country!--yes!" said the Count
brokenly. "It has passed from his Majesty's hands; it is no longer among
the crown jewels of Mauravania--a Russian has it."

"A Russian?" Cleek's cry was like to nothing so much as the snarl of a
wild animal. "A Russian to hold it--a Russian?--the sworn enemy of
Mauravania--the race most hated of her people! God help your wretched
king, Count Irma, if this were known to his subjects."

"Ah, monsieur, it is that we dread--it is that against which we
struggle," replied the Count. "If that jewel were missing on the
coronation day, if it were known that a Russian holds it--Dear God! the
populace would rise--rise, monsieur, and tear his Majesty to pieces."

"He deserves no better!" said Cleek, through his close-shut teeth. "To a
Russian--a Russian! As heaven hears me, but for his queen--Well, let it
pass. Tell me, how did this Russian get the jewel, and when?"

"Oh, long ago, monsieur--long ago; many months before King Alburtus
died."

"Was it his hand that gave it up?"

"No, monsieur. He died without knowing of its loss, without suspecting
that the stone in the royal parure is but a sham and an imitation,"
replied the count. "It all came of the youth, the recklessness, the
folly of the crown prince. Monsieur may have heard of his--his many wild
escapades--his thoughtless acts, his--his--"

"Call them dissipations, Count, and give them their real name. His acts
as crown prince were a scandal and a disgrace. To whom did he part with
this gem--a woman?"

"Monsieur, yes! It was during the time he was stopping in
Paris--incognito to all but a trusted few. He--he met the woman there,
became fascinated with her--bound to her--an abject slave to her."

"A slave to a Russian? Mauravania's heir and--a Russian?"

"Monsieur, he did not know that until afterward. In a mad freak--there
was to be a masked ball--he yielded to the lady's persuasions to let her
wear the famous Rainbow Pearl for that one night. He journeyed back to
Mauravania and abstracted it from among the royal jewels--putting a mere
imitation in its place so that it should not be missed until he could
return the original. Monsieur, he was never able to return it at any
time, for, once she had got it, the Russian made away with it in some
secret manner and refused to give it up. Her price for returning it was
his royal father's consent to ennoble her, to receive her at the
Mauravanian Court, and so to alter the constitution that i