d on a private balcony. Here he placed two chairs
and a small table; and with a bottle of tokayer between them they seated
themselves.

"What's it all about?"

"O, only a crown and a few millions in money."

"Only a crown and a few millions in money," repeated Maurice very
slowly, for his mind could scarcely accept Fitzgerald and these two
greatest treasures on earth.

A gendarme had leisurely followed them from the park. He took aside a
porter and quietly plied him with questions. Evidently the answers were
satisfactory, for he at once departed.

Maurice stared at the Englishman.

"Knocks you up a bit, eh?" said Fitzgerald. "Well, I am rather surprised
myself; that is to say, I was."

"Fire away," said Maurice.

"To begin with, if I do not see the king to-morrow, it is not likely
that I ever shall."

"The king?"

"My business here is with his Majesty."

Maurice filled the glasses and pushed one across the table.

"Here's!" said he, and gulped.

Fitzgerald drank slowly, however, as if arranging in his mind the
salient points in his forthcoming narrative.

"I have never been an extraordinarily communicative man; what I shall
tell you is known only to my former Colonel and myself. At Calcutta,
where you and I first met, I was but a Lieutenant in her Majesty's.
To-day I am burdened with riches such as I know not how to use, and
possessor of a title which sounds strange in my ears."

The dim light from the gas-jet in the room flickered over his face, and
Maurice saw that it was slightly contorted, as if by pain.

"My father was Lord Fitzgerald."

"What!" cried Maurice, "the diplomat, the historian, the millionaire?"

"The same. Thirteen years ago we parted--a misunderstanding. I never saw
him again. Six months ago he died and left me a fortune, a title and a
strange legacy; and it is this legacy which brings me to Bleiberg. Do
you know the history of Leopold?"

"I do. This throne belongs to the house of Auersperg, and the Osian
usurps. The fact that the minister of the duchess has been discredited
was what brought me here. Continue."

And Fitzgerald proceeded briefly to acquaint the other with the strange
caprice of his father; how, when he left Bleiberg, he had been waylaid
and the certificates demanded; how he had entrusted them to his valet,
who had gone by another route; how the duke had sought him in Vienna and
made offers, bribes and threats; how he had laughed at all, and sworn
that Duke Jo