Collected works > Edinburgh edition, 1894-98 - Works of Robert Louis Stevenson > Volume 9, 1895 - Romances Volume II

WHAT HAPPENED
Can I not, with effort and self-denial, can I not
become a tolerable sovereign ? '
' Never,' replied Gotthold. ' Dismiss the notion.
And besides, dear child, you would not try.'
' Nay, Gotthold, I am not to be put by,' said Otto.
'■■If I am constitutionally unfit to be a sovereign,
what am I doing with this money, with this palace,
with these guards ? And I — a thief — am to execute
the law on others ? '
' I admit the difficulty,' said Gotthold.
' Well, can I not try ? ' continued Otto. ' Am I
not bound to try ? And with the advice and help of
such a man as you -'
' Me ! ' cried the librarian. ' Now, God forbid ! '
Otto, though he was in no very smiling humour,
could not forbear to smile. 'Yet I was told last
night,' he laughed, 'that with a man like me to
impersonate, and a man like you to touch the
springs, a very possible government could be com-
posed.'
' Now I wonder in what diseased imagination,'
Gotthold said, 'that preposterous monster saw the
light of day ? '
' It was one of your own trade — a writer : one
Roederer,' said Otto.
' Roederer! an ignorant puppy!' cried the librarian.
'You are ungrateful,' said Otto. 'He is one of
your professed admirers.'
'Is he ? ' cried Gotthold, obviously impressed.
' Come, that is a good account of the young man.
I must read his stuff again. It is the rather to his
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