together."
There was something so quietly heroic in his manner that both men
felt pity. Anguish, looking at the military figure, asked:
"You fought through the war, your excellency?"

"I resigned as minister, sir, to go to the front. I was in the
first battle and I was in the last," he said, simply.

"And the Princess,--the present ruler, I mean,--was a mere child
at that time. When did she succeed to the throne?" asked Lorry.

"Oh, the great world does not remember our little history!
Within a year after the death of Prince Ganlook, his wife, my
sister, passed away, dying of a broken heart. Her daughter,
their only child, was, according to our custom, crowned at once.
She has reigned for fourteen years, and wisely since assuming
full power. For three years she has been ruler de facto. She
has been frugal, and has done all in her power to meet the shadow
that is descending."

"And what is the alternative in case the indemnity is not paid?"
asked Lorry, breathlessly, for he saw something bright in the
approaching calamity.

"The cession of all that part of Graustark lying north of
Edelweiss, including fourteen towns, all of our mines and our
most productive farming and grazing lands. In that event
Graustark will be no larger than one of the good-sized farms in
your western country. There will be nothing left for Her Royal
Highness to rule save a tract so small that the word principality