Delphi Collected Works of Marie Corelli (Illustrated) (Delphi Series Eight Book 22)

by Marie Corelli

  “I entirely agree with you, Sir!” said the Prince, composedly; “And in the present case honour has been my first thought, as it will be my last. Gloria is my wife!”

  “Your wife!” The King rose, his tall figure looking taller, his eyes sparkling with anger from under their deep-set brows. “Your wife! Are you mad, Humphry! You! —— the Heir-Apparent to the Throne! You have married her!”

  “I have!” replied the Prince, and the words now came coursing rapidly from his lips in his excitement— “I love her! I love her with all my heart and soul! — and I have given her the only shield and safeguard love in this world can give! I have married her in my own name — the name of our family, — which neither she nor any of the humble folk out yonder have ever heard — but she is wedded to me as fast as Church and Law can make it, — and there is only one wrong connected with my vows to her — she does not know who I am. I have deceived her there, — but in nothing else. Had I told her of my rank, she would never have married me. But now she is mine, — and for her sake I am willing to resign all pretension to the Throne in favour of my brother Rupert. Let it be so, I implore you! Let me live my own life of love and liberty in my own way!”

  Rigid as a statue the King stood, — his lips were set hard and his eyes lowered. Long buried thoughts rose up from the innermost recesses of his being, and rushed upon his brain in a deluge of remembrance and regret. What! — after all these years, had the ghost of his first love, the little self-slain maiden of his boyhood’s dream, risen to avenge herself in the life of his son? The strangeness of the comparison between himself as he was now, and the eager passionate youth he was then, smote him with a sense of sharp pain. Away in those far-off days he had believed in love as the chief glory of existence; he had considered it as the poets would have us consider it, — a saving, binding, holding and immortal influence, which leads to all pure and holy things, even unto God Himself, the Highest and Holiest of all. When he lost that belief, how great was his loss! — when he ceased to experience that pure idealistic emotion, how bitter became the monotony of living! Rapidly the stream of memory swept over his innermost soul and shook his nerves, and it was only through a strong effort of self-repression that at last, lifting up his eyes he fixed them on the flushed face of his son, and said in measured tones.

  “This is a very unexpected and very unhappy confession of yours, Humphry! You have acted most unwisely! — you have been disloyal to me, who am not only your father, but your King! You have proved yourself unworthy of the nation’s trust, — and you have deceived, more cruelly than you think, an innocent and too-confiding girl. I shall not dispute the legality of your marriage; — that would not be worth my while. You have no doubt taken every step to make it as binding as possible; — however, that is but a trifling matter in your case. You know that such a marriage is, and can only be morganatic; — and as the immediate consequence of your amazing folly, a suitable Royal alliance must be arranged for you at once. The nuptials can be celebrated with the attainment of your majority next year.”

  He spoke coldly and calmly, but his heart was beating with mingled wrath and pain, and even while he thus pronounced her doom, the exquisite face of Gloria floated before him like the vision of a perfect innocence ruined and betrayed. He realised that he possibly had an unusual character to reckon with in her, — and he had lately become fully aware that there was as much determination and latent force in the disposition of his son, as in the mother who had given him birth. Pale and composed, the young Prince heard him in absolute silence, and when he had finished, still waited a moment, lest any further word should fall from the lips of his parent and Sovereign. Then he spoke in quite as measured, cold and tranquil a manner as the King had done.

  “I need not remind you, Sir, that the days of tyranny are over. You cannot force me into bigamy against my will!”

  His father uttered a quick oath.

  “Bigamy! Who talks of bigamy?”

  “You do, Sir! I have married a beautiful and innocent woman, — she is my lawful wife in the sight of God and man; yet you coolly propose to give me a second wife under the ‘morganatic’ law, which, as I view it, is merely a Royal excuse for bigamy! Now I have no wish to excuse myself for marrying Gloria, — I consider she has honoured me far more than I have honoured her. She has given me all her youth, her life, her love, her beauty and her trust, and whatever I am worth in this world shall be hers and hers only. I am quite prepared” — and he smiled somewhat sarcastically,— “to make it a test case, and appeal to the law of the realm. If that law tolerates a crime in princes, which it would punish in commoners, then I shall ask the People to judge me!”

  “Indeed!” And the King surveyed him with a touch of ironical amusement and vague admiration for his audacity. “And suppose the people fail to appreciate the romance of the situation?”

  “Then I shall resign my nationality;” said the young man coolly; “Because a country that legalises a wrong done to the innocent, is not worth belonging to! Concerning the Throne, — as I told you before — I am ready to abandon it at once. I would rather lose all the kingdoms of the world than lose Gloria!”

  There was a pause, during which the King took two or three slow paces up and down the room. At last he turned and faced his son; his eyes were softer — his look more kindly.

  “You are very much in love just now, Humphry!” he said; “And I do not wish to be too hard on you in this matter, for there can be no question as to the extraordinary beauty of the girl you call your wife — —”

  “The girl who is my wife,” interrupted the Prince decisively.

