what I truthfully believe to be their only chance of salvation. You are that chance, Ughtred. The throne of your fathers is yours if you will have it. A brave man can seize it, and a brave man can hold it in the teeth of all Europe, and by your God and for the sake of the blood which is in your veins, Ughtred of Tyrnaus, I summon you to return with me to Theos.”
Erlito rose slowly up. His cheeks were flushed with excitement. Reist’s appeal had moved him deeply.
“You mean this?” he said. “You mean that you bring me this message from the people of Theos?”
Reist raised his hand solemnly.
“I mean that on their behalf I, Nicholas of Reist, than whom none has a better right to speak for their country, offer you the crown of Theos.”
Erlito walked restlessly up and down the little study into which he had brought his visitor.
“We of Tyrnaus,” he said, “are under sentence of perpetual exile.”
“It was the illegal sentence of an illegal assembly,” Reist answered. “The voice of the people has revoked it. They bid you forget all else save that your native land looks to you in her hour of trouble. Listen. It is no rose-strewn way along which you will pass to your inheritance. There will be no popular reception, no grand ceremony. We must travel day and night to Theos, secretly, perhaps even in disguise. You must be crowned King in the Palace the moment we arrive there. Secretly I have already called together the army, for the moment the news is known there will be a storm. There are Russians and Austrian secret agents in Theos, each working for their own ends. They believe that I have gone to Vienna and Petersburg to beg for the intercession of the Powers. Meanwhile the Turkish dogs are creeping up the Balkans. They are gathered around our country, Ughtred, like wreckers waiting for the ship to break up. It is for you to steer that ship into safe waters.”
There was a long silence. Erlito was standing with his elbow upon the mantelpiece, looking into the fire. In his heart were many emotions, in his face a strange light. A new world had been opened up before him. He saw great things moving across the vista of the future. No longer then need he brood over an empty life, or bewail the idle sword of a gentleman of fortune. Here was stuff enough to make a dozen careers, a future, successful or unsuccessful, more brilliant than anything else which he could have conceived. But Reist, who failed to read his companion’s thoughts, was troubled. This prolonged silence was inexplicable to him.
“You do not hesitate?” he asked at last.
Erlito laughed and drew himself up.
“You must not think so ill of me as that, Nicholas,” he answered. “Nay, there was no thought of hesitation in my mind. I accept—gladly, thankfully. Only you must know this. Of soldiering I have learnt a little, and nothing would make me happier than to lead the men of Theos into battle. But of statesmanship I know little, and of kingcraft nothing at all. You must find me faithful advisers. You yourself must stand at my right hand.”
Then Nicholas of Reist drew a long breath, and the cloud passed away from his face.
“There are still many faithful citizens,” he said, “whom we can rally around us, and I myself—I live only for Theos. Let me tell you this, for it will give you confidence. It is a soldier for whom the people are pining. They want no more merchants in high places. They shall see you, Ughtred of Tyrnaus, in the uniform of their Guards. They shall hear you give the word of command, they will shout you King—ay, they will take you into their hearts, this people.”
So the hands of the two met in a long, fervent clasp. Erlito embraced his destiny, and Reist set the seal upon his renunciation.
A King! As Ughtred fastened his white tie before the tiny mirror upon his dressing-case those lines at the corner of his mouth gave way. He suddenly burst out laughing. A King! The incongruity of the thing tickled his sense of humour—he laughed long and heartily. He looked around him. His bedchamber was tiny, and he had only been able to afford furniture of the cheapest description. He looked at the plain rush carpet, the swords and foils which were almost his sole decoration upon the walls, the humble appointments of his dressing-table. Everything was scrupulously neat and clean, stern and soldier-like in simplicity. What a change was before him. From here to the royal palace of Theos, where a chamberlain would wait upon him with bended knee, and the small etiquette of a Court would hamper his every movement. The last few years passed in swift review before him. He had lived always like a gentleman, but always with a certain amount of rigid self-denial necessitated by his small income. He had few acquaintances and fewer friends. The luxury of a West-End club had been denied to him—fencing and long walks were almost his sole relaxation. All that he had had to hope for was the breaking out of some small war in any corner of the world, when his sword and military experience might give him a chance to follow his profession. He was, if anything, deficient in imagination, but he had humour enough and to spare. He laughed softly as he donned his carefully-folded and well-worn dress-coat, and reflected that this was perhaps the last dinner which he would eat in such garments with companions of his own choosing. It was surely a strange turn in the wheel of fortune.
CHAPTER VI
“I think your friend the Duke of Reist is a very interesting man,” Sara Van Decht remarked, “but as a dinner companion he’s just a little depressing. I wonder what father and he will find to talk about.”
Ughtred laughed. They had just come out from the restaurant, to find the great hall almost full. Reist and Mr. Van Decht were sitting a little apart from them.
“Reist is a very good fellow,” Ughtred declared, “but just now he is not very much in the humour for gaiety. He is passionately attached to his country, and Theos, alas, is passing through a very anxious time in her history. No, you must not judge him by his demeanour to-night. I had much difficulty in persuading him to accept your father’s invitation.”
She nodded sympathetically.
“Has he come over to obtain aid from England?” she asked. “From the papers this morning it seems as though one of the Powers would have to interfere and straighten things out.”
Ughtred looked down with grave, steadfast eyes into the girl’s upturned face. It was time for him to tell her. How ridiculous it would sound. She would probably laugh at him.
“Reist came to England,” he said, “to find me.”
She looked at him in mild wonder.
“You! But you are no longer interested in Theos, are you?”
He sighed.
“I have been an exile for many years,” he said, “and Theos has come to mean little else to me save a beautiful memory. Yet I have never forgotten that she is my native country. I am never likely to forget it.”
“Do you hope ever to return?” she asked.
“I hope to be in Theos within a week,” he answered. “I am returning with Reist.”
She looked up at him startled, but deeply interested.
“You mean it?” she cried. “Oh, tell me!”
“You have read of the downfall of
