CHAPTER II


THE COUP D'ETAT OF COUSIN JOSEF

The king, who had been leaning forward, fell back heavily in his
seat, his eyes full wide and his mouth agape. Then, to express
his utter bewilderment, he raised his hands above his head and
limply dropped them.

"Five millions of crowns?" he gasped.

"Yes; what would your Majesty say to such a proposition?"
complacently.

"I should say," answered the king, with a nervous laugh, "that
my friend had lost his senses, completely and totally."

"The fact is," the Englishman declared, "they were never keener
nor more lucid than at this present moment."

"But five millions!"

"Five millions; a bagatelle," smiling.

"Certainly you can not be serious, and if you were, it is out of
the question. Death of my life! The kingdom would be at my ears.
The people would shout that I was selling out to the English,