Kent Hovind

“ Provarsk declared, contemptuously. "I'm doing it for my own good and no one's else."
"How do you propose to handle the king?" demanded Kent.
"He'll have to do what I want him to, for the simplest of reasons, that I shall have the people behind me. He'll get nothing! He can be king. That's enough for him." ”

“ Kent's jaws were set until the muscles of his cheeks shone in knots and his eyes were aflame.
"Let me kill him! For God's sake, don't interfere!" Ivan shouted, and then, pleading for the privilege of destroying Provarsk, was toppled over, breathing hoarsely, and looking up into Kent's face. Slowly the red flame burned out of his eyes, as he recovered control of himself. The pistol fell from his hand, and the princess, with a spring as graceful as a leopard's seized it and retreated to a safe distance. ”

“ There was an intense stillness in the room as they eyed each other, Kent inflexible, the king distressed, and the chancellor open-mouthed at such uncompromising words. The old baron was the most affected and stood as if stupefied with astonishment. For a pregnant time he met Kent's stare and then suddenly chuckled in his throat with a queer, wise acceptance. He turned to the king and exploded, much as an explorer might have done on announcing a discovery. "Why, Karl! You've got a friend who is a man! By Saint Dominique! This is a man!" ”

“ He stared in a kindly way at the king for a moment, as if expecting the latter to dispute, and then added, grimly, "If I were in your place, I'd not let this man Provarsk win so easily. I'd fight!"
"I would, if I knew how!" The king spoke impetuously.
"But you must have some friend who can assist you," suggested Kent. "Some man you can depend upon." ”

“ And, Ivan, be wary of him if you do have to come out. I don't believe that man likes you! 'Pon my word I don't! And if he could, he might try to hurt you. "
Ivan's mouth opened into a wide grin, as he went to Kent's dressing room and pulled the door carefully shut, save for a tiny crack. Kent paced restlessly about the room, pausing once to admire, absently, as he had done a hundred times before, the intricate carvings of a huge wooden screen, that formed a snug little corner. Time was moving and he wondered why Provarsk did not appear, for he confidently expected him. ”

“ Kent came up-stairs; there was a certain solemnity about them. Josephine lay dressed on the bed, raised herself so as to get up, but both Kent and the minister begged her to lie down again. Dr. Kent told her that Fru Kallem had died the day before. Both the men looked at Josephine; she closed her eyes. For a while there was complete silence. But seeing repeated twitchings in her face, Tuft hastened to say:
"Under these circumstances, Josephine, it can only be for Edward's good. Of course he will feel it deeply now, but he will get over it. It will but benefit him." ”

“ Provarsk has brains. He is fearless; fearless in the adventurer way. If you think you have an infant to fight you are wrong. You might lose."
"I never play to lose," retorted Kent. "I make no such calculation."
"Karl," said the baron, after a thoughtful study of the American, "all the support I have to give is yours."
"That being so," hastily suggested Kent, "the next move is to send Captain Paulo back to bring the princess, her maid, and my man Ivan here as quickly as possible. It must not become known to the public that the king has ever been driven from the kingdom. ”

“ Provarsk wondered if, in overlooking the complexities of a woman's mind, he had not made a mistake; but he was still daring to hope to turn the situation to his own advantage. "If I am to be an actual chancellor, " he began suavely, but was cut short by the princess.
"Which, no matter what happens, you are not to be, and so of course is all useless to talk about! You would have Mr. Kent shot! You! Why, the worst blunders he ever made are sure to be better than the best things you have ever done. You have told what you would do if you had your way. ”

“ It was Kent himself who put this vow to the test. He called at the Minot place the very next evening. It was early, only seven o'clock; Judah, having begged permission to serve an early supper because it was "lodge night," had departed for Liberty Hall, where the local branch of the Odd Fellows met; and Sears Kendrick was sitting on the settee in the back yard, beneath the locust tree, smoking. Kent came swinging in at the gate and again the captain felt that twinge of envy and rebellion against fate as he saw the active figure come striding toward him. ”

