or Europe in two weeks, taking his wife and granddaughter
with him, and leaving his two sons in charge of the works.

Active preparations went on for the voyage. Mr. Rockharrt went every day
to the works to lay out plans for the summer to be completed during his
absence.

Mrs. Rockharrt and Cora had few arrangements to make, for the autocrat
had warned them that they were to take only sufficient for the voyage,
as they could buy whatever they needed on the other side.

A few days before they left Rockhold, Rule Rothsay came uninvited to
visit his beloved Cora.

Mr. Rockharrt happened to be the first to see him, and received him
well.

When they were seated, Rule said:

"You refused to allow me to marry your granddaughter at present, and--"

"Now begin all that over again, Rothsay. I said that in two years you
can marry her and take her fortune, if you both choose, whether I like
it or not. That is all."

"Do you, however, sanction our engagement, Mr. Rockharrt? Shall your
granddaughter and myself be betrothed, openly betrothed, so that all may
know our mutual relations, before the ocean divides us? That is what I
would know now. That is what I have come down here to ask."

The old man ruminated for a few moments, and then answered:

"Well, yes; you may be, with the understanding that you will wait to
marry for two years longer. These two years will be a probation to both.
If you fulfill the promise of your youth, and rise to the position that
you can, if you will, attain, and if you remain faithful to her, and if
she remains true to you, you may then marry. With all my heart I shall
wish you well. But if either of you fail in truth and fidelity, the
defaulting one, whether it be you or she, shall never look me in the
face again," concluded the Iron King.

Rule's eyes lighted up with the fire of love and faith. He seized the
hand of the old man and shook it warmly, saying:

"You have made me very happy by your words, Mr. Rockharrt, and I assure
you, by all my hopes on earth or in heaven, that whatever may change in
time or eternity, my heart will never vary a hair's breadth from its
fidelity to its queen."

"I believe you, or rather I believe you think so."

A kind impulse, a rare one, moved the old man. Perhaps he reflected that
these two young people might, have defied him and married without his
consent had they pleased to do so; but they had submitted themselves to
his will, and as his favorite motto