The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 17, 1904, Page 3

THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. Do task to arrange some hitch. The soothsayers could be bribed (if there Were any rubles left!) to put the af- fair off. Such were my thoughts as my pony stalked unsteadily over the stones of the gate and into the wide avenue ly- Ing beneath the moon. It was crowded, as another spring rice famine land and had brought a s to Keinnin though on the was not a weil dressed s d not very drunk. s and the s strapped a big busi- char Sergect 1 when » was post pony growing ker, and stopped and then e ground. Kep- me in his arms, support me while I at- walk to thd legation, the - lights making it seem now t a short distance away. So we went forward, but as I gazed unsteadily up- on the blur of lights y strength left €, poor swimmer that I was, just as 1 ared the river shore My compan- fon dragged me along to the legation gate where the Cossack guard came to his assistance. From there they took me in the first which happened to be the anteroom of the throne room where new sarcophagus stood awgiting th y that I did not Here I revived and asked to be taken to my own room. With my last bit of strength I closed the lid of the sarc e might know errand. Then phagus that no « that T had failed in I sank on a ¢ ck’s shoulder and let g0 of everyth When I be myself I was In my own bed, a my brow; my boy Pak was st e, and in a c he fire Dejneff was spr his face tilted dejectedly ove his great ought me y senses than that losed the miser- had not teen’s body er Li car- >eing lost with him. eral would be post- nother messenger Lynx Island for the corpse; new and better plans der the stroking of 1 Dejneff got up out of the room. retura to con- attempted to sit up. I success; evidently was of no dert Duicine said the doctor is com- blurted out. King—" Dul- ed reluc- spirit I did not nce”—before the » myself. = silence; vants, Dul- her have you g role ved, but I ative. Her d see that iffering beside my- s been terrible, and Dulcette might be she and added. This was a contained,” new turn to the black lane was answe “We great face, and I saw she believed I had placed the Queen’s body in the mew sarcophagus Colc Oranoff had pre- C tell her the tr it and let her bury her face in my hands a moment for very joy When she left the room T got up sick at heart went over to the chair Dejneff had left, and sent Pak for a decanter of wine, from which I drank and drank desperately. I did not know how weak I was, nor how much liquor Dejneff had poured into me before. Then I asked to be taken to the King. CHAPTER XIL ONE LIE I NEVER TOLD. The great room was brilllantly lighted. At its end, on that mottled throne, sat the King of Quelparte, his cabinet ranged before him in an ex- tended semicircle On his left at a small table sat Prince Ting, the Prime Minister. Behind Prince Ting stood a group of household Ministers. On the King’s right Colonel Oranoff was seated at the head of a long table, his head in his hands, his elbows (hru{l characteristically into a mass of papers and maps. To him my swimming eyes went quickly and there they rested long. M. Grouchy, the Russian Minister to Quelparte, was standing midway down the table addressing “the throne” amid cigarette rings which the King of Quel- parte could blow as well as any wise man. The membe: of the cabinet were leaning forward from their chairs in varying picturesque attitudes, in- tently listening to the address, “Within two days,” M. Grouchy was saying, “this decree of your great and noble King will be given to the people of Quelparte through the government Gagzette. It is an auspicious time. The nation is enjoying 2 memorable holiday end the happiness they must feel at coming at last under the protecting arm of the Czar of all the Russians will diepel in part the gloom which they feel 2t the burial of their beloved Queen.” As Grouchy proceeded, my eyes were still on Oranoff. He sat quiet as a shadow while his underling spoke as he had directed, expanding on the bene- fits to accrue to Quelparte from Rus- slan rule: Oranoff never did his own talking—he attended to the rest, with others to do that for him. “Russia has been the boon of Asia and will be all that and more for Quel- parte. But we do not desire,” the trickster went on, “to hold Quelparte to any agreement to which the people of the country may in the least object. As you know, this agreement can be his own lorse. , terminated at any time by either gov- ernment. It