ake certain."

"Yes," I answered; "and I will accompany you. We will start at once."

"Is it wise for your Majesty to come?" Bertram asked anxiously. "If you
will entrust the errand to me----"

"It is useless for you to argue," I answered sharply. "My mind is made
up, and go with you I must, and will. Prepare yourself, and return
here."

Seeing that it would be a waste of time to expostulate further, he
departed without another word. Ten minutes or so later we had left the
palace by the same door which had witnessed our departure into exile so
many years before. Before leaving the palace I had taken the precaution
to slip a revolver into my pocket, and, on inquiry, I found that Bertram
had done the same. If we were to be the victims of a conspiracy, we
should at least be able to render a good account of ourselves. Having
crossed the great square, and passed the Lilienhoehe Palace, in the
windows of which many lights still showed themselves, we steered for the
southern portion of the city, where we had discovered the Buchengasse
was situated. It was not a savoury neighbourhood, I had been given to
understand, and certainly, when we had left the more fashionable portion
of the town behind us, we found ourselves in a quarter where the streets
were narrow, and the houses far from prepossessing. Muffled up as we
were, it was scarcely likely that anyone would have recognised us, even
had the thoroughfares been thronged with pedestrians. As it was,
however, they were well-nigh deserted, and for this reason we were able
to reach the street, for which we were directing our steps without
hindrance.

"This is evidently the one," I said, as we turned into a narrow alley,
which was, if anything, darker and more unsavoury than those through
which we had hitherto been walking. "Now we have to discover the fifth
house on the right-hand side."

We accordingly proceeded down it, counting the houses as we went. They
were tall, rambling edifices, and must have ranked amongst the oldest in
the city. The upper stories projected far beyond the lower, so that, the
street itself being narrow, the roofs were almost within touching
distance of each other. One solitary lamp illumined it, but that might
as well have been dispensed with, for the wind-tossed jet of flame only
served to make the place look even more desolate than before. Number
five differed from its fellows in the fact that it was, if possible,
dirtier and more uncared for tha