ought not to do. Bah!'

'But if your nephew, Prince Eugen, were to die, would you not
come to the throne, and would you not then have these
responsibilities which you so much desire?'

'Eugen die?' said Prince Aribert, in a curious tone. 'Impossible. He
is the perfection of health. In three months he will be married. No,
I shall never be anything but a Serene Highness, the most
despicable of God's creatures.'

'But what about the State secret which you mentioned? Is not that a
responsibility?'

'Ah!' he said. 'That is over. That belongs to the past. It was an
accident in my dull career. I shall never be Count Steenbock
again.'

'Who knows?' she said. 'By the way, is not Prince Eugen coming
here to-day? Mr Dimmock told us so.'

'See!' answered the Prince, standing up and bending over her. 'I am
going to confide in you. I don't know why, but I am.'

'Don't betray State secrets,' she warned him, smiling into his face.

But just then the door of the room was unceremoniously opened.

'Go right in,' said a voice sharply. It was Theodore Racksole's. Two
men entered, bearing a prone form on a stretcher, and Racksole