will be the purpose of my government to study, during the follow- ing days, the sentiment of the people of Quelparte, and if it is found that an alliance with Russia such as we have signed to-night is displeasing to the people of Quelparte, Russia will imme- diately withdraw from the agreement and remove the officials whom your King has avpointed to high office.” With such words M. Grouchy paved the way to throw. Quelparte over to Japan when the lease of Port Arthur Vi®s announced. I nad entered the room withcut at- tract attention, and I stood by the door DListening to the Russiaa’sewords. It was clear that the news brought by my Cossacks had put all in good cheer, and that the funeral was to come off as yrojosed, beginning day after to-mor- row. I had been blinded by the bril- liani light in the room, and the scene I have described came to me slowly, and no other picture has stayed with me— save one—so perfect in detail and color. Totally unbalanced as I must have been by fatigue, .ud desperately drugged with wine, I remember turning from the bright light and wishing that 1 could, after all, teil Ivan Oranoff the truth. But even as I reached helpless- Iy to the wall for support, the hilt of my sword went clanging against it and every face in the room looked my way. I believe the King himself recog- nized me first or at least saw me first; he rose and pointed the fire-tipped end of his cigarette toward me. The cabi- net arose, and M. Grouchy ceased his remarks. Of these things I am a little uncertai 2 not at all uncertain as to Colonel Oranoff. 1 knew well enough I was late—later than I should have been without telegraphing him on of my delay at such a time 1 also knew that my report should have to him, not to the cabinet or the . The man drew himself slowly to his feet and leaned over the ble ‘upon his hands heavily as 1 came waying through the long room I had not dressed for the occaslon, and my bedraggled appearance and un- steady deportment evidently added lus- ter to the heroic role I had suddenly chosen to assume. The King put his cigarette in his mouth and began puff- ing and clapping his hands. His no- bles, mimicking him in everything on peril of their lives, took the cue and applauded me vociferously, and I stag- gered on to the foot of that *“throne™ (I could not have gone ancther yard for the King's crown), receiving an ovation rather than the thrashing I deserved. “The temple of Ching-ling has been destroyed, I hear,” said the King, dip- lomatically. Then he laughed and drew @t his cigarette. - “Yes, Sire,” I answered, glad to find I could talk if I could ndt walk, “the temple of €hing-ling has been de- stroyed.” Then I added, eager to bol- ster up my string of lies with one un- doubted truth, “It was ‘burned to the ground and lies in ashes.” “Ah,” sighed the King of Quelparte, with admirable affectation; and then, just as I was opening my mouth he turned to Prince Ting (evidently not wishing his cabinet should guess that Lynx I d was to pass into the hands of the Russians), saying: “Orders must be issued to all our sa- cred temples regarding the danger from fires and the removal of all com- bustibles to a safe distance, and let it be known that no temple destroyed by accidental fire shall ever Ye rebuilt.” The wine on my empty stomach was at once my friend and my foe. It gave me strength, especially of sight! I felt Or s eyes on my back, and I broke out for fear I could not speak at all soon: “General Ling was burned with the temple.” “Ling lost,” echoed the King, holding his head sideways to avoid the smoke of his cigarette. “Faithful Ling; he was such a man as Kings need—some- times.” He leered significantly toward Oranoff as he said the words. This K A no novice and no fool, and he had a pretty wit all his own. “He has a son in the army, Sire,” I said, keeping my promise to old Ling most unexpectedly, “as faithful as his father ¥ you to remember him.” The K instantly turned to Prince Ting and said “Appoiat Kim Ling to his fathers former office as secret guardian of the Queer I feit Oranoff’s eyes burning two holes in my back and I hurried on with my wretched story, for, as the King lived, I now had to hold one eye shut to keey m seeing two of him. And I knew the strength the liquor gave me was all the strength I had. “Colonel Li »st, too,” 1 mur- mured, holding desperately to the car- pet to keep from falling off the floor. “Li Jost!” spit out the King of Quel- parte, suddenly; this affected him. “It must have been a sudden fire.” “It was, Sire, God