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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Princess Elopes, by Harold MacGrath
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title:  The Princess Elopes
+
+Author: Harold MacGrath
+
+
+
+Release Date: December 25, 2005  [eBook #17391]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRINCESS ELOPES***
+
+
+
+E-text prepared by Al Haines
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustration.
+      See 17391-h.htm or 17391-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/3/9/17391/17391-h/17391-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/3/9/17391/17391-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+
+THE PRINCESS ELOPES
+
+by
+
+HAROLD MACGRATH
+
+Author of The Puppet Crown, The Grey Cloak, The Man on the Box
+
+With Illustration by Harrison Fisher
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Frontispiece: Princess Hildegarde (Gretchen) playing the piano.]
+
+
+
+
+New York
+Grosset & Dunlap
+Publishers
+Copyright 1905
+The Bobbs-Merrill Company
+
+
+
+
+
+TO MY WIFE
+
+
+
+
+
+THE PRINCESS ELOPES
+
+
+I
+
+It is rather difficult in these days for a man who takes such scant
+interest in foreign affairs--trust a whilom diplomat for that!--to
+follow the continual geographical disturbances of European surfaces.
+Thus, I can not distinctly recall the exact location of the Grand Duchy
+of Barscheit or of the neighboring principality of Doppelkinn.  It
+meets my needs and purposes, however, to say that Berlin and Vienna
+were easily accessible, and that a three hours' journey would bring you
+under the shadow of the Carpathian Range, where, in my diplomatic days,
+I used often to hunt the "bear that walks like a man."
+
+Barscheit was known among her sister states as "the meddler," the
+"maker of trouble," and the duke as "Old Grumpy"--_Brummbär_.  To use a
+familiar Yankee expression, Barscheit had a finger in every pie.
+Whenever there was a political broth making, whether in Italy, Germany
+or Austria, Barscheit would snatch up a ladle and start in.  She took
+care of her own affairs so easily that she had plenty of time to
+concern herself with the affairs of her neighbors.  This is not to
+advance the opinion that Barscheit was wholly modern; far from it.  The
+fault of Barscheit may be traced back to a certain historical pillar of
+salt, easily recalled by all those who attended Sunday-school.
+"Rubbering" is a vulgar phrase, and I disdain to use it.
+
+When a woman looks around it is invariably a portent of trouble; the
+man forgets his important engagement, and runs amuck, knocking over
+people, principles and principalities.  If Aspasia had not observed
+Pericles that memorable day; if there had not been an oblique slant to
+Calypso's eyes as Ulysses passed her way; if the eager Delilah had not
+offered favorable comment on Samson's ringlets; in fact, if all the
+women in history and romance had gone about their affairs as they
+should have done, what uninteresting reading history would be to-day!
+
+Now, this is a story of a woman who looked around, and of a man who did
+not keep his appointment on time; out of a grain of sand, a mountain.
+Of course there might have been other causes, but with these I'm not
+familiar.
+
+This Duchy of Barscheit is worth looking into.  Imagine a country with
+telegraph and telephone and medieval customs, a country with electric
+lights, railways, surface-cars, hotel elevators and ancient laws!
+Something of the customs of the duchy must be told in the passing,
+though, for my part, I am vigorously against explanatory passages in
+stories of action.  Barscheit bristled with militarism; the little man
+always imitates the big one, but lacks the big man's excuses.
+Militarism entered into and overshadowed the civic laws.
+
+There were three things you might do without offense; you might bathe,
+eat and sleep, only you must not sleep out loud.  The citizen of
+Barscheit was hemmed in by a set of laws which had their birth in the
+dark dungeons of the Inquisition.  They congealed the blood of a man
+born and bred in a commercial country.  If you broke a law, you were
+relentlessly punished; there was no mercy.  In America we make laws and
+then hide them in dull-looking volumes which the public have neither
+the time nor the inclination to read.  In this duchy of mine it was
+different; you ran into a law on every corner, in every park, in every
+public building: little oblong signs, enameled, which told you that you
+could _not_ do something or other--"Forbidden!"  The beauty of German
+laws is that when you learn all the things that you can not do, you
+begin to find out that the things you can do are not worth a hang in
+the doing.
+
+As soon as a person learned to read he or she began life by reading
+these laws.  If you could not read, so much the worse for you; you had
+to pay a guide who charged you almost as much as the full cost of the
+fine.
+
+The opposition political party in the United States is always howling
+militarism, without the slightest idea of what militarism really is.
+One side, please, in Barscheit, when an officer comes along, or take
+the consequences.  If you carelessly bumped into him, you were knocked
+down.  If you objected, you were arrested.  If you struck back, ten to
+one you received a beating with the flat of a saber.  And never, never
+mistake the soldiery for the police; that is to say, never ask an
+officer to direct you to any place.  This is regarded in the light of
+an insult.  The cub-lieutenants do more to keep a passable
+sidewalk--for the passage of said cub-lieutenants--than all the
+magistrates put together.  How they used to swagger up and down the
+Königsstrasse, around the Platz, in and out of the restaurants!  I
+remember doing some side-stepping myself, and I was a diplomat,
+supposed to be immune from the rank discourtesies of the military.  But
+that was early in my career.
+
+In a year not so remote as not to be readily recalled, the United
+States packed me off to Barscheit because I had an uncle who was a
+senator.  Some papers were given me, the permission to hang out a
+shingle reading "American Consul," and the promise of my board and
+keep.  My amusements were to be paid out of my own pocket.  Straightway
+I purchased three horses, found a capable Japanese valet, and selected
+a cozy house near the barracks, which stood west of the Volksgarten, on
+a pretty lake.  A beautiful road ran around this body of water, and it
+wasn't long ere the officers began to pass comments on the riding of
+"that wild American."  As I detest what is known as park-riding, you
+may very well believe that I circled the lake at a clip which must have
+opened the eyes of the easy-going officers.  I grew quite chummy with a
+few of them; and I may speak of occasions when I did not step off the
+sidewalk as they came along.  A man does more toward gaining the
+affection of foreigners by giving a good dinner now and then than by
+international law.  I gained considerable fame by my little dinners at
+Müller's Rathskeller, under the Continental Hotel.
+
+Six months passed, during which I rode, read, drove and dined, the
+actual labors of the consulate being cared for by a German clerk who
+knew more about the business than I did.
+
+By this you will observe that diplomacy has degenerated into the gentle
+art of exciting jaded palates and of scribbling one's name across
+passports; I know of no better definition.  I forget what the largess
+of my office was.
+
+Presently there were terrible doings.  The old reigning grand duke
+desired peace of mind; and moving determinedly toward this end, he
+declared in public that his niece, the young and tender Princess
+Hildegarde, should wed the Prince of Doppelkinn, whose vineyards gave
+him a fine income.  This was finality; the avuncular guardian had
+waited long enough for his wilful ward to make up her mind as to the
+selection of a suitable husband; now _he_ determined to take a hand in
+the matter.  And you shall see how well he managed it.
+
+It is scarcely necessary for me to state that her Highness had her own
+ideas of what a husband should be like, gathered, no doubt, from
+execrable translations from "Ouida" and the gentle Miss Braddon.  A
+girl of twenty usually has a formidable regard for romance, and the
+princess was fully up to the manner of her kind.  If she could not
+marry romantically, she refused to marry at all.
+
+I can readily appreciate her uncle's perturbation.  I do not know how
+many princelings she thrust into utter darkness.  She would _never_
+marry a man who wore glasses; this one was too tall, that one too
+short; and when one happened along who was without visible earmarks or
+signs of being shop-worn her refusal was based upon just--"Because!"--a
+weapon as invincible as the fabled spear of Parsifal.  She had spurned
+the addresses of Prince Mischler, laughed at those of the Count of
+------ - ------ (the short dash indicates the presence of a hyphen) and
+General Muerrisch, of the emperor's body-guard, who was, I'm sure, good
+enough--in his own opinion--for any woman.  Every train brought to the
+capital some suitor with a consonated, hyphenated name and a pedigree
+as long as a bore's idea of a funny story.  But the princess did not
+care for pedigrees that were squint-eyed or bow-legged.  One and all of
+them she cast aside as unworthy her consideration.  Then, like the
+ancient worm, the duke turned.  She should marry Doppelkinn, who,
+having no wife to do the honors in his castle, was wholly agreeable.
+
+The Prince of Doppelkinn reigned over the neighboring principality.  If
+you stood in the middle of it and were a baseball player, you could
+throw a stone across the frontier in any direction.  But the vineyards
+were among the finest in Europe.  The prince was a widower, and among
+his own people was affectionately styled "_der Rotnäsig_," which, I
+believe, designates an illuminated proboscis.  When he wasn't fishing
+for rainbow trout he was sleeping in his cellars.  He was often missing
+at the monthly reviews, but nobody ever worried; they knew where to
+find him.  And besides, he might just as well sleep in his cellars as
+in his carriage, for he never rode a horse if he could get out of doing
+so.  He was really good-natured and easy-going, so long as no one
+crossed him severely; and you could tell him a joke once and depend
+upon his understanding it immediately, which is more than I can say for
+the duke.
+
+Years and years ago the prince had had a son; but at the tender age of
+three the boy had run away from the castle confines, and no one ever
+heard of him again.  The enemies of the prince whispered among
+themselves that the boy had run away to escape compulsory military
+service, but the boy's age precluded this accusation.  The prince
+advertised, after the fashion of those times, sent out detectives and
+notified his various brothers; but his trouble went for nothing.  Not
+the slightest trace of the boy could be found.  So he was mourned for a
+season, regretted and then forgotten; the prince adopted the
+grape-arbor.
+
+I saw the prince once.  I do not blame the Princess Hildegarde for her
+rebellion.  The prince was not only old; he was fat and ugly, with
+little, elephant-like eyes that were always vein-shot, restless and
+full of mischief.  He might have made a good father, but I have nothing
+to prove this.  Those bottles of sparkling Moselle which he failed to
+dispose of to the American trade he gave to his brother in Barscheit or
+drank himself.  He was sixty-eight years old.
+
+A nephew, three times removed, was waiting for the day when he should
+wabble around in the prince's shoes.  He was a lieutenant in the duke's
+body-guard, a quick-tempered, heady chap.  Well, he never wabbled
+around in his uncle's shoes, for he never got the chance.
+
+I hadn't been in Barscheit a week before I heard a great deal about the
+princess.  She was a famous horsewoman.  This made me extremely anxious
+to meet her.  Yet for nearly six months I never even got so much as a
+glimpse of her.  Half of the six months she was traveling through
+Austria, and the other half she kept out of my way,--not intentionally;
+she knew nothing of my existence; simply, fate moved us about blindly.
+At court, she was invariably indisposed, and at the first court ball
+she retired before I arrived.  I got up at all times, galloped over all
+roads, but never did I see her.  She rode alone, too, part of the time.
+
+The one picture of her which I was lucky enough to see had been taken
+when she was six, and meant nothing to me in the way of identification.
+For all I knew I might have passed her on the road.  She became to me
+the Princess in the Invisible Cloak, passing me often and doubtless
+deriding my efforts to discern her.  My curiosity became alarming.  I
+couldn't sleep for the thought of her.  Finally we met, but the meeting
+was a great surprise to us both.  This meeting happened during the
+great hubbub of which I have just written; and at the same time I met
+another who had great weight in my future affairs.
+
+The princess and I became rather well acquainted.  I was not a
+gentleman, according to her code, but, in the historic words of the
+drug clerk, I was something just as good.  She honored me with a frank,
+disinterested friendship, which still exists.  I have yet among my
+fading souvenirs of diplomatic service half a dozen notes commanding me
+to get up at dawn and ride around the lake, something like sixteen
+miles.  She was almost as reckless a rider as myself.  She was truly a
+famous rider, and a woman who sits well on a horse can never be aught
+but graceful.  She was, in fact, youthful and charming, with the most
+magnificent black eyes I ever beheld in a Teutonic head; witty,
+besides, and a songstress of no ordinary talent.  If I had been in love
+with her--which I solemnly vow I was not!--I should have called her
+beautiful and exhausted my store of complimentary adjectives.
+
+The basic cause of all this turmoil, about which I am to spin my
+narrative, lay in her education.  I hold that a German princess should
+never be educated save as a German.  By this I mean to convey that her
+education should not go beyond German literature, German history,
+German veneration of laws, German manners and German passivity and
+docility.  The Princess Hildegarde had been educated in England and
+France, which simplifies everything, or, I should say, to be exact,
+complicates everything.
+
+She possessed a healthy contempt for that what-d'-ye-call-it that
+hedges in a king.  Having mingled with English-speaking people, she
+returned to her native land, her brain filled with the importance of
+feminine liberty of thought and action.  Hence, she became the bramble
+that prodded the grand duke whichever way he turned.  His days were
+filled with horrors, his nights with mares which did not have
+box-stalls in his stables.
+
+Never could he anticipate her in anything.  On that day he placed
+guards around the palace she wrote verses or read modern fiction; the
+moment he relaxed his vigilance she was away on some heart-rending
+escapade.  Didn't she scandalize the nobility by dressing up as a
+hussar and riding her famous black Mecklenburg cross-country?  Hadn't
+she flirted outrageously with the French attaché and deliberately
+turned her back on the Russian minister, at the very moment, too, when
+negotiations were going on between Russia and Barscheit relative to a
+small piece of land in the Balkans?  And, most terrible of all to
+relate, hadn't she ridden a shining bicycle up the Königsstrasse, in
+broad daylight, and in bifurcated skirts, besides?  I shall never
+forget the indignation of the press at the time of this last escapade,
+the stroke of apoplexy which threatened the duke, and the room with the
+barred window which the princess occupied one whole week.
+
+They burned the offensive bicycle in the courtyard of the palace,
+ceremoniously, too, and the princess had witnessed this solemn _auto da
+fé_ from her barred window.  It is no strain upon the imagination to
+conjure up the picture of her fine rage, her threatening hands, her
+compressed lips, her tearless, flashing eyes, as she saw her beautiful
+new wheel writhe and twist on the blazing fagots.  But what the deuce
+was a poor duke to do with a niece like this?
+
+For a time I feared that the United States and the Grand Duchy of
+Barscheit would sever diplomatic relations.  The bicycle was,
+unfortunately, of American make, and the manufacturers wrote to me
+personally that they considered themselves grossly insulted over the
+action of the duke.  Diplomatic notes were exchanged, and I finally
+prevailed upon the duke to state that he held the wheel harmless and
+that his anger had been directed solely against his niece.  This letter
+was duly forwarded to the manufacturers, who, after the manner of their
+kind, carefully altered the phrasing and used it in their magazine
+advertisements.  They were so far appeased that they offered me my
+selection from the private stock.  Happily the duke never read anything
+but the _Fliegende Blätter_ and _Jugend_, and thus war was averted.
+
+Later an automobile agent visited the town--at the secret bidding of
+her Highness--but he was so unceremoniously hustled over the frontier
+that his teeth must have rattled like a dancer's castanets.  It was a
+great country for expeditiousness, as you will find, if you do me the
+honor to follow me to the end.
+
+So the grand duke swore that his niece should wed Doppelkinn, and the
+princess vowed that she would not.  The man who had charge of my horses
+said that one of the palace maids had recounted to him a dialogue which
+had taken place between the duke and his niece.  As I was anxious to be
+off on the road I was compelled to listen to his gossip.
+
+THE GRAND DUKE--In two months' time you shall wed the Prince of
+Doppelkinn.
+
+THE PRINCESS--What! that old red-nose?  Never!  I shall marry only
+where I love.
+
+THE GRAND DUKE--Only where you love!  (_Sneers_.)  One would think, to
+hear you talk, that you were capable of loving something.
+
+THE PRINCESS--You have yet to learn.  I warn you not to force me.  I
+promise to do something scandalous.  I will marry one of the people--a
+man.
+
+THE GRAND DUKE--Bah!  (_Swears softly on his way down to the stables_.)
+
+But the princess had in her mind a plan which, had it gone through
+safely, would have added many grey hairs to the duke's scanty
+collection.  It was a mighty ingenious plan, too, for a woman to figure
+out.
+
+In his attitude toward the girl the duke stood alone.  Behind his back
+his ministers wore out their shoes in waiting on the caprices of the
+girl, while the grand duchess, half-blind and half-deaf, openly
+worshiped her wilful but wholly adorable niece, and abetted her in all
+her escapades.  So far as the populace was concerned, she was the
+daughter of the favorite son, dead these eighteen years, and that was
+enough for them.  Whatever she did was right and proper.  But the
+hard-headed duke had the power to say what should be what, and he
+willed it that the Princess Hildegarde should marry his old comrade in
+arms, the Prince of Doppelkinn.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+As I have already remarked, I used frequently to take long rides into
+the country, and sometimes I did not return till the following day.  My
+clerk was always on duty, and the work never appeared to make him
+round-shouldered.
+
+I had ridden horses for years, and to throw a leg over a good mount was
+to me one of the greatest pleasures in the world.  I delighted in
+stopping at the old feudal inns, of studying the stolid German peasant,
+of drinking from steins uncracked these hundred years, of inspecting
+ancient armor and gathering trifling romances attached thereto.  And
+often I have had the courage to stop at some quaint, crumbling
+_Schloss_ or castle and ask for a night's lodging for myself and horse.
+Seldom, if ever, did I meet with a refusal.
+
+I possessed the whimsical habit of picking out strange roads and riding
+on till night swooped down from the snow-capped mountains.  I had a bit
+of poetry in my system that had never been completely worked out, and I
+was always imagining that at the very next _Schloss_ or inn I was to
+hit upon some delectable adventure.  I was only twenty-eight, and
+inordinately fond of my Dumas.
+
+I rode in grey whipcord breeches, tan boots, a blue serge coat, white
+stock, and never a hat or cap till the snow blew.  I used to laugh when
+the peasants asked leave to lend me a cap or to run back and find the
+one I had presumably lost.
+
+One night the delectable adventure for which I was always seeking came
+my way, and I was wholly unprepared for it.
+
+I had taken the south highway: that which seeks the valley beyond the
+lake.  The moon-film lay mistily upon everything: on the far-off lake,
+on the great upheavals of stone and glacier above me, on the long white
+road that stretched out before me, ribbon-wise.  High up the snow on
+the mountains resembled huge opals set in amethyst.  I was easily
+twenty-five miles from the city; that is to say, I had been in the
+saddle some six hours.  Nobody but a king's messenger will ride a horse
+more than five miles an hour.  I cast about for a place to spend the
+night.  There was no tavern in sight, and the hovels I had passed
+during the last hour offered no shelter for my horse.  Suddenly, around
+a bend in the road, I saw the haven I was seeking.  It was a rambling,
+tottering old castle, standing in the center of a cluster of firs; and
+the tiles of the roofs and the ivy of the towers were shining silver
+with the heavy fall of dew.
+
+Lady Chloe sniffed her kind, whinnied, and broke into a trot.  She knew
+sooner than I that there was life beyond the turn.  We rode up to the
+gate, and I dismounted and stretched myself.  I tried the gate.  The
+lock hung loose, like a paralytic hand.  Evidently those inside had
+nothing to fear from those outside.  I grasped an iron bar and pushed
+in the gate, Chloe following knowingly at my heels.  I could feel the
+crumbling rust on my gloves.  Chloe whinnied again, and there came an
+answering whinny from somewhere in the rear of the castle.  Somebody
+must be inside, I reasoned.
+
+There were lights in the left wing, but this part of the castle was
+surrounded by an empty moat, damp and weedy.  This was not to be
+entered save by a ladder.  There was a great central door, however,
+which had a modern appearance.  The approach was a broad graveled walk.
+I tied Lady Chloe to a tree, knotted the bridle-reins above her neck to
+prevent her from putting her restless feet into them, and proceeded
+toward the door.
+
+Of all the nights this was the one on which my usually lively
+imagination reposed.  I was hungry and tired, and I dare say my little
+mare was.  I wasn't looking for an adventure; I didn't want any
+adventure; I wanted nothing in the world but a meal and a bed.  But for
+the chill of the night air--the breath of the mountain is cold at
+night--I should have been perfectly willing to sleep in the open.  Down
+drawbridge, up portcullis!
+
+I boldly climbed the steps and groped around for the knocker.  It was
+broken and useless, like the lock on the gate.  And never a bell could
+I find.  I swore softly and became impatient.  People in Barscheit did
+not usually live in this slovenly fashion.  What sort of place was this?
+
+Suddenly I grew erect, every fiber in my body tense and expectant.
+
+A voice, lifted in song!  A great penetrating yet silkily mellow voice;
+a soprano; heavenly, not to say ghostly, coming as it did from the
+heart of this gloomy ruin of stone and iron.  The jewel song from
+_Faust_, too!  How the voice rose, fell, soared again with intoxicating
+waves of sound!  What permeating sweetness!  I stood there, a solitary
+listener, as far as I knew, bewildered, my heart beating hard and fast.
+I forgot my hunger.
+
+Had I stumbled upon one of my dreams at last?  Had Romance suddenly
+relented, as a coquette sometimes relents?  For a space I knew not what
+to do.  Then, with a shrug--I have never been accused of lacking
+courage--I tried once more, by the aid of a match, to locate a bell.
+There was absolutely nothing; and the beating of my riding-crop on the
+panels of that huge door would have been as noisy as a feather.  I
+grasped the knob and turned it impatiently.  Behold! the door opened
+without sound, and I stepped into the hallway, which was velvet black.
+
+The wonderful voice went on.  I paused, with hands outstretched.
+Supposing I bumped into something!  I took a step forward, another and
+another; I swung my crop in a half-circle; all was vacancy, I took
+another step, this time in the direction of the voice--and started back
+with a smothered curse.  Bang-ang!  I had run into a suit of old armor,
+the shield of which had clattered to the stone floor.  As I have
+observed, I am not a coward, but I had all I could do to keep my
+legs--which were stirrup-weary, anyhow--from knocking under me!
+
+Silence!
+
+The song died.  All over that great rambling structure not even the
+reassuring chirp of a cricket!  I stood perfectly still.  What the
+deuce should I do?  Turn back?  As I formed this question in my mind a
+draft of wind slammed the door shut.  I was in for it, sure enough; I
+was positive that I could never find that door again.  There was
+nothing to do but wait, and wait with straining ears.  Here were
+mysterious inhabitants.--they might be revolutionists, conspirators,
+counterfeiters.
+
+Heaven knows how long I waited.
+
+Soon I heard a laugh, light, infectious, fearless!  Then I heard a
+voice, soft and pleading.
+
+"Don't go; in mercy's name, don't go, Gretchen!  You may be killed!"
+
+English!  I had actually heard a voice speak my native tongue.
+
+"Nonsense, Betty!  I am not afraid of any ghost that ever walked, rode
+or floated."
+
+"Ghost?  It may be a burglar!"
+
+"Or Steinbock!  We shall find nothing."
+
+Indeed!
+
+"Nothing but a rat, bungling about in the armor."  The laughter came
+again.  "You are not _afraid_, Betty?"
+
+"Only cautious.  But how can you laugh?  A rat?" cried a voice rather
+anxiously.  "Why, they are as big as dogs!"
+
+"But arrant cowards."
+
+So! one of these voices spoke English as its birthright; the other
+spoke with an accent, that is to say, by adoption.  Into what had I
+fallen?  Whither had my hunger brought me?  I was soon to learn.
+
+There came a faint thread of light on one side of the hall, such as may
+be likened to that which filters under a door-sill.  Presently this was
+followed by the sound of jangling brass rings.  A heavy velvet
+portière--which I, being in darkness, had not discovered--slipped back.
+My glance, rather blinded, was first directed toward the flame of the
+candle.  Then I lowered it--and surrendered for ever and for ever!
+
+I beheld two faces in profile, as it were, one side in darkness, the
+other tinted and glowing like ancient ivory.  I honestly confess to you
+that in all my wanderings--and they have been frequent and many--I
+never saw such an enchanting picture or two more exquisite faces.  One
+peered forth with hesitant bravery; the other--she who held the
+candle--with cold, tranquil inquiry.
+
+All my fears, such as they were, left me instantly.  Besides, I was not
+without a certain amount of gallantry and humor.  I stepped squarely
+into the light and bowed.
+
+"Ladies, I am indeed not a ghost, but I promise you that I shall be if
+I am not offered something to eat at once!"
+
+Tableau!
+
+"What are you doing here?" asked she with the candle, her midnight eyes
+drawing down her brows into a frown of displeasure.
+
+I bowed.  "To begin with, I find a gate unlocked, and being curious, I
+open it; then I find a door unlatched, and I enter.  Under these
+unusual circumstances I am forced to ask the same question of you: what
+are you doing here in this ruined castle?  If it isn't ruined, it is
+deserted, which amounts to the same thing."  This _was_ impertinent,
+especially on the part of a self-invited guest.
+
+"That is my affair, sir.  I have a right here, now and at all times."
+Her voice was cold and authoritative.  "There is an inn six miles
+farther down the road; this is a private residence.  Certainly you can
+not remain here over night."
+
+"Six miles?" I echoed dismally.  "Madam, if I have seemed impertinent,
+pardon me.  I have been in the saddle six hours.  I have ridden nearly
+thirty miles since noon.  I am dead with fatigue.  At least give me
+time to rest a bit before taking up the way again, I admit that the
+manner of my entrance was informal; but how was I to know?  There was
+not even a knocker on the door by which to make known my presence to
+you."  The truth is, I did not want to go at once.  No one likes to
+stumble into an adventure--enchanting as this promised to be--and
+immediately pop out of it.  An idea came to me, serviceable rather than
+brilliant.  "I am an American.  My German is poor.  I speak no French.
+I have lost my way, it would seem; I am hungry and tired.  To ride six
+miles farther now is a physical impossibility; and I am very fond of my
+horse."
+
+"He says he is hungry, Gretchen," said the English girl, dropping
+easily into the French language as a vehicle of speech.  (I was a
+wretch, I know, but I simply could not help telling that lie; I didn't
+want to go; and they _might_ be conspirators.)  "Besides," went on the
+girl, "he looks like a gentleman."
+
+"We can not always tell a gentleman in the candle-light," replied
+Gretchen, eying me critically and shrewdly and suspiciously.
+
+As for me, I gazed from one to the ether, inquiringly, after the manner
+of one who hears a tongue not understandable.
+
+"He's rather nice," was the English girl's comment; "and his eyes
+strike me as being too steady to be dishonest."
+
+I had the decency to burn in the ears.  I had taken the step, so now I
+could not draw back.  I sincerely hoped that they would not exchange
+any embarrassing confidences.  When alone women converse upon many
+peculiar topics; and conversing in a tongue which they supposed to be
+unknown to me, these two were virtually alone.
+
+"But, my dear child," the other returned argumentatively, "we can not
+offer hospitality to a strange man this night of all nights.  Think of
+what is to be accomplished."
+
+(So something was to be accomplished?  I was right, then, in deceiving
+them.  To accomplish something on a night like this, far from
+habitation, had all the air of a conspiracy.)
+
+"Feed him and his horse, and I'll undertake to get rid of him before
+that detestable Steinbock comes.  Besides, he might prove a valuable
+witness in drawing up the papers."
+
+(Papers?)
+
+"I never thought of that.  It will not do to trust Steinbock wholly."
+Gretchen turned her searching eyes once more upon me.  I confess that I
+had some difficulty in steadying my own.  There are some persons to
+whom one can not lie successfully; one of them stood before me.  But I
+rather fancy I passed through the ordeal with at least half a victory.
+"Will you go your way after an hour's rest?" she asked, speaking in the
+familiar tongue.
+
+"I promise."  It was easy to make this promise.  I wasn't a diplomat
+for nothing.  I knew how to hang on, to dodge under, to go about.
+
+"Follow me," Gretchen commanded briefly.
+
+(Who was she?  What was going on?)
+
+We passed through the gloomy salon.  A damp, musty odor struck my sense
+of smell.  I was positive that the castle was uninhabited, save for
+this night.  Three candles burned on the mantel, giving to the gloom a
+mysterious, palpitating effect.  The room beyond was the dining-room,
+richly paneled in wine-colored mahogany.  This was better; it was
+cheerful.  A log crackled in the fireplace.  There were plenty of
+candles.  There was a piano, too.  This belonged to the castle; a heavy
+tarpaulin covering lay heaped at one side.  There was a mahogany
+sideboard that would have sent a collector of antiques into raptures,
+and a table upon which lay the remains of a fine supper.  My mouth
+watered.  I counted over the good things: roast pheasant, pink ham, a
+sea-food salad, asparagus, white bread and unsalted butter, an
+alcohol-burner over which hung a tea-pot, and besides all this there
+was a pint of La Rose which was but half-emptied.  Have you ever been
+in the saddle half a day?  If you have, you will readily appreciate the
+appetite that was warring with my curiosity.
+
+"Eat," bade she who was called Gretchen, shortly.
+
+"And my horse?"
+
+"Where is it?"
+
+"Tied to a tree by the gate."
+
+She struck a Chinese gong.  From the kitchen appeared an elderly
+servitor who looked to me more fitted to handle a saber than a
+carving-knife; at least, the scar on his cheek impressed me with this
+idea.  (I found out later that he was an old soldier, who lived alone
+in the castle as caretaker.)
+
+"Take this gentleman's horse to the stables and feed him," said
+Gretchen.  "You will find the animal by the gate."
+
+With a questioning glance at me the old fellow bowed and made off.
+
+I sat down, and the two women brought the various plates and placed
+them within reach.  Their beautiful hands flashed before my eyes and
+now and then a sleeve brushed my shoulder.
+
+"Thank you," I murmured.  "I will eat first, and then make my
+apologies."
+
+This remark caught the fancy of Gretchen.  She laughed.  It was the
+same laughter I had heard while standing in the great hall.
+
+"Will you drink tea, or would you prefer to finish this Bordeaux?" she
+asked pleasantly.
+
+"The wine, if you please; otherwise the effect of the meal and the long
+hours in the wind will produce sleepiness.  And it would be frightfully
+discourteous on my part to fall asleep in my chair.  I am very hard to
+awake."
+
+The English girl poured out the wine and passed the goblet to me.  I
+touched my lips to the glass, and bent my head politely.  Then I
+resolutely proceeded to attack the pheasant and ham.  I must prove to
+these women that at least I was honest in regard to my hunger.  I
+succeeded in causing a formidable portion of the food to disappear.
+
+And then I noticed that neither of the young women seated herself while
+I ate.  I understood.  There was no hostility in this action; nothing
+but formality.  They declined to sit in the presence of an unwelcome
+stranger, thus denying his equality from a social point of view.  I
+readily accepted this decision on their part.  They didn't know who I
+was.  They stood together by the fireplace and carried on a
+conversation in low tones.
+
+How shall I describe them?  The elder of the two, the one who seemed to
+possess all the authority, could not have been more than twenty.  Her
+figure was rather matured, yet it was delicate.  Her hair was tawny,
+her skin olive in shade and richly tinted at the cheek-bones.  Her
+eyes, half framed by thick, black-arching brows, reminded me of
+woodland pools in the dusk of evening,--depths unknown, cool,
+refreshing in repose.  The chin was resolute, the mouth was large but
+shapely and brilliant, the nose possessed the delicate nostrils
+characteristic of all sensitive beings--that is to say, thoroughbreds;
+altogether a confusing, bewildering beauty.  At one moment I believed
+her to be Latin, at the next I was positive that she was Teutonic.  I
+could not discover a single weak point, unless impulsiveness shall be
+called weakness; this sign of impulsiveness was visible in the lips.
+
+The other--well, I couldn't help it.  It was _Kismet_, fate, the turn
+in the road, what you will.  I fell heels over head in love with her at
+once.  She was charming, exquisite, one of those delicate creatures who
+always appear in enchantments; a Bouguereau child grown into womanhood,
+made to fit the protecting frame of a man's arms.  Love steals into the
+heart when we least expect him; and before we are aware, the sly little
+god has unpacked his trunk and taken possession!
+
+Eyes she had as blue as the Aegean Sea on windy days, blue as the
+cloud-winnowed sky of a winter's twilight, blue as sapphires--Irish
+eyes!  Her hair was as dark and silken as a plume from the wings of
+night.  (Did I not say that I had some poetry in my system?)  The shape
+of her mouth--Never mind; I can recall only the mad desire to kiss it.
+A graceful figure, a proud head, a slender hand, a foot so small that I
+wondered if it really poised, balanced or supported her young body.
+Tender she must be, and loving, enclitical rather than erect like her
+authoritative companion.  She was adorable.
+
+All this inventory of feminine charms was taken by furtive glances,
+sometimes caught--or were they taking an inventory of myself?
+Presently my appetite became singularly submissive.  Hunger often is
+satisfied by the feeding of the eyes.  I dropped my napkin on the table
+and pushed back my chair.  My hostesses ceased conversing.
+
+"Ladies," said I courteously, "I offer you my sincere apologies for
+this innocent intrusion."  I looked at my watch.  "I believe that you
+gave me an hour's respite.  So, then, I have thirty minutes to my
+account."
+
+The women gazed at each other.  One laughed, and the other smiled; it
+was the English girl who laughed this time.  I liked the sound of it
+better than any I had yet heard.
+
+(Pardon another parenthesis.  I hope you haven't begun to think that
+_I_ am the hero of this comedy.  Let it be furthest from your thoughts.
+I am only a passive bystander.)
+
+"I sincerely trust that your hunger is appeased," said the one who had
+smiled.
+
+"It is, thank you."  I absently fumbled in my coat pockets, then
+guiltily dropped my hands.  What a terrible thing habit is!
+
+"You may smoke," said the Bouguereau child who was grown into
+womanhood.  Wasn't that fine of her?  And wasn't it rather observant,
+too?  I learned later that she had a brother who was fond of tobacco.
+To her eyes my movement was a familiar one.
+
+"With your kind permission," said I gratefully.  I hadn't had a smoke
+in four hours.
+
+I owned a single good cigar, the last of my importation.  I lighted it
+and blew forth a snowy billow of heavenly aroma.  I know something
+about human nature, even the feminine side of it.  A presentable young
+man with a roll of aromatic tobacco seldom falls to win the confidence
+of those about him.  With that cloud of smoke the raw edge of formality
+smoothed down.
+
+"Had you any particular destination?" asked Gretchen.
+
+"None at all.  The road took my fancy, and I simply followed it."
+
+"Ah! that is one of the pleasures of riding--to go wherever the
+inclination bids.  I ride."
+
+We were getting on famously.
+
+"Do you take long journeys?" I inquired.
+
+"Often.  It is the most exhilarating of sports," said the Enchantment.
+"The scenery changes; there are so many things that charm and engage
+your interest: the mountains, the waterways, the old ruins.  Have you
+ever whistled to the horses afield and watched them come galloping down
+to the wall?  It is fine.  In England--"  But her mouth closed
+suddenly.  She was talking to a stranger.
+
+I love enthusiasm in a woman.  It colors her cheeks and makes her eyes
+sparkle, I grew a bit bolder.
+
+"I heard a wonderful voice as I approached the castle," said I.
+
+Gretchen shrugged.
+
+"I haven't heard its equal outside Berlin or Paris," I went on.
+
+"Paris?" said Gretchen, laying a neat little trap for me into which my
+conceit was soon to tumble me.  "Paris is a marvelous city."
+
+"There is no city to equal it.  Inasmuch as we three shall never meet
+again, will you not do me the honor to repeat that jewel song from
+_Faust_?"  My audacity did not impress her in the least.
+
+"You can scarcely expect me to give a supper to a stranger and then
+sing for him, besides," said Gretchen, a chill again stealing into her
+tones.  "These Americans!" she observed to her companion in French.
+
+I laid aside my cigar, approached the piano, and sat down.  I struck a
+few chords and found the instrument to be in remarkably good order.  I
+played a Chopin _Polonaise_, I tinkled Grieg's _Papillon_, then I
+ceased.
+
+"That is to pay for my supper," I explained.
+
+Next I played _Le Courier_, and when I had finished that I turned
+again, rising.
+
+"That is to pay for my horse's supper," I said.
+
+Gretchen's good humor returned.
+
+"Whoever you are, sir," her tone no longer repellent, "you are amusing.
+Pray, tell us whom we have the honor to entertain?"
+
+"I haven't the vaguest idea who my hostess is,"--evasively.
+
+"It is quite out of the question.  You are the intruder."
+
+"Call me Mr. Intruder, then," said I.
+
+It was, you will agree, a novel adventure.  I was beginning to enjoy it
+hugely.
+
+"Who do you suppose this fellow is?" Gretchen asked.
+
+"He says he is an American, and I believe he is.  What Americans are in
+Barscheit?"
+
+"I know of none at all.  What shall we do to get rid of him?"
+
+All this was carried on with unstudied rudeness.  They were women of
+high and noble quality; and as I was an interloper, I could take no
+exception to a conversation in a language I had stated I did not
+understand.  If they were rude, I had acted in a manner unbecoming a
+gentleman.  Still, I was somewhat on the defensive.  I took out my
+watch.  My hour was up.
+
+"I regret that I must be off," I said ruefully.  "It is much pleasanter
+here than on the road."
+
+"I can not ask you to remain here.  You will find the inn a very
+comfortable place for the night," was Gretchen's suggestion.
+
+"Before I go, may I ask in what manner I might serve as a witness?"
+Ere the words had fully crossed my lips I recognized that my smartness
+had caused me to commit an unpardonable blunder for a man who wished to
+show up well in an adventure of this sort.  (But fate had a hand in it,
+as presently you shall see.)
+
+Gretchen laughed, but the sound was harsh and metallic.  She turned to
+her companion, who was staring at me with startled eyes.
+
+"What did I tell you?  You can not tell a gentleman in the
+candle-light."  To me she said:
+
+"I thought as much.  You have heard _Faust_ in Paris, but you know
+nothing of the French language.  You claimed to be a gentleman, yet you
+have permitted us to converse in French."
+
+"Was it polite of you to use it?" I asked.  "All this," with a wave of
+the hand, "appears mysterious.  This is not a residence one would
+expect to find inhabited--and by two charming women!"  I bowed.  "Your
+presence here is even less satisfactorily explained than mine.  If I
+denied the knowledge of French it was because I wasn't sure of my
+surroundings.  It was done in self-defense rather than in the desire to
+play a trick.  And in this language you speak of witnesses, of papers,
+of the coming of a man you do not trust.  It looks very much like a
+conspiracy."  I gathered up my gloves and riding-crop.  I believed that
+I had extricated myself rather well.
+
+"This is my castle," said Gretchen, gently shaking off the warning hand
+of her companion.  "If I desire to occupy it for a night, who shall
+gainsay me?  If I leave the latches down, that is due to the fact that
+I have no one to fear.  Now, sir, you have eaten the bread of my table,
+and I demand to know who you are.  If you do not tell me at once, I
+shall be forced to confine you here till I am ready to leave."
+
+"Confine me!"--nonplussed.  This was more than I had reckoned on.
+
+"Yes."  She reached out to strike the gong.  (I can not be blamed for
+surrendering so tamely.  I didn't know that the old servitor was the
+only man around.)
+
+"I am the American consul at Barscheit."
+
+The two women drew together instinctively, as if one desired to protect
+the other from some unknown calamity.  What the deuce was it all about?
+All at once Gretchen thrust aside her friend and approached.  The table
+was between us, and she rested her hands upon it.  Our glances met and
+clashed.
+
+"Did the duke send you here?" she demanded repellently.
+
+"The duke?"  I was getting deeper than ever.  "The duke?"
+
+"Yes.  I am the Princess Hildegarde."
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+The Princess Hildegarde of Barscheit!  My gloves and riding-crop
+slipped from my nerveless fingers to the floor.  A numbing, wilting
+sensation wrinkled my spine.  The Princess Hildegarde of Barscheit!
+She stood opposite me, the woman--ought I not to say girl?--for whom I
+had been seeking, after a fashion, all these months!  The beautiful
+madcap who took the duchy by the ears, every now and then, and tweaked
+them!  The princess herself, here in this lonely old castle into which
+I had so carelessly stumbled!  Romance, enchantment!  Oddly enough, the
+picture of her riding a bicycle flashed through my brain, and this was
+followed by another, equally engaging, of the hussar who rode
+cross-country, to the horror of the conservative element at court.
+
+"The Princess Hildegarde!" I murmured stupidly.
+
+"Yes.  I have asked you a question, sir.  Or shall I put the question
+in French?"--ironically.  "Was it the duke who sent you here?"
+
+There was a look in her superb eyes which told me that it would have
+been to her infinite pleasure to run a sword through my black and
+villainous heart.  Presently I recovered.  With forced calm I stooped
+and collected my gloves and crop.
+
+"Your Highness, what the deuce has the duke to do with my affairs, or I
+with his?  As an American, you would scarcely expect me to meddle with
+your private affairs.  You are the last person in the world I thought
+to meet this night.  I represent the United States in this country, and
+though I am inordinately young, I have acquired the habit of attending
+to my own affairs."
+
+From the angry face in front of me I turned to the dismayed face
+beyond.  There must have been a question in my glance.  The young woman
+drew herself up proudly.
+
+"I am the Honorable Betty Moore."
+
+(The princess' schoolmate in England!)
+
+Her Highness stood biting the knuckle of a forefinger, undecided as to
+what path of action to enter, to reach a satisfactory end.  My very
+rudeness convinced her more than anything else that I spoke the truth.
+
+"How, then, did you select this particular road?"--still entertaining
+some doubt.
+
+"It is a highway, free to all.  But I have already explained that," I
+answered quietly.  I moved deliberately toward the door, but with a
+cat-like movement she sprang in front of me.  "Well, your Highness?"
+
+"Wait!" she commanded, extending an authoritative arm (lovely too!).
+"Since you are here, and since you know who I am, you must remain."
+
+"Must?" I repeated, taken aback.
+
+"Must!  My presence here ought not to be known to any one.  When you
+witness that which shall take place here to-night, you will
+understand."  Her tone lost its evenness; it trembled and became a bit
+wild.
+
+"In what manner may I be of service to your Highness?" I asked
+pleasantly, laying aside my gloves and crop again.  "I can easily give
+you my word of honor as a gentleman not to report your presence here;
+but if I am forced to remain, I certainly demand--"
+
+"Desire," she corrected, the old fire in her eyes.
+
+"Thank you.  I desire, then, to know the full reason; for I can not be
+a party to anything which may reflect upon the consulate.  For myself,
+I do not care."  What hare-brained escapade was now in the air?
+
+The princess walked over to the mantel and rested her arms upon it,
+staring wide-eyed into the fire.  Several minutes passed.  I waited
+patiently; but, to tell the truth, I was on fire with curiosity.  At
+length my patience was rewarded.
+
+"You have heard that I am to marry the Prince of Doppelkinn?" she began.
+
+I nodded.
+
+"Doubtless you have also heard of my determination not to marry him?"
+she went on.
+
+Again I nodded.
+
+"Well, I am not going to marry him."
+
+I was seized with the desire to laugh, but dared not.  What had all
+this to do with my detention in the castle?
+
+"Betty," said the princess, turning imploringly to her companion (what
+a change!), "_you_ tell him."
+
+"I?"  The Honorable Betty drew back.
+
+(Had they kidnapped old Doppelkinn? I wondered.)
+
+"I can not tell him," cried her Highness miserably, "I simply can not.
+You must do it, Betty.  It is now absolutely necessary that he should
+know everything; it is absolutely vital that he be present.  Perhaps
+Heaven has sent him.  Do you understand?  Now, tell him!"
+
+And, wonders to behold! she who but a few minutes gone had been a
+princess in everything, cold, seeing, tranquil, she fled from the room.
+(Decidedly this was growing interesting.  What had they done?)  Thus,
+the Honorable Betty Moore and his Excellency, the American consul at
+Barscheit, were left staring into each other's eyes fully a minute.
+
+"You will, of course, pledge me your word of honor?"  She who had
+recently been timid now became cool and even-pulsed.
+
+"If in pledging it I am asked to do nothing to discredit my office.  I
+am not an independent individual,"--smiling to put her more at ease.
