him, and throwing
herself into his arms.

The eyes of Alberdin sparkled with joy.

"Let the Autocracy go!" he cried. "Now that I have my Princess, the
throne and the crown are nothing to me."

"So long as I have you," returned the Princess, "I am content to
resign all the comforts and advantages to which I have been
accustomed."

Phedo, who had been earnestly talking with his tutor, now looked up.

"You shall not resign any thing!" he cried. "We are all of the same
blood, and we will join together and form a royal family, and we will
all live at the palace. Alberdin and my tutor shall manage the
government for me until I am grown up; and if I have to go to school
for a few years, I suppose I must. And that is all there is about
it!"

The syndicate was now ordered to retire and disband; the heralds
proclaimed Phedo the conquering heir, and the people cheered and
shouted with delight. All the virtues of the late Autocrat had come
to him from his mother, and the citizens of Mutjado much preferred to
have a new ruler from the mother's family.

"I hope you bear no grudge against me," said Salim to Alberdin; "but
if you had been willing to wait for thirteen years, you and Phedo
might have fought on equal terms. As it is now, it would have been as
hard for him to conquer you, as for you to conquer the syndicate. The
odds would have been quite as great."

"Don't mention it," said Alberdin. "I prefer things as they are. I
should have hated to drive the boy away, and deprive him of a
position which the people wish him to have. Now we are all
satisfied."

Phedo soon began to show signs that he would probably make a very
good Autocrat. He declared that if he was to be assisted by ministers
and cabinet officers when he came to the throne, he would like them
to be persons who had been educated for their positions, just as he
was to be educated for his own. Consequently he chose for the head of
his cabinet a bright and sensible boy, and had him educated as a
Minister of State. For Minister of Finance, he chose another boy with
a very honest countenance, and for the other members of his cabinet,
suitable youths were selected. He also said, that he thought there
ought to be another officer, one who would be a sort of Minister of
General Comfort, who would keep an eye on the health and happiness of
the subjects, and would also see that every thing went all right in
the palace, not only in regard to meals, but lots of other t