The Traitors

Once more the men and women of Theos thronged the streets of their time-worn capital. A thousand torches flared in the open space before the palace. Lanterns and flags waved fro...

Once more the beacons flared in a long, lurid line from the mountain-tops, rockets screamed into the night, and away from south of Solika came the heavy roll of guns plainly to...

Up the steep ascent to the capital two men galloped their tired horses in stern silence. For twelve hours they had ridden with scant waste of breath in speech. Only at each chan...

"It is not yet concluded," he said. "I have many yet upon my list who have not been presented to your Majesty. There must be no heartburnings to-night. We must make no enemies."

In his room, with heavy curtains closely drawn across the barred windows to keep from his ears the distant mutterings of the guns, Nicholas of Reist sat in torment. From below i...

The lift went rumbling up to the topmost storey of the great block of flats, and stopped at last with something of a groan. The gates were opened, and Reist stepped out. He look...

Prince Alexis made the toast the signal for his departure, murmuring something about a diplomatic reception which his duty forbade him to ignore. In the lobby Hassen brushed up...

The King entered from his ante-chamber and took his place at the head of the long table amidst a profound and depressing silence. The faces of his counsellors were grave indeed....

Almost as the man stepped out on to the massive stone balcony of his house, the wind dropped, and a red flaring sun dipped behind the towering mountains which guarded the city w...

Ughtred slackened his reins about his horse's neck, and turning round, called to Brand, who was sitting a few yards away making some rapid sketches. The King's cheeks were flush...

The ten minutes became half-an-hour. Domiloff at last lost patience and knocked at the door. Brand, who had just finished a shorthand copy of the treaty, and had tucked it withi...

The whistle sounded at last, the train began to glide slowly away from the almost deserted platform. But at the last moment a man came running through the booking-office, and ma...

"I think your friend the Duke of Reist is a very interesting man," Sara Van Decht remarked, "but as a dinner companion he's just a little depressing. I wonder what father and he...

"One thing," he declared, "is certain. Never again will a republic exist in Theos. Two generations of _roués_ and madmen have not sickened this people of the House of Tyrnaus. T...

Ughtred glanced up, startled. For an hour or more he had been watching with fascinated eyes the great rolling pine forests through which the train was rushing. Brand and Reist w...

Sara Van Decht leaned back in her basket-chair and looked across the cobbled street, across the trim square where the miniature fountain was playing, to where a cluster of red-r...

It seemed to Reist that this was the supreme moment of his indignity. He stood before the two men, white-faced, hollow-eyed, speechless. And Marie, who had joined their councils...

Brand awoke from a hideous nightmare, sat up on a rude horsehair couch, and held his head with both hands. He was conscious of a sense of nausea, burning temples, and a general...

"It is strange," the King remarked, "that I should have heard nothing of this. It is stranger still, Effenden Pascha, that in my own capital you should first have received tidin...

Afternoon tea was brought in by an elderly man-servant in plain livery, and was probably the most unconventional meal which Reist had ever shared. They sat about promiscuously u...

"This is a very fortunate meeting, Mr. Brand," he declared. "It saves us the trouble of searching for you. Only an hour ago, my dear sir, the Countess and I were speaking of you."

It was the great moment. Reist, too restless to sit down, stood upon the hearthrug, the angry fire lingering in his eyes, a spot of dull colour burning still in his cheeks. He h...

"Why have you come here, Countess?" he exclaimed. "Do you not understand that I am in hiding? It is not a fit place for you--and you may have been followed."

Ughtred sprang to his feet. He was half asleep and a little dazed--wholly bewildered at the apparition which was suddenly sharing the solitude of his chamber. It was Marie of Re...

Then she noticed that he was not dressed for the evening, that he was pale, and that there was trouble in his eyes. She led him into a smaller room, pushed open a window, and be...

Into the black night across the level plain which stretched between Theos and the pass of Althea a woman rode as one rides a race with death. Her servants had been left far away...

old, to believe in me and obey, to remember always that God is with the weak, and He will surely protect us. Strike hard, obey unflinchingly, and if the whispers of treason shou...

He glanced around cautiously. They were in the chamber used for meetings of the Privy Council--a great room with stained glass windows, fluted pillars supporting a vaulted roof,...

He followed her into the circular stone wall, hung with ancient paintings, and where no light ever came save through those wonderful stained glass windows, the gift of an Empero...

One by one the members of the Council staggered to their feet. The coming of the King was like a bombshell thrown amongst them. They were met in secret conclave, a proceeding to...

"What do I think of Theos?" Sara repeated. "I think it must be the lost paradise of the lotus-eaters. It does not seem possible for anything ever to happen here."

It was a curiously deep silence which reigned for many moments in the King's chamber. Ughtred slowly drew a little apart from Marie and glanced sternly from one to the other. Hi...

It chanced that a brilliant autumn brought a season of great prosperity to the Thetian wine-growers and farmers, and the year of Ughtred's accession to the throne seemed likely...

"It is not only your country's welfare," Domiloff said, "which trembles in the balance. It is her very existence. I appeal to you, General Dartnoff--to you, Bushnieff. If you ac...

It was very dark, very stuffy, and a strong, malodorous suggestion of garlic pervaded the little _café_. The ordinary customers of the place preferred always the round tables ou...

Late that night a man stood motionless amongst the shrubs in the garden of the Reist house. His eyes were fixed always upon a certain window where a light was burning. He mutter...

"Enemy advancing crescent shape in loose formation," he remarked. "Your men capitally entrenched. Masked guns, too, and cavalry in reserve. Your Majesty, how long have they been...

The room was large and dimly lit. Domiloff, beside himself with anger, saw only Ughtred's tall figure in resplendent uniform, standing beneath the great carved mantelpiece. He a...

"I cannot believe that, my friend," he said. "Reist has quarrelled with me personally, and has resigned his command in the army. But that does not make him a traitor."

"You have not a moment to lose," he exclaimed. "The people are bewildered now, soon they will become impatient. The uniform is in the room where I changed. Let Prince Ughtred pu...

Once more brother and sister stood face to face in the great shadowy audience-room of the Reist palace. Again, too, there was the clamour of many voices in the streets below, fo...

Reist stood motionless before the window. In the clear daylight the physical change in the man was painful enough to witness. The flesh had fallen away from his cheeks, leaving...

Ughtred was, on the whole, a man ill versed in women's ways. Yet even he was conscious of a subtle change in the girl who sat by his side. The frank friendliness of her manner t...

"You do not seem to me," she said, "like a man who would be content with small things. You outwitted Domiloff himself. Yet you call yourself a writer, and you are perhaps content?"

The storm had driven away the crowd of loiterers from in front of the Café Metropolitan. The King and Brand stood under one of the small lime trees which bordered the road, watc...

Above the roaring of the north wind rose the clamour of voices, the cries of hate and disgust, the deep groaning sobs of fierce and militant anger. The man and the woman exchang...

All night long the war-beacons of Theos reddened the sky and the thunder of artillery woke strange echoes amongst the mountains. There were three passes only through which the T...

The King followed hard upon the footsteps of his seneschal, and neither Reist nor Marie was wholly at ease in the first moments of greeting. It was the latter to whom the King a...

Illuminations, fireworks, and the thunder of saluting cannon closed the day. The excited crowds dispersed slowly to their homes, the National Hymn ceased at last to echo through...

Before the great high window, Marie of Reist watched the red fires flaring in the mountains and listened to the far-off booming of the guns. Behind her the room was in darkness,...

Throughout the night there was little attempt at sleep in the Thetian camp. Long lines of men, relieved every two hours that they might work at the utmost speed, were busy in th...