Chapter XXV: A Contested Election

If Pannonia imagined that Maurice’s failure to secure a unanimous nomination would lead to the withdrawal of his candidature, events proved her to be mistaken. The present anomalous system of government by an International Commission was not to be perpetuated until in pure weariness Europe agreed to the partition of Emathia between her and her great rival. Since neither party would withdraw its candidate, the British Ambassador displayed the impatience and ignorance of the rules of the diplomatic game characteristic of his nation by proposing that the matter should be referred to the Emathians themselves for decision. The _naïveté_ and rashness of the suggestion brought Scythia and Pannonia together in opposition to it, but in the absence of Hercynia the other three Powers had a clear majority. There was no excuse for foreign interference, since neither of the candidates belonged to a reigning house, and the election of delegates could be supervised by the European officers of the Gendarmerie already at work. Moreover, the Emathians had already shown their capacity for representative institutions by the way in which, under the noses of their rulers but without their knowledge, they had elected delegates to the informal assembly held at Bashi Konak under cover of the Prince of Dardania’s Pan-Balkanic Games. The protest of the two Powers which considered themselves specially interested, and aggrieved, was therefore overruled, and a stern warning addressed to the various Balkan states, which were one and all thrilling with indignation at this new development of affairs, by which they were threatened with a rival instead of the acquisition of territory they had demanded. The Dardanian attitude alone remained perfectly correct, the Prince managing to restrain the activities of his warlike subjects, even while he allowed their tongues to wag. The question of Illyria was still in abeyance, for there was no thought of complicating the problems already clustering thick in the path of the new state by adding to it an inaccessible highland largely peopled by irreconcilable Moslems. At present the Illyrians were loudly putting forward their claim to enjoy a republic of their own, but they would soon forsake words in favour of aggressions on the territory of their more civilised neighbours, and then Prince Alexis intended to act as the mandatory of the European Congress which must be held for the final settlement of Balkan affairs. If he once had the opportunity of getting a footing in Illyria, there were innumerable precedents and solid facts which made it extremely unlikely that he would ever be turned out.

Therma was now once more the cynosure of European eyes, for here the delegates from the whole of Emathia were to meet for the purpose of choosing their Prince. The city was rising like a phœnix from its ashes, since the engineers of the four occupying Powers, seconded by an army of labourers from all the eastern Mediterranean, had hardly waited for the ruins to cool before they were at work upon the new Therma. It was highly superior to the old Therma, of course,--in sanitation if not in picturesqueness,--and the poorer fugitives who returned to it wandered about disconsolately, unable to find rest for the soles of their feet. Everything was so wide and clean and highly whitewashed, and when they tried to erect their little huts and lean-tos, in which they might have felt comfortable, in the spaces which were one day to be public gardens, or clinging to the skirts of the great new houses, unsympathetic soldiers came and cleared them away, sweeping off the owners and their belongings to be disinfected. Therma was to become the model city of the Egean, but its former inhabitants could hardly be expected to appreciate the change. The people who did appreciate it were the sightseers of the Old and New Worlds, who flocked to it with enthusiasm, charmed with the cosmopolitan population, the passing to and fro of soldiers of four armies, the presence of the great warships lying in the harbour, and an occasional glimpse of the diplomatists of European reputation who were assisting at the birth of the new state. All these people lived in tents at first, then crowded into the newly erected houses before the plaster was even dry, and concealing deficiencies with precious carpets and Eastern draperies bought from the faithful Moslems who were shaking from their feet the dust of the faithless city and escaping to more rigidly orthodox shores, held festivities as polyglot and almost as unrestrained as those that follow a gold rush.

Among the diplomatists who bent their steps towards Therma was one whose advent proved singularly displeasing to the Dowager Princess of Dardania, who had quitted Skandalo, in common with those more deeply interested in the approaching election, for the larger life of the reconstructed city. It was not the first time that Prince Soudaroff had followed in her steps when she had been in charge of a negotiation which she was carrying out with full satisfaction to herself, and she resented extremely the idea that he was appointed to inspect, perhaps to revise, her methods. Nominally, of course, he had no connection with her, but as soon as she had heard of his arrival in the city, and found his name in her visitors’ book, she knew that sooner or later he would ask for a business interview. This time the request came very quickly. He was the bearer of an autograph letter from the Empress of Scythia to Princess Theophanis; would the Princess of Dardania advise him as to the best way of presenting it to her, as he understood she had maintained a strict seclusion since her recent bereavement? The Princess gave him an appointment, and it was without surprise that she remembered afterwards the total omission of any mention of the Empress’s letter.

