hat with the red roses?" asked Barney.

A very sad look came into the girl's eyes. It was pitiful to think

that this big, handsome young man, for whose return to the throne

all Lutha had prayed for ten long years, was only a silly half-wit.

What might he not have accomplished for his people had this terrible

misfortune not overtaken him! In every other way he seemed fitted to

be the savior of his country. If she could but make him remember!

"Your majesty," she said, "do you not recall the time that your

father came upon a state visit to my father's castle? You were a

little boy then. He brought you with him. I was a little girl, and

we played together. You would not let me call you 'highness,' but

insisted that I should always call you Leopold. When I forgot you

would accuse me of lese-majeste, and sentence me to--to punishment."

"What was the punishment?" asked Barney, noticing her hesitation and

wishing to encourage her in the pretty turn her dementia had taken.

Again the girl hesitated; she hated to say it, but if it would help

to recall the past to that poor, dimmed mind, it was her duty.

"Every time I called you 'highness' you made me give you a--a kiss,"

she almost whispered.

"I hope," said Barney, "that you will be guilty of lese-majeste

often."

"We were little children then, your majesty," the girl reminded him.

Had he thought her of sound mind Mr. Custer might have taken

advantage of his royal prerogatives on the spot, for the girl's lips

were most tempting; but when he remembered the poor, weak mind,

tears almost came to his eyes, and there sprang to his heart a great

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