A Son of the Immortals

derland by a stir and clatter of hoofs in the courtyard. She knew, because Alec had told her the previous evening, that he was bound for an experiment

lts her doors by hostile tariffs; but Turkey is open to trade with all the world, and who so favorably situated as w

r quality of the wine at the royal repast. "Fancy me drinking Carlowitz at my age!" he had

athes me like the bandages of a mummy,-and I am growing weary of its restraint. This is a question of self interest, too. Perhaps, if I can persuade our good Kosnovians

come when he will be crowned Emperor at Constantinople," s

o enter the enemy's territory, and at present my skirmishers are pigs which are difficult to drive. We nee

r bores, Alec," put in Felix, and Nesimir, who knew n

rial tokay, a luxury which the stout Sergius explained away by the statement that

ybreak. The heat of the noon hours was so excessive that early rising beca

six o'clock, and he did not keep them waiting a minute. Joan, delighting in the military display, watched him mount and ride off with that half-maternal solicitude which is the true expression of a w

m at the sight of her, since he gave some instructions to an aid de camp,

ompliments, Excellency," he said in careful French, "and wishes t

at Alec's mas

ge

is Majesty; but I do not posse

ellency offers no objection, a habit will

methods came as a distinct surprise. Yet, despite h

d, and her face was still rippling with merriment at the hidden meaning Alec

"Glad to find you in good spirits,-'Hail, smi

. And please enlighten me, Lord Adalbert, as to the correct way of alluding to royalty. Alec

ard marker in the naval mess at Portsmouth," he said. "One evening the Prince of Wales came in to play pool, and

he sound of her mirth brough

l this morning,

er husband's views as to the impossibility of a marriage between her son and this bright faced American. At any rate, Joan's cheeks glowe

pany," said Joan. "Even yesterday, when bullets were showering in

st low one flew across. By gad! that's rath

dventure," said the Princess. "I lay awake for hours last night thinking of what might

ere from the hotel?" mused Joan aloud. "I forgot to

nd; but long before either of them could make up their minds that he was speaking the tru

atural. A mother, weighing the actions of others in a matter touching the safety of her son, would hardly make allowance fo

st before breakfast story. Gad! He has some rippin' after dinner ones. He had us all roaring last night, and the funniest thing was to hear him spinning the same yarn in the local lingo, so that Nesimir and the other Serbs could share in the festivities. Prince Michael and Alec had the pull of me there, because they could laugh twice. By the way, Princ

nd he would give away the last franc in his pocket if a starving woman begged of him. His anarchist notions are all nonsense. He has cared little about political affairs during the last ten years, and his only real happ

hen describing the potency of that curious cigar-shaped bomb which

make-up than one would give him

husband and he disagreed so strongly at one period that their acquaintance cease

ests of which she had no cognizance. He might have dwelt in some city a thousand miles removed from Paris, for all she k

and Beaumanoir accompanied her there in a closed carriage, and the cool i

lace. At five she and Alec and Beaumanoir went for a ride on the outskirts of the town. The men took her to a very fine turfed avenue that wound through three miles of woodland. A

ike it?"

harming place," she

tradistinction to the old one, the Schwarzburg. It will be our summer

's gloomy palace. The lovely park and its belt of forest shut out the noise and glare of the streets. Joan sat on her horse and surveyed the scene with glistening eyes. Her future home lay there, and the belief thrilled her strangely. If she could have peered

aid he. "I have promised Alec to remain in Delgratz until you are all settled down in it, nice and comfy. Then I we

Joan," he continued. "I had a fearfully hard time during the first week. More than once I wanted to cu

"It's the kingly habit, I understand. Alec has got it down to a fine poi

lec was taking his kingship very seriously, and Joan was hard

owledge; he seemed to understand the people and their ways so thoroughly. He was versed even in the peculiarities of their methods of tillage

trickled in upon her from so many sources, and the feeling of bewildered surprise with which she regarded her lover's attainments during the first hours of real intimacy was soon repl

f that opulent setting for his peculiar qualities which Paris alone could supply, seemed to accept the inevitable. He tolerated

reproduction; but Joan suspected in her deepest heart that Poluski's sudden conversion to Byzantine ideals was due far more to the fact that the lofty dome of the building produced musical effects of the most gratify

e confidence reposed in him; but he allayed Alec's professed jealousy by declaring that to the best of his knowledge the man who had sent Joan on this mysterious quest had never even seen her. Still, it was impossible to avoid a certain amount of interested speculation among me

young American woman of whose existence he had not even heard before he was introduced to her. Under the conditions it seemed to savor of the ridiculous to ask if he was the hidden agent in the matter of the picture. But Beliani was can

worked well. Of course you guessed who it

he veneer of men's words to discover their motives. "No, I never associated you with her appearance here. What inspired you to it? I may say at once t

of the Levantine. Long years of residence in the capitals of Europe ha

tives. Well, I will be honest, quite frank in this, for the excellent reason that if I was to endeavor to hoodwink you I think I should fail. I make it my

ed to be in the room, turned and looked at the two, wond

far too occupied in learning my business to permit of visits to neighboring States.

