CHAPTER XXXV. THE PAPER CROWN
Strange that the old Palace roof should, in close succession; have seenNikky forgetting his promise to the Chancellor, and Otto forgetting thathe was not to run away. Strange places, roofs, abiding places, sincelong ago, of witches.
"How'd you happen to be in that gutter?" Bobby demanded, as they starteddown the staircase in the wall. "Watch out, son, it's pretty steep."
"I was getting a ball."
"Is this your house?"
"Well, I live here," temporized Prince Ferdinand William Otto. Aterrible thought came to him. Suppose this American boy, who detestedkings and princes, should learn who he was!
"It looks like a big place. Is it a barracks?"
"No." He hesitated. "But there are a good many soldiers here. I--I neversaw these steps before."
"I should think not," boasted Bobby. "I discovered them. I guess nobodyelse in the world knows about them. I put up a flag at the bottom andtook possession. They're mine."
"Really!" said Prince Ferdinand William Otto, quite delighted. He wouldnever have thought of such a thing.
A door of iron bars at the foot of the long flight of steps--there werefour of them--stood open. Here daylight, which had been growing fainter,entirely ceased. And here Bobby, having replaced his mask, placed anair-rifle over his shoulder, and lighted a candle and held it out to theCrown Prince.
"You can carry it," he said. "Only don't let it drip on you. You'llspoil your clothes." There was a faintly scornful note in his voice, andFerdinand William Otto was quick to hear it.
"I don't care at all about my clothes," he protested. And to prove ithe deliberately tilted the candle and let a thin stream of paraffin rundown his short jacket.
"You're a pretty good sport," Bobby observed. And from that time on headdressed His Royal Highness as "old sport."
"Walk faster, old sport," he would say. "That candle's pretty short, andwe've got a long way to go." Or--"Say, old sport, I'll make you a masklike this, if you like. I made this one."
When they reached the old dungeon the candle was about done. There wasonly time to fashion another black mask out of a piece of cloth thatbore a strange resemblance to a black waistcoat. The Crown Prince donnedthis with a wildly beating heart. Never in all his life had he been soexcited. Even Dick Deadeye was interested, and gave up his scenting ofthe strange footsteps that he had followed through the passage, to watchthe proceedings.
"We can get another candle, and come back and cook something," said thesenior pirate, tying the mask on with Pieces of brown string. "It getspretty smoky, but I can cook, you'd better believe."
So this wonderful boy could cook, also! The Crown Prince had never metany one with so many varied attainments. He gazed through the eyeholes,which were rather too far apart, in rapt admiration.
"As you haven't got a belt," Bobby said generously, "I'll give you therifle. Ever hold a gun?"
"Oh, yes," said the Crown Prince. He did not explain that he had beentaught to shoot on the rifle-range of his own regiment, and had wonquite a number of medals. He possessed, indeed, quite a number of smallbut very perfect guns.
With the last gasp of the candle, the children prepared to depart. Thesenior pirate had already forgotten the two men he had trailed throughthe passage, and was eager to get outdoors.
"Ready!" he said. "Now, remember, old sport, we are pirates. No quarter,except to women and children. Shoot every man."
"Even if he is unarmed?" inquired the Crown Prince, who had also studiedstrategy and tactics, and felt that an unarmed man should be takenprisoner.
"Sure. We don't really shoot them, silly. Now. Get in step.
"'Fifteen men on a dead man's chest Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum.'"
They marched up the steps and out through the opening at the top. Ifthere were any who watched, outside the encircling growth of evergreens,they were not on the lookout for two small boys and a dog. And, asbecame pirates, the children made a stealthy exit.
Then began, for the Crown Prince, such a day of joy as he had neverknown before. Even the Land of Delight faded before this new bliss ofstalking from tree to tree, of killing unsuspecting citizens who sat onrugs on the ground and ate sausages and little cakes. Here and there,where a party had moved on, they salvaged a bit of food--the heel of aloaf, one of the small country apples. Shades of the Court Physicians,under whose direction the Crown Prince was daily fed a carefullybalanced ration!
When they were weary, they stretched out on the ground, and the CrownPrince, whose bed was nightly dried with a warming-pan for fear ofdampness, wallowed blissfully on earth still soft with the meltingfrosts of the winter. He grew muddy and dirty. He had had no hat, ofcourse, and his bright hair hung over his forehead in moist strands. Nowand then he drew a long breath of sheer happiness.
Around them circled the gayety of the Carnival, bands of students inwhite, with the tall peaked caps of Pierrots. Here and there was ascarlet figure, a devil with horns, who watched the crowd warily. A dog,with the tulle petticoats of a dancer tied around it and a great bow onits neck, made friends with Dick Deadeye, alias Tucker, and joined thegroup.
But, as dusk descended, the crowd gradually dispersed, some to supper,but some to gather in the Place and in the streets around the Palace.For the rumor that the King was dying would not down.
At last the senior pirate consulted a large nickel watch.
"Gee! it's almost supper time," he said.
