ike ministerial resignations, been forced upon us--I mean on
kings in the past--at very unseasonable times and in most inconsiderate
ways; and we kings have had to put up with it. Mr. Prime Minister, it is
your turn now; and I only hope that you may find as clean a way out of
your difficulty as I had to find when four months ago you threatened me
with a resignation which you knew I could not accept."

The Prime Minister's face became drawn with passion; but there was no
more to be said after that. "Is that your Majesty's final word?" he
inquired.

"I hope so," said the King, rising and making a formal offer of his
hand.

And so the interview ended.

Left alone the King felt badly in need of comfort, for now in the hour
of triumph depression had begun to enter his soul. He did not like
hurting people even when he was not fond of them; and on the Prime
Minister's face as he went out he had seen something like tragedy. "Is
he going to cut his throat?" he wondered; but, no, it was not the look
of a beaten man--rather that of a gambler prepared to make his last
throw.

The King had already made his own--he had nothing more to do; and now he
wanted companionship, some one to humor him with more understanding and
sympathy than his own wife could supply. And it so happened that just
then his only two possible comforters were away. Max had gone to the
Riviera to recruit before the regular sittings of the Commission began,
and Charlotte three days ago had taken that leave of absence which had
been promised her; for in less than a month's time the Prince of
Schnapps-Wasser would be paying his promised visit.

As he could not have the society he craved he chose solitude, and
wandered out into the deepening dusk of the November garden; and there,
gazing up through its now thinned foliage at the quiet and misty heavens
above him, thought of steeplejacks and the death of kings, and how at
the root of every great downfall in history there had probably been some
poor human heart like his own, conscious of failure, longing for the
kindred touch which pride of place makes so impossible. And yet he knew
that he had brought himself to a better end than, with all the defects
of his qualities, he could ordinarily have hoped to secure; perhaps this
dramatic taking of himself off (which he felt in a way to be so out of
character) would help Max to make something out of the situation
startling and unexpected. But Max would have to give up