the
table, her head buried in her hands. He did not approach her. Through
the open window came the dull booming of guns. The sound was a
torture to him.

"What are you going to do?" she asked, at last.

"God only knows!" he answered, bitterly. "I have no King and no
country. Yet if I stay here I shall go mad."

She removed her hands from her face and looked at him stealthily.

"If there were a way," she whispered, "to save Theos, and to be
avenged on Ughtred of Tyrnaus."

He stopped short.

"What do you mean?"

"If there were still a way," she whispered, "by which our old dream
might come true. If it were still possible that you might become the
saviour of our country, might even now rescue it from the Turks----"

"Plain words," he cried. "Let there be no enigmas between you and me.
What do you mean?"

She looked at him more boldly.

"If a great Power should say 'I will not help Theos in her trouble
because I do not recognize Ughtred of Tyrnaus, but if the right man is
willing to accept the throne--so--I will stretch out my hand--the war
shall cease--Theos shall be free.' What do you think of that,
Nicholas?"

He looked at her with new eyes.

"Whose thoughts are these?" he asked, slowly.

"Domiloff's!"

"He has spoken to you?"

"Yes!"

"It is treason," he cried, hoarsely. "I will have none of it."

"Who," she asked, "is a greater traitor than Ughtred of Tyrnaus?"

He was silent.

"Who," she cried, "is better beloved in Theos?--who could rule the
people more wisely than you, Nicholas? It would save our country from
conquest and pillage. It is--the only way. Is it not what we have
spoken of before--have not you yourself pointed upwards to that motto,
whose writing is surely no less clear to-day? Oh, Nicholas, you cannot
hesitate."

He walked to the window and looked out towards the hills, where the
red lights still flared and the guns made sullen music. Her words were
like poison to him.

"Listen, Nicholas," she said. "While Ughtred of Tyrnaus is king no
help will come to us from any other nation, and without help how can
Theos hold out against a hundred thousand Turks? We have few soldiers
and fewer guns. Our population will be decimated, our country laid
waste, and the end will be slavery. It is for you to save us all. It
is you who can save Theos."

He looked at her with cold, stern eyes.

"How long have you been the confidante of Domiloff?"

"It is only lately," she answered, "that h