A Burlesque Autobiography | Page 6

more now. The Duke grieved at this. But as the weeks wore
away, Conrad's color came back to his cheeks and his old-time vivacity
to his eye, and he administered the government with a clear and
steadily ripening wisdom.
Presently a strange whisper began to be heard about the palace. It grew
louder; it spread farther. The gossips of the city got hold-of it. It swept
the dukedom. And this is what the whisper said:
"The Lady Constance hath given birth to a child!"
When the lord of Klugenstein heard it, he swung his plumed helmet
thrice around his head and shouted:
"Long live. Duke Conrad!--for lo, his crown is sure, from this day
forward! Detzin has done his errand well, and the good scoundrel shall
be rewarded!"
And he spread, the tidings far and wide, and for eight-and-forty hours
no soul in all the barony but did dance and sing, carouse and illuminate,
to celebrate the great event, and all at proud and happy old
Klugenstein's expense.

CHAPTER V
.
THE FRIGHTFUL CATASTROPHE.
The trial was at hand. All the great lords and barons of Brandenburgh
were assembled in the Hall of Justice in the ducal palace. No space was
left unoccupied where there was room for a spectator to stand or sit.

Conrad, clad in purple and ermine, sat in the premier's chair, and on
either side sat the great judges of the realm. The old Duke had sternly
commanded that the trial of his daughter should proceed, without favor,
and then had taken to his bed broken-hearted. His days were numbered.
Poor Conrad had begged, as for his very life, that he might be spared
the misery of sitting in judgment upon his cousin's crime, but it did not
avail.
The saddest heart in all that great assemblage was in Conrad's breast.
The gladdest was in his father's. For, unknown to his daughter
"Conrad," the old Baron Klugenstein was come, and was among the
crowd of nobles, triumphant in the swelling fortunes of his house.
After the heralds had made due proclamation and the other
preliminaries had followed, the venerable Lord Chief justice said:
"Prisoner, stand forth!"
The unhappy princess rose and stood unveiled before the vast multitude.
The Lord Chief Justice continued:
"Most noble lady, before the great judges of this realm it hath been
charged and proven that out of holy wedlock your Grace hath given
birth unto a child; and by our ancient law the penalty is death,
excepting in one sole contingency, whereof his Grace the acting Duke,
our good Lord Conrad, will advertise you in his solemn sentence now;
wherefore, give heed."
Conrad stretched forth the reluctant sceptre, and in the self-same
moment the womanly heart beneath his robe yearned pityingly toward
the doomed prisoner, and the tears came into his eyes. He opened his
lips to speak, but the Lord Chief Justice said quickly:
"Not there, your Grace, not there! It is not lawful to pronounce
judgment upon any of the ducal line SAVE FROM THE DUCAL
THRONE!"
A shudder went to the heart of poor Conrad, and a tremor shook the
iron frame of his old father likewise. CONRAD HAD NOT BEEN
CROWNED--dared he profane the throne? He hesitated and turned pale
with fear. But it must be done. Wondering eyes were already upon him.
They would be suspicious eyes if he hesitated longer. He ascended the
throne. Presently he stretched forth the sceptre again, and said:
"Prisoner, in the name of our sovereign lord, Ulrich, Duke of
Brandenburgh, I proceed to the solemn duty that hath devolved upon

me. Give heed to my words. By the ancient law of the land, except you
produce the partner of your guilt and deliver him up to the executioner,
you must surely die. Embrace this opportunity--save yourself while yet
you may. Name the father of your child!"
A solemn hush fell upon the great court--a silence so profound that men
could hear their own hearts beat. Then the princess slowly turned, with
eyes gleaming with hate, and pointing her finger straight at Conrad,
said:
"Thou art the man!"
An appalling conviction of his helpless, hopeless peril struck a chill to
Conrad's heart like the chill of death itself. What power on earth could
save him! To disprove the charge, he must reveal that he was a woman;
and for an uncrowned woman to sit in the ducal chair was death! At
one and the same moment, he and his grim old father swooned and fell
to, the ground.
[The remainder of this thrilling and eventful story will NOT be found
in this or any other publication, either now or at any future time.]
The truth is, I have got my hero (or heroine) into such a particularly
close place, that I do not