CHAPTER XVIII. GRAHAM REMEMBERS
She came upon him at last in a little gallery that ran from the WindVane Offices toward his state apartments. The gallery was long andnarrow, with a series of recesses, each with an arched fenestration thatlooked upon a court of palms. He came upon her suddenly in one ofthese recesses. She was seated. She turned her head at the sound ofhis footsteps and started at the sight of him. Every touch of colourvanished from her face. She rose instantly, made a step toward him asif to address him, and hesitated. He stopped and stood still, expectant.Then he perceived that a nervous tumult silenced her, perceived too,that she must have sought speech with him to be waiting for him in thisplace.
He felt a regal impulse to assist her. "I have wanted to see you," hesaid. "A few days ago you wanted to tell me something--you wanted totell me of the people. What was it you had to tell me?"
She looked at him with troubled eyes.
"You said the people were unhappy?"
For a moment she was silent still.
"It must have seemed strange to you," she said abruptly.
"It did. And yet--"
"It was an impulse."
"Well?"
"That is all."
She looked at him with a face of hesitation. She spoke with an effort."You forget," she said, drawing a deep breath.
"What?"
"The people--"
"Do you mean--?"
"You forget the people."
He looked interrogative.
"Yes. I know you are surprised. For you do not understand what you are.You do not know the things that are happening."
"Well?"
"You do not understand."
"Not clearly, perhaps. But--tell me."
She turned to him with sudden resolution. "It is so hard to explain. Ihave meant to, I have wanted to. And now--I cannot. I am not ready withwords. But about you--there is something. It is Wonder. Your sleep--yourawakening. These things are miracles. To me at least--and to all thecommon people. You who lived and suffered and died, you who were acommon citizen, wake again, live again, to find yourself Master almostof the earth."
"Master of the earth," he said. "So they tell me. But try and imaginehow little I know of it."
"Cities--Trusts--the Labour Company--"
"Principalities, powers, dominions--the power and the glory. Yes, I haveheard them shout. I know. I am Master. King, if you wish. With Ostrog,the Boss--"
He paused.
She turned upon him and surveyed his face with a curious scrutiny."Well?"
He smiled. "To take the responsibility."
"That is what we have begun to fear." For a moment she said no more."No," she said slowly. "You will take the responsibility. You will takethe responsibility. The people look to you."
She spoke softly. "Listen! For at least half the years of your sleep--inevery generation--multitudes of people, in every generation greatermultitudes of people, have prayed that you might awake--prayed."
Graham moved to speak and did not.
She hesitated, and a faint colour crept back to her cheek. "Do you knowthat you have been to myriads--King Arthur, Barbarossa--the King whowould come in his own good time and put the world right for them?"
"I suppose the imagination of the people--"
"Have you not heard our proverb, 'When the Sleeper wakes?' While you layinsensible and motionless there--thousands came. Thousands. Every firstof the month you lay in state with a white robe upon you and the peoplefiled by you. When I was a little girl I saw you like that, with yourface white and calm."
She turned her face from him and looked steadfastly at the painted wallbefore her. Her voice fell. "When I was a little girl I used to lookat your face....it seemed to me fixed and waiting, like the patience ofGod."
"That is what we thought of you," she said. "That is how you seemed tous."
She turned shining eyes to him, her voice was clear and strong. "In thecity, in the earth, a myriad myriad men and women are waiting to seewhat you will do, full of strange incredible expectations."
"Yes?"
"Ostrog--no one--can take that responsibility."
Graham looked at her in surprise, at her face lit with emotion. Sheseemed at first to have spoken with an effort, and to have fired herselfby speaking.
"Do you think," she said, "that you who have lived that little life sofar away in the past, you who have fallen into and risen out of thismiracle of sleep--do you think that the wonder and reverence and hopeof half the world has gathered about you only that you may live anotherlittle life?... That you may shift the responsibility to any other man?"
"I know how great this kingship of mine is," he said haltingly. "I knowhow great it seems. But is it real? It is incredible--dreamlike. Is itreal, or is it only a great delusion?"
"It is real," she said; "if you dare."
"After all, like all kingship, my kingship is Belief. It is an illusionin the minds of men."
"If you dare!" she said.
"But--"