  “Very well; so let it be!” said his father calmly; “The girl who is your wife — for the present! I will give you time — plenty of time — to consider the position reasonably!”

  “I have already considered it,” he declared.

  “No doubt! You think you have considered it. But if you do not want to meditate any further upon your marriage problem, you must allow me the leisure to do so, as one who has seen more of life than you, — as one who takes things philosophically — and also — as one who was young — once; — who loved — once; — and who had his own private dreams of happiness — once!” He rested a hand on his son’s shoulder, and looked him full and fairly in the eyes. “Let me advise you, Humphry, to go abroad! Travel round the world for a year!”

  The Prince was silent, — but his eyes did not flinch from his father’s steady gaze. He seemed to be thinking rapidly; but his thoughts were not betrayed by any movement or expression that could denote anxiety. He was alert, calm, and perfectly self-possessed.

  “I have no objection,” he said at last; “A year is soon past!”

  “It is,” agreed the King, with a sense of relief at his ready assent; “But by the end of that time — —”

  “Things will be precisely as they are now,” said the Prince tranquilly; “Gloria will still be my wife, and I shall still be her husband!”

  The King gave a gesture of annoyance.

  “Whatever the result,” he said, “she cannot, and will not be Crown Princess!”

  “She will not envy that destiny in my brother Rupert’s wife,” said Prince Humphry quietly; “Nor shall I envy my brother Rupert!”

  “You talk like a fool, Humphry!” said the King impatiently; “You cannot resign your Heir-Apparency to the Throne, without giving a reason; — and so making known your marriage.”

  “That is precisely what I wish to do,” returned the young man. “I have no intention of keeping my marriage secret. I am proud of it! Gloria is mine — the joy of my soul — the very pulse of my life! Why should I hide my heart’s light under a cloud?”

  His voice vibrated with tender feeling, — his handsome features were softened into finer beauty by the passion which invigorated him, and his father looking at him, thought for a moment that so might the young gods of the fabled Parnassus have appeared in the height of their symbolic power and charm. His own eyes grew melancholy, a
s he studied this vigorous incarnation of ardent love and passionate resolve; and a slight sigh escaped him unconsciously.

  “You forget!” he said slowly, “you have, up to the present deceived the girl. She does not know who you are. When she hears that you have played a part, — that you are no sailor in the service of the Crown Prince, as you have apparently represented yourself to be, but the Crown Prince himself, what will she say to you? Perhaps she will hate you for the deception, as much as she now loves you!”

  A shadow darkened the young Prince’s open countenance, but it soon passed away.

  “She will never hate me!” he said,— “For when I do tell her the truth, it will be when I have resigned all the ridiculous pomp and circumstance of my position for her sake — —”

  “Perhaps she will not let you resign it!” said the King; “She may be as unselfish as she is beautiful!”

  There was a slight, very slight note of derision in his voice, and the Prince caught it up at once.

  “You wrong yourself, Sir, more than you wrong my wife by any lurking misjudgment of her,” he said, with singularly masterful and expressive dignity. “As her husband, and the guardian of her honour, I also claim her obedience. What I desire is her law!”

  The King laughed a little forcedly.

  “Evidently you have found the miracle of the ages, Humphry!” he said; “A woman who obeys her master! Well! Let us talk no more of it. You have been guilty of an egregious folly, — but nothing can make your marriage otherwise than morganatic. And when the State considers a Royal alliance for you advisable, you will be compelled to obey the country’s wish, — or else resign the Throne.”

  “I shall obey the country’s wish most decidedly,” said the Prince, “unless it asks me to commit bigamy, — as you suggest, — in which case I shall decline! Three or four Royal sinners of this class I know of, who for all their pains have not succeeded in winning the attachment of their people, either for themselves or their heirs. Their people know what they are, well enough, and despise their fraudulent position as heartily as I do! I am perfectly convinced that if it were put to the vote of the country, no people in the world would wish their future monarch to be a bigamist!”

  “How you stick to a word and a phrase!” exclaimed the King irritably; “The morganatic rule does away with the very idea of bigamy!”

  “How do you prove it, Sir?” queried the Prince. “Bigamy is the act of contracting a second marriage while the first partner is alive. It is punished severely in commoners; — why should Royalty escape?”

  The King began to laugh. This boy was developing ‘discursive philosophies’ such as his own old tutor had abhorred.

  “Upon my life, I do not know, Humphry!” he declared; “You must ask the departed shades of those who made themselves responsible for kingship in the first place. Personally, I do not come under the law. I have only married once myself!”

  His son looked full at him; — and the intensity of that look affected and unsteadied his usual calm nerves. But he was not one to shirk an unpleasant suggestion.

