CHAPTER IX
IN WHICH I SALUTE THE STATUE OF GOD AND A PSYCHICEXPERT EXPLORES MY BRAIN AND FINDS NOTHING
~1~
The Chemical Staff called for me at my laboratory to conduct me to thepresence of the Emperor. At the elevator we were met by an electricvehicle manned fore and aft by pompous guards. Through the wide, highstreets we rolled noiselessly past the decorated facades of the spaciousapartments that housed the seventeen thousand members of the House ofHohenzollern.
At times the ample streets broadened into still more roomy avenues wherepotted trees alternated with the frescoed columns, and beyond which wereluxurious gardens and vast statuary halls. On the Level of Free Womenthe life was one of crowded revelry, of the bauble and delights ofcarnival, but on the Royal Level there was an atmosphere of luxuriousleisure, with vast spaces given over to the privacy of aristocraticidleness.
An occasional vehicle rolled swiftly past us on the glassy smoothness ofthe pavement; more rarely lonely couples strolled among the potted treesor sat in dreamy indolence beside the fountains. There was no crowding,no mass of humanity, no narrow halls, no congested apartments. Allstructure here was on a scale of magnificent size and distances, whileby comparison the men and women appeared dwarfed, but withal distinctivein their costumes and regal in their leisurely idleness.
After some kilometres of travel we came to His Majesty's palace, whichstood detached from all other enclosed structures and was surrounded onall sides by ever-necessary columns that seemed like a forest of treetrunks spaced and distanced in geometrical design.
As we approached the massive doorway of the palace, our party paused,and stood stiffly erect. Before us were two colossal statues ofglistening white crystal. My fellow scientists faced one of the figures,which I recognized as that of William II, and I, a little tardily,saluted with them. And now we turned sharply on our heels and salutedthe second figure of these twin German heroes. For German it wasunmistakably in every feature, save for the one oddity that the Teutonicface wore a flowing beard not unlike that of Michael Angelo's Moses. Aswe moved forward my eye swept in the lettering on the pedestal, _"UnserAlte Deutche Gott,"_ and I was aware that I had acknowledged myallegience to the supreme war lord--I had saluted the Statue of God.
Entering the palace we were conducted through a long hall-way hung withfloral tapestries. We passed through several great metal doors guardedby stalwart leaden-faced men and came at last into the imperial audienceroom, where His Majesty, Eitel I, satellited by his ministers, sat stiffand upright at the head of the council table.
Though he had seemed a small man when I had seen him in the dazzlingbeam of the reflected sunlight, I now perceived that he was of more thanaverage stature. He wore no crown and no helmet, but only a crop ofstiff iron grey hair brushed boldly upright. His face was stern, hisnose beak-like, and his small eyes grey and piercing. Over the high backof his chair was thrown his cape, and he was clad in a jacket of whitecellulose velvet buttoned to the throat with large platinum buttons.
Formally presented by one of the secretaries we made our stiff bows andwere seated at the table facing His Majesty across the unlitteredsurface of black glass.
The Emperor nodded to the Chief of the Chemical Staff who arose and readthe report of my solution of the protium problem. He ended by advisingthat the process should immediately replace the one then in use in theextraction of the ore in the industrial works and that I was recommendedfor promotion to the place to be vacated by the retiring member of theChemical Staff and should be given full charge of the protium industry.
Emperor Eitel listened with solemn nods of approval. When the readingwas finished he arose and proclaimed the retirement with honour, andbecause of his advanced age, of Herr von Uhl. The old chemist nowstepped forward and the Emperor removed from von Uhl's breast theinsignia of active Staff service and replaced it with the insignia ofhonourable retirement.
In my turn I also stood before His Majesty, who when he had pinned uponmy breast the Staff insignia said: "I hereby commission you as Member ofthe Chemical Staff and Director of the Protium Works. Against thefortune, to be accredited to you and your descendants, you areauthorized to draw from the Imperial Bank a million marks a year. Thatyou shall more graciously befit this fortune I confer upon you the titleof 'von' and the social privilege of the Royal Level."
