"That night a cry was raised that justice had been done, for they swore the dead King had meant to betray them to their fancied enemies.
"The next step was to incite the lowest class of the people, urging them to attack the King's Palace where the Queen and her child lay. Sweeping into the Royal apartments, they shot them both, presumably; then, frightened at their own atrocity, they ran away. The next day, Ivan was proclaimed King; he had been waiting just over the border.
"A rumour got abroad that some miscreant had set fire to the bedchamber of the Queen, when she had been murdered. This was not so--it was I who set the bed on fire to burn the bodies on it."
"My God!" I said.
"They, however, were not the remains of the Queen and her child, the King, but those of a groom's wife and offspring, whose lives were unfortunately sacrificed to save the Royal Mother and the baby King. No one looked too closely into the matter, a few of the royal jewels were there, and the Queen's clothing, also the charred bodies; but the Queen herself and her child were in safety."
"Is the child alive?" I cried breathlessly.
"He is," said Mr. Smith gravely.
"And you are working for him. Oh, thank God, I can see the way clearly now; let me do something to help."
"Eh?"
"Ever since I first went to Rudarlia, I have been trying to find some way out, and could discover no plan to work on, for Ivan's heir, they say, is as bad as he is--but now--a King of Merlin's blood. Oh, thank God! Tell me the groom's name, is he alive?" In my excitement I had risen and was bending over him.