GOLDROCK, _Royal Treasurer_.

DR. MERRYFERRY, _Minister of Foreign Affairs_.

FLATHOOTLY, _Minister of War_.

GEROLIO, _Vice-Commander of the Army_.

COLTONOBORY, _Vice-Commander of Bockhockids_.

[Illustration: WE SAT THUS CROWNED AMID THE TREMENDOUS EXCITEMENT. THE
PEOPLE SHOUTED "LIFE, HEALTH, AND PROSPERITY, TO OUR SOVEREIGN LORD
AND LADY, LEXINGTON AND LYONE, KING AND QUEEN OF ATVATABAR."]

During the declamation of the megaphone the pontiff Charka raised the
crown to my head, while his consort Thoubool raised the crown of the
queen to Lyone's head. We sat thus crowned amid the tremendous
excitement. The guns of the fortress shook the Bormidophia with their
explosions. The people shouted: "Life, health, and prosperity to our
sovereign lord and lady, Lexington and Lyone, King and Queen of
Atvatabar!" Men heard no sweeter music than the coronation march
executed by a thousand instruments. I realized as I sat with Lyone
beneath the throne of the gods a portion of that immeasurable feeling
of being universally exalted, universally loved, universally adored.
It is true, the fervor of idolatry for Lyone had largely subsided, but
in its stead came a more perfect loyalty of soul and body on the part
of priest and priestess. Souls that had balanced themselves, as it
were, on the edge of a sword, once more stood on the solid earth.

The magnificence of royalty, which kings born to the purple but rarely
feel, was ours. Our sudden good fortune unveiled to us the splendors
of power, and riches, and honor. The people themselves, enchanted with
the product of their own abnegation, made their obeisance to us as to
gods.

Lyone grew perceptibly paler with the intensity of her excitement; her
breast rose and fell more rapidly, as the soarings of song told her
that her supreme realization of life and fortune as goddess had not
wholly died with her apostasy, but that a new life no less glorious
had begun.

As for myself, seated on the focus of human endeavor, it thrilled me
to think what power of realization I possessed for things I had
considered impossible and unattainable. I determined that art should
sound the abysses of the inexpressible and bring from thence radiant
symbols of all things, clothed with imagination and emotion. Invention
would still further extend man's empire over matter. Soul-culture and
spirit-power would be cultivated in a reformed Egyplosis. Lyone,
mystical and divine, would ever rule queen of he