The Lighted Match

Karyl took a few turns across the floor.

"And by that you mean that we are over a volcano which may break into

eruption at any moment?"

Von Ritz nodded.

"And the Queen--" began Karyl.

"I have been thinking of Her Majesty," said the Colonel. "She should

leave Puntal, but she will not go, if it occurs to her that she is being

sent away to escape danger. Her Majesty's courage might almost be called

stubborn."

The King made no immediate response. He was standing at a window,

looking out at the serenity of sea and sky. His forehead was drawn in

thought. He knew that Von Ritz was right. Had Cara hated him, instead of

merely finding herself unable to love him, he knew that the first threat

of danger would arouse the ally in her, and that the suggestion of

flight would throw her into the attitude of determined resistance. She

was like the captain who goes down with his ship, not because he loves

the ship, but because his place is on the bridge.

Von Ritz went on quietly.

"God grant that Your Majesty may be in no actual danger. But we must

face the situation open-eyed. Your place is here. If by mischance you

should fall, there is no reason why--" he hesitated, then added--"why

the dynasty should end with you. In Galavia there is no Salic law. Her

Majesty could reign. Undoubtedly the Queen should be in some safer

place."

The King dropped into a chair and sat for some minutes with his eyes

thoughtfully on the floor. Abstractedly he puffed a cigarette. At last

he raised his face. It was pale, but stamped with determination.

"There is only one thing to do, Von Ritz. There is one available

refuge."

The soldier read the reluctant eyes of the other, and spared him the

necessary explanation with a question. "Mr. Benton's yacht?" he

inquired.

Karyl nodded. "The yacht."

"I, too, had thought of that, but how can you arrange it, Your Majesty?"

"We must persuade her that she requires a change of scene and that this

is the one way she can have it without conspicuousness. It can be given

out that she has gone to Maritzburg, and I shall tell her"--Karyl smiled

with a cynical humor--"that I am over-weary with this task of Kingship,

and that I shall join her within a few days for a brief truancy from the

cares of state."

"It may be the safest thing," reflected the officer. "It at least frees

our minds of a burdensome anxiety."