When the formal ceremonies were ended I again arose and addressed theEmperor. "Your Majesty," I said, as I looked unflinchingly at his ironvisage, "I beg leave to make a personal petition."
"State it," commanded the Emperor.
"I wish to ask that you restore to the Royal Level a girl who is now inthe Level of the Free Women, and known there as Marguerite 78 K 4, butwho was born on the Royal Level as a daughter of Princess Fedora ofthe House of Hohenzollern."
A hush of consternation fell upon those about the table.
"Your petition," said the Emperor, "cannot be granted."
"Then," I said, speaking with studied emphasis, "I cannot proceed withthe work of extracting protium."
An angry cloud gathered on the face of Eitel I. "Herr von Armstadt," hesaid, "the title and awards which have just been conferred upon you areirrevocable. But if you decline to perform the duties of your officethose duties can be performed by others."
"But others cannot perform them," I replied. "The demonstration Iconducted was genuine, but the formulas I have given were not genuine.The true formulas for my method of extracting protium are locked withinmy brain and I will reveal them only when the petition I ask hasbeen granted."
At these words the Emperor pounded on the table with a heavy fist. "Whatdoes this mean?" he demanded of the Chemical Staff.
"It is a lie," shouted the Chief of the Staff. "We have the formulas andthey are correct, for we saw the demonstration conducted with theingredients stated in the formulas which Armstadt gave us."
"Very well," I cried; "go try your formulas; go repeat thedemonstration, if you can."
The Emperor, glaring his rage, punched savagely at a signal button onthe arm of his chair.
Two palace guards answered the summons. "Arrest this man," shouted HisMajesty, "and keep him in close confinement; permit him to see no one."
Without further ado I was led off by the guards, while the Emperorshouted imprecations at the Chemical Staff.
~2~
The place to which I was conducted was a suite of rooms in a remotecorner of the Royal Palace. There was a large bedroom and bath, and aluxurious study or lounging room. Here I found a case of books, whichproved to be novels bearing the imprint of the Royal Level.
Despite the comfortable surroundings, it was evident that I was securelyimprisoned, for the door was of metal, the ventilating gratings werelong narrow slits, and the walls were of heavy concrete--and there beingno windows, no bars were needed. Any living apartment in the city wouldhave served equally well the jailor's purpose; for it were onlynecessary to turn a key from without to make of it a cell in thisgigantic prison of Berlin.
The regular appearance of my meals by mechanical carrier was the onlyway I had to reckon the passing of time, for it had chanced that I hadforgotten my watch when dressing for the audience with His Majesty. Iwrestled with unmeasured time by perusing the novels which gave mefragmentary pictures of the social life on the Royal Level.
As I turned over the situation in my mind I reassured myself that thesecrecy of my formulas was impregnable. The discovery of the process hadbeen rendered possible by knowledge I had brought with me from the outerworld. The reagents that I had used were synthetic substances, the veryexistence of which was unknown to the Germans. I had previously preparedthese compounds and had used and completely destroyed them in making thedemonstration, while I had taken pains to remove all traces of theirpreparation. Hence I had little to fear of the Chemical Staffduplicating my work, though doubtless they were making desperate effortsto do so, and my imprisonment was very evidently for the purpose ofpermitting them to make that effort.
On
that score I felt that I had played my cards well, but there wereother thoughts that troubled me, chief of which was a fear that someinvestigation might be set on foot in regard to Marguerite and that herguardianship of the library of forbidden books might be discovered. Withthis worry to torment me, the hours dragged slowly enough.
I had been some five days in this solitary confinement when the dooropened and a man entered. He wore the uniform of a physician andintroduced himself as Dr. Boehm, explaining that he had been sent by HisMajesty to look after my health. The idea rather amused me; at least, Ithought, the Emperor had decided that the secrets of my brain were wellworth preservation, and I reasoned that this was evidence that theChemical Staff had made an effort to duplicate my work and had reportedtheir failure to do so.
