dear, that to me
'father' is the grandest title in the world?"

Suddenly she crossed over and kissed the king on the cheek, and he held
her to him for a moment.

The bulldog had risen, and was wagging his tail the best he knew how. If
there was any young woman who could claim his unreserved admiration,
it was the Princess Alexia. She never talked nonsense to him in their
rambles together, but treated him as he should be treated, as an animal
of enlightenment.

"And here is Bull," said the princess, tickling the dog's nose with a
scarlet geranium.

"Your Highness thinks a deal of Bull?" said the dog's master.

"Yes, Monsieur, he doesn't bark, and he seems to understand all I say to
him."

The dog looked up at his master as if to say: "There now, what do you
think of that?"

"To-morrow I am going away," said the diplomat, "and as I can not very
well take Bull with me, I give him to you."

The girl's eyes sparkled. "Thank you, Monsieur, shall I take him now?"

"No, but when I leave your father. You see, he was sent to me by my son
who is in India. I wish to keep him near me as long as possible. My son,
your Highness, was a bad fellow. He ran away and joined the army against
my wishes, and somehow we have never got together again. Still, I've
a sneaking regard for him, and I believe he hasn't lost all his filial
devotion. Bull is, in a way, a connecting link."

The king turned again to the gravel pictures. These Englishmen were
beyond him in the matter of analysis. Her Royal Highness smiled vaguely,
and wondered what this son was like. Once more she smiled, then moved
away toward the palace. The dog, seeing that she did not beckon, lay
down again. An interval of silence followed her departure. The thought
of the Englishman had traveled to India, the thought of the king to
Osia, where the girl's mother slept. The former was first to rouse.

"Well, Sire, let us come to the business at hand, the subject of my last
informal audience. It is true, then, that the consols for the loan
of five millions of crowns are issued to-day, or have been, since the
morning is passed?"

"Yes, it is true. I am well pleased. Jacobi and Brother have agreed to
place them at face value. I intend to lay out a park for the public at
the foot of the lake. That will demolish two millions and a half. The
remainder is to be used in city improvements and the reconstruction of
the apartments in the palace, which are too small. If only you kn