The Weary Kings
A Modern Romance
Uv Hichard Voss
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(Copyright, 1303, by J. W. Muller.)
IIIEN we reurned I Bent for Count
Oebhardt nn'l told h!m that wo
had Been I,olsl. The Count Bint
for Tony nt once. Tony reported.
Lolsl had gone to his new pout
on tho other wide of th mountains an or
dered by u before the King arrived. Hut
he hud remained there only three day,
after which he had disappeared. Through
another hunlHman ho pent word to the for
ester that thry could not force him back
unless they Bent gendarmes, and that the
first who lild a hand on him was a dead
man. And the second and third
The Count asked why he acted bo madly.
Tony replied: ' Through Jealousy, no doubt,
lie Is Jealous lest Romeboriy cllrr.b up to the
White Emperor Alp where his sw.-e. heart
Is."
"Hut nobody goes up there."
"Homebody nilht go, and Kol.sl will let
none uppri ;ich her, cun", not even our
master, Iho King."
The Count rebuked him alernly, but Tony
only shrugged his shouldcis and said:
"I.oInI truata none of you. He knows what
happened to hlH own mother, and why did
they Bend him awny Jui't as the King ar
rived? That made him wild."
The Count had scarcely reported this to
we, when a messenger rrlvd from Miss
Frltss. Ho brought a letter for Gehhardt la
which MIhb Frits warned him that Ixdsl
bad been peen with his mother. For ma
there was a basket of raspberries with a
card on which was written In u child's
band, "The last raspberries."
"The Inst." It rounded In my brain and
oul as If every summer bad paused, as If
spring never would blossom again, birds
Ing. flowers unfold, or young creituree
love, kins and be happy.
Gently I stroked her writing and wbls
pernl, "Judical Dear little Judlcu!"
Then I sat down and tried to write to her,
tore up the paper, began again, and failed.
X rose, Rtood at the window and lokrd into
the night.
Up there my father had hung over the
abyss, Invulnerable to death because he
willed to live In order to wear the crown.
Was the mountain weight that fell upon
bis brow with that crown worth the tight
through thce long, terrible hours of stormT
Would It not have been better for hire If
he had not possessed the talisman of that
holy gold hanging over his head; If ha
bad opened his arms and permitted the
waiting abyss to receive him? Is It a
fortune for us to be stronger than death?
Blnce it would be no fortune for the
land to hare a ruler In mc, I would, did I
cling some night to a rock, open my ban Is
voluntarily. Yes, I would be weaker than
death, and for that I would receive a royal
reward; a grave under Clod's free, shining
ky.
I still stood at the window, staring Into
the night, when I was ordered to attend
the King. Midnight had passed.
In the middle of the night my father had
decided to Hlgn the State Document that
was called "Regency of the Crown Prince."
and that wits the abdication of the King.
We all knew It; the King. too.
I found him In his cabinet; with him
Were the Minister of State and the Privy
Councillor. Both were pale, but very
aim; unnaturally calm was my father.
The King said to me: "Thera is a little
formality In which you are to be a witness.
In your presence I propose to sign a docu
ment that my Minister of Btate has been
so exceedingly kind as to lay before me."
And he pointed, with an indescribable
gesture at the Minister, who could do noth
ing better than to bow humbly. The old
rentleman held the document in a
trembling hand.
My father strode toward the dsk-lnch
for Inch a King.
The Minister, requested Ills Majesty's
permission to read the paper. Ills voice
trembled like his hand."
"Must that be?"
"if your Majesty will have the great good
ness." My father sat down and beckoned to me
to sit near him. After the reading was
concluded, everything was bo still for a
moment that I feared the beating of my
heart would be heard. What would happen
now? Something was sure to happen, foir.e
thlng terrible?
"Lay the document hre."
The King seised the pen, hesitated and
signed.
He bad abdicated.
How the terrible happened I cannot re
call. I saw the King leap up and In the
next instant he had both bunds around the
throat of the Privy Councillor, clicking
him. The uttack occurred so suddenly that
the victim could not utter a sound. lackeys
had to tear the King from his prey, and re
move him by force. Now he is being
guarded. The Privy Councillor Is still alive.
All who had been witnesses were sworn
by the Minister not to disclose a word of
wbat had happened.
I visited the Privy Councllsar. He lay In
bed. In a wild fever. I sat down by hfc-l
and strove for words. Finding none, I coiSJ
rive him only my hand. I think that I
cried. At least, he pacified and comforted
cue. He did that to me.
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TUB KINO SEIZED THE PEN AND SIGNED. HK HAD AHD1CATKD.
At last I managed to ask when he would
depart
"Depart?" said he. "I shall remain with
the King."
"That you must not."
"No one else knows the King as I know
him."
"Pardon. You do not know him as well as
you think, else this could not have hap
pened." "I have foreseen It long ago, but I cou'.d
not hinder it."
"What? Tou were prepared for this?"
"The King hates me. That belongs to his
malady."
It was to me as If he looked at me Just
then with that glance that made me, too,
hate him. Mechanically I repeated: "That
belongs to his malady."