The doctor made what seemed to me a rather perfunctory physicalexamination, which included a very minute inspection of my eyes. Then heput me through a series of psychological test queries. When he hadfinished he sighed deeply and said: "I am sorry to find that you aresuffering from a disturbed balance of the altruistic and the egotisticcortical impulses; it is doubtless due to the intensive demands made uponthe creative potential before you were completely recovered from thesub-normal psychosis due to the gas attack in the potash mines."
This diagnosis impressed me as a palpable fraud, but I became genuinelyalarmed at the mention of the affair at the potash mines. I was somewhatreassured at the thought that this reference was probably a part of therecord of Karl Armstadt, which was doubtless on file at the medicalheadquarters, and had been looked up by Dr. Boehm who was in need ofmaking out a plausible case for some purpose--perhaps that of confiningme permanently on the grounds of insanity. Whatever might be the move onfoot it was clearly essential for me to keep myself cool and wellin hand.
The doctor, after eyeing me calmly for a few moments, said: "It will benecessary for me to go out for a time and secure apparatus for a moresearching examination. Meanwhile be assured you will not be furtherneglected. In fact, I shall arrange for the time to share your apartmentwith you, as loneliness will aggravate your derangement."
In a few hours the doctor returned. He brought with him acomplicated-looking apparatus and was followed by two attendantscarrying a bed.
The doctor pushed the apparatus into the corner, and, after seeing hisbed installed in my sleeping chamber, dismissed the attendants and satdown and began to entertain me with accounts of various cases of mentalderangement that had come under his care. So far as I could determinehis object, if he had any other than killing time, it was to impress mewith the importance of submitting graciously to his care.
Tiring of these stories of the doctor's professional successes with meekand trusting patients, I took the management of the conversation into myown hands.
"Since you are a psychic expert, Dr. Boehm, perhaps you can explain tome the mental processes that cause a man to prize a large bank creditwhen there is positively no legal way in which he can expendthe credit."
The doctor looked at me quizzically. "How do you mean," he asked, "thatthere is no legal way in which he can expend the credit?"
"Well, take my own case. The Emperor has bestowed upon me a credit of amillion marks a year. But I risked losing it by demanding that a youngwoman of the Free Level be restored to the Royal Level where shewas born."
"Of this I am aware," replied the psychic physician. "That is why HisMajesty became alarmed lest your mental equilibrium be disturbed. Itseems to indicate an atavistic reversion to a condition of romanticaltruism, but as your pedigree is normal, I deem it merely a temporaryloss of balance."
"But why," I asked, "do you consider it abnormal at all? Is thereevidence of any great degree of unselfishness in a man desiring thebestowal of happiness upon a particular woman in preference to bankcredit which he cannot expend? What should I do with a million marks ayear when I have been unable to expend the ten thousand a year Ihave had?"
"Ah," exclaimed the doctor, the light of a brilliant discovery breakingover his countenance. "Perhaps this in a measure explains your case. Youhave evidently been so absorbed in your work that you have notsufficiently developed your appetite for personal enjoyment."
"Perhaps I have not. But just how should I expend more funds; food,clothing, living quarters are all provided me, there is nothing but a fewtawdry amusements that one can buy, nor is there any one to give the moneyto--even if a man had children they cannot inherit his wealth. Just whatis money for, anyway?"
The doctor nodded his head and smiled in satisfaction. "You askinteresting questions," he said. "I shall try to answer them. Money orbank credit is merely a symbol of wealth. In ancient times wealth wasrepresented by the private ownership of physical property, which was thebasis of capitalistic or competitive society. Racial progress was thenachieved by the mating of the men of superior brain with the mostbeautiful women. Women do not appreciate the mental power of man in itsdirect expression, or even its social use; they can only comprehend thatpower when it is translated into wealth. After the destruction ofprivate property women refused to accept as mates the men ofintellectual power, but preferred instead men of physical strength andpersonal beauty.
