fe becomes ennobled by actions such as yours.
And Alec must never know what you have done for him. That is both the
grandeur and the pathos of it. Joan, my precious, your namesake was
burnt on the pyre for a King's cause, yet her deed would rank no higher
than yours if the world might be allowed to judge between you. But do
not dream that your romance is ended. _Saperlotte!_ Old Dame Nature is a
better dramatist than that. If she has contrived so much for you in a
little month, what can she not accomplish in a year?"

And, in a perfect frenzy of excitement, he threw himself back in his
chair and amazed another group of cosmopolitan diners by singing.

But this time Joan did not care who stared or whispered. She sat there,
a beautiful statue, sorely stricken, and not daring to believe that the
hour of blessedness promised in Poluski's song would be vouchsafed after
many years of pain.

CHAPTER XII

THE STORM BREAKS

The King reached his temporary residence hot and tired after an
exhausting day. It chanced that at a meeting of the Ministry, which he
attended late in the afternoon, the question of Beliani's appointment as
Minister of Finance came up for settlement. It was not determined
without some bickering, and an undercurrent of dislike if not of
positive hatred of the man quickly made itself apparent.

The Serb and the Greek differ in most essentials. The one is by habit
and training a good soldier, a proverbial idler, an easygoing optimist
endowed with genial temper and a happy-go-lucky nature, capable indeed
of extremes, yet mostly inclined to the tolerant indifference that
leaves things as they are; the other, whose martial qualities have
vanished in the melting pot of time, has developed the defensive traits
that come to the aid of all races who can no longer maintain their cause
in the tented field. The Greek is the usurer of the East. He wins his
way by using his subtle wits, and the less adroit people on whom he
preys soon learn to regard him with distrust that often culminates in
personal violence in those half-civilized communities where law and
order are not maintained with a heavy hand.

The Kosnovian Ministry, of course, consisted of men of a much higher
type than the rude peasantry that made up the bulk of the nation. But at
heart they were anti-Greek, and some among them retained lively memories
of Beliani's methods when he was in power a decade earlier. No one
disputed his ability, yet n