of the outrage or the manner in which it reached its sudden
crisis, she had no more knowledge than the Princess, and a quite natural
question occurred to the older woman when Joan told how Felix Poluski
had startled the King and herself by his warning cry.

"My son had gone to visit you, then?" she said, not without a shadow of
resentment at the fact that he had discovered this girl's whereabouts
readily enough, though seemingly there was none to tell him that his
father and mother were in the city and longing to see him.

Joan flushed at the words; but her answer carried conviction. "I do not
yet understand just how or when Felix discovered that the King's life
was threatened," she said; "but there can be no doubt it was a ruse on
his part to distract the attention of the mob when he told his Majesty
that I was in the hotel.--I chanced to be looking out--and I was very
angry with Felix when I saw that he had stopped the King and was
evidently informing him of my presence."

"Then my son did not know you were in Delgratz?"

"He had no notion I was any nearer than Paris."

"What an amazing chapter of accidents that you should be in Delgratz
to-day, and, under Providence, become the means of saving Alec's life;
for it is quite clear to me now that had he gone a few yards farther he
would have been shot down without mercy!"

Joan colored even more deeply. Her pride demanded that she should no
longer sail under a false flag, yet it was a seeming breach of maidenly
reserve that she should announce her own betrothal. It would have come
easier if she could claim more consideration from this kind faced,
pleasant voiced woman than was warranted by the casual acquaintance of a
railway journey. But Alec had sent her to his mother, and Joan's nature
would not permit her to carry on the deception, though it might be
capable of the most plausible explanation afterward.

"I feel I ought to tell you," she said, and the blood suddenly ebbed
away from her face to her throbbing heart. "Alec and I were friends in
Paris. We were fond of each other; but gave not much heed to it, since I
was poor and he told me he had his way to make in the world. He wrote to
me a few days ago, asking me to marry him. I did not know what to say,
when chance threw in my way a commission to copy a picture in this very
city. Put in such words, it all sounds very mad and unconvincing; but it
is true, and it is equally true that I should never have acknowle