"At first this was considered to be a proof of the superiority of theproletariat. For, with all men economically equal, the beautiful womenturned from the anemic intellectual and the sons of aristocracy, to thestrong arms of labour. Believing themselves to be the source of allwealth, and by that right vested with sole political power, and nowfinding themselves preferred by the beautiful women, the labourer wouldsoon have eliminated all other classes from human society. Had unbridledsocialism with its free mating continued, we should have become merely ahorde of handsome savages.
"Such would have been the destiny of our race had not William IIIforeseen the outcome and restored war, the blessings of which had beenall but lost to the world. The progress of peace depended upon thecompetition of capitalism, but in peace progress is incidental. In warit is essential. Because war requires invention, it saved theintellectual classes, and because war requires authority it madepossible the restoration of our Royal House. Labour, the tyrant ofpeace, became again the slave of war, and under the plea of patrioticnecessity eugenics was established, which again restored the beautifulwomen to the superior men. And thus by Imperial Socialism the race waspreserved from deterioriation."
"But surely," I said, "eugenics has more than remedied this defect ofsocialism, for the selection of men of superior mentality is much morerigid than it could have been under the capricious matings ofcapitalistic society. Why then this need of wealth?"
"Eugenics," replied Boehm, "breeds superior children, but eugenic matingis a cold scientific thing which fails to fan the flame of man'sambition to do creative work. That is why we have the Level of FreeWomen and have not bred the virility out of the intellectual group. Thatis also the reason we have retained the Free Level on a competitivecommercial basis, and have given the intellectual man the bank credit, asymbol of wealth, that he may use it, as men have always used wealth,for the purpose of increasing his importance in the eyes of woman. Thisfunction of wealth is psychically necessary to the creative impulse, forthe power of sexual conquest and the stimulus to creative thought arebut different expressions of the same instinct. Wealth, or its symbol,is a medium of translating the one into the other. For example, takeyour discovery; it is important to you and to the state. Your fellowscientists appreciate it, His Majesty appreciates it, but women cannotappreciate it. But give it a money value and women appreciate itimmediately. They know that the unlimited bank credit will give you thepower to keep as many women on your list as you choose, and this meansthat you can select freely those you wish. So the most attractive womenwill compete for your preferment. We bow before the Emperor, we salutethe Statue of God, but we make out our checks to buy baubles for women,and it is that which keeps the wheels of progress turning."
"So," I said, "this is your philosophy of wealth. I see, and yet I donot see. The legal limit a man may co
ntribute to a woman is buttwenty-four hundred marks a year, what then does he want witha million?"
"But there is no legal limit," replied the Doctor, "to the number ofwomen a man may have on his list. His relation to them may be the mostcasual, but the pursuit is stimulating to the creative imagination. Butyou forget, Herr von Armstadt, that with the compensation that was to beyours goes also the social privilege of the Royal Level. Evidently youhave been so absorbed in your research that you had no time to think ofthe magnificent rewards for which you were working."
"Then perhaps you will explain them to me."
"With pleasure," said Dr. Boehm; "your social privilege on the RoyalLevel includes the right to marry and that means that you should havechildren for whom inheritance is permitted. How else did you suppose theever-increasing numbers of the House of Hohenzollern should havemaintained their wealth?"
"The question has never occurred to me," I answered, "but if it had, Ishould have supposed that their expenses were provided by appropriationsfrom the state treasury."
Dr. Boehm chuckled. "Then they should all be dependents on the statelike cripples and imbeciles. It would be a rather poor way to derive thepride of aristocracy. That can only come from inherited wealth: theprinciple is old, very old. The nobleman must never needs work to live.Then, if he wishes to give service to the state, he may give it withoutpay, and thus feel his nobility. You cannot aspire to full socialequality with the Royal House both because you lack divinity of bloodand because you receive your wealth for that which you have yourselfgiven to the state. But because of your wealth you will find a wife ofthe Royal House, and she will bear you children who, receiving thedivine blood of the Hohenzollerns from the mother and inherited wealthfrom the father, will thus be twice ennobled. To have such children is arare privilege; not even Herr von Uhl with his thousands of descendantscan feel such a pride of paternity.