knows it was sud- den, but—" and here the King broke in again with another, gay laugh and cut off the words which were on my parched lips. ‘I could not hold to the carpet any longer, and so with a hrppy sigh I let go and went out into space. “Accidental fires are sudden some- times,” I heard the King laugh. But I was too far away now to answer. I heard much cheering, which sounded at a great distance, but I could move neither hand nor foot, mor lip to tell either the truth or any falsehood. was CHAPTER XIIL A NEW PROGRAMME. If it seemed that I was unconscious, I was not. I knew well enough when I was tenderly gathered up out of space and Horne to my bed again, and I knew when the doctor came. He was a good, faithful man with a beard like Dej- neff’s and a gentle voice. I heard, some time before, that all the food the King had eaten for months after the murder of the Queen, when he feared that Tuen was attempting to poison him, was prepared by this mans hands. The medicine he prepared was admin- istered by my faithful nurse Duicine, who came as soon as I had been put to bed. The medicine made my head stop ringing and I lay still thinking, for I could not sleep. Dulcine wus humming the song of the Widowed Wild Goose. After a time Dejneff sauntered in again and flung himself down into his chair. Soon he too was humming the song, and 1 wondered if Dulcine had told him that 1 had put the Queen’s body in the sar- cophagus. As soon now as I could I was determined to tell Duicine the whole truthf But I decided to wait until Dejneff was out of hearing. Yet as 1 waited another step sounded at my bedside and I knew Colonel Oranoff had come from the King. Vhat does all this mean?” he sald without a single word of introduction. His voice was low and tense. Coward that I was, I did not move, and Dul- cine answered simply: “I do not know, father; hard trip to Keinning.” it was a “Did he swim to Tsi?” was Oranoff’'s reply, and the words were almost a groan; “the Dulcette did not bring N him. “No, he did not swim to Tsi,” an- swered the girl, proudly; *“he came overl: -d.” “And the Queen’s body?” the man cried out; “did he drag it over the mountains behind him?” I did not blame the man for his sarcasm; my silence at such a crisis had been cruel. “The Queen's bod. said Dulcine Oranoff. composedly, s where it be- longs—in the new sarcophagus.” Oranoft repeated those startling words like a man in a dream; then he asked, “Do I understand you, Dulcine?” She did not reply, and he spoke again as if the room were empty. “He brought it overland because the little §boat I sent could not weather the gale.” What I had passed through in the last week was nothing to this—was nothing beside the stinging of those gentle words which were so much to my credit. When the man went out of the room, a head sank on the pillow beside my own and the bed trembled as the realization of my position came over me. It was a positive relief when From the moment she had uttered those words to Colonel Oranoff my course was clear. I had done my best to bring the Queen’s body. Failing T had then done my best to send an ex- planation and have the funeral post- poned. Failing here also, I had come as fast as human strength permitted to arrange at the last moment for a postponement of the pageant. I had lied outrageously to Dulcine, never thinking that the lie would be passed on. But now, since every one thought the Queen was safely in the sarcoph- agus prepared for her—let them go on with their parade and show! ‘Who would know the difference? No one but myself knew that the body had been destroyed, save only the wretches who destroyed it. I had been taken first to the anteroom where the sarcophagus was, and with my own hands I had closed its golden lid. The very daring of it was the salvation of the plot. The faster I thought, the more reasonable it all seemed. The body was lost beyond all recovery, and, after all, what would delay or’post- ponement accomplish? Nothing, per- haps, unless the terrible denouement that there was no Queen to bury! Then, too, the Russlan protectorate was at stake. Nothing would be surer than the failure of Oranoff's coup if the loss of the Queen’s body became known. The pageant must go on! Then I remembered Tuen, and I clambered out of bed at the thought and went striding up and down the room—a human ship in distress! But I laughed as I went and clinched my fists again, even as I did in my berth on the Dulcette. This would be balking the devils that checkmated me that night on Lynx