The San Francisco call., 1905-05-14

Ealing with 1t, if needs be; or-he could
wear the crown of Greece!
The outlines Of the situation had
flashed upon him as clearly as land
scape seen by lightning. The letter in
his hand was signed by name power
full in three chancellries- The courts
of Europe, aroused by the experiment
of the American colonies, wished no
good of republicanism. Names had
: been buzZing in state closets; Jerome.
Bonaparte,s Leopold of Saxe-Coburg.s
But Greece had gone too far for that:
if a. foreign ruler be given her, he must
: be one acceptable to the popular mind
Governmental eyes turned now to him.
He.s the despised of England, a King.
The founder of a fresh dynasty, the
first Emperor of New Greece,
Standing there, feeling his heart beat
to his temples, a weird sensation came
to him. There had been a time in his
youth when he had camped upon that
shore, when on that very rock he had
struck an individual blow against
8 Turkish barbarity. Now the hum of the
voices beyond turned into wild Suli-
ote staye roared about a fire he felt
again the same chill. prescient instinct
that had possessed him when he said:
1T is as though this spot-that town
4 yonder-were tangled in my destiny.
Was this not the fulf1llment. that on
the spot where he had planned his first
lIuIuOItdl lines IOT dTe6C6, SnOuiQ bC
offered him her throne?
A mental barb stung him. 1t was
for Greek freedom he had sung then
the ancient freedom tyranny had de-
filed. And would this mean true liber-
ty? The Moslem would be cast out, but
for what? A coup d,etat! A military
dictatorship. bolstered by suzerain
arms The legislative government.
with the hopes of 1avrocordato. of all
the western country. fallen into the
Dust Greece puppet kingdom. paying
compensation in self-respect to self
aggrandzing cabinets
But a Greece with himself upon the
thronei
Far-off siren voices seemed to call to
him from the darkness. What would
be his? World-fame-not the bays he
despised, but the laurel. A seat above
even social convention, unprecedented,
secure. A power nationally supreme.
In state certainly In church perhaps
power to override old conditions, to re-
create his own future. To sever old
bonds with the sword of royal preroga-
tive. Eventually, to choose his queeni
A fit of trembling seized him. He
felt Teresa's arms about him-warm,
human, loving arms-her lips on his,
sweet as honeysuckle after rain. For
moment temptation flung itself out Of
the night upon him. Not such as he
had grappled with when she had come
to him on the square in Venice. Not
such as he had felt when Dallas told
him of the portrait hidden from Ada's
eyes. 1t was a temptation a thousand
fold stronger and more ipsidious. It
shook to its depths the mystic
peace that had come to him
on the deck of the Hercules after that
last parting. 1t was as though all the
old craving, the bitterness. the cruciate
longing of his love rose at once to
combat under which the whole mind
of the man bent and writhed in
anguish.
Gordon's face. as it stared out from
the torch-fare across the gloomy gulf.
showed to the man who. waited near
by no sign. of the struggle that wrung
his soul, and that, passing at length.
left him blanched and exhausted like
one from whose veins a burning fever
has ebbed, suddenly.
The prirnate came eagerly from the
shadow as Gordon turned and spoke:
Say to those who sent you that
what they propose is impossible
s'Illustrious ExcellencyI"
that I came hither for Greek in
dependence, and if this cause shall fall.
I choose to bury myself in its ruins"
The other was dumb from sheer
astonishment. He knew the proposal
the letter contained. Had not he. Lam
bro. primate Of Argos. nurtured the
plan among the chiefs? Had not the
representative of a great power con-
fided in his discretion when he sent
him with that letter? And now when
the whole Morea was ready-when
prime ministers agreed-the one man
to whom it might be offered refused
the crown! He swallowed hard, look
ing at the letter which had been hand
ed back to him.
Before he recovered his wits Gordon
had walked uncertainty to his horse,
mounted, and was riding toward the
town, his body-guard streaming out
behind him, running afoot.
As his fellow officer approached him,
Lambro swore an oath:
by the Virginl You shall return to
Salona without me. / stay here and
fight with the English lordosI"
He rode into Missolonghi that night.
and with him were twenty of his men,
CHAPTER TXT