"It is well, Herr von Armstadt, that you talked to me of these matters.Should you be restored to your full mental powers and be permitted toassume the rights of your new station, it would be most unfortunate ifyou should seem unappreciative of these ennobling privileges."
"Then, if I may, I shall ask you some further questions. It seems thatthe inherited incomes of the Royal Level are from time to timereinforced by marriage from without. Does that not dilute theRoyal blood?"
"That question," replied Dr. Boehm, "more properly should be addressedto a eugenist, but I shall try to give you the answer. The blood of theHouse of Hohenzollern is of a very high order for it is the blood ofdivinity in human veins. Yet since there is no eugenic control, noselection, the quality of that blood would deteriorate from inbreeding,were there no fresh infusion. Then where better could such blood comethan from the men of genius? No man is given the full social privilegeof the Royal Level except he who has made some great contribution to thestate. This at once marks him as a genius and gives his wealth anoble origin."
"But how is it," I asked, "that this addition of men from without doesnot disturb the balance of the sexes?"
"It does disturb it somewhat," replied the doctor, "but not seriously,for genius is rare. There are only a few hundred men in each generationwho are received into Royal Society. Of course that means some of theyoung men of the Royal Level cannot marry. But some men decline marriageof their own free will; if they are not possessed of much wealth theyprefer to go unmarried rather than to accept an unattractive woman as awife when they may have their choice of mistresses from the mostbeautiful virgins intended for the Free Level. There is always anabundance of marriageable women on the Royal Level and with your wealthyou will have your choice. Your credit, in fact, will be the largestthat has been granted for over a decade."
"All that is very splendid," I answered. "I was not well informed onthese matters. But why should His Majesty have been so incensed at mysimple request for the restoration of the rights of the daughter of thePrincess Fedora?"
"Your request was unusual; pardon if I may say, impudent; it seems toimply a lack of appreciation on your part of the honours freelyconferred upon you--but I daresay His Majesty did not realize yourignorance of these things. You are very young and you have risen to yourhigh station very quickly from an obscure position."
"And do you think," I asked, "that if you made these facts clear to him,he would relent and grant my request?"
Dr. Boehm looked at me with a penetrating gaze. "It is not my function,"he said, "to intercede for you. I have only been commissioned to examinecarefully the state of your mentality."
I smiled complacently at the psychic expert. "Now, doctor," I said, "youdo not mean to tell me that you really think there is anything wrongwith my mentality?"
A look of craftiness flashed from Boehm's eyes. "I have given you mydiagnosis," he said, "but it may not be final. I have alreadycommunicated my first report to His Majesty and he has ordered me toremain with you for some days. If I should alter that opinion tooquickly it would discredit me and gain you nothing. You had best bepatient, and submit gracefully to further examination and treatment."
"And do you know," I asked, "what the chemical staff is doing about myformulas?"
"That is none of my affair," declared Boehm, emphatically.
There was a vigour in his declaration and a haste with which he began totalk of other matters that gave me a hint that the doctor knew more ofthe doings of the chemical staff than he cared to admit, but I thoughtit wise not to press the point.
~3~
The second day of Boehm's stay with me, he unmantled his apparatus andasked me to submit to a further examination. I had not the leastconception of the purpose of this apparatus and with some misgivings Ilay down on a couch while the psychic expert placed above my eyes aglass plate, on which, when he had turned on the current, thereproceeded a slow rhythmic series of pale lights and shadows. At thedoctor's command I fixed my gaze upon the lights, while he, in amonotonous voice, urged me to relax my mind and dismiss allactive thought.
