. To accept a heart which is no longer at your
disposal would be sacrilegious and criminal in me. Farewell."

"Madam," said the king, with an ill-assured voice, "you do not know
what you make me suffer. There are things which I would gladly burn in
eternal silence, but which you force me to reveal. The queen never
loved me; ambition alone dictated her conduct."

"That is not so," said the stranger, letting go the prince's hand.
"The queen loved you."

"No, madam," replied Charming; "my father and I were the victims of a
detestable intrigue."

"Enough!" said the stranger, whose hands trembled and whose fingers
worked in a strange manner. "Respect the dead; do not slander them."

"Madam," said the prince, "I assure you, and none ever doubted my
word, that the queen never loved me. She was a wicked woman."

"Ah!" said the domino.

"Wilful, violent, and jealous."

"If she was jealous, she loved you," interrupted the mask. "Seek for
proofs which have at least a shadow of probability; do not accuse a
heart which was wholly yours."

"So far from loving me," said the king, excitedly, "the very night of
my marriage she dared tell me to my face that she had married me only
for my crown."

"That is not true," said the gipsy, raising her hand.

"I swear it," replied Charming.

"You lie!" cried the stranger. And, lo! a box on the ear blinded the
prince; the blow was repeated, and the stranger fled.

The king stepped back furious, and sought the hilt of his sword; but
men do not go to balls armed as for war; for his sole weapon he found
a knot of ribbons. He ran after his enemy, but which way had she fled?
Charming lost himself twenty times in the labyrinth; he met none but
peaceful dominos walking in couples and scarcely glancing at him as he
passed. Breathless, distracted, and desperate, he returned to the
ball-room, where he doubted not that the stranger had taken refuge;
but how was he to find her?

A brilliant idea crossed the prince's mind; he would order all to
unmask, and would doubtless see the gipsy, confounded by the king's
presence and betrayed by her own agitation. He instantly leaped on a
chair, and exclaimed in a loud voice that caused every one to start:

"Ladies and gentlemen, day is approaching and pleasure is languishing;
let us revive mirth by a new caprice. Off with the masks! I set the
example; let all who love me follow it."

He threw off his domino, raised his mask, and appeared in the rich