con._ by the National Council on behalf of the people, he proposed that
the Crown should be offered to the Voivode Peter Vissarion, with
remainder to the "Gospodar Rupert" (legally, Rupert Sent Leger), husband
of his only child, the Voivodin Teuta. This also was received with
enthusiasm, and passed _nem. con._

Thereupon the President of Council, the Archbishop, and the Vladika,
acting together as a deputation, went to pray the attention of the
Voivode Peter Vassarion. When the Voivode entered, the whole Council and officials stood up, and
for a few seconds waited in respectful silence with heads bowed down. Then, as if by a common impulse--for no word was spoken nor any signal
given--they all drew their handjars, and stood to attention--with points
raised and edges of the handjars to the front. The Voivode stood very still. He seemed much moved, but controlled
himself admirably. The only time when be seemed to lose his self-control
was when, once again with a strange simultaneity, all present raised
their handjars on high, and shouted: "Hail, Peter, King!" Then lowering
their points till these almost touched the ground, they once again stood
with bowed heads. When he had quite mastered himself, the Voivode Peter Vissarion spoke:

"How can I, my brothers, sufficiently thank you, and, through you, the
people of the Blue Mountains, for the honour done to me this day? In
very truth it is not possible, and therefore I pray you to consider it as
done, measuring my gratitude in the greatness of your own hearts. Such
honour as you offer to me is not contemplated by any man in whose mind a
wholesome sanity rules, nor is it even the dream of fervent imagination. So great is it, that I pray you, men with hearts and minds like my own,
to extend to me, as a further measure of your generosity, a little time
to think it over. I shall not want long, for even already, with the
blaze of honour fresh upon me, I see the cool shadow of Duty, though his
substance is yet hardly visible. Give me but an hour of solitude--an
hour at most--if it do not prolong this your session unduly. It may be
that a lesser time will serve, but in any case I promise you that, when I
can see a just and fitting issue to my thought, I shall at once return." The President of the Council looked around him, and, seeing everywhere
the bowing heads of acquiescence, spoke with a reverent gravity:

"We shall wait in patience whatsoever time you will, and may the God who
rules all worthy hearts guide you to His Will!" And so in silence the Voivode passed out of the hall. From my seat near a window I could watch him go, as with measured steps
he passed up the hill which rises behind the State House, and disappeared
into the shadow of the forest. Then my work claimed me, for I wished to
record the proceedings so far whilst all was fresh in my mind. In
silence, as of the dead, the Council waited, no man challenging opinion
of his neighbour even by a glance. Almost a full hour had elapsed when the Voivode came again to the
Council, moving with slow and stately gravity, as has always been his
wont since age began to hamper the movement which in youth had been so
notable. The Members of the Council all stood up uncovered, and so
remained while he made announcement of his conclusion. He spoke slowly;
and as his answer was to be a valued record of this Land and its Race, I
wrote down every word as uttered, leaving here and there space for
description or comment, which spaces I have since then filled in. "Lords of the National Council, Archbishop, Vladika, Lords of the Council
of Justice and of National Law, Archimandrites, and my brothers all, I
have, since I left you, held in the solitude of the forest counsel with
myself--and with God; and He, in His gracious wisdom, has led my thinking
to that conclusion which was from the first moment of knowledge of your
intent presaged in my heart. Brothers, you know--or else a long life has
been spent in vain--that my heart and mind are all for the nation--my
experience, my life, my handjar. And when all is for her, why should I
shrink to exercise on her behalf my riper judgment though the same should
have to combat my own ambition? For ten centuries my race has not failed
in its duty. Ages ago the men of that time trusted in the hands of my
ancestors the Kingship, even as now you, their children, trust me. But
to me it would be base to betray that trust, even by the smallest tittle. That would I do were I to take the honour of the crown which you have
tendered to me, so long as there is another more worthy to wear it. Were
there none other, I should place myself in your hands, and yield myself
over to blind obedience of your desires. But such an one there is; dear
to you already by his own deeds, now doubly dear to me, since he is my
son by my daughter's love. He is young, whereas I am old. He is strong
and brave and true; but my days of the usefulness of strength and bravery
are over. For myself, I have long contemplated as the crown of my later
years a quiet life in one of our monasteries, where I can still watch the
whirl of the world around us on your behalf, and be a counsellor of
younger men of more active minds. Brothers, we are entering on stirring
times. I can see the signs of their coming all around us. North and
South--the Old Order and the New, are about to clash, and we lie between
the opposing forces. True it is that the Turk, after warring for a
thousand years, is fading into insignificance. But from the North where
conquests spring, have crept towards our Balkans the men of a mightier
composite Power. Their march has been steady; and as they came, they
fortified every step of the way. Now they are hard upon us, and are
already beginning to swallow up the regions that we have helped to win
from the dominion of Mahound. The Austrian is at our very gates. Beaten
back by the Irredentists of Italy, she has so enmeshed herself with the
Great Powers of Europe that she seems for the moment to be impregnable to
a foe of our stature. There is but one hope for us--the uniting of the
Balkan forces to turn a masterly front to North and West as well as to
South and East. Is that a task for old hands to undertake? No; the
hands must be young and supple; and the brain subtle, as well as the
heart be strong, of whomsoever would dare such an accomplishment. Should
I accept the crown, it would only postpone the doing of that which must
ultimately be done. What avail would it be if, when the darkness closes
over me, my daughter should be Queen Consort to the first King of a new
dynasty? You know this man, and from your record I learn that you are
already willing to have him as King to follow me. Why not begin with
him? He comes of a great nation, wherein the principle of freedom is a
vital principle that quickens all things.