is majesty put the ring on again, and asked:
"Are you married?"

"I was, Your Majesty."

"Have you any children?"

"An only son, Your Majesty."

"Very well. Hold yourself in readiness; I shall soon have further
orders for you."

Baum went out. While hurrying through the anteroom, he graciously
addressed the chamberlain with: "Pray don't rise!" There was no need
that any one should see what was plainly to be read in every line of
his face. The king had addressed him familiarly, and had even inquired
about his family. He was, at last, the confidant of royalty; the
highest honors now awaited him.

He went to his quarters in the side wing of the palace.

The king was alone. Naught was near him save Irma's hat and shoes. He
gazed at them for a long while. What a poem it would make--to bring to
the lover the shoes and the hat of his beloved--what a song it would be
to sing in the twilight. Such were his thoughts and yet his brain
whirled. With trembling hands, he took up the hat and shoes, and locked
up the tokens of death in his writing-desk.

The feather on the hat broke as he closed the door. A light was burning
on the writing-table. The king lit a cigar. When his eye fell on the
water-color portrait of the queen, he started. He went on smoking
violently.

It was not till some after that, that the king rang the bell and gave
directions that the lord steward should be called, but that no one else
should be admitted.

CHAPTER III.

When the lord steward entered, the king had recovered his self-command
and had settled upon the course he should pursue.

"Have you heard the terrible news?"

"I have, Your Majesty. The countess's maid has arrived; her mistress
was drowned in the lake."

"And--?" asked the king, when he found the lord steward paused.

"And it is also said that, after her father's death, the countess
neither saw nor spoke to any one. But she, nevertheless, wrote a few
words to the queen, with the request that Doctor Gunther should deliver
them."

"And was it done without previously informing me?"

The lord steward shrugged his shoulders.

"Very well; I know--" continued the king. "Is everything in readiness
for the hunt?"

"At Your Majesty's pleasure. The hunting party has been waiting for an
hour."

"I'm coming," said the king. "Send Doctor Sixtus to the lake and tell
him to take Baum with him, for he knows all about the affair. Let him
also take t