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"I agree with you!" replied the monarch; "And Humphry's line has certainly been straight enough, taken from the point of his own perspective! Do you not think so?" Von Glauben hesitated a moment then spoke out boldly. "Sir, as you now know all, I will frankly assure you that I think his Royal Highness has behaved honourably, and as a true man!
But he was no flatterer. No one could strike harder or swifter than he, when he chose. It was to me in his eager friendship for "Humphry's" young wife he first intrusted the task of that primer of English literature which afterward Mr. Stopford Brooke carried out with such astonishing success. But I was far too young for such a piece of work, and knew far too little.
He gave a deep breath, and drew himself up to his full height squared his shoulders, and then, as it were stood firm, as though waiting attack. The King laughed good-naturedly, and took him by the arm. "Tell me all you know, Von Glauben!" he said; "I am acquainted with the gist and upshot of the matter, namely, Humphry's marriage; but I am wholly ignorant of the details."
If he serves on Prince Humphry's yacht, that is enough to say that Humphry himself has probably seen her. Under all the circumstances, I confess, my dear Von Glauben, that your presence here is a riddle which needs explanation!" "It shall be explained, Sir " murmured the Professor. "Naturally! It must, of course be explained.
Davy went in October, 1798, then in his twentieth year; but his good friend, and grandfather by adoption, had set his heart upon Humphry's becoming an eminent burgeon, and even altered his will when his boy yielded to the temptation of a laboratory for research.
Travelling, and his increased acquaintance with the world, has enlarged the range without lowering the pitch of Sir Humphry's mind an allusion I have borrowed from an entertaining essay on training hawks sent to me by Sir John Sebright. Do you know that there is at this moment a gentleman in Ireland, near Belfast, who trains hawks and goes a-hawking a Mr. Sinclair?
"The marriage is useless, of course," said the King; "It has satisfied Humphry's exalted notions of honour; but it can never be acknowledged or admitted." "Of course not!" she agreed languidly; "It certainly clears up the mystery of The Islands, which you were so anxious to visit; and I suppose the next thing you will do is to marry him again to some daughter of a Royal house?" "Most assuredly!"
It would be bigamy; it is bigamy!", said the Professor; "Call it by what name you like in Court parlance, the act of having two wives is forbidden in this country. The wisest men have come to the conclusion that one wife is enough!" "Humphry's ideas being so absolutely childish," went on the King, "it is necessary for him to expand them somewhat. That is why I shall send him abroad.
"If you think," she continued, "as you now say, that Humphry will never change his present sentiments, and never marry any other woman, the girl's oath is a mere farce and of no avail!" "On the contrary, it is of much avail," said the King, "for she has sworn before us both never to claim any right to share in Humphry's position, till the nation itself asks her to do so.
"He is, in very truth a King!" she said, looking up with flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes, "Surely the noblest in the world!" Prince Humphry's face expressed wonderment as well as admiration. "I have been utterly mistaken in him," he confessed, "Or else, something has greatly changed his ideas.
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