thing to the world from which they
expected to take so much.

The nominal leader was William Spantz, he who had a son in the Prince's
household, Julius Spantz, the Master-of-arms. Far off in the hills above
the Danube there lived the real leader of this deadly group--the Iron
Count Marlanx, exile from the land of his birth, hated and execrated by
every loyal Graustarkian, hating and execrating in return with a tenfold
greater venom. Marlanx, the man who had been driven from wealth and
power by the sharp edict of Prince Robin's mother, the lamented Yetive,
in the days of her most glorious reign,--this man, deep in his raging
heart, was in complete accord with the desperate band of Reds who
preached equality and planned disaster.

Olga Platanova was the latest acquisition to this select circle. A word
concerning her: she was the daughter of Professor Platanova, one time
oculist and sociologist in a large German University. He had been one of
the most brilliant men in Europe and a member of a noble family. There
was welcome for him in the homes of the nobility; he hobnobbed, so to
speak, with the leading men of time Empire. The Platanova home in Warsaw
was one of the most inviting and exclusive in that great, city. The
professor's enthusiasm finally carried him from the conservative paths
in which he had walked; after he had passed his fiftieth year he became
an avowed leader among the anarchists and revolutionists in Poland, his
native state. Less than a year before the opening of this tale he was
executed for treason and conspiracy against the Empire.

His daughter, Olga, was recognised as one of the most beautiful and
cultured young women in Warsaw. Her suitors seemed to be without number;
nor were they confined to the student and untitled classes with whom she
was naturally thrown by force of circumstance. More than one lordly
adventurer in the lists of love paid homage to her grace and beauty.
Finally there came one who conquered and was beloved. He was the son of
a mighty duke, a prince of the blood.

It was true love for both of them. The young prince pledged himself to
marry her, despite all opposition; he was ready to give up his noble
inheritance for the sake of love. But there were other forces greater
than a young man's love at work. The all-powerful ruler of an Empire
learned of this proposed mesalliance and was horrified. Two weeks
afterward the prince was called. The will of the Crown was made known to
h