of the door and waited with motionless
heart for the response. It came not and he rapped harder, a strange fear
darting into his mind.

"Well?" came from within, the voice he adored.

Impetuous haste marked his next movement. He dashed open the door,
sprang inside and closed it quickly. She was sitting before her
escritoire, writing, and looked up, surprised and annoyed.

"I was not to be disturbed--Oh, God!"

She staggered to her feet and was in his arms before the breath of
her exclamation had died away. Had he not supported her she would have
dropped to the floor. Her hands, her face were like ice, her breast was
pulseless and there was the wildest terror in her eyes.

"My darling--my queen!" he cried, passionately. "At last I am with you!
Don't look at me like that! It is really I--I could not stay away--I
could not permit this sacrifice of yours. Speak to me Do not stare like
that!"

Her wide blue eyes slowly swept his face, piteous wonder and doubt
struggling in their depths.

"Am I awake?" she murmured, touching his face with her bewildered,
questioning hands. "Is it truly you?" A smile illumined her face, but
her joy was short-lived. An expression of terror came to her eyes and
there was agony in the fingers that clasped his arm. "Why do you come
here?" she cried. "It is madness! How and why came you to this room?"

He laughed like a delighted boy and hastily narrated the events of the
past twenty-four hours, ending with the trick that gave him entrance to
her room.

"And all this to see me?" she whispered.

"To see you and to save you. I hear that Gabriel has been annoying
you and that you are to give up half of the kingdom to-morrow. Tell me
everything. It is another reason for my coming."

Sitting beside him on the divan, she told of Gabriel's visit and his
dismissal, the outlook for the next day, and then sought to convince
him of the happiness it afforded her to protect him from an undeserved
death. He obtained for Quinnox the royal pardon and lauded him to the
skies. So ravishing were the moments, so ecstatic the sensations that
possessed them that neither thought of the consequences if he were to be
discovered in her room, disguised as one of her guardsmen. He forgot the
real import of his reckless visit until she commanded him to stand erect
before her that she might see what manner of soldier he was. With a
laugh, he leaped to his feet and stood before her--attention! She
leaned back among