XXII
The tremendous walls of the fjord were black, but the moon poured in a flood of light. There had been a sharp breeze earlier in the evening, and Fessenden had invited the Emperor out inPocahontas; then, perceiving the difficulty of keeping him quiet, had given him the sheet. The Emperor had accepted the invitation with alacrity—he was not only happy and at home in a canoe, but although he had now had several long conversations with the young American, something in this new personality evaded him, and he was determined to find it. Fessenden, on the other hand, was studying him attentively, his interest in the most remarkable specimen of living royalty quite distinct from his liking for the man. William had not refrained from questions during this past week, and Fessenden had been permitted to learn Germany from the Throne. When he had mentioned that he intended, a year or two hence, to tramp the Empireand study it from another point of view, the Kaiser had promptly extracted a promise to bring the burden of his information to Berlin.
William expressed a lively sympathy for his young friend’s desire for immediate distinction, and confided some of the difficulties of majesty in getting its own way. Nevertheless he felt that Fessenden, despite his romantic enthusiasm for himself, was frank only to a certain point. He thought of all in his own depths that he could give to no man, and forbore to press him too closely; but his abnormally acute brain suspected something in that deliberate reserve which concerned himself, and he had accepted the proposal of the lonely sail in the hope of an impulsive confidence. He had no suspicion that the younger man had brought him out for the purpose of making this confidence.
The wind fell, and they left the canoe to stretch their legs.
“Do you really believe in the divine right of kings?” asked Fessenden abruptly. “I meanyou.”
The Emperor stared, then laughed outright. “Certainly!” he announced in that harsh abrupt voice which conveyed the impression that he had not the patience to lie. Then, having his own reasons for expanding under the influence of the lonely moon, he added: “Is not a peasant a peasant by divine law? How much more a hereditary ruler with his terrible responsibilities! With our vast fund of inherited knowledge and traditions, our instinct for rule, our gift of commanding respect and obedience, we are far more successful as rulers than your presidents, chosen every four or eight years from all sorts and conditions of life, and more often for some unworthy political reason than for any merit in the man.” He added deliberately: “The monarchs of the earth are the chosen deputies of God in Heaven; theyrule their people by right divine. The time will come when you will feel this as deeply as I do now. Of course my understanding is illumined with the torch of the centuries; but there must be a beginning,” he added graciously.
“And you disassociate yourself absolutely from the race?”
“Certainly. So will you one day.”
“I am a good democrat, and I believe in the principles of the American Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.”
“Quite so—as long as they are permitted to hold; but when your revolution comes they will go down with the rest, and then you will no longer be a democrat.” The pronounced roll of William’s r-r-r-r’s made him utter the last word as if he hated it.
“And I suppose you think the Monroe Doctrine would go too?”
“It would be as well to begin a new government on a sensible international basis,” said the Emperor dryly. “That doctrine only maintains its fictitious life by the courtesy, or perhaps I should say the indifference—the present indifference—of Europe. It means nothing until you have established it by force of arms. It would be better to abandon it gracefully while there is yet time.”
The two men were picking their way through an uneven pass. Fessenden halted and leaned against the wall of rock. He fixed his eyes, which in the brilliant night light shone like steel, on the imperious and searching orbs that swung round him abruptly.
“It is by converting the Monroe Doctrine from a theory into a principle of international law without a war with Europe that I propose to make my fame,” he said.
William’s pale face twitched, then settled into its hardest lines. He returned Fessenden’s stare, and there was neither friendship nor good-fellowship in his eyes; he was a monarch on the alert in the presence of the enemy. It was a moment before he spoke; then he said coldly:
“It is a large and, no doubt, patriotic idea. I shall be interested to watch the method develop. When shall you get to work? When shall Europe have its first astonished glimpse of your purpose?”
“Europe will know nothing until it is too late to interfere; but I shall tell you the whole scheme now.”
“Tell me!” cried the German Emperor in his astonishment.
“I owe the idea to you, and, crazy as it may appear, I shall confide it to you. I should be rather base if I did not; and I rely, if not on your generosity, then on your foresight, to let me alone. You can have Europe, and welcome, and when the time comes that you need my help you will get it; but you can’t have South America—not an inch of it; and now I’ll tell you why—”
“Suppose I decline to listen?”—and none but himself could know what it cost him to admit that possibility. But the excitable color had flashed into his face, and his eyes were glittering. “If I do listen,” he added in a moment, “I decline to commit myself beforehand.”
“It won’t matter. Even if you betrayed me you could not obstruct my purpose. Of course I wish my secret kept. Only the fool takes the world into his confidence. I only tell you—well, not so much for the reason I just gave, as because you have given me your friendship, and I like you better than any one on earth except my father. You would have suggested the idea in any case; and if we had been cut out for enemies I’dhave left the next day, and it would have been a year before you would have known what I was up to.”
The Emperor’s face did not soften. He felt anything but sentimental. “Why are you so sure that Europe—that I—could not balk you?” he asked.
“Because I have a hundred million dollars at my disposal at the present moment, and the work will be done before you can cook up a war with the United States.”
The Emperor turned gray, and let his temper fly. “Damn your American billions!” he cried. “If I could lay my hands on that amount—”
“Well,” said Fessenden. “When the time comes you can have it.”