The King of Alsander

of a mad king and a

cipated

sposition of the old

en of as a likely candidat

aily

thrills and sensations. The four days succeeding the day of the interview with Peronella, described in the last chapter, drew blanks in the game of his destiny. On the fifth day he was walking moodily about, trying to extract amusement from the inquisitive glances with w

ion. He decided, however, not to leave her without getting her a present, which he shrewdly (but I think unjustly) suspected would compensate the girl for the loss of a lover. And of course he remembered that the old Poet, whom by now he had almost given up as a fraud, had given special advice

r, tattered bits of embroidery, carved walking sticks, some worm-eaten books, last century oak settees, Turkish zarfs, Hittite cylinders, Chinese saucers full of Greek and Roman coins, real stones and bits of glass, animals in beaten bronze ware from Damascus, very old leather bottles from Engl

ere for she couldn't imagine when there was that nice new shop where they sold wonders from Ulmreich ever so much nearer home. Norman, undaunted, was preparing to turn the shop upside down to show Peronella what marvels were to be found there if one only knew, when he was surprised to hear the shopkeeper exclaim quietly and ra

(and it is dusty here) why don't you go home without me? I'll stay here an

told me I might choose, and I'm sure there is noth

ou do like as well," he added, with ridiculous vainglory, for

n, and one who obviously had no doubts as to his own good looks. Indeed he had ostentatiously set them off by wearing the national costume of Alsander-puffed breeches, pleated silk shirt, and a short loose coat with w

he knew the value of a gentlemanly treatment, and did not allow his cu

a very soft and gentle voice, "is not so much what

ired Norman, wondering at the fine b

uch what you can do for yourself

with some heat, "exactly how long th

gives birth to child: in particular, for as lo

t is the

an, "the Association for t

t it is an adm

shopman, with a sententiousness ill befitting his years, "it

re does

d the shopm

n does i

if all the machinery of a steam-mill had started with a jerk. Norman had jus

the trouble of stumbling about in the dark for a means of escape. "This is fun," he thought boyishly, and sat down on what he had seen to be a horribly dusty and cracked Chippendale chair to await proceedings. When ten minutes had passed he began to scratch his head; after twenty minutes the room had grown insufferably stifling and the philosophic mood had passed: after half-an-hour he had formulated a scheme in accordance with which he would use the hindquarters of a large brass elephant, probably Indian, which he had noticed faintly glimmering on a shelf, as a battering ram. His idea was that with so heavy an implement he could break a hole in the shutters, which seemed to ha

hing else than the head-quarters of the Alsander Advancement Association. But the room, which was neither sumptuous nor sordid, but eminently respectable, was a disappointment to Norman, and so were the presumed Associates, to whom the same adjectives were applicable. They were sitting at the end of the room behind a long table for all the world as if they were a board of examiners, an

r," said a wizened little old fell

address, and he seated himself opposite the shopman, w

but in grave and serious tones, "that you