Page:The Yellow Book - 07.djvu/69

 it's awful, awful, awful!" And her voice failed her in a sob; and she hid her face in her hands, and wept. So the King had to drop the subject again, and to devote his talents to the task of drying her tears.

I don't know how many times they renewed the discussion, but I do know that the Queen stood firm in her original refusal, and that at last it was decided that the King should go without her, and excuse her absence as best he might on the plea of her precarious state of health. It was only after this resolution was made and registered, and her husband had brought himself to accept it with some degree of resignation—it was only then that her Majesty began to waver and vacillate, and reconsider, and change her mind. As the date approached for his departure, her alternations became an affair of hours. It was, "Oh, after all, I can't let you go alone, poor Theo. And besides, I should die of heartbreak, here without you. So—there—I'll make the best of a bad business, and go with you "It was either that, or else, "No, after all, I can't. I really can't. I'm awfully sorry. I shall miss you horribly. But, when I think of what it means, I haven't the strength or courage. I simply can't"—it was one thing or the other, on and off, all day.

"When you finally know your own mind, I shall be glad if you'll send for me," said Theodore. "Because I've got to name a Regent. And if you're coming with me, I shall name my uncle Stephen. But if you're stopping here, of course I shall name you."

There is a bothersome little provision in the Constitution of Monterosso to the effect that the Sovereign may not cross the frontiers of his dominions, no matter for how brief a sojourn, without leaving a Regent in command. Under the good old regime, before the revolution of 1868, the kings of nogoria