e rage had been bubbling up to
boiling-point for the last ten minutes and now burst forth.

"Miserable traitor! I thought better of you!" cried Andrew bitterly.
"Pah! Friends! You are not worth the notice of a gentleman. Out of
the way, you wretched cur!"

He struck Frank sharply across the face with his glove, as he stepped
forward to pass, and quick as lightning the boy replied with a blow full
in the cheek, which sent him staggering back, so that he would have
fallen had it not been for the wall.

In an instant court rules and regulations were forgotten. The boys knew
that they wore swords, and these flashed from their scabbards, ornaments
no longer, and the next moment they crossed, the blades gritted
together, thrust and parry followed, and each showed that the
instructions he had received were not in vain.

What would have been the result cannot be told, save that it would have
been bitter repentance for the one who had sent his blade home; but
before any mischief had been done in the furious encounter, the doors at
either end of the anteroom were opened, and the Prince and the officers
from the audience chamber with the guards from the staircase landing
rushed in, the former narrowly escaping a thrust from Andrew's sword, as
with his own weapon he beat down the boys'.

"How dare you!" he cried.

"Now!" cried Andrew defiantly to Frank, as he stood quivering with
rage--"now is your time. Speak out; tell the whole truth."

"Yes, the whole truth," said the Prince sternly. "What does this brawl
mean?"

Frank did not hesitate for a moment.

"It was my fault, your Royal Highness," he cried, panting. "We
quarrelled; I lost my temper and struck him."

"Who dared to draw?" thundered the Prince.

"We both drew together, your Royal Highness," cried Frank hurriedly, for
fear that Andrew should be beforehand with him; "but I think I was
almost the first."

"You insolent young dogs!" cried the Prince; "how dare you brawl and
fight here!--Take away their swords; such boys are not fit to be trusted
with weapons. As for you, sir," he said, turning fiercely on Frank,
"like father like son, as you English people say. And you, sir--you are
older," he cried to Andrew. "There, take them away, and keep them till
I have decided how they shall be punished.--Come back to my room,
gentlemen. Such an interruption is a disgrace to the court."

He turned and walked toward the door, followed by the three officers,
o