+(I haven't the least doubt that I would have committed any sort of
+folly had she required it of me.)
+
+"You have my word, sir, that you will be asked to do nothing
+dishonorable.  On the other hand, you will confer a great favor upon
+her Highness, who is in deep trouble and is seeking a way to escape it."
+
+"Command me," said I promptly.
+
+"Her Highness is being forced into marriage with a man who is old
+enough to be her grandfather.  She holds him in horror, and will go to
+any length to make this marriage an impossibility.  For my part, I have
+tried to convince her of the futility of resisting her royal uncle's
+will."  (Sensible little Britisher!)  "What she is about to do will be
+known only to four persons, one of whom is a downright rascal."
+
+"A rascal?" slipped my lips, half-unconsciously.  "I trust that I
+haven't given you that impression," I added eagerly.  (A rascal?  The
+plot was thickening to formidable opaqueness.)
+
+"No, no!" she cried hastily, with a flash of summer on her lips.  (What
+is more charming than an English woman with a clear sense of the
+humorous?)  "You haven't given me that impression at all."
+
+"Thank you."  My vanity expanded under the genial warmth of this
+knowledge.  It was quite possible that she looked upon me favorably.
+
+"To proceed.  There is to be a kind of mock marriage here to-night, and
+you are to witness it."  She watched me sharply.
+
+I frowned.
+
+"Patience!  Not literally a mock marriage, but the filling out of a
+bogus certificate."
+
+"I do not understand at all."
+
+"You have heard of Hermann Steinbock, a cashiered officer?"
+
+"Yes.  I understand that he is the rascal to whom you refer."
+
+"Well, this certificate is to be filled out completely.  To outwit the
+duke, her Highness commits--"
+
+"A forgery."
+
+"It is a terrible thing to do, but she has gone too far to withdraw
+now.  She is to become the wife of Hermann Steinbock.  She wishes to
+show the certificate to the duke."
+
+"But the banns have not been made public."
+
+"That does not matter."
+
+"But why detain me?"  I was growing restless.  It was all folly, and no
+good would come of it.
+
+"It is necessary that a gentleman should be present.  The caretaker is
+not a gentleman.  I have said that Steinbock is a rascal.  As I review
+the events, I begin to look upon your arrival as timely.  Steinbock is
+not a reliable quantity."
+
+"I begin to perceive."
+
+"He is to receive one thousand crowns for his part in the ceremony;
+then he is to leave the country."
+
+"But the priest's signature, the notary's seal, the iron-clad
+formalities which attend all these things!" I stammered.
+
+"You will recollect that her Highness is a princess of the blood.
+Seldom is she refused anything in Barscheit."  She went to a small
+secretary and produced a certificate, duly sealed and signed.  There
+lacked nothing but Steinbock's name.
+
+"But the rascal will boast about it!  He may blackmail all of you.  He
+may convince the public that he has really married her Highness."
+
+"I thank not.  We have not moved in this blindly.  Steinbock we know to
+have forged the name of the minister of finance.  We hold this sword
+above his head.  And if he should speak or boast of it, your word would
+hold greater weight than his.  Do you understand now?"
+
+"Yes, I understand.  But I believe that I am genuinely sorry to have
+blundered into this castle to-night."
+
+"Oh, if you lack courage!"--carelessly.
+
+I laughed.  "I am not afraid of twenty Steinbocks."
+
+Her laughter echoed mine.  "Come, Mr.--by the way, I believe I do not
+know your name."
+
+"Warrington--Arthur Warrington."
+
+"That is a very good English name, and a gentleman possessing it will
+never leave two women in a predicament like this.  You will understand
+that we dare not trust any one at court.  Relative to her Highness, the
+duke succeeds in bribing all."
+
+"But a rascal like Steinbock!"
+
+"I know,"--a bit wearily.
+
+"It is pardonable to say that I believe her Highness has been very
+foolish."
+
+The girl made a gesture which conceded this fact.  "It is too late to
+retreat, as I have told you.  Steinbock is already on the way.  We must
+trust him.  But you?"
+
+"After all, what does a consulate amount to?"
+
+This seemed to be answer enough.  She extended her hand in a royal
+fashion.  I took it in one of mine, bent and kissed it respectfully.
+Apparently she had expected the old-fashioned handshake familiar to our
+common race, for I observed that she started as my lips came into
+contact with the back of her hand.  As for me, when my lips touched the
+satin flesh I knew that it was all over.
+
+"Your Highness!" she called.
+
+The princess returned.  She looked at me with a mixture of fierceness
+and defiance, humility and supplication.  I had always supposed her to
+be a sort of hobbledehoy; instead, she was one of those rare creatures
+who possess all the varying moods of the sex.  I could readily imagine
+all the young fellows falling violently in love with her; all the young
+fellows save one.  I glanced furtively at the Honorable Betty.
+
+"He knows all?" asked her Highness, her chin tilted aggressively.
+
+"Everything."
+
+"What must you think of me?"  There was that in her Highness' tone
+which dared me to express any opinion that was not totally
+complimentary.
+
+"I am not sufficiently well-born to pass an opinion upon your Highness'
+actions," I replied, with excusable irony.
+
+"Excellent!" she exclaimed.  "I have grown weary of sycophants.  You
+are not afraid of me at all."
+
+"Not in the slightest degree," I declared.
+
+"You will not regret what you are about to do.  I can make it very
+pleasant for you in Barscheit--or very unpleasant."  But this
+threatening supplement was made harmless by the accompanying smile.
+
+"May I offer the advice of rather a worldly man?"
+
+"Well?"
+
+"When Steinbock comes bid him go about his business."
+
+The Honorable Betty nodded approvingly, but her Highness shrugged.
+
+"Since you are decided,"--and I bowed.  "Now, what time does this
+fellow put in his appearance?"
+
+Her Highness beamed upon the Honorable Betty.  "I like the way he says
+'this fellow'; it reassures me.  He is due at nine o'clock; that is to
+say, in half an hour.  I will give you these directions.  I do not wish
+Steinbock to know of your presence here.  You will hide in the salon,
+close to the portières, within call.  Moreover, I shall have to impose
+upon you the disagreeable duty of playing the listener.  Let nothing
+escape your ear or your eye.  I am not certain of this fellow
+Steinbock, though I hold a sword above his head."
+
+"But where are your men?" I asked.
+
+She smiled.  "There is no one here but Leopold."
+
+"Your Highness to meet Steinbock alone?"
+
+"I have no fear of him; he knows who I am."
+
+"Everything shall be done as you wish."  I secretly hoped I might have
+the opportunity to punch Steinbock's head.
+
+"Thank you."  The transition of her moods always left me in wonder.
+"Play something; it is impossible to talk."  She perched herself on the
+broad arm of the Honorable Betty's chair, and her arm rested lightly
+but affectionately on her shoulder.
+
+It was something for a man to gain the confidence, in so short a time,
+of two such women.  I felt as brave as Bavard.  So I sat down before
+the piano and played.  My two accomplishments are horseback riding and
+music, and I candidly tell you that I am as reckless at one as at the
+other.  I had a good memory.  I played something from Chaminade, as her
+fancies are always airy and agreeable and unmelancholy.  I was
+attacking _The Flatterer_ when her Highness touched my arm.
+
+"Hark!"
+
+We all listened intently.  The sound of beating hoofs came distinctly.
+A single horseman was galloping along the highway toward the castle.
+The sound grew nearer and nearer; presently it ceased.  I rose quietly.
+
+"It is time I hid myself, for doubtless this rider is the man."
+
+The princess paled for a moment, while her companion nervously plucked
+at the edges of her handkerchief.
+
+"Go," said the former; "and be watchful."
+
+I then took up my position behind the portières.  Truly I had stumbled
+into an adventure; but how to stumble out again?  If the duke got wind
+of it, it would mean my recall, and I was of a mind, just then, that I
+was going to be particularly fond of Barscheit.
+
+All was silent.  A door closed, and then came the tread of feet.  I
+peered through the portières shortly to see the entrance of two men,
+one of whom was the old caretaker.  His companion was a dark, handsome
+fellow, of Hungarian gipsy type.  There was a devil-may-care air about
+him that fitted him well.  It was Steinbock.  He was dressed with
+scrupulous care, in spite of the fact that he wore riding clothes.  It
+is possible that he recognized the importance of the event.  One did
+not write one's name under a princess' signature every day, even in
+mockery.  There was a half-smile on his face that I did not like.
+
+"Your Highness sees that I am prompt,"--uncovering.
+
+"It is well.  Let us proceed at once to conclude the matter in hand,"
+she said.
+
+"Wholly at your service!"
+
+(Hang the fellow's impudence!  How dared he use that jovial tone?)
+
+I heard the crackle of parchment.  The certificate was being unfolded.
+(It occurred to me that while she was about it the princess might just
+as well have forged the rascal's name and wholly dispensed with his
+services.  The whole affair struck me as being ineffective; nothing
+would come of it.  If she tried to make the duke believe that she had
+married Steinbock, her uncle would probe the matter to the bottom, and
+in the end cover her with ridicule.  But you can not tell a young woman
+anything, when she is a princess and in the habit of having her own
+way.  It is remarkable how stupid clever women can be at times.  The
+Honorable Betty understood, but her Highness would not be convinced.
+Thus she suffered this needless affront.  Pardon this parenthesis, but
+when one talks from behind a curtain the parenthesis is the only
+available thing.)  There was silence.  I saw Steinbock poise the pen,
+then scribble on the parchment.  It was done.  I stirred restlessly.
+
+"There!" cried Steinbock.  His voice did not lack a certain triumph.
+"And now for the duplicate!"
+
+Her Highness stuffed the document into the bosom of her dress.  "There
+will be no duplicate."  The frigidity of her tones would have congealed
+the blood of an ordinary rascal.  But Steinbock was not ordinary.
+
+"But suppose the duke comes to me for verification?" he reasoned.
+
+"You will be on the other side of the frontier.  Here are your thousand
+crowns."
+
+The barb of her contempt penetrated even his thick epidermis.  His
+smile hardened.
+
+"I was once a gentleman; I did not always accept money for aiding in
+shady transactions."
+
+"Neither your sentiments nor your opinions are required.  Now, observe
+me carefully," continued her Highness.  "I shall give you twenty-four
+hours to cross the frontier in any direction you choose.  If after that
+time you are found in Barscheit, I promise to hand you over to the
+police."
+
+"It has been a great day," said the rascal, with a laugh.  "A thousand
+crowns!"
+
+I separated the portières an inch.  He stood at the side of the piano,
+upon which he leaned an elbow.  He was certainly handsome, much sought
+after by women of a low class.  The princess stood at Steinbock's left
+and the Honorable Betty at his right, erect, their faces expressing
+nothing, so forced was the repose.
+
+"I never expected so great an honor.  To wed a princess, when that
+princess is your Highness!  Faith, it is fine!"
+
+"You may go at once," interrupted her Highness, her voice rising a key.
+"Remember, you have only twenty-four hours between you and prison.  You
+waste valuable time."
+
+"What! you wish to be rid of me so soon?  Why, this is the bridal
+night.  One does not part with one's wife at this rate."
+
+Leopold, the caretaker, made a warning gesture.
+
+"Come, Leopold, I must have my jest," laughed Steinbock.
+
+"Within certain bounds," returned the old man phlegmatically.  "It is
+high time you were off.  You are foolhardy to match your chances with
+justice.  Prison stares you in the face."
+
+"Bah!  Do you believe it?"
+
+"It is a positive fact," added the princess.
+
+"But to leave like this has the pang of death!" Steinbock remonstrated,
+"What! shall I be off without having even kissed the bride?"
+
+"The bargain is concluded on all sides; you have your thousand crowns."
+
+"But not love's tribute.  I must have that.  It is worth a thousand
+crowns.  Besides," with a perceptible change in his manner, "shall I
+forget the contempt with which you have always looked upon me, even in
+the old days that were fair and prosperous?  Scarcely!  Opportunity is
+a thing that can not be permitted to pass thus lightly."  Then I
+observed his nose wrinkle; he was sniffing.  "Tobacco!  I did not know
+that you smoked, Leopold."
+
+"Begone!" cried the old fellow, his hands opening and shutting.
+
+"Presently!"  With a laugh he sprang toward her Highness, but Leopold
+was too quick for him.
+
+There was a short struggle, and I saw the valiant old man reel, fall
+and strike his head on the stone of the hearth.  He lay perfectly
+motionless.  So unexpected was this scene to my eyes that for a time I
+was without any particular sense of movement.  I stood like stone.
+With an evil laugh Steinbock sprang toward her Highness again.  Quick
+as light she snatched up my crop, which lay on the table, and struck
+the rascal full across the eyes, again and again and again, following
+him as he stepped backward.  Her defense was magnificent.  But, as fate
+determined to have it, Steinbock finally succeeded in wresting the
+stick from her grasp.  He was wild with pain and chagrin.  It was then
+I awoke to the fact that I was needed.
+
+I rushed out, hot with anger.  I caught Steinbock by the collar just in
+time to prevent his lips from touching her cheek.  I flung him to the
+floor, and knelt upon his chest.  I am ashamed to confess it, but I
+recollect slapping the fellow's face as he struggled under me.
+
+"You scoundrel!" I cried, breathing hard.
+
+"Kill him!" whispered her Highness.  She was furious; the blood of her
+marauding ancestors swept over her cheeks, and if ever I saw murder in
+a woman's eyes it was at that moment.
+
+"Hush, Hildegarde, hush!"  The English girl caught the princess in her
+arms and drew her back.  "Don't let me hear you talk like that.  It is
+all over."
+
+"Get up," I said to Steinbock, as I set him free.
+
+He crawled to his feet.  He was very much disordered, and there were
+livid welts on his face.  He shook himself, eying me evilly.  There was
+murder in his eyes, too.
+
+"Empty your pockets of those thousand crowns!"--peremptorily.
+
+"I was certain that I smelled tobacco," he sneered.  "It would seem
+that there are other bridegrooms than myself."
+
+"Those crowns, or I'll break every bone in your body!"  I balled my
+fists.  Nothing would have pleased me better at that moment than to
+pummel the life out of him.
+
+Slowly he drew out the purse.  It was one of those limp silk affairs so
+much affected by our ancestors.  He balanced it on his hand.  Its ends
+bulged with gold and bank-notes.  Before I was aware of his intention,
+he swung one end of it in so deft a manner that it struck me squarely
+between the eyes.  With a crash of glass he disappeared through the
+window.  The blow dazed me only for a moment, and I was hot to be on
+his tracks.  The Honorable Betty stopped me.
+
+"He may shoot you!" she cried.  "Don't go!"
+
+Although half through the window, I crawled back, brushing my sleeves.
+Something warm trickled down my nose.
+
+"You have been cut!" exclaimed her Highness.
+
+"It is nothing.  I beg of you to let me follow.  It will be all over
+with that fellow at large."
+
+"Not at all."  Her Highness' eyes sparkled wickedly.  "He will make for
+the nearest frontier.  He knows now that I shall not hesitate a moment
+to put his affairs in the hands of the police."
+
+"He will boast of what he has done."
+
+"Not till he has spent those thousand crowns."  She crossed the room
+and knelt at the side of Leopold, dashing some water into his face.
+Presently he opened his eyes.  "He is only stunned.  Poor Leopold!"
+
+I helped the old man to his feet, and he rubbed the back of his head
+grimly.  He drew a revolver from his pocket.
+
+"I had forgotten all about it," he said contritely.  "Shall I follow
+him, your Highness?"
+
+"Let him go.  It doesn't matter now.  Betty, you were right, as you
+always are.  I have played the part of a silly fool.  I _would_ have my
+own way in the matter.  Well, I have this worthless paper.  At least I
+can frighten the duke, and that is something."
+
+"Oh, my dear, if only you would have listened to my advice!" the other
+girl said.  There was deep discouragement in her tones.  "I warned you
+so often that it would come to this end."
+
+"Let us drop the matter entirely," said her Highness.
+
+I gazed admiringly at her--to see her sink suddenly into a chair and
+weep abandonedly!  Leopold eyed her mournfully, while the English girl
+rushed to her side and flung her arms around her soothingly.
+
+"I am very unhappy," said the princess, lifting her head and shaking
+the tears from her eyes.  "I am harassed on all sides; I am not allowed
+any will of my own.  I wish I were a peasant!--Thank you, thank you!
+But for you that wretch would have kissed me."  She held out her hand
+to me, and I bent to one knee as I kissed it.  She was worthy to be the
+wife of the finest fellow in all the world.  I was very sorry for her,
+and thought many uncomplimentary things of the duke.
+
+"I shall not ask you to forget my weakness," she said.
+
+"It is already forgotten, your Highness."
+
+
+Under such circumstances I met the Princess Hildegarde of Barscheit;
+and I never betrayed her confidence until this writing, when I have her
+express permission.
+
+Of Hermann Steinbock I never saw anything more.  Thus the only villain
+passes from the scene.  As I have repeatedly remarked, doubtless to
+your weariness, this is not my story at all; but in parenthesis I may
+add that between the Honorable Betty Moore and myself there sprang up a
+friendship which later ripened into something infinitely stronger.
+
+This, then, was the state of affairs when, one month later, Max
+Scharfenstein poked his handsome blond head over the frontier of
+Barscheit; cue (as the dramatist would say), enter hero.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+He came straight to the consulate, and I was so glad to see him that I
+sat him down in front of the sideboard and left orders that I was at
+home to no one.  We had been class-mates and room-mates at college, and
+two better friends never lived.  We spent the whole night in recounting
+the good old days, sighed a little over the departed ones, and praised
+or criticized the living.  Hadn't they been times, though?  The nights
+we had stolen up to Philadelphia to see the shows, the great
+Thanksgiving games in New York, the commencements, and all that!
+
+Max had come out of the far West.  He was a foundling who had been
+adopted by a wealthy German ranchman named Scharfenstein, which name
+Max assumed as his own, it being as good as any.  Nobody knew anything
+about Max's antecedents, but he was so big and handsome and jolly that
+no one cared a hang.  For all that he did not know his parentage, he
+was a gentleman, something that has to be bred in the bone.  Once or
+twice I remember seeing him angry; in anger he was arrogant, deadly,
+but calm.  He was a god in track-linen, for he was what few big men
+are, quick and agile.  The big fellow who is cat-like in his movements
+is the most formidable of athletes.  One thing that invariably amused
+me was his inordinate love of uniforms.  He would always stop when he
+saw a soldier or the picture of one, and his love of arms was little
+short of a mania.  He was an expert fencer and a dead shot besides.
+(Pardon the parenthesis, but I feel it my duty to warn you that nobody
+fights a duel in this little history, and nobody gets killed.)
+
+On leaving college he went in for medicine, and his appearance in the
+capital city of Barscheit was due obviously to the great medical
+college, famous the world over for its nerve specialists.  This was
+Max's first adventure in the land of gutturals.  I explained to him,
+and partly unraveled, the tangle of laws; as to the language, he spoke
+that, not like a native, but as one.
+
+Max was very fond of the society of women, and at college we used to
+twit him about it, for he was always eager to meet a new face, trusting
+that the new one might be the ideal for which he was searching.
+
+"Well, you old Dutchman," said I, "have you ever found that ideal woman
+of yours?"
+
+"Bah!"--lighting a pipe.  "She will never be found.  A horse and a
+trusty dog for me; those two you may eventually grow to understand.  Of
+course I don't say, if the woman came along--the right one--I mightn't
+go under, I'm philosopher enough to admit that possibility.  I want her
+tall, hair like corn-silk, eyes like the cornflower, of brilliant
+intellect, reserved, and dignified, and patient.  I want a woman, not
+humorous, but who understands humor, and I have never heard of one.
+So, you see, it's all smoke; and I never talk woman these times unless
+I'm smoking,"--with a gesture which explained that he had given up the
+idea altogether.  "A doctor sees so much of women that he finally sees
+nothing of woman."
+
+"Oh, if you resort to epigrams, I can see that it's all over."
+
+"All over.  I'm so used to being alone that I shouldn't know what to do
+with a wife."  He puffed seriously.
+
+Ah! the futility of our desires, of our castles, of our dreams!  The
+complacency with which we jog along in what we deem to be our own
+particular groove!  I recall a girl friend of my youth who was going to
+be a celibate, a great reformer, and toward that end was studying for
+the pulpit.  She is now the mother of several children, the most
+peaceful and unorative woman I know.  You see, humanity goes whirring
+over various side-tracks, thinking them to be the main line, till fate
+puts its peculiar but happy hand to the switch.  Scharfenstein had been
+plugging away over rusty rails and grass-grown ties--till he came to
+Barscheit.
+
+"Hope is the wings of the heart," said I, when I thought the pause had
+grown long enough.  "You still hope?"
+
+"In a way.  If I recollect, you had an affair once,"--shrewdly.
+
+I smoked on.  I wasn't quite ready to speak.
+
+"You were always on the hunt for ideals, too, as I remember; hope
+you'll find her."
+
+"Max, my boy, I am solemnly convinced that I have."
+
+"Good Lord, you don't mean to tell me that you are _hooked_?" he cried.
+
+"I see no reason why you should use that particular tone," I answered
+stiffly.
+
+"Oh, come now; tell me all about it.  Who is she, and when's the
+wedding?"
+
+"I don't know when the wedding's going to be, but I'm mighty sure that
+I have met the one girl.  Max, there never was a girl like her.  Witty
+she is, and wise; as beautiful as a summer's dawn; merry and brave;
+rides, drives, plays the 'cello, dances like a moon-shadow; and all
+that,"--with a wave of the hand.
+
+"You've got it bad.  Remember how you used to write poetry at college?
+Who is she, if I may ask?"
+
+"The Honorable Betty Moore, at present the guest of her Highness, the
+Princess Hildegarde,"--with pardonable pride.
+
+Max whistled.  "You're a lucky beggar.  One by one we turn traitor to
+our native land.  A Britisher!  I never should have believed it of you,
+of the man whose class declamation was on the fiery subject of
+patriotism.  But is it all on one side?"
+
+"I don't know, Max; sometimes I think so, and then I don't."
+
+"How long have you known her?"
+
+"Little more than a month."
+
+"A month?  Everything moves swiftly these days, except European railway
+cars."
+
+"There's a romance, Max, but another besides her is concerned, and I
+can not tell you.  Some day, when everything quiets down, I'll get you
+into a corner with a bottle, and you will find it worth while."
+
+"The bottle?"
+
+"Both."
+
+"From rumors I've heard, this princess is a great one for larks; rides
+bicycles and automobiles, and generally raises the deuce.  What sort is
+she?"
+
+"If you are going to remain in Barscheit, my boy, take a friendly
+warning.  Do not make any foolish attempt to see her.  She is more
+fascinating than a roulette table."
+
+This was a sly dig.  Max smiled.  A recent letter from him had told of
+an encounter with the goddess of Monte Carlo.  Fortune had been all
+things but favorable.
+
+"I'm not afraid of your princess; besides, I came here to study."
+
+"And study hard, my boy, study hard.  Her Highness is not the only
+pretty woman in Barscheit.  There's a raft of them."
+
+"I'll paddle close to the shore," with a smile.
+
+"By the way, I'll wake you up Thursday."
+
+"How?"--lazily.
+
+"A bout at Müller's Rathskeller.  Half a dozen American lads, one of
+whom is called home.  Just fixed up his passports for him.  You'll be
+as welcome as the flowers in the spring.  Some of the lads will be in
+your classes."
+
+"Put me down.  It will be like old times.  I went to the reunion last
+June.  Everything was in its place but you.  Hang it, why can't time
+always go on as it did then?"
+
+"Time, unlike our watches, never has to go to the jeweler's for
+repairs," said I owlishly.
+
+Max leaned over, took my bull-terrier by the neck and deposited him on
+his lap.
+
+"Good pup, Artie--if he's anything like his master.  Three years, my
+boy, since I saw you.  And here you are, doing nothing and lallygagging
+at court with the nobility.  I wish I had had an uncle who was a
+senator.  'Pull' is everything these days."
+
+"You Dutchman, I won this place on my own merit,"--indignantly.
+
+"Forget it!"--grinning.
+
+"You are impertinent."
+
+"But truthful, always."
+
+And then we smoked a while in silence.  The silent friend is the best
+of the lot.  He knows that he hasn't got to talk unless he wants to,
+and likewise that it is during these lapses of speech that the vine of
+friendship grows and tightens about the heart.  When you sit beside a
+man and feel that you need not labor to entertain him it's a good sign
+that you thoroughly understand each other.  I was first to speak.
+
+"I don't understand why you should go in for medicine so thoroughly.
+It can't be money, for heaven knows your father left you a yearly
+income which alone would be a fortune to me."
+
+"Chivalry shivers these days; the chill of money is on everything.  A
+man must do something--a man who is neither a sloth nor a fool.  A man
+must have something to put his whole heart into; and I despise money as
+money.  I give away the bulk of my income."
+
+"Marry, and then you will not have to," I said flippantly.
+
+"You're a sad dog.  Do you know, I've been thinking about epigrams."
+
+"No!"
+
+"Yes.  I find that an epigram is produced by the same cause that
+produces the pearl in the oyster."
+
+"That is to say, a healthy mentality never superinduces an epigram?
+Fudge!" said I, yanking the pup from his lap on to mine.  "According to
+your diagnosis, your own mind is diseased."
+
+"Have I cracked an epigram?"--with pained surprise.
+
+"Well, you nearly bent one," I compromised.  Then we both laughed, and
+the pup started up and licked my face before I could prevent him.
+
+"Did I ever show you this?"--taking out a locket which was attached to
+one end of his watch-chain.  He passed the trinket to me.
+
+"What is it?" I asked, turning it over and over.
+
+"It's the one slender link that connects me with my babyhood.  It wag
+around my neck when Scharfenstein picked me up.  Open it and look at
+the face inside."
+
+I did so.  A woman's face peered up at me.  It might have been
+beautiful but for the troubled eyes and the drooping lips.  It was
+German in type, evidently of high breeding, possessing the subtle lines
+which distinguish the face of the noble from the peasant's.  From the
+woman's face I glanced at Max's.  The eyes were something alike.
+
+"Who do you think it is?" I asked, when I had studied the face
+sufficiently to satisfy my curiosity.
+
+"I've a sneaking idea that it may be my mother.  Scharfenstein found me
+toddling about in a railroad station, and that locket was the only
+thing about me that might be used in the matter of identification.  You
+will observe that there is no lettering, not even the jeweler's usual
+carat-mark to qualify the gold.  I recall nothing; life with me dates
+only from the wide plains and grazing cattle.  I was born either in
+Germany or Austria.  That's all I know.  And to tell you the honest
+truth, boy, it's the reason I've placed my woman-ideal so high.  So
+long as I place her over my head I'm not foolish enough to weaken into
+thinking I can have her.  What woman wants a man without a name?"
+
+"You poor old Dutchman, you!  You can buy a genealogy with your income.
+And a woman nowadays marries the man, the man.  It's only horses, dogs
+and cattle that we buy for their pedigrees.  Come; you ought to have a
+strawberry mark on your arm," I suggested lightly; for there were times
+when Max brooded over the mystery which enveloped his birth.
+
+In reply he rolled up his sleeve and bared a mighty arm.  Where the
+vaccination scar usually is I saw a red patch, like a burn.  I leaned
+over and examined it.  It was a four-pointed scar, with a perfect
+circle around it.  Somehow, it seemed to me that this was not the first
+time I had seen this peculiar mark.  I did not recollect ever seeing it
+on Max's arm.  Where had I seen it, then?
+
+"It looks like a burn," I ventured to suggest.
+
+"It is.  I wish I knew what it signifies.  Scharfenstein said that it
+was positively fresh when he found me.  He said I cried a good deal and
+kept telling him that I was Max.  Maybe I'm an anarchist and don't know
+it,"--with half a smile.
+
+"It's a curious scar.  Hang me, but I've seen the device somewhere
+before!"
+
+"You have?"--eagerly.  "Where, where?"
+
+"I don't know; possibly I saw it on your arm in the old days."
+
+He sank back in his chair.  Silence, during which the smoke thickened
+and the pup whined softly in his sleep.  Out upon the night the
+cathedral bell boomed the third hour of morning.
+
+"If you don't mind, Artie," said Max, yawning, "I'll turn in.  I've
+been traveling for the past fortnight."
+
+"Take a ride on Dandy in the morning.  He'll hold your weight nicely.
+I can't go with you, as I've a lame ankle."
+
+"I'll be in the saddle at dawn.  All I need is a couple of hours
+between sheets."
+
+As I prodded my pillow into a comfortable wad under my cheek I wondered
+where I had seen that particular brand.  It was a brand.  I knew that I
+had seen it somewhere, but my memory danced away when I endeavored to
+halter it.  Soon I fell asleep, dreaming of somebody who wasn't Max
+Scharfenstein, by a long shot.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+That same evening the grand duke's valet knocked on the door leading
+into the princess' apartments, and when the door opened he gravely
+announced that his serene Highness desired to speak to the Princess
+Hildegarde.  It was a command.  For some reason, known best to herself,
+the princess chose to obey it.
+
+"Say that I shall be there presently," she said, dismissing the valet.
+
+As she entered her uncle's study--so called because of its dust-laden
+bookshelves, though the duke sometimes disturbed their contents to
+steady the leg of an unbalanced chair or table--he laid down his pipe
+and dismissed his small company of card-players.
+
+"I did not expect to see you so soon," he began.  "A woman's curiosity
+sometimes has its value.  It takes little to arouse it, but a great
+deal to allay it."
+
+"You have not summoned me to make smart speeches, simply because I have
+been educated up to them?"--truculently.
+
+"No.  I have not summoned you to talk smart, a word much in evidence in
+Barscheit since your return from England.  For once I am going to use a
+woman's prerogative.  I have changed my mind."
+
+The Princess Hildegarde trembled with delight.  She could put but one
+meaning to his words.
+
+"The marriage will not take place next month."
+
+"Uncle!"--rapturously.
+
+"Wait a moment,"--grimly.  "It shall take place next week."
+
+"I warn you not to force me to the altar," cried the girl, trembling
+this time with a cold fury.
+
+"My child, you are too young in spirit and too old in mind to be
+allowed a gateless pasture.  In harness you will do very well."  He
+took up his pipe and primed it.  It _was_ rather embarrassing to look
+the girl in the eye.  "You shall wed Doppelkinn next week."
+
+"You will find it rather embarrassing to drag me to the altar,"--evenly.
+
+"You will not," he replied, "create a scandal of such magnitude.  You
+are untamable, but you are proud."
+
+The girl remained silent.  In her heart she knew that he had spoken
+truly.  She could never make a scene in the cathedral.  But she was
+determined never to enter it.  She wondered if she should produce the
+bogus certificate.  She decided to wait and see if there were no other
+loophole of escape.  Old _Rotnäsig_?  Not if she died!
+
+When these two talked without apparent heat it was with unalterable
+fixedness of purpose.  They were of a common race.  The duke was
+determined that she should wed Doppelkinn; she was equally determined
+that she should not.  The gentleman with the algebraic bump may figure
+this out to suit himself.
+
+"Have you no pity?"
+
+"My reason overshadows it.  You do not suppose that I take any especial
+pleasure in forcing you?  But you leave me no other method."
+
+"I am a young girl, and he is an old man."
+
+"That is immaterial.  Besides, the fact has gone abroad.  It is now
+irrevocable."
+
+"I promise to go out and ask the first man I see to marry me!" she
+declared.
+
+"Pray Heaven, it may be Doppelkinn!" said the duke drolly.
+
+"Oh, do not doubt that I have the courage and the recklessness.  I
+would not care if he were young, but the prince is old enough to be my
+father."
+
+"You are not obliged to call him husband."  The duke possessed a
+sparkle to-night which was unusual in him.  Perhaps he had won some of
+the state moneys which he had paid out to his ministers' that day.
+"Let us not waste any time," he added.
+
+"I shall not waste any,"--ominously.
+
+"Order your gown from Vienna, or Paris, or from wherever you will.
+Don't haggle over the price; let it be a good one; I'm willing to go
+deep for it."
+
+"You loved my aunt once,"--a broken note in her voice.
+
+"I love her still,"--not unkindly; "but I must have peace in the house.
+Observe what you have so far accomplished in the matter of creating
+turmoil."  The duke took up a paper.
+
+"My sins?"--contemptuously.
+
+"Let us call them your transgressions.  Listen.  You have ridden a
+horse as a man rides it; you have ridden bicycles in public streets;
+you have stolen away to a masked ball; you ran away from school in
+Paris and visited Heaven knows whom; you have bribed sentries to let
+you in when you were out late; you have thrust aside the laws as if
+they meant nothing; you have trifled with the state papers and caused
+the body politic to break up a meeting as a consequence of the
+laughter."
+
+The girl, as she recollected this day to which he referred, laughed
+long and joyously.  He waited patiently till she had done, and I am not
+sure that his mouth did not twist under his beard.  "Foreign education
+is the cause of all this," he said finally.  "Those cursed French and
+English schools have ruined you.  And I was fool enough to send you to
+them.  This is the end."
+
+"Or the beginning,"--rebelliously.
+
+"Doppelkinn is mild and kind."
+
+"Mild and kind!  One would think that you were marrying me to a horse!
+Well, I shall not enter the cathedral."
+
+"How will you avoid it?"--calmly.
+
+"I shall find a way; wait and see."  She was determined.
+
+"I shall wait."  Then, with a sudden softening, for he loved the girl
+after his fashion: "I am growing old, my child.  If I should die, what
+would become of you?  I have no son; your Uncle Franz, who is but a
+year or two younger than I am, would reign, and he would not tolerate
+your madcap ways.  You must marry at once.  I love you in spite of your
+wilfulness.  But you have shown yourself incapable of loving.
+Doppelkinn is wealthy.  You shall marry him."
+
+"I will run away, uncle,"--decidedly.
+
+"I have notified the frontiers,"--tranquilly.  "From now on you will be
+watched.  It is the inevitable, my child, and even I have to bow to
+that."
+
+She touched the paper in her bosom, but paused.
+
+"Moreover, I have decided," went on the duke, "to send the Honorable
+Betty Moore back to England."
+
+"Betty?"
+
+"Yes.  She is a charming young person, but she is altogether too
+sympathetic.  She abets you in all you do.  Her English independence
+does not conform with my ideas.  After the wedding I shall notify her
+father."
+
+"Everything, everything!  My friends, my liberty, the right God gives
+to every woman--to love whom she will!  And you, my uncle, rob me of
+these things!  What if I should tell you that marriage with me is now
+impossible?"--her lips growing thin.
+
+"I should not be very much surprised."
+
+"Please look at this, then, and you will understand why I can not marry
+Doppelkinn."  She thrust the bogus certificate into his hands.
+
+The duke read it carefully, not a muscle in his face disturbed.
+Finally he looked up with a terrifying smile.
+
+"Poor, foolish child!  What a terrible thing this might have turned out
+to be!"
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Mean?  Do you suppose anything like this could take place without my
+hearing of it?  And such a dishonest unscrupulous rascal!  Some day I
+shall thank the American consul personally for his part in the affair.
+I was waiting to see when you would produce this.  You virtually placed
+your honor and reputation, which I know to be above reproach, into the
+keeping of a man who would sell his soul for a thousand crowns."
+
+The girl felt her knees give way, and she sat down.  Tears slowly
+welled up in her eyes and overflowed, blurring everything.
+
+The duke got up and went over to his desk, rummaging among the papers.
+He returned to the girl with a letter.
+
+"Read that, and learn the treachery of the man you trusted."
+
+The letter was written by Steinbock.  In it he disclosed all.  It was a
+venomous, inciting letter.  The girl crushed it in her hand.
+
+"Is he dead?" she asked, all the bitterness in her heart surging to her
+lips.
+
+"To Barscheit,"--briefly.  "Now, what shall I do with this?"--tapping
+the bogus certificate.
+
+"Give it to me," said the girl wearily.  She ripped it into halves,
+into quarters, into infinitesimal squares, and tossed them into the
+waste-basket.  "I am the unhappiest girl in the world."
+
+"I am sorry," replied the grand duke.  "It isn't as if I had forced
+Doppelkinn on you without first letting you have your choice.  You have
+rejected the princes of a dozen wealthy countries.  We are not as the
+common people; we can not marry where we will.  I shall announce that
+the marriage will take place next week."
+
+"Do not send my friend away," she pleaded, apparently tamed.
+
+"I will promise to give the matter thought.  Good night."
+
+She turned away without a word and left him.  When he roared at her she
+knew by experience that he was harmless; but this quiet determination
+meant the exclusion of any further argument.  There was no escape
+unless she ran away.  She wept on her pillow that night, not so much at
+the thought of wedding Doppelkinn as at the fact that Prince Charming
+had evidently missed the last train and was never coming to wake her
+up, or, if he did come, it would be when it was too late.  How many
+times had she conjured him up, as she rode in the fresh fairness of the
+mornings!  How manly he was and how his voice thrilled her!  Her horse
+was suddenly to run away, he was to rescue her, and then demand her
+hand in marriage as a fitting reward.  Sometimes he had black hair and
+eyes, but more often he was big and tall, with yellow hair and the
+bluest eyes in all the world.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+The princess rose at dawn the following day.  She routed out Hans, the
+head groom, and told him to saddle Artemis, the slim-limbed, seal-brown
+filly which an English nobleman had given to her.  Ten minutes later
+she was in the saddle, and the heaviness on her heart seemed to rise
+and vanish like the opal mists on the bosom of the motionless lake.  A
+pale star blinked at her, and the day, flushed like the cheek of a
+waking infant, began drowsily to creep over the rolling mountains.
+
+How silent all the city was!  Only here and there above the chimneys
+rose a languid film of smoke.  The gates of the park shut behind her
+with a clang, and so for a time she was alone and free.  She touched
+Artemis with a spur, and the filly broke into a canter toward the lake
+road.  The girl's nostrils dilated.  Every flower, the thousand
+resinous saps of the forest, the earth itself, yielded up a cool sweet
+perfume that was to the mind what a glass of wine is to the blood,
+exhilaration.
+
+Mottled with pink, and gray, and blue, and gold, the ever-changing hues
+of the morning, the surface of the lake was as smooth as her mirror
+and, like it, always reflecting beauty.  Fish leaped forth and fell
+with a sounding splash, and the circles would widen and gradually
+vanish.  A blackbird dipped among the silent rushes; a young fox barked
+importantly; a hawk flashed by.  The mists swam hither and thither
+mysteriously, growing thinner and fainter as the gold of day grew
+brighter and clearer.  Suddenly--in the words of the old
+tent-maker--the false morning died, and it was day.
+
+I'm afraid that somewhere among the princess' ancestors there was a
+troubadour; for she was something of a poet.  Indeed, I have already
+remarked that she wrote verses.  The atmospheric change of the morning
+turned her mind into sentimental channels.  How she envied the peasant
+woman, who might come and go at will, sleep in the open or in the hut,
+loving or hating with perfect freedom!  Ah, Prince Charming, Prince
+Charming! where were you?  Why did you loiter?  Perhaps for her there
+was no Prince Charming.  It might be so.  She sighed.
+
+She would never marry Doppelkinn--never.  That horrible Steinbock!  She
+was glad, glad that she had struck him, again and again, across his
+lying eyes and evil mouth.  She had believed that she knew the world;
+it was all yet a mystery; the older she grew the less she understood.
+Wasn't anybody good?  Was everybody to be distrusted?  Which way should
+she turn now?  The world was beautiful enough; it was the people in it.
+Poor Betty!  She had her troubles, too; but somehow she refused to
+confide them.  She acted very much as if she were in love.
+
+She gazed at the hawk enviously.  How proud and free he was, so high up
+there, circling and circling.  Even the fox was freer than she; the
+forests were his, and he might go whither he listed.  And the fish that
+leaped in frolic from the water, and the blackbird in the rushes!  She
+could not understand.
+
+She would never marry Doppelkinn--never.
+
+But how should she escape--how?  On Wednesday night she would be given
+her quarterly allowance of a thousand crowns, and on Thursday she must
+act. . . .  Yes, yes, that was it!  How simple!  She would slip over
+into Doppelkinn, where they never would think to search for her.  She
+knew a place in which to hide.  From Doppelkinn she would go straight
+to Dresden and seek the protection of her old governess, who would hide
+her till the duke came to his senses.  If only she had an independent
+fortune, how she would snap her fingers at them all!
+
+She was distracted by the sound of jangling steel.  Artemis had cast a
+shoe.  How annoying!  It would take ten minutes to reach old Bauer's
+smithy, and ten minutes more to put on a shoe.  She brought the filly
+down to a walk.
+
+What was the use of being a princess if one was not allowed to act in a
+royal fashion?  It wasn't so terrible to wear men's clothes, and,
+besides, they were very comfortable for riding a horse; and as for
+riding a bicycle in the public streets, hadn't that ugly Italian
+duchess ridden through the streets of Rome, and in knickerbockers, too?
+Nobody seemed to mind it there.  But in Barscheit it had been little
+short of a crime.  She recalled the flaming fagots and the red-hot wire
+of her unfortunate wheel.  A smile rippled over her face, but it passed
+quickly.  There was nothing left to smile over.  They were going to
+force her to marry a tomb, a man in whom love and courage and joy were
+as dead things.  Woe to Doppelkinn, though--woe to him!  She would lead
+him a dance, wild and terrible.
+
+If only she were Betty, free to do what she pleased, to go and come at
+will!  She wasn't born to be a princess; she wasn't commonplace enough;
+she enjoyed life too well.  Ah, if only she might live and act like
+those English cousins of hers with whom she went to school!  _They_
+could ride man-fashion, hunt man-fashion, shoot, play cards and bet at
+the races man-fashion, and nobody threatened them with Doppelkinns.
+They might dance, too, till the sun came into the windows and the rouge
+on their faces cracked.  But _she_!  (I use the italics to illustrate
+the decided nods of her pretty head.)  Why, every sweet had to be
+stolen!
+
+She would never marry Doppelkinn--never.  She would never watch his old
+nose grow purple at the table.  She would run away.  And since Prince
+Charming was nowhere to be seen, it were better to die an old maid.
+
+Presently the smithy came into view, emerging from a cluster of
+poplars.  She rode up to the doors, dismounted and entered.  Old Bauer
+himself was at the bellows, and the weird blue light hissing up from
+the blown coals discovered another customer.  She turned and met his
+frank glance of admiration.  (If she hadn't turned!  If his admiration
+hadn't been entirely frank!)  Instantly she sent Bauer a warning glance
+which that old worthy seemed immediately to understand.  The stranger
+was tall, well-made, handsome, with yellow hair, and eyes as blue as
+the sky is when the west wind blows.
+
+He raised his cap, and the heart of the girl fluttered.  Wherever had
+this seemly fellow come from?
+
+"Good morning," said the stranger courteously.  "I see that you have
+had the same misfortune as myself."
+
+"You have lost a shoe?  Rather annoying, when one doesn't want a single
+break in the going."  She uttered the words carelessly, as if she
+wasn't at all interested.
+
+The stranger stuffed his cap into a pocket.  She was glad that she had
+chosen the new saddle.  The crest and coat of arms had not yet been
+burned upon the leather nor engraved upon the silver ornaments, and
+there was no blanket under the English saddle.  There might be an
+adventure; one could not always tell.  She must hide her identity.  If
+the stranger knew that she belonged to the House of Barscheit, possibly
+he would be frightened and take to his heels.
+
+But the Princess Hildegarde did not know that this stranger never took
+to his heels; he wasn't that kind.  Princess or peasant, it would have
+been all the same to him.  Only his tone might have lost half a key.
+
+Bauer called to his assistant, and the girl stepped out into the road.
+The stranger followed, as she knew he would.  It will be seen that she
+knew something of men, if only that they possess curiosity.
+
+"What a beautiful place this is!" the stranger ventured, waving his
+hand toward the still lake and the silent, misty mountains.
