us about
your smell."

CHAPTER XXI

I do not think that the Emperor's plan for restoring Salissa to the
Crown of Megalia by means of a marriage would have worked, even if
there had been no such person as Maurice Phillips. The Queen did not
like Konrad Karl. She was not, of course, openly disagreeable or
uncivil to him. She was too sweet-tempered and good-hearted to be
disagreeable to any one, and she had a strong sense of what was due to
a guest in her house. But it was plain enough not only to Gorman, but
to the King himself, that she did not like him. This does not appear
to have been the King's fault. Konrad Karl had many of the instincts
of a gentleman. It is an odd fact, but I think undeniable, that a man
may be a blackguard and remain a gentleman. There was, for instance,
no fault to be found with Konrad Karl's behaviour towards the Queen,
though he had come to the island intending to insult her by marrying
her. He did his best to talk pleasantly to her, and he could be very
pleasant when he chose. He never attempted to flirt with her. His
manner was always respectful and he tried to help her in various ways,
even going to her school in the mornings and giving the children
drawing lessons. She could not herself have told why she disliked
him. She certainly had no idea that there was any question of his
marrying her. But she slipped into the habit of spending most of her
time in the boat with Kalliope. Konrad Karl used to go down to the
palace steps and see her off. He never ventured into a boat himself.
He had an uneasy feeling that the Megalian admiral was watching him
and would kidnap him at once if he left the security of the land.

The Queen's unfriendliness did not trouble him much.

"The American girl," he said to Gorman, "would not have done for me,
or do I say she would have done for me? Which is it?"

"Well," said Gorman, "either expresses your meaning and I quite agree
with you. She would not have done for you, and in the long run if you
didn't do for her she would certainly have done for you."

"The English language is wonderful," said the King. "She would not,
and she would. It is the same in English. But my meaning is true. It
is well I did not marry her. I must give many thanks to Phillips. If
Phillips had not done for her I should have been done for."

"As it is," said Gorman, "it's the Emperor who's done."

"Ah," said the King. "I give in. I give up. I give out. That word
'done'--