ied for vengeance.

To this man was the woman he loved betrothed! He knew that he might
never wed the Princess Emma. Even were she not promised to another,
the iron shackles of convention and age-old customs must forever
separate her from an untitled American. But if he couldn't have her
he still could serve her!

"For her sake," he muttered.

"Did your majesty speak?" asked Butzow.

"Yes, lieutenant. We urge greater haste, for if we are to be
crowned today we have no time to lose."

Butzow smiled a relieved smile. The king had at last regained his
senses!

Within the ancient cathedral at Lustadt a great and gorgeously
attired assemblage had congregated. All the nobles of Lutha were
gathered there with their wives, their children, and their
retainers. There were the newer nobility of the lowlands--many whose
patents dated but since the regency of Peter--and there were the
proud nobility of the highlands--the old nobility of which Prince
Ludwig von der Tann was the chief.

It was noticeable that though a truce had been made between Ludwig
and Peter, yet the former chancellor of the kingdom did not stand
upon the chancel with the other dignitaries of the State and court.

Few there were who knew that he had been invited to occupy a place
of honor there, and had replied that he would take no active part in
the making of any king in Lutha whose veins did not pulse to the
flow of the blood of the house in whose service he had grown gray.

Close packed were the retainers of the old prince so that their
great number was scarcely noticeable, though quite so was the fact
that they kept their cloaks on, presenting a somber appearance in
the midst of all the glitter of gold and gleam of jewels that
surrounded them--a grim, business-like appearance that cast a chill
upon Peter of Blentz as his eyes scanned the multitude of faces
below him.

He would have shown his indignation at this seeming affront had he
dared; but until the crown was safely upon his head and the royal
scepter in his hand Peter had no mind to do aught that might
jeopardize the attainment of the power he had sought for the past
ten years.

The solemn ceremony was all but completed; the Bishop of Lustadt had
received the great golden crown from the purple cushion upon which
it had been borne at the head of the procession which accompanied
Peter up the broad center aisle of the cathedral. He had raised it
above the head of the prince regent, and