for the sympathy you never give; I would come to you often, and try to find the warm pulse of you somewhere under all that splendour which you clothe yourself in, and which is as valueless to me as the dust on the common road! And if I could show _you_" and here she fixed her steadfast glance upon the King,--"where you might win friends instead of losing them,--if I could persuade you to look and see where the fires of Revolution are beginning to smoulder and kindle under your very Throne,--if I could bear messages from you of compa.s.sion and tenderness to all the disaffected and disloyal, I would ask you on my knees to let me be your daughter in affection, as I am by marriage; and I would unveil to you the secrets of your own kingdom, which is slowly but steadily rising against you! But you judge me wrongly--you estimate me falsely,--and where I might have given aid, your own misconception of me makes me useless! You consider me low-born and a mere peasant! How can you be sure of that?--for truly I do not know who I am, or where I came from. For aught I can tell, the storm was my father, and the sea my mother,--but my parents may as easily have been Royal! You judge me half-educated,--and wholly unworthy to be your son's wife. Will the ladies of your Court compete with me in learning? I am ready! What I hear of their attainments has not as yet commanded my respect or admiration,--and you yourself as King, do nothing to show that you care for either art or learning! I wonder, indeed, that you should even pause to consider whether your son's wife is educated or not!"

Absolutely silent, the King kept his eyes upon her. He was experiencing a novel sensation which was altogether delightful to him, and more instructive than any essay or sermon. He, the ostensible ruler of the country, was face to face with a woman who had no fear of him,--no awe for his position,--no respect for his rank, but who simply spoke to him as though he had been any ordinary person. He saw a scarcely perceptible smile on his son's handsome features,--he saw that Von Glauben's eyes twinkled, despite his carefully preserved seriousness of demeanour, and he realized the almost absurd powerlessness of his authority in such an embarra.s.sing position. The a.s.sumption of a mute contempt, such as was vaguely expressed by the Queen, appeared to him to be the best policy;--he therefore adopted that att.i.tude, without however producing the least visible effect. Gloria's face, softly flushed with suppressed emotion, looked earnest and impa.s.sioned, but neither abashed nor afraid.

"I have read many histories of kings," she continued slowly; "Of their treacheries and cruelties; of their neglect of their people! Seldom have they been truly great! The few who are reported as wise, lived and reigned so many ages ago, that we cannot tell whether their virtues were indeed as admirable as described,--or whether their vices were not condoned by a too-partial historian. A Throne has no attraction for me!

The only sorrow I have ever known in my life, is the discovery that the man I love best in the world is a king's son! Would to G.o.d he were poor and unrenowned as I thought him to be, when I married him!--for so we should always have been happy. But now I have to think for him as well as for myself;--his position is as hard as mine,--and we accept our fate as a trial of our love. Love cannot be forced,--it must root itself, and grow where it will. It has made us two as one;--one in thought,--one in hope,--one in faith! No earthly power can part us. You would marry him to another woman, and force him to commit a great sin 'for the good of the country'? I tell you, if you do that,--if any king or prince does that,--G.o.d's curse will surely fall upon the Throne, and all that do inherit it!"

She did not raise her voice,--she spoke in low thrilling accents, without excitement, but with measured force and calm. Then she beckoned the Crown Prince to her side. He instantly obeyed her gesture. Taking him by the hand, she advanced a little, and with him confronted both the King and Queen.

"Hear me, your Majesties both!" she said in clear, firm accents; "And when you have heard, be satisfied as to 'the good of the country,' and let me depart to my own home in peace, away from all your crushing and miserable conventions. I take your son by the hand, and even as I swore my faith to him at the marriage altar, so I swear to you that he is free to follow his own inclination;--his law is mine,--his will my pleasure,--and in everything I shall obey him, save in this one decree, which I make for myself in your Majesties' sovereign presence--that never, so help me G.o.d, will I claim or share my husband's rank as Crown Prince, or set foot within this palace, which is his home, again, till a greater voice than that of any king,--the voice of the Nation itself, calls upon me to do so!"

This proud declaration was entirely unexpected; and both the King and Queen regarded the beautiful speaker in undisguised amazement. She, gently dropping the Prince's hand, met their eyes with a wistful pathos in her own.

"Will that satisfy you?" she asked, a slight tremor shaking her voice as she put the question.

The King at once advanced, and now spoke frankly, and without any ceremony.

"a.s.suredly! You are a brave girl! True to your love, and true to the country at one and the same time! But while I accept your vow, let me warn you not to indulge in any lurking hope or feeling that the Nation will ever recognize your marriage. Your own willingly-taken oath at this moment practically makes it null and void, so far as the State is concerned;--but perhaps it strengthens it as a bond of--youthful pa.s.sion!"

An open admiration flashed in his bold fine eyes as he spoke,--and Gloria grew pale. With an involuntary movement she turned towards the Queen.

"You--Madam--you--Ah! No,--not you!--you are cruel!--you have not a woman's heart! My love--my husband!"

The Prince was at once beside her, and she clung to him trembling.

"Take me away!" she whispered; "Take me away altogether--this place stifles me!"

He caught her in his strong young arms, and was about to lead her to the door, when she suddenly appeared to remember something, and releasing herself from his clasp, put him away from her with a faint smile.

"No, dearest! You must stay here;--stay here and make your father and mother understand all that I have said. Tell them I mean to keep my vow.

You know how thoroughly I mean it! The Professor will take me home!"

Then the Queen moved, and came towards her with her usual slow noiseless grace.

"Let me thank you!" she said, with an air of gracious condescension; "You are a very good girl, and I am sure you will keep your word! You are so beautiful that you are bound to do well; and I hope your future life will be a happy one!"

"I hope so, Madam!" replied Gloria slowly; "I think it will! If it is not happier than yours, I shall indeed be unfortunate!"

The Queen drew back, offended; but the King, who had been whispering aside to Von Glauben, now approached and said kindly.

"You must not go away, my child, without some token of our regard. Wear this for Our sake!"

He offered her a chain of gold bearing a simple yet exquisitely designed pendant of choice pearls. Her face crimsoned, and she pushed it disdainfully aside.

"Keep it, Sir, for those whose love and faith can be purchased with jewelled toys! Mine cannot! You mean kindly no doubt,--but a gift from you is an offence, not an honour! Fare-you-well!"

Another moment and she was gone. Von Glauben, at a sign from the King, hastily followed her. Prince Humphry, who had remained almost entirely mute during the scene, now stood with folded arms opposite his Royal parents, still silent and rigid. The King watched him for a minute or two--then laid a hand gently on his arm.

"We do not blame you over-much, Humphry!" he said; "She is a beautiful creature, and more intelligent than I had imagined. Moreover she has great calmness, as well as courage."

Still the Prince said nothing.

"You are satisfied, Madam, I presume?" went on the King addressing his Consort;--"The girl could hardly make a more earnest vow of abnegation than she has done. And when Humphry has travelled for a year and seen other lands, other manners, and other faces, we may look upon this boyish incident in his career as finally closed. I think both you and I can rest a.s.sured that there will be no further cause for anxiety?"

He put the question carelessly. The Queen bent her head in acquiescence, but her eyes were fixed upon her son, who still said nothing.