quickly. Then heput on his overcoat, and went out with the Count, while five minuteslater Peters, ignorant of her identity, showed the Princess out, andaccompanied her downstairs to the door.
As Waldron and the Count entered the fine Quirinale Palace they werechallenged by the sentries at the great gateway, whereupon theaide-de-camp gave the password and they saluted.
Then, crossing the great handsome courtyard, they entered by one of thesmaller doors, and passing round the gallery to the huge gildedstaircase where two servants in the royal livery stood on either sidelike statues. They ascended, and passing along a well-carpetedcorridor, halted at last before a heavy mahogany door outside whichstood a sentry on duty--the door of the King's private cabinet.
Again the Count uttered the password, was saluted, and was then allowedto knock.
A deep voice gave permission to enter, whereupon Hubert Waldron crossedthe threshold and bowed low in the presence of a rather short,middle-aged man of smart military appearance, though he wore civilianevening dress with a single decoration on the breast of his coat, theStar of the Order of the Crown of Italy, of which he was Master.
The room was not large, but was tastefully, even luxuriantly furnished.In the centre stood a great mahogany writing-table piled with papers,from which he had just risen, while at the side was set an armchair forthose to whom His Majesty gave audience.
"Ah, Waldron, I am very glad they have found you so quickly," heexclaimed, putting out his hand in gracious welcome. "I want to have aconfidential chat with you. I want you to assist me, for I feel sureyou can."
"If I can serve Your Majesty in any way," replied the British diplomat,"I am, as you know, only too anxious and too willing."
"Ah! I know. I know that," replied King Umberto briskly. "Good! Sitdown."
Then, when His Majesty had settled himself again in his paddedwriting-chair--at that table where for many weary hours each day heattended to matters of State affecting forty millions of his subjects--he looked straight at the man before him, and asked suddenly in Italian:
"Signor Waldron, can you keep a Secret?"
"That is my profession," was the other's calm reply. "And any secret ofYour Majesty's will, I assure you, be safe in my keeping."
The King paused. He was dressed plainly, for after the banquet giventhat night to a Russian royalty he had changed from his striking uniforminto easier clothes before commencing work. Yet in his face was a deep,earnest, noble expression, for he was a monarch who had the welfare ofhis nation very deeply and genuinely at heart. His dark, deep-set eyes,his slightly sallow skin, and the three lines across his brow told theirown tale. Though a King, the crown bore heavily upon his head, for theresponsibilities of a State run by a Ministry which was not abovesuspicion weighed very heavily upon him.
The Cabinet was, alas, composed mainly of men with axes to grind. Offinancial scandals there had been many, and more than once there hadbeen a public outcry when Ministers had been tried as criminals andconvicted of bribery, and of peculation of the public funds.
Yet as monarch his hands were tied, and perhaps no ruler in all Europehad so many sleepless nights as he.
The silence was broken by a bugle in the great courtyard below. ThePalace guard were changing.
"Listen, Waldron," he said at last in a low voice of deep earnestnessafter he had ascertained that the door was closed, "I have asked youhere to-night because I feel that I can trust you. My father trustedyour father, and I have known you ever since we were lads. I know howshrewd and painstaking you are, and what a high sense of honour youpossess."
"Your Majesty is far too flattering," Hubert replied modestly. "I knowthat my dead father always held yours in the highest esteem. And youhave shown towards myself a graciousness that I never expected."
"Because I know that you are my friend," he said. "Even a King musthave a friend in whom he can at times confide. That is why I have askedyou to come and see me."
"You do me too great an honour," declared the diplomat.
"Not at all. It is I who am asking your favour in your assistance," wasHis Majesty's quiet response. "Let me explain the situation of whichyou, as a British diplomat, will at once recognise the extreme gravity."And then drawing his white hand wearily across his brow, he leaned backin his chair and sighed. In that gay, brilliant Court--one of thegayest in all Europe--His Majesty always presented a brilliant andkingly figure in his splendid uniforms and dazzling decorations, but atheart he hated all pomp and show, and as soon as a ceremony was over healways changed into evening-clothes, or else into a navy serge suitwhich, being an old friend, was slightly shiny at the elbows.