Prince Ferdinand William Otto consulted his own watch, the one with theinscription: "To Ferdinand William Otto, from his grandfather, on theoccasion of his taking his first communion."
"Why can't you come home to supper with me?" asked the senior pirate."Would your folks kick up a row?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Would your family object?"
"There is only one person who would mind," reflected the Crown Prince,aloud, "and she will be angry anyhow. I--do you think your mother willbe willing?"
"Willing? Sure she will! My governess--but I'll fix her. She's a German,and they're always cranky. Anyhow, it's my birthday. I'm always alloweda guest on birthdays."
So home together, gayly chatting, went the two children, along thecobble-paved streets of the ancient town, past old churches that hadbeen sacked and pillaged by the very ancestors of one of them, takingshort cuts through narrow passages that twisted and wormed their waybetween, and sometimes beneath, century-old stone houses; acrossthe flower-market, where faint odors of dying violets and crushedlilies-of-the-valley still clung to the bare wooden booths; and so,finally, to the door of a tall building where, from the concierge's roombeside the entrance, came a reek of stewing garlic.
Neither of the children had noticed the unwonted silence of the streets,which had, almost suddenly, succeeded the noise of the Carnival. Whatfew passers-by they had seen had been hurrying in the direction of thePalace. Twice they had passed soldiers, with lanterns, and once one hadstopped and flashed a light on them.
"Well, old sport!" said Bobby in English, "anything you can do for me?"
The soldier had passed on, muttering at the insolence of Americanchildren. The two youngsters laughed consumedly at the witticism. Theywere very happy, the lonely little American boy and the lonely littlePrince--happy from sheer gregariousness, from the satisfaction of thatstrongest of human inclinations, next to love--the social instinct.
The concierge was out. His niece admitted them, and went back toher interrupted cooking. The children hurried up the winding stonestaircase, with its iron rail and its gas lantern, to the second floor.
In the sitting-room, the sour-faced governess was darning a hole in asmall stocking. She was as close as possible to the green-tile stove,and she was looking very unpleasant; for the egg-shaped darner onlyslipped through the hole, which was a large one. With an irritablegesture she took off her slipper, and, putting one coarse-stockingedfoot on the fender, proceeded to darn by putting the slipper into thestocking and working over i
t.
Things looked unpropitious. The Crown Prince ducked behind Bobby.
The Fraulein looked at the clock.
"You are fifteen minutes late," she snapped, and bit the darningthread--not with rage, but because she had forgotten her scissors.
"I'm sorry, but you see--"
"Whom have you there?"
The Prince cowered. She looked quite like his grandfather when histutor's reports had been unfavorable.
"A friend of mine," said Bobby, not a whit daunted.
The governess put down the stocking and rose. In so doing, she caughther first real glimpse of Ferdinand William Otto, and she staggeredback.
"Holy Saints!" she said, and went white. Then she stared at the boy, andher color came back. "For a moment," she muttered "--but no. He is notso tall, nor has he the manner. Yes, he is much smaller!"
Which proves that, whether it wears it or not, royalty is alwaysmeasured to the top of a crown.
In the next room Bobby's mother was arranging candles on a birthdaycake in the center of the table. Pepy had iced the cake herself, andhad forgotten one of the "b's" in "Bobby" so that the cake really read:"Boby--XII."
However, it looked delicious, and inside had been baked a tiny blackchina doll and a new American penny, with Abraham Lincoln's head on it.The penny was for good fortune, but the doll was a joke of Pepy's, Bobbybeing aggressively masculine.
Bobby, having passed the outpost, carried the rest of the situation byassault. He rushed into the dining-room and kissed his mother, with oneeye on the cake.
"Mother, here's company to supper! Oh, look at the cake! B-O-B-Y'!Mother! That's awful!"
Mrs. Thorpe looked at the cake. "Poor Pepy," she said. "Suppose she hadmade it 'Booby'?" Then she saw Ferdinand William Otto, and went over,somewhat puzzled, with her hand out. "I am very glad Bobby brought you,"she said. "He has so few little friends--"
Then she stopped, for the Prince had brought his heels together sharply,and, bending over her hand, had kissed it, exactly as he kissed his AuntAnnunciata's when he went to have tea with her. Mrs. Thorpe was fairlystartled, not at the kiss, but at the grace with which the tribute wasrendered.
Then she looked down, and it restored her composure to find thatFerdinand William Otto, too, had turned eyes toward the cake. He was,after all, only a hungry small boy. With quick tenderness she stoopedand kissed him gravely on the forehead. Caresses were strange toFerdinand William Otto. His warm little heart leaped and pounded. Atthat moment, he would have died for her!
Mr. Thorpe came home a little late. He kissed Bobby twelve times, andone to grow on. He shook hands absently with the visitor, and gavethe Fraulein the evening paper--an extravagance on which he insisted,although one could read the news for nothing by going to the cafe on thecorner. Then he drew his wife aside.
"Look here!" he said. "Don't tell Bobby--no use exciting him, and ofcourse it's not our funeral anyhow but there's a report that the CrownPrince has been kidnapped. And that's not all. The old King is dying!"
