a little man, bravely dressed in scarlet and
yellow, bobbed up and down over his instrument. The girl was
thinking--wondering! It was so sudden a change, this. Ughtred Erlito
had been a delightful friend--but Ughtred of Tyrnaus! It was so
strange a transition. She kept her eyes fixed upon the marble floor,
and her heart beat for a moment or two to the sad music of the wailing
violin. Then she sprang to her feet--the folly had passed. With one
sudden movement one of the little ornaments hanging from her bracelet
became detached and rolled away. Ughtred recovered it, and would have
fastened it upon the gold wire, but she stopped him.

"It is my four-leaved clover," she said. "See, I shall give it to you.
May it bring you good fortune. Floreat Theos!"

He held it in his palm--a dainty ornament set with diamonds and
quaintly shaped.

"Do you mean it?" he asked.

"Why, of course," she answered. "If it is not exactly a coronation
present, it will at least help to remind you--of the days before you
were a King."

"I need no trinkets to remind me of some things," he answered,
quietly, "but Theos will give me nothing which I shall prize more than
this. I shall keep it, too, as a pledge of your promise. You will come
to Theos?"

"Yes, I will come," she answered.

Nicholas of Reist was by their side, dark, almost saturnine in his
black evening clothes and tie. His presence had a chilling effect upon
them both. Sara rose to her feet.

"Will you see if you can find father?" she said to Ughtred. "He was
talking to some Americans who went into the restaurant."

He moved away. She turned quickly to Reist.

"I wanted to ask you," she said. "You live in Theos, and you can give
me an idea. What is there that I can send Prince Ughtred for a
coronation present?"

"That is a very difficult question to answer," Reist said. "Will you
not be a little more explicit? A steam yacht would be a present, so
would a cigarette-case."

She nodded quickly.

"Yes! I should have explained. Money is of no consequence at all. I
had thought of a team of horses and a coach."

He was suddenly serious. He eyed the girl with a new curiosity. She
then was one of the daughters of this new world before whose golden
key every Court in Europe had yielded. She was of striking appearance,
perhaps beautiful, instinctively well bred. She might be destined to
play a part in the affairs of Theos.

"'Money is of no consequence at all,'" he repeated, tho