d
and caressed her till the smiles returned to her face and she nestled in
his arms, once more happy and content.

She was the queen of his soul, he told her, whoever might wear the crown
and bear the title before the world. Then, very carefully, lest he
should wound her, he told her the whole story of the Princess Elodie.

Opal moved across the room and stood drumming idly by the long, open
window. He watched her anxiously.

"Paul, did you go to see her as you promised--and is she ...pretty?"

"She is a cow!"

"Paul!" Opal laughed at his tone.

"Oh, but she is! Fancy loving a cow!"

Opal's heart grew heavy with a great pity for this poor, unfortunate
royal lady who was to be Paul's wife--the mother of his children--but
never, never his Love!

"But, Paul, you'll be good to her, won't you? I know you will! You
couldn't be unkind to any living thing."

And she ran into his arms, and clasped his neck tight! And the poor
Princess Elodie was again forgotten!

"You--Opal--are my real wife," Paul assured her, "the one love of my
soul, the mate the gods have formed for me--my own forever!"

Opal wept for pity of him, and for herself, but she faced the future
bravely. She would always be his guiding star, to beckon him upward!

"And, Opal, my darling," Paul went on, "I promise you to live henceforth
a life of which you shall be proud. I will be brave and true and noble
and great and pure--to prove my gratitude to the gods for giving me this
one day--for giving me you, dearest--and your love--your wonderful love!
I _will_ be worthy, dear--I will! I'll be your knight--your
Launcelot--and you shall be my Guenevere! I will always wear your colors
in my heart, dear--the red-brown of your hair, the glorious hazel of
your eyes, the flush of your soft cheek, the rose of your sweet lips,
the virgin whiteness of your soul!"

Opal looked at him with eyes brimming with pride. Young as he was, he
was indeed every inch a king.

And she had crowned him king of her heart and soul and life before she
had known! Oh, the wonder of it!--the strange, sweet wonder of it! _He_,
who might have loved and mated where he would, had chosen her to be his
love! She could not realize it. It was almost beyond belief, she
thought, that she--plain little Opal Ledoux--could stir such a nature as
his to such a depth as she knew she had stirred it.

Ah, the gods had been good to her! They had sent her the Prince
Charming, and he had wakened her