Anthony Cade’s revelation as Prince Nicholas is the reversal that turns a presumed-dead heir into a participant in the negotiations to restore Herzoslovakia’s monarchy. By disclosing that he had invented the report of his own death and lived under an assumed name, Cade offers a replacement for the murdered Prince Michael—not merely a hidden identity, but a claimant whose return can reopen the proposed loan and succession settlement.

Political Background and the Missing Heir

The disclosure answers a question that has grown urgent after Prince Michael’s murder: who can succeed him? During the earlier negotiations, George Lomax had said, hesitantly, that Prince Nicholas would probably be next in the line of succession. Later, Superintendent Battle identified Nicholas more decisively as the next heir and as Michael’s first cousin. Battle also reported that Nicholas had until recently been in the United States, raising money on his expectations. The succession therefore depended on a man who was both politically valuable and widely believed to be absent or dead.

That uncertainty sits within a larger history of upheaval. After King Nicholas IV and Queen Varaga were killed in an uprising, Herzoslovakia became a republic. Count Stylptitch, who remained committed to monarchy, was later regarded as a possible president but refused the position. In the present crisis, supporters of restoring the monarchy are prepared to offer the crown to Michael, who has the backing of the British Government. The financial arrangement under discussion would provide Michael with roughly a million pounds in return for concessions to Isaacstein and Company. The publication of Stylptitch’s memoirs threatens to disrupt those plans, making the question of the next legitimate heir more than a matter of family history.

The Revelation as a Negotiating Move

Cade makes his identity known in a discussion with Herman Isaacstein. He first brings the conversation back to Isaacstein’s original purpose in coming: negotiating a loan. When Isaacstein confirms that the proposed borrower was Prince Michael, Cade points out that Michael is dead and asks whether Isaacstein would offer the same loan, on the same terms, to Michael’s cousin Nicholas. The question changes the negotiations from a plan dependent on a murdered prince into a possible agreement with a surviving claimant.

Isaacstein challenges the premise, asking whether Cade can produce Nicholas and recalling that he was thought to have been killed in the Congo. Cade answers that the report was true only in the sense that he himself spread it. He clarifies that he means he made people believe he was dead, not that he committed a murder. The explanation recasts his disappearance as deliberate concealment and resolves the apparent contradiction between the presumed-dead heir and the man now claiming the throne.

Cade then gives his full name: Nicholas Sergius Alexander Ferdinand Obolovitch. He explains that it was too long for the life he intended to lead, so he emerged from the Congo as plain Anthony Cade. The contrast between the formal royal name and the ordinary identity he adopted makes the revelation both personal and political: the name that concealed him had also allowed him to move through the events leading to the restoration negotiations without presenting himself as a prince.

Proof, Recognition, and the Claim

Cade says that he can provide ample proof of his identity and expects to convince Baron Lolopretjzyl. Captain Andrassy reacts with disbelief and warns him to take care in what he says, but the Baron does not require immediate documentary evidence for his own recognition. He says that Cade’s word is sufficient to him and recalls having judged that the young man must be highly born on one side or the other, partly because Cade strongly resembles his English mother.

The distinction between personal recognition and public proof remains important. Cade tells George Lomax that he will not ask the British Foreign Office to support his claim without producing the most convincing documentary evidence. Rather than demand instant acceptance, he proposes that he, the Baron, Isaacstein, and Lomax adjourn and discuss the terms of the proposed loan. His claim thus proceeds on two tracks: the Baron’s confidence establishes immediate recognition within the room, while documentary proof is necessary for the political support Cade intends to seek.

Restoration, Marriage, and the Closing Reversal

The Baron responds to the possibility of Cade’s accession with solemn enthusiasm, calling it the proudest moment of his life to imagine seeing him king of Herzoslovakia. Cade then adds an unexpected qualification: he is married. The revelation interrupts the ceremonial prospect of restoration with a private fact that has political consequences, though this scene does not explain how the marriage affects the claim or its terms.

Later, Cade confesses his identity to Virginia Revel. He rejects a romantic explanation that he was a changeling and states plainly that he is Prince Nicholas Obolovitch of Herzoslovakia. Virginia responds with surprise and delight at having married him. Cade proposes that they go to Herzoslovakia and pretend to be king and queen, recalling Jimmy McGrath’s remark that the average monarch there lasts less than four years. Virginia says she will love the prospect, and Jimmy welcomes her reaction. The revelation therefore ends not with a completed restoration but with a deliberately light, forward-looking prospect: Cade’s concealed identity has become an openly shared future, even as the country’s unstable political history makes that future uncertain.

Narrative Significance

The event reorders the apparent relation between identity and political legitimacy. For much of the succession discussion, Nicholas exists as a presumed-dead name attached to a line of inheritance; Cade’s disclosure makes that absent heir physically present and able to negotiate. Yet the scene does not treat identity alone as enough. Recognition by the Baron, documentary evidence for the Foreign Office, and agreement over the loan all remain distinct requirements, showing how dynastic claim, political endorsement, and finance intersect without becoming interchangeable.

The revelation also turns the story’s assumed identity into a source of political leverage. Cade’s ordinary name had concealed the very status that could now make him useful as a successor to Michael. His proposal to Isaacstein makes that reversal concrete: the man who asks for the loan is the prince the negotiations had treated as unavailable. The closing exchange with Virginia shifts the emphasis from public bargaining to marriage, but does not settle the restoration. The crown remains a possibility, and the couple’s playful reference to the short average reign underscores the distance between inheriting a claim and securing a stable monarchy.