e President. His stern glance
traveled round the Council table; but he saw only downcast and somber
faces. One thing was abundantly clear,--this attack on Joan was
premeditated. He wondered who had contrived it.

"It is not that the lady does not command our favor," declared the
spokesman, very pale now and drumming nervously with his fingers on the
edge of a blotting pad. "Those of us who have met her are charmed with
her manners and appearance, and our only regret is that Providence did
not ordain that her birthplace should be on the right side of the
Danube."

"Oddly enough, I was born in New York," interrupted Alec, with a touch
of sarcasm that was not lost on his hearers.

"Your Majesty was born a Delgrado," said the President, "and if Miss
Joan Vernon could claim even the remotest family connection with one of
the leading houses of Kosnovia, Montenegro, or even Bulgaria, every man
here would hail your Majesty's choice in a chorus of approval."

"Since when has the supposed drawback of my intended wife's nationality
come into such prominence?" demanded the King sharply.

"Since it became known that your Majesty meant to marry a lady whose
avowed object in coming to Delgratz was to follow her occupation as an
artist."

Stampoff's harsh accents broke in roughly on a discussion which had
hitherto been marked by polite deference on the part of its originator.

"What! are you too against me, General?" cried Alec, wheeling round and
meeting the fierce eyes of the old patriot who sat glaring at him across
the Council table.

"Yes, in that matter," was the uncompromising answer. "We feel that our
King must be one of ourselves, and he can never be that if his wife
differs from us in race, in language, in religion, in everything that
knits a ruler to his subjects."

Alec arose with a good natured laugh. "Monsieur Nesimir spoke of
contingencies," he said, "and the word seems to imply that counter
proposals to those of Monsieur Beliani have already been put forward.
Has the Russian Ambassador been conducting negotiations with my
Ministers without my knowledge--behind my back, as it were?"

"There is no taint of Muscovite intrigue about my attitude!" exclaimed
Stampoff with a vehemence that showed how deeply he was moved. "I have
given the best years of my life to my country, and I am too old now to
be forced to act against my principles. Every man in this room is a
Slav, and we Slavs must pull together or we are lo