  “You would say, Humphry, if your filial respect permitted you, that my one marriage has been amplified in various other ways. Perfectly true! When women lie down and ask you to walk over them, you do it if you are a man and a king! When, on the contrary, women show you that they do not care whether you are royal or the reverse, and despise you more than admire you, you run after them for all you are worth! At least I do! I always have done so. And, to a certain extent, it has been amusing. But the limit is reached. I am growing old!” Here he took up the cigar he had thrown aside when his son had first startled him by the announcement of his marriage, and relighting it, began to smoke peaceably. “I am, as I say, growing old. I have never found what is called love. You have — or think you have! Enjoy your dream, Humphry — but — take my advice and go abroad! See whether travel does not work a change in you or, — in her!” He paused a moment, and while the Prince still regarded him fixedly, added; “Will you tell the Queen?”

  “I will leave you to tell her, Sir, with your permission;” replied the Prince; “I cannot expect her sympathy.”

  “Von Glauben, then, is the only person you have trusted with your confidence?”

  “Von Glauben was no party to my marriage, Sir. I was married fully three months before I told him. He was greatly vexed and troubled, — but when he saw Gloria, he was glad.”

  “Glad!” echoed the King; “For what reason, pray?”

  “I am afraid, Sir,” said the young man with a smile, “his gladness was but a part of his science! He said it was better for a prince to wed a healthy and beautiful commoner, than the daughter of a hundred scrofulous kings!”

  With a movement of intense indignation, the monarch sprang up from the chair in which he had just seated himself.

  “Now, by Heaven!” he exclaimed; “Von Glauben goes too far! He shall suffer for this!”

  “Why?” queried the Prince calmly; “You know that what he says is perfectly true. True? Why, there is scarcely a Royal house in the world save our own, without its hereditary curse of disease or insanity. We pay more attention to the breeding of horses than the breeding of kings!”

  The plain candour and veracity of the statement, left no room for denial.

  “You have seen Gloria,” went on the Prince; “You know she is the most beautiful creature your eyes ever rested upon! Von Glauben told me you were stricken dumb, and almost stupefied at sight of her — —”

  “Damn Von Glauben!” said the King.

  His son smiled ever so slightly, but continued.

  “You have made yourself acquainted with her history—”

  “Yes!” said the King; “That she is a foundling picked up from the sea — a castaway from a wreck! — no one knows who her father and mother were, and yet you, in your raving madness and folly of love, would make her Crown Princess and future Queen!”

  The Prince went on unheedingly.

  “She is beautiful — and the simple method of her bringing up has left her unspoilt and innocent. She is ignorant of the world’s ways — because—” and his voice sank to a reverential tenderness— “God’s ways are more familiar to her!” He paused, but his father was silent; he therefore went on. “She is healthy, strong, simple and true, — more fit for a throne, if such were her destiny, than any daughter of any Royal house I know of. Happy the nation that could call such a woman their Queen!”

  “As I have already told you, Humphry,” returned the King, “you are in love! — with the love of a headstrong, passionate boy for a beautiful and credulous girl. I do not propose to discuss the subject further. You are willing to go abroad, you tell me, — then make your preparations at once. I will select one or two necessary companions for you, and you can start when you please. I would let Von Glauben accompany you, but — for the present — I cannot well spare him. Your intended voyage must be made public, and in this way nothing will be known of the manner in which you have privately chosen to make a fool of yourself. I will explain the situation to the Queen; — but beyond that I shall say nothing. Let me know by to-morrow how soon you can arrange your departure.”

  The Prince bowed composedly, and was about to retire, when the King called him back.

  “You do not ask my pardon, Humphry, for the offence you have committed?”

  The young man flushed, and bit his lip.

  “Sir, I cannot ask pardon for what I do not consider is wrong! I have married the woman I love; and I intend to be faithful to her. You married a woman you did not love — and the result, according to my views, and also according to my experience of my mother and yourself, is more or less regrettable. If I have offended you, I sincerely beg your forgiveness, but you must first point out the nature of the offence. Surely, it must be more gratifying to you to know that I prefer to be a man of honour than a common seducer?”

  The King looked at him, and his own eyes fell under his son’s clear candid gaze.

  “Enou
gh! You may go!” he said briefly.

  The door opened and closed again; — he was gone.

  The King, left alone, fixed his eyes on the sparkling line of the sea, brightly blue, and the flower-bordered terrace in front of him. Life was becoming interesting; — the long burdensome monotony of years had changed into a variety of contrasting scenes and colours, — and in taking up the problem of human life as lived by others, more than as lived by himself, he had entered on a new path, untrodden by conventionalities, and leading, he knew not whither. But, having begun to walk in it, he was determined to go on — and to use each new experience as a guide for the rest of his actions. His son’s marriage with a commoner — one who indeed was not only a commoner but a foundling — might after all lead to good, if properly taken in hand, — and he resolved not to make the worst of it, but rather to let things take their own natural course.

  “For love,” he said to himself somewhat bitterly, “in nine cases out of ten ends in satiety, — marriage, in separation by mutual consent! Let the boy travel for a year, and forget, if he can, the fair face which captivates him, — for it is a fair face, — and more than that, — I honestly believe it is the reflex of a fair soul!”

  His eyes grew dreamy and absorbed; away on the horizon a little white cloud, shaped like the outspread wings of a dove, hovered over the sea just where The Islands lay.