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 the Star, will you, like Emeralda, allow me to sue for your hand and heart?”

“Most willingly, Prince Eros!” said Astra, with a far-off look and in a vague tone. “But I have conditions to make as well as Emeralda, the Princess Royal. Will you hear them? Then listen. If you see any chance of lengthening my telescope, of strengthening the lenses, that I can see through them to the confines of the universe, to the last sun-system, to the Mystic Rose, to the Godhead Himself, then I will be your wife, and together we shall be the most powerful beings of the world, because then we are omniscient. For the universe is limited. . . .”

“The universe is limited!” said the wise men, after her.

“Endless is the universe!” said the king, in a subdued voice.

The people laughed and shook their heads. “The king is getting very old,” was repeated everywhere.

“The king will soon die,” prophesied the wise men, in a low tone. “He speaks like an old man, without reason; he will soon die. . . .”

“Royal Highness of the Star,” said the