+
+"There is no place quite like it," she admitted.  "You are a stranger
+in Barscheit?"--politely.  He was young and certainly the best-looking
+man she had seen in a month of moons.  If Doppelkinn, now, were only
+more after this pattern!
+
+"Yes, this is my first trip to Barscheit."  He had a very engaging
+smile.
+
+"You are from Vienna?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Ah, from Berlin.  I was not quite sure of the accent."
+
+"I am a German-American,"--frankly.  "I have always spoken the language
+as if it were my own, which doubtless it is."
+
+"America!" she cried, her interest genuinely aroused.  "That is the
+country where every one does just as he pleases."
+
+"Sometimes."  (What beautiful teeth she had, white as skimmed milk!)
+
+"They are free?"
+
+"Nearly always."
+
+"They tell me that women there are all queens."
+
+"We are there, or here, always your humble servants."
+
+He was evidently a gentleman; there was something in his bow that was
+courtly.  "And do the women attend the theaters alone at night?"
+
+"If they desire to."
+
+"Tell me, does the daughter of the president have just as much liberty
+as her subjects?"
+
+"Even more.  Only, there are no subjects in America."
+
+"No subjects?  What do they call them, then?"
+
+"Voters."
+
+"And do the women vote?"
+
+"Only at the women's clubs."
+
+She did not quite get this; not that it was too subtle, rather that it
+was not within her comprehension.
+
+"It is a big country?"
+
+"Ever so big."
+
+"Do you like it?"
+
+"I love every inch of it.  I have even fought for it."
+
+"In the Spanish War?"--visibly excited.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Were you a major or a colonel?"
+
+"Neither; only a private."
+
+"I thought every soldier there was either a colonel or a major."
+
+He looked at her sharply, but her eye was roving.  He became
+suspicious.  She might be simple, and then again she mightn't.  She was
+worth studying, anyhow.
+
+"I was a cavalryman, with nothing to do but obey orders and, when
+ordered, fight.  I am visiting the American consul here; he was a
+school-mate of mine."
+
+"Ah!  I thought I recognized the horse."
+
+"You know him?"--quickly.
+
+"Oh,"--casually,--"every one hereabouts has seen the consul on his
+morning rides.  He rides like a centaur, they say; but I have never
+seen a centaur."
+
+The stranger laughed.  She was charming.
+
+"He ought to ride well; I taught him."  But the gay smile which
+followed this statement robbed it of its air of conceit.  "You see, I
+have ridden part of my life on the great plains of the West, and have
+mounted everything from a wild Indian pony to an English thoroughbred.
+My name is Max Scharfenstein, and I am here as a medical student,
+though in my own country I have the right to hang out a physician's
+shingle."
+
+She drew aimless figures in the dust with her riding-crop.  There was
+no sense in her giving any name.  Probably they would never meet again.
+And yet--
+
+"I am Hildegarde von--von Heideloff," giving her mother's name.  He was
+too nice to frighten away.
+
+The hesitance over the "von" did not strike his usually keen ear.  He
+was too intent on noting the variant expressions on her exquisite face.
+It was a pity she was dark.  What a figure, and how proudly the head
+rested upon the slender but firm white throat!  After all, black eyes,
+such as these were, might easily rival any blue eyes he had ever seen.
+(Which goes to prove that a man's ideals are not built as solidly as
+might be.)
+
+"It is rather unusual," he said, "to see a woman ride so early; but you
+have the right idea.  Everything begins to wake, life, the air, the
+day.  There is something in the dew of the morning that is a better
+tonic than any doctor can brew."
+
+"Take care!  If you have no confidence in your wares, you must not
+expect your patients to have."
+
+"Oh, I am a doctor of philosophy, also."
+
+"That is to say," she observed, "if you lose your patients, you will
+accept their loss without a murmur?  Very good.  May I ask what you
+have come so far to study?"
+
+"Nerves."
+
+"Is it possible!"--with a smile as fleet as the wind.
+
+He laughed.  This was almost like an American girl.  How easy it was to
+talk to her!  He tried again to catch her eye, but failed.  Then both
+looked out over the lake, mutually consenting that a pause should
+ensue.  He did not mind the dark hair at all.
+
+"Do you speak English?" she asked abruptly in that tongue, with a full
+glance to note the effect.
+
+"English is spoken to some extent in the United States," he answered
+gravely.  He did not evince the least surprise at her fluency.
+
+"Do you write to the humorous papers in your country?"
+
+"Only to subscribe for them," said he.
+
+And again they laughed; which was a very good sign that things were
+going forward tolerably well.
+
+And then the miserable fellow of a smith had to come out and announce
+that the stranger's horse was ready.
+
+"I'll warrant the shoe," said Bauer.
+
+"You haven't lost any time," said Max, his regret evident to every one.
+
+The girl smiled approvingly.  She loved humor in a man, and this one
+with the yellow hair and blue eyes seemed to possess a fund of the dry
+sort.  All this was very wrong, she knew, but she wasn't going to be
+the princess this morning; she was going to cast off the shell of
+artificiality, of etiquette.
+
+"How much will this shoe cost me?" Max asked.
+
+"Half a crown," said Bauer, with a sly glance at the girl to see how
+she would accept so exorbitant a sum.  The princess frowned.  "But
+sometimes," added Bauer hurriedly, "I do it for nothing."
+
+"Bauer, your grandfather was a robber," the girl laughed.  "Take heed
+that you do not follow in his footsteps."
+
+"I am a poor man, your--mm---Fräulein," he stammered.
+
+"Here's a crown," said Max, tossing a coin which was neatly caught by
+the grimy hand of the smith.
+
+"Are you very rich?" asked the girl curiously.
+
+"Why?" counter-questioned Max.
+
+"Oh, I am curious to know.  Bauer will tell it to every one in
+Barscheit that you overpay for things, and from now on you will have to
+figure living on a basis of crowns."
+
+It is worth any price to hear a pretty woman laugh.  What a fine
+beginning for a day!
+
+"May misfortune be kind enough to bring you this way again, Herr!"
+Bauer cried joyfully, not to say ambiguously.
+
+"Listen to that!" laughed the girl, her eyes shining like the water in
+the sun.  "But he means only to thank your generosity.  Now,"--with a
+severe frown,--"how much do I owe you?  Take care; I've only a few
+pieces of silver in my purse."
+
+"Why, Fräulein, you owe me nothing; I am even in debt to you for this
+very crown."  Which proved that Bauer had had his lesson in
+courtier-ship.
+
+The assistant soon brought forth the girl's restive filly.  Max sprang
+to her aid.  How light her foot was in his palm!  (She could easily
+have mounted alone, such was her skill; but there's the woman of it.)
+
+"I am going toward the Pass," she said, reading the half-veiled appeal
+in his blue eyes.
+
+"Which way is that?" he asked, swinging into his own saddle.
+
+"That way," nodding toward the south.  After all, there could be no
+harm; in two or three hours their paths would separate for ever.
+
+"Why,"--delightedly,--"I am going that way myself."
+
+Old Bauer watched them till they disappeared around a turn in the road.
+He returned to his forge, shaking his head as if confronted by a
+problem too abstruse even for his German mind.
+
+"Well, he's an American, so I will not waste any pity on him.  The pity
+is that she must wed old Red-nose."
+
+It would have been if she had!
+
+So the Princess and Prince Charming rode into the country, and they
+talked about a thousand and one things.  Had she ever been to France?
+Yes.  To England?  She had received part of her education there.  Did
+she know the Princess Hildegarde?  Slightly.  What was she like?  She
+was a madcap, irresponsible, but very much abused.  Did she know Mr.
+Warrington, the American consul?  She had seen him on his morning
+rides.  Wasn't it a fine world?  It was, indeed.
+
+Once they stopped at a farm.  The girl refused to dismount, bidding Max
+go in and ask for a drink of milk.  Max obeyed with alacrity, returning
+with two foaming goblets of warm milk.
+
+From time to time the princess stifled the "small voice."  It was
+wrong, and yet it wasn't.  What worried her was the thought that Betty
+might take it into her head to follow, and then everything would be
+spoiled.  Every now and then she turned her head and sighed
+contentedly; the road to rearward was always clear.
+
+"Follow me!" she cried suddenly, even daringly.
+
+A stone wall, three feet high, ran along at their right.  The
+foreground was hard and firm.  Pressing the reins on the filly's
+withers, she made straight for the wall, cleared it, and drew up on the
+other side.  Now, Max hadn't the least idea that the horse under him
+was a hunter, so I might very well say that he took his life in his
+hands as he followed her.  But Dandy knew his business.  He took the
+wall without effort.  A warm glow went over Max when he found that he
+hadn't broken his neck.  Together they galloped down the field and came
+back for the return jump.  This, too, was made easily.  Max's
+admiration knew no bounds.  It was a dangerous pastime in more ways
+than one.
+
+At eight o'clock they turned toward home, talking about another
+thousand and one things.
+
+"It has been a delightful ride," suggested Max, with an eye to the
+future.
+
+"I take this road nearly every morning," said she, looking out upon the
+water, which was ruffling itself and quarreling along the sandy shores.
+
+Max said nothing, but he at once made up his mind that he would take
+the same road, provided he could in any reasonable manner get rid of me.
+
+
+"Did you enjoy the ride?" asked the Honorable Betty, as her Highness
+came in to breakfast.  There were no formalities in the princess'
+apartments.
+
+"Beautifully!"  Her Highness guiltily wondered if there was any logical
+way to keep Betty in the house for the next few mornings.  She sat down
+and sipped her tea.  "The duke talked to me last night.  Steinbock
+played double."
+
+"What!"
+
+"Yes.  He sold us to the duke, who patiently waited for me to speak.
+Betty, I am a fool.  But I shall never marry Doppelkinn.  That is
+settled."
+
+"I suppose he will be inviting me to return to England," said Betty
+shrewdly.
+
+"Not for the present."
+
+"And I have just grown to love the place,"--pathetically.  "Mr.
+Warrington has asked me to ride with him afternoons.  His ankle
+prevents him from taking the long morning jaunts.  If it will not
+interfere with your plans, dear--"
+
+"Accept, by all means," interrupted her Highness.  "He is a capital
+horseman."  She smiled mysteriously.  Happily her companion was
+absorbed in thought and did not see this smile.
+
+
+Max came in at quarter of ten, went to tub, and came down in time for
+the eggs.
+
+"Have a good ride?" I asked.
+
+"Bully!  Beautiful country!"  He was enthusiastic.
+
+"How these healthy animals eat!" I thought as I observed him
+occasionally.
+
+"Wish I could go with you," I said, but half-heartedly.
+
+"I'll get the lay of the land quick enough," he replied.
+
+The rascal!  Not a word about the girl that morning, or the next, or
+until Thursday morning.  If only I had known!  But Fate knows her
+business better than I do, and she was handling the affair.  But long
+rides of a morning with a pretty girl are not safe for any bachelor.
+
+Thursday morning he came in late.  He dropped something on the table.
+On inspection I found it to be a woman's handkerchief purse.
+
+"Where the deuce did you get that?" I asked, mighty curious.
+
+"By George!  but I've been enjoying the most enchanting adventure; such
+as you read out of a book.  I'm inclined to believe that I shall enjoy
+my studies in old Barscheit."
+
+"But where did you get this?"  If there was a girl around, I wanted to
+know all about it.
+
+"She dropped it."
+
+"_She_ dropped it!" I repeated.  "What she?  Why, you old tow-head,
+have you been flirting at this hour of the morning?"
+
+"Handsome as a picture!"
+
+"Ha! the ideal at last,"--ironically.  "Blonde, of course."
+
+"Dark as a Spaniard, and rides like Diana."  His enthusiasm was not to
+be lightly passed over.
+
+"Never heard of Diana riding," said I; "always saw her pictured as
+going afoot."
+
+"Don't be an ass!  You know very well what I mean."
+
+"I've no argument to offer, nor any picture to prove my case.  You've
+had an adventure; give it up, every bit of it."
+
+"One of the finest horsewomen I ever saw.  Took a wall three feet high
+the other morning, just to see if I dared follow.  Lucky Dandy is a
+hunter, or I'd have broken my neck."
+
+"Very interesting."  Then of a sudden a thought flashed through my head
+and out again.  "Anybody with her?"
+
+"Only myself these three mornings."
+
+"H'm!  Did you get as far as names?"
+
+"Yes; I told her mine.  Who is Hildegarde von Heideloff?"
+
+"Heideloff?"  I was puzzled.  My suspicions evaporated.  "I can't say
+that I know any one by that name.  Sure it was Heideloff?"
+
+"Do you mean to tell me," with blank astonishment, "that there is a
+petticoat on horseback in this duchy that you do not know?"
+
+"I don't know any woman by the name of Hildegarde von Heideloff; on my
+word of honor, Max, I don't."
+
+"Old Bauer, the blacksmith, knew her."
+
+Bauer?  All my suspicions returned.  "Describe the girl to me."
+
+"Handsome figure, masses of black hair, great black eyes that are full
+of good fun, a delicate nose, and I might add, a very kissable mouth."
+
+"What! have you kissed her?" I exclaimed.
+
+"No, no!  Only, I'd like to."
+
+"H'm!  You've made quite a study.  She must be visiting some one
+near-by.  There is an old castle three miles west of the smithy.  Did
+she speak English?"
+
+"Yes,"--excitedly.
+
+"That accounts for it.  An old English nobleman lives over there during
+the summer months, and it is not improbable that she is one of his
+guests."  In my heart I knew that her Highness was up to some of her
+tricks again, but there was no need of her shattering good old Max's
+heart.  Yet I felt bound to say: "Why not look into the purse?  There
+might be something there to prove her identity."
+
+"Look into her purse?"--horrified.  "You wouldn't have me peeping into
+a woman's purse, would you?  Suppose there should be a box of rouge?
+Her cheeks were red."
+
+"Quite likely."
+
+"Or a powder-puff."
+
+"Even more likely."
+
+"Or--"
+
+"Go on."
+
+"Or a love letter."
+
+"I have my doubts," said I.
+
+"Well, if you do not know who she is, I'll find out,"--undismayed.
+
+Doubtless he would; he was a persistent old beggar, was Max.
+
+"Do not let it get serious, my boy," I warned.  "You could not marry
+any one in this country."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Have you been regularly baptized?  Was your father?  Was your
+grandfather?  Unless you can answer these simplest of questions and
+prove them, you could not get a license; and no priest or preacher
+would dare marry you without a license."
+
+"Hang you, who's talking about getting married?  All I want to know is,
+who is Hildegarde von Heideloff, and how am I to return her purse?  I
+shall ask the blacksmith."
+
+"Do so,"--taking up my egg-spoon.
+
+Max slipped the purse into his breast-pocket and sat down.
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+"The one fault I have to find with European life is the poor quality of
+tobacco used."
+
+It was eight o'clock, Thursday night, the night of the dinner at
+Müller's.  I was dressing when Max entered, with a miserable cheroot
+between his teeth.
+
+"They say," he went on, "that in Russia they drink the finest tea in
+the world, simply because it is brought overland and not by sea.
+Unfortunately, tobacco--we Americans recognize no leaf as tobacco
+unless it comes from Cuba--has to cross the sea, and is, in some
+unaccountable manner, weakened in the transit.  There are worse cigars
+in Germany than in France, and I wouldn't have believed it possible, if
+I had not gone to the trouble of proving it.  Fine country!  For a week
+I've been trying to smoke the German quality of the weed, as a
+preventive, but I see I must give it up on account of my throat.  My
+boy, I have news for you,"--tossing the cheroot into the grate.
+
+"Fire away," said I, struggling with a collar.
+
+"I have a box of Havanas over at the custom house that I forgot to bail
+out."
+
+"No!" said I joyfully.  A Havana, and one of Scharfenstein's!
+
+"I've an idea that they would go well with the dinner.  So, if you
+don't mind, I'll trot over and get 'em."
+
+"Be sure and get around to Müller, at half-past eight, then," said I.
+
+"I'll be there."  He knew where to find the place.
+
+Müller's Rathskeller was the rendezvous of students, officers and all
+those persons of quality who liked music with their meat.  The place
+was low-ceilinged, but roomy, and the ventilation was excellent,
+considering.  The smoke never got so thick that one couldn't see the
+way to the door when the students started in to "clean up the place,"
+to use the happy idiom of mine own country.  There were marble tables
+and floors and arches and light, cane-bottomed chairs from Kohn's.  It
+was at once Bohemian and cosmopolitan, and, once inside, it was easy to
+imagine oneself in Vienna.  A Hungarian orchestra occupied an inclosed
+platform, and every night the wail of the violin and the pom-pom of the
+wool-tipped hammers on the Hungarian "piano" might be heard.
+
+It was essentially a man's place of entertainment; few women ever had
+the courage or the inclination to enter.  In America it would have been
+the fashion; but in the capital of Barscheit the women ate in the
+restaurant above, which was attached to the hotel, and depended upon
+the Volksgarten band for their evening's diversion.
+
+You had to order your table hours ahead--that is, if you were a
+civilian.  If you were lucky enough to be an officer, you were
+privileged to take any vacant chair you saw.  But Heaven aid you if you
+attempted to do this not being an officer!  In Barscheit there were
+also many unwritten laws, and you were obliged to observe these with
+all the fidelity and attention that you gave to the enameled signs.
+Only the military had the right to request the orchestra to repeat a
+piece of music.  Sometimes the lieutenants, seized with that gay humor
+known only to cubs, would force the orchestra in Müller's to play the
+Hungarian war-song till the ears cried out in pain.  This was always
+the case when any Austrians happened to be present.  But ordinarily the
+crowds were good-natured, boisterous, but orderly.
+
+It was here, then, that I had arranged to give my little dinner.  The
+orchestra had agreed--for a liberal tip--to play _The Star-Spangled
+Banner_, and there was a case of Doppelkinn's sparkling Moselle.  I may
+as well state right here that we neither heard our national anthem nor
+drank the vintage.  You will soon learn why.  I can laugh now, I can
+treat the whole affair with becoming levity, but at the time I gained
+several extra grey hairs.
+
+If the princess hadn't turned around, and if Max hadn't wanted that box
+of Havanas!
+
+When I arrived at Müller's I found my boys in a merry mood.  They were
+singing softly from _Robin Hood_ with fine college harmony, and as I
+entered they swarmed about me like so many young dogs.  Truth to tell,
+none of them was under twenty, and two or three were older than myself.
+But to them I represented official protection for whatever they might
+do.  I assumed all the dignity I dared.  I had kept Scharfenstein's
+name back as a surprise.
+
+Ellis--for whom I had the passports--immediately struck me as being so
+nearly like Max that they might easily have been brothers.  Ellis was
+slighter; that was all the difference.  I gave him his papers and
+examined his tickets.  All was well; barring accidents, he would be in
+Dresden the next day.
+
+"You go through Doppelkinn, then?" said I.
+
+"Yes.  I have friends in Dresden whom I wish to see before going home."
+
+"Well, good luck to you!"
+
+Then I announced that Max Scharfenstein, an old college comrade, would
+join us presently.  This was greeted with hurrahs.  At that time there
+wasn't an American student who did not recollect Max's great run from
+the ten-yard line.  (But where the deuce _was_ Max?)  I took a little
+flag from my pocket and stuck it into the vase of poppies, and the boys
+clapped their hands.  You never realize how beautiful your flag is till
+you see it in a foreign land.  I apologized for Max's absence,
+explaining the cause, and ordered dinner to be served.  We hadn't much
+time, as Ellis's train departed at ten.  It was now a quarter to nine.
+
+We had come to the relishes when a party of four officers took the
+table nearest us.  They hung up their sabers on the wall-pegs, and sat
+down, ordering a bottle of light wine.  Usually there were five chairs
+to the table, but even if only two were being used no one had the right
+to withdraw one of the vacant chairs without the most elaborate
+apologies.  This is the law of courtesy in Barscheit.  In America it is
+different; if you see anything you want, take it.
+
+Presently one of the officers--I knew none of them save by sight--rose
+and approached.  He touched the flag insolently and inquired what right
+it had in a public restaurant in Barscheit.  Ordinarily his question
+would not have been put without some justification.  But he knew very
+well who I was and what my rights were in this instance.
+
+"Herr Lieutenant," said I coldly, though my cheeks were warm enough, "I
+represent that flag in this country, and I am accredited with certain
+privileges, as doubtless you are aware.  You will do me the courtesy of
+returning to your own table."  I bowed.
+
+He glared at me for a brief period, then turned on his heel.  This was
+the first act in the play.  At the fellow's table sat Lieutenant von
+Störer, Doppelkinn's nephew and heir-presumptive.  He was, to speak
+plainly, a rake, a spendthrift and wholly untrustworthy.  He was not
+ill-looking, however.
+
+My spirits floated between anger and the fear that the officers might
+ruin the dinner--which they eventually did.
+
+Things went on smoothly for a time.  The orchestra was pom-pomming the
+popular airs from _Faust_.  (Where the deuce was that tow-headed
+Dutchman?)  Laughter rose and fell; the clinkle of glass was heard;
+voices called.  And then Max came in, looking as cool as you please,
+though I could read by his heaving chest that he had been sprinting up
+back streets.  The boys crowded around him, and there was much ado over
+the laggard.
+
+Unfortunately the waiter had forgotten to bring a chair for his plate.
+With a genial smile on his face, Max innocently stepped over to the
+officers' table and plucked forth the vacant chair.  For a wonder the
+officers appeared to give this action no heed, and I was secretly
+gratified.  It was something to be a consul, after all.  But I counted
+my chickens too early.
+
+"Where are the cigars?" I asked as Max sat down complacently.
+
+"Cigars?"--blankly.  "Hang me, I've clean forgotten them!"  And then,
+oblivious of the probable storm that was at that moment gathering for a
+downpour over his luckless head, he told us the reason of his delay.
+
+"There was a crowd around the palace," he began.  "It seems that the
+Princess Hildegarde has run away, and they believe that she has ridden
+toward the Pass in a closed carriage.  The police are at this very
+moment scouring the country in that direction.  She has eloped."
+
+"Eloped?" we all cried, being more or less familiar with the state of
+affairs at the palace.
+
+"Good-by to Doppelkinn's _Frau_!"
+
+"Good girl!"
+
+"She has been missing since seven o'clock, when she drove away on the
+pretense of visiting her father's old steward, who is ill," went on
+Max, feeling the importance of his news.  "They traced her there.  From
+the steward's the carriage was driven south, and that's the last seen
+of her.  There won't be any wedding at the cathedral next
+Tuesday,"--laughing.
+
+Queries and answers were going crisscross over the table, when I
+observed with dread that Lieutenant von Störer had risen and was coming
+our way.  He stopped at Max's side.  Max looked up to receive Von
+Störer's glove full on the cheek.  It was no gentle stroke.  Von Störer
+at once returned to his table and sat down.
+
+For a moment we were all absolutely without power of motion or of
+speech, Max's face grew as white as the table-cloth, and the print of
+the glove glowed red against the white.  I was horrified, for I knew
+his tremendous strength.  If he showed fight, Von Störer would calmly
+saber him.  It was the custom.  But Max surprised me.  He was the
+coolest among us, but of that quality of coolness which did not
+reassure me.  He took up his story where he had left off and finished
+it.  For his remarkable control I could have taken him in my arms and
+hugged him.
+
+The officers scowled, while Von Störer bit his mustache nervously.  The
+American had ignored his insult.  Presently he rose again and
+approached.  He thrust a card under Max's nose.
+
+"Can you understand that?" he asked contemptuously.
+
+Max took the card, ripped it into quarters and dropped these to the
+floor.  Then, to my terror and the terror of those with me, he
+tranquilly pulled out a murderous-looking Colt and laid it beside his
+plate.  He went on talking, but none of us heard a word he said.  We
+were fearfully waiting to see him kill some one or be killed.
+
+No one was killed.  The officers hurriedly took down their sabers and
+made a bee-line for the door of which I have spoken.
+
+Max returned the revolver to his hip-pocket and gave vent to an Homeric
+laugh.
+
+"You tow-headed Dutchman!" I cried, when I found voice for my words,
+"what have you done?"
+
+"Done?  Why, it looks as if we had all the downs this half," he replied
+smartly.  "Oh, the gun isn't loaded,"--confidentially.
+
+Ellis fumbled in his pockets and produced his passports and tickets.
+These he shoved over to Max.
+
+"What's this for?" Max asked curiously.
+
+"Ellis," said I, "it is very good of you.  Max, take those.  Mr. Ellis
+wishes to save your hide.  Take them and get to the station as quickly
+as you can.  And for the love of mercy, do not turn around till you're
+over in Doppelkinn's vineyards."
+
+"Well, I'm hanged if I understand!" he cried.  "I'm a peaceful man.  A
+beggar walks up to me and slaps me in the face for nothing at all, and
+now I must hike, eh?  What the devil have I done now?"
+
+Then, as briefly as I could, I explained the enormity of his offenses.
+To take a chair from a table, as he had done, was a gross insult; to
+receive a slap in the face and not to resent it, was another insult; to
+tear up an opponent's visiting-card, still another; to take out a
+revolver in Barscheit, unless you were an officer or had a permit, was
+worse than an insult; it was a crime, punishable by long imprisonment.
+They could accuse him of being either an anarchist or a socialist-red,
+coming to Barscheit with the intent to kill the grand duke.  The fact
+that he was ignorant of the laws, or that he, was an alien, would remit
+not one particle of his punishment and fine; and weeks would pass ere
+the matter could be arranged between the United States and Barscheit.
+
+"Good Lord!" he gasped; "why didn't you tell me?"
+
+"Why didn't you tell me that you carried a cannon in your pocket?  Take
+Ellis' papers, otherwise you stand pat for a heap of trouble, and I
+can't help you.  Go straight to Dresden, telegraph me, and I'll forward
+your luggage."
+
+"But I came here to study!" Max argued.
+
+"It will be geology in the form of prison walls," said Ellis quietly.
+"Don't be foolish, Mr. Scharfenstein; it is not a matter of a man's
+courage, but of his common sense.  Take the tickets and light out.  I
+have lived here for three years, and have seen men killed outright for
+less than you have done."
+
+"But you don't expect me to leave this place without punching that
+beggar's head?"--indignantly.  "What do you think I'm made of?"
+
+"You'll never get the chance to punch his head," said I.  "We are
+wasting valuable time.  Those officers have gone for the police.  You
+have about twenty minutes to make the train.  Come, for heaven's sake,
+come!"
+
+He finally got it into his head that we knew what we were talking
+about.  How we got him to the station I do not remember, but somehow we
+got him there.  He sputtered and fumed and swore, as all brave men will
+who feel that they are running away in a cowardly fashion.  He wasn't
+convinced, but he thanked Ellis for his kindness and hoped that he
+wouldn't get into trouble on his (Max's) account.
+
+"Go straight to Dresden; say you've been studying medicine in Barscheit
+for three years; refer to me by telegraph if there is any question as
+to your new identity," said I.  "You're the only man in the world, Max,
+that I'd lie for."
+
+He stumbled through the gates, and we saw him open the door of a
+carriage just as the train began to pull out.  A guard tried to stop
+him, but he was not quite quick enough.  We watched the train till it
+melted away into the blackness beyond the terminus covering; then we, I
+and my fellow diners, went soberly into the street.   Here was a
+howdy-do!  Suddenly Ellis let out a sounding laugh, and, scarcely
+knowing why, we joined him.  It was funny, very funny, for every one
+but poor old Max!  The American spirit is based on the sense of humor,
+and even in tragic moments is irrepressible.
+
+We did not return to Müller's; each of us stole quietly home to await
+the advent of the police, for they would rout out every American in
+town in their search for the man with the gun.  They would first visit
+the consulate and ascertain what I knew of the affair; when they got
+through with the rest of the boys Max would be in Doppelkinn.  The
+police were going to be very busy that night: a princess on one hand
+and an anarchist on the other.
+
+There were terrible times, too, in the palace.  Long before we watched
+Max's train and the vanishing green and red lights at the end of it the
+grand duke was having troubles of his own.  He was pacing wildly up and
+down in his dressing-room.  Clutched in his fist was a crumpled sheet
+of paper.  From time to time he smoothed it out and re-read the
+contents.  Each time he swore like the celebrated man in Flanders.
+
+
+_You forced me and I warned you that I would do something desperate.
+Do not send for me, for you will never find me till you come to your
+senses.  I have eloped._
+
+_Hildegarde._
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+Shortly before six o'clock--dinner in the palace was rarely served
+until half-after eight--the Honorable Betty sat down to her
+writing-desk in her boudoir, which opened directly into that belonging
+to the princess, to write a few letters home.  A dinner was to be given
+to the state officials that night, and she knew from experience that
+after that solemn event was concluded it would be too late for the
+departing mails.  She seemed to have no difficulty in composing her
+thoughts and transferring them to paper.  There were times when she
+would lean back, nibble the end of her pen and smile in a dreamy,
+retrospective fashion.  No doubt her thoughts were pleasant and
+agreeable.
+
+She had completed addressing three envelopes, when she heard the door
+leading into the princess' boudoir open and close.  She turned to
+behold the princess herself.
+
+"Why, Gretchen, where are you going?"--noting the grey walking-dress,
+the grey hat, the sensible square-toed shoes.
+
+"I am going to visit a sick nurse," replied her Highness, avoiding the
+other's eye.
+
+"But shall you have time to dress for dinner?"
+
+"That depends.  Besides, the official dinners are a great bore."  Her
+Highness came forward, caught the dark head of the English girl between
+her gloved hands, pressed it against her heart, bent and kissed it.
+"What a lovely girl you are, Betty! always unruffled, always
+even-tempered.  You will grow old very gracefully."
+
+"I hope so; but I do not want to grow old at all.  Can't I go with
+you?"--eagerly.
+
+"Impossible; etiquette demands your presence here to-night.  If I am
+late my rank and my errand will be my excuse.  What jolly times we used
+to have in that quaint old boarding-school in St. John's Wood!  Do you
+remember how we went to your noble father's country place one
+Christmas?  I went _incognita_.  There was a children's party, and two
+boys had a fisticuff over you.  Nobody noticed me those days.  I was
+happy then."  The princess frowned.  It might have been the sign of
+repression of tears.  Betty, with her head against the other's bosom,
+could not see.  "I shall be lonely without you; for you can not stay on
+here for ever.  If you could, it would be different.  I shall miss you.
+Somehow you possess the faculty of calming me.  I am so easily stirred
+into a passion; my temper is so surface-wise.  Some day, however, I
+shall come to England and spend a whole month with you.  Will not that
+be fine?"
+
+"How melancholy your voice is!" cried Betty, trying without avail to
+remove her Highness' hands.
+
+"No, no; I want to hold you just so.  Perhaps I am sentimental
+to-night.  I have all the moods, agreeable and disagreeable. . . .  Do
+you love anybody?"
+
+"Love anybody?  What do you mean?"--rising in spite of the protesting
+hands.  "Do I look as if I were in love with anybody?"
+
+They searched each other's eyes.
+
+"Oh, you islanders!  Nobody can fathom what is going on in your hearts.
+You never make any mistakes; you always seem to know which paths to
+pursue; you are always right, always, always.  I'd like to see you
+commit a folly, Betty; it's a wicked wish, I know, but I honestly wish
+it.  There is certainly more Spanish blood in my veins than German.  I
+am always making mistakes; I never know which path is the right one; I
+am always wrong.  Do you believe it possible for a woman of birth and
+breeding to fall in love with a man whom she has known only three days?"
+
+"Three days!  Are you crazy, Hildegarde?"
+
+"Call me Gretchen!"--imperiously.
+
+"Gretchen, what has come over you?"
+
+"I asked you a question."
+
+"Well,"---a bit of color stealing into her cheeks,--"it is possible,
+but very foolish.  One ought to know something of a man's character,"
+went on Betty, "before permitting sentiment to enter into one's
+thoughts."
+
+"That is my own opinion, wise little white owl."  Her Highness took her
+friend in her arms and kissed her, held her at arm's length, drew her
+to her heart and again kissed her.  It was like a farewell.  Then she
+let her go.  "If there is anything you need, make yourself at home with
+my cases."  And her Highness was gone.
+
+Betty gazed at the door through which dear Gretchen had passed, gazed
+thoughtfully and anxiously.
+
+"How oddly she acted!  I wonder--"  She made as though to run to the
+door, but stopped, as if ashamed of the doubt which flashed into her
+mind and out again.
+
+The little clock on the mantel chimed forth the seventh hour, and she
+rang for her maid.  It was time that she began dressing.
+
+(Thus, for the present, I shall leave her.  There are several reasons
+why my imagination should take this step; for, what should I know of a
+woman's toilet, save in the general mysterious results?  However, I
+feel at liberty to steal into the duke's dressing-room.  Here, while I
+am not positive what happened, at least I can easily bring my
+imagination to bear upon the picture.)
+
+The duke was rather pleased with himself.  He liked to put on his state
+uniform, with its blue-grey frock, the white doeskin trousers which
+strapped under the patent-leather boots, the gold braid, the silver
+saber and the little rope of medals strung across his full, broad
+breast.  It was thus he created awe; it was thus he became truly the
+sovereign, urbane and majestic.
+
+His valet was buckling on the saber belt, when there came a respectful
+tap on the door.
+
+"Enter," said the duke, frowning.  One can not assert any particular
+degree of dignity with a valet at one's side.
+
+But it was only a corridor attendant who entered.  He approached the
+duke's valet and presented a letter.
+
+"For his serene Highness."  He bowed and backed out, closing the door
+gently.
+
+At once the valet bowed also and extended the letter to his master.
+Formality is a fine thing in a palace.
+
+"Ah, a letter," mused the duke, profoundly innocent of the viper which
+was about to sting him.  "My glasses, Gustav; my eye-glasses!"
+
+The valet hurried to the dresser and returned with the duke's state
+eye-glasses.  These the duke perched deliberately upon the end of his
+noble nose.  He opened the letter and read its contents.  The valet,
+watching him slyly, saw him grow pale, then red, and finally
+purple,--wrath has its rainbow.  His hands shook, the glasses slipped
+from his palpitating nose.  And I grieve to relate that his serene
+Highness swore something marvelous to hear.
+
+"Damnation!" he said, or some such word.  "The little fool!"  Then,
+suddenly remembering his dignity and the phrase that no man is a hero
+to his valet, he pointed to his glasses, at the same time returning the
+letter to its envelope, this letter which had caused this momentary
+perturbation.  "Call the minister of police.  You will find him in the
+smoking-room off the conservatory.  Make all haste!"
+
+The valet flew out of the door, while the duke began pacing up and down
+the room, muttering and growling, and balling his fists, and jingling
+his shining medals.  He kicked over an inoffensive hassock and his
+favorite hound, and I don't know how many long-winded German oaths he
+let go.  (It's a mighty hard language to swear in, especially when a
+man's under high pressure.)
+
+"The silly little fool!  And on a night like this!  Curse it!  This is
+what comes of mixing Spanish blood with German, of letting her aunt's
+wishes overrule mine in the matter of education.  But she shall be
+brought back, even if I have to ask the assistance of every sovereign
+in Europe.  This is the end.  And I had planned such a pleasant evening
+at cards!"  The duke was not wholly unselfish.
+
+In less than ten minutes' time the valet returned with the minister of
+police.  The duke immediately dismissed the valet.
+
+"Your serene Highness sent for me?" asked the minister, shaking in his
+boots.  There had been four ministers of police in three years.
+
+"Yes.  Read this."
+
+The minister took the letter.  He read it with bulging eyes.  "Good
+heavens, it must be one of her Highness' jokes!"
+
+"It will be a sorry joke for you if she crosses any of the frontiers."
+
+"But--"
+
+"But!" roared the duke.  "Don't you dare bring up that word scandal!
+Seek her.  Turn everybody out,--the army, the police, everybody.  When
+you locate her, telegraph, and have a special engine awaiting me at the
+station.  And if you play a poor game of cards to-night I'll take away
+your portfolio.  Remember, if she passes the frontier, off goes your
+official head!"
+
+"And the fellow, who is he?"
+
+"The good Lord only knows!  That girl! . . .  Witness these grey hairs.
+Put the rascal in irons; I'll attend to his case when I arrive. . . .
+Where is Steinbock?"
+
+"He was arrested this morning in Berlin; I have already applied for his
+extradition."
+
+"Good!  Now, be off with you!  Leave no stone unturned.  The expense is
+nothing; I will gladly pay it out of my private purse."
+
+"I'll find her," said the minister grimly.  His portfolio hung in the
+balance.
+
+All at once the duke struck his hands together jubilantly.
+
+"What is it?" asked the minister.  "A clue?"
+
+"Nothing, nothing!  Be gone; you are wasting time."
+
+The minister of police dashed out of the room as if pursued by a
+thousand devils.  He knew the duke's mood; it was not one to cross or
+irritate.  No sooner was he gone than the duke left his apartments and
+sought those of his niece.  It might be a joke; it would do no harm to
+find out positively.  But the beautiful suite was empty; even her
+Highness' maid was gone.  He then knocked on the door which led into
+Betty's boudoir, not very gently either.
+
+"Open!" he bellowed.
+
+"Who is it?" demanded a maid's frightened voice.
+
+"The duke!  Open instantly!"
+
+"It is quite impossible," said another voice from within.  It was calm
+and firm.  "I am dressing."
+
+"I must see you this instant.  Open or I shall force the door!"
+
+"Is your serene Highness mad?"
+
+"Will you open this door?"
+
+"You command it?"
+
+"A hundred times, yes!"
+
+"Since you command it."  The voice was no longer calm; it was sharp and
+angry.
+
+The wait seemed an hour to his serene Highness, serene no longer.  At
+length the bolt slipped, and the irate duke shouldered his way in.  The
+tableau which met his gaze embarrassed him for a space.  He was even
+ashamed.  The Honorable Betty stood behind a tall-backed chair, an
+opera cloak thrown hastily over her bare shoulders.  Her hair was
+partly down.  A beautiful woman in a rage is a fascinating sight.  The
+duke stared at her irresolutely.
+
+"Will your Highness explain this extraordinary intrusion?" she
+demanded.  "You have literally forced your way into my room while I am
+dressing.  It is utterly outside my understanding."
+
+"I am old enough to be your father."
+
+"That is the weakest excuse you could give me.  At your age one's blood
+ought to be cooled to a certain discretion.  My father, if he had had
+anything important to say, would have remained on the other side of the
+door.  I am not deaf.  Your explanation is in order."
+
+The duke had never been talked to so plainly in all his life.  For a
+while he was without voice, but had plenty of color.  "It is easily
+explained," he finally bawled out to her.  "Her Highness has eloped!"
+
+The girl stared at him with wide eyes.  "Eloped?" she breathed faintly.
+
+"Yes, eloped."
+
+Betty wondered if she heard aright, or if the duke were out of his
+mind; and then she recollected her conversation with the princess.  Her
+mouth opened as if to speak, but instead she closed her lips tightly.
+That wilful girl; whatever would become of her!
+
+"Give this letter to your mistress," said the duke to the maid.  "I
+will station myself in the window while she reads it."
+
+He strode over to the window and drew the curtains about him.  Below,
+the night crowds were wandering about the streets; the band was playing
+in the Volksgarten; carriages were rolling to and from the opera; the
+fountain in the center of the square sparkled merrily in the glare of
+the arc lights.  But the duke saw none of these things.  Rather he saw
+the telegraphic despatches flying to the four ends of the globe,
+telling the peoples that he, the Grand Duke of Barscheit, had been
+outwitted by a girl; that the Princess Hildegarde had eloped with a man
+who was not the chosen one.  In other words, he saw himself laughed at
+from one end of the continent to the other.  (There is something very
+funny in domestic troubles when they occur in another man's family!)
+No, the duke saw not the beauty of the night; instead of stars he saw
+asterisks, that abominable astronomy of the lampoonists.   He had never
+doubted the girl's courage; but to elope! . . .  And _who_ the devil
+had eloped with her?  He knew the girl's natural pride; whoever the
+fellow might be, he could be no less than a gentleman.  But who, who?
+
+"Your Highness?" called a quiet (I might say deceptive) voice.
+
+The duke came forth.
+
+"Your Highness will do me the honor to make out my passports to-night.
+I desire to leave the palace immediately.  The affront you have put
+upon me, even under the circumstances, is wholly unpardonable.  You
+imply that I have had something to do with her Highness' act.  You will
+excuse me to her serene Highness, whom I love and respect.  My dignity
+demands that I leave at once."
+
+A flicker--but only a flicker--of admiration lighted the duke's eyes.
+It was a plucky little baggage.
+
+"I will issue your passports upon one condition," he said.
+
+"And that condition?"--proudly.
+
+"Tell me everything: Where has she gone, and with whom?"
+
+"I know absolutely nothing."
+
+Silence.  The duke gnawed his mustache, while his eyes strove in vain
+to beat down hers.
+
+"Thank you, I believe you."  Then, giving way to his wrath: "You
+English people, you are all the same!  You never understand.  I have
+brought up this girl and surrounded her with every luxury; against my
+will and reason I have let her become educated in foreign lands; I have
+given her the utmost freedom; this is how I am repaid."
+
+"You forgot one important thing, your Highness."
+
+"What?"--haughtily.
+
+"Affection.  You have never gives her that."
+
+The duke felt himself beaten into silence, and this did not add to his
+amiability.
+
+"Your passports shall be made out immediately; but I beg of you to
+reconsider your determination, and to remain here as long as you
+please.  For the sake of appearances, I desire your presence at the
+dinner-table."
+
+"I shall leave as soon as the dinner is over."  This girl's mind seemed
+immovable.
+
+The duke shrugged.  There was no use in beating against this wall.  "I
+wish you knew whither she has gone."
+
+"Frankly, if I knew I should not tell your Highness.  My father taught
+me never to betray a confidence."
+
+"As you will.  I beg your pardon for the abruptness of my entrance," he
+said, choking down his wrath.  He could not allow himself to be
+out-done in the matter of coolness by this chit of an English girl.
+
+"I grant it you."
+
+The duke then retired, or, I should say, retreated.  He wandered
+aimlessly about the palace, waiting for news and making wretched all
+those with whom he came in contact.  The duchess was not feeling well;
+a wrangle with her was out of the question; besides, he would make
+himself hoarse.  So he waited and waited, and re-read the princess'
+letter.  At dinner he ate nothing; his replies were curt and surly.
+The Honorable Betty also ate nothing.  She sat, wondering if her maid
+could pack five trunks in two hours.
+
+
+I had quite a time of it myself that night.  As I predicted, I received
+a visit from the police in regard to Mr. Scharfenstein.  I explained
+the matter the best I knew how, and confessed that he had hurriedly
+left the city for parts unknown.  I did not consider it absolutely
+essential that I should declare that I had seen him enter a railway
+carriage for Dresden.  Besides this, I had to stand sponsor for the
+other boys and explain at length that they were in no wise concerned
+with Mr. Scharfenstein's great offense.  The police were courteous and
+deferential, admitting that Max was the culprit.  He had drawn a
+revolver in a public restaurant; he had broken a grave law.  The
+inspector wrote a dozen telegrams and despatched them from the
+consulate.  I had, at his request, offered him the blanks.
+
+At eleven I received a telephone call from the Continental Hotel.  It
+was a woman's voice, and my heart beat violently as I recognized it.  I
+was requested to come at once to the hotel.  I should find her in the
+ladies' salon.  I walked the distance in ten minutes.  She told me all
+that had happened.
+
+"By this time it is all over the city.  But it is all nonsense about
+her Highness' eloping with any one.  She is too nobly born to commit
+such a folly.  She has simply run away; and I very much fear that she
+will be caught.  The duke is in a terrible temper.  I could not remain
+in the palace, for the duke suspects that I know where she has gone.  I
+have my passports.  The British consul is away hunting.  You were the
+only English-speaking person to whom I could come for aid."
+
+"I am very glad."
+
+"Will it be asking too much of you to aid me in leaving Barscheit
+to-night?  There is a train at one o'clock for Dresden."
+
+"Leave Barscheit?"  My heart sank dismally.
+
+"Oh,"--with a smile,--"the world is small and England is even smaller."
