She agreed to this, though with some little hesitation,--then they ascended the cliff, and walking by way of the pine-wood through which the King had come, arrived at Ronsard"s house, to find the old man quite alone, and peacefully engaged in tying up the roses and jessamine on the pillars of his verandah. His worn face lighted up with animation and tenderness as Gloria approached him and threw her arms around his neck, and to her he related the incident of the King and Queen"s unexpected visit, as a sort of accidental, uninteresting, and wholly unimportant occurrence. The Queen, he said, was very beautiful; but too cold in her manner, though she had certainly taken much interest in seeing the house and garden.
"It was just as well you were absent, child," he added--"Royalty brings an atmosphere with it which is not wholesome. A king never knows what it is to be an honest man!"
"Those are your old, discarded theories, Ronsard!" said Von Glauben, shaking his head;--"You said you would never return to them!"
"Aye!" rejoined Ronsard;--"I have tried to put away all my old thoughts and dreams for her sake"--and his gaze rested lovingly on Gloria as, standing on tiptoe to reach a down-drooping rose, she gathered it and fastened it in her bosom. "There should only be peace and contentment where _she_ dwells! But sometimes my life"s long rebellion against sham and injustice stirs in my blood, and I long to pull down the ignorant people"s idols of wood and straw, and set up men in place of dummies!"
"A Mumbo-Jumbo of some kind has always been necessary in the world, my friend," said the Professor calmly; "Either in the shape of a deity or a king. A wood and straw Nonent.i.ty is better than an incarnated fleshly Selfishness. Will you give me supper before I leave?"
Ronsard smiled a cheery a.s.sent, and Gloria preceding them, and singing in a low tone to herself as she went, they all entered the house together.
Meanwhile, the Royal yacht was scudding back to the mainland over crisp waters on the wings of a soft breeze, with a bright moon flying through fleecy clouds above, and silvering the foam-crests of the waves below. There was music on board,--the King and Queen dined with their guests,--and laughter and gay converse intermingled with the sound of song. They talked of their day"s experience--of the beauty of The Islands--of Ronsard,--his quaint house and quainter self,--so different to the persons with whom they a.s.sociated in their own exclusive and brilliant Court "set," and the pretty Countess Amabil flirting harmlessly with Sir Walter Langton, suggested that a "Flower Feast" or Carnival should be held during the summer, for the surprise and benefit of the Islanders, who had never yet seen a Royal pageant of pleasure on their sh.o.r.es.
But Sir Roger de Launay, ever watching the Queen, saw that she was very pale, and more silent even than was her usual habit, and that her eyes every now and again rested on the King, with something of wonder, as well as fear.
CHAPTER XIII
SECRET SERVICE
In one of the ultra-fashionable quarters of the brilliant and overcrowded metropolis which formed the nucleus and centre of everything notable or progressive in the King"s dominions, there stood a large and aggressively-handsome house, over-decorated both outside and in, and implying in its general appearance vulgarity, no less than wealth. These two things go together very much nowadays; in fact one scarcely ever sees them apart. The fair, southern city of the sea was not behind other modern cities in luxury and self-aggrandis.e.m.e.nt, and there were certain members of the population who made it their business to show all they were worth in their domestic and home surroundings. One of the most flagrant money-exhibitors of this kind was a certain Jew named David Jost. Jost was the sole proprietor of the most influential newspaper in the kingdom, and the largest shareholder in three other newspaper companies, all apparently differing in party views, but all in reality working into the same hands, and for the same ends. Jost and his companies virtually governed the Press; and what was euphoniously termed "public opinion" was the opinion of Jost. Should anything by chance happen to get into his own special journal, or into any of the other journals connected with Jost, which Jost did not approve of, or which might be damaging to Jost"s social or financial interests, the editor in charge was severely censured; if the fault occurred again he was promptly dismissed. "Public opinion" had to be formed on Jost"s humour; otherwise it was no opinion at all. A few other newspapers led a precarious existence in offering a daily feeble opposition to Jost; but they had not cash enough to carry on the quarrel. Jost secured all the advertisers, and as a natural consequence of this, could well afford to be the "voice of the people" ad libitum. He was immensely wealthy, openly vicious, and utterly unscrupulous; and made brilliant speculative "deals" in the unsuspecting natures of those who were led, by that bland and cheery demeanour which is generally a.s.sociated with a large paunch, to consider him a "good fellow" with his "heart in the right place."
With regard to this last a.s.sertion, it may be doubted whether he had a heart at all, in any place, right or wrong. He was certainly not given to sentiment. He had married for money, and his wife had died in a mad-house. He was now anxious to marry again for position; and while looking round the market for a sufficiently perfect person of high-breeding, he patronized the theatre largely, and "protected"
several ballet-girls and actresses. Everyone knew that his life was black with villainy and intrigue of the most shameless kind, yet everyone swore that he was a good man. Such is the value of a limitless money-bag!
It was very late in the evening of the day following that on which the King had paid his unexpected visit to The Islands,--and David Jost had just returned from a comic opera-house, where he had supped in private with two or three painted heroines of the footlights. He was in an excellent humour with himself. He had sprung a mine on the public; and a carefully-concocted rumour of war with a foreign power had sent up certain stocks and shares in which he had considerable interest. He smiled, as he thought of the general uneasiness he was creating by a few headlines in his newspaper; and he enjoyed to the full the tranquil sense of having flung a bone of discord between two nations, in order to watch them from his arm-chair fighting like dogs for it tooth and claw, till one or the other gave in.
