rdid existence he had
known at home. It was like a fine, wholesome, endless dream to him. He
drifted on the joyous, smiling tide of pleasure that swept Edelweiss
with its careless waves night and day. Clever, handsome, sincere in his
attitude of loyalty toward these people of the topmost east, he was not
long in becoming a popular idol.

His wide-awake, resourceful brain, attuned by nature to the difficulties
of administration, lent itself capably to the solving of many knotty
financial puzzles; the ministry was never loth to call on him for
advice and seldom disposed to disregard it. An outsider, he never
offered a suggestion or plan unasked; to this single qualification he
owed much of the popularity and esteem in which he was held by the
classes and the masses. Socially, he was a great favourite. He enjoyed
the freedom of the most exclusive homes in Edelweiss. He had enjoyed the
distinction of more than one informal visit to old Princess Volga of
Axphain, just across the border, to say nothing of shooting expeditions
with young Prince Dantan of Dawsbergen, whose American wife, formerly
Miss Calhoun of Washington, was a friend of long standing.

John Tullis was, beyond question, the most conspicuous and the most
admired man in Edelweiss in these serene days of mentorship to the
adored Prince Robin.

There was but one man connected with the government to whom his
popularity and his influence proved distasteful. That man was the Duke
of Perse. On more than one occasion the cabinet had chosen to be guided
by the sagacity of John Tullis in preference to following the lines laid
down by the astute minister of finance. The decision to offer the new
bond issue in London and Paris was due to the earnest, forceful argument
of John Tullis--outside the cabinet chamber, to be sure. This was but
one instance in which the plan of the treasurer was overridden. He
resented the plain though delicate influence of the former Wall Street
man. Tullis had made it plain to the ministry that Graustark could not
afford to place itself in debt to the Russians, into whose hands, sooner
or later, the destinies of the railroad might be expected to fall. The
wise men of Graustark saw his point without force of argument, and voted
down, in the parliament, the Duke's proposition to place the loan in St.
Petersburg and Berlin. For this particular act of trespass upon the
Duke's official preserves he won the hatred of the worthy treasurer and
his n