Island—to have the funeral go on, Queen’s body or mo body! And Spread wild rumors, no doubt, but how what could they do? coyld they prove them? Who would dare question, by force, the burden of the royal catafaique? Or who would propose to examine the contents of the royal bier? These things were out of the question. Yet there were risks—I did not try to persuade myself otherwise—but they were inconsiderable to risking the pos- sible failure of the Russian coup in Quelparte and perhaps a more terrible expose which might come with delay. A delay would lend a bad color to any rumor Tuen’s agents might circulate. As for an attack on the funeral pro- cession itself, I would trust Dejneff to take care of that! The whole army was to surround the bier, and if such an attack were made and were success- ful, the sarcophagus would be found empty and It would be no task to have it understood that the body had been carried in the royal palanquin or in the casket Prepared for the memorial tab- lets—through fear of just such an at- tack! After a time I fell back on my bed satisfled that the ruse would hold good. In a maze of dire extremities a mapn often falls upon some happier al- ternative than he expected and finds a relief almost approaching joy. Having scanned the future as keenly as lay in my power, I saw no material objection to letting the game go on as the hands _egBy stood. ‘While I could not sleep I lay resting on my bed in a better mood than I had known for many hours. Pak sat without my door, for I had not been sure before now that I would not need him. I longed for a word with some one, and so I talked a little him before I sent him away. 0, I am not very sick,” I replied to his kindly interrogation; “I don’t know just what is the matter with me. Were you never sick and could not teil where?"” “You ought te have Hu Mok come and see you. then,” said Pak. “Hu Mok?” I replied. “Who is Hu Mok, Pak?” “He 1s a doctor who tells where peo- ple are sicikc when they don't know themselves.” g » Pak was not falling mq nd I plied my questions concerning Hu Mok. “He is a very wise doctor,” Pak ex- plained, “who lives near Keinning; he is so wise that his eyebrows grow very long, longer even than Captain Dej- neff’s long shave.” “Longer than Dejneff’s what?” I asked. Pak was very sharp at picking up English words, but sometimes he made an odd mistake. ~ “Longer than Dejneff’s shave,” he re- peated, holding his hand out from his chin. N 4 WM % ety ERNERRRT e, ¢ 4 “You mean beard, Pak; shave means to cut off a beard.” Japanese barbers came to the legation each day to treat those of us who desired their services. Pak had caught the wrong word agaln. But my laughter did not discompose him as it did when he was first in my service, and he continued: “Yes, Hu Mok is very wise, and he braids his eyebrows and hangs the bralds over his ears.” “How does he tell what’s the matter with people. Pak?"” “With his magic stone; one day Hu Mok went away from home and when he came back the day after he brought a stone so bright that you could look- ing-glass it.” Use it as a looking-glass, Pak.” “Yes, vou could see yourseif in fit; when any one is sick, Hu Mok comes and puts the stone on them and pretty soon he can tell where they are sick and what is the matter.” “Then I don't want Hu Mok, Pak,” I replied firmly and with great truth, “for I don't want Hu Mok or any one to see inside of me now."” As Pak made ready to .eave I thought on Hu Mok and wondered if the X-ray doctor of Quelparte had an- ticipated the latest disccvery of our Western scientists! I found myself stronger in the morn- ing, but I could do no more, according to that kindly doctor who seemed to know more than I had admitted to him, than sit before my fire that day and rest. Oranoff came early to my room and I faigly dreaded to look him in the face; yet I did so frankly as of old, wondering if he would lay all my nervousness to the charge of my fa- tigued condition. He was full of busi- ness, and after congratulating me warmly he went his way. Dulelne and several ladies of the legation begged admittance to the “hospital,” and I found myself vaunted most uncomfor- y as a hero for bringing the Queen’s sarcophagus overland in the little time allowed me. The party soon left for a long drive over the imperial route to the mausoleum to view the crowds and the mass of heathen bunt- ing that buried the city from gate to gate. Thus the day passed slowly. I never seemed able to .think as intently as I desired, and I remembered that day distinctly from my impatience at being disturbed, though I was left alone for hours at a time. So, restless as a hunted thing, I fought a battle out with my fears before my fire, and by night I_was wholly content with my course once mere. Dejneft lounged in before dinner, and told me of the busy scenes of the day. My mind was intent on the night to come, and I asked pointedly what the people were saying of Tuen. “Some say he will win at the end,” Dejneft replied slowly, “but they’ll miss their guess there. My troops are to surround the bler the moment the King cleses its lid until the great slab “falls upon it. Tuen's lost so far, and he’ll not win from Dejneft.” 