The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-07-26


 carriages and horses were sold and rigid
 enonomy was begun.
 To Frederiques surprise, Christian did
 not object, nor did he appear to be incon-
 venienced by the sudden cutting of the
 supply of gold. The mystery was soon l explained, however. It was not long be-
 fore all Paris was amusing itself over a
 thriving trade in Illyrian orders and deco-
 rations. General Rosen quietly took off
 his cross of the Legion of Honor one day l when he found that barber on the Bou- 1 levard des Capucines was wearing one
 for which he had paid 1000 francs.
 The secret agent who conducted this traffic for the King soon conceived a
 scheme that promised him fortune. It was to lure Christian into signing the re-
 nunciation of the title to the crown after
 all. "de is sure to sign it some day, said this agent who masqueraded in Paris under the name of Tom Levis Let him , get heavily Into debt and he will snatch a pen. So 1t is for us to involve him. l Then, when he is forced into a corner we shall have played our cards but i'll if we do not get great part of the two hun dred millions"
 "The cards'' to which the high-minded Tom referred consisted mostly of his wife, Sephora, a woman who SDncealQd heart of ice and plotting, diabolical brain un- der the pure, beautiful face of Madonna "a woman who had in her features the tempting timidity of an Oriental slave with sloping profile, amber tnts of skin, straight eyebrows and parted, rich, red lips that gave an Asiatic look to this Parisian woman.
 No sooner had the king seen her than he was in love with her. But he found a new and surprising thing. He who had been accustomed to see eyes, lips and hearts come out to his royal person was permitted by Sephora to dance attendance on her without gaining even a smile. His Slovenian nature enjoyed this novel sen sation. Then his self-love became en- listed. Being still kept at arms length, his desire grew to a genuine passion. When the royal fish was well hooked the lady relented slightly. Bit by bit he was lured on till all Paris knew that he had installed her in a magnificent man. sion and had raised her to the rank Of Countess of Spalato. Her husband, said Paris, had fled to England to hide his shame. In fact, Tom Lewis sat quietly enjoying life in the country. while his as- sociates advanced to the king, on notes at ruinous interest, the great sums that he | demanded for his countess.
 That the queen knew not only of this
 but of all else of which the king was guilty none could fail to perceive. But pever by word or act did she betray her 1 knowledge. One day she asked the tutor l to break some stones from the Illyrian crown which she had carried with her to
 exile; and Meraut did so and took them I away to sell for her. He returned soon
 with pale face and told her that the gems were paste. They both knew what
 1t meant. The king had taken the real
 jewels and squandered them.
 At last the wiles of Sephora were on ths edge of success. The king had borrowed money till he knew that there must be an end. He agreed to renounce the crown and went home to draw up the document. l Warned by a faithful adherent, Fred | cirque came upon him, but not before hls
 signature was attached to 1t. When all l Der prayers were vain, she threatened to kill herself and the young prince. "If you do not burn what you have signed saii she, land swear on the cross that you
 will not do it again, your race ends here" l Surrendering in impotent weakness, l Christian burned the document. Despite her contempt of the King, the Queen was forced to take him into her | confidence again very soon; for the time
 came when all was ready for a blow that
 she had prepared with patient effort. The 1 people of Ragusa, the peasants and the 1 fishermen of the islands were ready, and awaited only the coming of the leaders. Even Christians blood was fired by the ! prospect. great company of young men belonging to noble Illyrian families gath cred under the command of noted Span- ish soldier, the Marquis of Hezeta, whose ancient family and romantic history made him almost legendary hero When he came to pay his respects to the Queen, Elysee started with surprise. He recog- nized the swarthy, dwarfed figure at once. It was no other than his old teacher, Senor Papel.
 It was arranged that the party should start in an armed ship which was to sail as soon as the King had joined them. One by one the young men departed, to avoid danger of being detected. Among those who went was Herbert de Rosen, who tore himself with tears from the arms of his beloved Colette.
 On the night following their departure the King was to go. But he thought to bid farewell first to Sephora, and of course permitted the willy woman to ex- tract the whole story from him.
 She succeeded in preventing him from sailing The rest of the party assuming that he had gone ahead in another ship, set sail for Illyria and went blindly into a trap, for Tom Lewis and his associates had sent warning of the attempt to the authorities.
 Few of the young men escaped alive. Among those who fell was young Rosen.
 Even the reckless Christian could not overcome the effect of this fright full catastrophe. He yielded to the de- mands of the Queen and signed his ab- dication, resgning the throne in favor of his son. Then he hastened away to seek the comforting arms of Sephora.N But when he told her what he had s.zo <t,a+ or,,aIIxv 1ioo ppoiptad xuop,a,,