ts and danger; but in distant Paris he knew a
life of new pleasure awaited him, remote from the wranglings of Courts
and the assassin's knife. And within a week of greeting his successor as
King, he was gaily riding in the Bois, attending the theatres, supping
hilariously with ladies of the ballet, or dining with his friends at
Verrey's "where his somewhat rough manner and coarse jokes (the legacy
of his swineherd ancestry) caused him sometimes to be mistaken for a
parvenu," until a waiter would correct the impression by a whispered,
"That gentleman with the dark moustache is Milan, ex-King of Servia."

While her husband was thus drinking the cup of Paris pleasure, his wife
was still doomed to exile from her kingdom and her son, with permission
only to pay two brief visits each year. But Natalie, who had so long
defied a King, was not the woman to be daunted by mere Regents. She
would return to Belgrade, and at least make her home where she could
catch an occasional glimpse of her boy. And to Belgrade she went, to
make her entry over flower-strewn streets, and through a tornado of
cheers and shouts of "Zivela Rufe!" It was a truly Royal welcome to the
great warm heart of the Servian people; but no official of the Court was
there to greet her coming, and as she drove past the castle which held
all she counted dear in life, not even the flutter of a handkerchief
marked the passing of Servia's former Queen.

Had she but played her cards now with the least discretion, she might
have been allowed to remain in Belgrade in peace. But Natalie seems
fated to have been the harbinger of storm. For a time, it is true, she
was content to lie _perdue_, entertaining her friends at her house in
Prince Michael Street, driving through the streets of her capital behind
her pair of white ponies, or walking with her pet goat for companion,
greeted everywhere with respect and affection. But her restless,
vengeful spirit, still burning from the indignities she had suffered,
would not allow her to remain long in the background. She threw herself
into political agitation, and thus brought herself into open conflict
with the Regents; she inaugurated a campaign of abuse against her
husband, whom she still pursued with a relentless hatred; and generally
made herself so objectionable to the authorities that the Skupshtina was
at last compelled to order her banishment.

When the deputies presented themselves before her with the decree of
expulsion