sko. King or no King, he was faithful to his
scanty stock of French.

Prince Michael had dined well, having induced his host to depart from
the King's injunctions as to the wine supplied at meals. His puffed face
shone redly. It looked so gross and fat, perched on such a slender
frame, that he resembled one of those diminutive yet monstrous
caricatures of humanity seen on the pantomime stage.

"What is the trouble now, Alec?" he asked, glancing quickly round the
spacious ill lighted apartment. "Your man came to me most mysteriously.
His manner suggested treasons, spoils, and stratagems. I met your mother
on the stairs. She too, it seems, is in demand."

Alec looked at the strange little creature whom he called father, and
from the Prince's gargoyle head his gaze dwelt on his mother. She had
uttered no word. Her eyes met his furtively for a second and then
dropped. She was disturbed, obviously alarmed, and, with a curiously
detached feeling of surprise, he guessed that she knew of Joan's
departure. Well, he would bide his time until all possible conspirators
were present. Then, by fair means or foul, he would wring the truth from
them.

"I want to consult my mother and you as to a certain matter," he said,
answering Prince Michael with apparent nonchalance. "I shall not detain
you very long. Beliani, Julius, and Monsieur Nesimir are in the
building, and then we only await Stampoff--with whom, by the way, I
almost succeeded in quarreling to-day."

"A quarrel with Stampoff!" exclaimed the elder Delgrado, preening his
chest and sticking out his chin in the exaggerated manner that warned
those who knew him best of the imminent expression of a weighty opinion.
"That will never do. Stampoff is the backbone of your administration.
Were it not for our dear Paul, nothing would have been heard of a
Delgrado in Kosnovia during the last quarter of a century. My dear boy,
he has kept us alive politically. On no account can you afford to
quarrel with Stampoff!"

Michael's big head wagged wisely; for champagne invariably made him
talkative. Nesimir entered; with him came Count Julius and the Greek.

"Nice thing his Majesty has just told me!" cried Prince Michael, with
owl-like gravity. "He says that Stampoff and he have disagreed. What has
gone wrong? Have you heard of this most unfortunate estrangement,
Monsieur Nesimir?"

The President, of course, assumed that some allusion had been made
already to the scene in the Council