The Island Mystery Part 3

It is certain that the King had a real affection for Madame Corinne.

Gorman called it an infatuation. No doubt he even trusted her. It is just conceivable that he would have allowed her to wander off by herself with several hundred thousand pounds worth of jewels while he argued with the Emperor and Donovan and the U. S. Amba.s.sador. But Gorman pointed out a fatal defect in the scheme.

"I don't deny," he said, "that there's a soft spot somewhere in Donovan. But he's not that particular kind of fool. You may take it from me, Madame, that the price won't be paid till you have delivered the goods. You won't get more than a few thousands in advance until Miss Daisy is actually sitting on a throne with a gold crown on her head."

"There is no crown in Megalia," said the King. "There never was. If there had been it would not be there now. I should have brought it with me when I made my scoot."

"Donovan won't bother about that point," said Gorman. "In fact, I expect he'd buy a new crown in any case. He wouldn't like the idea of his daughter appearing in anything second-hand. What he wants for her is the right to wear a crown."

"That," said the King, "is exactly the pinching shoe. That she cannot have. We are at a dying--no, a dead lock."

"Somehow," said Madame, "we must have the money. If that girl, that miss, who is more imbecile than all other _jeunes filles_--if she obtains that rope of pearls from Goldsturmer, those pearls which ought to be mine, I shall go mad and take poison, very terrible poison, and die in front of your eyes, Konrad."

With a view to showing how mad she could go if she tried, she threw her brandy gla.s.s on the floor and hacked at it with the heel of her shoe. The carpets in Beaufort's hotel have the softest and deepest pile of any carpets in Europe. Madame's first two or three hacks did no more than snap the stem of the gla.s.s. To complete its destruction she stood up and stamped on it.

Gorman may have feared that she would trample on him next. He told me that she really was a very alarming sight. Stimulated by terror, his mind worked quickly.

"Look here," he said to the King, "I've got a suggestion to make. Get Madame to sit down and keep quiet for a few minutes."

The King had an experience, gathered during six years of intimacy, of Madame's ways. He knew what to do with her. He got another gla.s.s of brandy and a box of cigarettes. He set them on a table beside a deep armchair. Madame suffered herself to be led to the chair.

"Now, my friend Gorman," said the King, "if you have a key which will open the dead lock, make it trot out."

"What Donovan wants," said Gorman, "is a kingdom for his daughter. Not Megalia in particular, but some kind of right to wear a crown. Any other kingdom would do as well."

"But there is no other," said the King. "In all the courts of Europe there is no other king in such a d.a.m.ned hole as I am, no other king who would sell even if he could."

"I don't know Megalia well," said Gorman, "but there must surely be some outlying corner of that interesting country--an island, for instance--which you could make over, sporting, mineral and _royal_ rights, to Donovan; just as England gave Heligoland to the Germans and somebody or other, probably the Turks, gave Cyprus to the English. The thing is constantly done."

"But the Emperor," said the King. "Again and always the Emperor. All roads lead to Rome. All _Real Politik_ brings us in the end back to the Emperor."

"My idea," said Gorman, "would be, to choose a small island, quite a small one, so small that the Emperor wouldn't notice it was gone. As a matter of fact I expect a small island would suit Donovan better than the whole country. He has a weak heart and has come over to Europe for rest and quiet. He won't want to be bothered with the politics and revolutions and complications which will be sure to arise in a large tract of land like Megalia."

"A revolution," said the King, "arises there regularly. A revolution is biennial in Megalia."

"In a really small island," said Gorman, "that would not happen. A man like Donovan would feed the inhabitants until they got too fat for revolutions. Now the question is, do you own an island of that kind?"

"There is," said the King, "Salissa. There is certainly Salissa. My predecessor on the throne, my cousin Otto, resided in Salissa until----. He thought it a safe place to reside because it was so far from the land. He even built a house there. It is, I am told, a charming house. Hot and cold. Billiard and No Bas.e.m.e.nt.

Self-contained, Tudor and Bungalow, ten bed, two dressing, offices of the usual, drainage, commanding views, all that is desirable. But, alas for poor Otto! Salissa was not safe. He had forgotten that Megalia has a navy, a navy of one s.h.i.+p only, but that was enough. It cooked the goose of Otto, that Megalian Navy. The Prime Minister and the Commander of the Forces and the Admiral arrived at Salissa one day in the Navy. That was the end of Otto."

"I hope," said Gorman, "that the inhabitants of Salissa aren't a bloodthirsty lot. I wouldn't like to think of Miss Daisy being murdered. Besides, there'd be complications. The a.s.sa.s.sination of an odd prince doesn't much matter to any one. But an American millionaire! The sudden death of a man like Donovan would mean a panic in Wall Street, and there'd have to be a fuss."

"The inhabitants!" said the King. "They would not kill a baby. They are lambs, ducks, kids, doves. They bleat. They coo."

