Volume VII - Modernist Magazines Project

By Henry Harland 59it's awful, awful, awful ! " And her voice failed her in a sob ; andshe hid her face in her hands, and wept. So the King had todrop the subject again, and to devote his talents to the task ofdrying her tears.I don't know how many times they renewed the discussion, butI do know that the Queen stood firm in her original refusal, andthat at last it was decided that the King should go without her,and excuse her absence as best he might on the plea of her precariousstate of health. It was only after this resolution was madeand registered, and her husband had brought himself to accept itwith some degree of resignation—it was only then that herMajesty began to waver and vacillate, and reconsider, and changeher mind. As the date approached for his departure, her alternationsbecame an affair of hours. It was, " Oh, after all, I can'tlet you go alone, poor Theo. And besides, I should die of heartbreak,here without you. So—there—I'll make the best of a badbusiness, and go with you "—it was either that, or else, " No,after all, I can't. I really can't. I'm awfully sorry. I shall missyou horribly. But, when I think of what it means, I haven't thestrength or courage. I simply can't "—it was one thing or theother, on and off, all day." When you finally know your own mind, I shall be glad ifyou'll send for me," said Theodore. " Because I've got to namea Regent. And if you're coming with me, I shall name my uncleStephen. But if you're stopping here, of course I shall nameyou."There is a bothersome little provision in the Constitution ofMonterosso to the effect that the Sovereign may not cross thefrontiers of his dominions, no matter for how brief a sojourn,without leaving a Regent in command. Under the good oldregime, before the revolution of 1868, the kings of Tchermnogoria