"My name is Crump," he said. "I am Mr. Benjamin Scobell"s private secretary."
"Yes?" said John. "Snug job?"
The other seemed to miss something in his voice.
"You have heard of Mr. Scobell?" he asked.
"Not to my knowledge," said John.
"Ah! you have lost touch very much with Mervo, of course."
John stared.
"Mervo?"
It sounded like some patent medicine.
"I have been instructed," said Mr. Crump solemnly, "to inform Your Highness that the Republic has been dissolved, and that your subjects offer you the throne of your ancestors."
John leaned back in his chair, and looked at the speaker in dumb amazement. The thought flashed across him that Mr. Crump had been perfectly correct in saying that he had dined.
His att.i.tude appeared to astound Mr. Crump. He goggled through his spectacles at John, who was reminded of some rare fish.
"You are John Maude? You said you were."
"I"m John Maude right enough. We"re solid on that point."
"And your mother was the only sister of Mr. Andrew Westley?"
"You"re right there, too."
"Then there is no mistake. I say the Republic--" He paused, as if struck with an idea. "Don"t you know?" he said. "Your father--"
John became suddenly interested.
"If you"ve got anything to tell me about my father, go right ahead.
You"ll be the only man I"ve ever met who has said a word about him. Who the deuce was he, anyway?"
Mr. Crump"s face cleared.
"I understand. I had not expected this. You have been kept in ignorance. Your father, Mr. Maude, was the late Prince Charles of Mervo."
It was not easy to astonish John, but this announcement did so. He dropped his cigar in a shower of gray ash on to his trousers, and retrieved it almost mechanically, his wide-open eyes fixed on the other"s face.
"What!" he cried.
Mr. Crump nodded gravely.
"You are Prince John of Mervo, and I am here--" he got into his stride as he reached the familiar phrase--"to inform Your Highness that the Republic has been dissolved, and that your subjects offer you the throne of your ancestors."
A horrid doubt seized John.
"You"re stringing me. One of those Indians at the _News_, Rupert Smith, or someone, has put you up to this."
Mr. Crump appeared wounded.
"If Your Highness would glance at these doc.u.ments-- This is a copy of the register of the church in which your mother and father were married."
John glanced at the doc.u.ment. It was perfectly lucid.
"Then--then it"s true!" he said.
"Perfectly true, Your Highness. And I am here to inform--"
"But where the deuce is Mervo? I never heard of the place."
"It is an island princ.i.p.ality in the Mediterranean, Your High--"
"For goodness" sake, old man, don"t keep calling me "Your Highness." It may be fun to you, but it makes me feel a perfect a.s.s. Let me get into the thing gradually."
Mr. Crump felt in his pocket.
"Mr. Scobell," he said, producing a roll of bills, "entrusted me with money to defray any expenses--"
More than any words, this spectacle removed any lingering doubt which John might have had as to the possibility of this being some intricate practical joke.
"Are these for me?" he said.
Mr. Crump pa.s.sed them across to him.
"There are a thousand dollars here," he said. "I am also instructed to say that you are at liberty to draw further against Mr. Scobell"s account at the Wall Street office of the European and Asiatic Bank."
The name Scobell had been recurring like a _leit-motif_ in Mr.
Crump"s conversation. This suddenly came home to John.
"Before we go any further," he said, "let"s get one thing clear. Who is this Mr. Scobell? How does he get mixed up in this?"
"He is the proprietor of the Casino at Mervo."
"He seems to be one of those generous, open-handed fellows. Nothing of the tight wad about him."
"He is deeply interested in Your High--in your return."
John laid the roll of bills beside his coffee cup, and relighted his cigar.
"That"s mighty good of him," he said. "It strikes me, old man, that I am not absolutely up-to-date as regards the internal affairs of this important little kingdom of mine. How would it be if you were to put me next to one or two facts? Start at the beginning and go right on."
When Mr. Crump had finished a condensed history of Mervo and Mervian politics, John smoked in silence for some minutes.