+
+"I shall have to give up the consulate,"--gravely.
+
+She laughed.  "I shall be in England for something more than a year.
+Truthfully, I hunger for mine own people.  You know what that hunger
+is."
+
+"Yes.  I shall go home as often as possible now.  I always stop a few
+days in London."
+
+"Then I shall expect to see you; perhaps during the holidays.  I am
+determined to leave Barscheit before the duke changes his mind.
+Heavens, he may put me in prison!"
+
+"I doubt that."
+
+I saw to it that she secured a sleeping-compartment all to herself,
+took charge of her luggage and carefully examined her papers.  Then we
+had a small supper.  I wanted to ask a thousand questions, but my
+courage lacked the proper key.
+
+"May I have the pleasure of writing to you occasionally?" I finally
+ventured.  "I am sure that you would like a bit of Barscheit gossip
+from time to time."
+
+"Write to me, by all means.  I shall await these letters with great
+pleasure."
+
+"And answer them?"--growing bolder.
+
+"It is easily seen that you are a diplomat.  Yes, I shall answer them.
+Heigh-ho!  I shall miss my rides."  What a brave little woman she was!
+
+Finally we started for the station, and I saw her to the gates.  We
+shook hands, and I was sure I felt a very friendly pressure; and then
+she disappeared.  There was altogether a different feeling in my heart
+as I watched _her_ train draw out.  Eh, well, the world is small and
+England is smaller, even as she had said.  It's a mighty fine world,
+when you get the proper angle of vision.
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+There was very little light in the compartment into which Max had so
+successfully dived.  Some one had turned down the wicks of the oil
+lamps which hung suspended between the luggage-racks above, and the
+gloom was notable rather than subdued.  So far as he was concerned he
+was perfectly contented; his security was all the greater.  He pressed
+his face against the window and peered out.  The lights of the city
+flashed by, and finally grew few and far between, and then came the
+blackness of the country.  It would take an hour and a half to cross
+the frontier, and there would be no stop this side, for which he was
+grateful.  He swore, mumbling.  To have come all this way to study, and
+then to leg it in this ignominious fashion!  It was downright
+scandalous!  Whoever heard of such laws?  Of course he had been rather
+silly in pulling his gun, for even in the United States--where he
+devoutly wished himself at that moment--it was a misdemeanor to carry
+concealed weapons.  He felt of his cheek.  He would return some day,
+and if it was the last thing he ever did, he would slash that
+lieutenant's cheeks.  The insolent beggar!  To be struck and not to
+strike back!  He choked.
+
+Gradually his eyes became accustomed to the dim light, and he cast
+about.
+
+"The deuce!" he muttered.
+
+He was not alone.  Huddled in the far corner was a woman heavily
+veiled.  Young or old, he could not tell.  She sat motionless, and
+appeared to be looking out of the opposite window.  Well, so long as
+she did not bother him he would not bother her.  But he would much
+rather have been alone.
+
+He took out his passport and tried to read it.  It was impossible.  So
+he rose, steadied himself, and turned up the wick of one of the lamps.
+
+He did not hear the muffled exclamation which came from the other end.
+
+He dropped back upon the cushion and began to read.  So he was George
+Ellis, an American student in good standing; he was aged twenty-nine,
+had blue eyes, light hair, was six feet tall, and weighed one hundred
+and fifty-four pounds.  Ha! he had, then, lost thirty pounds in as many
+minutes?  At this rate he wouldn't cast a shadow when he struck
+Dresden.  He had studied three years at the college; but what the deuce
+had he studied?  If they were only asleep at the frontier!  He returned
+the document to his pocket, and as he did so his fingers came into
+contact with the purse he had picked up in the road that
+morning--Hildegarde von Heideloff.  What meant Fate in crossing _her_
+path with his?  He had been perfectly contented in mind and heart
+before that first morning ride; and here he was, sighing like a
+furnace.  She had been merely pretty on Monday, on Tuesday she had been
+handsome, on Wednesday she had been adorable; now she was the most
+beautiful woman that ever lived.  (Ah, the progressive adjective, that
+litany of love!)  Alas! it was quite evident that she had passed out of
+his life as suddenly and mysteriously as she had entered it.  He would
+keep the purse as a souvenir, and some day, when he was an old man, he
+would open it.
+
+There is something compelling in the human eye, a magnetism upon which
+Science has yet to put her cold and unromantic finger.  Have you never
+experienced the sensation that some [Transcriber's note: someone?] was
+looking at you?  Doubtless you have.  Well, Max presently turned his
+glance toward his silent fellow traveler.  She had lifted her veil and
+was staring at him with wondering, fearing eyes.  These eyes were
+somewhat red, as if the little bees of grief had stung them.
+
+"You!" he cried, the blood thumping into his throat.  He tossed his hat
+to the floor and started for her end of the compartment.
+
+She held up a hand as if to ward off his approach.  "I can hear
+perfectly," she said; "it is not needful that you should come any
+nearer."
+
+He sat down confused.  He could not remember when his heart had beaten
+so irregularly.
+
+"May I ask how you came to enter this compartment?" she asked coldly.
+
+"I jumped in,"--simply.  What was to account for this strange attitude?
+
+"So I observe.  What I meant was, by what right?"
+
+"It happened to be the only door at hand, and I was in a great hurry."
+Where was his usual collectedness of thought?  He was embarrassed and
+angry at the knowledge.
+
+"Did you follow me?"  Her nostrils were palpitating and the corners of
+her mouth were drawn aggressively.
+
+"Follow you?" amazed that such an idea should enter into her head.
+"Why, you are the last person I ever expected to see again.  Indeed,
+you are only a fairy-story; there is, I find, no such person as
+Hildegarde von Heideloff."  Clearly he was recovering.
+
+"I know it,"--candidly.  "It was my mother's name, and I saw fit to use
+it."  She really hoped he _hadn't_ followed her.
+
+"You had no need to use it, or any name, for that matter.  When I gave
+you my name it was given in good faith.  The act did not imply that I
+desired to know yours."
+
+"But you did!"--imperiously.
+
+"Yes.  Curiosity is the brain of our mental anatomy."  When Max began
+to utter tall phrases it was a sign of even-balanced mentality.
+
+"And if I hadn't told you my name, you would have asked for it."
+
+"Not the first day."
+
+"Well, you would have on Tuesday."
+
+"Not a bit of a doubt."  He certainly wouldn't show her how much he
+cared.  (What was she doing in this carriage?  She had said nothing
+that morning about traveling.)
+
+"Well, you will admit that under the circumstances I had the right to
+give any name it pleased me to give."
+
+He came over to her end and sat down.  Her protests (half-hearted) he
+ignored.
+
+"I can not see very well from over there," he explained.
+
+"It is not necessary that you should see; you can hear what I have to
+say."
+
+"Very well; I'll go back."  And he did.  He made a fine pretense of
+looking out of the window.  Why should this girl cross his path at this
+unhappy moment?
+
+There was a pause.
+
+"You are not near so nice as you were this morning," she said presently.
+
+"I can't be nice and sit away over here."
+
+"What made you jump into this compartment, of all others?"
+
+"I wasn't particular what compartment I got into so long as I got into
+one.  As I said, I was in a hurry."
+
+"You said nothing this morning about going away from Barscheit."
+
+"Neither did you."
+
+Another pause.  (I take it, from the character of this dialogue, that
+their morning rides must have been rather interesting.)
+
+"You told me that you were in Barscheit to study nerves,"--wickedly.
+
+"So thought I, up to half-past nine to-night; but it appears that I am
+not,"--gloomily.
+
+"You are running away, too?"--with suppressed eagerness.
+
+"Running away, too!" he repeated.  "Are _you_ running away?"
+
+"As fast as ever the train can carry me.  I am on the way to Dresden."
+
+"Dresden?  It seems that Fate is determined that we shall travel
+together this day.  Dresden is my destination also."
+
+"Let me see your passports,"--extending a firm white hand.
+
+He obeyed docilely, as docilely as though he were married.  She gave
+the paper one angry glance and tossed it back.
+
+"George Ellis; so that is your name?"--scornfully.  "You told me that
+it was Scharfenstein.  I did not ask you to tell me your name; you took
+that service upon yourself."  She recalled the duke's declaration that
+he should have her every movement watched.  If this American was
+watching her, the duke was vastly more astute than she had given him
+the credit for being.  "Are you in the pay of the duke?  Come, confess
+that you have followed me, that you have been watching me for these
+four days."  How bitter the cup of romance tasted to her now!  She had
+been deceived.  "Well, you shall never take me from this train save by
+force.  I _will_ not go back!"
+
+"I haven't the slightest idea of what you are talking about," he said,
+mightily discouraged.  "I never saw this country till Monday, and never
+want to see it again."
+
+"From what are you running away then?"--skeptically.
+
+"I am running away from a man who slapped me in the face,"--bitterly;
+and all his wrongs returned to him.
+
+"Indeed!"--derisively.
+
+"Yes, I!"  He thrust out both his great arms miserably.  "I'm a
+healthy-looking individual, am I not, to be running away from anything?"
+
+"Especially after having been a soldier in the Spanish War.  Why did
+you tell me that your name was Scharfenstein?"
+
+"Heaven on earth, it _is_ Scharfenstein!  I'm simply taking my chance
+on another man's passports."
+
+"I am unconvinced,"--ungraciously.  She was, however, inordinately
+happy; at the sight of the picture of woe on his face all her trust in
+him returned.  She believed every word he said, but she wanted to know
+everything.
+
+"Very well; I see that I must tell you everything to get back into your
+good graces--Fräulein von Heideloff."
+
+"If you _ever_ were in my good graces!"
+
+Graphically he recounted the adventure at Müller's.  He was a capital
+story-teller, and he made a very good impression.
+
+"If it hadn't been for the princess' eloping I should not have been
+here," he concluded, "for my friend would have had a waiter bring me
+that chair."
+
+"The princess' eloping!"--aghast.
+
+"Why, yes.  It seems that she eloped to-night; so the report came from
+the palace."
+
+The girl sat tight, as they say; then suddenly she burst into
+uncontrollable laughter.  It was the drollest thing she had ever heard.
+She saw the duke tearing around the palace, ordering the police hither
+and thither, sending telegrams, waking his advisers and dragging them
+from their beds.  My! what a hubbub!  Suddenly she grew serious.
+
+"Have you the revolver still?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Toss it out of the window; quick!"
+
+"But--"
+
+"Do as I say.  They will naturally search you at the frontier."
+
+He took out the revolver and gazed regretfully at it, while the girl
+could not repress a shudder.
+
+"What a horrible-looking thing!"
+
+"I carried it all through the war."
+
+"Throw it away and buy a new one."
+
+"But the associations!"
+
+"They will lock you up as a dangerous person."  She let down the window
+and the cold night air rushed in.  "Give it to me."  He did so.  She
+flung it far into the night.  "There, that is better.  Some day you
+will understand."
+
+"I shall never understand anything in this country--What are _you_
+running away from?"
+
+"A man with a red nose."
+
+"A red nose?  Are they so frightful here as all that?"
+
+"This one is.  He wants--to marry me."
+
+"Marry you!"
+
+"Yes; rather remarkable that any man should desire me as a wife, isn't
+it?"
+
+He saw that she was ironical.  Having nothing to say, he said nothing,
+but looked longingly at the vacant space beside her.
+
+She rested her chin upon the sill of the window and gazed at the stars.
+A wild rush of the wind beat upon her face, bringing a thousand vague
+heavy perfumes and a pleasant numbing.  How cleverly she had eluded the
+duke's police!  What a brilliant idea it had been to use her private
+carriage key to steal into the carriage compartment long before the
+train was made up!  It had been some trouble to light the lamps, but in
+doing so she had avoided the possible dutiful guard.  He _had_ peered
+in, but, seeing that the lamps were lighted, concluded that one of his
+fellows had been the rounds.
+
+The police would watch all those who entered or left the station, but
+never would they think to search a carriage into which no one had been
+seen to enter.  But oh, what a frightful predicament she was in!  All
+she possessed in the world was a half-crown, scarce enough for her
+breakfast.  And if she did not find her governess at once she would be
+lost utterly, and in Dresden!  She choked back the sob.  Why couldn't
+they let her be?  She didn't want to marry any one--that is, just yet.
+She didn't want her wings clipped, before she had learned what a fine
+thing it was to fly.  She was young.
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"What is it?" she said, turning.
+
+"I have something of yours," answered Max, fumbling in his pocket,
+grateful for some excuse to break the silence.  "You dropped your purse
+this morning.  Permit me to return it to you.  I hadn't the remotest
+idea how I was going to return it.  In truth, I had just made up my
+mind to keep it as a souvenir."
+
+She literally snatched it from his extended hand.
+
+"My purse!  My purse!  And I thought it was gone for ever!" hugging it
+hysterically to her heart.  She feverishly tried to unlatch the clasps.
+
+"You need not open it," he said quietly, even proudly, "I had not
+thought of looking into it, even to prove your identity."
+
+"Pardon!  I did not think.  I was so crazy to see it again."  She laid
+the purse beside her.  "You see," with an hysterical catch in her
+voice, "all the money I had in the world was in that purse, and I was
+running away without any money, and only Heaven knows what misfortunes
+were about to befall me.  There were, and are, a thousand crowns in the
+purse."
+
+"A thousand crowns?"
+
+"In bank-notes.  Thank you, thank you!  I am so happy!"--clasping her
+hands.  Then, with a smile as warm as the summer's sun, she added: "You
+may--come and sit close beside me.  You may even smoke."
+
+Max grew light-headed.  This was as near Heaven as he ever expected to
+get.
+
+"Open your purse and look into it," he said.  "I'm a brute; you are
+dying to do so."
+
+"May I?"--shyly.
+
+Then it came into Max's mind, with all the brilliancy of a dynamo
+spark, that this was the one girl in all the world, the ideal he had
+been searching for; and he wanted to fall at her feet and tell her so.
+
+"Look!" she cried gleefully, holding up the packet of bank-notes.
+
+"I wish," he said boyishly, "that you didn't have any money at all, so
+I could help you and feel that you depended upon me."
+
+She smiled.  How a woman loves this simple kind of flattery!  It tells
+her better what she may wish to know than a thousand hymns sung in
+praise of her beauty.
+
+But even as he spoke a chill of horror went over Max.  He put his hand
+hurriedly into his vest-pocket.  Fool!  Ass!  How like a man!  In
+changing his clothes at the consulate he had left his money, and all he
+had with him was some pocket change.
+
+The girl saw his action and read the sequence in the look of dismay
+which spread over his face.
+
+"You have no money either?" she cried.  She separated the packet of
+notes into two equal parts.  "Here!"
+
+He smiled weakly.
+
+"Take them!"
+
+"No, a thousand times, no!  I have a watch, and there's always a
+pawnbroker handy, even in Europe."
+
+"You offered to help me," she insisted.
+
+"It is not quite the same."
+
+"Take quarter of it."
+
+"No.  Don't you understand?  I really couldn't."
+
+"One, just one, then!" she pleaded.
+
+An idea came to him.  "Very well; I will take one."  And when she gave
+it to him he folded it reverently and put it away.
+
+"I understand!" she cried.  "You are just going to keep it; you don't
+intend to spend it at all.  Don't be foolish!"
+
+"I shall notify my friend, when we reach Doppelkinn, that I am without
+funds, and he will telegraph to Dresden."
+
+"Your friends were very wise in sending you away as they did.  Aren't
+you always getting into trouble?"
+
+"Yes.  But I doubt the wisdom of my friends in sending me away as they
+did,"--with a frank glance into her eyes.  How beautiful they were, now
+that the sparkle of mischief had left them!
+
+She looked away.  If only Doppelkinn were young like this!  She sighed.
+
+"Can they force one to marry in this country?" he asked abruptly.
+
+"When one is in my circumstances."
+
+He wanted to ask what those circumstances were, but what he said was:
+"Is there anything I can do to help you?"
+
+"You are even more helpless than I am,"--softly.  "If you are caught
+you will be imprisoned.  I shall only suffer a temporary loss of
+liberty; my room will be my dungeon-keep."  How big and handsome and
+strong he looked!  What a terrible thing it was to be born in purple!
+"Tell me about yourself."
+
+His hand strayed absently toward his upper vest-pocket, and then fell
+to his side.  He licked his lips.
+
+"Smoke!" she commanded intuitively.  "I said that you might."
+
+"I can talk better when I smoke," he advanced rather lamely.  "May I,
+then?"--gratefully.
+
+"I command it!"
+
+Wasn't it fine to be ordered about in this fashion?  If only the train
+might go on and on and on, thousands of miles!  He applied a match to
+the end of his cigar and leaned back against the cushion.
+
+"Where shall I begin?"
+
+"At the beginning.  I'm not one of those novel readers who open a book
+at random.  I do not appreciate effects till I have found out the
+causes.  I want to know everything about you, for you interest me."
+
+He began.  He told her that he was a German by birth and blood.  He had
+been born either in Germany or in Austria, he did not know which.  He
+had been found in Tyrol, in a railway station.  A guard had first
+picked him up, then a kind-hearted man named Scharfenstein had taken
+him in charge, advertised for his parents and, hearing nothing, had
+taken him to America with him.
+
+"If they catch you," she interrupted, "do not under any consideration
+let them know that you were not born in the United States.  Your friend
+the American consul could do nothing for you then."
+
+"Trust me to keep silent, then."  He continued: "I have lived a part of
+my life on the great plains; have ridden horses for days and days at a
+time.  As a deputy sheriff I have arrested desperadoes, have shot and
+been shot at.  Then I went East and entered a great college; went in
+for athletics, and wore my first dress-suit.  Then my foster-parent
+died, leaving me his fortune.  And as I am frugal, possibly because of
+my German origin, I have more money than I know what to do with."  He
+ceased.
+
+"Go on," she urged.
+
+"When the Spanish War broke out I entered a cavalry regiment as a
+trooper.  I won rank, but surrendered it after the battle of Santiago.
+And now there are but two things in the world I desire to complete my
+happiness.  I want to know who I am."
+
+"And the other thing?"
+
+"The other thing?  I can't tell _you_ that!"--hurriedly.
+
+"Ah, I believe I know.  You have left some sweetheart back in America."
+All her interest In his narrative took a strange and unaccountable
+slump.
+
+"No; I have often admired women, but I have left no sweetheart back in
+America.  If I had I should now feel very uncomfortable."
+
+Somehow she couldn't meet his eyes.  She recognized, with vague anger,
+that she was glad that he had no sweetheart.  Ah, well, nobody could
+rob her of her right to dream, and this was a very pleasant dream.
+
+"The train is slowing down," he said suddenly.
+
+"We are approaching the frontier."  She shaded her eyes and searched
+the speeding blackness outside.
+
+"How far is it to the capital?" he asked.
+
+"It lies two miles beyond the frontier."
+
+Silence fell upon them, and at length the train stopped with a jerk.
+In what seemed to them an incredibly short time a guard unlocked the
+door.
+
+He peered in.
+
+"Here they are, sure enough, your Excellency!" addressing some one in
+the dark beyond.
+
+An officer from the military household of the Prince of Doppelkinn was
+instantly framed in the doorway.  The girl tried to lower her veil; too
+late.
+
+"I am sorry to annoy your Highness," he began, "but the grand duke's
+orders are that you shall follow me to the castle.  Lieutenant, bring
+two men to tie this fellow's hands,"--nodding toward Scharfenstein.
+
+Max stared dumbly at the girl.  All the world seemed to have slipped
+from under his feet.
+
+"Forgive me!" she said, low but impulsively.
+
+"What does it mean?"  His heart was very heavy.
+
+"I am the Princess Hildegarde of Barscheit, and your entering this
+carriage has proved the greatest possible misfortune to you."
+
+He stared helplessly--And everything had been going along so
+nicely--the dinner he had planned in Dresden, and all that!
+
+"And they believe," the girl went on, "that I have eloped with you to
+avoid marrying the prince."  She turned to the officer in the doorway.
+"Colonel, on the word of a princess, this gentleman is in no wise
+concerned.  I ran away alone."
+
+Max breathed easier.
+
+"I should be most happy to believe your Highness, but you will honor my
+strict observance of orders."  He passed a telegram to her.
+
+
+_Search train for Doppelkinn.  Princess has eloped.  Arrest and hold
+pair till I arrive on special engine._
+
+_Barscheit._
+
+
+The telegraph is the true arm of the police.  The princess sighed
+pathetically.  It was all over.
+
+"Your passports," said the colonel to Max.
+
+Max surrendered his papers.  "You need not tie my hands," he said
+calmly.  "I will come peaceably."
+
+The colonel looked inquiringly at the princess.
+
+"He will do as he says."
+
+"Very good.  I should regret to shoot him upon so short an
+acquaintance."  The colonel beckoned for them to step forth.
+"Everything is prepared.  There is a carriage for the convenience of
+your Highness; Herr Ellis shall ride horseback with the troop."
+
+Max often wondered why he did not make a dash for it, or a running
+fight.  What he had gone through that night was worth a good fight.
+
+"Good-by," said the princess, holding out her hand.
+
+Scharfenstein gravely bent his head and kissed it.
+
+"Good-by, Prince Charming!" she whispered, so softly that Max scarcely
+heard her.
+
+Then she entered the closed carriage and was driven up the dark,
+tree-enshrouded road that led to the Castle of Doppelkinn.
+
+"What are you going to do with me?" Max asked, as he gathered up the
+reins of his mount.
+
+"That we shall discuss later.  Like as not something very unpleasant.
+For one thing you are passing under a forged passport.  You are _not_
+an American, no matter how well you may speak that language.  You are a
+German."
+
+"There are Germans in the United States, born and bred there, who speak
+German tolerably well," replied Max easily.  He was wondering if it
+would not be a good scheme to tell a straightforward story and ask to
+be returned to Barscheit.  But that would probably appeal to the
+officer that he was a coward and was trying to lay the blame on the
+princess.
+
+"I do not say that I can prove it," went on the colonel; "I simply
+affirm that you are a German, even to the marrow."
+
+"You have the advantage of the discussion."  No; he would confess
+nothing.  If he did he might never see the princess again. . . .  The
+princess!  As far away as yonder stars!  It was truly a very
+disappointing world to live in.
+
+"Now, then, forward!" cried the colonel to his men, and they set off at
+a sharp trot.
+
+From time to time, as a sudden twist in the road broke the straight
+line, Max could see the careening lights of the princess' carriage.  A
+princess!  And he was a man without a country or a name!
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+The castle of the prince of Doppelkinn rested in the very heart of the
+celebrated vineyards.  Like all German castles I ever saw or heard of,
+it was a relic of the Middle Ages, with many a crumbling, useless tower
+and battlement.  It stood on the south side of a rugged hill which was
+gashed by a narrow but turbulent stream, in which lurked the rainbow
+trout that lured the lazy man from his labors afield.  (And who among
+us shall cast a stone at the lazy man?  Not I!)  If you are fortunate
+enough to run about Europe next year, as like as not you will be
+mailing home the "Doppelkinn" post-card.
+
+More than once I have wandered about the castle's interior, cavernous
+and musty, strolled through its galleries of ancient armor, searched
+its dungeon-keeps, or loitered to soliloquize in the gloomy judgment
+chamber.  How time wars upon custom!  In olden times they created pain;
+now they strive to subdue it.
+
+I might go into a detailed history of the Doppelkinns, only it would be
+absurd and unnecessary, since it would be inappreciable under the name
+of Doppelkinn, which happens to be, as doubtless you have already
+surmised, a name of mine own invention.  I could likewise tell you how
+the ancient dukes of Barscheit fought off the insidious flattery of
+Napoleon, only it is a far interest, and Barscheit is simply a
+characteristic, not a name.  Some day I may again seek a diplomatic
+mission, and what government would have for its representative a teller
+of tales out of school?
+
+It was, then, to continue the fortunes and misfortunes of Max
+Scharfenstein, close to midnight when the cavalcade crossed the old
+moat-bridge, which hadn't moved on its hinges within a hundred years.
+They were not entering by the formal way, which was a flower-bedded,
+terraced road.  It was the rear entrance.  The iron doors swung outward
+with a plaintive moaning, like that of a man roused out of his sleep,
+and Max found himself in an ancient guard-room, now used as a kind of
+secondary stable.  The men dismounted.
+
+"This way, Herr Ellis," said the colonel, with a mocking bow.  He
+pointed toward a broad stone staircase.
+
+"All I ask," said Max, "is a fair chance to explain my presence here."
+
+"All in due time.  Forward!  The prince is waiting, and his temper may
+not be as smooth as usual."
+
+With two troopers in front of him and two behind, Max climbed the steps
+readily enough.  They wouldn't dare kill him, whatever they did.  He
+tried to imagine himself the hero of some Scott or Dumas tale, with a
+grim cardinal somewhere above, and oubliettes and torture chambers
+besetting his path.  But the absurdity of his imagination, so
+thoroughly Americanized, evoked a ringing laughter.  The troopers eyed
+him curiously.  He might laugh later, but it was scarcely probable.  A
+tramp through a dark corridor and they came to the west wing of the
+castle.  It was here that the old prince lived, comfortably and
+luxuriously enough, you may take my word for it.
+
+A door opened, flooding the corridor with light.  Max felt himself
+gently pushed over the threshold.  He stood in the great living-room of
+the modern Doppelkinns.  The first person he saw was the princess.  She
+sat on an oriental divan.  Her hands were folded; she sat very erect;
+her chin was tilted ominously; there was so little expression on her
+pale face that she might have been an incomplete statue.  But Max was
+almost certain that there was just the faintest flicker of a smile in
+her eyes as she saw him enter.  Glorious eyes!  (It is a bad sign when
+a man begins to use the superlative adjectives!)
+
+The other occupant of the room was an old man, fat and bald, with a
+nose like a russet pear.  He was stalking--if it is possible for a
+short man to stalk--up and down the length of the room, and, judging
+from the sonorous, rumbling sound, was communing half-aloud.
+Betweenwhiles he was rubbing his tender nose, carefully and lovingly.
+When a man's nose resembles a russet pear it generally is tender.
+Whoever he was, Max saw that he was vastly agitated about something.
+
+This old gentleman was (or supposed he was) the last of his line, the
+Prince of Doppelkinn, famous for his wines and his love of them.  There
+was, so his subjects said, but one tender spot in the heart of this old
+man, and that was the memory of the wife of his youth.  (How the years,
+the good and bad, crowd behind us, pressing us on and on!) However,
+there was always surcease in the cellars--that is, the Doppelkinn
+cellars.
+
+"Ha!" he roared as he saw the blinking Max.  "So this is the fellow!"
+He made an eloquent gesture.  "Your Highness must be complimented upon
+your good taste.  The fellow isn't bad-looking."
+
+"When you listen to reason, Prince," replied the girl calmly, "you will
+apologize to the gentleman and give him his liberty."
+
+"Oh, he is a gentleman, is he?"
+
+"You might learn from him many of the common rules of
+courtesy,"--tranquilly.
+
+"Who the devil are you?" the prince demanded of Max.
+
+"I should be afraid to tell you.  I hold that I am Max Scharfenstein,
+but the colonel here declares that my name is Ellis.  Who are you?"
+Max wasn't the least bit frightened.  These were not feudal times.
+
+The prince stared at him.  The insolent puppy!
+
+"I am the prince."
+
+"Ah, your serene Highness,"--began Max, bowing.
+
+"I am not called 'serene'"--rudely.  "The grand duke is 'serene.'"
+
+"Permit me to doubt that," interposed the girl, smiling.
+
+Max laughed aloud, which didn't improve his difficulties any.
+
+"I have asked you who you are!" bawled the prince, his nose turning
+purple.
+
+"My name is Max Scharfenstein.  I am an American.  If you will wire the
+American consulate at Barscheit, you will learn that I have spoken the
+truth.  All this is a mistake.  The princess did not elope with me."
+
+"His papers give the name of Ellis," said the colonel, touching his cap.
+
+"Humph!  We'll soon find out who he is and what may be done with him.
+I'll wait for the duke.  Take him into the library and lock the door.
+It's a hundred feet out of the window, and if he wants to break his
+neck, he may do so.  It will save us so much trouble.  Take him away;
+take him away!" his rage boiling to the surface.
+
+The princess shrugged.
+
+"I can't talk to you either," said the prince, turning his glowering
+eyes upon the girl.  "I can't trust myself."
+
+"Oh, do not mind me.  I understand that your command of expletives is
+rather original.  Go on; it will be my only opportunity."  The princess
+rocked backward and forward on the divan.  Wasn't it funny!
+
+"Lord help me, and I was perfectly willing to marry this girl!"  The
+prince suddenly calmed down.  "What have I ever done to offend you?"
+
+"Nothing," she was forced to admit.
+
+"I was lonely.  I wanted youth about.  I wanted to hear laughter that
+came from the heart and not from the mind.  I do not see where I am to
+be blamed.  The duke suggested you to me; I believed you to be willing.
+Why did you not say to me that I was not agreeable?  It would have
+simplified everything."
+
+"I am sorry," she said contritely.  When he spoke like this he wasn't
+so unlovable.
+
+"People say," he went on, "that I spend most of my time in my
+wine-cellars.  Well,"--defiantly,--"what else is there for me to do?  I
+am alone."  Max came within his range of vision.  "Take him away, I
+tell you!"
+
+And the colonel hustled Max into the library.
+
+"Don't try the window," he warned, but with rather a pleasant smile.
+He was only two or three years older than Max.  "If you do, you'll
+break your neck."
+
+"I promise not to try," replied Max.  "My neck will serve me many years
+yet."
+
+"It will not if you have the habit of running away with persons above
+you in quality.  Actions like that are not permissible in Europe."  The
+colonel spoke rather grimly, for all his smile.
+
+The door slammed, there was a grinding of the key in the lock, and Max
+was alone.
+
+The library at Doppelkinn was all the name implied.  The cases were low
+and ran around the room, and were filled with romance, history,
+biography, and even poetry.  The great circular reading-table was
+littered with new books, periodicals and illustrated weeklies.  Once
+Doppelkinn had been threatened with a literary turn of mind, but a bad
+vintage coming along at the same time had effected a permanent cure.
+
+
+Max slid into a chair and took up a paper, turning the pages at
+random.--What was the matter with the room?  Certainly it was not
+close, nor damp, nor chill.  What was it?  He let the paper fall to the
+floor, and his eyes roved from one object to another.--Where had he
+seen that Chinese mask before, and that great silver-faced clock?
+Somehow, mysterious and strange as it seemed, all this was vaguely
+familiar to him.  Doubtless he had seen a picture of the room
+somewhere.  He rose and wandered about.
+
+In one corner of the bookshelves stood a pile of boy's books and some
+broken toys with the dust of ages upon them.  He picked up a row of
+painted soldiers, and balanced them thoughtfully on his hand.  Then he
+looked into one of the picture-books.  It was a Santa Claus story; some
+of the pictures were torn and some stuck together, a reminder of
+sticky, candied hands.  He gently replaced the book and the toys, and
+stared absently into space.  How long he stood that way he did not
+recollect, but he was finally aroused by the sound of slamming doors
+and new voices.  He returned to his chair and waited for the
+dénouement, which the marrow in his bones told him was about to
+approach.
+
+It seemed incredible that he, of all persons, should be plucked out of
+the practical ways of men and thrust into the unreal fantasies of
+romance.  A hubbub in a restaurant, a headlong dash into a carriage
+compartment, a long ride with a princess, and all within three short
+hours!  It was like some weird dream.  And how the deuce would it end?
+
+He gazed at the toys again.
+
+And then the door opened and he was told to come out.  The grand duke
+had arrived.
+
+"This will be the final round-up," he laughed quietly, his thought
+whimsically traveling back to the great plains and the long rides under
+the starry night.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+The Grand Duke of Barscheit was tall and angular and weather-beaten,
+and the whites of his eyes bespoke a constitution as sound and hard as
+his common sense.  As Max entered he was standing at the side of
+Doppelkinn.
+
+"There he is!" shouted the prince.  "Do you know who he is?"
+
+The duke took a rapid inventory.  "Never set eyes upon him before."
+The duke then addressed her Highness.  "Hildegarde, who is this fellow?
+No evasions; I want the truth.  I have, in the main, found you
+truthful."
+
+"I know nothing of him at all," said the princess curtly.
+
+Max wondered where the chill in the room came from.
+
+"He says that his name is Scharfenstein," continued the princess, "and
+he has proved himself to be a courteous gentleman."
+
+Max found that the room wasn't so chill as it might have been.
+
+"Yet you eloped with him, and were on the way to Dresden," suggested
+the duke pointedly.
+
+The princess faced them all proudly.  "I eloped with no man.  That was
+simply a little prevarication to worry you, my uncle, after the manner
+in which you have worried me.  I was on my way to Dresden, it is true,
+but only to hide with my old governess.  This gentleman jumped into my
+compartment as the train drew out of the station."
+
+"But you _knew_ him!" bawled the prince, waving his arms.
+
+"Do you know him?" asked the duke coldly.
+
+"I met him out riding.  He addressed me, and I replied out of common
+politeness,"--with a sidelong glance at Max, who stood with folded
+arms, watching her gravely.
+
+The duke threw his hands above his head as if to call Heaven to witness
+that he was a very much wronged man.
+
+"Arnheim," he said to the young colonel, "go at once for a priest."
+
+"A priest!" echoed the prince.
+
+"Yes; the girl shall marry you to-night," declared his serene Highness.
+
+"Not if I live to be a thousand!"  Doppelkinn struck the table with his
+fist.
+
+The girl smiled at Max.
+
+"What?" cried the duke, all the coldness gone from his tones.  "You
+refuse?"  He was thunderstruck.
+
+"Refuse?  Of course I refuse!"  And the prince thumped the table again.
+"What do you think I am in my old age,--an ass?  If you have any
+fillies to break, use your own pastures.  I'm a vintner."  He banged
+the table yet again.  "Why, I wouldn't marry the Princess Hildegarde if
+she was the last woman on earth!"
+
+"Thank you!" said the princess sweetly.
+
+"You're welcome," said the prince.
+
+"Silence!" bellowed the duke.  "Doppelkinn, take care; this is an
+affront, not one to be lightly ignored.  It is international news that
+you are to wed my niece."
+
+"To-morrow it will be international news that I'm _not_!"  The emphasis
+this time threatened to crack the table-leaf.  "I'm not going to risk
+my liberty with a girl who has no more sense of dignity than she has."
+
+"It is very kind of you," murmured the princess.
+
+"She'd make a fine wife," went on the prince, ignoring the
+interruption.  "No, a thousand times no!  Take her away--life's too
+short; take her away!  Let her marry the fellow; he's young and may get
+over it."
+
+The duke was furious.  He looked around for something to strike, and
+nothing but the table being convenient, he smashed a leaf and sent a
+vase clattering to the floor.  He was stronger than the prince,
+otherwise there wouldn't have been a table to thwack.
+
+"That's right; go on!  Break all the furniture, if it will do you any
+good; but mark me, you'll foot the bill."  The prince began to dance
+around.  "I will not marry the girl.  That's as final as I can make it.
+The sooner you calm down the better."
+
+How the girl's eyes sparkled!  She was free.  The odious alliance would
+not take place.
+
+"Who is that?"
+
+Everybody turned and looked at Max.  His arm was leveled in the
+direction of a fine portrait in oil which hung suspended over the
+fireplace.  Max was very pale.
+
+"What's that to you?" snarled the prince.  He was what we Yankees call
+"hopping mad."  The vase was worth a hundred crowns, and he never could
+find a leaf to replace the one just broken.
+
+"I believe I have a right to know who that woman is up there."  Max
+spoke quietly.  As a matter of fact he was too weak to speak otherwise.
+
+"A right to know?  What do you mean?" demanded the prince fiercely.
+"It is my wife."
+
+With trembling fingers Max produced his locket.
+
+"Will you look at this?" he asked in a voice that was a bit shaky.
+
+The prince stepped forward and jerked the locket from Max's hand.  But
+the moment he saw the contents his jaw fell and he rocked on his heels
+unsteadily and staggered back toward the duke for support.
+
+"What's the matter, Prince?" asked the duke anxiously.  After all
+Doppelkinn was an old crony, and mayhap he had been harsh with him.
+
+"Where did you get that?" asked the prince hoarsely.
+
+"I have always worn it," answered Max.  "The chain that went with it
+originally will no longer fit my neck."
+
+"Arnheim! . . .  Duke! . . .  Come and look at this!"--feebly.
+
+"Good Heaven!" cried the duke.
+
+"It is the princess!" said Arnheim in awed tones.
+
+"Where did you get it?" demanded the prince again.
+
+"I was found with it around my neck."
+
+"Duke, what do you think?" asked the agitated prince.
+
+"What do I think?"
+
+"Yes.  This was around my son's neck the day he was lost.  If this
+should be! . . .  If it were possible!"
+
+"What?"  The duke looked from the prince to the man who had worn the
+locket.  Certainly there wasn't any sign of likeness.  But when he
+looked at the portrait on the wall and then at Max doubt grew in his
+eyes.  They were somewhat alike.  He plucked nervously at his beard.
+
+"Prince," said Max, "before Heaven I believe that I may be . . . your
+son!
+
+"My son!"
+
+By this time they were all tremendously excited and agitated and white;
+all save the princess, who was gazing at Max with sudden gladness in
+her eyes, while over her cheeks there stole the phantom of a rose.  If
+it were true!
+
+"Let me tell you my story," said Max.  (It is not necessary for me to
+repeat it.)
+
+The prince turned helplessly toward the duke, but the duke was equally
+dazed.
+
+"But we can't accept just a story as proof," the duke said.  "It isn't
+as if he were one of the people.  It wouldn't matter then.  But it's a
+future prince.  Let us go slow."
+
+"Yes, let us go slow," repeated the prince, brushing his damp forehead.
+
+"Wait a moment!" said Colonel Arnheim, stepping forward.  "Only one
+thing will prove his identity to me; not all the papers in the world
+can do it."
+
+"What do you know?" cried the prince, bewildered.
+
+"Something I have not dared tell till this moment,"--miserably.
+
+"Curse it, you are keeping us waiting!"  The duke kicked about the
+shattered bits of porcelain.
+
+"I used to play with the--the young prince," began Arnheim.  "Your
+Highness will recollect that I did."  Arnheim went over to Max.  "Take
+off your coat."  Max did so, wondering.  "Roll up your sleeve."  Again
+Max obeyed, and his wonder grew.  "See!" cried the colonel in a high,
+unnatural voice, due to his unusual excitement.  "Oh, there can be no
+doubt!  It is your son!"
+
+The duke and the prince bumped against each other in their mad rush to
+inspect Max's arm.  Arnheim's finger rested upon the peculiar scar I
+have mentioned.
+
+"Lord help us, it's your wine-case brand!" gasped the duke.
+
+"My wine case!"  The prince was almost on the verge of tears.
+
+The girl sat perfectly quiet.
+
+"Explain, explain!" said Max.
+
+"Yes, yes!  How did this come?--put there?" spluttered the prince.
+
+"Your Highness, we--your son--we were playing in the wine-cellars that
+day," stammered the unhappy Arnheim.  "I saw . . . the hot iron . . .
+I was a boy of no more than five . . .  I branded the prince on the
+arm.  He cried so that I was frightened and ran and hid.  When I went
+to look for him he was gone.  Oh, I know; it is your son."
+
+"I'll take your word for it, Colonel!" cried the prince.  "I said from
+the first that he wasn't bad-looking.  Didn't I, Princess?"  He then
+turned embarrassedly toward Max and timidly held out his hand.  That
+was as near sentiment as ever the father and the son came, but it was
+genuine.  "Ho, steward!  Hans, you rascal, where are you?"
+
+The steward presently entered, shading his eyes.
+
+"Your Highness called?"
+
+"That I did.  That's Max come home!"
+
+"Little Max?"
+
+"Little Max.  Now, candles, and march yourself to the packing-cellars.
+Off with you!"  The happy old man slapped the duke on the shoulder.
+"I've an idea, Josef."
+
+"What is it?" asked the duke, also very well pleased with events.
+
+"I'll tell you all about it when we get into the cellar."  But the nod
+toward the girl and the nod toward Max was a liberal education.
+
+"I am pardoned?" said Arnheim.
+
+"Pardoned?  My boy, if I had an army I would make you a general!"
+roared the prince.  "Come along, Josef.  And you, Arnheim!  You
+troopers, out of here, every one of you, and leave these two young
+persons alone!"
+
+And out of the various doors the little company departed, leaving the
+princess and Max alone.
+
+Ah, how everything was changed! thought Max, as he let down his sleeve
+and buttoned his cuff.  A prince!  He was a prince; he, Max
+Scharfenstein, cow-boy, quarter-back, trooper, doctor, was a prince!
+If it was a dream, he was going to box the ears of the bell-boy who
+woke him up.  But it wasn't a dream; he knew it wasn't.  The girl
+yonder didn't dissolve into mist and disappear; she was living, living.
+He had now the right to love any one he chose, and he did choose to
+love this beautiful girl, who, with lowered eyes, was nervously
+plucking the ends of the pillow tassel.  It was all changed for her,
+too.
+
+"Princess!" he said a bit brokenly.
+
+"I am called Gretchen by my friends,"--with a boldness that only
+half-disguised her real timidity.  What would he do, this big, handsome
+fellow, who had turned out to be a prince, fairy-tale wise?
+
+"Gretchen?  I like that better than Hildegarde; it is less formal.
+Well, then, Gretchen, I can't explain it, but this new order of things
+has given me a tremendous backbone."  He crossed the room to her side.
+"You will not wed my--my father?"
+
+"Never in all this world!"--slipping around the table, her eyes dim
+like the bloom on the grape.  She ought not to be afraid of him, but
+she was.
+
+"But I--"
+
+"You have known me only four days," she whispered faintly.  "You can
+not know your mind."
+
+"Oh, when one is a prince,"--laughing,--"it takes no time at all.  I
+love you.  I knew it was going to be when you looked around in old
+Bauer's smithy."
+
+"Did I look around?"--innocently.
+
+"You certainly did, for I looked around and saw you."
+
+They paused.  (There is no pastime quite like it.)
+
+"But they say that I am wild like a young horse."  (Love is always
+finding some argument which he wishes to have knocked under.)
+
+"Not to me,"--ardently.  "You may ride a bicycle every day, if you
+wish."
+
+"I'd rather have an automobile,"--drolly.
+
+"An airship, if money will buy it!"
+
+"They say--my uncle says--that I am not capable of loving anything."
+
+"What do I care what they say?  Will you be my wife?"
+
+"Give me a week to think it over."
+
+"No."
+
+(She liked that!)
+
+"A day, then?"
+
+"Not an hour!"
+
+(She liked this still better!)
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"Not half an hour!"
+
+"This is almost as bad as the duke; you are forcing me."
+
+"If you do not answer yes or no at once, I'll go back to Barscheit and
+trounce that fellow who struck me.  I can do it now."
+
+"Well--but only four days--"
+
+"Hours!  Think of riding together for ever!"--joyously taking a step
+nearer.
+
+"I dare not think of it.  It is all so like a dream. . . .  Oh!"
+bursting into tears (what unaccountable beings women are!)--"if you do
+not love me!"
+
+"Don't I, though!"
+
+Then he started around the table in pursuit of her, in all directions,
+while, after the manner of her kind, she balked him, rosily, star-eyed.
+They laughed; and when two young people laugh it is a sign that all
+goes well with the world.  He never would tell just how long it took
+him to catch her, nor would he tell me what he did when he caught her.
+Neither would I, had I been in his place!
+
+
+"Here's!" said the prince.
+
+"It's a great world," added the duke.
+
+"For surprises," supplemented the prince.  "Ho, Hans!  A fresh candle!"