Majesty. I kn

could y

eman so popular in Parisian society as Alexis Delgrado, could not meet day after day in the Louvr

ould have decided upon the extraordi

all the brave fireworks of your achievements. We Greeks are poets and philosophers as well as financiers, and I gratified those higher instincts of my race by rendering possible a visit to Delgratz of the lady whom you had chosen as a bride, while at the same tim

mewhat puzzling. In what way are you bound up w

with the turns and twists of events ever since he was driven forth from Kosnovia as a young man. For many years I remained here, working steadily and hopefully in his behalf, and you

ould set an example of quiet living and industry. Don't forget that I have seen some of my brother potentates stranded in Paris, mostly because they were so ready to gratify their own appetites at the expense of their people. I need hardly tell you, Beliani, that Kosnovia is a poverty stricken State. We have suffered from three generations of self seeking and

emies, is a strong and progressive system of finance. I am vain enough to think that you may find my services useful in that direction. There is no man in Delgratz who has had my training, and so assured am I of the success that will attend your Majesty's reign that I purposely delayed my arrival here so that I might not come empty handed. I passed a week in Vienna, working and thinking twenty hours out of each twenty-four. I felt my way cautiously w

ng was astonished by his outspoken declaration. "Do I understand that you are ap

ajesty," rep

ly demands an autocracy, whereas I have sworn to govern only by the will of the people. In those circumstances I do not feel myself at liberty to appoint or dismiss Ministers at my own sweet will

n did his well governed face betray his satisfaction; for, with the King on his side, the astute

n cannot be regarded as assured until you have received the recognition of the chief European States. Has Austria made any move

by a protest from Turkey on account of an alleged disrespectful remark of mine about her position in the cosmogony of Europe, and I have drawn a polite refusal from A

t important that your Majesty's police should be acquainted with the identity of all strangers;

novia free of external troubles; yet passports are useless there. I find that a stupid dream of a Slav Empire has drugged the best intellects of Kosnovia for half a century. That sort of political hashish must cease to control our actions. It has served only to cripple our commercial expansion, and I have declined resolutely to countenance its c

ng with his jaunty, self confident air: "What new surprise are you two plotting? You ought to make a rare combination,-Alec with his democratic pose of taking th

that moment. "I will say, though, from what I have managed to glean of his projects, that the humble r?le you have been g

h money, of course?"

ty I really understand,

me a loan a fortnight a

ed Alec. "Were you

ut avail ever since I arrived in

nly cannot afford; but I certainly was not under the impression that you had found it necessary to

resources in the presence of the Greek. Princess Delgrado was reputedly a rich woman, and her husband had explained his shortness of ca

s looking for her half an hour ago. Some letters that reached me from Paris to-day ough

mself of Joan's presence to seek the desired information, he strolled over to the corner of the room

here my mother

nearly an hour ago. I offered to go with them; but the G

"I must look into this. Stampoff is no lady's man as a rule.

scarcely speak civilly to a woman, ever since a faithless member of the fair sex brought about his downfall in Delgr

lated marriage was then in the mouths of all men. It was the first step in the new march of events. Stampoff meant to prove to the King's mother that her son would be ruined in the eyes of his people if he married a foreigner, ruined i

on's wife," said he when the carriage was clear of the paved streets and bowling smoo

the more I like her. Alec and she are devoted to each other, and I am sure she will b

d Stampoff; "but she suffers from one defect th

ckly; "yet no one seems to find f

said Stampoff gravely. "When Prince Michael married you, madame, he was an exile; but Alexis is the

so, you will fail, General. I am weary to death of political intrigues and the never ceasing tactics of wirepullers. I have been surrounded by them all my life, and I thanked Providence in my heart when I saw that my son began his reign by sweeping asid

y desirable young woman. Among the ten millions of our people, Princess, there are hardly ten thousand who have any settled notions of government, whether good or bad, and those ten thousand think they have a prior right to control the destinies of the remainder of the nation. With the exception of a few of the younger officers, there is not a man among the governing class who doesn't ha

that will be found in a marriage which seems to shut out all hope of realizing the long looked-for joining of Montenegro and Kosnovia. I have a bitter acquaintance with our history, madame, and am persuaded that if Alec is to remain King he must abandon forever this notion of marrying an alien. The Greek

's vehement outburst. "Why do you tell me these things?" she said brokenly. "I

schief cannot be undone. I appeal to you because you are

ed the tortured Princess. "Michael

d I can save him. In a word, that girl must go, to-night if possible, to-morrow without fail.

hat imply? It is not in my power

s she is one of the self sacrificing sort. At any rate, she must be given the chance, and by you. She must go away, and, in going, tell the King s