A high-minded, God-fearing ruler, he carried out to the letter all thetraditions of the House of Savoy and worked incessantly and untiringlyfor the welfare of his nation, and for the benefit of the sweatedfactory-hand, and the poor, half-starved _contadino_. For certainHebrew financiers who had tried to grip the country and strangle it, hehad nothing but hatred. For the present Cabinet, mostly composed ofcommercial adventurers and place-seeking lawyers, he had the mostsupreme contempt, and daily he sighed that he was not an autocrat, sothat he could sweep away with a single stroke of the pen all those whostood in the way of his beloved Italy's prosperity.
True, by dint of his own business acumen and his resolute firmnessagainst the various Ministers of Finance who were too often rogues, manyof whom ought long ago to have been in prison, he had himself placed thefinances of Italy upon a sound basis. The lire was now almost equal invalue to the French franc. By this, commercial industries had beenencouraged, foreign capital had been invested in Italy, the railways hadbeen taken over by the State, and a wave of prosperity had swept uponthe nation such as had never hitherto been experienced.
But this had not suited the Cabinet, every man of whom could be boughtat a price. Hence he stood alone as ruler, compelled daily to combatthe intrigues of that unscrupulous horde of adventurers which composedthe Chamber of Deputies, and to continue the policy he had marked out ashis own.
As a diplomat Hubert Waldron knew all this and deeply sympathised withhim. Truly, the Palace of the Quirinale was not a bed of roses for itsSovereign.
Again the bugle sounded, and from below came the regular tramp of armedmen.
The little buhl clock upon the mantelshelf chimed the hour upon itssilver bell, the big fire burned cosily, and over the greatwriting-table the two green silk-shaded electric lamps threw theirmellow glow.
"Waldron, my nation is to-day in gravest peril," the King said at last,looking straight into the other's eyes very gravely. "A secret--onewhich I foolishly believed to be safe from our enemies--has beenbetrayed! You are shrewd, cautious, and far-seeing. I will reveal thewhole ghastly truth to you--for you must help me. I rely upon you, forthough I am King of Italy you are, I know, my friend, and will help methrough the most critical crisis that has occurred since my accession tothe throne. Listen," he urged, "and I will relate the whole of theremarkable circumstances."
CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
HIS MAJESTY'S SECRET.
"The problem we have before us is as follows," His Majesty began,bending towards Waldron from his chair, and speaking in a low, earnest,intense tone. "Some plans of important defences now being constructedupon our Austrian frontier have mysteriously disappeared from theMinistry of War. The theft was discovered at once, but up to thepresent it is known only to myself, to Ghelardi, our Chief of SecretPolice; to General Cataldi, Minister of War, who reported to me thisevening, and to three other persons, all of whom have been sworn toabsolute secrecy."
"In what circumstances have they disappeared?" inquired the diplomat.
"I will tell you," was the King's reply. "A year ago it was decided insecret by the Council of Defence to construct a chain of hiddenfortresses from Feltre along the northern frontier to the Lago diGarda--eight of them, with quick-firing disappearing guns. Six havebeen constructed, commanding a wide sweep of our neighbour's territory,and armed with our new long-range
artillery, while two others are stillin course of construction, the work being carried out in strictestsecrecy. For many years the Council of Defence have felt that thisportion of our frontier was the most vulnerable of all, but according toour unfortunate treaty with Austria, no strengthening of the defences oneither side is permitted."
"And now the secret is probably out to Austria," Waldron remarked. "Ah!I follow Your Majesty. The construction of these forts will beconstrued by Austria into a menace--even into an act of war!"
"Precisely. I see that you at once perceive the extreme gravity of thesituation. Italy has been betrayed into the hands of her hereditaryenemy, Austria. Ever since the recent riots in Trieste our relationshave been greatly strained, and I am informed on the best authority thatAustria-Hungary