as
Sunday, as golf, as what you call a seasonable ticket. He will not
want to keep it. He will accept a price, perhaps, if I offer."

"I don't expect he'll accept a price at all," said Gorman, "reduced or
increased. I don't _know_, of course. He may be dead sick of the place
already; but I'll be surprised if he is. You'll find when you ask him
that he'll simply refuse to part with the island."

"But," said the King, "he must. As I have just said to Corinne, when
the devil drives the horse to water it needs must take a drink. The
Emperor has said that Salissa is once more to return to the Crown of
Megalia."

"The Emperor may say that," said Gorman, "but it doesn't at all follow
that Donovan will agree with him."

"But the Emperor----! It is not for Mr. Donovan to agree or disagree
with the Emperor. When the Emperor commands it is a case of knuckles
down. But you do not know the Emperor."

"I do not," said Gorman, "but I'm inclined to think that you take an
exaggerated view of him. After all, what can he do to Donovan or to
you for that matter? Come now, suppose you won't or can't buy back the
island, what happens? What's the alternative? There must be an
alternative of some sort."

"There is--yes, there certainly is an alternative."

The King paused and looked apprehensively at Madame Ypsilante.

"He can't lay hands on you," said Gorman, "if you stick to Paris or
even London. That Emperor isn't particularly popular in either city."

The King, his eyes still fixed on Madame Ypsilante, nodded sideways
towards Gorman. The nod was a very slight one, barely perceptible. It
suggested the need of extreme caution. Gorman is a quick-witted man
and he saw the nod, but he failed altogether to guess what the
alternative was.

Madame Ypsilante noticed the expression of the King's face when he
looked at her. She also saw the nod that was meant for Gorman. She
became uneasy. Her eyes had a hard glitter in them. Gorman at once
refilled her glass. That soothed her a little. She did not break
anything. But she spoke:

"Konrad, at once tell me all that the Emperor said."

"Corinne," said the King, "my beloved Corinne, it will make no
difference to you. The future and the past will be as six to one and
half a dozen to the other. You will always be Corinne. Have no fear,
and--as my friend Gorman would say, do not take off your hair."

"Tell me," said Madame.

"The Emperor," said the King, "has said to me, 'Buy back the isla