may come on here."

Brand shrugged his shoulders.

"Your Majesty will find their presence welcome?" he asked.

The King looked at him in surprise.

"Surely! They are friends of mine. It would give me great pleasure to
have them here. Why not?"

Brand hesitated.

"I wondered," he said, slowly, "if they might not find their presence
here a little equivocal. Your Majesty is no longer a private
individual, and Mr. and Miss Van Decht, however agreeable in
themselves, are not of the rank which entitles them to a familiar
footing at your Court."

Ughtred looked at his companion in some surprise.

"That speech," he remarked, "might have come from Nicholas of
Reist--from you, my friend, it sounds strangely."

"I admit it," Brand answered. "For myself it is true that I am a
democrat, but then I am only a journalist. I have noticed that the few
nobles who remain in Theos are aristocrats to the backbone. I believe
that you find their principles absolutely rock-bound."

The King frowned. His eyes had rested upon Marie of Reist, sitting
upright in her saddle, and watching eagerly for the development of the
sham fight.

"Well, well," he said, "we shall see! I wish to see the Van Dechts
here, and it is useless to meet trouble halfway. Be so good, Brand, as
to convey my regards to the Countess of Reist, and suggest that she
join us. Our position is better chosen than hers."

Brand cantered over to her side and repeated the message. She rode
with him towards the King.

"You have been much occupied lately, perhaps," she said to Brand. "My
brother tells me that you have been invisible."

"I have been busy," he answered. "Perhaps because of my small share in
events here, I have become wonderfully interested in Theos. I have
been making excursions in all directions. I want to understand many
things which are hard for a stranger to form a right idea of."

She smiled.

"Then why do you not come to me?" she said. "I can tell you very much
about Theos. I can tell you about the country people, and how they
live. Did I not ask you to come, Mr. Brand? You are very ungallant."

He met a glance from her dark eyes, and his pale cheeks were suddenly
flushed.

"You were good enough to say that you would receive me," he answered.
"If I may come, then, I will."

"My brother has shown me in the English papers some of the things
which you have written about Theos," she continued. "I cannot tell you
what pleasure they gave me. It i