is the moon, my friend," she declared. "A little brief frenzy, is
it not?"

His tone recovered confidence. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"The man lied to me," he declared. "Now I will tell you just what has
happened to me. You know that I have a room in the Theba Place. Well,
to-night, as I was about to prepare for dinner, a messenger, a native
Thetian he seemed to me, brought a note to my rooms. It was neither
signed nor addressed. But it bade me follow the bearer without
question if I would be of service to Theos."

"You went?" she asked.

"Of course," he answered, quickly. "If the summons was genuine, well
and good--if it was false, I still wanted to know the meaning of it."

"And which was it?" she asked.

"Genuine enough," he answered, gravely. "I was led into a quarter of
Theos where I have never been before, and which I am sure I could not
find again. We arrived at a little _cafe_--I do not know the name--it
was somewhere outside the walls. A man was waiting for me in a back
room. He was disguised, but I recognized him at once. It was
Domiloff!"

She started. Instinctively he felt that she was deeply interested.

"At first I thought that it was a trap--that Domiloff was preparing
some revenge for my personation of the King. Soon, however, I learnt
that his intention was a different one. He is concerned in a plot to
dethrone the King, and he proposed that I should throw in my lot with
his party."

"Did he tell you, then, that Nicholas and I were concerned in it?"

"No. From his point of view your cooperation as yet was unnecessary.
Yet the whole thing is concerned with you and your brother, for
Domiloff has named him as the future ruler of Theos. He offered to
give me positive evidence that Russia has decided to remove Ughtred
from the throne, that Theos itself is in deadly peril."

"There is one thing," she said, "which I do not quite understand. Why
did Domiloff send for you? You are not a soldier, nor are you
well-known to the Thetians."

"It is very simple," he answered. "To-day the Press has an immense
influence upon public opinion in England and all the Western
countries. I am writing for my paper in England a series of articles
upon Theos, and I am writing from a point of view friendly to Ughtred
of Tyrnaus. Domiloff wants these articles stopped. He professes to
need my active help. What he really desires is that I write no more,
or alter the tone of my letters."

Her satin slipper traced