t
means the bankruptcy of the nation, gentlemen."

Neither of his listeners spoke for some moments. Then Lorry broke the
silence.

"You mean that the money cannot be raised?" he asked.

"It is not in our treasury. Our people have been taxed so sorely in
rebuilding their homes and in recuperating from the effect of that
dreadful invasion that they have been unable to pay the levies. You
must remember that we are a small nation and of limited resources. Your
nation could secure $30,000,000 in one hour for the mere asking. To us
it is like a death blow. I am not betraying a state secret in telling
you of the sore straits in which we are placed, for every man in the
nation has been made cognizant of the true conditions. We are all facing
it together." There was something so quietly heroic in his manner that
both men felt pity. Anguish, looking at the military figure, asked: "You
fought through the war, your excellency?"

"I resigned as minister, sir, to go to the front. I was in the first
battle and I was in the last," he said, simply.

"And the Princess,--the present ruler, I mean,--was a mere child at that
time. When did she succeed to the throne?" asked Lorry.

"Oh, the great world does not remember our little history! Within a year
after the death of Prince Ganlook, his wife, my sister, passed away,
dying of a broken heart. Her daughter, their only child, was, according
to our custom, crowned at once. She has reigned for fourteen years, and
wisely since assuming full power. For three years she has been ruler de
facto. She has been frugal, and has done all in her power to meet the
shadow that is descending."

"And what is the alternative in case the indemnity is not paid?" asked
Lorry, breathlessly, for he saw something bright in the approaching
calamity.

"The cession of all that part of Graustark lying north of Edelweiss,
including fourteen towns, all of our mines and our most productive
farming and grazing lands. In that event Graustark will be no larger
than one of the good-sized farms in your western country. There will be
nothing left for Her Royal Highness to rule save a tract so small that
the word principality will be a travesty and a jest. This city and
twenty-five miles to the south, a strip about one hundred fifty miles
long. Think of it! Twenty-five by one hundred fifty miles, and yet
called a principality! Once the proudest and most prosperous state
in the east, considering its size, reduced to th