A little cry broke from Olivia's lips that went to St. George's heart. Mrs. Hastings, with a gesture that was quite wild and sent her bonnet hopelessly to one side, burst into a volley of exclamations and demands.
"Who did it?" she wailed. "Who did it? Otho is a gentleman. He would never have the bad taste to disappear, like all those dreadful people's wives, if somebody hadn't--"
"My dear Madame," interposed Mr. Frothingham, "calm--calm yourself. There are families of undisputed position which record disappearances in several generations."
"Please," pleaded Olivia. "Ah, tell us," she begged the prince again.
"There is, unfortunately, but little to tell, Miss Holland," said the prince with sympathetic regret. "I had the honour, three months ago, to entertain the king, your father, at dinner. We parted at midnight. His Majesty seemed--"
"His Majesty!" repeated Mrs. Hastings, smiling up at the opposite wall as if her thought saw glories.
"--in the best of health and spirits," continued the prince. "A meeting of the High Council was to be held at noon on the following day. The king did not appear. From that moment no eye in Yaque has fallen upon him."
"One moment, your Highness," said St. George quickly; "in the absence of the king, who presides over the High Council?"
"As the head of the House of the Litany, the chief administrator of justice, it is I," said the prince with humility.
"Ah, yes," St. George said evenly.
"But what have you done?" cried Olivia. "Have you had search made? Have you--"
"Everything," the prince assured her. "The island is not large. Not a corner of it remains unvisited. The people, who were devoted to the king, your father, have sought night and day. There is, it is hardly right to conceal from you," the prince hesitated, "a circumstance which makes the disappearance the more alarming."
"Tell us. Keep nothing from us, I beg, Prince Tabnit," besought Olivia.
"For centuries," said the prince slowly, "there has been in the keeping of the High Council of the island a casket, containing what is known as the Hereditary Treasure. This casket, with some of the finest of its jewels, was left by King Abibaal himself. Since his time every king of the island has upon his death bequeathed to the casket the finest jewel in his possession; and its contents are now therefore of inestimable value. The circumstance to which I refer is that two days after the disappearance of the king, your father, which spread grief and alarm through all Yaque, it was discovered that the Hereditary Treasure was gone."
"Gone!" burst from the lips of the prince's auditors.