city of color. He valiantly
essayed their reproduction; but Joan suspected in her deepest heart that
Poluski's sudden conversion to Byzantine ideals was due far more to the
fact that the lofty dome of the building produced musical effects of the
most gratifying nature than to any real appreciation of the quaint
contours and glaring tints of a series of wall pictures that set forth
some long forgotten Bulgar artist's conception of the life and history
of John the Baptist.

There was naturally a good deal of inquiry and speculation as to the
identity of the unknown connoisseur who had commissioned Joan to copy
the Saint Peter. Felix resolutely declined to satisfy any one's
questioning on that topic. He had given his word, he said, not to betray
the confidence reposed in him; but he allayed Alec's professed jealousy
by declaring that to the best of his knowledge the man who had sent
Joan on this mysterious quest had never even seen her. Still, it was
impossible to avoid a certain amount of interested speculation among
members of the small circle which was aware of the reason that lay
behind Joan's visit to Delgratz. Both Alec and Joan believed that Count
Julius Marulitch was in some way responsible, and their chief difficulty
was to analyze the motive of such unlooked-for generosity on his part.

The slight mystery underlying the incident was not cleared up until
Beliani reached the capital two or three days after Julius himself. The
latter cleared the air by expressing his unbounded amazement at finding
his cousin engaged to a young American woman of whose existence he had
not even heard before he was introduced to her. Under the conditions it
seemed to savor of the ridiculous to ask if he was the hidden agent in
the matter of the picture. But Beliani was candor itself; not for a
moment did he endeavor to conceal his responsibility. When Alec welcomed
him on the evening of his arrival, he drew the King aside and said, with
all the friendliness of one apparently devoted to the Kosnovian cause:

"I am glad to see that my little scheme has worked well. Of course you
guessed who it was that despatched Miss Vernon from Paris?"

"No," said Alec, scanning the Greek's smiling yet subtle face with those
frank eyes of his that had so quickly learned the secret of looking
beneath the veneer of men's words to discover their motives. "No, I
never associated you with her appearance here. What inspired you to it?
I may say at once th