+
+
+And the story goes that his serene Highness of Barscheit and his
+Highness of Doppelkinn were found peacefully asleep in the cellars,
+long after the sun had rolled over the blue Carpathians.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRINCESS ELOPES***
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+<h1 align="center">The Project Gutenberg eBook,<br>
+    The Princess Elopes, by Harold MacGrath,<br>
+    Illustrated by Harrison Fisher</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: The Princess Elopes</p>
+<p>Author: Harold MacGrath</p>
+<p>Release Date: December 25, 2005  [eBook #17391]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRINCESS ELOPES***</p>
+<br><br><center><h3>E-text prepared by Al Haines</h3></center><br><br>
+<hr class="full" noshade>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<A NAME="img-front"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="Princess Hildegarde (Gretchen) playing the piano." BORDER="2" WIDTH="392" HEIGHT="577">
+<H4>
+[Frontispiece: Princess Hildegarde (Gretchen) playing the piano.]
+</H4>
+</CENTER>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H1 ALIGN="center">
+THE PRINCESS ELOPES
+</H1>
+
+<BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+BY
+</H3>
+
+<H2 ALIGN="center">
+HAROLD MACGRATH
+</H2>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<h4 align="center">
+Author of The Puppet Crown, The Grey Cloak, The Man on the Box
+</h4>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+WITH ILLUSTRATION BY
+<BR><BR>
+HARRISON FISHER
+</H4>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+New York
+<BR><BR>
+GROSSET & DUNLAP
+<BR><BR>
+Publishers
+</H4>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<H5 ALIGN="center">
+COPYRIGHT 1905
+<BR><BR>
+THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY
+</H5>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+TO MY WIFE
+</H3>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<H2 ALIGN="center">
+CONTENTS
+</H2>
+
+<CENTER>
+
+<TABLE WIDTH="60%">
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left"><A HREF="#chap0201">Chapter I </A></TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left"><A HREF="#chap0205">Chapter V </A></TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left"><A HREF="#chap0209">Chapter IX </A></TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left"><A HREF="#chap0202">Chapter II </A></TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left"><A HREF="#chap0206">Chapter VI </A></TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left"><A HREF="#chap0210">Chapter X </A></TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left"><A HREF="#chap0203">Chapter III </A></TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left"><A HREF="#chap0207">Chapter VII </A></TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left"><A HREF="#chap0211">Chapter XI </A></TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left"><A HREF="#chap0204">Chapter IV </A></TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left"><A HREF="#chap0208">Chapter VIII </A></TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left">&nbsp;</TD>
+</TR>
+
+</TABLE>
+
+</CENTER>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap0201"></A>
+<H1 ALIGN="center">
+THE PRINCESS ELOPES
+</H1>
+
+<BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+I
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+It is rather difficult in these days for a man who takes such scant
+interest in foreign affairs&mdash;trust a whilom diplomat for that!&mdash;to
+follow the continual geographical disturbances of European surfaces.
+Thus, I can not distinctly recall the exact location of the Grand Duchy
+of Barscheit or of the neighboring principality of Doppelkinn.  It
+meets my needs and purposes, however, to say that Berlin and Vienna
+were easily accessible, and that a three hours' journey would bring you
+under the shadow of the Carpathian Range, where, in my diplomatic days,
+I used often to hunt the "bear that walks like a man."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Barscheit was known among her sister states as "the meddler," the
+"maker of trouble," and the duke as "Old Grumpy"&mdash;<I>Brummbär</I>.  To use a
+familiar Yankee expression, Barscheit had a finger in every pie.
+Whenever there was a political broth making, whether in Italy, Germany
+or Austria, Barscheit would snatch up a ladle and start in.  She took
+care of her own affairs so easily that she had plenty of time to
+concern herself with the affairs of her neighbors.  This is not to
+advance the opinion that Barscheit was wholly modern; far from it.  The
+fault of Barscheit may be traced back to a certain historical pillar of
+salt, easily recalled by all those who attended Sunday-school.
+"Rubbering" is a vulgar phrase, and I disdain to use it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When a woman looks around it is invariably a portent of trouble; the
+man forgets his important engagement, and runs amuck, knocking over
+people, principles and principalities.  If Aspasia had not observed
+Pericles that memorable day; if there had not been an oblique slant to
+Calypso's eyes as Ulysses passed her way; if the eager Delilah had not
+offered favorable comment on Samson's ringlets; in fact, if all the
+women in history and romance had gone about their affairs as they
+should have done, what uninteresting reading history would be to-day!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Now, this is a story of a woman who looked around, and of a man who did
+not keep his appointment on time; out of a grain of sand, a mountain.
+Of course there might have been other causes, but with these I'm not
+familiar.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This Duchy of Barscheit is worth looking into.  Imagine a country with
+telegraph and telephone and medieval customs, a country with electric
+lights, railways, surface-cars, hotel elevators and ancient laws!
+Something of the customs of the duchy must be told in the passing,
+though, for my part, I am vigorously against explanatory passages in
+stories of action.  Barscheit bristled with militarism; the little man
+always imitates the big one, but lacks the big man's excuses.
+Militarism entered into and overshadowed the civic laws.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There were three things you might do without offense; you might bathe,
+eat and sleep, only you must not sleep out loud.  The citizen of
+Barscheit was hemmed in by a set of laws which had their birth in the
+dark dungeons of the Inquisition.  They congealed the blood of a man
+born and bred in a commercial country.  If you broke a law, you were
+relentlessly punished; there was no mercy.  In America we make laws and
+then hide them in dull-looking volumes which the public have neither
+the time nor the inclination to read.  In this duchy of mine it was
+different; you ran into a law on every corner, in every park, in every
+public building: little oblong signs, enameled, which told you that you
+could <I>not</I> do something or other&mdash;"Forbidden!"  The beauty of German
+laws is that when you learn all the things that you can not do, you
+begin to find out that the things you can do are not worth a hang in
+the doing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As soon as a person learned to read he or she began life by reading
+these laws.  If you could not read, so much the worse for you; you had
+to pay a guide who charged you almost as much as the full cost of the
+fine.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The opposition political party in the United States is always howling
+militarism, without the slightest idea of what militarism really is.
+One side, please, in Barscheit, when an officer comes along, or take
+the consequences.  If you carelessly bumped into him, you were knocked
+down.  If you objected, you were arrested.  If you struck back, ten to
+one you received a beating with the flat of a saber.  And never, never
+mistake the soldiery for the police; that is to say, never ask an
+officer to direct you to any place.  This is regarded in the light of
+an insult.  The cub-lieutenants do more to keep a passable
+sidewalk&mdash;for the passage of said cub-lieutenants&mdash;than all the
+magistrates put together.  How they used to swagger up and down the
+Königsstrasse, around the Platz, in and out of the restaurants!  I
+remember doing some side-stepping myself, and I was a diplomat,
+supposed to be immune from the rank discourtesies of the military.  But
+that was early in my career.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In a year not so remote as not to be readily recalled, the United
+States packed me off to Barscheit because I had an uncle who was a
+senator.  Some papers were given me, the permission to hang out a
+shingle reading "American Consul," and the promise of my board and
+keep.  My amusements were to be paid out of my own pocket.  Straightway
+I purchased three horses, found a capable Japanese valet, and selected
+a cozy house near the barracks, which stood west of the Volksgarten, on
+a pretty lake.  A beautiful road ran around this body of water, and it
+wasn't long ere the officers began to pass comments on the riding of
+"that wild American."  As I detest what is known as park-riding, you
+may very well believe that I circled the lake at a clip which must have
+opened the eyes of the easy-going officers.  I grew quite chummy with a
+few of them; and I may speak of occasions when I did not step off the
+sidewalk as they came along.  A man does more toward gaining the
+affection of foreigners by giving a good dinner now and then than by
+international law.  I gained considerable fame by my little dinners at
+Müller's Rathskeller, under the Continental Hotel.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Six months passed, during which I rode, read, drove and dined, the
+actual labors of the consulate being cared for by a German clerk who
+knew more about the business than I did.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+By this you will observe that diplomacy has degenerated into the gentle
+art of exciting jaded palates and of scribbling one's name across
+passports; I know of no better definition.  I forget what the largess
+of my office was.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Presently there were terrible doings.  The old reigning grand duke
+desired peace of mind; and moving determinedly toward this end, he
+declared in public that his niece, the young and tender Princess
+Hildegarde, should wed the Prince of Doppelkinn, whose vineyards gave
+him a fine income.  This was finality; the avuncular guardian had
+waited long enough for his wilful ward to make up her mind as to the
+selection of a suitable husband; now <I>he</I> determined to take a hand in
+the matter.  And you shall see how well he managed it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It is scarcely necessary for me to state that her Highness had her own
+ideas of what a husband should be like, gathered, no doubt, from
+execrable translations from "Ouida" and the gentle Miss Braddon.  A
+girl of twenty usually has a formidable regard for romance, and the
+princess was fully up to the manner of her kind.  If she could not
+marry romantically, she refused to marry at all.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I can readily appreciate her uncle's perturbation.  I do not know how
+many princelings she thrust into utter darkness.  She would <I>never</I>
+marry a man who wore glasses; this one was too tall, that one too
+short; and when one happened along who was without visible earmarks or
+signs of being shop-worn her refusal was based upon just&mdash;"Because!"&mdash;a
+weapon as invincible as the fabled spear of Parsifal.  She had spurned
+the addresses of Prince Mischler, laughed at those of the Count of
+&mdash;&mdash;&mdash; - &mdash;&mdash;&mdash; (the short dash indicates the presence of a hyphen) and
+General Muerrisch, of the emperor's body-guard, who was, I'm sure, good
+enough&mdash;in his own opinion&mdash;for any woman.  Every train brought to the
+capital some suitor with a consonated, hyphenated name and a pedigree
+as long as a bore's idea of a funny story.  But the princess did not
+care for pedigrees that were squint-eyed or bow-legged.  One and all of
+them she cast aside as unworthy her consideration.  Then, like the
+ancient worm, the duke turned.  She should marry Doppelkinn, who,
+having no wife to do the honors in his castle, was wholly agreeable.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Prince of Doppelkinn reigned over the neighboring principality.  If
+you stood in the middle of it and were a baseball player, you could
+throw a stone across the frontier in any direction.  But the vineyards
+were among the finest in Europe.  The prince was a widower, and among
+his own people was affectionately styled "<I>der Rotnäsig</I>," which, I
+believe, designates an illuminated proboscis.  When he wasn't fishing
+for rainbow trout he was sleeping in his cellars.  He was often missing
+at the monthly reviews, but nobody ever worried; they knew where to
+find him.  And besides, he might just as well sleep in his cellars as
+in his carriage, for he never rode a horse if he could get out of doing
+so.  He was really good-natured and easy-going, so long as no one
+crossed him severely; and you could tell him a joke once and depend
+upon his understanding it immediately, which is more than I can say for
+the duke.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Years and years ago the prince had had a son; but at the tender age of
+three the boy had run away from the castle confines, and no one ever
+heard of him again.  The enemies of the prince whispered among
+themselves that the boy had run away to escape compulsory military
+service, but the boy's age precluded this accusation.  The prince
+advertised, after the fashion of those times, sent out detectives and
+notified his various brothers; but his trouble went for nothing.  Not
+the slightest trace of the boy could be found.  So he was mourned for a
+season, regretted and then forgotten; the prince adopted the
+grape-arbor.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I saw the prince once.  I do not blame the Princess Hildegarde for her
+rebellion.  The prince was not only old; he was fat and ugly, with
+little, elephant-like eyes that were always vein-shot, restless and
+full of mischief.  He might have made a good father, but I have nothing
+to prove this.  Those bottles of sparkling Moselle which he failed to
+dispose of to the American trade he gave to his brother in Barscheit or
+drank himself.  He was sixty-eight years old.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A nephew, three times removed, was waiting for the day when he should
+wabble around in the prince's shoes.  He was a lieutenant in the duke's
+body-guard, a quick-tempered, heady chap.  Well, he never wabbled
+around in his uncle's shoes, for he never got the chance.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I hadn't been in Barscheit a week before I heard a great deal about the
+princess.  She was a famous horsewoman.  This made me extremely anxious
+to meet her.  Yet for nearly six months I never even got so much as a
+glimpse of her.  Half of the six months she was traveling through
+Austria, and the other half she kept out of my way,&mdash;not intentionally;
+she knew nothing of my existence; simply, fate moved us about blindly.
+At court, she was invariably indisposed, and at the first court ball
+she retired before I arrived.  I got up at all times, galloped over all
+roads, but never did I see her.  She rode alone, too, part of the time.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The one picture of her which I was lucky enough to see had been taken
+when she was six, and meant nothing to me in the way of identification.
+For all I knew I might have passed her on the road.  She became to me
+the Princess in the Invisible Cloak, passing me often and doubtless
+deriding my efforts to discern her.  My curiosity became alarming.  I
+couldn't sleep for the thought of her.  Finally we met, but the meeting
+was a great surprise to us both.  This meeting happened during the
+great hubbub of which I have just written; and at the same time I met
+another who had great weight in my future affairs.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The princess and I became rather well acquainted.  I was not a
+gentleman, according to her code, but, in the historic words of the
+drug clerk, I was something just as good.  She honored me with a frank,
+disinterested friendship, which still exists.  I have yet among my
+fading souvenirs of diplomatic service half a dozen notes commanding me
+to get up at dawn and ride around the lake, something like sixteen
+miles.  She was almost as reckless a rider as myself.  She was truly a
+famous rider, and a woman who sits well on a horse can never be aught
+but graceful.  She was, in fact, youthful and charming, with the most
+magnificent black eyes I ever beheld in a Teutonic head; witty,
+besides, and a songstress of no ordinary talent.  If I had been in love
+with her&mdash;which I solemnly vow I was not!&mdash;I should have called her
+beautiful and exhausted my store of complimentary adjectives.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The basic cause of all this turmoil, about which I am to spin my
+narrative, lay in her education.  I hold that a German princess should
+never be educated save as a German.  By this I mean to convey that her
+education should not go beyond German literature, German history,
+German veneration of laws, German manners and German passivity and
+docility.  The Princess Hildegarde had been educated in England and
+France, which simplifies everything, or, I should say, to be exact,
+complicates everything.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She possessed a healthy contempt for that what-d'-ye-call-it that
+hedges in a king.  Having mingled with English-speaking people, she
+returned to her native land, her brain filled with the importance of
+feminine liberty of thought and action.  Hence, she became the bramble
+that prodded the grand duke whichever way he turned.  His days were
+filled with horrors, his nights with mares which did not have
+box-stalls in his stables.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Never could he anticipate her in anything.  On that day he placed
+guards around the palace she wrote verses or read modern fiction; the
+moment he relaxed his vigilance she was away on some heart-rending
+escapade.  Didn't she scandalize the nobility by dressing up as a
+hussar and riding her famous black Mecklenburg cross-country?  Hadn't
+she flirted outrageously with the French attaché and deliberately
+turned her back on the Russian minister, at the very moment, too, when
+negotiations were going on between Russia and Barscheit relative to a
+small piece of land in the Balkans?  And, most terrible of all to
+relate, hadn't she ridden a shining bicycle up the Königsstrasse, in
+broad daylight, and in bifurcated skirts, besides?  I shall never
+forget the indignation of the press at the time of this last escapade,
+the stroke of apoplexy which threatened the duke, and the room with the
+barred window which the princess occupied one whole week.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+They burned the offensive bicycle in the courtyard of the palace,
+ceremoniously, too, and the princess had witnessed this solemn <I>auto da
+fé</I> from her barred window.  It is no strain upon the imagination to
+conjure up the picture of her fine rage, her threatening hands, her
+compressed lips, her tearless, flashing eyes, as she saw her beautiful
+new wheel writhe and twist on the blazing fagots.  But what the deuce
+was a poor duke to do with a niece like this?
+</P>
+
+<P>
+For a time I feared that the United States and the Grand Duchy of
+Barscheit would sever diplomatic relations.  The bicycle was,
+unfortunately, of American make, and the manufacturers wrote to me
+personally that they considered themselves grossly insulted over the
+action of the duke.  Diplomatic notes were exchanged, and I finally
+prevailed upon the duke to state that he held the wheel harmless and
+that his anger had been directed solely against his niece.  This letter
+was duly forwarded to the manufacturers, who, after the manner of their
+kind, carefully altered the phrasing and used it in their magazine
+advertisements.  They were so far appeased that they offered me my
+selection from the private stock.  Happily the duke never read anything
+but the <I>Fliegende Blätter</I> and <I>Jugend</I>, and thus war was averted.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Later an automobile agent visited the town&mdash;at the secret bidding of
+her Highness&mdash;but he was so unceremoniously hustled over the frontier
+that his teeth must have rattled like a dancer's castanets.  It was a
+great country for expeditiousness, as you will find, if you do me the
+honor to follow me to the end.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+So the grand duke swore that his niece should wed Doppelkinn, and the
+princess vowed that she would not.  The man who had charge of my horses
+said that one of the palace maids had recounted to him a dialogue which
+had taken place between the duke and his niece.  As I was anxious to be
+off on the road I was compelled to listen to his gossip.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+THE GRAND DUKE&mdash;In two months' time you shall wed the Prince of
+Doppelkinn.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+THE PRINCESS&mdash;What! that old red-nose?  Never!  I shall marry only
+where I love.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+THE GRAND DUKE&mdash;Only where you love!  (<I>Sneers</I>.)  One would think, to
+hear you talk, that you were capable of loving something.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+THE PRINCESS&mdash;You have yet to learn.  I warn you not to force me.  I
+promise to do something scandalous.  I will marry one of the people&mdash;a
+man.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+THE GRAND DUKE&mdash;Bah!  (<I>Swears softly on his way down to the stables</I>.)
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But the princess had in her mind a plan which, had it gone through
+safely, would have added many grey hairs to the duke's scanty
+collection.  It was a mighty ingenious plan, too, for a woman to figure
+out.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In his attitude toward the girl the duke stood alone.  Behind his back
+his ministers wore out their shoes in waiting on the caprices of the
+girl, while the grand duchess, half-blind and half-deaf, openly
+worshiped her wilful but wholly adorable niece, and abetted her in all
+her escapades.  So far as the populace was concerned, she was the
+daughter of the favorite son, dead these eighteen years, and that was
+enough for them.  Whatever she did was right and proper.  But the
+hard-headed duke had the power to say what should be what, and he
+willed it that the Princess Hildegarde should marry his old comrade in
+arms, the Prince of Doppelkinn.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap0202"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+II
+</H3>
+
+
+<P>
+As I have already remarked, I used frequently to take long rides into
+the country, and sometimes I did not return till the following day.  My
+clerk was always on duty, and the work never appeared to make him
+round-shouldered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I had ridden horses for years, and to throw a leg over a good mount was
+to me one of the greatest pleasures in the world.  I delighted in
+stopping at the old feudal inns, of studying the stolid German peasant,
+of drinking from steins uncracked these hundred years, of inspecting
+ancient armor and gathering trifling romances attached thereto.  And
+often I have had the courage to stop at some quaint, crumbling
+<I>Schloss</I> or castle and ask for a night's lodging for myself and horse.
+Seldom, if ever, did I meet with a refusal.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I possessed the whimsical habit of picking out strange roads and riding
+on till night swooped down from the snow-capped mountains.  I had a bit
+of poetry in my system that had never been completely worked out, and I
+was always imagining that at the very next <I>Schloss</I> or inn I was to
+hit upon some delectable adventure.  I was only twenty-eight, and
+inordinately fond of my Dumas.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I rode in grey whipcord breeches, tan boots, a blue serge coat, white
+stock, and never a hat or cap till the snow blew.  I used to laugh when
+the peasants asked leave to lend me a cap or to run back and find the
+one I had presumably lost.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+One night the delectable adventure for which I was always seeking came
+my way, and I was wholly unprepared for it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I had taken the south highway: that which seeks the valley beyond the
+lake.  The moon-film lay mistily upon everything: on the far-off lake,
+on the great upheavals of stone and glacier above me, on the long white
+road that stretched out before me, ribbon-wise.  High up the snow on
+the mountains resembled huge opals set in amethyst.  I was easily
+twenty-five miles from the city; that is to say, I had been in the
+saddle some six hours.  Nobody but a king's messenger will ride a horse
+more than five miles an hour.  I cast about for a place to spend the
+night.  There was no tavern in sight, and the hovels I had passed
+during the last hour offered no shelter for my horse.  Suddenly, around
+a bend in the road, I saw the haven I was seeking.  It was a rambling,
+tottering old castle, standing in the center of a cluster of firs; and
+the tiles of the roofs and the ivy of the towers were shining silver
+with the heavy fall of dew.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Lady Chloe sniffed her kind, whinnied, and broke into a trot.  She knew
+sooner than I that there was life beyond the turn.  We rode up to the
+gate, and I dismounted and stretched myself.  I tried the gate.  The
+lock hung loose, like a paralytic hand.  Evidently those inside had
+nothing to fear from those outside.  I grasped an iron bar and pushed
+in the gate, Chloe following knowingly at my heels.  I could feel the
+crumbling rust on my gloves.  Chloe whinnied again, and there came an
+answering whinny from somewhere in the rear of the castle.  Somebody
+must be inside, I reasoned.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There were lights in the left wing, but this part of the castle was
+surrounded by an empty moat, damp and weedy.  This was not to be
+entered save by a ladder.  There was a great central door, however,
+which had a modern appearance.  The approach was a broad graveled walk.
+I tied Lady Chloe to a tree, knotted the bridle-reins above her neck to
+prevent her from putting her restless feet into them, and proceeded
+toward the door.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Of all the nights this was the one on which my usually lively
+imagination reposed.  I was hungry and tired, and I dare say my little
+mare was.  I wasn't looking for an adventure; I didn't want any
+adventure; I wanted nothing in the world but a meal and a bed.  But for
+the chill of the night air&mdash;the breath of the mountain is cold at
+night&mdash;I should have been perfectly willing to sleep in the open.  Down
+drawbridge, up portcullis!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I boldly climbed the steps and groped around for the knocker.  It was
+broken and useless, like the lock on the gate.  And never a bell could
+I find.  I swore softly and became impatient.  People in Barscheit did
+not usually live in this slovenly fashion.  What sort of place was this?
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Suddenly I grew erect, every fiber in my body tense and expectant.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A voice, lifted in song!  A great penetrating yet silkily mellow voice;
+a soprano; heavenly, not to say ghostly, coming as it did from the
+heart of this gloomy ruin of stone and iron.  The jewel song from
+<I>Faust</I>, too!  How the voice rose, fell, soared again with intoxicating
+waves of sound!  What permeating sweetness!  I stood there, a solitary
+listener, as far as I knew, bewildered, my heart beating hard and fast.
+I forgot my hunger.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Had I stumbled upon one of my dreams at last?  Had Romance suddenly
+relented, as a coquette sometimes relents?  For a space I knew not what
+to do.  Then, with a shrug&mdash;I have never been accused of lacking
+courage&mdash;I tried once more, by the aid of a match, to locate a bell.
+There was absolutely nothing; and the beating of my riding-crop on the
+panels of that huge door would have been as noisy as a feather.  I
+grasped the knob and turned it impatiently.  Behold! the door opened
+without sound, and I stepped into the hallway, which was velvet black.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The wonderful voice went on.  I paused, with hands outstretched.
+Supposing I bumped into something!  I took a step forward, another and
+another; I swung my crop in a half-circle; all was vacancy, I took
+another step, this time in the direction of the voice&mdash;and started back
+with a smothered curse.  Bang-ang!  I had run into a suit of old armor,
+the shield of which had clattered to the stone floor.  As I have
+observed, I am not a coward, but I had all I could do to keep my
+legs&mdash;which were stirrup-weary, anyhow&mdash;from knocking under me!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Silence!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The song died.  All over that great rambling structure not even the
+reassuring chirp of a cricket!  I stood perfectly still.  What the
+deuce should I do?  Turn back?  As I formed this question in my mind a
+draft of wind slammed the door shut.  I was in for it, sure enough; I
+was positive that I could never find that door again.  There was
+nothing to do but wait, and wait with straining ears.  Here were
+mysterious inhabitants.&mdash;they might be revolutionists, conspirators,
+counterfeiters.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Heaven knows how long I waited.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Soon I heard a laugh, light, infectious, fearless!  Then I heard a
+voice, soft and pleading.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Don't go; in mercy's name, don't go, Gretchen!  You may be killed!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+English!  I had actually heard a voice speak my native tongue.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Nonsense, Betty!  I am not afraid of any ghost that ever walked, rode
+or floated."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ghost?  It may be a burglar!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Or Steinbock!  We shall find nothing."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Indeed!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Nothing but a rat, bungling about in the armor."  The laughter came
+again.  "You are not <I>afraid</I>, Betty?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Only cautious.  But how can you laugh?  A rat?" cried a voice rather
+anxiously.  "Why, they are as big as dogs!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But arrant cowards."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+So! one of these voices spoke English as its birthright; the other
+spoke with an accent, that is to say, by adoption.  Into what had I
+fallen?  Whither had my hunger brought me?  I was soon to learn.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There came a faint thread of light on one side of the hall, such as may
+be likened to that which filters under a door-sill.  Presently this was
+followed by the sound of jangling brass rings.  A heavy velvet
+portière&mdash;which I, being in darkness, had not discovered&mdash;slipped back.
+My glance, rather blinded, was first directed toward the flame of the
+candle.  Then I lowered it&mdash;and surrendered for ever and for ever!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I beheld two faces in profile, as it were, one side in darkness, the
+other tinted and glowing like ancient ivory.  I honestly confess to you
+that in all my wanderings&mdash;and they have been frequent and many&mdash;I
+never saw such an enchanting picture or two more exquisite faces.  One
+peered forth with hesitant bravery; the other&mdash;she who held the
+candle&mdash;with cold, tranquil inquiry.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+All my fears, such as they were, left me instantly.  Besides, I was not
+without a certain amount of gallantry and humor.  I stepped squarely
+into the light and bowed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ladies, I am indeed not a ghost, but I promise you that I shall be if
+I am not offered something to eat at once!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Tableau!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What are you doing here?" asked she with the candle, her midnight eyes
+drawing down her brows into a frown of displeasure.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I bowed.  "To begin with, I find a gate unlocked, and being curious, I
+open it; then I find a door unlatched, and I enter.  Under these
+unusual circumstances I am forced to ask the same question of you: what
+are you doing here in this ruined castle?  If it isn't ruined, it is
+deserted, which amounts to the same thing."  This <I>was</I> impertinent,
+especially on the part of a self-invited guest.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That is my affair, sir.  I have a right here, now and at all times."
+Her voice was cold and authoritative.  "There is an inn six miles
+farther down the road; this is a private residence.  Certainly you can
+not remain here over night."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Six miles?" I echoed dismally.  "Madam, if I have seemed impertinent,
+pardon me.  I have been in the saddle six hours.  I have ridden nearly
+thirty miles since noon.  I am dead with fatigue.  At least give me
+time to rest a bit before taking up the way again, I admit that the
+manner of my entrance was informal; but how was I to know?  There was
+not even a knocker on the door by which to make known my presence to
+you."  The truth is, I did not want to go at once.  No one likes to
+stumble into an adventure&mdash;enchanting as this promised to be&mdash;and
+immediately pop out of it.  An idea came to me, serviceable rather than
+brilliant.  "I am an American.  My German is poor.  I speak no French.
+I have lost my way, it would seem; I am hungry and tired.  To ride six
+miles farther now is a physical impossibility; and I am very fond of my
+horse."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He says he is hungry, Gretchen," said the English girl, dropping
+easily into the French language as a vehicle of speech.  (I was a
+wretch, I know, but I simply could not help telling that lie; I didn't
+want to go; and they <I>might</I> be conspirators.)  "Besides," went on the
+girl, "he looks like a gentleman."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We can not always tell a gentleman in the candle-light," replied
+Gretchen, eying me critically and shrewdly and suspiciously.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As for me, I gazed from one to the ether, inquiringly, after the manner
+of one who hears a tongue not understandable.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He's rather nice," was the English girl's comment; "and his eyes
+strike me as being too steady to be dishonest."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I had the decency to burn in the ears.  I had taken the step, so now I
+could not draw back.  I sincerely hoped that they would not exchange
+any embarrassing confidences.  When alone women converse upon many
+peculiar topics; and conversing in a tongue which they supposed to be
+unknown to me, these two were virtually alone.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But, my dear child," the other returned argumentatively, "we can not
+offer hospitality to a strange man this night of all nights.  Think of
+what is to be accomplished."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+(So something was to be accomplished?  I was right, then, in deceiving
+them.  To accomplish something on a night like this, far from
+habitation, had all the air of a conspiracy.)
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Feed him and his horse, and I'll undertake to get rid of him before
+that detestable Steinbock comes.  Besides, he might prove a valuable
+witness in drawing up the papers."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+(Papers?)
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I never thought of that.  It will not do to trust Steinbock wholly."
+Gretchen turned her searching eyes once more upon me.  I confess that I
+had some difficulty in steadying my own.  There are some persons to
+whom one can not lie successfully; one of them stood before me.  But I
+rather fancy I passed through the ordeal with at least half a victory.
+"Will you go your way after an hour's rest?" she asked, speaking in the
+familiar tongue.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I promise."  It was easy to make this promise.  I wasn't a diplomat
+for nothing.  I knew how to hang on, to dodge under, to go about.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Follow me," Gretchen commanded briefly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+(Who was she?  What was going on?)
+</P>
+
+<P>
+We passed through the gloomy salon.  A damp, musty odor struck my sense
+of smell.  I was positive that the castle was uninhabited, save for
+this night.  Three candles burned on the mantel, giving to the gloom a
+mysterious, palpitating effect.  The room beyond was the dining-room,
+richly paneled in wine-colored mahogany.  This was better; it was
+cheerful.  A log crackled in the fireplace.  There were plenty of
+candles.  There was a piano, too.  This belonged to the castle; a heavy
+tarpaulin covering lay heaped at one side.  There was a mahogany
+sideboard that would have sent a collector of antiques into raptures,
+and a table upon which lay the remains of a fine supper.  My mouth
+watered.  I counted over the good things: roast pheasant, pink ham, a
+sea-food salad, asparagus, white bread and unsalted butter, an
+alcohol-burner over which hung a tea-pot, and besides all this there
+was a pint of La Rose which was but half-emptied.  Have you ever been
+in the saddle half a day?  If you have, you will readily appreciate the
+appetite that was warring with my curiosity.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Eat," bade she who was called Gretchen, shortly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And my horse?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Where is it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Tied to a tree by the gate."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She struck a Chinese gong.  From the kitchen appeared an elderly
+servitor who looked to me more fitted to handle a saber than a
+carving-knife; at least, the scar on his cheek impressed me with this
+idea.  (I found out later that he was an old soldier, who lived alone
+in the castle as caretaker.)
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Take this gentleman's horse to the stables and feed him," said
+Gretchen.  "You will find the animal by the gate."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+With a questioning glance at me the old fellow bowed and made off.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I sat down, and the two women brought the various plates and placed
+them within reach.  Their beautiful hands flashed before my eyes and
+now and then a sleeve brushed my shoulder.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Thank you," I murmured.  "I will eat first, and then make my
+apologies."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This remark caught the fancy of Gretchen.  She laughed.  It was the
+same laughter I had heard while standing in the great hall.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Will you drink tea, or would you prefer to finish this Bordeaux?" she
+asked pleasantly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The wine, if you please; otherwise the effect of the meal and the long
+hours in the wind will produce sleepiness.  And it would be frightfully
+discourteous on my part to fall asleep in my chair.  I am very hard to
+awake."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The English girl poured out the wine and passed the goblet to me.  I
+touched my lips to the glass, and bent my head politely.  Then I
+resolutely proceeded to attack the pheasant and ham.  I must prove to
+these women that at least I was honest in regard to my hunger.  I
+succeeded in causing a formidable portion of the food to disappear.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+And then I noticed that neither of the young women seated herself while
+I ate.  I understood.  There was no hostility in this action; nothing
+but formality.  They declined to sit in the presence of an unwelcome
+stranger, thus denying his equality from a social point of view.  I
+readily accepted this decision on their part.  They didn't know who I
+was.  They stood together by the fireplace and carried on a
+conversation in low tones.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+How shall I describe them?  The elder of the two, the one who seemed to
+possess all the authority, could not have been more than twenty.  Her
+figure was rather matured, yet it was delicate.  Her hair was tawny,
+her skin olive in shade and richly tinted at the cheek-bones.  Her
+eyes, half framed by thick, black-arching brows, reminded me of
+woodland pools in the dusk of evening,&mdash;depths unknown, cool,
+refreshing in repose.  The chin was resolute, the mouth was large but
+shapely and brilliant, the nose possessed the delicate nostrils
+characteristic of all sensitive beings&mdash;that is to say, thoroughbreds;
+altogether a confusing, bewildering beauty.  At one moment I believed
+her to be Latin, at the next I was positive that she was Teutonic.  I
+could not discover a single weak point, unless impulsiveness shall be
+called weakness; this sign of impulsiveness was visible in the lips.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The other&mdash;well, I couldn't help it.  It was <I>Kismet</I>, fate, the turn
+in the road, what you will.  I fell heels over head in love with her at
+once.  She was charming, exquisite, one of those delicate creatures who
+always appear in enchantments; a Bouguereau child grown into womanhood,
+made to fit the protecting frame of a man's arms.  Love steals into the
+heart when we least expect him; and before we are aware, the sly little
+god has unpacked his trunk and taken possession!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Eyes she had as blue as the Aegean Sea on windy days, blue as the
+cloud-winnowed sky of a winter's twilight, blue as sapphires&mdash;Irish
+eyes!  Her hair was as dark and silken as a plume from the wings of
+night.  (Did I not say that I had some poetry in my system?)  The shape
+of her mouth&mdash;Never mind; I can recall only the mad desire to kiss it.
+A graceful figure, a proud head, a slender hand, a foot so small that I
+wondered if it really poised, balanced or supported her young body.
+Tender she must be, and loving, enclitical rather than erect like her
+authoritative companion.  She was adorable.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+All this inventory of feminine charms was taken by furtive glances,
+sometimes caught&mdash;or were they taking an inventory of myself?
+Presently my appetite became singularly submissive.  Hunger often is
+satisfied by the feeding of the eyes.  I dropped my napkin on the table
+and pushed back my chair.  My hostesses ceased conversing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ladies," said I courteously, "I offer you my sincere apologies for
+this innocent intrusion."  I looked at my watch.  "I believe that you
+gave me an hour's respite.  So, then, I have thirty minutes to my
+account."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The women gazed at each other.  One laughed, and the other smiled; it
+was the English girl who laughed this time.  I liked the sound of it
+better than any I had yet heard.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+(Pardon another parenthesis.  I hope you haven't begun to think that
+<I>I</I> am the hero of this comedy.  Let it be furthest from your thoughts.
+I am only a passive bystander.)
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I sincerely trust that your hunger is appeased," said the one who had
+smiled.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is, thank you."  I absently fumbled in my coat pockets, then
+guiltily dropped my hands.  What a terrible thing habit is!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You may smoke," said the Bouguereau child who was grown into
+womanhood.  Wasn't that fine of her?  And wasn't it rather observant,
+too?  I learned later that she had a brother who was fond of tobacco.
+To her eyes my movement was a familiar one.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"With your kind permission," said I gratefully.  I hadn't had a smoke
+in four hours.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I owned a single good cigar, the last of my importation.  I lighted it
+and blew forth a snowy billow of heavenly aroma.  I know something
+about human nature, even the feminine side of it.  A presentable young
+man with a roll of aromatic tobacco seldom falls to win the confidence
+of those about him.  With that cloud of smoke the raw edge of formality
+smoothed down.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Had you any particular destination?" asked Gretchen.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"None at all.  The road took my fancy, and I simply followed it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ah! that is one of the pleasures of riding&mdash;to go wherever the
+inclination bids.  I ride."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+We were getting on famously.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you take long journeys?" I inquired.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Often.  It is the most exhilarating of sports," said the Enchantment.
+"The scenery changes; there are so many things that charm and engage
+your interest: the mountains, the waterways, the old ruins.  Have you
+ever whistled to the horses afield and watched them come galloping down
+to the wall?  It is fine.  In England&mdash;"  But her mouth closed
+suddenly.  She was talking to a stranger.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I love enthusiasm in a woman.  It colors her cheeks and makes her eyes
+sparkle, I grew a bit bolder.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I heard a wonderful voice as I approached the castle," said I.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Gretchen shrugged.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I haven't heard its equal outside Berlin or Paris," I went on.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Paris?" said Gretchen, laying a neat little trap for me into which my
+conceit was soon to tumble me.  "Paris is a marvelous city."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There is no city to equal it.  Inasmuch as we three shall never meet
+again, will you not do me the honor to repeat that jewel song from
+<I>Faust</I>?"  My audacity did not impress her in the least.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You can scarcely expect me to give a supper to a stranger and then
+sing for him, besides," said Gretchen, a chill again stealing into her
+tones.  "These Americans!" she observed to her companion in French.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I laid aside my cigar, approached the piano, and sat down.  I struck a
+few chords and found the instrument to be in remarkably good order.  I
+played a Chopin <I>Polonaise</I>, I tinkled Grieg's <I>Papillon</I>, then I
+ceased.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That is to pay for my supper," I explained.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Next I played <I>Le Courier</I>, and when I had finished that I turned
+again, rising.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That is to pay for my horse's supper," I said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Gretchen's good humor returned.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Whoever you are, sir," her tone no longer repellent, "you are amusing.
+Pray, tell us whom we have the honor to entertain?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I haven't the vaguest idea who my hostess is,"&mdash;evasively.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is quite out of the question.  You are the intruder."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Call me Mr. Intruder, then," said I.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was, you will agree, a novel adventure.  I was beginning to enjoy it
+hugely.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Who do you suppose this fellow is?" Gretchen asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He says he is an American, and I believe he is.  What Americans are in
+Barscheit?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I know of none at all.  What shall we do to get rid of him?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+All this was carried on with unstudied rudeness.  They were women of
+high and noble quality; and as I was an interloper, I could take no
+exception to a conversation in a language I had stated I did not
+understand.  If they were rude, I had acted in a manner unbecoming a
+gentleman.  Still, I was somewhat on the defensive.  I took out my
+watch.  My hour was up.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I regret that I must be off," I said ruefully.  "It is much pleasanter
+here than on the road."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I can not ask you to remain here.  You will find the inn a very
+comfortable place for the night," was Gretchen's suggestion.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Before I go, may I ask in what manner I might serve as a witness?"
+Ere the words had fully crossed my lips I recognized that my smartness
+had caused me to commit an unpardonable blunder for a man who wished to
+show up well in an adventure of this sort.  (But fate had a hand in it,
+as presently you shall see.)
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Gretchen laughed, but the sound was harsh and metallic.  She turned to
+her companion, who was staring at me with startled eyes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What did I tell you?  You can not tell a gentleman in the
+candle-light."  To me she said:
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I thought as much.  You have heard <I>Faust</I> in Paris, but you know
+nothing of the French language.  You claimed to be a gentleman, yet you
+have permitted us to converse in French."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Was it polite of you to use it?" I asked.  "All this," with a wave of
+the hand, "appears mysterious.  This is not a residence one would
+expect to find inhabited&mdash;and by two charming women!"  I bowed.  "Your
+presence here is even less satisfactorily explained than mine.  If I
+denied the knowledge of French it was because I wasn't sure of my
+surroundings.  It was done in self-defense rather than in the desire to
+play a trick.  And in this language you speak of witnesses, of papers,
+of the coming of a man you do not trust.  It looks very much like a
+conspiracy."  I gathered up my gloves and riding-crop.  I believed that
+I had extricated myself rather well.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"This is my castle," said Gretchen, gently shaking off the warning hand
+of her companion.  "If I desire to occupy it for a night, who shall
+gainsay me?  If I leave the latches down, that is due to the fact that
+I have no one to fear.  Now, sir, you have eaten the bread of my table,
+and I demand to know who you are.  If you do not tell me at once, I
+shall be forced to confine you here till I am ready to leave."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Confine me!"&mdash;nonplussed.  This was more than I had reckoned on.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes."  She reached out to strike the gong.  (I can not be blamed for
+surrendering so tamely.  I didn't know that the old servitor was the
+only man around.)
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am the American consul at Barscheit."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The two women drew together instinctively, as if one desired to protect
+the other from some unknown calamity.  What the deuce was it all about?
+All at once Gretchen thrust aside her friend and approached.  The table
+was between us, and she rested her hands upon it.  Our glances met and
+clashed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Did the duke send you here?" she demanded repellently.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The duke?"  I was getting deeper than ever.  "The duke?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes.  I am the Princess Hildegarde."
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap0203"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+III
+</H3>
+
+
+<P>
+The Princess Hildegarde of Barscheit!  My gloves and riding-crop
+slipped from my nerveless fingers to the floor.  A numbing, wilting
+sensation wrinkled my spine.  The Princess Hildegarde of Barscheit!
+She stood opposite me, the woman&mdash;ought I not to say girl?&mdash;for whom I
+had been seeking, after a fashion, all these months!  The beautiful
+madcap who took the duchy by the ears, every now and then, and tweaked
+them!  The princess herself, here in this lonely old castle into which
+I had so carelessly stumbled!  Romance, enchantment!  Oddly enough, the
+picture of her riding a bicycle flashed through my brain, and this was
+followed by another, equally engaging, of the hussar who rode
+cross-country, to the horror of the conservative element at court.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The Princess Hildegarde!" I murmured stupidly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes.  I have asked you a question, sir.  Or shall I put the question
+in French?"&mdash;ironically.  "Was it the duke who sent you here?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was a look in her superb eyes which told me that it would have
+been to her infinite pleasure to run a sword through my black and
+villainous heart.  Presently I recovered.  With forced calm I stooped
+and collected my gloves and crop.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your Highness, what the deuce has the duke to do with my affairs, or I
+with his?  As an American, you would scarcely expect me to meddle with
+your private affairs.  You are the last person in the world I thought
+to meet this night.  I represent the United States in this country, and
+though I am inordinately young, I have acquired the habit of attending
+to my own affairs."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+From the angry face in front of me I turned to the dismayed face
+beyond.  There must have been a question in my glance.  The young woman
+drew herself up proudly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am the Honorable Betty Moore."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+(The princess' schoolmate in England!)
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Her Highness stood biting the knuckle of a forefinger, undecided as to
+what path of action to enter, to reach a satisfactory end.  My very
+rudeness convinced her more than anything else that I spoke the truth.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How, then, did you select this particular road?"&mdash;still entertaining
+some doubt.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is a highway, free to all.  But I have already explained that," I
+answered quietly.  I moved deliberately toward the door, but with a
+cat-like movement she sprang in front of me.  "Well, your Highness?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Wait!" she commanded, extending an authoritative arm (lovely too!).
+"Since you are here, and since you know who I am, you must remain."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Must?" I repeated, taken aback.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Must!  My presence here ought not to be known to any one.  When you
+witness that which shall take place here to-night, you will
+understand."  Her tone lost its evenness; it trembled and became a bit
+wild.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"In what manner may I be of service to your Highness?" I asked
+pleasantly, laying aside my gloves and crop again.  "I can easily give
+you my word of honor as a gentleman not to report your presence here;
+but if I am forced to remain, I certainly demand&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Desire," she corrected, the old fire in her eyes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Thank you.  I desire, then, to know the full reason; for I can not be
+a party to anything which may reflect upon the consulate.  For myself,
+I do not care."  What hare-brained escapade was now in the air?
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The princess walked over to the mantel and rested her arms upon it,
+staring wide-eyed into the fire.  Several minutes passed.  I waited
+patiently; but, to tell the truth, I was on fire with curiosity.  At
+length my patience was rewarded.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You have heard that I am to marry the Prince of Doppelkinn?" she began.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I nodded.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Doubtless you have also heard of my determination not to marry him?"
+she went on.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Again I nodded.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, I am not going to marry him."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I was seized with the desire to laugh, but dared not.  What had all
+this to do with my detention in the castle?
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Betty," said the princess, turning imploringly to her companion (what
+a change!), "<I>you</I> tell him."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I?"  The Honorable Betty drew back.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+(Had they kidnapped old Doppelkinn? I wondered.)
