life, Alec despised Prince Michael. There was a quickening in his
veins, a tingling at the roots of his hair, a tension of his muscles, at
the repulsive notion that a Serene Highness might, after all, be molded
of common clay. And in that spasm of sheer agony he remembered how
Joan's sweet voice had thrilled him with the message of Pallas Athene.
Was he, indeed, one of those sons of the immortals whom the goddess
"drives forth by strange paths ... through doubt and need and danger
and battle?" Surely some such hazardous track was opening up now before
his feet! His whole nature was stirred in unknown depths. It seemed to
him that there was only one man in the room whose words had the ring of
truth and honest purpose. He strode forward and caught old Paul Stampoff
by the shoulder.

"I'll tell you what," he said, unconsciously adopting the free and easy
style of speech that came naturally to him, "you and I must carry this
thing through, General! My father is glued to Paris, you know. He has
lost some of his enthusiasm, and one must be enthusiastic to the point
of death itself if he would snatch a Kingdom out of such a fire as is
raging now in Kosnovia. Austria has never seen me, probably has never
even heard of me. I can slip through her cordon, swim ten Danubes if
need be. What say you, General? Will I fill the bill? If I fail, what
does it matter? If I win--well, we must reverse the usual order of
things, and my respected parent can step into my shoes."

"Alexis, I am proud of you----" began Prince Michael pompously; but a
sigh that was blended with a groan came again from his wife, and
Princess Delgrado drooped in a faint.

Alec lifted her in his arms and carried her to a bedroom. A queer
silence fell on the four men in the boudoir. Even his Serene Highness
was discomfited, and abandoned his position on the hearthrug to gaze
out of the window. To his displeased surprise, a small crowd had
gathered. A man was pointing to the Delgrado apartments. Another man,
carrying a bundle of newspapers, bore one of the curious small Parisian
contents bills, but its heavy black type was legible enough:
"Assassination of the King and Queen of Kosnovia! King Michael in
Paris!"

Alec, having given the Princess to the care of her maid, came back. He
found his father looking into the street, General Stampoff standing on
the hearthrug, and Count Julius whispering something in Beliani's ear.

"My mother will soon be all right," he ann