“It does not strike you, madame, that we are in danger of being too successful?” asked the envoy, after a few preliminary civilities designed to allow Donna Olimpia to be safely despatched out of hearing.

“Too successful, Prince? How could that be?”

“I find, madame, that the candidate we are supporting is too strong. To-day I have examined the secret returns prepared for me as to the predilections of the delegates, and I should say that Prince Theophanis would be elected by an absolutely overwhelming majority. The partisans of Prince Christodoridi are noisy enough, but his behaviour at Hagiamavra, which brought about the final catastrophe, has told against him with many.”

“But so long as the candidate we favour is elected, how can it signify whether the majority is small or large?” cried the Princess.

“On the contrary, madame, it is of supreme importance that the majority should be small. There have been cases before when a _parvenu_ prince, finding himself unexpectedly strong, has repudiated the conditions on which he was raised to the throne. If Prince Theophanis has practically the whole of Emathia at his back, he may even venture to deny the authenticity of the document you hold, and refuse to resign when called upon.”

“He will not dare to break with his wife,” said the Princess eagerly. “To deny his signature would be to expose her, and she is his link with our court, besides being the inheritor of claims rather better than his own.”

“I do not for a moment expect him to denounce her as having practised a fraud upon him, madame. But what if Princess Theophanis should declare the document a forgery?”

“It is impossible!” cried the Princess, in anxious protest. “It is in her own writing, with his signature added.”

“Still, handwriting has been counterfeited before to-day. You know your own sex better than I do, madame, but I must own that a woman who would deliberately deceive a sick husband, even for his advantage, would not seem to me incapable of denying the deception in order to set herself right in his eyes. I assume, as you say, that their interests are identical, and that he has a high respect for her.”

“It is possible,” she allowed unwillingly. “But who could foresee such a thing? What more could I have done?”

“Witnesses?” suggested Prince Soudaroff.

“My lady saw her come, but knew nothing of her business. Indeed, I could not have admitted her to the secret, for she is a strong partisan of the Christodoridi.”

Their eyes met, and Prince Soudaroff permitted himself a smile. “_The_ lady, I presume?” he said. “No, madame, I agree that it would not have been prudent to complicate matters further in that direction.”

“Then what is to be done? Shall I get Princess Theophanis here, on the plea that you have doubts as to the authenticity of the document, and make her swear to her husband’s signature?”

He shook his head slowly. “I fear, madame, that so decisive an act might lead to the Princess’s confessing everything to her husband, which would be most disastrous at this juncture. The memory had better slumber for the present. No, I think it would be advisable to detach some of the Theophanis supporters.”

“And allow Prince Christodoridi to be elected?”

“Possibly; I do not know. To ensure that the majority, on whichever side it is, should at any rate be very small.”

“You would not think of exposing Prince Christodoridi at once, and removing one obstacle altogether.”

“And allowing Prince Theophanis an absolutely unanimous return? No, madame. I must recommend you once more to cultivate patience. But I am pleased to observe that our championship of the Englishman has already created an uneasy feeling among the party which is always intensely suspicious of our designs. If that feeling of uneasiness were to deepen----?”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Madame, your promptness is admirable. Nothing, save to emphasise in conversation the favour with which Princess Theophanis is regarded at our court, the anxiety felt in the highest quarters to see her husband successful--the efforts, indeed, that are being made to ensure his election. You will know how best to disseminate the impression in the most likely soil.”

“You may trust me!” said the Princess.

The first tangible result of this conversation was the presentation to Eirene, with great ceremony, of the Empress’s letter. It was accompanied by a most sacred icon, which had been specially blessed by Father Serafim, the favourite miracle-worker of the day in Scythia, and he had sent with it an assurance of his prayers for Maurice’s success. The sensation caused by this embassy had hardly subsided, when all the cosmopolitan circles of Therma were buzzing with the news of a most extraordinary indiscretion on the part of Prince Soudaroff. He had actually said--true, it was after dinner and in the presence of only a few intimate diplomatic friends,--but he had said that Scythia looked to Emathia under her new ruler to compensate her for the losses and disappointments she had sustained in the Far East. Instantly all the people who had been thunderstruck when the Scythian Ambassador at Czarigrad proposed Maurice’s election nodded wisely at one another. This was the explanation, then! No one had ever suspected Scythia of acting on an impulse of pure philanthropy, and it was abundantly clear that she had received ample guarantees from Prince Theophanis before she put her interest in him to the test of publicity. When Maurice’s supporters denied indignantly that he had given her any pledges, they merely nodded more wisely still, and implied that the denial raised their opinion of his political sagacity.

