with his
laboratory apparatus in the basement of his palace, tried to find the
key to her change of heart.

"Can't understand it!" he mused. "She always seemed to have all the
royal instincts: cold to suitors, with that delicacy and reserve one
finds ideal in a princess. She does all things well, handles a sword
nearly as well as I do. Her mind is as keen and limpid as a diamond.
She swims like an eel...."

He sighed. "I thought she and I saw eye to eye in this matter. Not
more than a week ago she seemed eager for news of the accord I was
arranging. She had no great aversion to Scar Balta. Now she says she
will die before she espouses him."

He paused, thought a moment, added, with that absolute fairness and
impartiality that was characteristic of him:

"True, Balta is not the ideal prince consort. He would not add kingly
qualities to the royal line. But he would confer cunning upon his
offspring; and energy--neither to be despised in a royal family that
must forever resist intrigue." He sighed again. "The responsibility of
king-making is a hard one!"

A sudden thought struck him. "She spoke warmly about the proposed war;
could that be at the root of her strange change of heart? After all,
she is a woman, and with all her fine, true temper she has a gentle
heart. To her the death of a few thousands of her subjects may not
outweigh the unhappiness that millions are now experiencing. But the
financiers demand the war to consolidate their position, and Wilcox is
solidly with them."

With new hope he set down the beaker he was toying with. "Perhaps we
can outwit them."

* * * * *

He left the laboratory, climbed a flight of stairs, entered the
spacious reception hall. This, like most Martian buildings, was domed.
It was richly furnished. The walls were hung with burnished, metallic
draperies of gorgeous colors, the floor a lustrous black, the
furniture of glittering metal. As the prince entered a servant stepped
forward.

"Go at once to the Princess Sira's chamber!" Joro commanded sharply.
"Request her to come here. Tell her I have thought of the solution to
our difficulty."

Impatiently he paced up and down, stopping at a window for a moment
and looking out into the night.

"Your Highness! Your Highness!" The servant was sobbing with
excitement. "Your Highness, Princess Sira has escaped!"

Joro left the man babbling, dashed up the broad stairs, unheeding the
servants who sc