le one to me."

Kalonay looked at Gordon for a moment with serious consideration, and
then held out his hand. "You also had faith in me," he said. "I thank
you. Are you in earnest; do you really wish to serve us?"

"I mean to stay by you until the boy is crowned," said the American,
"unless we separate on our several paths of glory--where they will lead
depends, I imagine, on how we have lived."

"Or on how we die," Kalonay added. "I am glad to hear you speak so.
If you wish, I shall attach you to the person of the Crown Prince. You
shall be on the staff with the rank of Colonel."

Gordon made a low and sweeping bow.

"Rise, Sir Archibald Gordon," he said. "I thank you," he added. "We
shall strive to please."

Miss Carson shook her head at him, and sighed in protest.

"Will you always take everything as a joke, Archie?" she said.

"My dear Patty," he answered, "the situation is much too serious to
take in any other way."

They moved to the door, and there the priest and Mrs. Carson joined
them; but on the threshold Kalonay stopped and looked for the first
time since he had addressed him at the King.

He regarded him for some seconds sternly in silence, and then pointed,
with his free hand, at the crown of Messina, which still rested on the
table at the King's elbow. "Colonel Gordon," he said, in a tone of
assured authority, "I give the crown of Messina into your keeping. You
will convey it, with all proper regard for its dignity, safely on board
the yacht, and then bring it at once to me."

When he had finished speaking the Prince turned and, without looking at
the King, passed on with the others across the terrace and disappeared
in the direction of the shore, where the launch lay waiting.

Gordon crossed the room and picked up the crown from the table, lifting
it with both hands, the King and Barrat watching him in silence as he
did so. He hesitated, and held it for a moment, regarding it with much
the same expression of awe and amusement that a man shows when he is
permitted to hold a strange baby in his arms. Turning, he saw the
sinister eyes of the King and of Barrat fastened upon him, and he
smiled awkwardly, and in some embarrassment turned the crown about in
his hands, so that the jewels in its circle gleamed dully in the dim
light of the room. Gordon raised the crown and balanced it on his
finger-tips, regarding it severely and shaking his head.

"There are very few of these left in th