The most keenly amused of his critics was Prince Romanos, who had been one of the first arrivals at the resuscitated city, carrying one arm in a sling, but more gay and debonnaire than ever, so bubbling over with pleasure at meeting his friends again that it would have been sheer cruelty to refer to the circumstances in which he had parted from them. A violent flirtation with Donna Olimpia occupied most of his time at first, but the Princess Dowager took a very strong view of this amusement when it came to her knowledge, and practically forbade him her house, so that his rivals were free to enjoy his society all day long.

“You are unfortunate in your backer,” he said one day, when Maurice and Wylie had been discussing with considerable irritation the latest Scythian manœuvre. “Now I cannot flatter myself that Pannonia proposed me for any more exalted reason than to prevent your being elected, but at least she lets me alone.”

“Probably much better for your prospects,” growled Wylie.

“But certainly. Scythia’s fussy eagerness for your success can only do you harm, while Pannonia’s wholesome neglect will bring me in triumphantly.”

“You seem very sure you are going to succeed,” said Maurice.

“I am; absolutely certain. I feel it here,” he struck his chest. “I will tell you why,” he lowered his voice mysteriously; “everything has succeeded with me lately. I am in the--what do you call it?--line of success.”

“I can’t for the life of me see why you should succeed,” said Wylie.

“Because I am not handicapped by the favour of Scythia, if for no other reason. You cannot deny that Princess Theophanis was the playmate of the Emperor’s sisters, or that the Scythian court is showing the kindest interest in her. Now no one can say that I have a wife at all, far less one connected in any way with royalty, so that I stand upon my own merits--a poor foundation, perhaps, but less slippery than the Scythian iceberg.”

Not less perturbed than Maurice and Wylie by the unaccountable benevolence of Scythia were the former’s supporters among the delegates, who were now beginning to pour into the city. Most of the men who survived the fall of Hagiamavra seemed to have contrived to get themselves elected, and they gravitated naturally to the house (little more than a broad verandah approached by steps and with some cupboards beneath and in the rear), which was the headquarters of the Theophanis cause. Here Maurice and Wylie were generally to be found, with Dr Terminoff, and Professor Panagiotis when he could spare time from his wire-pulling, and the delegates became accustomed after a time to see Prince Romanos there also. This friendly association of the two candidates, which at first revolted their sense of propriety, began to recall the days at Hagiamavra, over which a glamour was already tending to gather, and the delegates applied themselves to well-meant efforts for perpetuating the happy state of things that had reigned there, quite oblivious of the fact that an arrangement which had not even answered particularly well temporarily might be a disastrous failure if adopted in permanency. To their practical minds it seemed now quite beside the question to determine which of the candidates had the greater right on his side; the important thing was to compose an unhappy family feud in such a way that all parties should, if possible, be satisfied. Early one morning a number of them invaded the verandah, and when Maurice had been established in his chair in their midst, and coffee and cigarettes brought in, the spokesman demanded one more assurance that he was not in any way pledged to Scythia in the event of his being elected.

“It is not that we doubt the Prince’s word,” said the old man; “but we desire to treat the Lord Romanos with all fairness, and we have a word to say for him to-day.”

Prince Romanos, leaning against the wall with a cigarette in his hand, smiled, and acknowledged the kind intention lazily.

“The Lord Romanos is the younger man, and unmarried,” pursued the spokesman. Prince Romanos started involuntarily. “Let him marry the sister of the Lord Mavrikios, and they two shall be next heirs after him and his wife.”

“My sister is already betrothed, with my full consent, to the Lord Glafko here,” said Maurice, keeping a grave face. A look of dismay went round the assembly.

“Yet another prince!” muttered the spokesman. “There were two kings in Sparta, but who ever heard of three?”

“I am the Prince’s servant, and desire no more,” said Wylie.

The old man’s face cleared. “But it is beneath the dignity of the Lady Zoe to wed a servant. Will the Lord Glafko stand in the way of this excellent arrangement?”

“Certainly not, if the Lady Zoe prefers it,” said Wylie heartily. “Shall I go and tell her so? But I suppose I am not the proper person. Would you like to represent it to her?” he asked the spokesman, who hesitated, but recovered himself quickly.

“Nay, lord; how could I put the thing as it should be put? Let the Lord Romanos himself ask her, for who should plead his cause better than he himself?”

Again the rest applauded, and Prince Romanos seemed to shake off a certain hesitation, and looked round laughing.

“I take you all to witness that I am sent on this errand without my consent. One does not go by choice to propose to another man’s bride. But if I have your moral support----? The ladies are at home, Prince?”

He disappeared indoors, and the assembly awaited his return breathlessly. When he came back, he was still laughing.

“The Lady Zoe says she would not marry me if I were the only man in the world,” he said. “Well, you will at least bear witness that it was not I who refused, but she.”

