Page:Roy Norton--The unknown Mr Kent.djvu/224

 I came here to keep John Rhodes from losing his money. I did. Neither of us should be ashamed of the truth."

"But what of all the other things you have done?" she asked, curiously.

"The others don't matter. I have advised your brother as best I could because I liked him. He has very fine ideals. He has become a good king, and in time will become a great one. It was in him all the time; but he needed some one whom he trusted to give him plain horse-sense, and shape him to practicability. I don't really see how I could have acted differently."

"He gives you far more credit than you take," she said. "I think sometimes I am a little jealous of you. He talks of you so much. His enthusiasms are so great. He has changed so much. You and his work have absorbed him, and I am neglected! Treated like a child. No longer advised with or consulted. They all treat me that way, now! Not even Baron Von Glutz, or Paulo, can spare me a minute's time. I want to be something more than a doll baby in the affairs of Marken!"

"You are," he assured her, earnestly. "They recognise the part you have undertaken. They believe it as important as anything they are doing. You must not bother them. Keep a stiff upper lip and hoe your own row well!" The princess gasped. It was the first time she [220]