etly. "My father, like the rest
of us, read this morning's telegram about the overflowing of the
river----"

Count Marulitch waved his hands frantically. He was literally beside
himself. His full red lips, not at all unlike those of the youth in
Joan's picture, moved several times before sounds came.

"It is at least my good fortune to be the first to congratulate my
King!" he cried at last. "Be calm, I pray you; but a tremendous change
has been affected at Delgratz. Last night, while Theodore and the Queen
were at dinner, the Seventh Regiment mutinied. It was on guard at the
Schwarzburg. Officers and men acted together. There was no resistance.
It was impossible. Theodore and Helena were killed!" This man, who
appealed for calmness, was himself in a white heat of emotion.

A stifled scream, a sob, almost a groan, broke from the Princess, and
she clung to her son as though she sought protection from that
bloodthirsty Seventh Regiment. Prince Michael, fumbling with an
eyeglass, dropped it in sheer nervousness. Alec, throwing an arm round
his mother, recalled the hoarse yelling of the newsboys on the
boulevards. Was it this latest doom of a monarchy that they were bawling
so lustily? He glanced at his father, and the dapper little man found it
incumbent on him to say something.

"But, Julius--is this true? There are so many canards. You know our
proverb: 'A stone that falls in the Balkans causes an earthquake in St.
Petersburg.'"

"Oh, it is true, sire. And the telegrams declare that already you have
been proclaimed King."

"I!"

Prince Michael's exclamation was most unkingly. Rather was it the wail
of a criminal on being told that the executioner waited without. His
ruddy cheeks blanched, and his hands were outstretched as if in a
piteous plea for mercy. There was a tumult of objurgations in the outer
passage; but this King in spite of himself paid no heed.

"I?" he gasped again, with relaxed jaws.

"You, sire," cried Marulitch. "Our line is restored. There will be
fighting, of course; but what of that? One audacious week will see you
enthroned once more in the Schwarzburg. Ah! Here come Stampoff and
Beliani. You are quick on my heels, messieurs; but I promised my cabman
a double fare."

A scared manservant, vainly endeavoring to protect his master's private
apartments, was rudely thrust aside, and a fierce looking old warrior
entered, followed by a man who was obviously more of a Levantine than a
Serb. The