1 was on my feet in a moment, al- most gasping. & “From the time the King does what, Dejneff?” I asked, trembling. “The show startg out with the King closing the sarcophagus in the throne room; he looks in it for a last time to identify the Queen and then shuts and seals it officlally. That moment your troops will surround it and guard it until we reach the tomb. But there’'s the bell; can’t you come out to dinner, Martyn?” I had gone over toward my bed while Dejneff told me these things, and stood there dazed; I was glad the room had not been lighted. Dejneff could not see me. No, old man,” I replied, “you go on; I belleve I'm not hungry.” When he was out of the room I fell upon the bed with a groan. The King was to lock empty casket! CHAPTER XIV. DULCINE. 3 There are times when we know a crisis has been passed, but it is rare that we know the exact moment of its passing. As I look back from the end to the beginning of the story I remember plainly —aye, best of all—the moment when Dulcine Oranoff raised her proud head and repeated to her father my desperate ife. It was impossible for the girl to think I had falled. Then, where else could the Queen’'s body be but in the casket prepared for it? I am very far from sorry that my eyes were not firmly closed when Dul- ine uttered those thrilling words, for if I have one picture of her more worthy of the admiration of the curi- ous than another, it is that of the lithe, trim girl fingering the lace of my pillow as she looked straight over me Into her father’s eyes and told him I had done the task 1 bad miserably failed to dJdo. It is withael a scmhe- pisture, for Dulcine war he- mothers girl In face ard figure, and har dress that night was dark as *he twilight ba- neath her lashes or the midnight of ner hair. It is a plcture portraying not only & girl of grace and beauty, bul ¢ woman of magnetic power, a woman to dary and co, and make others lik: herself. I would have wondered that Colonei Oraneff could take those startling words at full face value, had I not seen the firm, true lips, the steadfast eyes of the one who uttered them and believed them to be true. Seeing this, I won- dered not that the man turned upon his heel without a word, as though he had just looked into the very sarcophagus itself. But the effect of the girl's words and all the depth of their deceit was even more marked upon the man who lay on the bed before her. And as I looked covertly upward for the brief second during which the film of my into my memory was exposed to this picture, I" became thrilled until every unstrung nerve throbbed and then was steeled. I saw more clearly than before ocur ter- rible plight, and saw my duty clearer too. Yet through the vision there came courage and to spare! But now—when I was in too deep to get out, when it was too late even to consider owning up to the truth—I found that the King himself must look into the empty casket and close with his own thin hand its golden lid. I met this new shock with far greater courage than any preceding one; now I was driven only one dye deeper; a form resembling a human body must meet the King’s eyes! I arose, smiling grimly, from the bed upon which T had fallen with a groan. There was something ridiculous in this resolution which was the logical end of my deception, and the reckless daring of it fascinated me. “There’s but a step between the sub- lime and the ridiculous,” I quoted so- berly as I dressed for dinner; “I shall difninish that distance by half before morning.” My shoulder was very lame, but otherwise I felt able to resume my accustomed place in the life of the le- gation. At any rate, I knew that my new plans would necessitate my going out; I was only preparing for emer- gencies. The ladies had not returned from their sight-seeing, and I was spared playing hero: I made way with the courses as rapidly as practicable against their return. But I did not leave the room without placing a note under Dulcine’s ring, encouraging one of the table-boys with a coin to see that she did not miss it. I aiso left word with Dejneff that I would be ready for duty as usual in the morning. 