Part 62 (2/2)

”What do you rily

”Lord Cloverton only seeks to delay that e,” said the Queen ”Send it Some of your enemies are dead, but these two escape”

”And must be allowed to escape,” said the A

”I ask the Queen to support itives”

”And I refuse,” she answered ”Send thethe bracelet of rily

”Once before, e,” cried the Queen

”And then look to your own safety,” said Lord Cloverton, turning sharply to the King ”Russia has plotted against you; her troops lie still on the frontier, and treachery has been beside you By a strange chance the plot miscarried, but it was near to success This was found in Jules de Froilette's possession,” and he held up the bracelet

The King looked at it The Queen drew in her breath sharply, and bit her lip until the blood ca to her after a pause

”At a fitting ti sat down heavily in his chair

”I will send nothe bracelet carefully on the table, silently left the apartment

CHAPTER XXIX

AFTER WAR--PEACE

Peaceful times had fallen upon Wallaria It is whispered so and the Queen are not of the happiest; but who that would publish such a statement can possibly know the truth with any certainty It is a fact that the country is better governed At nights the streets of Sturatzberg are far safer than they were forands in the hills have been dispersed So theo in and out of the city unmolested

The Court is still a brilliant one, but in these days there is no woman there as beautiful as Frina Mavrodin, and Lord Cloverton is no longer British Ambassador He has been transferred to Paris, and this fact alone is sufficient to show that the Powers areWallaria A less experienced man than Lord Cloverton is now at the Eh as fell to his predecessor

Yet Princess Maritza is not forgotten in Sturatzberg, and for a small bribe many a man will tell the traveler her roh the spirit of revolution were not altogether dead in hiht that day in the Grande Place” So long as they live, Deset that day, but they seldoretted the kingdom she lost Love has crowned her life, and she is satisfied

Long since has it been known that the story which drove Ellerey away from his country was a lie, told and substantiated by the real culprit to shi+eld himself By this man's tardy confession, Ellerey's character was cleared, and land at once, but he did not do so When his brother died, and he became Sir Des for some time with his old and staunch friends, Sir Charles and Lady Martin, and his beautiful wife caused a sensation She visited her old school, and she stood with her husband upon the downs on the very spot where they had first land was not for theht of dancing blue waters and under a blue sky

And in this Italian home is Stefan, whose chief duty seeoing to be a soldier when he grows up and win a wife like his mother, just as his father did

It is Stefan who tells him stories of the past, Stefan who fashi+ons wooden swords for hily lay down his life for his father, mother, or son

”Once I didn't care for anybody,” Stefan said to the lad one day