should receive, the exercise she should take, and so on; thus
providing for Dick's and Grosvenor's free admission to the palace and
the Queen's presence as often as they chose.

This important matter settled, the friends retired to their own quarters
to talk matters over. They found that all their various belongings had
been brought from the cell in which they had passed the previous night,
and were now carefully arranged in their own private apartment.
Grosvenor at once went to his trunk, opened it, bundled its contents
upon the floor, and feverishly proceeded to sort out the half-dozen
books--novels, and two volumes of poems--which it contained, exhorting
Dick to do the same, in order that "that poor girl" might be provided
with a new form of amusement with the least possible delay. It was easy
for Dick to perceive, from his companion's talk, that the latter had
been profoundly impressed by the charms and the lonely state of the
young Queen; and Maitland quietly chuckled, as he reflected that
Grosvenor would never have seen her had he not fled to South Africa for
distraction from the smart of a heart severely lacerated by some fickle
fair one, who, by the way, seemed now to be completely forgotten. But
he shook his head with sudden gravity, as his thoughts travelled on into
the future and he foresaw the possibility of a mutual attachment
springing up between Phil and the Queen. That would be a complication
with a vengeance, and he determined quietly to do everything in his
power to prevent it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The ensuing six months passed with the rapidity of a dream; for no
sooner had the two Englishmen arranged matters relating to the Queen
upon a satisfactory basis than they discovered that there was another
cause for anxiety of the gravest character in the behaviour of the
savage nations that hemmed in Izreel on every side. Hitherto these had
been too busily engaged in fighting each other to do more than make
desultory war upon the Izreelites; but now news of an apparently
reliable character came to Bethalia, the island city, to the effect that
a certain king, named Mokatto--a very shrewd fellow by all accounts--had
entered into friendly communication with the rulers of the other nations
whose countries bordered on Izreel, and had pointed out the folly of
fighting each other for no particular reason, when, by uniting their
forces, they could attack