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I can not tell him," cried her Highness miserably, "I simply can not.
+You must do it, Betty.  It is now absolutely necessary that he should
+know everything; it is absolutely vital that he be present.  Perhaps
+Heaven has sent him.  Do you understand?  Now, tell him!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+And, wonders to behold! she who but a few minutes gone had been a
+princess in everything, cold, seeing, tranquil, she fled from the room.
+(Decidedly this was growing interesting.  What had they done?)  Thus,
+the Honorable Betty Moore and his Excellency, the American consul at
+Barscheit, were left staring into each other's eyes fully a minute.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You will, of course, pledge me your word of honor?"  She who had
+recently been timid now became cool and even-pulsed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If in pledging it I am asked to do nothing to discredit my office.  I
+am not an independent individual,"&mdash;smiling to put her more at ease.
+(I haven't the least doubt that I would have committed any sort of
+folly had she required it of me.)
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You have my word, sir, that you will be asked to do nothing
+dishonorable.  On the other hand, you will confer a great favor upon
+her Highness, who is in deep trouble and is seeking a way to escape it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Command me," said I promptly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Her Highness is being forced into marriage with a man who is old
+enough to be her grandfather.  She holds him in horror, and will go to
+any length to make this marriage an impossibility.  For my part, I have
+tried to convince her of the futility of resisting her royal uncle's
+will."  (Sensible little Britisher!)  "What she is about to do will be
+known only to four persons, one of whom is a downright rascal."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"A rascal?" slipped my lips, half-unconsciously.  "I trust that I
+haven't given you that impression," I added eagerly.  (A rascal?  The
+plot was thickening to formidable opaqueness.)
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, no!" she cried hastily, with a flash of summer on her lips.  (What
+is more charming than an English woman with a clear sense of the
+humorous?)  "You haven't given me that impression at all."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Thank you."  My vanity expanded under the genial warmth of this
+knowledge.  It was quite possible that she looked upon me favorably.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"To proceed.  There is to be a kind of mock marriage here to-night, and
+you are to witness it."  She watched me sharply.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I frowned.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Patience!  Not literally a mock marriage, but the filling out of a
+bogus certificate."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I do not understand at all."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You have heard of Hermann Steinbock, a cashiered officer?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes.  I understand that he is the rascal to whom you refer."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, this certificate is to be filled out completely.  To outwit the
+duke, her Highness commits&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"A forgery."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is a terrible thing to do, but she has gone too far to withdraw
+now.  She is to become the wife of Hermann Steinbock.  She wishes to
+show the certificate to the duke."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But the banns have not been made public."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That does not matter."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But why detain me?"  I was growing restless.  It was all folly, and no
+good would come of it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is necessary that a gentleman should be present.  The caretaker is
+not a gentleman.  I have said that Steinbock is a rascal.  As I review
+the events, I begin to look upon your arrival as timely.  Steinbock is
+not a reliable quantity."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I begin to perceive."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He is to receive one thousand crowns for his part in the ceremony;
+then he is to leave the country."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But the priest's signature, the notary's seal, the iron-clad
+formalities which attend all these things!" I stammered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You will recollect that her Highness is a princess of the blood.
+Seldom is she refused anything in Barscheit."  She went to a small
+secretary and produced a certificate, duly sealed and signed.  There
+lacked nothing but Steinbock's name.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But the rascal will boast about it!  He may blackmail all of you.  He
+may convince the public that he has really married her Highness."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I thank not.  We have not moved in this blindly.  Steinbock we know to
+have forged the name of the minister of finance.  We hold this sword
+above his head.  And if he should speak or boast of it, your word would
+hold greater weight than his.  Do you understand now?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, I understand.  But I believe that I am genuinely sorry to have
+blundered into this castle to-night."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, if you lack courage!"&mdash;carelessly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I laughed.  "I am not afraid of twenty Steinbocks."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Her laughter echoed mine.  "Come, Mr.&mdash;by the way, I believe I do not
+know your name."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Warrington&mdash;Arthur Warrington."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That is a very good English name, and a gentleman possessing it will
+never leave two women in a predicament like this.  You will understand
+that we dare not trust any one at court.  Relative to her Highness, the
+duke succeeds in bribing all."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But a rascal like Steinbock!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I know,"&mdash;a bit wearily.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is pardonable to say that I believe her Highness has been very
+foolish."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The girl made a gesture which conceded this fact.  "It is too late to
+retreat, as I have told you.  Steinbock is already on the way.  We must
+trust him.  But you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"After all, what does a consulate amount to?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This seemed to be answer enough.  She extended her hand in a royal
+fashion.  I took it in one of mine, bent and kissed it respectfully.
+Apparently she had expected the old-fashioned handshake familiar to our
+common race, for I observed that she started as my lips came into
+contact with the back of her hand.  As for me, when my lips touched the
+satin flesh I knew that it was all over.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your Highness!" she called.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The princess returned.  She looked at me with a mixture of fierceness
+and defiance, humility and supplication.  I had always supposed her to
+be a sort of hobbledehoy; instead, she was one of those rare creatures
+who possess all the varying moods of the sex.  I could readily imagine
+all the young fellows falling violently in love with her; all the young
+fellows save one.  I glanced furtively at the Honorable Betty.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He knows all?" asked her Highness, her chin tilted aggressively.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Everything."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What must you think of me?"  There was that in her Highness' tone
+which dared me to express any opinion that was not totally
+complimentary.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am not sufficiently well-born to pass an opinion upon your Highness'
+actions," I replied, with excusable irony.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Excellent!" she exclaimed.  "I have grown weary of sycophants.  You
+are not afraid of me at all."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Not in the slightest degree," I declared.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You will not regret what you are about to do.  I can make it very
+pleasant for you in Barscheit&mdash;or very unpleasant."  But this
+threatening supplement was made harmless by the accompanying smile.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"May I offer the advice of rather a worldly man?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"When Steinbock comes bid him go about his business."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Honorable Betty nodded approvingly, but her Highness shrugged.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Since you are decided,"&mdash;and I bowed.  "Now, what time does this
+fellow put in his appearance?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Her Highness beamed upon the Honorable Betty.  "I like the way he says
+'this fellow'; it reassures me.  He is due at nine o'clock; that is to
+say, in half an hour.  I will give you these directions.  I do not wish
+Steinbock to know of your presence here.  You will hide in the salon,
+close to the portières, within call.  Moreover, I shall have to impose
+upon you the disagreeable duty of playing the listener.  Let nothing
+escape your ear or your eye.  I am not certain of this fellow
+Steinbock, though I hold a sword above his head."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But where are your men?" I asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She smiled.  "There is no one here but Leopold."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your Highness to meet Steinbock alone?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have no fear of him; he knows who I am."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Everything shall be done as you wish."  I secretly hoped I might have
+the opportunity to punch Steinbock's head.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Thank you."  The transition of her moods always left me in wonder.
+"Play something; it is impossible to talk."  She perched herself on the
+broad arm of the Honorable Betty's chair, and her arm rested lightly
+but affectionately on her shoulder.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was something for a man to gain the confidence, in so short a time,
+of two such women.  I felt as brave as Bavard.  So I sat down before
+the piano and played.  My two accomplishments are horseback riding and
+music, and I candidly tell you that I am as reckless at one as at the
+other.  I had a good memory.  I played something from Chaminade, as her
+fancies are always airy and agreeable and unmelancholy.  I was
+attacking <I>The Flatterer</I> when her Highness touched my arm.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Hark!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+We all listened intently.  The sound of beating hoofs came distinctly.
+A single horseman was galloping along the highway toward the castle.
+The sound grew nearer and nearer; presently it ceased.  I rose quietly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is time I hid myself, for doubtless this rider is the man."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The princess paled for a moment, while her companion nervously plucked
+at the edges of her handkerchief.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Go," said the former; "and be watchful."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I then took up my position behind the portières.  Truly I had stumbled
+into an adventure; but how to stumble out again?  If the duke got wind
+of it, it would mean my recall, and I was of a mind, just then, that I
+was going to be particularly fond of Barscheit.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+All was silent.  A door closed, and then came the tread of feet.  I
+peered through the portières shortly to see the entrance of two men,
+one of whom was the old caretaker.  His companion was a dark, handsome
+fellow, of Hungarian gipsy type.  There was a devil-may-care air about
+him that fitted him well.  It was Steinbock.  He was dressed with
+scrupulous care, in spite of the fact that he wore riding clothes.  It
+is possible that he recognized the importance of the event.  One did
+not write one's name under a princess' signature every day, even in
+mockery.  There was a half-smile on his face that I did not like.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your Highness sees that I am prompt,"&mdash;uncovering.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is well.  Let us proceed at once to conclude the matter in hand,"
+she said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Wholly at your service!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+(Hang the fellow's impudence!  How dared he use that jovial tone?)
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I heard the crackle of parchment.  The certificate was being unfolded.
+(It occurred to me that while she was about it the princess might just
+as well have forged the rascal's name and wholly dispensed with his
+services.  The whole affair struck me as being ineffective; nothing
+would come of it.  If she tried to make the duke believe that she had
+married Steinbock, her uncle would probe the matter to the bottom, and
+in the end cover her with ridicule.  But you can not tell a young woman
+anything, when she is a princess and in the habit of having her own
+way.  It is remarkable how stupid clever women can be at times.  The
+Honorable Betty understood, but her Highness would not be convinced.
+Thus she suffered this needless affront.  Pardon this parenthesis, but
+when one talks from behind a curtain the parenthesis is the only
+available thing.)  There was silence.  I saw Steinbock poise the pen,
+then scribble on the parchment.  It was done.  I stirred restlessly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There!" cried Steinbock.  His voice did not lack a certain triumph.
+"And now for the duplicate!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Her Highness stuffed the document into the bosom of her dress.  "There
+will be no duplicate."  The frigidity of her tones would have congealed
+the blood of an ordinary rascal.  But Steinbock was not ordinary.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But suppose the duke comes to me for verification?" he reasoned.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You will be on the other side of the frontier.  Here are your thousand
+crowns."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The barb of her contempt penetrated even his thick epidermis.  His
+smile hardened.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I was once a gentleman; I did not always accept money for aiding in
+shady transactions."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Neither your sentiments nor your opinions are required.  Now, observe
+me carefully," continued her Highness.  "I shall give you twenty-four
+hours to cross the frontier in any direction you choose.  If after that
+time you are found in Barscheit, I promise to hand you over to the
+police."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It has been a great day," said the rascal, with a laugh.  "A thousand
+crowns!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I separated the portières an inch.  He stood at the side of the piano,
+upon which he leaned an elbow.  He was certainly handsome, much sought
+after by women of a low class.  The princess stood at Steinbock's left
+and the Honorable Betty at his right, erect, their faces expressing
+nothing, so forced was the repose.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I never expected so great an honor.  To wed a princess, when that
+princess is your Highness!  Faith, it is fine!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You may go at once," interrupted her Highness, her voice rising a key.
+"Remember, you have only twenty-four hours between you and prison.  You
+waste valuable time."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What! you wish to be rid of me so soon?  Why, this is the bridal
+night.  One does not part with one's wife at this rate."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Leopold, the caretaker, made a warning gesture.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Come, Leopold, I must have my jest," laughed Steinbock.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Within certain bounds," returned the old man phlegmatically.  "It is
+high time you were off.  You are foolhardy to match your chances with
+justice.  Prison stares you in the face."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Bah!  Do you believe it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is a positive fact," added the princess.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But to leave like this has the pang of death!" Steinbock remonstrated,
+"What! shall I be off without having even kissed the bride?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The bargain is concluded on all sides; you have your thousand crowns."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But not love's tribute.  I must have that.  It is worth a thousand
+crowns.  Besides," with a perceptible change in his manner, "shall I
+forget the contempt with which you have always looked upon me, even in
+the old days that were fair and prosperous?  Scarcely!  Opportunity is
+a thing that can not be permitted to pass thus lightly."  Then I
+observed his nose wrinkle; he was sniffing.  "Tobacco!  I did not know
+that you smoked, Leopold."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Begone!" cried the old fellow, his hands opening and shutting.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Presently!"  With a laugh he sprang toward her Highness, but Leopold
+was too quick for him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was a short struggle, and I saw the valiant old man reel, fall
+and strike his head on the stone of the hearth.  He lay perfectly
+motionless.  So unexpected was this scene to my eyes that for a time I
+was without any particular sense of movement.  I stood like stone.
+With an evil laugh Steinbock sprang toward her Highness again.  Quick
+as light she snatched up my crop, which lay on the table, and struck
+the rascal full across the eyes, again and again and again, following
+him as he stepped backward.  Her defense was magnificent.  But, as fate
+determined to have it, Steinbock finally succeeded in wresting the
+stick from her grasp.  He was wild with pain and chagrin.  It was then
+I awoke to the fact that I was needed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I rushed out, hot with anger.  I caught Steinbock by the collar just in
+time to prevent his lips from touching her cheek.  I flung him to the
+floor, and knelt upon his chest.  I am ashamed to confess it, but I
+recollect slapping the fellow's face as he struggled under me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You scoundrel!" I cried, breathing hard.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Kill him!" whispered her Highness.  She was furious; the blood of her
+marauding ancestors swept over her cheeks, and if ever I saw murder in
+a woman's eyes it was at that moment.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Hush, Hildegarde, hush!"  The English girl caught the princess in her
+arms and drew her back.  "Don't let me hear you talk like that.  It is
+all over."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Get up," I said to Steinbock, as I set him free.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He crawled to his feet.  He was very much disordered, and there were
+livid welts on his face.  He shook himself, eying me evilly.  There was
+murder in his eyes, too.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Empty your pockets of those thousand crowns!"&mdash;peremptorily.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I was certain that I smelled tobacco," he sneered.  "It would seem
+that there are other bridegrooms than myself."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Those crowns, or I'll break every bone in your body!"  I balled my
+fists.  Nothing would have pleased me better at that moment than to
+pummel the life out of him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Slowly he drew out the purse.  It was one of those limp silk affairs so
+much affected by our ancestors.  He balanced it on his hand.  Its ends
+bulged with gold and bank-notes.  Before I was aware of his intention,
+he swung one end of it in so deft a manner that it struck me squarely
+between the eyes.  With a crash of glass he disappeared through the
+window.  The blow dazed me only for a moment, and I was hot to be on
+his tracks.  The Honorable Betty stopped me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He may shoot you!" she cried.  "Don't go!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Although half through the window, I crawled back, brushing my sleeves.
+Something warm trickled down my nose.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You have been cut!" exclaimed her Highness.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is nothing.  I beg of you to let me follow.  It will be all over
+with that fellow at large."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Not at all."  Her Highness' eyes sparkled wickedly.  "He will make for
+the nearest frontier.  He knows now that I shall not hesitate a moment
+to put his affairs in the hands of the police."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He will boast of what he has done."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Not till he has spent those thousand crowns."  She crossed the room
+and knelt at the side of Leopold, dashing some water into his face.
+Presently he opened his eyes.  "He is only stunned.  Poor Leopold!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I helped the old man to his feet, and he rubbed the back of his head
+grimly.  He drew a revolver from his pocket.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I had forgotten all about it," he said contritely.  "Shall I follow
+him, your Highness?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Let him go.  It doesn't matter now.  Betty, you were right, as you
+always are.  I have played the part of a silly fool.  I <I>would</I> have my
+own way in the matter.  Well, I have this worthless paper.  At least I
+can frighten the duke, and that is something."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, my dear, if only you would have listened to my advice!" the other
+girl said.  There was deep discouragement in her tones.  "I warned you
+so often that it would come to this end."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Let us drop the matter entirely," said her Highness.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I gazed admiringly at her&mdash;to see her sink suddenly into a chair and
+weep abandonedly!  Leopold eyed her mournfully, while the English girl
+rushed to her side and flung her arms around her soothingly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am very unhappy," said the princess, lifting her head and shaking
+the tears from her eyes.  "I am harassed on all sides; I am not allowed
+any will of my own.  I wish I were a peasant!&mdash;Thank you, thank you!
+But for you that wretch would have kissed me."  She held out her hand
+to me, and I bent to one knee as I kissed it.  She was worthy to be the
+wife of the finest fellow in all the world.  I was very sorry for her,
+and thought many uncomplimentary things of the duke.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I shall not ask you to forget my weakness," she said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is already forgotten, your Highness."
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+Under such circumstances I met the Princess Hildegarde of Barscheit;
+and I never betrayed her confidence until this writing, when I have her
+express permission.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Of Hermann Steinbock I never saw anything more.  Thus the only villain
+passes from the scene.  As I have repeatedly remarked, doubtless to
+your weariness, this is not my story at all; but in parenthesis I may
+add that between the Honorable Betty Moore and myself there sprang up a
+friendship which later ripened into something infinitely stronger.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This, then, was the state of affairs when, one month later, Max
+Scharfenstein poked his handsome blond head over the frontier of
+Barscheit; cue (as the dramatist would say), enter hero.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap0204"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+IV
+</H3>
+
+
+<P>
+He came straight to the consulate, and I was so glad to see him that I
+sat him down in front of the sideboard and left orders that I was at
+home to no one.  We had been class-mates and room-mates at college, and
+two better friends never lived.  We spent the whole night in recounting
+the good old days, sighed a little over the departed ones, and praised
+or criticized the living.  Hadn't they been times, though?  The nights
+we had stolen up to Philadelphia to see the shows, the great
+Thanksgiving games in New York, the commencements, and all that!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Max had come out of the far West.  He was a foundling who had been
+adopted by a wealthy German ranchman named Scharfenstein, which name
+Max assumed as his own, it being as good as any.  Nobody knew anything
+about Max's antecedents, but he was so big and handsome and jolly that
+no one cared a hang.  For all that he did not know his parentage, he
+was a gentleman, something that has to be bred in the bone.  Once or
+twice I remember seeing him angry; in anger he was arrogant, deadly,
+but calm.  He was a god in track-linen, for he was what few big men
+are, quick and agile.  The big fellow who is cat-like in his movements
+is the most formidable of athletes.  One thing that invariably amused
+me was his inordinate love of uniforms.  He would always stop when he
+saw a soldier or the picture of one, and his love of arms was little
+short of a mania.  He was an expert fencer and a dead shot besides.
+(Pardon the parenthesis, but I feel it my duty to warn you that nobody
+fights a duel in this little history, and nobody gets killed.)
+</P>
+
+<P>
+On leaving college he went in for medicine, and his appearance in the
+capital city of Barscheit was due obviously to the great medical
+college, famous the world over for its nerve specialists.  This was
+Max's first adventure in the land of gutturals.  I explained to him,
+and partly unraveled, the tangle of laws; as to the language, he spoke
+that, not like a native, but as one.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Max was very fond of the society of women, and at college we used to
+twit him about it, for he was always eager to meet a new face, trusting
+that the new one might be the ideal for which he was searching.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, you old Dutchman," said I, "have you ever found that ideal woman
+of yours?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Bah!"&mdash;lighting a pipe.  "She will never be found.  A horse and a
+trusty dog for me; those two you may eventually grow to understand.  Of
+course I don't say, if the woman came along&mdash;the right one&mdash;I mightn't
+go under, I'm philosopher enough to admit that possibility.  I want her
+tall, hair like corn-silk, eyes like the cornflower, of brilliant
+intellect, reserved, and dignified, and patient.  I want a woman, not
+humorous, but who understands humor, and I have never heard of one.
+So, you see, it's all smoke; and I never talk woman these times unless
+I'm smoking,"&mdash;with a gesture which explained that he had given up the
+idea altogether.  "A doctor sees so much of women that he finally sees
+nothing of woman."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, if you resort to epigrams, I can see that it's all over."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"All over.  I'm so used to being alone that I shouldn't know what to do
+with a wife."  He puffed seriously.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Ah! the futility of our desires, of our castles, of our dreams!  The
+complacency with which we jog along in what we deem to be our own
+particular groove!  I recall a girl friend of my youth who was going to
+be a celibate, a great reformer, and toward that end was studying for
+the pulpit.  She is now the mother of several children, the most
+peaceful and unorative woman I know.  You see, humanity goes whirring
+over various side-tracks, thinking them to be the main line, till fate
+puts its peculiar but happy hand to the switch.  Scharfenstein had been
+plugging away over rusty rails and grass-grown ties&mdash;till he came to
+Barscheit.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Hope is the wings of the heart," said I, when I thought the pause had
+grown long enough.  "You still hope?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"In a way.  If I recollect, you had an affair once,"&mdash;shrewdly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I smoked on.  I wasn't quite ready to speak.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You were always on the hunt for ideals, too, as I remember; hope
+you'll find her."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Max, my boy, I am solemnly convinced that I have."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Good Lord, you don't mean to tell me that you are <I>hooked</I>?" he cried.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I see no reason why you should use that particular tone," I answered
+stiffly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, come now; tell me all about it.  Who is she, and when's the
+wedding?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know when the wedding's going to be, but I'm mighty sure that
+I have met the one girl.  Max, there never was a girl like her.  Witty
+she is, and wise; as beautiful as a summer's dawn; merry and brave;
+rides, drives, plays the 'cello, dances like a moon-shadow; and all
+that,"&mdash;with a wave of the hand.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You've got it bad.  Remember how you used to write poetry at college?
+Who is she, if I may ask?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The Honorable Betty Moore, at present the guest of her Highness, the
+Princess Hildegarde,"&mdash;with pardonable pride.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Max whistled.  "You're a lucky beggar.  One by one we turn traitor to
+our native land.  A Britisher!  I never should have believed it of you,
+of the man whose class declamation was on the fiery subject of
+patriotism.  But is it all on one side?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know, Max; sometimes I think so, and then I don't."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How long have you known her?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Little more than a month."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"A month?  Everything moves swiftly these days, except European railway
+cars."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There's a romance, Max, but another besides her is concerned, and I
+can not tell you.  Some day, when everything quiets down, I'll get you
+into a corner with a bottle, and you will find it worth while."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The bottle?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Both."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"From rumors I've heard, this princess is a great one for larks; rides
+bicycles and automobiles, and generally raises the deuce.  What sort is
+she?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If you are going to remain in Barscheit, my boy, take a friendly
+warning.  Do not make any foolish attempt to see her.  She is more
+fascinating than a roulette table."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This was a sly dig.  Max smiled.  A recent letter from him had told of
+an encounter with the goddess of Monte Carlo.  Fortune had been all
+things but favorable.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I'm not afraid of your princess; besides, I came here to study."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And study hard, my boy, study hard.  Her Highness is not the only
+pretty woman in Barscheit.  There's a raft of them."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I'll paddle close to the shore," with a smile.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"By the way, I'll wake you up Thursday."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How?"&mdash;lazily.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"A bout at Müller's Rathskeller.  Half a dozen American lads, one of
+whom is called home.  Just fixed up his passports for him.  You'll be
+as welcome as the flowers in the spring.  Some of the lads will be in
+your classes."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Put me down.  It will be like old times.  I went to the reunion last
+June.  Everything was in its place but you.  Hang it, why can't time
+always go on as it did then?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Time, unlike our watches, never has to go to the jeweler's for
+repairs," said I owlishly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Max leaned over, took my bull-terrier by the neck and deposited him on
+his lap.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Good pup, Artie&mdash;if he's anything like his master.  Three years, my
+boy, since I saw you.  And here you are, doing nothing and lallygagging
+at court with the nobility.  I wish I had had an uncle who was a
+senator.  'Pull' is everything these days."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You Dutchman, I won this place on my own merit,"&mdash;indignantly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Forget it!"&mdash;grinning.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are impertinent."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But truthful, always."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+And then we smoked a while in silence.  The silent friend is the best
+of the lot.  He knows that he hasn't got to talk unless he wants to,
+and likewise that it is during these lapses of speech that the vine of
+friendship grows and tightens about the heart.  When you sit beside a
+man and feel that you need not labor to entertain him it's a good sign
+that you thoroughly understand each other.  I was first to speak.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't understand why you should go in for medicine so thoroughly.
+It can't be money, for heaven knows your father left you a yearly
+income which alone would be a fortune to me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Chivalry shivers these days; the chill of money is on everything.  A
+man must do something&mdash;a man who is neither a sloth nor a fool.  A man
+must have something to put his whole heart into; and I despise money as
+money.  I give away the bulk of my income."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Marry, and then you will not have to," I said flippantly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You're a sad dog.  Do you know, I've been thinking about epigrams."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes.  I find that an epigram is produced by the same cause that
+produces the pearl in the oyster."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That is to say, a healthy mentality never superinduces an epigram?
+Fudge!" said I, yanking the pup from his lap on to mine.  "According to
+your diagnosis, your own mind is diseased."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Have I cracked an epigram?"&mdash;with pained surprise.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, you nearly bent one," I compromised.  Then we both laughed, and
+the pup started up and licked my face before I could prevent him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Did I ever show you this?"&mdash;taking out a locket which was attached to
+one end of his watch-chain.  He passed the trinket to me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What is it?" I asked, turning it over and over.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It's the one slender link that connects me with my babyhood.  It wag
+around my neck when Scharfenstein picked me up.  Open it and look at
+the face inside."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I did so.  A woman's face peered up at me.  It might have been
+beautiful but for the troubled eyes and the drooping lips.  It was
+German in type, evidently of high breeding, possessing the subtle lines
+which distinguish the face of the noble from the peasant's.  From the
+woman's face I glanced at Max's.  The eyes were something alike.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Who do you think it is?" I asked, when I had studied the face
+sufficiently to satisfy my curiosity.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I've a sneaking idea that it may be my mother.  Scharfenstein found me
+toddling about in a railroad station, and that locket was the only
+thing about me that might be used in the matter of identification.  You
+will observe that there is no lettering, not even the jeweler's usual
+carat-mark to qualify the gold.  I recall nothing; life with me dates
+only from the wide plains and grazing cattle.  I was born either in
+Germany or Austria.  That's all I know.  And to tell you the honest
+truth, boy, it's the reason I've placed my woman-ideal so high.  So
+long as I place her over my head I'm not foolish enough to weaken into
+thinking I can have her.  What woman wants a man without a name?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You poor old Dutchman, you!  You can buy a genealogy with your income.
+And a woman nowadays marries the man, the man.  It's only horses, dogs
+and cattle that we buy for their pedigrees.  Come; you ought to have a
+strawberry mark on your arm," I suggested lightly; for there were times
+when Max brooded over the mystery which enveloped his birth.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In reply he rolled up his sleeve and bared a mighty arm.  Where the
+vaccination scar usually is I saw a red patch, like a burn.  I leaned
+over and examined it.  It was a four-pointed scar, with a perfect
+circle around it.  Somehow, it seemed to me that this was not the first
+time I had seen this peculiar mark.  I did not recollect ever seeing it
+on Max's arm.  Where had I seen it, then?
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It looks like a burn," I ventured to suggest.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is.  I wish I knew what it signifies.  Scharfenstein said that it
+was positively fresh when he found me.  He said I cried a good deal and
+kept telling him that I was Max.  Maybe I'm an anarchist and don't know
+it,"&mdash;with half a smile.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It's a curious scar.  Hang me, but I've seen the device somewhere
+before!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You have?"&mdash;eagerly.  "Where, where?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know; possibly I saw it on your arm in the old days."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He sank back in his chair.  Silence, during which the smoke thickened
+and the pup whined softly in his sleep.  Out upon the night the
+cathedral bell boomed the third hour of morning.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If you don't mind, Artie," said Max, yawning, "I'll turn in.  I've
+been traveling for the past fortnight."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Take a ride on Dandy in the morning.  He'll hold your weight nicely.
+I can't go with you, as I've a lame ankle."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I'll be in the saddle at dawn.  All I need is a couple of hours
+between sheets."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As I prodded my pillow into a comfortable wad under my cheek I wondered
+where I had seen that particular brand.  It was a brand.  I knew that I
+had seen it somewhere, but my memory danced away when I endeavored to
+halter it.  Soon I fell asleep, dreaming of somebody who wasn't Max
+Scharfenstein, by a long shot.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap0205"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+V
+</H3>
+
+
+<P>
+That same evening the grand duke's valet knocked on the door leading
+into the princess' apartments, and when the door opened he gravely
+announced that his serene Highness desired to speak to the Princess
+Hildegarde.  It was a command.  For some reason, known best to herself,
+the princess chose to obey it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Say that I shall be there presently," she said, dismissing the valet.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As she entered her uncle's study&mdash;so called because of its dust-laden
+bookshelves, though the duke sometimes disturbed their contents to
+steady the leg of an unbalanced chair or table&mdash;he laid down his pipe
+and dismissed his small company of card-players.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I did not expect to see you so soon," he began.  "A woman's curiosity
+sometimes has its value.  It takes little to arouse it, but a great
+deal to allay it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You have not summoned me to make smart speeches, simply because I have
+been educated up to them?"&mdash;truculently.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No.  I have not summoned you to talk smart, a word much in evidence in
+Barscheit since your return from England.  For once I am going to use a
+woman's prerogative.  I have changed my mind."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Princess Hildegarde trembled with delight.  She could put but one
+meaning to his words.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The marriage will not take place next month."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Uncle!"&mdash;rapturously.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Wait a moment,"&mdash;grimly.  "It shall take place next week."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I warn you not to force me to the altar," cried the girl, trembling
+this time with a cold fury.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My child, you are too young in spirit and too old in mind to be
+allowed a gateless pasture.  In harness you will do very well."  He
+took up his pipe and primed it.  It <I>was</I> rather embarrassing to look
+the girl in the eye.  "You shall wed Doppelkinn next week."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You will find it rather embarrassing to drag me to the altar,"&mdash;evenly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You will not," he replied, "create a scandal of such magnitude.  You
+are untamable, but you are proud."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The girl remained silent.  In her heart she knew that he had spoken
+truly.  She could never make a scene in the cathedral.  But she was
+determined never to enter it.  She wondered if she should produce the
+bogus certificate.  She decided to wait and see if there were no other
+loophole of escape.  Old <I>Rotnäsig</I>?  Not if she died!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When these two talked without apparent heat it was with unalterable
+fixedness of purpose.  They were of a common race.  The duke was
+determined that she should wed Doppelkinn; she was equally determined
+that she should not.  The gentleman with the algebraic bump may figure
+this out to suit himself.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Have you no pity?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My reason overshadows it.  You do not suppose that I take any especial
+pleasure in forcing you?  But you leave me no other method."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am a young girl, and he is an old man."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That is immaterial.  Besides, the fact has gone abroad.  It is now
+irrevocable."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I promise to go out and ask the first man I see to marry me!" she
+declared.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Pray Heaven, it may be Doppelkinn!" said the duke drolly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, do not doubt that I have the courage and the recklessness.  I
+would not care if he were young, but the prince is old enough to be my
+father."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are not obliged to call him husband."  The duke possessed a
+sparkle to-night which was unusual in him.  Perhaps he had won some of
+the state moneys which he had paid out to his ministers' that day.
+"Let us not waste any time," he added.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I shall not waste any,"&mdash;ominously.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Order your gown from Vienna, or Paris, or from wherever you will.
+Don't haggle over the price; let it be a good one; I'm willing to go
+deep for it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You loved my aunt once,"&mdash;a broken note in her voice.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I love her still,"&mdash;not unkindly; "but I must have peace in the house.
+Observe what you have so far accomplished in the matter of creating
+turmoil."  The duke took up a paper.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My sins?"&mdash;contemptuously.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Let us call them your transgressions.  Listen.  You have ridden a
+horse as a man rides it; you have ridden bicycles in public streets;
+you have stolen away to a masked ball; you ran away from school in
+Paris and visited Heaven knows whom; you have bribed sentries to let
+you in when you were out late; you have thrust aside the laws as if
+they meant nothing; you have trifled with the state papers and caused
+the body politic to break up a meeting as a consequence of the
+laughter."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The girl, as she recollected this day to which he referred, laughed
+long and joyously.  He waited patiently till she had done, and I am not
+sure that his mouth did not twist under his beard.  "Foreign education
+is the cause of all this," he said finally.  "Those cursed French and
+English schools have ruined you.  And I was fool enough to send you to
+them.  This is the end."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Or the beginning,"&mdash;rebelliously.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Doppelkinn is mild and kind."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mild and kind!  One would think that you were marrying me to a horse!
+Well, I shall not enter the cathedral."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How will you avoid it?"&mdash;calmly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I shall find a way; wait and see."  She was determined.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I shall wait."  Then, with a sudden softening, for he loved the girl
+after his fashion: "I am growing old, my child.  If I should die, what
+would become of you?  I have no son; your Uncle Franz, who is but a
+year or two younger than I am, would reign, and he would not tolerate
+your madcap ways.  You must marry at once.  I love you in spite of your
+wilfulness.  But you have shown yourself incapable of loving.
+Doppelkinn is wealthy.  You shall marry him."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I will run away, uncle,"&mdash;decidedly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have notified the frontiers,"&mdash;tranquilly.  "From now on you will be
+watched.  It is the inevitable, my child, and even I have to bow to
+that."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She touched the paper in her bosom, but paused.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Moreover, I have decided," went on the duke, "to send the Honorable
+Betty Moore back to England."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Betty?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes.  She is a charming young person, but she is altogether too
+sympathetic.  She abets you in all you do.  Her English independence
+does not conform with my ideas.  After the wedding I shall notify her
+father."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Everything, everything!  My friends, my liberty, the right God gives
+to every woman&mdash;to love whom she will!  And you, my uncle, rob me of
+these things!  What if I should tell you that marriage with me is now
+impossible?"&mdash;her lips growing thin.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I should not be very much surprised."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Please look at this, then, and you will understand why I can not marry
+Doppelkinn."  She thrust the bogus certificate into his hands.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The duke read it carefully, not a muscle in his face disturbed.
+Finally he looked up with a terrifying smile.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Poor, foolish child!  What a terrible thing this might have turned out
+to be!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What do you mean?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mean?  Do you suppose anything like this could take place without my
+hearing of it?  And such a dishonest unscrupulous rascal!  Some day I
+shall thank the American consul personally for his part in the affair.
+I was waiting to see when you would produce this.  You virtually placed
+your honor and reputation, which I know to be above reproach, into the
+keeping of a man who would sell his soul for a thousand crowns."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The girl felt her knees give way, and she sat down.  Tears slowly
+welled up in her eyes and overflowed, blurring everything.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The duke got up and went over to his desk, rummaging among the papers.
+He returned to the girl with a letter.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Read that, and learn the treachery of the man you trusted."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The letter was written by Steinbock.  In it he disclosed all.  It was a
+venomous, inciting letter.  The girl crushed it in her hand.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Is he dead?" she asked, all the bitterness in her heart surging to her
+lips.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"To Barscheit,"&mdash;briefly.  "Now, what shall I do with this?"&mdash;tapping
+the bogus certificate.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Give it to me," said the girl wearily.  She ripped it into halves,
+into quarters, into infinitesimal squares, and tossed them into the
+waste-basket.  "I am the unhappiest girl in the world."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am sorry," replied the grand duke.  "It isn't as if I had forced
+Doppelkinn on you without first letting you have your choice.  You have
+rejected the princes of a dozen wealthy countries.  We are not as the
+common people; we can not marry where we will.  I shall announce that
+the marriage will take place next week."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do not send my friend away," she pleaded, apparently tamed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I will promise to give the matter thought.  Good night."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She turned away without a word and left him.  When he roared at her she
+knew by experience that he was harmless; but this quiet determination
+meant the exclusion of any further argument.  There was no escape
+unless she ran away.  She wept on her pillow that night, not so much at
+the thought of wedding Doppelkinn as at the fact that Prince Charming
+had evidently missed the last train and was never coming to wake her
+up, or, if he did come, it would be when it was too late.  How many
+times had she conjured him up, as she rode in the fresh fairness of the
+mornings!  How manly he was and how his voice thrilled her!  Her horse
+was suddenly to run away, he was to rescue her, and then demand her
+hand in marriage as a fitting reward.  Sometimes he had black hair and
+eyes, but more often he was big and tall, with yellow hair and the
+bluest eyes in all the world.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap0206"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+VI
+</H3>
+
+
+<P>
+The princess rose at dawn the following day.  She routed out Hans, the
+head groom, and told him to saddle Artemis, the slim-limbed, seal-brown
+filly which an English nobleman had given to her.  Ten minutes later
+she was in the saddle, and the heaviness on her heart seemed to rise
+and vanish like the opal mists on the bosom of the motionless lake.  A
+pale star blinked at her, and the day, flushed like the cheek of a
+waking infant, began drowsily to creep over the rolling mountains.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+How silent all the city was!  Only here and there above the chimneys
+rose a languid film of smoke.  The gates of the park shut behind her
+with a clang, and so for a time she was alone and free.  She touched
+Artemis with a spur, and the filly broke into a canter toward the lake
+road.  The girl's nostrils dilated.  Every flower, the thousand
+resinous saps of the forest, the earth itself, yielded up a cool sweet
+perfume that was to the mind what a glass of wine is to the blood,
+exhilaration.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Mottled with pink, and gray, and blue, and gold, the ever-changing hues
+of the morning, the surface of the lake was as smooth as her mirror
+and, like it, always reflecting beauty.  Fish leaped forth and fell
+with a sounding splash, and the circles would widen and gradually
+vanish.  A blackbird dipped among the silent rushes; a young fox barked
+importantly; a hawk flashed by.  The mists swam hither and thither
+mysteriously, growing thinner and fainter as the gold of day grew
+brighter and clearer.  Suddenly&mdash;in the words of the old
+tent-maker&mdash;the false morning died, and it was day.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I'm afraid that somewhere among the princess' ancestors there was a
+troubadour; for she was something of a poet.  Indeed, I have already
+remarked that she wrote verses.  The atmospheric change of the morning
+turned her mind into sentimental channels.  How she envied the peasant
+woman, who might come and go at will, sleep in the open or in the hut,
+loving or hating with perfect freedom!  Ah, Prince Charming, Prince
+Charming! where were you?  Why did you loiter?  Perhaps for her there
+was no Prince Charming.  It might be so.  She sighed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She would never marry Doppelkinn&mdash;never.  That horrible Steinbock!  She
+was glad, glad that she had struck him, again and again, across his
+lying eyes and evil mouth.  She had believed that she knew the world;
+it was all yet a mystery; the older she grew the less she understood.
+Wasn't anybody good?  Was everybody to be distrusted?  Which way should
+she turn now?  The world was beautiful enough; it was the people in it.
+Poor Betty!  She had her troubles, too; but somehow she refused to
+confide them.  She acted very much as if she were in love.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She gazed at the hawk enviously.  How proud and free he was, so high up
+there, circling and circling.  Even the fox was freer than she; the
+forests were his, and he might go whither he listed.  And the fish that
+leaped in frolic from the water, and the blackbird in the rushes!  She
+could not understand.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She would never marry Doppelkinn&mdash;never.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But how should she escape&mdash;how?  On Wednesday night she would be given
+her quarterly allowance of a thousand crowns, and on Thursday she must
+act.&#8230;  Yes, yes, that was it!  How simple!  She would slip over
+into Doppelkinn, where they never would think to search for her.  She
+knew a place in which to hide.  From Doppelkinn she would go straight
+to Dresden and seek the protection of her old governess, who would hide
+her till the duke came to his senses.  If only she had an independent
+fortune, how she would snap her fingers at them all!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She was distracted by the sound of jangling steel.  Artemis had cast a
+shoe.  How annoying!  It would take ten minutes to reach old Bauer's
+smithy, and ten minutes more to put on a shoe.  She brought the filly
+down to a walk.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+What was the use of being a princess if one was not allowed to act in a
+royal fashion?  It wasn't so terrible to wear men's clothes, and,
+besides, they were very comfortable for riding a horse; and as for
+riding a bicycle in the public streets, hadn't that ugly Italian
+duchess ridden through the streets of Rome, and in knickerbockers, too?
+Nobody seemed to mind it there.  But in Barscheit it had been little
+short of a crime.  She recalled the flaming fagots and the red-hot wire
+of her unfortunate wheel.  A smile rippled over her face, but it passed
+quickly.  There was nothing left to smile over.  They were going to
+force her to marry a tomb, a man in whom love and courage and joy were
+as dead things.  Woe to Doppelkinn, though&mdash;woe to him!  She would lead
+him a dance, wild and terrible.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+If only she were Betty, free to do what she pleased, to go and come at
+will!  She wasn't born to be a princess; she wasn't commonplace enough;
+she enjoyed life too well.  Ah, if only she might live and act like
+those English cousins of hers with whom she went to school!  <I>They</I>
+could ride man-fashion, hunt man-fashion, shoot, play cards and bet at
+the races man-fashion, and nobody threatened them with Doppelkinns.
+They might dance, too, till the sun came into the windows and the rouge
+on their faces cracked.  But <I>she</I>!  (I use the italics to illustrate
+the decided nods of her pretty head.)  Why, every sweet had to be
+stolen!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She would never marry Doppelkinn&mdash;never.  She would never watch his old
+nose grow purple at the table.  She would run away.  And since Prince
+Charming was nowhere to be seen, it were better to die an old maid.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Presently the smithy came into view, emerging from a cluster of
+poplars.  She rode up to the doors, dismounted and entered.  Old Bauer
+himself was at the bellows, and the weird blue light hissing up from
+the blown coals discovered another customer.  She turned and met his
+frank glance of admiration.  (If she hadn't turned!  If his admiration
+hadn't been entirely frank!)  Instantly she sent Bauer a warning glance
+which that old worthy seemed immediately to understand.  The stranger
+was tall, well-made, handsome, with yellow hair, and eyes as blue as
+the sky is when the west wind blows.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He raised his cap, and the heart of the girl fluttered.  Wherever had
+this seemly fellow come from?
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Good morning," said the stranger courteously.  "I see that you have
+had the same misfortune as myself."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You have lost a shoe?  Rather annoying, when one doesn't want a single
+break in the going."  She uttered the words carelessly, as if she
+wasn't at all interested.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The stranger stuffed his cap into a pocket.  She was glad that she had
+chosen the new saddle.  The crest and coat of arms had not yet been
+burned upon the leather nor engraved upon the silver ornaments, and
+there was no blanket under the English saddle.  There might be an
+adventure; one could not always tell.  She must hide her identity.  If
+the stranger knew that she belonged to the House of Barscheit, possibly
+he would be frightened and take to his heels.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But the Princess Hildegarde did not know that this stranger never took
+to his heels; he wasn't that kind.  Princess or peasant, it would have
+been all the same to him.  Only his tone might have lost half a key.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Bauer called to his assistant, and the girl stepped out into the road.
+The stranger followed, as she knew he would.  It will be seen that she
+knew something of men, if only that they possess curiosity.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What a beautiful place this is!" the stranger ventured, waving his
+hand toward the still lake and the silent, misty mountains.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There is no place quite like it," she admitted.  "You are a stranger
+in Barscheit?"&mdash;politely.  He was young and certainly the best-looking
+man she had seen in a month of moons.  If Doppelkinn, now, were only
+more after this pattern!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, this is my first trip to Barscheit."  He had a very engaging
+smile.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are from Vienna?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ah, from Berlin.  I was not quite sure of the accent."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am a German-American,"&mdash;frankly.  "I have always spoken the language
+as if it were my own, which doubtless it is."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"America!" she cried, her interest genuinely aroused.  "That is the
+country where every one does just as he pleases."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Sometimes."  (What beautiful teeth she had, white as skimmed milk!)
