ares much, for he is a man of
the simplest tastes, living on the plainest food, and having but one
hobby and object, in fact, in life."

"His daughter?" I suggested at once, Dolores, of course, being the
uppermost thought in my mind.

"No," replied the old gentleman crisply, with the smartness of the
_diplomat_; "reptiles!"

"Reptiles!" I exclaimed in disgust; "what reptiles?"

"Principally snakes," replied the old man, shifting his cigar in his
mouth; "he has a regular Zoological Gardens full of them--all kinds,
from boa-constrictors to adders. He makes pets of them."

"Not about the _house_?" I suggested.

"No, not exactly," Sir Rupert replied, "unless they stray in by
themselves. He's very eccentric and I don't think has been quite
himself since the queen abdicated. They say he was in love with her,
notwithstanding the fact that she was a confirmed old maid."

"Indeed," I replied, curious to keep the old man talking, for I was
desirous of hearing as much as I possibly could about Aquazilia and its
capital, Valoro, "it sounds quite romantic."

"Well, it _was_ romantic in a way," he proceeded, glad to have a
listener, as old men are; "there's always a certain amount of romance
about the court of a reigning queen. Of course you know that the Salic
law did not prevail in the kingdom of Aquazilia when it _was_ a
kingdom. Yes, it was a splendid court was that of Valoro when Her
Majesty Inez the Second reigned over it. I just remember it
thirty-five years ago when I went out to it as a young attache on one
of my first appointments and took such a fancy to the lovely country."

"Then it _is_ lovely," I ventured; "the reports of it are not
exaggerations?"

Old Sir Rupert replied almost with emotion--

"It is superb. It is the loveliest country in the world!"

"In those days I am speaking of," he proceeded, "Valoro was a place
worth living in. In many respects it outshone some of the courts of
Europe, with which, by the bye, it was in close contact. Queen Inez,
as you no doubt know, was a Princess of Istria; the royal line of
Aquazilia was simply a collateral branch of the great Imperial House of
Dolphberg. And there were those that said that Queen Inez despite all
her resistance of the many endeavours to induce her to enter the
married state--and her offers had been abundant--was not only a queen
and a rich one, but she was also a very beautiful woman."

"Your account of Queen Inez, Sir Rupert, is ab