was already richer by some 300,000 francs, and in a day, if he
could keep the American girl to her expedition had been played
he would be free,--free to return to his clubs and to his
boulevards and boudoirs, with money enough to silence the most
insolent among his creditors, and with renewed credit; with
even a certain glamour about him of one who had dared to do,
even though he had failed in the doing, who had shaken off the
slothfulness of ease and had chosen to risk his life for his
throne with a smoking rifle in his hand, until a traitor had
turned fortune against him.

The King was amused to find that this prospect pleased him
vastly. He was surprised to discover that, careless as he
thought himself to be to public opinion, he was still capable
of caring for its approbation; but he consoled himself for
this weakness by arguing that it was only because the
approbation would be his by a trick that it pleased him to
think of. Perhaps some of his royal cousins, in the light of
his bold intent, might take him under their protection instead
of neglecting him shamefully, as they had done in the past.
His armed expedition might open certain doors to him; his
name--and he smiled grimly as he imagined it--would ring
throughout Europe as the Soldier King, as the modern disciple
of the divine right of kings. He saw, in his mind's eye, even
the possibility of a royal alliance and a pension from one of
the great Powers. No matter where he looked he could see
nothing but gain to himself, more power for pleasure, more
chances of greater fortune in the future, and while his lips
assented to what the others said, and his eyes thanked them
for some expression of loyalty or confidence, he saw himself