1 saw he was not sorry to ba able to depend upcn me to command the troops around the bier; for he was to march with the King, and Andorrh was ‘to guard the mausoleum throughout the night and day. I also saw that Dejneff would not cry either wheu this pageant ‘was over safely! Then I went out into the night and made my way to the Bell House, to the creat beoths where the beSt of native garments were for sale, taking Pak for a guide and Interpretér. I to!d him on the way what I wanted. Econ we were being shown a large assortment of fine slik outer garments worn by the women of Quelparte. Pak's eyes giistened as the great pieces of silk were¢ thrown by the cunning hand of the merchant befors our eyes. I, of course, knew nothing of them, not even their quality, but as this was the only thing about which I cared, I asked Pak concerning it. “He says they are good enough to bury the Queen in,” replled Pak, sim- ply, after a word or two with the mer- chant. That was as good as I wanted. Once more in my room I dismissed Pak with a stern injunction as to se- crecy and enough silver to make him quite the reverse. Then I turned eag- erly to, my task. Now, it is trite beyond hope of ex- cuse to remark that some things seem difficult near by which at a distance and off-hand seem exceedingly easy. 1 remembered with what force this con- clusion was impressed upon me that night at the Russian Legation in Quel- parte, where I attempted to carry out my resolution of making a counterfeit queen to replace the real Queen that I had lost on Lynx Island. For a time 1 walked around my bed, which was loaded with the silks Pak had deposited there at my order. Then 1 sat down and pawed them over gin- gerly, while the truth of the afore- mentioned observation came home to me with added emphasis. Now and then I “got together,” to use a phrase more expressive to some than to oth- ers, and made a fresh start; but every- thing I got my hands on next seemed the most absurdly impossible thing to begin with. Finally I despaired of doing anything with my material en masse, when the creditable idea occurred to me to sort out the articles and hang them where I could get a more comprehensive no- Jtion of their shape and size; and soon chairs, bed-posts, tables, pictures and mantels were alive with the fantastic robes of a wgu'.hy Quelpartienne, It looked as though I was drying a “big week's washing.” I locked the door and sat down in the one empty chair and lit a cigarette. “Peradventure these were the silks of the women of mine own country,” I soliloquized grimly, “I -might make Some progress,” and I gazed about helplessly enough; yet I knew that any 800d, single man of sense would have bolted the whole thing even then. But I could not bolt, and the danger.of my situation came suddenly home to me as I looked mechanically at my watch and foundfthe evening was far gone. How fast the hours were speeding. Aroused now to my task with fresh- ening fear, I was seized with the hal- lucination that a subdivision of my stock would help unravel the mystery, and I sirode frantically up and down to select, at first, the smaller garments. But vhere were they? The silk crea- tion on the bed would have covered a span of horses, and the gauze scarf or fish-net or What-not that trailed over my dresser, some chairs, and a table, would have hidden two French win- dows. If I found anything of lesser di- mensions, I had no sooner got it under control than I discovered it was con- nected by a tail or silk isthmus to some greater affair near by that might have been an awning over a ship’s deck. Nor was it easler to get free of these things than to get hold of them, for when I had lain one down and gone elsewhere in my search, I found the last two things I had looked at wers still following me about famillarly enough. The texture of this collection of Quelpartienne clothing may have been all 1 have since heard it was and all that its cost suggested, but this only served to bewilder me the more that night. Apd so I floundered up and down in toat gen of Quelpartienne lingerie which by midnizht was running high in that w4 recom, when a low knock at my door brought a frightened sigh of relief to my lips. With one despairing glance about me Isbroke over to the door and threw it