the indubitable evidence of the plays
themselves, that Francis Bacon wrote the immortal works falsely ascribed
to William Shakespeare, and that the gigantic genius of this man was the
result of the possession of royal blood. In this unacknowledged son of
Elizabeth Tudor, Queen of England, was made manifest to all countries
and for all centuries the glorious powers inherent in the regal blood of
England."

As the fearful meaning of these words was developed by the machine,
amazement gave place to consternation in those present and consternation
to abject terror. Each fear-palsied courtier looked with pale face to
right and left as though to seek escape. The fat knight, hitherto all
complacency, listening to this brazen traducer of the Queen's virgin
honor, seemed to shrink within himself, and his very clothing hung loose
upon him.

Droop and Rebecca, ignorant of the true bearing of the spoken words,
gazed in amazement from one to another until, glancing at the Queen,
their eyes remained fixed and fascinated.

The unthinkable insult implied in the words repeated was trebled in
force by being spoken thus publicly and in calm accents to her very
face. She--the daughter of Henry the Eighth; she--Elizabeth of
England--the Virgin Queen--to be thus coolly proclaimed the mother of
this upstart barrister!

As a cyclone approaches, silent and terrific, visible only in the swift
swirling changes of a livid and blackened sky, so the fatal passion in
that imperial bosom was known at first only in the gleaming of her black
eyes beneath contorted brows and the spasmodic changes that swept over
the pale red-painted face.

The danger thus portended was clear even to the bewildered Droop, and,
before the instrument had said its say, he began to slip very quietly
toward the door.

As the speech ended, Elizabeth emitted a growl that grew into a shriek
of fury, and, with her hair actually rising on her head, she threw
herself bodily upon the offending phonograph.

In her two hands she raised the instrument above her, and with a
maniac's force hurled it full at the head of Copernicus Droop.

Instinctively he dodged, and the mass of wood and steel crashed against
the door of the chamber, bursting it open and causing the two guards
without to fall back.

Droop saw his chance and took it. Turning, with a yell he dashed past
the guards and across the antechamber to the main entrance-hall. The
Queen, choked with passion, could only