Then, perceiving a terror in his father's eye (for the Queen had breathed in his ear some word of her apprehensions), Max, divining its cause, spoke to reassure him. "No," said he, "it is not the Countess; she had thrown me over, and is now only a second mother to me. This was largely of her mending." He again pointed to the scar. "Can such things be done, you wonder, in a second establishment? Well, remember it is now only a mausoleum. For three weeks I have lain there like a mummy with my head swathed in bandages." "Max, I wish you would not talk like that," said the King. "I wanted to speak seriously to you." "And I to you," answered Max. "But when I start I shall only shock you more." "Well, we had better get it over, then. Say the most serious thing you have to say, and be done with it!" Then Prince Max drew a bold breath. "Conditionally upon your consent, sir"--he began--"(I myself regret the condition, but on that point the lady is adamant)--I say all this in order to let the whole case be stated before giving you the necessary shock----" "Oh, go on!" groaned the King. "Conditionally, then, I am already engaged to be married." The King's mind went vacuously all round the Courts of Europe, and returned to him again empty. "Whom to?" he inquired. Max made his announcement with stately formality. "The lady who honors me with her affection is the daughter of our Primate Archbishop." "Good Heavens!" cried the King. "Does _he_ know of it?" "No more than the babe unborn; two days ago he sat there telling me it was my duty to marry; and I thinking of his daughter all the time." "Impossible!" exclaimed the King. "I knew you would say that,--so did she. That I believe is why she gave me her consent." "Then she does not really----" "Love me? Very much, I believe. But her life is a strange mingling of sincerity and self-sacrifice; and it will in some strange way give her almost as much joy to have owned that her heart is utterly mine, and then to be irrevocably parted, as it would to share all the splendor of my fortune as heir to a throne." "You know, Max, that it is quite impossible." "Yes; by all the conventions of the last three hundred years, so it is. That is why I trust that you will rise to the occasion, sir, and do what is not expected of you. To allow your son and heir to marry the daughter of the great political antagonist of your present Prime Minister in itself creates an almost impossible situation--for party politics, I mean. But as party politics have already created an almost impossible situation for monarchy, the best thing to do is to have a return hit at party politics. I believe that the monarchy will survive." "No, no, Max," said the King, "this won't do." "You know that it would greatly upset the Prime Minister." "I have other ways of doing that," said the King. "Without upsetting yourself?"