162 PRINCE FILDERKIN

The King started to his feet as if he had
been shot.

‘Sooner death than such dishonour !’ he
shouted. ‘Villain! would’st thou rob a
people of their greatest treasure, and trample
upon the memories of countless ages? No!
Guards, seize him!’

The Prince quietly turned to the enraged
monarch with his finger still in the same
position.

‘Very well,’ he calmly observed, ‘if such
is your pleasure, so be it by all means.
Firm——

But before the word was out of his mouth,
the unhappy King rolled again upon the floor,
howling fearfully.

‘No, no, no!’ he cried; ‘anything but
that! Say what you please, do what you
will—take all, take everything—but utter
not again the word of awe.’

More convinced than ever that he was
now near success, Prince Filderkin was
about to reply, when the doors of the library
were thrown open, and a number of the
King’s retainers and councillors,who had been
within hearing, came rushing in as if in obedi-
ence to his summons to his guards. ‘What