Read "The Weight of the Crown" by Fred M. White online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Cool hand as he was, even Lechmere glanced with astonishment at the King of Asturia. The ruler was small and mean-looking generally, but now he seemed to be transformed. Varney's drug must have been a powerful one to make that difference. For here was a king--a boy specimen with red hair, but a king all the same. Count Gleikstein flashed a furious glance at Mazaroff, who merely shrugged his shoulders. But he was puzzled and annoyed, as Lechmere could see from the expression of his face. The comedy was a pleasing one for the old queen's messenger.
The great salon was still well filled by Lord Merehaven's guests, for this was one of the functions of the season, and few people were going further to-night. It was known, too, that the great diva also had captured all hearts, and was going to sing again. Therefore the big room, with its magnificent pictures and china and statuary, gleaming with hundreds of electric lights, was still filled with a brilliant mass of moving colour.