Late that evening, however, Lord Horion revealed to his son a strange secret, in the light of which everything was explained.  The Prince of Flachsenfingen was a man of a rather weak and evil character, over whom Horion ruled by sheer force of will.  Prince January had had two children, a boy and a girl, and the English lord had had them brought up far away from the malicious influences of the court.  In order that January might not interfere in the education of the heir, Horion had told him that the boy had perished in infancy in London.  As a matter of fact, the child had been brought up with Victor.

“So Flamin is the heir to the throne of Flachsenfingen!” exclaimed Victor.

“Yes,” said Horion, “and I have trained you to guide and direct him in the same way as I guide and direct his father.  For the present, however, I must have complete control of the matter.  Swear that you will not divulge the secret of Flamin’s birth to him or to any one else, before I give you permission.”

For a moment Victor hesitated.  He remembered the promise that Flamin had wrung from him on the watch-tower, and this, he was beginning to see, might involve him in a perilous misunderstanding.

“Does Clotilda know?” he said.

“I revealed the secret to her when she came to St. Luna,” said Horion, “under the same conditions that I am now revealing it to you.  She swore to reveal it under no circumstances whatever, and you must do the same before you leave this spot.”

So Victor took the oath with a strange mixture of misgiving and joy.  As he walked back, slowly and thoughtfully, to the chaplain’s house, he at last admitted to himself that he was deeply in love with Clotilda.  Instead of returning to England and leaving Flamin in possession of the field, as he had resolved on doing, he was now at liberty to try and win the beautiful, noble girl.  On the other hand, Flamin would misunderstand his actions, and this would bring both of them into great danger.

The next day Victor received his appointment as physician to the Prince of Flachsenfingen, and he was summoned to the court, together with Clotilda.  He now divined what his father’s intentions were in regard to him and the lovely young girl.  Instead, however, of going with her to Flachsenfingen, he dressed himself in poor attire and set out on an aimless journey through Europe, without telling anyone where he was going.

III.—­Enmity

Victor had a profound aversion from the wild and yet vacant kind of life that men pursued at the court of the Prince of Flachsenfingen.  He was comforted in his separation by the thought that so long as it lasted he was spared from disturbing the delusions of her jealous brother.  But when he at last came to Flachsenfingen, he was grieved to find that his beautiful lady had grown pale and sorrowful.  Like a sweet flower taken from the clear fresh air of the forest and placed in a hot, closed room, she was pining