it is too much for me."

It was not like the King to give in to an English idiom. As a rule he
rushed at one the minute he heard it with reckless confidence. But he
was depressed and lonely on Salissa. He chatted cheerily enough to
Donovan. He was always bright and talkative at meals. But he confessed
to Gorman several times that he missed Madame Ypsilante very much.

It was Gorman's curious fortune at this time to receive the love
confidences of three different people. Phillips had poured raptures
into his ear during the voyage to the island. The Queen, having no one
else to treat as a confidant, often talked to him about Phillips. The
King was expansive about Madame Ypsilante. One evening he became very
sentimental, almost lachrymose. He and Gorman were sitting together
near the flagstaff, smoking and looking out towards the harbour where
the Megalian navy still lay at anchor.

"Ah," said the King, "my poor Corinne! She will languish. I think of
Corinne and I see that her eyes are full of mourning, like the eyes of
a wood dove. Gorman, I cannot bear the weight. It will be better that
I take the risk, that I go on the navy. The admiral will make me walk
a plank. That is certain. But it might be that I should survive. And
then I should rejoin Corinne, poor Corinne who mourns."

"I don't expect she's mourning as much as all that," said Gorman.
"She's got those pearls, you know."

"I," said the King, "I alone am her pearl. But, alas, I cannot even
write to her. She will think that I am dead and her heart will fall to
pieces."

"She's much more likely to think that you've married Miss Donovan,"
said Gorman.

"Of course she will think that. It was what I came to do. That she
will not mind. But if she thinks that I am dead, that the admiral has
cooked a goose for me; then she will indeed be sad. Gorman, my friend,
what shall I do to reassure her?"

"I can't possibly advise you," said Gorman. "I don't understand women.
I should have thought she'd much rather you were dead than married to
Miss Donovan."

"Ah no," said the King. "Believe me, my friend, you know much; but you
do not know the heart of Corinne."

The King's faith was very touching. But Gorman still maintains that he
was not far wrong about Madame Ypsilante's feelings. She might not
actually have preferred the King's death; but she certainly did not
want to see him married to Miss Donovan.

The King drew a last mouthful of smoke from his cigar and the