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Show koil GEORGE A. VliM BIRMINGHAM WNU SerrUa. triarch hasn't the slightest objection to It." "That's not my point at all. As a matter of fact, I'm not a Roman Catholic Cath-olic curate and I'm perfectly free to marry If I like." "That wouldn't have mattered, anyhow," any-how," said the king. "The patriarch would have absolved you from any vow you might have made. He's terrifically ter-rifically powerful In that sort of way and can give you absolution for practically prac-tically anything. The trouble about him Isn't that he can't give absolution absolu-tion ; but that sometimes he won't." "How can a curate marry a princess?" prin-cess?" said Tommy. "That's my point. If she really Is a princess " "She Is," said the king. "From the point of view of any one who accepts legitimate theories, she's most certainly cer-tainly a royal princess. But I hope I needn't say that I don't attach any Importance to the fact. We are living In a world that has been made safe for democracy and nobody cares a pin for those old-fashioned Ideas. There's nothing to prevent any princess from marrying an English marquis." "But I'm not an English marquis," said Tommy. "I keep on telling you that and you won't believe me." "It Isn't that I don't believe you," said the king. "It's simply that I find It very hard to remember. However, the main thing U not to let any old- her, that, in fact, YOU ARE NOT LORD NORHEYS." The king gave a pleasant and smiling Imitation of Tommy's emphatic emphat-ic assertion. "I don't think you quite understand me even now. I really am not Lord Norheys." The king waved his hand airily. "That's a tremendous comfort to me." he said. "It gets us out of the Miss Temple difficulty, and, to tell the truth, that affair was becoming serious." se-rious." "Who on earth Is Miss Temple?" asked Tommy, desperately. "Oh, an actress, I believe," said the king, smiling. "Or a dancer. But it doesn't matter, does It? Lord Norheys, Nor-heys, It seems, has foolishly promised to marry her. Even that wouldn't really have mattered. You could have kept her In the background " "Don't say 'you,' " said Tommy. "I've told you over and over again that I am not Lord Norheys." "Of course you're not. I know that and I'm very glad of It. It simplifies things Immensely, for though Lord Norheys might have married Calypso Calyp-so In spite of Miss Temple, I'm afraid Calypso wouldn't have married him. Miss Temple wrote a letter to my daughter, a most pathetic letter, begging beg-ging her not to take Lord Norheys away from her. It affected Calypso greatly. There was something In it about a 'one ewe lamb,' and Calypso, having lots of flocks and herds, it seemed to me rather an odd description descrip-tion of a young man. The patriarch used to quote that parable to me, but then It always was well, a 'ewe' lamb. That stuff never made much Impression on me, but Calypso wept when she read it. She said that if you'd promised to marry Miss Temple" CHAPTER XII Continued 16 Caslmlr was tired, worried, overexcited over-excited and was drinking too much champagne. In his soberest senses he does not understand English very well. He certainly did not understand what was said to him then. But he readily promised that Tommy should have every opportunity of explaining himself him-self to the king and Calypso. The king, so he said, meant to travel with the party as far as Breslau. Tommy could talk to him in the train. He would have several hours In which to say all he wanted. Afterward fie could talk to the princess, all day long if he chose, for three whole days. It would be at least three days before they could leave Breslau. Next morning Tommy and Janet Church went to the Friedrich Strasse station In good time for the train to Breslau. They found the king and Calypso waiting for them. Caslmlr arrived a few minutes later and saw them off. The princess and Janet Church traveled trav-eled together. The king and Tommy took their places In a smoktng compartment. com-partment. Fortunately they had It to themselves. As soon as the train started Tommy braced himself In an effort. He wanted to get an explanation explana-tion of what was happening, and he was quite determined to make his own position clear. It was the king who began the conversation. con-versation. "I'm glad," he said, "that we have this carriage to ourselves. I want to have a little talk with you." "And I want to talk to you," said iOmmy. By way of showing that this talk was going to be of a very serious kind he stood up and set his back against the door of the compartment. The king settled down in a corner and lit a cigar. "Are you, or are you not really a king?" The king turned his cigar over between be-tween his fingers thoughtfully. "That," he said, "Is rather a hard question to answer. I certainly was a king once. If you asked Caslmir he'd say I am king still, since I haven't abdicated. On the other hand, the statesmen of the Entente powers, if you ask them, would say that I am not a king, because' they have definitely turned me out. However " here he smiled pleasantly "It doesn't really matter, does It? As I told you last night, I don't keep up any kind of state now. You needn't remain stand-i stand-i ing up. I'd much rather you sat down and were comfortable. Have a cigar." Tommy sat down and took a cigar. "Now," said the king, "let's talk about this unlucky Miss Temple business. bus-iness. I'm sorry to tell you that Calypso Calyp-so feels very strongly about It, absurdly ab-surdly strongly. In fact, I had the "Are You, or Are You Not Really a King?" fashioned Ideas about disparity of rank trouble you. The whole matter has been arranged." "I wish I knew who arranged that I am to marry a princess." "Well," said the king. "There were several people In It. I was one." "Why?" said Tommy. "Why did you make such an extraordinary arrangement?" arrange-ment?" "There were a good many reasons," said the king. "I couldn't go back to