[Illustration: Stampoff saluted the King in silence
Page 268]

"Now," he said, "I am free to explain why we seven are gathered here
to-night. Joan Vernon, who was to have become my wife within a few days,
left Delgratz two hours ago by the mail train for Paris. She was
accompanied by Felix Poluski, and the only reason for this clandestine
journey is contained in a few lines of farewell addressed to me by the
lady herself. In that letter she speaks of a barrier that renders
impossible a marriage between her and me. I want to know what that
barrier is and who erected it, and I shall discover both those things
here and now, if I have to tear the knowledge from the heart of each man
present!"

"A strange threat, Alec," panted Prince Michael, whose prominent eyes
were bulging in semi-intoxication, though indeed he seemed suddenly to
have realized the tremendous import of the King's statement,--"a strange
threat to be uttered before your mother!"

"My mother loved Joan," came the impassioned cry. "She took her to her
heart from the first hour, and she will bear with me now in my agony.
Yet it may be that even my mother has deceived me. I cannot tell. Some
of you here know, perhaps all; but I vow to Heaven I shall not flinch
from my resolve to extract the truth, no matter with whom the
responsibility rests!"

Princess Delgrado, trembling and ghastly pale, tottered to the chair
again and gripped its back to prevent herself from falling. Under less
strained conditions, it must have seemed bizarre in a company of men
for whom polite attentions to the opposite sex were a fixed convention,
that she should seek such support when her husband was standing by her
side; but in that startled gathering small heed was given to aught else
than the King's thrilling statement.

Though aware of his mother's distress, Alec did not move from the
position he had taken up, facing all of them, and with that hidden sword
within easy reach. Ever a dutiful and devoted son, he continued now to
glower at the half-fainting woman as though she alone held the key of
the mystery that resulted in Joan's disappearance. His impassioned eyes
sought to peer into her very soul, and his nostrils quivered with the
frenzied eagerness of one who awaited an answer to the implied question.
In some indefinable way he had already begun to suspect the truth; for
when the poor woman made no reply, though more than once her terror
laden eyes met his in mute appea