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A silence fell upon therew This was the bitterest moment but one in the chancellor's life

"I believe," she said finally, "that it will not be necessary to read his majesty's letter He declines the honor of nified that it was

"Ah!" with a note of pride in her voice and a flash in her eyes "And I?"

"You will tell the duke that you have changed your e their minds like this?"

"They have often done so"

"In spite of publicity?"

"Yes, your Highness"

"And if I refuse to change ned to any and all events"

"War" Her face was serious "And what has the king to suggest?"

"He proposes to accept the huallant king! Pouff! There goes a crown of thistledown" She s but youth in the laughter, youth and gladness "Oh, I knew that you were a good fairy Listen to me I declare to you that I am happier at this moment than I have been in days To marry a man I have never seen, to beco to me, whose looks, character, and habits are unknohy, I have lived in a kind of horror You did not find h; there are yet some popular ideas in my head which are alien to the minds of princesses I am free!" And she uttered the words as with the breath of spring

The chancellor's shoulders drooped a trifle more, and his hand closed down over the letter Otherwise there was no notable change in his appearance He was always guarding the muscles of his face Inscrutability is the first lesson of the diplomat; and he had learned it thirty years before

"There will be no war," resuhness "I know my father; our wills er"

"But this is not the end"

"You ht of this, and sohtness vanished fros I airl has not her dream of romance? But princesses must not have roe It is a harsh decree"

"Have not princesses hness will not hness will or will not marry, as she pleases Am I a chattel, that I am to be offered across this frontier or that?"