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"They are free?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Nearly always."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"They tell me that women there are all queens."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We are there, or here, always your humble servants."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He was evidently a gentleman; there was something in his bow that was
+courtly.  "And do the women attend the theaters alone at night?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If they desire to."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Tell me, does the daughter of the president have just as much liberty
+as her subjects?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Even more.  Only, there are no subjects in America."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No subjects?  What do they call them, then?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Voters."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And do the women vote?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Only at the women's clubs."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She did not quite get this; not that it was too subtle, rather that it
+was not within her comprehension.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is a big country?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ever so big."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you like it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I love every inch of it.  I have even fought for it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"In the Spanish War?"&mdash;visibly excited.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Were you a major or a colonel?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Neither; only a private."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I thought every soldier there was either a colonel or a major."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He looked at her sharply, but her eye was roving.  He became
+suspicious.  She might be simple, and then again she mightn't.  She was
+worth studying, anyhow.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I was a cavalryman, with nothing to do but obey orders and, when
+ordered, fight.  I am visiting the American consul here; he was a
+school-mate of mine."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ah!  I thought I recognized the horse."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You know him?"&mdash;quickly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh,"&mdash;casually,&mdash;"every one hereabouts has seen the consul on his
+morning rides.  He rides like a centaur, they say; but I have never
+seen a centaur."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The stranger laughed.  She was charming.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He ought to ride well; I taught him."  But the gay smile which
+followed this statement robbed it of its air of conceit.  "You see, I
+have ridden part of my life on the great plains of the West, and have
+mounted everything from a wild Indian pony to an English thoroughbred.
+My name is Max Scharfenstein, and I am here as a medical student,
+though in my own country I have the right to hang out a physician's
+shingle."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She drew aimless figures in the dust with her riding-crop.  There was
+no sense in her giving any name.  Probably they would never meet again.
+And yet&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am Hildegarde von&mdash;von Heideloff," giving her mother's name.  He was
+too nice to frighten away.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The hesitance over the "von" did not strike his usually keen ear.  He
+was too intent on noting the variant expressions on her exquisite face.
+It was a pity she was dark.  What a figure, and how proudly the head
+rested upon the slender but firm white throat!  After all, black eyes,
+such as these were, might easily rival any blue eyes he had ever seen.
+(Which goes to prove that a man's ideals are not built as solidly as
+might be.)
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is rather unusual," he said, "to see a woman ride so early; but you
+have the right idea.  Everything begins to wake, life, the air, the
+day.  There is something in the dew of the morning that is a better
+tonic than any doctor can brew."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Take care!  If you have no confidence in your wares, you must not
+expect your patients to have."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, I am a doctor of philosophy, also."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That is to say," she observed, "if you lose your patients, you will
+accept their loss without a murmur?  Very good.  May I ask what you
+have come so far to study?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Nerves."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Is it possible!"&mdash;with a smile as fleet as the wind.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He laughed.  This was almost like an American girl.  How easy it was to
+talk to her!  He tried again to catch her eye, but failed.  Then both
+looked out over the lake, mutually consenting that a pause should
+ensue.  He did not mind the dark hair at all.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you speak English?" she asked abruptly in that tongue, with a full
+glance to note the effect.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"English is spoken to some extent in the United States," he answered
+gravely.  He did not evince the least surprise at her fluency.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you write to the humorous papers in your country?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Only to subscribe for them," said he.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+And again they laughed; which was a very good sign that things were
+going forward tolerably well.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+And then the miserable fellow of a smith had to come out and announce
+that the stranger's horse was ready.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I'll warrant the shoe," said Bauer.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You haven't lost any time," said Max, his regret evident to every one.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The girl smiled approvingly.  She loved humor in a man, and this one
+with the yellow hair and blue eyes seemed to possess a fund of the dry
+sort.  All this was very wrong, she knew, but she wasn't going to be
+the princess this morning; she was going to cast off the shell of
+artificiality, of etiquette.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How much will this shoe cost me?" Max asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Half a crown," said Bauer, with a sly glance at the girl to see how
+she would accept so exorbitant a sum.  The princess frowned.  "But
+sometimes," added Bauer hurriedly, "I do it for nothing."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Bauer, your grandfather was a robber," the girl laughed.  "Take heed
+that you do not follow in his footsteps."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am a poor man, your&mdash;mm&mdash;-Fräulein," he stammered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Here's a crown," said Max, tossing a coin which was neatly caught by
+the grimy hand of the smith.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Are you very rich?" asked the girl curiously.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why?" counter-questioned Max.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, I am curious to know.  Bauer will tell it to every one in
+Barscheit that you overpay for things, and from now on you will have to
+figure living on a basis of crowns."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It is worth any price to hear a pretty woman laugh.  What a fine
+beginning for a day!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"May misfortune be kind enough to bring you this way again, Herr!"
+Bauer cried joyfully, not to say ambiguously.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Listen to that!" laughed the girl, her eyes shining like the water in
+the sun.  "But he means only to thank your generosity.  Now,"&mdash;with a
+severe frown,&mdash;"how much do I owe you?  Take care; I've only a few
+pieces of silver in my purse."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, Fräulein, you owe me nothing; I am even in debt to you for this
+very crown."  Which proved that Bauer had had his lesson in
+courtier-ship.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The assistant soon brought forth the girl's restive filly.  Max sprang
+to her aid.  How light her foot was in his palm!  (She could easily
+have mounted alone, such was her skill; but there's the woman of it.)
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am going toward the Pass," she said, reading the half-veiled appeal
+in his blue eyes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Which way is that?" he asked, swinging into his own saddle.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That way," nodding toward the south.  After all, there could be no
+harm; in two or three hours their paths would separate for ever.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why,"&mdash;delightedly,&mdash;"I am going that way myself."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Old Bauer watched them till they disappeared around a turn in the road.
+He returned to his forge, shaking his head as if confronted by a
+problem too abstruse even for his German mind.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, he's an American, so I will not waste any pity on him.  The pity
+is that she must wed old Red-nose."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It would have been if she had!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+So the Princess and Prince Charming rode into the country, and they
+talked about a thousand and one things.  Had she ever been to France?
+Yes.  To England?  She had received part of her education there.  Did
+she know the Princess Hildegarde?  Slightly.  What was she like?  She
+was a madcap, irresponsible, but very much abused.  Did she know Mr.
+Warrington, the American consul?  She had seen him on his morning
+rides.  Wasn't it a fine world?  It was, indeed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Once they stopped at a farm.  The girl refused to dismount, bidding Max
+go in and ask for a drink of milk.  Max obeyed with alacrity, returning
+with two foaming goblets of warm milk.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+From time to time the princess stifled the "small voice."  It was
+wrong, and yet it wasn't.  What worried her was the thought that Betty
+might take it into her head to follow, and then everything would be
+spoiled.  Every now and then she turned her head and sighed
+contentedly; the road to rearward was always clear.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Follow me!" she cried suddenly, even daringly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A stone wall, three feet high, ran along at their right.  The
+foreground was hard and firm.  Pressing the reins on the filly's
+withers, she made straight for the wall, cleared it, and drew up on the
+other side.  Now, Max hadn't the least idea that the horse under him
+was a hunter, so I might very well say that he took his life in his
+hands as he followed her.  But Dandy knew his business.  He took the
+wall without effort.  A warm glow went over Max when he found that he
+hadn't broken his neck.  Together they galloped down the field and came
+back for the return jump.  This, too, was made easily.  Max's
+admiration knew no bounds.  It was a dangerous pastime in more ways
+than one.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At eight o'clock they turned toward home, talking about another
+thousand and one things.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It has been a delightful ride," suggested Max, with an eye to the
+future.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I take this road nearly every morning," said she, looking out upon the
+water, which was ruffling itself and quarreling along the sandy shores.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Max said nothing, but he at once made up his mind that he would take
+the same road, provided he could in any reasonable manner get rid of me.
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+"Did you enjoy the ride?" asked the Honorable Betty, as her Highness
+came in to breakfast.  There were no formalities in the princess'
+apartments.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Beautifully!"  Her Highness guiltily wondered if there was any logical
+way to keep Betty in the house for the next few mornings.  She sat down
+and sipped her tea.  "The duke talked to me last night.  Steinbock
+played double."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes.  He sold us to the duke, who patiently waited for me to speak.
+Betty, I am a fool.  But I shall never marry Doppelkinn.  That is
+settled."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I suppose he will be inviting me to return to England," said Betty
+shrewdly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Not for the present."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And I have just grown to love the place,"&mdash;pathetically.  "Mr.
+Warrington has asked me to ride with him afternoons.  His ankle
+prevents him from taking the long morning jaunts.  If it will not
+interfere with your plans, dear&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Accept, by all means," interrupted her Highness.  "He is a capital
+horseman."  She smiled mysteriously.  Happily her companion was
+absorbed in thought and did not see this smile.
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+Max came in at quarter of ten, went to tub, and came down in time for
+the eggs.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Have a good ride?" I asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Bully!  Beautiful country!"  He was enthusiastic.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How these healthy animals eat!" I thought as I observed him
+occasionally.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Wish I could go with you," I said, but half-heartedly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I'll get the lay of the land quick enough," he replied.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The rascal!  Not a word about the girl that morning, or the next, or
+until Thursday morning.  If only I had known!  But Fate knows her
+business better than I do, and she was handling the affair.  But long
+rides of a morning with a pretty girl are not safe for any bachelor.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Thursday morning he came in late.  He dropped something on the table.
+On inspection I found it to be a woman's handkerchief purse.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Where the deuce did you get that?" I asked, mighty curious.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"By George!  but I've been enjoying the most enchanting adventure; such
+as you read out of a book.  I'm inclined to believe that I shall enjoy
+my studies in old Barscheit."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But where did you get this?"  If there was a girl around, I wanted to
+know all about it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"She dropped it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"<I>She</I> dropped it!" I repeated.  "What she?  Why, you old tow-head,
+have you been flirting at this hour of the morning?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Handsome as a picture!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ha! the ideal at last,"&mdash;ironically.  "Blonde, of course."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Dark as a Spaniard, and rides like Diana."  His enthusiasm was not to
+be lightly passed over.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Never heard of Diana riding," said I; "always saw her pictured as
+going afoot."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Don't be an ass!  You know very well what I mean."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I've no argument to offer, nor any picture to prove my case.  You've
+had an adventure; give it up, every bit of it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"One of the finest horsewomen I ever saw.  Took a wall three feet high
+the other morning, just to see if I dared follow.  Lucky Dandy is a
+hunter, or I'd have broken my neck."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Very interesting."  Then of a sudden a thought flashed through my head
+and out again.  "Anybody with her?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Only myself these three mornings."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"H'm!  Did you get as far as names?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes; I told her mine.  Who is Hildegarde von Heideloff?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Heideloff?"  I was puzzled.  My suspicions evaporated.  "I can't say
+that I know any one by that name.  Sure it was Heideloff?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you mean to tell me," with blank astonishment, "that there is a
+petticoat on horseback in this duchy that you do not know?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know any woman by the name of Hildegarde von Heideloff; on my
+word of honor, Max, I don't."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Old Bauer, the blacksmith, knew her."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Bauer?  All my suspicions returned.  "Describe the girl to me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Handsome figure, masses of black hair, great black eyes that are full
+of good fun, a delicate nose, and I might add, a very kissable mouth."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What! have you kissed her?" I exclaimed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, no!  Only, I'd like to."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"H'm!  You've made quite a study.  She must be visiting some one
+near-by.  There is an old castle three miles west of the smithy.  Did
+she speak English?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes,"&mdash;excitedly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That accounts for it.  An old English nobleman lives over there during
+the summer months, and it is not improbable that she is one of his
+guests."  In my heart I knew that her Highness was up to some of her
+tricks again, but there was no need of her shattering good old Max's
+heart.  Yet I felt bound to say: "Why not look into the purse?  There
+might be something there to prove her identity."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Look into her purse?"&mdash;horrified.  "You wouldn't have me peeping into
+a woman's purse, would you?  Suppose there should be a box of rouge?
+Her cheeks were red."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Quite likely."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Or a powder-puff."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Even more likely."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Or&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Go on."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Or a love letter."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have my doubts," said I.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, if you do not know who she is, I'll find out,"&mdash;undismayed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Doubtless he would; he was a persistent old beggar, was Max.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do not let it get serious, my boy," I warned.  "You could not marry
+any one in this country."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why not?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Have you been regularly baptized?  Was your father?  Was your
+grandfather?  Unless you can answer these simplest of questions and
+prove them, you could not get a license; and no priest or preacher
+would dare marry you without a license."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Hang you, who's talking about getting married?  All I want to know is,
+who is Hildegarde von Heideloff, and how am I to return her purse?  I
+shall ask the blacksmith."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do so,"&mdash;taking up my egg-spoon.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Max slipped the purse into his breast-pocket and sat down.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap0207"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+VII
+</H3>
+
+
+<P>
+"The one fault I have to find with European life is the poor quality of
+tobacco used."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was eight o'clock, Thursday night, the night of the dinner at
+Müller's.  I was dressing when Max entered, with a miserable cheroot
+between his teeth.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"They say," he went on, "that in Russia they drink the finest tea in
+the world, simply because it is brought overland and not by sea.
+Unfortunately, tobacco&mdash;we Americans recognize no leaf as tobacco
+unless it comes from Cuba&mdash;has to cross the sea, and is, in some
+unaccountable manner, weakened in the transit.  There are worse cigars
+in Germany than in France, and I wouldn't have believed it possible, if
+I had not gone to the trouble of proving it.  Fine country!  For a week
+I've been trying to smoke the German quality of the weed, as a
+preventive, but I see I must give it up on account of my throat.  My
+boy, I have news for you,"&mdash;tossing the cheroot into the grate.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Fire away," said I, struggling with a collar.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have a box of Havanas over at the custom house that I forgot to bail
+out."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No!" said I joyfully.  A Havana, and one of Scharfenstein's!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I've an idea that they would go well with the dinner.  So, if you
+don't mind, I'll trot over and get 'em."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Be sure and get around to Müller, at half-past eight, then," said I.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I'll be there."  He knew where to find the place.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Müller's Rathskeller was the rendezvous of students, officers and all
+those persons of quality who liked music with their meat.  The place
+was low-ceilinged, but roomy, and the ventilation was excellent,
+considering.  The smoke never got so thick that one couldn't see the
+way to the door when the students started in to "clean up the place,"
+to use the happy idiom of mine own country.  There were marble tables
+and floors and arches and light, cane-bottomed chairs from Kohn's.  It
+was at once Bohemian and cosmopolitan, and, once inside, it was easy to
+imagine oneself in Vienna.  A Hungarian orchestra occupied an inclosed
+platform, and every night the wail of the violin and the pom-pom of the
+wool-tipped hammers on the Hungarian "piano" might be heard.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was essentially a man's place of entertainment; few women ever had
+the courage or the inclination to enter.  In America it would have been
+the fashion; but in the capital of Barscheit the women ate in the
+restaurant above, which was attached to the hotel, and depended upon
+the Volksgarten band for their evening's diversion.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+You had to order your table hours ahead&mdash;that is, if you were a
+civilian.  If you were lucky enough to be an officer, you were
+privileged to take any vacant chair you saw.  But Heaven aid you if you
+attempted to do this not being an officer!  In Barscheit there were
+also many unwritten laws, and you were obliged to observe these with
+all the fidelity and attention that you gave to the enameled signs.
+Only the military had the right to request the orchestra to repeat a
+piece of music.  Sometimes the lieutenants, seized with that gay humor
+known only to cubs, would force the orchestra in Müller's to play the
+Hungarian war-song till the ears cried out in pain.  This was always
+the case when any Austrians happened to be present.  But ordinarily the
+crowds were good-natured, boisterous, but orderly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was here, then, that I had arranged to give my little dinner.  The
+orchestra had agreed&mdash;for a liberal tip&mdash;to play <I>The Star-Spangled
+Banner</I>, and there was a case of Doppelkinn's sparkling Moselle.  I may
+as well state right here that we neither heard our national anthem nor
+drank the vintage.  You will soon learn why.  I can laugh now, I can
+treat the whole affair with becoming levity, but at the time I gained
+several extra grey hairs.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+If the princess hadn't turned around, and if Max hadn't wanted that box
+of Havanas!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When I arrived at Müller's I found my boys in a merry mood.  They were
+singing softly from <I>Robin Hood</I> with fine college harmony, and as I
+entered they swarmed about me like so many young dogs.  Truth to tell,
+none of them was under twenty, and two or three were older than myself.
+But to them I represented official protection for whatever they might
+do.  I assumed all the dignity I dared.  I had kept Scharfenstein's
+name back as a surprise.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Ellis&mdash;for whom I had the passports&mdash;immediately struck me as being so
+nearly like Max that they might easily have been brothers.  Ellis was
+slighter; that was all the difference.  I gave him his papers and
+examined his tickets.  All was well; barring accidents, he would be in
+Dresden the next day.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You go through Doppelkinn, then?" said I.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes.  I have friends in Dresden whom I wish to see before going home."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, good luck to you!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then I announced that Max Scharfenstein, an old college comrade, would
+join us presently.  This was greeted with hurrahs.  At that time there
+wasn't an American student who did not recollect Max's great run from
+the ten-yard line.  (But where the deuce <I>was</I> Max?)  I took a little
+flag from my pocket and stuck it into the vase of poppies, and the boys
+clapped their hands.  You never realize how beautiful your flag is till
+you see it in a foreign land.  I apologized for Max's absence,
+explaining the cause, and ordered dinner to be served.  We hadn't much
+time, as Ellis's train departed at ten.  It was now a quarter to nine.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+We had come to the relishes when a party of four officers took the
+table nearest us.  They hung up their sabers on the wall-pegs, and sat
+down, ordering a bottle of light wine.  Usually there were five chairs
+to the table, but even if only two were being used no one had the right
+to withdraw one of the vacant chairs without the most elaborate
+apologies.  This is the law of courtesy in Barscheit.  In America it is
+different; if you see anything you want, take it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Presently one of the officers&mdash;I knew none of them save by sight&mdash;rose
+and approached.  He touched the flag insolently and inquired what right
+it had in a public restaurant in Barscheit.  Ordinarily his question
+would not have been put without some justification.  But he knew very
+well who I was and what my rights were in this instance.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Herr Lieutenant," said I coldly, though my cheeks were warm enough, "I
+represent that flag in this country, and I am accredited with certain
+privileges, as doubtless you are aware.  You will do me the courtesy of
+returning to your own table."  I bowed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He glared at me for a brief period, then turned on his heel.  This was
+the first act in the play.  At the fellow's table sat Lieutenant von
+Störer, Doppelkinn's nephew and heir-presumptive.  He was, to speak
+plainly, a rake, a spendthrift and wholly untrustworthy.  He was not
+ill-looking, however.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+My spirits floated between anger and the fear that the officers might
+ruin the dinner&mdash;which they eventually did.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Things went on smoothly for a time.  The orchestra was pom-pomming the
+popular airs from <I>Faust</I>.  (Where the deuce was that tow-headed
+Dutchman?)  Laughter rose and fell; the clinkle of glass was heard;
+voices called.  And then Max came in, looking as cool as you please,
+though I could read by his heaving chest that he had been sprinting up
+back streets.  The boys crowded around him, and there was much ado over
+the laggard.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Unfortunately the waiter had forgotten to bring a chair for his plate.
+With a genial smile on his face, Max innocently stepped over to the
+officers' table and plucked forth the vacant chair.  For a wonder the
+officers appeared to give this action no heed, and I was secretly
+gratified.  It was something to be a consul, after all.  But I counted
+my chickens too early.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Where are the cigars?" I asked as Max sat down complacently.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Cigars?"&mdash;blankly.  "Hang me, I've clean forgotten them!"  And then,
+oblivious of the probable storm that was at that moment gathering for a
+downpour over his luckless head, he told us the reason of his delay.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There was a crowd around the palace," he began.  "It seems that the
+Princess Hildegarde has run away, and they believe that she has ridden
+toward the Pass in a closed carriage.  The police are at this very
+moment scouring the country in that direction.  She has eloped."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Eloped?" we all cried, being more or less familiar with the state of
+affairs at the palace.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Good-by to Doppelkinn's <I>Frau</I>!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Good girl!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"She has been missing since seven o'clock, when she drove away on the
+pretense of visiting her father's old steward, who is ill," went on
+Max, feeling the importance of his news.  "They traced her there.  From
+the steward's the carriage was driven south, and that's the last seen
+of her.  There won't be any wedding at the cathedral next
+Tuesday,"&mdash;laughing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Queries and answers were going crisscross over the table, when I
+observed with dread that Lieutenant von Störer had risen and was coming
+our way.  He stopped at Max's side.  Max looked up to receive Von
+Störer's glove full on the cheek.  It was no gentle stroke.  Von Störer
+at once returned to his table and sat down.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+For a moment we were all absolutely without power of motion or of
+speech, Max's face grew as white as the table-cloth, and the print of
+the glove glowed red against the white.  I was horrified, for I knew
+his tremendous strength.  If he showed fight, Von Störer would calmly
+saber him.  It was the custom.  But Max surprised me.  He was the
+coolest among us, but of that quality of coolness which did not
+reassure me.  He took up his story where he had left off and finished
+it.  For his remarkable control I could have taken him in my arms and
+hugged him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The officers scowled, while Von Störer bit his mustache nervously.  The
+American had ignored his insult.  Presently he rose again and
+approached.  He thrust a card under Max's nose.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Can you understand that?" he asked contemptuously.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Max took the card, ripped it into quarters and dropped these to the
+floor.  Then, to my terror and the terror of those with me, he
+tranquilly pulled out a murderous-looking Colt and laid it beside his
+plate.  He went on talking, but none of us heard a word he said.  We
+were fearfully waiting to see him kill some one or be killed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+No one was killed.  The officers hurriedly took down their sabers and
+made a bee-line for the door of which I have spoken.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Max returned the revolver to his hip-pocket and gave vent to an Homeric
+laugh.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You tow-headed Dutchman!" I cried, when I found voice for my words,
+"what have you done?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Done?  Why, it looks as if we had all the downs this half," he replied
+smartly.  "Oh, the gun isn't loaded,"&mdash;confidentially.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Ellis fumbled in his pockets and produced his passports and tickets.
+These he shoved over to Max.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What's this for?" Max asked curiously.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ellis," said I, "it is very good of you.  Max, take those.  Mr. Ellis
+wishes to save your hide.  Take them and get to the station as quickly
+as you can.  And for the love of mercy, do not turn around till you're
+over in Doppelkinn's vineyards."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, I'm hanged if I understand!" he cried.  "I'm a peaceful man.  A
+beggar walks up to me and slaps me in the face for nothing at all, and
+now I must hike, eh?  What the devil have I done now?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then, as briefly as I could, I explained the enormity of his offenses.
+To take a chair from a table, as he had done, was a gross insult; to
+receive a slap in the face and not to resent it, was another insult; to
+tear up an opponent's visiting-card, still another; to take out a
+revolver in Barscheit, unless you were an officer or had a permit, was
+worse than an insult; it was a crime, punishable by long imprisonment.
+They could accuse him of being either an anarchist or a socialist-red,
+coming to Barscheit with the intent to kill the grand duke.  The fact
+that he was ignorant of the laws, or that he, was an alien, would remit
+not one particle of his punishment and fine; and weeks would pass ere
+the matter could be arranged between the United States and Barscheit.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Good Lord!" he gasped; "why didn't you tell me?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why didn't you tell me that you carried a cannon in your pocket?  Take
+Ellis' papers, otherwise you stand pat for a heap of trouble, and I
+can't help you.  Go straight to Dresden, telegraph me, and I'll forward
+your luggage."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But I came here to study!" Max argued.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It will be geology in the form of prison walls," said Ellis quietly.
+"Don't be foolish, Mr. Scharfenstein; it is not a matter of a man's
+courage, but of his common sense.  Take the tickets and light out.  I
+have lived here for three years, and have seen men killed outright for
+less than you have done."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But you don't expect me to leave this place without punching that
+beggar's head?"&mdash;indignantly.  "What do you think I'm made of?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You'll never get the chance to punch his head," said I.  "We are
+wasting valuable time.  Those officers have gone for the police.  You
+have about twenty minutes to make the train.  Come, for heaven's sake,
+come!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He finally got it into his head that we knew what we were talking
+about.  How we got him to the station I do not remember, but somehow we
+got him there.  He sputtered and fumed and swore, as all brave men will
+who feel that they are running away in a cowardly fashion.  He wasn't
+convinced, but he thanked Ellis for his kindness and hoped that he
+wouldn't get into trouble on his (Max's) account.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Go straight to Dresden; say you've been studying medicine in Barscheit
+for three years; refer to me by telegraph if there is any question as
+to your new identity," said I.  "You're the only man in the world, Max,
+that I'd lie for."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He stumbled through the gates, and we saw him open the door of a
+carriage just as the train began to pull out.  A guard tried to stop
+him, but he was not quite quick enough.  We watched the train till it
+melted away into the blackness beyond the terminus covering; then we, I
+and my fellow diners, went soberly into the street.   Here was a
+howdy-do!  Suddenly Ellis let out a sounding laugh, and, scarcely
+knowing why, we joined him.  It was funny, very funny, for every one
+but poor old Max!  The American spirit is based on the sense of humor,
+and even in tragic moments is irrepressible.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+We did not return to Müller's; each of us stole quietly home to await
+the advent of the police, for they would rout out every American in
+town in their search for the man with the gun.  They would first visit
+the consulate and ascertain what I knew of the affair; when they got
+through with the rest of the boys Max would be in Doppelkinn.  The
+police were going to be very busy that night: a princess on one hand
+and an anarchist on the other.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There were terrible times, too, in the palace.  Long before we watched
+Max's train and the vanishing green and red lights at the end of it the
+grand duke was having troubles of his own.  He was pacing wildly up and
+down in his dressing-room.  Clutched in his fist was a crumpled sheet
+of paper.  From time to time he smoothed it out and re-read the
+contents.  Each time he swore like the celebrated man in Flanders.
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="letter">
+<I>You forced me and I warned you that I would do something desperate.
+Do not send for me, for you will never find me till you come to your
+senses.  I have eloped.</I>
+<BR><BR>
+<I>Hildegarde.</I>
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap0208"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+VIII
+</H3>
+
+
+<P>
+Shortly before six o'clock&mdash;dinner in the palace was rarely served
+until half-after eight&mdash;the Honorable Betty sat down to her
+writing-desk in her boudoir, which opened directly into that belonging
+to the princess, to write a few letters home.  A dinner was to be given
+to the state officials that night, and she knew from experience that
+after that solemn event was concluded it would be too late for the
+departing mails.  She seemed to have no difficulty in composing her
+thoughts and transferring them to paper.  There were times when she
+would lean back, nibble the end of her pen and smile in a dreamy,
+retrospective fashion.  No doubt her thoughts were pleasant and
+agreeable.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She had completed addressing three envelopes, when she heard the door
+leading into the princess' boudoir open and close.  She turned to
+behold the princess herself.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, Gretchen, where are you going?"&mdash;noting the grey walking-dress,
+the grey hat, the sensible square-toed shoes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am going to visit a sick nurse," replied her Highness, avoiding the
+other's eye.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But shall you have time to dress for dinner?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That depends.  Besides, the official dinners are a great bore."  Her
+Highness came forward, caught the dark head of the English girl between
+her gloved hands, pressed it against her heart, bent and kissed it.
+"What a lovely girl you are, Betty! always unruffled, always
+even-tempered.  You will grow old very gracefully."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I hope so; but I do not want to grow old at all.  Can't I go with
+you?"&mdash;eagerly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Impossible; etiquette demands your presence here to-night.  If I am
+late my rank and my errand will be my excuse.  What jolly times we used
+to have in that quaint old boarding-school in St. John's Wood!  Do you
+remember how we went to your noble father's country place one
+Christmas?  I went <I>incognita</I>.  There was a children's party, and two
+boys had a fisticuff over you.  Nobody noticed me those days.  I was
+happy then."  The princess frowned.  It might have been the sign of
+repression of tears.  Betty, with her head against the other's bosom,
+could not see.  "I shall be lonely without you; for you can not stay on
+here for ever.  If you could, it would be different.  I shall miss you.
+Somehow you possess the faculty of calming me.  I am so easily stirred
+into a passion; my temper is so surface-wise.  Some day, however, I
+shall come to England and spend a whole month with you.  Will not that
+be fine?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How melancholy your voice is!" cried Betty, trying without avail to
+remove her Highness' hands.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, no; I want to hold you just so.  Perhaps I am sentimental
+to-night.  I have all the moods, agreeable and disagreeable.&#8230;  Do
+you love anybody?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Love anybody?  What do you mean?"&mdash;rising in spite of the protesting
+hands.  "Do I look as if I were in love with anybody?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+They searched each other's eyes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, you islanders!  Nobody can fathom what is going on in your hearts.
+You never make any mistakes; you always seem to know which paths to
+pursue; you are always right, always, always.  I'd like to see you
+commit a folly, Betty; it's a wicked wish, I know, but I honestly wish
+it.  There is certainly more Spanish blood in my veins than German.  I
+am always making mistakes; I never know which path is the right one; I
+am always wrong.  Do you believe it possible for a woman of birth and
+breeding to fall in love with a man whom she has known only three days?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Three days!  Are you crazy, Hildegarde?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Call me Gretchen!"&mdash;imperiously.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Gretchen, what has come over you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I asked you a question."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well,"&mdash;-a bit of color stealing into her cheeks,&mdash;"it is possible,
+but very foolish.  One ought to know something of a man's character,"
+went on Betty, "before permitting sentiment to enter into one's
+thoughts."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That is my own opinion, wise little white owl."  Her Highness took her
+friend in her arms and kissed her, held her at arm's length, drew her
+to her heart and again kissed her.  It was like a farewell.  Then she
+let her go.  "If there is anything you need, make yourself at home with
+my cases."  And her Highness was gone.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Betty gazed at the door through which dear Gretchen had passed, gazed
+thoughtfully and anxiously.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How oddly she acted!  I wonder&mdash;"  She made as though to run to the
+door, but stopped, as if ashamed of the doubt which flashed into her
+mind and out again.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The little clock on the mantel chimed forth the seventh hour, and she
+rang for her maid.  It was time that she began dressing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+(Thus, for the present, I shall leave her.  There are several reasons
+why my imagination should take this step; for, what should I know of a
+woman's toilet, save in the general mysterious results?  However, I
+feel at liberty to steal into the duke's dressing-room.  Here, while I
+am not positive what happened, at least I can easily bring my
+imagination to bear upon the picture.)
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The duke was rather pleased with himself.  He liked to put on his state
+uniform, with its blue-grey frock, the white doeskin trousers which
+strapped under the patent-leather boots, the gold braid, the silver
+saber and the little rope of medals strung across his full, broad
+breast.  It was thus he created awe; it was thus he became truly the
+sovereign, urbane and majestic.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His valet was buckling on the saber belt, when there came a respectful
+tap on the door.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Enter," said the duke, frowning.  One can not assert any particular
+degree of dignity with a valet at one's side.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But it was only a corridor attendant who entered.  He approached the
+duke's valet and presented a letter.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"For his serene Highness."  He bowed and backed out, closing the door
+gently.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At once the valet bowed also and extended the letter to his master.
+Formality is a fine thing in a palace.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ah, a letter," mused the duke, profoundly innocent of the viper which
+was about to sting him.  "My glasses, Gustav; my eye-glasses!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The valet hurried to the dresser and returned with the duke's state
+eye-glasses.  These the duke perched deliberately upon the end of his
+noble nose.  He opened the letter and read its contents.  The valet,
+watching him slyly, saw him grow pale, then red, and finally
+purple,&mdash;wrath has its rainbow.  His hands shook, the glasses slipped
+from his palpitating nose.  And I grieve to relate that his serene
+Highness swore something marvelous to hear.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Damnation!" he said, or some such word.  "The little fool!"  Then,
+suddenly remembering his dignity and the phrase that no man is a hero
+to his valet, he pointed to his glasses, at the same time returning the
+letter to its envelope, this letter which had caused this momentary
+perturbation.  "Call the minister of police.  You will find him in the
+smoking-room off the conservatory.  Make all haste!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The valet flew out of the door, while the duke began pacing up and down
+the room, muttering and growling, and balling his fists, and jingling
+his shining medals.  He kicked over an inoffensive hassock and his
+favorite hound, and I don't know how many long-winded German oaths he
+let go.  (It's a mighty hard language to swear in, especially when a
+man's under high pressure.)
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The silly little fool!  And on a night like this!  Curse it!  This is
+what comes of mixing Spanish blood with German, of letting her aunt's
+wishes overrule mine in the matter of education.  But she shall be
+brought back, even if I have to ask the assistance of every sovereign
+in Europe.  This is the end.  And I had planned such a pleasant evening
+at cards!"  The duke was not wholly unselfish.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In less than ten minutes' time the valet returned with the minister of
+police.  The duke immediately dismissed the valet.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your serene Highness sent for me?" asked the minister, shaking in his
+boots.  There had been four ministers of police in three years.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes.  Read this."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The minister took the letter.  He read it with bulging eyes.  "Good
+heavens, it must be one of her Highness' jokes!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It will be a sorry joke for you if she crosses any of the frontiers."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But!" roared the duke.  "Don't you dare bring up that word scandal!
+Seek her.  Turn everybody out,&mdash;the army, the police, everybody.  When
+you locate her, telegraph, and have a special engine awaiting me at the
+station.  And if you play a poor game of cards to-night I'll take away
+your portfolio.  Remember, if she passes the frontier, off goes your
+official head!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And the fellow, who is he?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The good Lord only knows!  That girl!&nbsp;&#8230;  Witness these grey hairs.
+Put the rascal in irons; I'll attend to his case when I arrive.&#8230;
+Where is Steinbock?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He was arrested this morning in Berlin; I have already applied for his
+extradition."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Good!  Now, be off with you!  Leave no stone unturned.  The expense is
+nothing; I will gladly pay it out of my private purse."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I'll find her," said the minister grimly.  His portfolio hung in the
+balance.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+All at once the duke struck his hands together jubilantly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What is it?" asked the minister.  "A clue?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Nothing, nothing!  Be gone; you are wasting time."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The minister of police dashed out of the room as if pursued by a
+thousand devils.  He knew the duke's mood; it was not one to cross or
+irritate.  No sooner was he gone than the duke left his apartments and
+sought those of his niece.  It might be a joke; it would do no harm to
+find out positively.  But the beautiful suite was empty; even her
+Highness' maid was gone.  He then knocked on the door which led into
+Betty's boudoir, not very gently either.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Open!" he bellowed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Who is it?" demanded a maid's frightened voice.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The duke!  Open instantly!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is quite impossible," said another voice from within.  It was calm
+and firm.  "I am dressing."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I must see you this instant.  Open or I shall force the door!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Is your serene Highness mad?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Will you open this door?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You command it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"A hundred times, yes!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Since you command it."  The voice was no longer calm; it was sharp and
+angry.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The wait seemed an hour to his serene Highness, serene no longer.  At
+length the bolt slipped, and the irate duke shouldered his way in.  The
+tableau which met his gaze embarrassed him for a space.  He was even
+ashamed.  The Honorable Betty stood behind a tall-backed chair, an
+opera cloak thrown hastily over her bare shoulders.  Her hair was
+partly down.  A beautiful woman in a rage is a fascinating sight.  The
+duke stared at her irresolutely.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Will your Highness explain this extraordinary intrusion?" she
+demanded.  "You have literally forced your way into my room while I am
+dressing.  It is utterly outside my understanding."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am old enough to be your father."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That is the weakest excuse you could give me.  At your age one's blood
+ought to be cooled to a certain discretion.  My father, if he had had
+anything important to say, would have remained on the other side of the
+door.  I am not deaf.  Your explanation is in order."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The duke had never been talked to so plainly in all his life.  For a
+while he was without voice, but had plenty of color.  "It is easily
+explained," he finally bawled out to her.  "Her Highness has eloped!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The girl stared at him with wide eyes.  "Eloped?" she breathed faintly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, eloped."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Betty wondered if she heard aright, or if the duke were out of his
+mind; and then she recollected her conversation with the princess.  Her
+mouth opened as if to speak, but instead she closed her lips tightly.
+That wilful girl; whatever would become of her!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Give this letter to your mistress," said the duke to the maid.  "I
+will station myself in the window while she reads it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He strode over to the window and drew the curtains about him.  Below,
+the night crowds were wandering about the streets; the band was playing
+in the Volksgarten; carriages were rolling to and from the opera; the
+fountain in the center of the square sparkled merrily in the glare of
+the arc lights.  But the duke saw none of these things.  Rather he saw
+the telegraphic despatches flying to the four ends of the globe,
+telling the peoples that he, the Grand Duke of Barscheit, had been
+outwitted by a girl; that the Princess Hildegarde had eloped with a man
+who was not the chosen one.  In other words, he saw himself laughed at
+from one end of the continent to the other.  (There is something very
+funny in domestic troubles when they occur in another man's family!)
+No, the duke saw not the beauty of the night; instead of stars he saw
+asterisks, that abominable astronomy of the lampoonists.   He had never
+doubted the girl's courage; but to elope!&nbsp;&#8230;  And <I>who</I> the devil
+had eloped with her?  He knew the girl's natural pride; whoever the
+fellow might be, he could be no less than a gentleman.  But who, who?
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your Highness?" called a quiet (I might say deceptive) voice.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The duke came forth.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your Highness will do me the honor to make out my passports to-night.
+I desire to leave the palace immediately.  The affront you have put
+upon me, even under the circumstances, is wholly unpardonable.  You
+imply that I have had something to do with her Highness' act.  You will
+excuse me to her serene Highness, whom I love and respect.  My dignity
+demands that I leave at once."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A flicker&mdash;but only a flicker&mdash;of admiration lighted the duke's eyes.
+It was a plucky little baggage.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I will issue your passports upon one condition," he said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And that condition?"&mdash;proudly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Tell me everything: Where has she gone, and with whom?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I know absolutely nothing."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Silence.  The duke gnawed his mustache, while his eyes strove in vain
+to beat down hers.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Thank you, I believe you."  Then, giving way to his wrath: "You
+English people, you are all the same!  You never understand.  I have
+brought up this girl and surrounded her with every luxury; against my
+will and reason I have let her become educated in foreign lands; I have
+given her the utmost freedom; this is how I am repaid."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You forgot one important thing, your Highness."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What?"&mdash;haughtily.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Affection.  You have never gives her that."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The duke felt himself beaten into silence, and this did not add to his
+amiability.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your passports shall be made out immediately; but I beg of you to
+reconsider your determination, and to remain here as long as you
+please.  For the sake of appearances, I desire your presence at the
+dinner-table."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I shall leave as soon as the dinner is over."  This girl's mind seemed
+immovable.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The duke shrugged.  There was no use in beating against this wall.  "I
+wish you knew whither she has gone."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Frankly, if I knew I should not tell your Highness.  My father taught
+me never to betray a confidence."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"As you will.  I beg your pardon for the abruptness of my entrance," he
+said, choking down his wrath.  He could not allow himself to be
+out-done in the matter of coolness by this chit of an English girl.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I grant it you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The duke then retired, or, I should say, retreated.  He wandered
+aimlessly about the palace, waiting for news and making wretched all
+those with whom he came in contact.  The duchess was not feeling well;
+a wrangle with her was out of the question; besides, he would make
+himself hoarse.  So he waited and waited, and re-read the princess'
+letter.  At dinner he ate nothing; his replies were curt and surly.
+The Honorable Betty also ate nothing.  She sat, wondering if her maid
+could pack five trunks in two hours.
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+I had quite a time of it myself that night.  As I predicted, I received
+a visit from the police in regard to Mr. Scharfenstein.  I explained
+the matter the best I knew how, and confessed that he had hurriedly
+left the city for parts unknown.  I did not consider it absolutely
+essential that I should declare that I had seen him enter a railway
+carriage for Dresden.  Besides this, I had to stand sponsor for the
+other boys and explain at length that they were in no wise concerned
+with Mr. Scharfenstein's great offense.  The police were courteous and
+deferential, admitting that Max was the culprit.  He had drawn a
+revolver in a public restaurant; he had broken a grave law.  The
+inspector wrote a dozen telegrams and despatched them from the
+consulate.  I had, at his request, offered him the blanks.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At eleven I received a telephone call from the Continental Hotel.  It
+was a woman's voice, and my heart beat violently as I recognized it.  I
+was requested to come at once to the hotel.  I should find her in the
+ladies' salon.  I walked the distance in ten minutes.  She told me all
+that had happened.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"By this time it is all over the city.  But it is all nonsense about
+her Highness' eloping with any one.  She is too nobly born to commit
+such a folly.  She has simply run away; and I very much fear that she
+will be caught.  The duke is in a terrible temper.  I could not remain
+in the palace, for the duke suspects that I know where she has gone.  I
+have my passports.  The British consul is away hunting.  You were the
+only English-speaking person to whom I could come for aid."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am very glad."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Will it be asking too much of you to aid me in leaving Barscheit
+to-night?  There is a train at one o'clock for Dresden."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Leave Barscheit?"  My heart sank dismally.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh,"&mdash;with a smile,&mdash;"the world is small and England is even smaller."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I shall have to give up the consulate,"&mdash;gravely.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She laughed.  "I shall be in England for something more than a year.
+Truthfully, I hunger for mine own people.  You know what that hunger
+is."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes.  I shall go home as often as possible now.  I always stop a few
+days in London."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then I shall expect to see you; perhaps during the holidays.  I am
+determined to leave Barscheit before the duke changes his mind.
+Heavens, he may put me in prison!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I doubt that."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I saw to it that she secured a sleeping-compartment all to herself,
+took charge of her luggage and carefully examined her papers.  Then we
+had a small supper.  I wanted to ask a thousand questions, but my
+courage lacked the proper key.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"May I have the pleasure of writing to you occasionally?" I finally
+ventured.  "I am sure that you would like a bit of Barscheit gossip
+from time to time."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Write to me, by all means.  I shall await these letters with great
+pleasure."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And answer them?"&mdash;growing bolder.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is easily seen that you are a diplomat.  Yes, I shall answer them.
+Heigh-ho!  I shall miss my rides."  What a brave little woman she was!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Finally we started for the station, and I saw her to the gates.  We
+shook hands, and I was sure I felt a very friendly pressure; and then
+she disappeared.  There was altogether a different feeling in my heart
+as I watched <I>her</I> train draw out.  Eh, well, the world is small and
+England is smaller, even as she had said.  It's a mighty fine world,
+when you get the proper angle of vision.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap0209"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+IX
+</H3>
+
+
+<P>
+There was very little light in the compartment into which Max had so
+successfully dived.  Some one had turned down the wicks of the oil
+lamps which hung suspended between the luggage-racks above, and the
+gloom was notable rather than subdued.  So far as he was concerned he
+was perfectly contented; his security was all the greater.  He pressed
+his face against the window and peered out.  The lights of the city
+flashed by, and finally grew few and far between, and then came the
+blackness of the country.  It would take an hour and a half to cross
+the frontier, and there would be no stop this side, for which he was
+grateful.  He swore, mumbling.  To have come all this way to study, and
+then to leg it in this ignominious fashion!  It was downright
+scandalous!  Whoever heard of such laws?  Of course he had been rather
+silly in pulling his gun, for even in the United States&mdash;where he
+devoutly wished himself at that moment&mdash;it was a misdemeanor to carry
+concealed weapons.  He felt of his cheek.  He would return some day,
+and if it was the last thing he ever did, he would slash that
+lieutenant's cheeks.  The insolent beggar!  To be struck and not to
+strike back!  He choked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Gradually his eyes became accustomed to the dim light, and he cast
+about.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The deuce!" he muttered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He was not alone.  Huddled in the far corner was a woman heavily
+veiled.  Young or old, he could not tell.  She sat motionless, and
+appeared to be looking out of the opposite window.  Well, so long as
+she did not bother him he would not bother her.  But he would much
+rather have been alone.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He took out his passport and tried to read it.  It was impossible.  So
+he rose, steadied himself, and turned up the wick of one of the lamps.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He did not hear the muffled exclamation which came from the other end.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He dropped back upon the cushion and began to read.  So he was George
+Ellis, an American student in good standing; he was aged twenty-nine,
+had blue eyes, light hair, was six feet tall, and weighed one hundred
+and fifty-four pounds.  Ha! he had, then, lost thirty pounds in as many
+minutes?  At this rate he wouldn't cast a shadow when he struck
+Dresden.  He had studied three years at the college; but what the deuce
+had he studied?  If they were only asleep at the frontier!  He returned
+the document to his pocket, and as he did so his fingers came into
+contact with the purse he had picked up in the road that
+morning&mdash;Hildegarde von Heideloff.  What meant Fate in crossing <I>her</I>
+path with his?  He had been perfectly contented in mind and heart
+before that first morning ride; and here he was, sighing like a
+furnace.  She had been merely pretty on Monday, on Tuesday she had been
+handsome, on Wednesday she had been adorable; now she was the most
+beautiful woman that ever lived.  (Ah, the progressive adjective, that
+litany of love!)  Alas! it was quite evident that she had passed out of
+his life as suddenly and mysteriously as she had entered it.  He would
+keep the purse as a souvenir, and some day, when he was an old man, he
+would open it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There is something compelling in the human eye, a magnetism upon which
+Science has yet to put her cold and unromantic finger.  Have you never
+experienced the sensation that some [Transcriber's note: someone?] was
+looking at you?  Doubtless you have.  Well, Max presently turned his
+glance toward his silent fellow traveler.  She had lifted her veil and
+was staring at him with wondering, fearing eyes.  These eyes were
+somewhat red, as if the little bees of grief had stung them.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You!" he cried, the blood thumping into his throat.  He tossed his hat
+to the floor and started for her end of the compartment.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She held up a hand as if to ward off his approach.  "I can hear
+perfectly," she said; "it is not needful that you should come any
+nearer."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He sat down confused.  He could not remember when his heart had beaten
+so irregularly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"May I ask how you came to enter this compartment?" she asked coldly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I jumped in,"&mdash;simply.  What was to account for this strange attitude?
