The Puppet Crown | Page 3

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THE PUPPET CROWN
by Harold MacGrath

TO THE MEMORY OF THAT GOOD FRIEND AND COMRADE OF MY YOUTH MY FATHER

CONTENTS
I. THE SCEPTER WHICH WAS A STICK II. THE COUP D'ETAT OF COUSIN JOSEF
III. AN EPISODE TEN YEARS AFTER
IV. AN ADVENTURE WITH ROYALTY
V. BEHIND THE PUPPET BOOTH
VI. MADEMOISELLE OF THE VEIL
VII. SOME DIALOGUE, AN SPRAINED ANKLE, AND SOME SOLDIERS
VIII. THE RED CHATEAU
IX. NOTHING MORE SERIOUS THAN A HOUSE PARTY
X. BEING OF LONG RIDES, MAIDS, KISSES AND MESSAGES
XI. THE DENOUEMENT
XII. WHOM THE GODS DESTROY AND A FEW OTHERS
XIII. BEING OF COMPLICATIONS NOT RECKONED ON
XIV. QUI M'AIME, AIME MON CHIEN
XV. IN WHICH FORTUNE BECOMES CARELESS AND PRODIGAL
XVI. WHAT HAPPENED AT THE ARCHBISHOP'S PLACE AND AFTER
XVII. SOME PASSAGES AT ARMS
XVIII. A MINOR CHORD AND A CHANGE OF MOVEMENT
XIX. A CHANCE RIDE IN THE NIGHT
XX. THE LAST STAND OF A BAD SERVANT
XXI. A COURT FETE AT THE RED CHATEAU
XXII. IN WHICH MAURICE RECURS TO OFFENBACH
XXIII. A GAME OF POKER AND THE STAKES
XXIV. THE PRISONER OF THE RED CHATEAU
XXV. THE FORTUNES OF WAR
XXVI. A PAGE FORM TASSO
XXVII. WORMWOOD AND LEES
XXVIII. INTO THE HANDS OF AUSTRIA
XXIX. INTO STILL WATERS AND SILENCE

Ah Love! Could you and I with Him conspire To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire Would not we shatter it to bits--and then Re-mold it nearer to the Heart's desire!
- Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
CHAPTER I
THE SCEPTER WHICH WAS A STICK
The king sat in his private garden in the shade of a potted orange tree, the leaves of which were splashed with brilliant yellow. It was high noon of one of those last warm sighs of passing summer which now