The Turk bowed and withdrew. The three men were left alone.
"The situation is fairly clear, I think," the King said. "Turkey is to be Russia"s catspaw--we are to be the chestnuts. One great point is in our favour. The onus of an unprovoked invasion must rest with Turkey.
Brand will see the facts correctly stated in the English and American papers. We had better send to the barracks at once, Reist, for the General, and hold a council of war."
There followed an hour"s anxious consultation. Then the King, without any attendant, as was his custom, left the Palace by the side entrance, and amidst the respectful salutations of the pa.s.sers by walked across to the villa which Mr. Van Decht had rented. Mr. Van Decht and Sara were sitting in the garden. He accepted the chair they offered him, and lit a cigar mechanically.
"Mr. Van Decht," he said, abruptly, "I regret exceedingly that I have encouraged you to make investments in my country. I did it for the best. It was for the advantage of my people, and I hoped for yours. I told you of the one risk. I fear that it has come to pa.s.s."
Mr. Van Decht was unmoved. Sara turned upon him breathlessly.
"Do you mean war?" she exclaimed.
He nodded.
"It seems that our great neighbours," he said, "resent our independence. Our chief enemy is Russia. In pursuance, I am convinced, of a secret understanding with her, Turkey is on the point of declaring war upon us."
"Then all I can say is that it is a darned shame," Mr. Van Decht declared, hotly. "Don"t you trouble yourself about my investments. If the Turks disturb my property I guess my country will know how to make them pay. Your Majesty, those Turks must be whipped."
"While we"ve a yard to stand upon or a man to fight we shall do our best. I have been a soldier, as you know, all my life, and I have no sentimental hatred of war. But my country--ah well, it is so different when it is your own people who are going to die upon their homesteads, your own womenkind who must go sorrowing through life widowed and orphaned. I don"t suppose there is anything particularly beautiful about Theos," the King continued, thoughtfully, "yet to me her quiet country places, her vineyards and farms, her whole rural life has seemed so simple and charming. I have seen my people at their play and at their daily tasks, a cheerful, honest people, light-hearted and fond of pleasure perhaps--why not? The thought of a blackened country, her vineyards and corn-fields red with blood, the homesteads in flames, my poor peasants fighting to the death against cruel odds--it is hideous! I do not dare to think of it or it will unman me. Only I pray to the G.o.d of our fathers that this thing will not seem just to the great liberty-loving nations and that they will not see us wiped out from the face of the earth."
There was a moment"s silence. Mr. Van Decht was smoking vigorously.
Sara was silent, because she did not dare to speak. But her eyes were eloquent. Ughtred threw away his cigar which had gone out, and lit another.
"Come," he said, "I am getting an old woman. We must take the more cheerful view of things. I came to you at once, because I wanted to give you as much notice as possible."
"What do you mean?" Sara asked, softly.
"I mean that of course you must go away," Ughtred answered. "I cannot tell how long the railway communication will remain uninterrupted. Mr.
Van Decht----"
He turned round and broke off in his speech. Mr. Van Decht had disappeared. Sara and he were alone.
CHAPTER XXIX
Ughtred was, on the whole, a man ill versed in women"s ways. Yet even he was conscious of a subtle change in the girl who sat by his side.
The frank friendliness of her manner towards him, which had been a constant barrier against any suggestion of more sentimental relations, was for the moment gone. Her eyes were soft and her face was eloquent with beautiful and unspoken sympathy. The change was indefinable, but apparent. Ughtred felt it, and sighed.
"This may be the last talk we shall have together for a long time," he said, gravely; "perhaps forever. I wonder if I might be permitted--to say something, which has come very near my heart lately."
"You may say anything you choose," she murmured.
"You know that lately I have been travelling about my country--trying to get to know my people and to understand them. I will tell you, Sara, what has made the greatest impression upon me. It is their beautiful domesticity. I think that it has taught me to understand a little how much fuller and sweeter life may be when one has a wife to care for, and to help one. And, Sara, I think that I too have been often lonely, and I too have needed a wife."
"Yes!"
It was no more than a whisper, but it thrilled the man. He touched her fingers--warm and soft, they seemed almost to invite his caress.
"Sara, I have been dreaming since then, and I thought that when my people got to understand me a little more, to trust me and believe in me, I would go to them and say "I am going to give you a Queen.
Only I am a man as you are men, and I must choose as you have chosen, the one woman who has my heart." And, Sara, there might have been difficulties, but I think that we should have smoothed them away----"
"If!" she echoed.
"If the woman I love, Sara, cared a little for me."
It was dusk, and Ughtred scarcely knew how it happened, but she was in his arms and they were very happy. It was dusk then, but the stars were shining when the cathedral clock reminded him that his love-making must be brief.
"Dear," she murmured, "if you must go, at least remember that you have made me very happy."
"And I," he answered, cheerfully, "am afraid no longer of anything. I have become a raving optimist. I feel that if the war comes we shall sweep the Turks from the face of the earth."
She held out her hand and drew him to her.
"You will not repent?" she murmured. "You ought to marry a princess."
He kissed her on the lips.
"Every woman in the world," he answered, "is a princess to the man who loves her. You are my princess. There will never be any other!"
She walked with him towards the house.
"I ought to have been discussing your departure with Mr. Van Decht, and instead I have been discussing other things with you."
"Discussing what?"
"Your departure!"
She laughed softly.
"Do you think that we are going away?"
"You must," he answered, sadly. "Theos may be no safe place for you in forty-eight hours even."
She pressed his arm lightly.
"Dear," she said, "you are foolish. If ever I am to be anything to you and these people what would they think of me if I ran away when evil times came? But wait! You must hear what father says. He knows nothing of this."
They found him in the room he called his study. He looked up from his desk as they entered.
"Father," Sara said, "the King wants us to leave to-morrow morning. In forty-eight hours he says the city may be in danger."
Mr. Van Decht wheeled round in his recently imported American chair, and puffed vigorously at his cigar.
"I wasn"t reckoning upon leaving just yet," he remarked, quietly.
"Were you, Sara?"