"Lutera will have to thank me for this," he said to himself; "And he will owe me both a place and a t.i.tle!"
He sat down at his desk in his warm and luxuriously-furnished study,--turned over a few letters, and then glanced up at the clock. Its hands pointed to within a few minutes of midnight. Taking up a copy of his own newspaper, he frowned slightly, as he saw that a certain leading article in favour of the Jesuit settlement in the country had not appeared.
"Crowded out, I suppose, for want of s.p.a.ce," he said; "I must see that it goes in to-morrow. These Jesuits know a thing or two; and they are not going to plank down a thousand pounds for nothing. They have paid for their advertis.e.m.e.nt, and they must have it. They ought to have had it to-day. Lutera must warn the King that it will not do to offend the Church. There"s a lot of loose cash lying idle in the Vatican,--we may as well have some of it! His Majesty has acted most unwisely in refusing to grant the religious Orders the land they want. He must be persuaded to yield it to them by degrees,--in exchange of course for plenty of cash down, without loss of dignity!"
At that moment the door-bell rang softly, as if it were pulled with extreme caution. A servant answered it, and at once came to his master"s room.
"A gentleman to see you, sir, on business," he said.
Jost looked up.
"On business? At this time of night? Say I cannot see him--tell him to come again to-morrow!"
The servant withdrew, only to return again with a more urgent statement.
"The gentleman says he must see you, sir; he comes from the Premier."
"From the Premier?"
"Yes, sir; his business is urgent, he says, and private. He sent in his card, sir."
Here he handed over the card in question, a small, un.o.btrusive bit of pasteboard, laid in solitary grandeur on a very large silver salver.
David Jost took it up, and scanned it with some curiosity. ""Pasquin Leroy"! H"m! Don"t know the name at all. "Urgent business; bear private credentials from the Marquis de Lutera"!" He paused again, considering,--then turned to the waiting attendant. "Show him in.".
"Yes, sir!"
Another moment and Pasquin Leroy entered,--but it was an altogether different Pasquin Leroy to the one that had recently enrolled himself as an a.s.sociate of Sergius Thord"s Revolutionary Committee. _That_ particular Pasquin had seemed somewhat of a dreamer and a visionary, with a peculiar and striking resemblance to the King; _this_ Pasquin Leroy had all the alertness and sharpness common to a practised journalist, press-reporter or commercial traveller. Moreover, his countenance, adorned with a black mustache, and small pointed beard, wore a cold and concentrated air of business--and he confronted the Jew millionaire without the slightest embarra.s.sment or apology for having broken in upon his seclusion at so unseasonable an hour. He used a pince-nez, and was constantly putting it to his eyes, as though troubled with short-sightedness.
"I presume your matter cannot wait, sir," said Jost, surveying him coolly, without rising from his seat,--"but if it can--"
"It cannot!" returned Leroy, bluntly.
Jost stared.
"So! You come from the Marquis de Lutera?"
"I do."
"Your credentials?"
Leroy stepped close up to him, and with a sudden movement, which was somewhat startling, held up his right hand.
"This signet is, I believe, familiar to you,--and it will be enough to prove that I come on confidential business which cannot be trusted to writing!"
Jost gazed at the flashing sapphire on the stranger"s hand with a sense of deadly apprehension. He recognised the Premier"s ring well enough; and he also knew that it would never have been sent to him in this mysterious way unless the matter in question was almost too desperate for whispering within four walls. An uneasy sensation affected him; he pulled at his collar, looked round the room as though in search of inspiration, and then finally bringing his small, swine-like eyes to bear on the neat soldierly figure before him, he said with a careless air:
"You probably bring news for the Press affecting the present policy?"
"That remains to be seen!" replied Leroy imperturbably; "From a perfectly impartial standpoint, I should imagine that the present policy may have to alter considerably!"
Jost recoiled.
"Impossible! It cannot be altered!" he said roughly,--then suddenly recollecting himself, he a.s.sumed his usual indolent equanimity, and rising slowly, went to a side door in the room and threw it open.
"Step in here," he said; "We can talk without fear of interruption. Will you smoke?"
"With pleasure!" replied Leroy, accepting a cigar from the case Jost extended--then glancing with a slight smile at the broad, squat Jewish countenance which had, in the last couple of minutes, lost something of its habitual redness, he added--"I am glad you are disposed to discuss matters with me in a friendly, as well as in a confidential way. It is possible my news may not be altogether agreeable to you;--but of course you would be more willing to suffer personally, than to jeopardise the honour of Ministers."
He uttered the last sentence more as a question than a statement.
Jost shifted one foot against the other uneasily.
"I am not so sure of that," he said after a pause, during which he had drawn himself up, and had endeavoured to look conscientious; "You see I have the public to consider! Ministers may fall; statesmen may be thrown out of office; but the Press is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever!"
"Except when a great Editor changes his opinions," said Leroy tranquilly,--"Which is, of course, always a point of reason and conscience, as well as of--advantage! In the present case I think--but--shall we not enter the sanctum of which you have so obligingly opened the door? We can scarcely be too private when the King"s name is in question!"
Jost opened his furtive eyes in amazement.