"How terrible!"
"Worse than that. The old King gone and no Crown Prince! It may meanalmost any sort of trouble! I've closed up at the Park for the night."His arm around his wife, he looked through the doorway to where Bobbyand Ferdinand were counting the candles. "It's made me think prettyhard," he said. "Bobby mustn't go around alone the way he's been doing.All Americans here are considered millionaires. If the Crown Princecould go, think how easy--"
His arm tightened around his wife, and together they went in tothe birthday feast. Ferdinand William Otto was hungry. He ateeagerly--chicken, fruit compote, potato salad--again shades of the Courtphysicians, who fed him at night a balanced ration of milk, egg, andzwieback! Bobby also ate busily, and conversation languished.
Then the moment came when, the first cravings appeased, they sat back intheir chairs while Pepy cleared the table and brought in a knife to cutthe cake. Mr. Thorpe had excused himself for a moment. Now he came back,with a bottle wrapped in a newspaper, and sat down again.
"I thought," he said, "as this is a real occasion, not exactly Robert'scoming of age, but marking his arrival at years of discretion, theperiod when he ceases to be a small boy and becomes a big one, we mightdrink a toast to it."
"Robert!" objected the big boy's mother.
"A teaspoonful each, honey," he begged. "It changes it from a meresupper to a festivity."
He poured a few drops of wine into the children's glasses, and filledthem up with water. Then he filled the others, and sat smiling, this bigyoung man, who had brought his loved ones across the sea, and was tryingto make them happy up a flight of stone stairs, above a concierge'sbureau that smelled of garlic.
"First," he said, "I believe it is customary to toast the King. Friends,I give you the good King and brave soldier, Ferdinand of Livonia."
They stood up to drink it, and even Pepy had a glass.
Ferdinand William Otto was on his feet first. He held his glass up inhis right hand, and his eyes shone. He knew what to do. He had seen theKing's health drunk any number of times.
"To His Majesty, Ferdinand of Livonia," he said solemnly. "God keep theKing!"
Over their glasses Mrs. Thorpe's eyes met her husband's. How theytrained their children here!
But Ferdinand William Otto had not finished. "I give you," he said, inhis clear young treble, holding his glass, "the President of the UnitedStates--The President!"
"The President!" said Mr. Thorpe.
They drank again, except the Fraulein, who disapproved of children beingmade much of, and only pretended to sip her wine.
"Bobby," said his mother, with a catch in her voice, "haven't yousomething to suggest--as a toast?"
Bobby's eyes were on the cake; he came back with difficulty.
"Well," he meditated, "I guess--would 'Home' be all right?"
"Home!" they all said, a little shakily, and drank to it.
Home! To the Thorpes, a little house on a shady street in America; tothe Fraulein, a thatched cottage in the mountains of Germany and anold mother; to Pepy, the room in a tenement where she went at night;to Ferdinand William Otto, a formal suite of apartments in the Palace,surrounded by pomp, ordered by rule and precedent, hardened by militarydiscipline, and unsoftened by family love, save for the grim affectionof the old King.
Home!
After all, Pepy's plan went astray, for the Fraulein got the china baby,and Ferdinand William Otto the Lincoln penny.
"That," said Bobby's father, "is a Lincoln penny, young man. It bearsthe portrait of Abraham Lincoln. Have you ever heard of him?"
The Prince looked up. Did he not know the "Gettysburg Address" by heart?
"Yes, sir," he said. "The--my grandfather thinks that President Lincolnwas a very great man."
"One of the world's greatest. I hardly thought, over here--" Mr. Thorpepaused and looked speculatively at the boy. "You'd better keep thatpenny where you won't lose it," he said soberly. "It doesn't hurt us totry to be good. If you're in trouble, think of the difficulties AbrahamLincoln surmounted. If you want to be great, think how great he was."He was a trifle ashamed of his own earnestness. "All that for a penny,young man!"
The festivities were taking a serious turn. There was a little packet ateach plate, and now Bobby's mother reached over and opened hers.
"Oh!" she said, and exhibited a gaudy tissue paper bonnet. Everybody hadone. Mr. Thorpe's was a dunce's cap, and Fraulein's a giddy Pierrette ofblack and white. Bobby had a military cap. With eager fingers FerdinandWilliam Otto opened his; he had never tasted this delicious paper-capjoy before.
It was a crown, a sturdy bit of gold paper, cut into points and set withred paste jewels--a gem of a crown. He was charmed. He put it on hishead, with the unconsciousness of childhood, and posed delightedly.
The Fraulein looked at Prince Ferdinand William Otto, and slowly thecolor left her lean face. She stared. It was he, then, and none other.Stupid, not to have known at the beginning! He, the Crown Prince, herein the home
of these barbarous Americans, when, by every plan that hadbeen made, he should now be in the hands of those who would dispose ofhim.
"I give you," said Mr. Thorpe, raising his glass toward his wife, "thegiver of the feast. Boys, up with you!"
It was then that the Fraulein, making an excuse, slipped out of theroom.