moment when Nesimir, pale and shaken, entered
the chamber through the folding doors at the back of the presidential
dais.

"Silence for his Excellency the President!" shouted a loud voiced usher,
and all men looked up in wonder when they discovered that the youthful
stranger was standing by the President's side. The session was to be a
secret one. Press and public were excluded. Who, then--

"Gentleman," said Sergius Nesimir, and he spoke with the slowness of ill
repressed agitation, "I have a momentous announcement to make. This
honorable house has almost committed itself to the republican form of
Government----"

[Illustration: "Gentlemen, here stands Alexis Delgrado"
Page 75]

"Definitely!" cried a voice.

"No, no!" this from a Senator.

The President lifted a hand. In other circumstances, the interruptions
would have provoked rival storms of agreement and dissent from the many
groups into which the Assembly was split up; but now there was an
electric feeling in the air that their trusted chief would not broach
this grave question so suddenly without good cause. And--who was his
companion? Why did he occupy the dais?

"I ask for silence," said Nesimir. "The fortunes of Kosnovia tremble in
the balance. You will be given ample time for discussion; but hear me
first. I have said that the republican idea has been mooted in all
seriousness. We, in common with the rest of humanity, have been
horror stricken by recent events in our beloved land. Our reigning
dynasty has been blotted out of existence. There is no heir of the
Obrenovitch line. Were we, the representatives of the people, to declare
in favor of a King, we should naturally turn to the other royal house of
our own blood. We should send for a Delgrado. Gentlemen, here stands
Alexis Delgrado----"

He could go no further. A yell of sheer amazement came from all parts of
the crowded chamber. Ministers, Senators, Representatives, joined in
that bewildered roar. Those who were sitting rose; those in the back
benches stood on the seats in order to gaze over the heads in front.
Men shouted and glared and turned to shout again at one another; but
through all the turmoil Alec faced them, smiling and imperturbable, and,
at what he judged to be the right moment--for that volcanic outburst
must be given time to exhaust itself--he placed his one hand on the
President's shoulder and with the other signaled his desire to be heard.

Again he placed implicit con