open wide. I had made no progress whatever, and the night was half spent; in a doubly serious sense I needed Dulcine now. In walked Colonel Oranoff. I gasped in dismay while those seri- ous eyes ran over that disordered room, lingering with awkward, questioning glance on each piece of Quelpartienne finery. “Has hospital become an asylum?” Oranoff asked quietly. I laughed and gave some answer which he can remember better than I Then I went to him with the inspiration which had suddenly come to my dis- tracted brain. I dared not be silent one moment before this man, and I risked everything by delivering myself earn- estly of the following impromptu ex- planation: “Colonel Oranoff,” I said, in & low voice, “you know our great danger is an attack by Tuen’s men upon the fu- neral procession. I have spent the day planning to frustrate the attack If made. My plan is to place a counter- feit body in the sarcophagus and put the real body in the casket prepared for the memorial tablets. The army wili surround the sarcophagus, and if that is harmed the Queen's body will still be safe.” Even as I spoke I wondered if, after all, Colonel Oranoff had not gome to the throne room to prove for himself the miraculous truth Dulcine had told him. But if he had, he had 4et the matter pass, and I was sure either he was deceived or had chosen to let me play out the farce to which I had so desperately resorted at the eleventh hopr. There are times when the best of men pass back and forth a black lle know- ingly, and act toward each other as though it were the truth; might not this sober man have guessed even from the first my lying role, and yet determined to trust me and let me play it out? Such were my thoughts as I spoke and as the man looked at me in- tently yet kindly when I had inished. “That is a good plan, Robert,” he said, after a moment’s thought; then he added poignantly, “But you will need Dulcine in this. I will call her and remain i the smoking-room until you are done.” Iie did not say that he knew I expected Duicine; he did not hint that he had seen Dulcine. Yet he paved the way easily for our meeting. There were tears of gratitude in my aching eyes as he passed me to go out, and I found his hand in the skirts of his coat and wrung it silently. The pressure he in turn gave me brought confidence and determination. Dulcine came in almost as her father passed out, and stood for a moment in blank astonishment within that littered room. Without a word (my throat suddenly became parched) I placed a chair before the fire and drew away such garments as lay near it. The girl did not move. I then went to her unmindful of the stolid Cossack who had followed her in, and todk her hand. Then I saw she was already in tears, and I quickly found they were hot and running fast. “Robert, dear,” she sald, under my trembling caresses, “tell me what it is. There is nothing I would not do to help you.” I drew her to the chair. Each mo- ment since Dulcine entered my door I had felt guiltier than ever before. I had failed everywhere, and I seemed to be able to do naught dbut force the girl whom I loved to bear the burden of my failure. Now, when the moment came for me to make & clean breast of it all, my throat seemed paralyzed. Yet there in the firelight I told it all— God helping me—all, the whole story, from the tiger-skin throne where we bade each other good-by to the holo- caust on Lynx Island, and back again to the yellow throne where I had, hen« estly attempted to tell the King.a little of the truth. Now and then Dulcine started, frightened; at times she clung to me in utter fear, and again she buried her face in her hands. But at the end she grew wondrously calm. We sat then sflence, and I knew she had gone from the gloomy past to the dark future, and so I outlined briefly the ruse I had conceived. The plan was as‘fascinating as the reckless- ness of its deceit. My words fairly raised the girl to her feet. Trembling hand and foot, Dulcine looked at the fire, at me, and then, like a gullty per- son, around the dimly lighted room. ‘We both looked into the fire and then steadily intc each other’s eyes. I am sure the same thoughts passed through our minds. To-night (for it was the nineteenth, the booming of the great bell had sounded the midnight hour) the King would look upon his Queen for the last time, as the lay in state on the catafalque in the throne room. all too late now to prevent or ” 1 went on impetuously; “for of the Russian protectorate be announced in the “It is the sake about to