was subjected. Worse than all to her were the insolent
overtures of Gabriel. How she endured she could not tell. The tears
of humiliation shed after his departure on the occasion of each visit
revealed the bitterness that was torturing this proud martyr.

He had come at once to renew his offer of a loan, knowing her
helplessness. Day after day he haunted the castle, persistent in his
efforts to induce her to accept his proposition. So fierce was his
passion, so implacable his desire, that he went among the people of
Edelweiss, presenting to them his proposal, hoping thereby to add public
feeling to his claims. He tried to organize a committee of citizens to
go before the Princess with the petition that his offer be accepted and
the country saved. But Graustark was loyal to its Princess. Not one of
her citizens listened to the wily Prince, and more than one told him or
his emissaries that the loss of the whole kingdom was preferable to the
marriage he desired. The city sickened at the thought.

His last and master-stroke in the struggle to persuade came on the
afternoon of the nineteenth, at an hour when all Edelweiss was in gloom
and when the Princess was taxed to the point where the mask of courage
was so frail that she could scarce hide her bleeding soul behind it.

Bolaroz of Axphain, to quote from the news-despatch, was in Edelweiss,
a guest, with a few of his lords, in the castle. North of the city were
encamped five thousand men. He had come prepared to cancel the little
obligation of fifteen years standing. With the hated creditor in the
castle, his influence hovering above the town, the populace distracted
by the thoughts of the day to come, Gabriel played what he considered
his best card. He asked for and obtained a final interview with Yetive,
not in her boudoir or her reception room, but in the throne room, where
she was to meet Bolaroz in the morning.

The Princess, seated on her throne, awaited the approach of the
resourceful, tenacious suitor. He came and behind him strode eight
stalwart men, bearing a long iron-bound chest, the result of his effort
with his bankers. Yetive and her nobles looked in surprise on this
unusual performance. Dropping to his knee before the throne, Gabriel
said, his voice trembling slightly with eagerness and fear:

"Your Highness, to-morrow will see the turning point in the history of
two, possibly three nations--Graustark, Axphain and Dawsbergen. I have
included my own lan