How long I stood for this infernal proceeding I do not know. But Irecall a realization that I had lost grip on my thoughts and seemed tobe floating off into a misty nowhere of unconsciousness. I struggledfrantically to regain control of myself; and, for what seemed aneternity, I fought with a horrible nightmare unable to move a muscle oreven close my eyelids to shut out that sickening sequence of creepingshadows. Then I saw the doctor's hand reaching slowly toward my face. Itseemed to sway in its stealthy movement like the head of a serpentcharming a bird, but in my helpless horror I could not ward it off.
At last the snaky fingers touched my eyelids as if to close them, andthat touch, light though it was, served to snap the taut film of myhelpless brain and I gave a blood-curdling yell and jumped up, knockingover the devilish apparatus and nearly upsetting the doctor.
"Calm yourself," said Boehm, as he attempted to push me again toward thecouch. "There is nothing wrong, and you must surrender to the psychicequilibrator so that I can proceed with the examination."
"Examination be damned," I shouted fiercely; "you were trying tohypnotize me with that infernal machine."
Boehm did not reply but calmly proceeded to pick up the apparatus andrestore it to its place in the corner, while I paced angrily about theroom. He then seated himself and addressed me as I stood against thewall glaring at him. "You are labouring under hallucinations," he said."I fear your case is even worse than I thought. But calm yourself. Ishall attempt no further examination today."
I resumed a seat but refused to look at him. He did not talk further ofmy supposed mental state, but proceeded to entertain me with gossip ofthe Royal Level, and later discussed the novels in the bookcase.
It was difficult to keep up an open war with so charming aconversationalist, but I was thoroughly on my guard. I could now readilysee through the whole fraud of my imputed mental derangement. I knew mymind was sound as a schoolboy's, and that this pretence of examinationand treatment was only a blind. Evidently the Chemical Staff had failedto work the formulas I had given
them and this psychic manipulator hadbeen sent in here to filch the true formulas from my brain with hisdevilish art. I knew nothing of what progress the Germans might havemade with hypnotism, but unless they had gone further than had the outerworld, now that I was on my guard, I believed myself to be safe.
But there was yet one danger. I might be trapped in my sleep by aninduced somnambulistic conversation. Happily I was fairly well posted onsuch things and believed that I could guard against that also. But thefear of the thing made me so nervous that I did not sleep all of thefollowing night.
The doctor, evidently a keen observer, must have detected that fact fromthe sound of my breathing, for the lights were turned out and we sleptin the pitchy blackness that only a windowless room can create.
"You did not sleep well," he remarked, as we breakfasted.
But I made light of his solicitous concern, and we passed another day incasual conversation.
As the sleeping period drew again near, the doctor said, "I will leaveyou tonight, for I fear my presence disturbs you because youmisinterpret my purpose in observing you."
As the doctor departed, I noted that the mechanism of the hinges and thelock of the door were so perfect that they gave forth no sound. I wasvery drowsy and soon retired, but before I went to sleep I practisedsnapping off and on the light from the switch at the side of my bed.Then I repeated over and over to myself--"I will awake at the firstsound of a voice."
This thought ingrained in my subconscious mind proved my salvation. Imust have been sleeping some hours. I was dreaming of Marguerite. I sawher standing in an open meadow flooded with sunlight; and heard hervoice as if from afar. I walked towards her and as the words grew moredistinct I knew the voice was not Marguerite's. Then I awoke.
I did not stir but lay listening. The voice was speaking monotonouslyand the words I heard were the words of the protium formulas, the falseones I had given the Chemical Staff.
"But these formulas are not correct," purred the voice, "of course, theyare not correct. I gave them to the Staff, but they will never know thereal ones--Yes, the real ones--What are the real ones? Have Iforgotten--? No, I shall never forget. I can repeat them now." Then thevoice began again on one of the fake formulas. But when it reached thepoint where the true formula was different, it paused; evidently theChemical Staff had found out where the difficulty lay. And so the voicehad paused, hoping my sleeping mind would catch up the thread and supplythe missing words. But instead my arm shot quickly to the switch. Thesolicitous Doctor Boehm, flooded with a blaze of light, glaredblinkingly as I leaped from the bed.
