Boy! every true man is a king in the might of his manhood, but upon you
is bestowed a double portion of that universal royalty. This is a
throne-worshipping world we are living in, Paul, and it means even more
than you can realize to be a prince of the blood!"

The Boy looked around the park apprehensively. What if someone heard?
For this straight young sapling, who was only the "Boy" to Paul
Verdayne, was to the world at large an heir to a throne, a king who had
been left in infancy the sole ruler of his kingdom.

His visits to Verdayne Place were _incognito_. He did like to throw
aside the purple now and then and be the real live boy he was at heart.
He did enjoy to the full his occasional opportunities, unhampered by
the trappings and obligations of royalty.

"A prince of the blood!" he echoed scornfully. "Bah!--what is that?
Merely an accident of birth!"

"No, not an accident, Paul! Nothing in the world ever is that. Every
fragment of life has its completing part somewhere, given its place in
the scheme of the universe by intricate design--always by _design!_ As
for the duties of your kingdom, my Prince, it is not like you to take
them so lightly."

"I know! I know! Yet everybody might have been born a prince. It is far
more to be a man!"

"True enough, Boy! yet everybody might not have been born to your
position. Only you could have been given the heritage that is yours! My
Boy, yours is a mission, a responsibility, from the Creator of Life