"The Prime Minister," said Gorman, "the Commander of the Forces and the Admiral could be squared, I suppose?"

"They would not want to kill her," said the King. "She would not be their queen."

"Sounds all right," said Gorman, "if you can be sure of selling the whole thing without reservation of any kind to him. The royal rights are essential. Remember that. There must be no 'subject-to-the-Crown-of-Megalia' clause in the deed."

"The Emperor need not know," said the King. "Salissa is very small, and far, very far, from the land. If we keep the transaction shady--that is to say, dark--the Emperor will not tumble into it."

Madame swallowed her last sip of brandy.

"The price?" she said.

"You cannot," said Gorman, "expect as much for a small island like that as if you were able to sell the whole kingdom; the revenue can't be anything much."

"There is no revenue in Megalia either," said the King.

"But Donovan is getting what he wants. His daughter will be a reigning queen. I daresay we'll be able to screw him up to----"

"The price of that rope of pearls," said Madame, "is ten thousand pounds."

"Oh," said Gorman, "we'll get that and a bit over."

"At once," said Madame, "cash down. For if we have to wait and wait for months that imbecile girl will buy the pearls. Do not say no. I know it. I have a feeling. There is a presentiment. And if she gets those pearls I shall----"

Gorman did not want her to go mad again.

"Couldn't you see Goldsturmer," he said, "and arrange with him to give you the refusal of the pearls, say, three months from now?"

"Goldsturmer," said Madame, "is a devil. He will not trust me for one day, although he knows Konrad well."

Goldsturmer would probably have said that he refused to trust Madame _because_ he knew Konrad well.

Gorman promised to lay the Salissa proposal before Donovan, and to get him, if possible, to pay at least ten thousand of the purchase money in advance.

"But above all," said the King, "let him hold tight to his tongue, and you, my friend Gorman. This is no affair about which a song can be made in the market place. If the Emperor were to hear a whisper--Gorman, you do not know the Emperor. His ears are long. If he were to hear there would be an end. There would be no sale."

"Donovan," said Gorman, "would probably offer the Emperor five per cent. of the purchase money if there was any trouble."

"Five per cent.!" said the King. "The Emperor! G.o.d in heaven!"

King Konrad Karl probably feared G.o.d in heaven very little. But there is no doubt that he had a nervous dread of the Emperor.

CHAPTER V

Donovan was, I believe, relieved when he heard that he could not buy the whole kingdom of Megalia. The price would have been enormous, but he would not have hesitated to pay it if, by paying, he would have got what he wanted. The more he looked into the business of kings.h.i.+p, the less he liked it. The idea of Court etiquette worried him. Donovan disliked dressing for dinner, a form of activity to which he was unaccustomed. He got it into his head that the father of the reigning monarch in a state like Megalia might be called on to wear uniforms, troublesome things with unusual b.u.t.tons and straps, and change them two or three times a day. He feared that such a combination of exertion and worry would still further disorder the action of his heart. He saw no prospect of quiet indolence among a people which went in for revolutions as a pastime. Salissa, on the other hand, seemed almost an ideal spot. There were not likely to be any regular postal arrangements. There was certainly no cable. Since there were less than a hundred inhabitants a liberal pension could be given to each.

Pensioners are notoriously peaceful and un.o.btrusive people.

Miss Daisy was a little disappointed at first; but only at first. Once she hit on the idea that her kingdom would be the "d.i.n.kiest" in Europe, indeed in the world, she was pleased. The negotiations were rushed through at a pace which struck even Gorman as indecent. But everybody concerned was in a hurry. Konrad Karl was afraid that the Emperor might hear of the sale through the Megalian amba.s.sador in London. But that gentleman--he was a Count, I think--was under the influence, probably in the pay of the Emperor, and had been instructed to ignore King Konrad Karl as much as possible. He heard nothing about the matter. Madame Ypsilante was in a hurry for obvious reasons. Miss Daisy Donovan had looked at the pearl necklace two or three times, and there was a horrible possibility that she might regard it as a suitable ornament for a queen. Miss Daisy was eager to see her island kingdom as soon as possible. Donovan himself was finding London less restful than ever. He wanted to get the Salissa business settled out of hand.

It was settled early in April. I never heard the exact date of the signing of the papers, but April the 1st would have been appropriate.

An immense doc.u.ment was drawn up by a solicitor, a cousin of Gorman's who lived in a small west of Ireland town. Gorman said he gave the job to this particular man because no London lawyer would have kept the matter secret. My own impression is that no London solicitor would have undertaken the job at all. There cannot be any recognized legal form for the sale of kingdoms. However, Gorman's cousin did his work excellently. The doc.u.ment looked well. He attached eight enormous seals to it, and he had several of the most important clauses translated into Latin. It must have been as good as it looked.