predicament," he replied. "But especially for thinking you insane."

"Did you think me mad?" she asked in wide-eyed astonishment.

"When you insisted that I was a king, yes," he replied. "But now I

begin to believe that it must be I who am mad, after all, or else I

bear a remarkable resemblance to Leopold of Lutha."

"You do, your majesty," replied the girl.

Barney saw it was useless to attempt to convince them and so he

decided to give up for the time.

"Have me king, if you will," he said, "but please do not call me

'your majesty' any more. It gets on my nerves."

"Your will is law--Leopold," replied the girl, hesitating prettily

before the familiar name, "but do not forget your part of the

compact."

He smiled at her. A princess wasn't half so terrible after all.

"And your will shall be my law, Emma," he said.

It was almost dark when they came to Blentz. The castle lay far up

on the side of a steep hill above the town. It was an ancient pile,

but had been maintained in an excellent state of repair. As Barney

Custer looked up at the grim towers and mighty, buttressed walls his

heart sank. It had taken the mad king ten years to make his escape

from that gloomy and forbidding pile!

"Poor child," he murmured, thinking of the girl.

Before the barbican the party was halted by the guard. An officer

with a lantern stepped out upon the lowered portcullis. The

lieutenant who had captured them rode forward to meet him.

"A detachment of the Royal Horse Guards escorting His Majesty the

King, who is returning to Blentz," he said in reply to the officer's

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