When the officer stopped beside her she was sitting on the ground

holding the head of one of the combatants in her lap.

A little stream of blood trickled from a wound in the forehead. The

officer stooped closer.

"He is dead?" he asked.

"The king is dead," replied the Princess Emma von der Tann, a little

sob in her voice.

"The king!" exclaimed the officer; and then, as he bent lower over

the white face: "Leopold!"

The girl nodded.

"We were searching for him," said the officer, "when we heard the

shot." Then, arising, he removed his cap, saying in a very low

voice: "The king is dead. Long live the king!"

III

AN ANGRY KING

The soldiers stood behind their officer. None of them had ever seen

Leopold of Lutha--he had been but a name to them--they cared nothing

for him; but in the presence of death they were awed by the majesty

of the king they had never known.

The hands of Emma von der Tann were chafing the wrists of the man

whose head rested in her lap.

"Leopold!" she whispered. "Leopold, come back! Mad king you may

have been, but still you were king of Lutha--my father's king--my

king."

The girl nearly cried out in shocked astonishment as she saw the

eyes of the dead king open. But Emma von der Tann was quick-witted.

She knew for what purpose the soldiers from the palace were scouring

the country.

Had she not thought the king dead she would have cut out her tongue

rather than reveal his identity to these soldiers of his great

enemy. Now she saw that Leopold lived, and she must undo the harm

she had innocently wrought. She bent lower over Barney's face,

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