Lystria myself. The League of Nations Na-tions wouldn't let me. I'm not sure that I want to even If they would. I'm earning much more in the Mas-cotte Mas-cotte than you'll ever get out of Lystria. Lys-tria. But I'd be glad to see Calypso back on her ancestral throne. It'll be some sort of provision for her, poor girl, and she. hates dancing in the Mascotte. You may think I ought to provide for her : but I can't. At least, I'd much rather not. I'm earning a good enough salary, but the cost of living ls terrific. We middle-class professional pro-fessional men that's the class I belong be-long to now are being squeezed out of existence everywhere in Europe. That's the reason I want to see Calypso Calyp-so safely married and on a throne." "But why did you choose me?" "I didn't choose you. The fact Is that the Lystrlans knew very well that they couldn't get a king at all unless he was an Englishman. The Entente powers would have turned down any one else. And the Lystrians wanted a king, all of them. There's the patriarch, pa-triarch, for Instance. He hates playing play-ing second fiddle to a Megalian man who's merely an archimandrite, but has taken to wearing a gold chain round his neck much thicker than our patriarch's. Of course, as soon as Lystria Lys-tria gets back Into the position of an independent kingdom, our patriarch will be top dog of the two. Then there are the Caslmlrs. There are eight or ten Caslmlrs, all cbunts, and there's the rest of the aristocracy. They're nobodies in a large republic like Megalia, but they're very Important Impor-tant people In Lystria. Besides, they like having a court to hang, about. You can't imagine bow those fellows love dressing up in uniforms, putting on swords and attending state balls. And the way they eat I I assure you that a bullock roasted whole and , a couple of pigs go no distance at a supper sup-per table In Lystria. It used to be a frightful expense to me. I needn't tell you the Megalian President doesn't da that kind of thing. He can't, pool fellow. His salary won't run to It That's another example of the straitened strait-ened circumstances of the middle classes." "I still don't see why the Lystrlans chose me," said Tommy, "if they did." (TO BB CONTINUED.) "But I haven't." "So I told Calypso. I told her that she must not mix you up with Lord Norheys. She said that even If you hadn't actually promised to marry her, you had certainly stolen away her young affections." "I haven't," said Tommy. "Of course not. Their affections are seldom as young as all that. At least, that's my experience. Those ewe lambs are generally pretty well able to take care of themselves. But, of course, It would have been no good saying that to Calypso, or for the matter of that, to the patriarch. The patriarch Is a very simple-minded old man. He believes In young affections and broken hearts and all that sort of thing. However, fortunately, we haven't got to argue with him and Calypso along those lines. All we've got to do Is make them believe that you are not Lord Norheys. Once they believe that, all our difficulties vanish. van-ish. The marriage can go on." "Do you mean to say," said Tommy, Tom-my, "that you're still willing to allow al-low me to marry your daughter?" "Of course I am," said the king. "I always was. I never took that Miss Temple business In the least seriously. serious-ly. These things will happen. Everybody Every-body except Calypso and the patriarch knows that." "But it hasn't happened," said Tommy. Tom-my. "At least, It hasn't happened to me. It may possibly have happened to Lord Norheys. I don't know anything any-thing about that." "Just what I said to Calypso, and just what you will have to say to the patriarch. Then the only obstacle to the marriage vanishes." "No, It doesn't," said Tommy. "At least, that one may. But there's another an-other obstacle, a much worse one." "If there's another," said the king, "for heaven's sake don't let her write to Calypso. Who is she? Don't say It's Miss Church. If it is, we're done." "I never saw Miss Church in my life till yesterday," said Tommy. "I thought It could hardly be her. She really is rather too old for that sort of thing. But If it had been her, it would bave been awkward, very awkward Indeed. She'd have gone in person to the patriarch, and nothing you could have said would have straightened things out. However, If It Isn't her. It doesn't really matter, so long as the other one doesn't telegraph tele-graph or write." "There Isn't another one." "You've just told me- there is," said the king. "You said, 'another and a much worse one.' " "I said another obstacle," said Tommy, Tom-my, "not another girl. As a matter of fact, there's no girl at all and never nev-er was. The obstacle I mean ls far worse than any girl." "Couldn't popslbly be worse," said the king, "from the point of view of the patriarch." "The obstacle Is this," said Tommy. "I'm only a curate." "I don't regard that as nn obstacle at all," said the king. "Our patriarch doesn't believe In the celibacy of the clergy. He Isn't married himself, but lots of our priests are, and the pa- The Princess and Janet Church Traveled Trav-eled Together. greatest difficulty in getting her to start this morning. If I hadn't come with her myself, which I didn't particularly par-ticularly want to do, I shouldn't have Veen able to get her Into the train." Tommy felt that his opportunity had come. He stood up again. He felt firmer and more determined when he was standing up. "I want to make It perfectly clear to you," he said, "that I am not Lord Norheys. I know that you've sttme-how sttme-how mixed me up with him, jou and Count Casimlr. But it's a mistake. It really is. I AM NOT LORD NORHEYS." NOR-HEYS." -That," said the king, "Is exactly what I told Calypso. You said as much to me last Dight, and I've been repeating It to her all day. I tdtd ber that you knew nothing about Miss Temple, that you'd never seen the flrL 'Kit you'd never even heard of |