"All sufferers of that kind hate the man
of whom they know that he knows their
disease."
I ejaculated: "But your presence in
creases the King's pain."
"My place Is at the side of my sick
master. Were I to leave it I should be
like a faithless soldier. And my successor
would be Just as deeply hated without
knowing how to help him bo well."
"You can help him?"
"Without me the King would have had
to sign that document years ago."
"With what moans would you delay the
final crisis so long?"
"By keeping him In the condition to re
main King."
."You mean that the consciousness of his
royalty was stronger than even madness?"
"That is what I mean."
"What the King must have suffered!"
"What has the Queen not suffered?"
"Did the King not suffer?"
"Your Hoyul Highness may be assured
that his Itoynl Highness did not suffer at
all. People with bis malady feel convince.!
that they are perfectly healthy."
"Will my father suffer now?''
"Now he will be distracted, because he
failed to kill me But soon he will become
calm again, because he will hope that he
may succeed the next time."
Chapter XI.
The sick King wishes to hunt chamois.
More than a hundred heaters are to drive
the game toward him. He will shoot all
alone. Not even bis Adjutant may par
ticipate. As fur as I am concerned, happily
no one even thinks of me as a sportsman.
My father, with his Intimate knowledge
of the locality, has designated all tho spots
where his stands are to be. The selection
of almost all of them is awful; at the
mouths of ravines and In deep gulches
where not a beast can escape. Surely the
assistants will not be able to load as fast
as the King will be able to shoot. It will
be, not a hunt, but a massacre. The stands
are bo near the Sea-AJp that, with a good
glass, I can see the drive as if I were
looking at a stage from the Royal Box.
The King hunts every day.
Before dawn the beaters have to be In
the mountains. Prom my window I look
on. I find the spectacle a brutal pleasure
that makes me think of the old Roman
amphitheaters. I wish not to see the
butchery and And myself drawn to the
window every day.
I cannot help but feci a feverish excite
ment when the first animals appear at the
opening of the ravine that leads them to
certain death. They try to climb up the
precipice on the side and beaters drive them
back; they try the other side and beaters
drive them back. They must go downward!
And the King shoots, hour after hour. He
becomes angry because darkness comes so
early in the autumn.
The King has devised a new kind of
Bport. Near here is a wall more than one
thousand feet high. It doscends sheer with
out a break into the valley. The King has
ordered a drive to lead to the top of this
wall and he will stand below and see the
game come hurtling down almost to his
feet, mangled" and smashed.
Of course this must not be permitted!
But it has been permitted!
The King commanded his Chief Forester
and the creature obeyed! The King stood
nt the foot of the precipice, looked on and
laughed. Some of the beaters, they say,
wept up there.
Today the hideous spectacle was to have
been repeated. The beaters refused to do
It. The King raged and is being guarded
now. So there are still human beings in
the world: woodcutters and peasants.
Now I know where I saw that little
wrinkle letween tho brows first. It was
on tin antique bust, the portrait of a
Roman Emperor. I think that It was
Domitlan.
Again I stood, today, before my mirror
and looked at wy face to aeo if the begin
ning of the wrinkle of the Caesar Is begin
ning to show on my forehead. No, no, no!
Perhaps tho curse will pass me by. I am
not going to be a king.
At last I know why my father desired
my presence on the Sea-Alp. He sent for
me today. We were, alone, or apparently
so. He called me to the window and whis
pered :
"Do not turn around. Do not move,
for we are being watched! They want to
put me in a straight waistcoat me!
"You must know that they have given
out that I ddi insane, because they wish
to make that lunatic, your brother, King.
Since I will not do them the favor to go
Insane, they are trying to murder me. I
have not touched a morsel of food for
months, because everything is poisoned. I
would have starved long ago, but a Kins
cannot Blarve! Every night Saint Agnes
comes to me and brings me. food and drink.
"That is why I have had you here. You
are not like your brother. You are kingly,
soul of my soul. Your mother and your
brother, the lunatic. I curse. But you I
bless. My blessing will put the crown on
your head if I should die. But I am Im
mortal! "Now, listen!
"Tomorrow morning when the sun rises
they are going to try to kill me with
twenty times 2O.C00 stabs. Your mother
intends to stab me first, then your brother
and then my whole nation. You know
what they say, that I have become a raging
beast that would tear my whole people to
pieces!
"Irately I made millions and millions of
them leap down a wall of rock. They
floped downward like meal sacks. You
shall play this Royal game yourself. It is
merry.
"Even while they were carrying me to
this place I made my plans. You and I, the
two real Kings, must flee together. We
may not cross the lake, for It is red from
the blood of the millions. We must cross
the Alps!
"Over there stand the armies P-r.d await
us! I will ride at their bead and yoi shall
be at my Fide. We shill enter my caplt-il,
strangle tho Queen, nail tho lunatic, your
brother, to the cross; torture that hound,
the Privy Councillor, and behead and hang
all our adversaries. My kingdom wi!l ba
desolate like a desert. But on th vast
field of death I will sit throned in ever
lasting majesty and you shall sit at my
rli;ht hand."
These mad words the King whispered as