ltered through his brain.

"My God!" he exclaimed at last. "You mean that you wish me to
murder Leopold with my own hands?"

"You put it too crudely, my dear Coblich," replied the other.

"I cannot do it," muttered Coblich. "I have never killed a man in
my life. I am getting old. No, I could never do it. I should not
sleep nights."

"If it is not done, Coblich, and Leopold comes into his own," said
Peter slowly, "you will be caught and hanged higher than Haman. And
if you do not do it, and the imposter is crowned today, then you
will be either hanged officially or knifed unofficially, and without
any choice in the matter whatsoever. Nothing, Coblich, but the dead
body of the true Leopold can save your neck. You have your choice,
therefore, of letting him live to prove your treason, or letting him
die and becoming chancellor of Lutha."

Slowly Coblich turned toward the door. "You are right," he said,
"but may God have mercy on my soul. I never thought that I should
have to do it with my own hands."

So saying he left the room and a moment later Peter of Blentz smiled
as he heard the pounding of a horse's hoofs upon the pavement
without.

Then the Regent entered the room he had recently quitted and spoke
to the nobles of Lutha who were gathered there.

"Coblich has found the body of the murdered king," he said. "I have
directed him to bring it to the cathedral. He came upon the impostor
and his confederate, Lieutenant Butzow, as they were bearing the
corpse from the hospital at Tafelberg where the king has lain
unknown since the rumor was spread by Von der Tann that he had been
killed by bandits.

"He was not killed until last evening, my lords, and you shall see
today the fresh wounds upon him. When the time comes that we can
present this grisly evidence of the guilt of the impostor and those
who uphold him, I shall expect you all to stand at my side, as you
have promised."

With one accord the noblemen pledged anew their allegiance to Peter
of Blentz if he could produce one-quarter of the evidence he claimed
to possess.

"All that we wish to know positively is," said one, "that the man
who bears the title of king today is really Leopold of Lutha, or
that he is not. If not then he stands convicted of treason, and we
shall know how to conduct ourselves."

Together the party rode to the cathedral, the majority of the older
nobility now openly espousing the cause of the Regent.

At the palace Barney