“ The king shook his head sadly.
"There are many who like me," he said; "but they fear Provarsk."
"Pooh!" Kent accompanied himself with a snap of his fingers.
"If His Majesty would run the risk of a war——" began the chancellor.
"Rubbish!" exclaimed Kent. "War, nothing! The thing to do is to beat him at his own game. See here, young man,—I beg Your Majesty's pardon—you've got to do it! You've got to be one of two things, a king or a coward. You've got to decide to-night, too, before the people of Marken know that you have been driven out by Provarsk. ”

“ There is indeed a very wide choice of tradition and legend from which to select the most likely story, and in addition to those already cited there is a tale of how Earl Godwin, in one of his predatory expeditions, penetrating into the weald of Kent and finding himself in a desperately dangerous situation, vowed, if he were permitted to return in safety, that he would build a steeple at Tenterden. ”

“ The old man smiled a wry smile, nodded to Von Glutz, and favoured Kent with a harsh stare from under his scowling eyebrows.
"It's all right!" said the king. "We can talk freely. This is an American gentleman, Mr. Kent, who is the agent for John Rhodes, the financial magnate."
"Oh! Can't he collect interest in daylight?" demanded the irascible old man. "Since when did you begin to make night journeys with money lenders?"
Kent stood unmoved; but the king rushed to his defence.
"Baron," he asserted, steadily, "Mr. Kent has proved to be my friend. As such I am certain you will regard him." ”

“ Kent, you—you didn't ask him to do it?”
“I? Of course not! I never saw him at all,” declared the man, hotly. Again he wondered if he caught the flippant wink of a left eyelid from the direction of the small grinning boy.
The treatment began at once, the blind girl going to the doctor's private hospital. The day before she went, however, she asked Robert to write a letter for her to Denver. In sheer desperation the boy made a flimsy excuse and fled to his colleague for aid. Kent responded at once and walked into the back parlor where Miss Holbrook sat waiting. ”

“ Kent? Whatever else Mr. Kent is, he is a man. No matter if he has made mistakes, and is a money lender, and all that, he is still a real man and unafraid. Who are you, to talk about having him shot?"
She faced her brother as if her last contemptuous gibe at Provarsk had been her final one for him, and saw that her brother's eyes were fixed on the door and that Von Glutz also stared in that direction with a look of relief. She also turned and saw that the American had entered the room and was now coming gravely toward her. ”

“ Ivan, without relaxing his hold, looked at his employer's lips.
"Don't kill him! For heaven's sake, don't kill him!" Kent muttered.
"I've got to choke his teeth loose. He has set them in the palm of my hand," the giant replied; but was saved from executing the baron, who at that moment dropped back inert, his face purple, and his eyes dazed with threatened unconsciousness. Unnoted by either Kent or the baron, an automobile horn had been tooting lustily outside, its mellow notes playing a trumpet tune that swept vigorously through the open windows. ”

“ Kent's eyes glowed with interest.
"That guard of yours," he declared, "is due for a good commission after this is over. I seem to have overlooked him." He meditated for a moment, and then to the king's surprise, as if vastly relieved, leaned back in his chair and laughed.
"Amateur work, after all!" he declared. "I'm disappointed! Provarsk had me guessing, last night. I thought he was a much cleverer fighter than I had believed him to be. He always boggles in the end."
"I don't see the joke!" exclaimed the king, but more hopefully.
"Why, it is this way," explained Kent. "Plain as day now. ”

“ Her face flushed, as if, in this turmoil, she had interpreted some hidden significance in his words; but she ran across the room, called the sentry from the corridor, and Kent heard her words.
"Send two men from the guard room at once to assist Mr. Kent. Then go—quickly—as fast as you can, and summon the court surgeon. Hurry! Mr. Kent asks you to. Go quickly!"
Ivan closed the door, dumbly, and the sound of her voice was cut off.
"Here, Ivan," Kent's lips moved as he turned his head toward his follower from the side of his own bed on which he had deposited the chancellor. ”

