om he beheld a
formidable rival, and it would be to him no cause for tears if the knife
intended for the royal vitals should find its way into Bjelke's instead.

So Baron Bjelke, arrayed in the domino copied from the penitential sack,
departed for the Opera House, leaving Gustavus to follow. Yet, despite
the measure of precaution, no sooner had the masked King himself entered
the crowded theatre, leaning upon the arm of the Count of Essen, than he
conceived that he beheld confirmation of the warning, and regretted that
he had not heeded it to the extent of remaining absent. For one of the
first faces he beheld, one of the few unmasked faces in that brilliantly
lit salon, was the face of Ankarstrom, and Ankarstrom appeared to be
watching the entrance.

Gustavus checked in his stride, a tremor ran through him, and he
stiffened in his sudden apprehension, for the sight of the tall figure
and haughty, resolute face of the nobleman he had wronged was of more
significance than at first might seem. Ever since his infamous trial
Ankarstrom had been at pains to seize every occasion of marking his
contempt for his Prince. Never did he fail upon the King's appearance
in any gathering of which he was a member to withdraw immediately; and
never once had he been known deliberately to attend any function which
was to be graced by the presence of Gustavus. How, then, came he here
to this ball given by the King's own command unless he came for the fell
purpose of which the letter had given warning?

The King's impulse was to withdraw immediately. He was taken by a
curious, an almost unreasoning, fear that was quite foreign to him,
who, for all his faults, had never yet lacked courage. But, even as
he hesitated, a figure swept past him in a domino flecked with flames,
surrounded by revellers of both sexes, and he remembered that if
Ankarstrom were bent on evil his attention would be held by that figure
before which the crowd fell back, and opened out respectfully, believing
it to be the King's. Yet none the less it was Gustavus himself that
Ankarstrom continued to regard in such a ay that the King had a feeling
that his mask was made of glass.

And then quite suddenly, even as he was on the point of turning, another
wave of revellers swept frantically up, and in a moment Gustavus and the
Count of Essen were surrounded. Another moment and the buffeting crowd
had separated him from his grand equerry. He found himself alone in the
centr