rrin' it's the delight one feels in consthruin' a hard bit in
a Greek chorus, or hittin' the manin' of a doubtful passage in ould
AEschylus. But what's the good o' me puzzlin' myself? If I was to
speculate for fifty years, I 'd never be able to think like a lord,
after all!" And with this conclusion he began to prepare for his
journey.

CHAPTER XLVIII. HOW A SOVEREIGN TREATS WITH HIS MINISTER

"What can have brought them here, Stubber?" said the Duke of Massa, as
he walked to and fro in his dressing-room, with an air of considerable
perturbation. "Be assured of one thing, they have come for mischief!
I know that Sabloukoff well. _She_ it was separated Prince Max from my
sister, and that Montenegro affair was all _her_ doing also."

"I don't suspect--"

"Don't you? Well, then, _I_ do, sir; and that's enough," said he,
interrupting. "And as to Upton, he's well known throughout Europe,--a
'mauvais coucheur,' Stubber; that's what the Emperor Franz called
him,--a 'mauvais coucheur,' one of those fellows England employs to get
up the embarrassments she so deeply deplores. Eh, Stubber, that's the
phrase: 'While we deeply deplore the condition of the kingdom,'--that's
always the exordium to sending out a fleet or an impertinent
despatch. But I'll not endure it here. I have my sovereign rights, my
independence, my allies. By the way, haven't my allies taken possession
of the Opera House for a barrack?"

"That they have, sir; and they threaten an encampment in the Court
gardens."

"An open insult, an outrage! And have _you_ endured and submitted to
this?"

"I have refused the permission; but they may very possibly take no heed
of my protest."

"And you 'll tell me that I am the ruler of this state?"

"No, but I 'll say you might, if you liked to be so."

"How so, Stubber? Come, my worthy fellow, what's your plan? You have
a plan, I'm certain--but I guess it: turn Protestant, hunt out the
Jesuits, close the churches, demolish the monasteries, and send for an
English frigate down to the Marina, where there's not water to float
a fishing-boat. But no, sir, I 'll have no such alliances; I 'll throw
myself upon the loyalty and attachment of my people, and--I'll raise
the taxes. Eh, Stubber? We'll tax the 'colza' and the quarries! If they
demur, we 'll abdicate; that's my last word,--abdicate."

"I wonder who this sick man can be that accompanies Upton," said
Stubber, who never suffered himself to be moved by his mast