s what I think
about Yaque!"

Mr. Frothingham's hands worked forward convulsively on his blue
velvet knees.

"My dear Madame," he interposed earnestly, "the history of criminal
jurisprudence, not to mention the remarkable essay of the Marquis
Beccaria--proves beyond doubt that the extirpation of the offender
is the only possible safety for the State--"

Olivia rose and stood before the prince, her eyes meeting his.

"You will permit this sentence?" she asked steadily. "As head of the
House of the Litany, you will execute it, Prince Tabnit?"

"Alas!" said the prince humbly, "it is customary on the day of the
coronation to set adrift all offenders. I am the servant of the
State."

"Then, Prince Tabnit, I can not marry you."

At this Mrs. Hastings looked blindly about for support, and Mr.
Frothingham and Antoinette flew to her side. In that moment the lady
had seen herself, prophetically, in black samite and her parrot
bonnet, set adrift in the penitential airship with her rebellious
niece.

For a moment Prince Tabnit hesitated: he looked at Olivia, who was
never more beautiful than as she defied him; then he walked slowly
toward her, with sweep and fall of his garments embroidered by a
thousand needles. Antoinette and her father, ministering to Mrs.
Hastings, heard only the new note that had crept into his voice, a
thrill, a tremour--

"Olivia!" he said.

Her eyes met his in amazement but no fear.

"In a land more alien to me than the sun," said the prince, "I saw
you, and in that moment I loved you. I love you more than the life
beyond life upon which I have laid hold. I brought you to this
island to make you my wife. Do you understand what it is that I
offer you?"

Olivia was silent. She was trembling a little at the sheer enormity
of the moment. Suddenly, Prince Tabnit seemed to her like a name
that she did not know.

"Will you not understand what I mean?" he besought with passionate
earnestness. "Can I make my words mean nothing to you? Do you not
see that it is indeed as I say--that I have grasped the secret of
life within life, beyond life, transcending life, as his
understanding transcends the man? The wonder of the island is but
the alphabet of wisdom. The secrets of life and death and being
itself are in my grasp. The hidden things that come near to you in
beauty, in dream, in inspiration are mine and my people's. All
these I can make yours--I offer you life of a fullness such as the
people o