“ About the cheapest thing in Marken is a lot in the cemetery."
"Um-m-mh," mused the American. "If you are so certain of your ground, I can't quite see why you bother with me. You wouldn't do it. No, indeed! You'd order the lot."
"Right again," cheerfully agreed the baron.
"Well, then let's get down to brass tacks. What are you after?"
Provarsk got up and began to move abont the room, much to Kent's disturbance.
"Sit down," he said. "I don't like to talk business to a man who is running a race with himself." Provarsk sat down and came straight to the point. ”

“ An angry retort was on her lips, but she caught a warning look from Kent and remained silent. Disappointed in his failure to exasperate her, Provarsk took a fling at the American.
"Your methods are much better, Mr. Kent. You make them earn what they get and at the same time take good care to get yours."
"To be sure I do!" Kent agreed heartily. "That is your great weakness, Baron, your philanthropy. You should take a lesson from me, and learn how to get your own profits first."
"I am trying to prove an apt pupil," the chancellor responded. "I've always wanted money. ”

“ There is a Kentish proverb that 'there are more fools in Kent than in any other county of England,' because more men go to sea from Kent than from any other county in England, Devon coming next; but Kent on this wild night need not have blushed for the folly of her sailor sons, until it be proved folly to succour and to save.
The Ganges had by this time struck on the middle part of the Goodwins, and the sea was breaking mast-high over her. Her lights and flares had gone out, and the lifeboat had the greatest difficulty in finding her. ”

“ Kent took it, twisted it into a knot, and with thumb and finger flipped it into the air. For a moment they looked at each other, Provarsk alert and with increasing insolence, the American humorously, and secretly pleased.
"Why, do you know," he said suddenly, almost as if speaking to himself and expecting no reply, "you are a lot more interesting and much smarter than I gave you credit for being? Somehow or another, though, I don't believe you are going to put it through. You don't dare to ruin a kingdom. You've called my bluff and now I call yours!"
The baron sneered. ”

“ Did he go after him? She won't do nothing till she sees Man—”
At that moment Kent came in, and his disgust needed no words. He answered Mrs. Hawley's inquiring look with a shake of the head.
“I can't do anything with him,” he said morosely. “He's so full he don't know he's got a wife, hardly. You better go and tell her, Mrs. Hawley. Somebody's got to.”
“Oh, my heavens!” Arline clutched at the doorknob for moral support. “I could no more face them yellow eyes of hern when they blaze up—you go tell her yourself, if you want her told. I've got to see about some supper for us. ”

“ Provarsk smiled sadly and shook his head, quite with a regretful air, but politely waited for his visitor to proceed.
"Dangerous man, this. Knows how to keep his mouth shut," was Kent's mental measurement. Aloud he said, "I came here in my employer's interests and was told at the very gates of the palace that the king had abdicated and that a distinguished Baron Provarsk now ruled in his stead, or at least was at present the head of the government." ”

“ The falling of one of the beams of the ceiling could scarcely have proven more startling to the three refugees by the fireplace. The king pivoted in his chair and faced Kent with a look of consternation. The princess, aghast, opened her eyes widely, and the chancellor, bristling with annoyance, jumped to his feet and roared loudly, "What business have you listening? Do you know whom you are addressing?"
To a man who, throughout his life, had been accustomed to see his hearers quail when he vented that tremendous roar, the effect was more than disappointing. ”

“ At times Kent quite held his breath, so intangible and unreal seemed the loveliness that he was trying to imprison within the four edges of his canvas. At other times the dream-maiden fled, and in her place sat a girl, none the less beautiful, none the less charming, but real and bewitchingly human. It was at such times that Kent and his model talked. ”

“ Kent paced the room thoughtfully, and at last, with a kindly air, walked across and laid his hand on the king's shoulder.
"You are not a king to me," he said, quietly. "You are just a fine, brave young fellow, with high ideals, who deserves a chance. I hate to see as decent a young chap as you are fail, irretrievably, for the want of some one to back him, and to show him the way through. We don't have kings in my country; but we have the young fellows. ”