Page:Roy Norton--The unknown Mr Kent.djvu/139

 and looked that place up in a geography to learn whether such a name was really on the map. She felt peculiarly powerless to express to this American her real estimation of him. She did as other royal personages have done before and will do again, affected a vast loftiness and superiority in lieu of other answer. She lifted her head and, with a gesture of indifference, walked toward the door. He did not seem at all overawed, or impressed. Indeed, it was more as if he were inwardly amused, yet desirous of parting friends for future needs. He dared to bar her way, and to stand in front of her with his hands holding the hangings on either side.

"Come," he said, "you are wrong. It is you who do not understand; and understanding is necessary. I've come here to make good. I'm going to do it!"

A strange jargon this. And she found herself pondering its meaning and usage.

"You needn't trouble to answer," he continued when she hesitated in a bewildered study. "But I'll tell you something before you go. It is not yours to play the part of an obstructionist to your brother's hopes and ideals, if you love him as a sister should. I don't know it, but I presume that it is permitted for the sister of a king to love her brother and advance his interests—maybe not. If so, kings and princesses should never be [135]