end, plead with Milan not to commit such a folly.
He was driven to distraction between such powerful appeals and the
allurement of the siren who had him so effectually under her spell,
until in his despair he entertained serious thoughts of suicide as
escape from his dilemma. Meanwhile, we are told, "a perfect hell" raged
in the castle; each day brought its scandalous scene between his
outraged Queen and himself. His unpopularity with his subjects became so
acute that he was hissed whenever he made his appearance in the streets
of his capital; and Artemesia was obliged to have police protection to
shield her from the vengeance of the mob.

As for Natalie, this crowning injury decided her to bear her purgatory
no longer. She would force her husband to abdicate and secure her own
appointment as Regent for her son; or, failing that, she would leave her
husband and seek an asylum out of Servia. And with the object of still
further embittering his subjects against the King she made the full
story of her injuries public, and enlisted the sympathy, not only of
Milan's most powerful ministers, but of the entire country.

"The castle is in utter confusion," wrote an officer of the Belgrade
garrison, in October, 1886. "The King looks ill, and as if he never
slept. Poor fellow! he flies for refuge to us in the guard-house, and
plays cards with the officers. Card-playing is his worst enemy. He loves
it passionately, and plays excitedly and for high points--and he always
loses."

Matters were now hastening to a crisis. Hopelessly in debt, scorned by
his subjects, and hated by his wife, Milan's plight was pitiful. The
scenes between the King and the Queen were becoming more violent and
disgraceful every day. "There was no peace anywhere, nor did anyone
belonging to the Court enjoy a moment of tranquillity." So intolerable
had life become that, early in 1887, Milan decided to dissolve his
marriage; and it was only at the pleading of the Austrian Emperor that
he consented to abandon this design, on condition that his wife left
Servia; and thus it was that one day in April Queen Natalie left
Belgrade, accompanied by her son "Sacha," ostensibly that he might
continue his education in Germany.

But, although husband and wife were thus at last separated, Milan's
resolve to divorce her remained firm. "I have to inform you," he wrote
shortly after her departure, "that I have this day sent in my
application to our Holy National Church for