"Oh, I was asleep all right," I said, "but I awoke the instant I heardyou speak, just as I had assured myself that I would do before I fellasleep. Now what else have you in your bag of tricks?"
"I only came--" began the doctor.
"Yes, you only came," I shouted, "and you knew nothing about the work ofthe Chemical Staff on my formulas. Now see here, doctor, you had yourtry and you have failed. Your diagnosis of my mental condition is justas much a fraud as the formulas on which the Chemical Staff have beenwasting their time--only it is not so clever. I fooled them and you havenot fooled me. Waste no more time, but go back and report to His Majestythat your little tricks have failed."
"I shall do that," said Boehm. "I feared you from the start; your mindis really an extraordinary one. But where," he said, "did you learn howto guard yourself so well against my methods? They are very secret. Myart is not known even to physicians."
"It is known to me," I said, "so run along and get your report ready."The doctor shook my hand with an air of profound respect and took hisleave. This time I balanced a chair overhanging the edge of a table sothat the opening of the door would push it off, and I lay down andslept soundly.
~4~
I was left alone in my prison until late the next day. Then came a guardwho conducted me before His Majesty. None of the Chemical Staff waspresent. In fact there was no one with the Emperor but a singlesecretary.
His Majesty smiled cordially. "It was fitting, Herr von Armstadt, for meto order your confinement for your demand was audacious; not that whatyou asked was a matter of importance, but you should have made therequest in writing and privately and not before the Chemical Staff. Forthat breach of etiquette I had to humiliate you that Royal dignity mightbe preserved. As for the fact that you kept the formulas secret, noneneed know that but the Chemical Staff and they will have nothing furtherto say since you made fools of them." His Majesty laughed.
"As for the request you made, I have decided to grant it. Nor do I blameyou for making it. The Princess Marguerite is a very beautiful girl. Sheis waiting now nearby. I should have sent for her sooner, but it wasnecessary to make an investigation regarding her birth. The unfortunatePrincess Fedora never confessed the father. But I have arranged that, asyou shall see."
The Emperor now pressed his signal button and a door opened andMarguerite was ushered into the room. I started in fear as I saw thatshe was accompanied by Dr. Zimmern. What calamity of discovery andpunishment, I wondered, had my daring move brought to the secret rebelagainst the rule of the Hohenzollern?
Marguerite stepped swiftly toward me and gave me her hand. The look inher eyes I interpreted as a warning that I was not to recognize Zimmern.So I appeared the stranger while the secretary introduced us.
"Dr. Zimmern," said His Majesty, "was physician to Princess Fedora atthe time of the birth of the Princess Marguerite. She confessed to himthe father of her child. It was the Count Rudolph who died unmarriedsome years ago. There will be no questions raised. Our society willwelcome his daughter, for both the Count Rudolph and the Princess Fedorawere very popular."
During this speech, Dr. Zimmern sat rigid and stared into space. Thenthe secretary produced a document and read a confession to be signed byZimmern, testifying to these statements of Marguerite's birth.
Zimmern, his features still unmoved, signed the paper and handed itagain to the secretary.
His Majesty arose and held out his hand to Marguerite. "I welcome you,"he said, "to the House of Hohenzollern. We shall do our best to atonefor what you have suffered. And to you, Herr von Armstadt, I extend mythanks for bringing us so beautiful a woman. It is my hope that you willwin her as a wife, for she will grace well the fortune that your greatgenius brings to us. But because you have loved her under unfortunatecircumstances I must forbid your marriage for a period of two years.During that time you will both be free to make acquaintances in RoyalSociety. Nothing less than this would be fair to either of you, or toother women that may seek your fortune or to other men who may seek thebeauty of your princess."