account of the panic that came at a most unfortunate time.  That is why we were hurrying home from your country, Mr. Lorry.  Gaspon had cabled the Princess that affairs were in a hopeless condition, begging her to come home and do what she could in a final appeal to the people, knowing the love they had for her.  She came, and has seen these loyal subjects offer their lives for her and for Graustark, but utterly unable to give what they have not—­money.  She asked them if she should disband the army, and there was a negative wail from one end of the land to the other.  Then the army agreed to serve on half pay until all was tided over.  Public officers are giving their services free, and many of our wealthy people have advanced loans on bonds, worthless as they may seem, and still we have not the required amount.”

“Cannot the loan be extended a few years?” asked Lorry, angry with the ruler in the north, taking the woes of Graustark as much to heart as if they were his own.

“Not one day!  Not in London, Paris, nor Berlin.”

Lorry lay back and allowed Anguish to lead the conversation into other channels.  The Count remained for half an hour, saying as he left that the Princess and his wife had expressed a desire to be remembered to their guests.

“Her Royal Highness spent the evening with the ministers of finance and war, and her poor head, I doubt not, is racking from the effects of the consultation.  These are weighty matters for a girl to have on her hands,” solemnly stated the Count, pausing for an instant at the door of the apartment.

After he had closed it the Americans looked long and thoughtfully at each other, each feeling a respect for the grim old gentleman that they had never felt for man before.

“So they are in a devil of a shape,” mused Anguish.  “I tell you, Gren, I never knew anything that made me feel so badly as does the trouble that hangs over that girl and her people.  A week ago I wouldn’t have cared a rap for Graustark, but to-night I feel like weeping for her.”

“There seems to be no help for her, either,” said Lorry, reflectively.

“Graustark, you mean?”

“No—­I mean yes, of course,—­who else?” demanded the other, who certainly had not meant Graustark.

“I believe, confound your selfish soul. you’d like to see the nation, the crown and everything else taken away from this helpless, harrassed child.  Then you’d have a chance,” exclaimed Anguish, pacing the floor, half angrily, half encouragingly.

“Don’t say that, Harry, don’t say that.  Don’t accuse me of it, for I’ll confess I had in my heart that meanest of longings—­the selfish, base, heartless hope that you have guessed.  It hurts me to be accused of it though, so don’t do it again, old man.  I’ll put away the miserable hope, if I can, and I’ll pray God that she may find a way out of the difficulty.”

They went to sleep that night, Anguish at once, Lorry not for hours, harboring a determination to learn more about the condition of affairs touching the people of Graustark and the heart of their Princess.