The delegates assented sadly, and the spokesman propounded, without enthusiasm, an alternative plan.

“Let the Prince and his wife adopt the Lord Romanos as their son.” Maurice winced painfully. “Then he may take part in the government while they live, and reign after them.”

“The idea is not a bad one,” murmured Professor Panagiotis, who had come in almost unnoticed, and taken his place beside Maurice. But Prince Romanos laughed boisterously.

“My dear good friends, I hope Prince Theophanis will live a hundred years, but I do not propose to be kept out of my inheritance as long as that. No, what I want is to be Prince of Emathia at once. He wants the same. Therefore we must fight it out.”

The assembly subsided into silence, and suggested no more schemes that day. But in the evening, when the delegates were gone, and Dr Terminoff had joined the party on the verandah, the Professor recurred to the second one.

“I could wish that Prince Christodoridi were willing to waive his present claims in view of recognition as hereditary prince, and eventual successor,” he said.

“No doubt you could,” said Prince Romanos. “But what have you ever seen in me, my dear Professor, to make you imagine me a model of patient unselfishness?”

“Nothing, I confess it,” said the Professor emphatically. “But I should like to see our forces united. As it is, Scythia and Pannonia have every chance of ruining our hopes, and they are already taking advantage of it. Nilischeff is proclaiming loudly that Prince Theophanis is the mere instrument of Scythia, and he influences many votes.”

“And you have already lost so many that if he votes for me, I shall be elected?” said Prince Romanos. “Come, this cheering prophecy gives me courage to make a modest proposal of my own. Let us face the situation without disguise. Emathia is Slav, is Greek. We should probably disagree about the proportions, therefore I will not go into details. Rightly or wrongly, the Slavs entertain a preference for you, my friend,” to Maurice, “the Greeks for me. I speak roughly, of course, but that is the general idea. The Slavs occupy the high ground in the interior--speaking roughly again--the Greeks the low country nearer the sea. Therefore Emathia is capable of division into two provinces, the population of one predominantly Greek, of the other predominantly Slav. Let us determine to divide her thus. Whichever of us succeeds in the election will be Prince of Emathia, and mouthpiece of the Powers, but he cannot dispense with the other. I have no liking for your rugged hillmen, you have no sympathy with my brilliant elusive Greeks. Therefore, if I become Prince, I will place you in charge of the Slav province and the scattered Slavs in the low country. If you succeed, give me the care of the lower province and the Greeks dwelling in the upper.”

“But you are merely perpetuating the racial cleavage which has done all the mischief!” cried Maurice, as Prince Romanos stopped short with gleaming eyes.

“I think not. There would be one army, one judicial system. Colonel Wylie will give us the benefit of his Indian experience in organising them. The plan could not of course be worked unless we were bound by the closest friendship, but we have been through much together----”

“The plan would checkmate Scythia,” said the Professor sharply.

“I could not suggest it to any one possessing less nobility of character than Prince Theophanis,” said Prince Romanos, not without a hint of malice. “His zeal is so entirely for the sake of Emathia that I can do so without being misunderstood.”

“It sounds excellent now, when we expect to succeed,” said Wylie. “The question is, how it will look to us if we fail. What do you say, Prince?”

“The Prince will say that if it is for the good of Emathia, he will agree to it,” said Prince Romanos boldly.

“Very likely,” grumbled Wylie. “I am not the person to judge. It takes a poet to think of a thing of this kind----”

“And a fool to agree to it?” said Maurice. “But if it will give the strength we need for the struggle against disruption? After all, it would only be doing on a large scale what we tried on a small one at Hagiamavra.”

“Where it was not exactly successful,” said Wylie. “Oh, I know it’s ideally desirable, but these things want ideal people to carry them out.”

“There is no idea of binding ourselves by a hard and fast agreement,” said Maurice, as Prince Romanos laughed and bowed. “It must be understood that the thing is purely tentative. If the man in possession finds that the other is not working loyally with him, or if the other--the under dog--finds he is thwarted in his pet schemes without good cause, either may terminate it. We must have arrangements for talking things over thoroughly together at frequent intervals, of course.”

“Then you agree?” cried Prince Romanos joyfully. “Welcome, then, my colleague! You observe that I at once claim for myself the part of upper dog--what is that you say, top dog?--and proceed to constitute my cabinet. Prince Theophanis my Prime Minister, my Protector of Slavs, my second self; Colonel Wylie my War Minister; Professor Panagiotis my Foreign Secretary, Press Censor, Director of Public Education and of my political conscience; Dr Terminoff, Minister of Public Health. This day week the Prince of Emathia will claim your services, gentlemen.”