music of a great orchestra.
Further on--in a great court--a regiment of soldiers were drilling,
their rapid evolutions making no more sound than if they were moving in
mid-air. In another room he saw a great body of men, women and children
in vari-colored suits bathing in a pool of rose-colored, perfumed water.

He was passing on when a woman, closely veiled and simply dressed,
touched his arm.

"Be watchful and follow me," she said, in a low, guarded tone.

The heart of the Englishman bounded and his blood rushed to his face,
for the speaker was the Princess Bernardino. She did not pause, but
glided on into the shade of a great palm tree, and, behind a row of
thick-growing ferns of great height and thickness, she waited for him.

She lowered her veil as he approached and looked at him from her deep
brown eyes in great concern. He stood spell-bound under the witchery of
her beauty.

"I came to warn you, Prince," she said, and her soft musical voice set
every nerve in Thorndyke's body to tingling with delight. "My father
has banished the faithful slave that you love, but you must not show
the anger that you feel, else he will kill you. You must be exceedingly
cautious if you would save him. My father would punish me severely if
he knew that I had sought you in this way. I was obliged to come in
disguise; this dress belongs to my most trusted maid."

"And you came for my sake?" blurted out the Englishman, much
embarrassed; "I am not worthy of such a high honor."

She smiled and tears rose in her eyes.

"Oh, Prince, don't speak to me so! You are far above me. I am weak. I
know nothing. I never cared for other men than the king and my brothers
till I saw you today, but now I would willingly be your slave."

"I am yours forever, and an humble one," bowed the courteous Englishman.
"The moment I saw you at the throne of your father my heart went out to
you. You wound it up in your music and trampled it under your dancing
feet. I have been over the whole world, and you are the loveliest
creature in it. It is because I saw you, because you are here, that I do
not want to leave your country. They may do as they will with me if they
only will let me see you now and then."

The princess was deeply moved. The blood rushed to her face and
beautified it. Her eyes fell beneath his admiring glance. Thorndyke
could not restrain himself. He caught her slender hand and pressed it
passionately to his lips, and she made only a sli