h I owe this night's
amazement to your striving."

"Be just, Alec!" whispered the Serb hoarsely. "Condemn me if you will;
but be just! While Michael Delgrado lived, your reign would never have
been secure. I knew that all along. You will go away now and marry the
girl of your choice, and soon the memories of this downtrodden country
will be dim in your soul; but think what would have happened to you, to
your wife, and perhaps to your children, if Michael one day blurted out
the truth in some fit of drunken rage, or if Beliani and that other
white faced hound obtained evidence of your birth. That is why I was
resolved to force you, if possible, to wed a Serbian Princess. Your
marriage to a woman of our own race would have borne down opposition.
And now what will happen? The future is black. Michael is unworthy to be
a King; Marulitch, at the best, is a poor-spirited wretch; and after
them there is no Delgrado."

"Well, I am sorry, too, in a way," said Alec. "I was beginning to love
these Kosnovian folk, and I think I could have made something of them.
Good-by, Paul. If we never meet again, at least we part good friends."

Stampoff rose and silently wrung Alec's hand. He walked straight out of
the room with bent head and slow uncertain steps. For the hour his
fierce spirit was chastened. He had done that which he thought would
make for good, and it had turned out ill. His single minded scheming had
gone awry. Another man in his position might have sought to curry favor
with the new regime, whether of Michael or Julius; but Stampoff was not
of that mettle; he wanted Alec to be King, because he believed in him,
and now the edifice for which he had labored so ardently had tumbled in
pieces about his ears.

Pauline came, and Alec went to his mother. He took her tenderly in his
arms.

"Come, dear!" he said. "Joan's maid will help you to reach your room.
Our train leaves at midnight, and Bosko and Pauline will give your maid
any help she needs in collecting your belongings."

The Princess raised her grief stricken face to his, and it wrung his
heart anew to see how that night of misery had aged her.

"Oh, my son, my son!" she murmured. "Will you ever forgive me?"

He kissed her with a hearty and reassuring hug. "Forgive you, mother!"
he cried. "It is not I, but you, who have suffered through all these
years. Have no fear for the future! Joan and I will make you happy."

"But she, Alec! What will she say when she learn