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"So I observe.  What I meant was, by what right?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It happened to be the only door at hand, and I was in a great hurry."
+Where was his usual collectedness of thought?  He was embarrassed and
+angry at the knowledge.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Did you follow me?"  Her nostrils were palpitating and the corners of
+her mouth were drawn aggressively.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Follow you?" amazed that such an idea should enter into her head.
+"Why, you are the last person I ever expected to see again.  Indeed,
+you are only a fairy-story; there is, I find, no such person as
+Hildegarde von Heideloff."  Clearly he was recovering.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I know it,"&mdash;candidly.  "It was my mother's name, and I saw fit to use
+it."  She really hoped he <I>hadn't</I> followed her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You had no need to use it, or any name, for that matter.  When I gave
+you my name it was given in good faith.  The act did not imply that I
+desired to know yours."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But you did!"&mdash;imperiously.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes.  Curiosity is the brain of our mental anatomy."  When Max began
+to utter tall phrases it was a sign of even-balanced mentality.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And if I hadn't told you my name, you would have asked for it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Not the first day."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, you would have on Tuesday."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Not a bit of a doubt."  He certainly wouldn't show her how much he
+cared.  (What was she doing in this carriage?  She had said nothing
+that morning about traveling.)
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, you will admit that under the circumstances I had the right to
+give any name it pleased me to give."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He came over to her end and sat down.  Her protests (half-hearted) he
+ignored.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I can not see very well from over there," he explained.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is not necessary that you should see; you can hear what I have to
+say."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Very well; I'll go back."  And he did.  He made a fine pretense of
+looking out of the window.  Why should this girl cross his path at this
+unhappy moment?
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was a pause.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are not near so nice as you were this morning," she said presently.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I can't be nice and sit away over here."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What made you jump into this compartment, of all others?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I wasn't particular what compartment I got into so long as I got into
+one.  As I said, I was in a hurry."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You said nothing this morning about going away from Barscheit."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Neither did you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Another pause.  (I take it, from the character of this dialogue, that
+their morning rides must have been rather interesting.)
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You told me that you were in Barscheit to study nerves,"&mdash;wickedly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"So thought I, up to half-past nine to-night; but it appears that I am
+not,"&mdash;gloomily.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are running away, too?"&mdash;with suppressed eagerness.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Running away, too!" he repeated.  "Are <I>you</I> running away?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"As fast as ever the train can carry me.  I am on the way to Dresden."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Dresden?  It seems that Fate is determined that we shall travel
+together this day.  Dresden is my destination also."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Let me see your passports,"&mdash;extending a firm white hand.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He obeyed docilely, as docilely as though he were married.  She gave
+the paper one angry glance and tossed it back.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"George Ellis; so that is your name?"&mdash;scornfully.  "You told me that
+it was Scharfenstein.  I did not ask you to tell me your name; you took
+that service upon yourself."  She recalled the duke's declaration that
+he should have her every movement watched.  If this American was
+watching her, the duke was vastly more astute than she had given him
+the credit for being.  "Are you in the pay of the duke?  Come, confess
+that you have followed me, that you have been watching me for these
+four days."  How bitter the cup of romance tasted to her now!  She had
+been deceived.  "Well, you shall never take me from this train save by
+force.  I <I>will</I> not go back!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I haven't the slightest idea of what you are talking about," he said,
+mightily discouraged.  "I never saw this country till Monday, and never
+want to see it again."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"From what are you running away then?"&mdash;skeptically.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am running away from a man who slapped me in the face,"&mdash;bitterly;
+and all his wrongs returned to him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Indeed!"&mdash;derisively.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, I!"  He thrust out both his great arms miserably.  "I'm a
+healthy-looking individual, am I not, to be running away from anything?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Especially after having been a soldier in the Spanish War.  Why did
+you tell me that your name was Scharfenstein?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Heaven on earth, it <I>is</I> Scharfenstein!  I'm simply taking my chance
+on another man's passports."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am unconvinced,"&mdash;ungraciously.  She was, however, inordinately
+happy; at the sight of the picture of woe on his face all her trust in
+him returned.  She believed every word he said, but she wanted to know
+everything.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Very well; I see that I must tell you everything to get back into your
+good graces&mdash;Fräulein von Heideloff."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If you <I>ever</I> were in my good graces!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Graphically he recounted the adventure at Müller's.  He was a capital
+story-teller, and he made a very good impression.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If it hadn't been for the princess' eloping I should not have been
+here," he concluded, "for my friend would have had a waiter bring me
+that chair."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The princess' eloping!"&mdash;aghast.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, yes.  It seems that she eloped to-night; so the report came from
+the palace."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The girl sat tight, as they say; then suddenly she burst into
+uncontrollable laughter.  It was the drollest thing she had ever heard.
+She saw the duke tearing around the palace, ordering the police hither
+and thither, sending telegrams, waking his advisers and dragging them
+from their beds.  My! what a hubbub!  Suddenly she grew serious.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Have you the revolver still?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Toss it out of the window; quick!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do as I say.  They will naturally search you at the frontier."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He took out the revolver and gazed regretfully at it, while the girl
+could not repress a shudder.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What a horrible-looking thing!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I carried it all through the war."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Throw it away and buy a new one."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But the associations!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"They will lock you up as a dangerous person."  She let down the window
+and the cold night air rushed in.  "Give it to me."  He did so.  She
+flung it far into the night.  "There, that is better.  Some day you
+will understand."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I shall never understand anything in this country&mdash;What are <I>you</I>
+running away from?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"A man with a red nose."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"A red nose?  Are they so frightful here as all that?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"This one is.  He wants&mdash;to marry me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Marry you!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes; rather remarkable that any man should desire me as a wife, isn't
+it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He saw that she was ironical.  Having nothing to say, he said nothing,
+but looked longingly at the vacant space beside her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She rested her chin upon the sill of the window and gazed at the stars.
+A wild rush of the wind beat upon her face, bringing a thousand vague
+heavy perfumes and a pleasant numbing.  How cleverly she had eluded the
+duke's police!  What a brilliant idea it had been to use her private
+carriage key to steal into the carriage compartment long before the
+train was made up!  It had been some trouble to light the lamps, but in
+doing so she had avoided the possible dutiful guard.  He <I>had</I> peered
+in, but, seeing that the lamps were lighted, concluded that one of his
+fellows had been the rounds.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The police would watch all those who entered or left the station, but
+never would they think to search a carriage into which no one had been
+seen to enter.  But oh, what a frightful predicament she was in!  All
+she possessed in the world was a half-crown, scarce enough for her
+breakfast.  And if she did not find her governess at once she would be
+lost utterly, and in Dresden!  She choked back the sob.  Why couldn't
+they let her be?  She didn't want to marry any one&mdash;that is, just yet.
+She didn't want her wings clipped, before she had learned what a fine
+thing it was to fly.  She was young.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What is it?" she said, turning.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have something of yours," answered Max, fumbling in his pocket,
+grateful for some excuse to break the silence.  "You dropped your purse
+this morning.  Permit me to return it to you.  I hadn't the remotest
+idea how I was going to return it.  In truth, I had just made up my
+mind to keep it as a souvenir."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She literally snatched it from his extended hand.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My purse!  My purse!  And I thought it was gone for ever!" hugging it
+hysterically to her heart.  She feverishly tried to unlatch the clasps.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You need not open it," he said quietly, even proudly, "I had not
+thought of looking into it, even to prove your identity."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Pardon!  I did not think.  I was so crazy to see it again."  She laid
+the purse beside her.  "You see," with an hysterical catch in her
+voice, "all the money I had in the world was in that purse, and I was
+running away without any money, and only Heaven knows what misfortunes
+were about to befall me.  There were, and are, a thousand crowns in the
+purse."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"A thousand crowns?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"In bank-notes.  Thank you, thank you!  I am so happy!"&mdash;clasping her
+hands.  Then, with a smile as warm as the summer's sun, she added: "You
+may&mdash;come and sit close beside me.  You may even smoke."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Max grew light-headed.  This was as near Heaven as he ever expected to
+get.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Open your purse and look into it," he said.  "I'm a brute; you are
+dying to do so."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"May I?"&mdash;shyly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then it came into Max's mind, with all the brilliancy of a dynamo
+spark, that this was the one girl in all the world, the ideal he had
+been searching for; and he wanted to fall at her feet and tell her so.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Look!" she cried gleefully, holding up the packet of bank-notes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I wish," he said boyishly, "that you didn't have any money at all, so
+I could help you and feel that you depended upon me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She smiled.  How a woman loves this simple kind of flattery!  It tells
+her better what she may wish to know than a thousand hymns sung in
+praise of her beauty.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But even as he spoke a chill of horror went over Max.  He put his hand
+hurriedly into his vest-pocket.  Fool!  Ass!  How like a man!  In
+changing his clothes at the consulate he had left his money, and all he
+had with him was some pocket change.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The girl saw his action and read the sequence in the look of dismay
+which spread over his face.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You have no money either?" she cried.  She separated the packet of
+notes into two equal parts.  "Here!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He smiled weakly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Take them!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, a thousand times, no!  I have a watch, and there's always a
+pawnbroker handy, even in Europe."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You offered to help me," she insisted.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is not quite the same."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Take quarter of it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No.  Don't you understand?  I really couldn't."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"One, just one, then!" she pleaded.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+An idea came to him.  "Very well; I will take one."  And when she gave
+it to him he folded it reverently and put it away.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I understand!" she cried.  "You are just going to keep it; you don't
+intend to spend it at all.  Don't be foolish!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I shall notify my friend, when we reach Doppelkinn, that I am without
+funds, and he will telegraph to Dresden."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your friends were very wise in sending you away as they did.  Aren't
+you always getting into trouble?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes.  But I doubt the wisdom of my friends in sending me away as they
+did,"&mdash;with a frank glance into her eyes.  How beautiful they were, now
+that the sparkle of mischief had left them!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She looked away.  If only Doppelkinn were young like this!  She sighed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Can they force one to marry in this country?" he asked abruptly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"When one is in my circumstances."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He wanted to ask what those circumstances were, but what he said was:
+"Is there anything I can do to help you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are even more helpless than I am,"&mdash;softly.  "If you are caught
+you will be imprisoned.  I shall only suffer a temporary loss of
+liberty; my room will be my dungeon-keep."  How big and handsome and
+strong he looked!  What a terrible thing it was to be born in purple!
+"Tell me about yourself."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His hand strayed absently toward his upper vest-pocket, and then fell
+to his side.  He licked his lips.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Smoke!" she commanded intuitively.  "I said that you might."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I can talk better when I smoke," he advanced rather lamely.  "May I,
+then?"&mdash;gratefully.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I command it!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Wasn't it fine to be ordered about in this fashion?  If only the train
+might go on and on and on, thousands of miles!  He applied a match to
+the end of his cigar and leaned back against the cushion.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Where shall I begin?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"At the beginning.  I'm not one of those novel readers who open a book
+at random.  I do not appreciate effects till I have found out the
+causes.  I want to know everything about you, for you interest me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He began.  He told her that he was a German by birth and blood.  He had
+been born either in Germany or in Austria, he did not know which.  He
+had been found in Tyrol, in a railway station.  A guard had first
+picked him up, then a kind-hearted man named Scharfenstein had taken
+him in charge, advertised for his parents and, hearing nothing, had
+taken him to America with him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If they catch you," she interrupted, "do not under any consideration
+let them know that you were not born in the United States.  Your friend
+the American consul could do nothing for you then."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Trust me to keep silent, then."  He continued: "I have lived a part of
+my life on the great plains; have ridden horses for days and days at a
+time.  As a deputy sheriff I have arrested desperadoes, have shot and
+been shot at.  Then I went East and entered a great college; went in
+for athletics, and wore my first dress-suit.  Then my foster-parent
+died, leaving me his fortune.  And as I am frugal, possibly because of
+my German origin, I have more money than I know what to do with."  He
+ceased.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Go on," she urged.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"When the Spanish War broke out I entered a cavalry regiment as a
+trooper.  I won rank, but surrendered it after the battle of Santiago.
+And now there are but two things in the world I desire to complete my
+happiness.  I want to know who I am."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And the other thing?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The other thing?  I can't tell <I>you</I> that!"&mdash;hurriedly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ah, I believe I know.  You have left some sweetheart back in America."
+All her interest In his narrative took a strange and unaccountable
+slump.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No; I have often admired women, but I have left no sweetheart back in
+America.  If I had I should now feel very uncomfortable."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Somehow she couldn't meet his eyes.  She recognized, with vague anger,
+that she was glad that he had no sweetheart.  Ah, well, nobody could
+rob her of her right to dream, and this was a very pleasant dream.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The train is slowing down," he said suddenly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We are approaching the frontier."  She shaded her eyes and searched
+the speeding blackness outside.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How far is it to the capital?" he asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It lies two miles beyond the frontier."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Silence fell upon them, and at length the train stopped with a jerk.
+In what seemed to them an incredibly short time a guard unlocked the
+door.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He peered in.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Here they are, sure enough, your Excellency!" addressing some one in
+the dark beyond.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+An officer from the military household of the Prince of Doppelkinn was
+instantly framed in the doorway.  The girl tried to lower her veil; too
+late.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am sorry to annoy your Highness," he began, "but the grand duke's
+orders are that you shall follow me to the castle.  Lieutenant, bring
+two men to tie this fellow's hands,"&mdash;nodding toward Scharfenstein.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Max stared dumbly at the girl.  All the world seemed to have slipped
+from under his feet.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Forgive me!" she said, low but impulsively.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What does it mean?"  His heart was very heavy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am the Princess Hildegarde of Barscheit, and your entering this
+carriage has proved the greatest possible misfortune to you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He stared helplessly&mdash;And everything had been going along so
+nicely&mdash;the dinner he had planned in Dresden, and all that!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And they believe," the girl went on, "that I have eloped with you to
+avoid marrying the prince."  She turned to the officer in the doorway.
+"Colonel, on the word of a princess, this gentleman is in no wise
+concerned.  I ran away alone."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Max breathed easier.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I should be most happy to believe your Highness, but you will honor my
+strict observance of orders."  He passed a telegram to her.
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="letter">
+<I>Search train for Doppelkinn.  Princess has eloped.  Arrest and hold
+pair till I arrive on special engine.</I>
+<BR><BR>
+<I>Barscheit.</I>
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+The telegraph is the true arm of the police.  The princess sighed
+pathetically.  It was all over.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your passports," said the colonel to Max.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Max surrendered his papers.  "You need not tie my hands," he said
+calmly.  "I will come peaceably."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The colonel looked inquiringly at the princess.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He will do as he says."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Very good.  I should regret to shoot him upon so short an
+acquaintance."  The colonel beckoned for them to step forth.
+"Everything is prepared.  There is a carriage for the convenience of
+your Highness; Herr Ellis shall ride horseback with the troop."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Max often wondered why he did not make a dash for it, or a running
+fight.  What he had gone through that night was worth a good fight.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Good-by," said the princess, holding out her hand.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Scharfenstein gravely bent his head and kissed it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Good-by, Prince Charming!" she whispered, so softly that Max scarcely
+heard her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then she entered the closed carriage and was driven up the dark,
+tree-enshrouded road that led to the Castle of Doppelkinn.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What are you going to do with me?" Max asked, as he gathered up the
+reins of his mount.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That we shall discuss later.  Like as not something very unpleasant.
+For one thing you are passing under a forged passport.  You are <I>not</I>
+an American, no matter how well you may speak that language.  You are a
+German."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There are Germans in the United States, born and bred there, who speak
+German tolerably well," replied Max easily.  He was wondering if it
+would not be a good scheme to tell a straightforward story and ask to
+be returned to Barscheit.  But that would probably appeal to the
+officer that he was a coward and was trying to lay the blame on the
+princess.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I do not say that I can prove it," went on the colonel; "I simply
+affirm that you are a German, even to the marrow."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You have the advantage of the discussion."  No; he would confess
+nothing.  If he did he might never see the princess again.&#8230;  The
+princess!  As far away as yonder stars!  It was truly a very
+disappointing world to live in.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Now, then, forward!" cried the colonel to his men, and they set off at
+a sharp trot.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+From time to time, as a sudden twist in the road broke the straight
+line, Max could see the careening lights of the princess' carriage.  A
+princess!  And he was a man without a country or a name!
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap0210"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+X
+</H3>
+
+
+<P>
+The castle of the prince of Doppelkinn rested in the very heart of the
+celebrated vineyards.  Like all German castles I ever saw or heard of,
+it was a relic of the Middle Ages, with many a crumbling, useless tower
+and battlement.  It stood on the south side of a rugged hill which was
+gashed by a narrow but turbulent stream, in which lurked the rainbow
+trout that lured the lazy man from his labors afield.  (And who among
+us shall cast a stone at the lazy man?  Not I!)  If you are fortunate
+enough to run about Europe next year, as like as not you will be
+mailing home the "Doppelkinn" post-card.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+More than once I have wandered about the castle's interior, cavernous
+and musty, strolled through its galleries of ancient armor, searched
+its dungeon-keeps, or loitered to soliloquize in the gloomy judgment
+chamber.  How time wars upon custom!  In olden times they created pain;
+now they strive to subdue it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I might go into a detailed history of the Doppelkinns, only it would be
+absurd and unnecessary, since it would be inappreciable under the name
+of Doppelkinn, which happens to be, as doubtless you have already
+surmised, a name of mine own invention.  I could likewise tell you how
+the ancient dukes of Barscheit fought off the insidious flattery of
+Napoleon, only it is a far interest, and Barscheit is simply a
+characteristic, not a name.  Some day I may again seek a diplomatic
+mission, and what government would have for its representative a teller
+of tales out of school?
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was, then, to continue the fortunes and misfortunes of Max
+Scharfenstein, close to midnight when the cavalcade crossed the old
+moat-bridge, which hadn't moved on its hinges within a hundred years.
+They were not entering by the formal way, which was a flower-bedded,
+terraced road.  It was the rear entrance.  The iron doors swung outward
+with a plaintive moaning, like that of a man roused out of his sleep,
+and Max found himself in an ancient guard-room, now used as a kind of
+secondary stable.  The men dismounted.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"This way, Herr Ellis," said the colonel, with a mocking bow.  He
+pointed toward a broad stone staircase.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"All I ask," said Max, "is a fair chance to explain my presence here."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"All in due time.  Forward!  The prince is waiting, and his temper may
+not be as smooth as usual."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+With two troopers in front of him and two behind, Max climbed the steps
+readily enough.  They wouldn't dare kill him, whatever they did.  He
+tried to imagine himself the hero of some Scott or Dumas tale, with a
+grim cardinal somewhere above, and oubliettes and torture chambers
+besetting his path.  But the absurdity of his imagination, so
+thoroughly Americanized, evoked a ringing laughter.  The troopers eyed
+him curiously.  He might laugh later, but it was scarcely probable.  A
+tramp through a dark corridor and they came to the west wing of the
+castle.  It was here that the old prince lived, comfortably and
+luxuriously enough, you may take my word for it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A door opened, flooding the corridor with light.  Max felt himself
+gently pushed over the threshold.  He stood in the great living-room of
+the modern Doppelkinns.  The first person he saw was the princess.  She
+sat on an oriental divan.  Her hands were folded; she sat very erect;
+her chin was tilted ominously; there was so little expression on her
+pale face that she might have been an incomplete statue.  But Max was
+almost certain that there was just the faintest flicker of a smile in
+her eyes as she saw him enter.  Glorious eyes!  (It is a bad sign when
+a man begins to use the superlative adjectives!)
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The other occupant of the room was an old man, fat and bald, with a
+nose like a russet pear.  He was stalking&mdash;if it is possible for a
+short man to stalk&mdash;up and down the length of the room, and, judging
+from the sonorous, rumbling sound, was communing half-aloud.
+Betweenwhiles he was rubbing his tender nose, carefully and lovingly.
+When a man's nose resembles a russet pear it generally is tender.
+Whoever he was, Max saw that he was vastly agitated about something.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This old gentleman was (or supposed he was) the last of his line, the
+Prince of Doppelkinn, famous for his wines and his love of them.  There
+was, so his subjects said, but one tender spot in the heart of this old
+man, and that was the memory of the wife of his youth.  (How the years,
+the good and bad, crowd behind us, pressing us on and on!) However,
+there was always surcease in the cellars&mdash;that is, the Doppelkinn
+cellars.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ha!" he roared as he saw the blinking Max.  "So this is the fellow!"
+He made an eloquent gesture.  "Your Highness must be complimented upon
+your good taste.  The fellow isn't bad-looking."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"When you listen to reason, Prince," replied the girl calmly, "you will
+apologize to the gentleman and give him his liberty."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, he is a gentleman, is he?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You might learn from him many of the common rules of
+courtesy,"&mdash;tranquilly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Who the devil are you?" the prince demanded of Max.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I should be afraid to tell you.  I hold that I am Max Scharfenstein,
+but the colonel here declares that my name is Ellis.  Who are you?"
+Max wasn't the least bit frightened.  These were not feudal times.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The prince stared at him.  The insolent puppy!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am the prince."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ah, your serene Highness,"&mdash;began Max, bowing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am not called 'serene'"&mdash;rudely.  "The grand duke is 'serene.'"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Permit me to doubt that," interposed the girl, smiling.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Max laughed aloud, which didn't improve his difficulties any.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have asked you who you are!" bawled the prince, his nose turning
+purple.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My name is Max Scharfenstein.  I am an American.  If you will wire the
+American consulate at Barscheit, you will learn that I have spoken the
+truth.  All this is a mistake.  The princess did not elope with me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"His papers give the name of Ellis," said the colonel, touching his cap.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Humph!  We'll soon find out who he is and what may be done with him.
+I'll wait for the duke.  Take him into the library and lock the door.
+It's a hundred feet out of the window, and if he wants to break his
+neck, he may do so.  It will save us so much trouble.  Take him away;
+take him away!" his rage boiling to the surface.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The princess shrugged.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I can't talk to you either," said the prince, turning his glowering
+eyes upon the girl.  "I can't trust myself."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, do not mind me.  I understand that your command of expletives is
+rather original.  Go on; it will be my only opportunity."  The princess
+rocked backward and forward on the divan.  Wasn't it funny!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Lord help me, and I was perfectly willing to marry this girl!"  The
+prince suddenly calmed down.  "What have I ever done to offend you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Nothing," she was forced to admit.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I was lonely.  I wanted youth about.  I wanted to hear laughter that
+came from the heart and not from the mind.  I do not see where I am to
+be blamed.  The duke suggested you to me; I believed you to be willing.
+Why did you not say to me that I was not agreeable?  It would have
+simplified everything."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am sorry," she said contritely.  When he spoke like this he wasn't
+so unlovable.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"People say," he went on, "that I spend most of my time in my
+wine-cellars.  Well,"&mdash;defiantly,&mdash;"what else is there for me to do?  I
+am alone."  Max came within his range of vision.  "Take him away, I
+tell you!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+And the colonel hustled Max into the library.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Don't try the window," he warned, but with rather a pleasant smile.
+He was only two or three years older than Max.  "If you do, you'll
+break your neck."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I promise not to try," replied Max.  "My neck will serve me many years
+yet."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It will not if you have the habit of running away with persons above
+you in quality.  Actions like that are not permissible in Europe."  The
+colonel spoke rather grimly, for all his smile.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The door slammed, there was a grinding of the key in the lock, and Max
+was alone.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The library at Doppelkinn was all the name implied.  The cases were low
+and ran around the room, and were filled with romance, history,
+biography, and even poetry.  The great circular reading-table was
+littered with new books, periodicals and illustrated weeklies.  Once
+Doppelkinn had been threatened with a literary turn of mind, but a bad
+vintage coming along at the same time had effected a permanent cure.
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+Max slid into a chair and took up a paper, turning the pages at
+random.&mdash;What was the matter with the room?  Certainly it was not
+close, nor damp, nor chill.  What was it?  He let the paper fall to the
+floor, and his eyes roved from one object to another.&mdash;Where had he
+seen that Chinese mask before, and that great silver-faced clock?
+Somehow, mysterious and strange as it seemed, all this was vaguely
+familiar to him.  Doubtless he had seen a picture of the room
+somewhere.  He rose and wandered about.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In one corner of the bookshelves stood a pile of boy's books and some
+broken toys with the dust of ages upon them.  He picked up a row of
+painted soldiers, and balanced them thoughtfully on his hand.  Then he
+looked into one of the picture-books.  It was a Santa Claus story; some
+of the pictures were torn and some stuck together, a reminder of
+sticky, candied hands.  He gently replaced the book and the toys, and
+stared absently into space.  How long he stood that way he did not
+recollect, but he was finally aroused by the sound of slamming doors
+and new voices.  He returned to his chair and waited for the
+dénouement, which the marrow in his bones told him was about to
+approach.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It seemed incredible that he, of all persons, should be plucked out of
+the practical ways of men and thrust into the unreal fantasies of
+romance.  A hubbub in a restaurant, a headlong dash into a carriage
+compartment, a long ride with a princess, and all within three short
+hours!  It was like some weird dream.  And how the deuce would it end?
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He gazed at the toys again.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+And then the door opened and he was told to come out.  The grand duke
+had arrived.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"This will be the final round-up," he laughed quietly, his thought
+whimsically traveling back to the great plains and the long rides under
+the starry night.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap0211"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+XI
+</H3>
+
+
+<P>
+The Grand Duke of Barscheit was tall and angular and weather-beaten,
+and the whites of his eyes bespoke a constitution as sound and hard as
+his common sense.  As Max entered he was standing at the side of
+Doppelkinn.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There he is!" shouted the prince.  "Do you know who he is?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The duke took a rapid inventory.  "Never set eyes upon him before."
+The duke then addressed her Highness.  "Hildegarde, who is this fellow?
+No evasions; I want the truth.  I have, in the main, found you
+truthful."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I know nothing of him at all," said the princess curtly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Max wondered where the chill in the room came from.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He says that his name is Scharfenstein," continued the princess, "and
+he has proved himself to be a courteous gentleman."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Max found that the room wasn't so chill as it might have been.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yet you eloped with him, and were on the way to Dresden," suggested
+the duke pointedly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The princess faced them all proudly.  "I eloped with no man.  That was
+simply a little prevarication to worry you, my uncle, after the manner
+in which you have worried me.  I was on my way to Dresden, it is true,
+but only to hide with my old governess.  This gentleman jumped into my
+compartment as the train drew out of the station."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But you <I>knew</I> him!" bawled the prince, waving his arms.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you know him?" asked the duke coldly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I met him out riding.  He addressed me, and I replied out of common
+politeness,"&mdash;with a sidelong glance at Max, who stood with folded
+arms, watching her gravely.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The duke threw his hands above his head as if to call Heaven to witness
+that he was a very much wronged man.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Arnheim," he said to the young colonel, "go at once for a priest."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"A priest!" echoed the prince.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes; the girl shall marry you to-night," declared his serene Highness.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Not if I live to be a thousand!"  Doppelkinn struck the table with his
+fist.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The girl smiled at Max.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What?" cried the duke, all the coldness gone from his tones.  "You
+refuse?"  He was thunderstruck.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Refuse?  Of course I refuse!"  And the prince thumped the table again.
+"What do you think I am in my old age,&mdash;an ass?  If you have any
+fillies to break, use your own pastures.  I'm a vintner."  He banged
+the table yet again.  "Why, I wouldn't marry the Princess Hildegarde if
+she was the last woman on earth!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Thank you!" said the princess sweetly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You're welcome," said the prince.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Silence!" bellowed the duke.  "Doppelkinn, take care; this is an
+affront, not one to be lightly ignored.  It is international news that
+you are to wed my niece."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"To-morrow it will be international news that I'm <I>not</I>!"  The emphasis
+this time threatened to crack the table-leaf.  "I'm not going to risk
+my liberty with a girl who has no more sense of dignity than she has."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is very kind of you," murmured the princess.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"She'd make a fine wife," went on the prince, ignoring the
+interruption.  "No, a thousand times no!  Take her away&mdash;life's too
+short; take her away!  Let her marry the fellow; he's young and may get
+over it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The duke was furious.  He looked around for something to strike, and
+nothing but the table being convenient, he smashed a leaf and sent a
+vase clattering to the floor.  He was stronger than the prince,
+otherwise there wouldn't have been a table to thwack.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That's right; go on!  Break all the furniture, if it will do you any
+good; but mark me, you'll foot the bill."  The prince began to dance
+around.  "I will not marry the girl.  That's as final as I can make it.
+The sooner you calm down the better."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+How the girl's eyes sparkled!  She was free.  The odious alliance would
+not take place.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Who is that?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Everybody turned and looked at Max.  His arm was leveled in the
+direction of a fine portrait in oil which hung suspended over the
+fireplace.  Max was very pale.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What's that to you?" snarled the prince.  He was what we Yankees call
+"hopping mad."  The vase was worth a hundred crowns, and he never could
+find a leaf to replace the one just broken.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I believe I have a right to know who that woman is up there."  Max
+spoke quietly.  As a matter of fact he was too weak to speak otherwise.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"A right to know?  What do you mean?" demanded the prince fiercely.
+"It is my wife."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+With trembling fingers Max produced his locket.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Will you look at this?" he asked in a voice that was a bit shaky.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The prince stepped forward and jerked the locket from Max's hand.  But
+the moment he saw the contents his jaw fell and he rocked on his heels
+unsteadily and staggered back toward the duke for support.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What's the matter, Prince?" asked the duke anxiously.  After all
+Doppelkinn was an old crony, and mayhap he had been harsh with him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Where did you get that?" asked the prince hoarsely.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have always worn it," answered Max.  "The chain that went with it
+originally will no longer fit my neck."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Arnheim!&nbsp;&#8230;  Duke!&nbsp;&#8230;  Come and look at this!"&mdash;feebly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Good Heaven!" cried the duke.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is the princess!" said Arnheim in awed tones.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Where did you get it?" demanded the prince again.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I was found with it around my neck."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Duke, what do you think?" asked the agitated prince.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What do I think?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes.  This was around my son's neck the day he was lost.  If this
+should be!&nbsp;&#8230;  If it were possible!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What?"  The duke looked from the prince to the man who had worn the
+locket.  Certainly there wasn't any sign of likeness.  But when he
+looked at the portrait on the wall and then at Max doubt grew in his
+eyes.  They were somewhat alike.  He plucked nervously at his beard.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Prince," said Max, "before Heaven I believe that I may be&nbsp;&#8230; your
+son!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My son!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+By this time they were all tremendously excited and agitated and white;
+all save the princess, who was gazing at Max with sudden gladness in
+her eyes, while over her cheeks there stole the phantom of a rose.  If
+it were true!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Let me tell you my story," said Max.  (It is not necessary for me to
+repeat it.)
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The prince turned helplessly toward the duke, but the duke was equally
+dazed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But we can't accept just a story as proof," the duke said.  "It isn't
+as if he were one of the people.  It wouldn't matter then.  But it's a
+future prince.  Let us go slow."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, let us go slow," repeated the prince, brushing his damp forehead.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Wait a moment!" said Colonel Arnheim, stepping forward.  "Only one
+thing will prove his identity to me; not all the papers in the world
+can do it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What do you know?" cried the prince, bewildered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Something I have not dared tell till this moment,"&mdash;miserably.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Curse it, you are keeping us waiting!"  The duke kicked about the
+shattered bits of porcelain.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I used to play with the&mdash;the young prince," began Arnheim.  "Your
+Highness will recollect that I did."  Arnheim went over to Max.  "Take
+off your coat."  Max did so, wondering.  "Roll up your sleeve."  Again
+Max obeyed, and his wonder grew.  "See!" cried the colonel in a high,
+unnatural voice, due to his unusual excitement.  "Oh, there can be no
+doubt!  It is your son!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The duke and the prince bumped against each other in their mad rush to
+inspect Max's arm.  Arnheim's finger rested upon the peculiar scar I
+have mentioned.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Lord help us, it's your wine-case brand!" gasped the duke.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My wine case!"  The prince was almost on the verge of tears.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The girl sat perfectly quiet.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Explain, explain!" said Max.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, yes!  How did this come?&mdash;put there?" spluttered the prince.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your Highness, we&mdash;your son&mdash;we were playing in the wine-cellars that
+day," stammered the unhappy Arnheim.  "I saw&nbsp;&#8230; the hot iron&nbsp;&#8230;
+I was a boy of no more than five&nbsp;&#8230;  I branded the prince on the
+arm.  He cried so that I was frightened and ran and hid.  When I went
+to look for him he was gone.  Oh, I know; it is your son."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I'll take your word for it, Colonel!" cried the prince.  "I said from
+the first that he wasn't bad-looking.  Didn't I, Princess?"  He then
+turned embarrassedly toward Max and timidly held out his hand.  That
+was as near sentiment as ever the father and the son came, but it was
+genuine.  "Ho, steward!  Hans, you rascal, where are you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The steward presently entered, shading his eyes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your Highness called?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That I did.  That's Max come home!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Little Max?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Little Max.  Now, candles, and march yourself to the packing-cellars.
+Off with you!"  The happy old man slapped the duke on the shoulder.
+"I've an idea, Josef."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What is it?" asked the duke, also very well pleased with events.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I'll tell you all about it when we get into the cellar."  But the nod
+toward the girl and the nod toward Max was a liberal education.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am pardoned?" said Arnheim.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Pardoned?  My boy, if I had an army I would make you a general!"
+roared the prince.  "Come along, Josef.  And you, Arnheim!  You
+troopers, out of here, every one of you, and leave these two young
+persons alone!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+And out of the various doors the little company departed, leaving the
+princess and Max alone.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Ah, how everything was changed! thought Max, as he let down his sleeve
+and buttoned his cuff.  A prince!  He was a prince; he, Max
+Scharfenstein, cow-boy, quarter-back, trooper, doctor, was a prince!
+If it was a dream, he was going to box the ears of the bell-boy who
+woke him up.  But it wasn't a dream; he knew it wasn't.  The girl
+yonder didn't dissolve into mist and disappear; she was living, living.
+He had now the right to love any one he chose, and he did choose to
+love this beautiful girl, who, with lowered eyes, was nervously
+plucking the ends of the pillow tassel.  It was all changed for her,
+too.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Princess!" he said a bit brokenly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am called Gretchen by my friends,"&mdash;with a boldness that only
+half-disguised her real timidity.  What would he do, this big, handsome
+fellow, who had turned out to be a prince, fairy-tale wise?
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Gretchen?  I like that better than Hildegarde; it is less formal.
+Well, then, Gretchen, I can't explain it, but this new order of things
+has given me a tremendous backbone."  He crossed the room to her side.
+"You will not wed my&mdash;my father?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Never in all this world!"&mdash;slipping around the table, her eyes dim
+like the bloom on the grape.  She ought not to be afraid of him, but
+she was.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But I&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You have known me only four days," she whispered faintly.  "You can
+not know your mind."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, when one is a prince,"&mdash;laughing,&mdash;"it takes no time at all.  I
+love you.  I knew it was going to be when you looked around in old
+Bauer's smithy."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Did I look around?"&mdash;innocently.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You certainly did, for I looked around and saw you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+They paused.  (There is no pastime quite like it.)
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But they say that I am wild like a young horse."  (Love is always
+finding some argument which he wishes to have knocked under.)
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Not to me,"&mdash;ardently.  "You may ride a bicycle every day, if you
+wish."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I'd rather have an automobile,"&mdash;drolly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"An airship, if money will buy it!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"They say&mdash;my uncle says&mdash;that I am not capable of loving anything."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What do I care what they say?  Will you be my wife?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Give me a week to think it over."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+(She liked that!)
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"A day, then?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Not an hour!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+(She liked this still better!)
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Not half an hour!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"This is almost as bad as the duke; you are forcing me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If you do not answer yes or no at once, I'll go back to Barscheit and
+trounce that fellow who struck me.  I can do it now."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well&mdash;but only four days&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Hours!  Think of riding together for ever!"&mdash;joyously taking a step
+nearer.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I dare not think of it.  It is all so like a dream.&#8230;  Oh!"
+bursting into tears (what unaccountable beings women are!)&mdash;"if you do
+not love me!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Don't I, though!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then he started around the table in pursuit of her, in all directions,
+while, after the manner of her kind, she balked him, rosily, star-eyed.
+They laughed; and when two young people laugh it is a sign that all
+goes well with the world.  He never would tell just how long it took
+him to catch her, nor would he tell me what he did when he caught her.
+Neither would I, had I been in his place!
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+"Here's!" said the prince.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It's a great world," added the duke.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"For surprises," supplemented the prince.  "Ho, Hans!  A fresh candle!"
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+And the story goes that his serene Highness of Barscheit and his
+Highness of Doppelkinn were found peacefully asleep in the cellars,
+long after the sun had rolled over the blue Carpathians.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR><BR>
+
+<hr class="full" noshade>
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRINCESS ELOPES***</p>
+<p>******* This file should be named 17391-h.txt or 17391-h.zip *******</p>
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Princess Elopes, by Harold MacGrath
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title:  The Princess Elopes
+
+Author: Harold MacGrath
+
+
+
+Release Date: December 25, 2005  [eBook #17391]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRINCESS ELOPES***
+
+
+
+E-text prepared by Al Haines
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustration.
+      See 17391-h.htm or 17391-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/3/9/17391/17391-h/17391-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/3/9/17391/17391-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+
+THE PRINCESS ELOPES
+
+by
+
+HAROLD MACGRATH
+
+Author of The Puppet Crown, The Grey Cloak, The Man on the Box
+
+With Illustration by Harrison Fisher
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Frontispiece: Princess Hildegarde (Gretchen) playing the piano.]
+
+
+
+
+New York
+Grosset & Dunlap
+Publishers
+Copyright 1905
+The Bobbs-Merrill Company
+
+
+
+
+
+TO MY WIFE
+
+
+
+
+
+THE PRINCESS ELOPES
+
+
+I
+
+It is rather difficult in these days for a man who takes such scant
+interest in foreign affairs--trust a whilom diplomat for that!--to
+follow the continual geographical disturbances of European surfaces.
+Thus, I can not distinctly recall the exact location of the Grand Duchy
+of Barscheit or of the neighboring principality of Doppelkinn.  It
+meets my needs and purposes, however, to say that Berlin and Vienna
+were easily accessible, and that a three hours' journey would bring you
+under the shadow of the Carpathian Range, where, in my diplomatic days,
+I used often to hunt the "bear that walks like a man."
+
+Barscheit was known among her sister states as "the meddler," the
+"maker of trouble," and the duke as "Old Grumpy"--_Brummbaer_.  To use a
+familiar Yankee expression, Barscheit had a finger in every pie.
+Whenever there was a political broth making, whether in Italy, Germany
+or Austria, Barscheit would snatch up a ladle and start in.  She took
+care of her own affairs so easily that she had plenty of time to
+concern herself with the affairs of her neighbors.  This is not to
+advance the opinion that Barscheit was wholly modern; far from it.  The
+fault of Barscheit may be traced back to a certain historical pillar of
+salt, easily recalled by all those who attended Sunday-school.
+"Rubbering" is a vulgar phrase, and I disdain to use it.
+
+When a woman looks around it is invariably a portent of trouble; the
+man forgets his important engagement, and runs amuck, knocking over
+people, principles and principalities.  If Aspasia had not observed
+Pericles that memorable day; if there had not been an oblique slant to
+Calypso's eyes as Ulysses passed her way; if the eager Delilah had not
+offered favorable comment on Samson's ringlets; in fact, if all the
+women in history and romance had gone about their affairs as they
+should have done, what uninteresting reading history would be to-day!
+
+Now, this is a story of a woman who looked around, and of a man who did
+not keep his appointment on time; out of a grain of sand, a mountain.
+Of course there might have been other causes, but with these I'm not
+familiar.
+
+This Duchy of Barscheit is worth looking into.  Imagine a country with
+telegraph and telephone and medieval customs, a country with electric
+lights, railways, surface-cars, hotel elevators and ancient laws!
+Something of the customs of the duchy must be told in the passing,
+though, for my part, I am vigorously against explanatory passages in
+stories of action.  Barscheit bristled with militarism; the little man
+always imitates the big one, but lacks the big man's excuses.
+Militarism entered into and overshadowed the civic laws.
+
+There were three things you might do without offense; you might bathe,
+eat and sleep, only you must not sleep out loud.  The citizen of
+Barscheit was hemmed in by a set of laws which had their birth in the
+dark dungeons of the Inquisition.  They congealed the blood of a man
+born and bred in a commercial country.  If you broke a law, you were
+relentlessly punished; there was no mercy.  In America we make laws and
+then hide them in dull-looking volumes which the public have neither
+the time nor the inclination to read.  In this duchy of mine it was
+different; you ran into a law on every corner, in every park, in every
+public building: little oblong signs, enameled, which told you that you
+could _not_ do something or other--"Forbidden!"  The beauty of German
+laws is that when you learn all the things that you can not do, you
+begin to find out that the things you can do are not worth a hang in
+the doing.
+
+As soon as a person learned to read he or she began life by reading
+these laws.  If you could not read, so much the worse for you; you had
+to pay a guide who charged you almost as much as the full cost of the
+fine.
+
+The opposition political party in the United States is always howling
+militarism, without the slightest idea of what militarism really is.
+One side, please, in Barscheit, when an officer comes along, or take
+the consequences.  If you carelessly bumped into him, you were knocked
+down.  If you objected, you were arrested.  If you struck back, ten to
+one you received a beating with the flat of a saber.  And never, never
+mistake the soldiery for the police; that is to say, never ask an
+officer to direct you to any place.  This is regarded in the light of
+an insult.  The cub-lieutenants do more to keep a passable
+sidewalk--for the passage of said cub-lieutenants--than all the
+magistrates put together.  How they used to swagger up and down the
+Koenigsstrasse, around the Platz, in and out of the restaurants!  I
+remember doing some side-stepping myself, and I was a diplomat,
+supposed to be immune from the rank discourtesies of the military.  But
+that was early in my career.
+
+In a year not so remote as not to be readily recalled, the United
+States packed me off to Barscheit because I had an uncle who was a
+senator.  Some papers were given me, the permission to hang out a
+shingle reading "American Consul," and the promise of my board and
+keep.  My amusements were to be paid out of my own pocket.  Straightway
+I purchased three horses, found a capable Japanese valet, and selected
+a cozy house near the barracks, which stood west of the Volksgarten, on
+a pretty lake.  A beautiful road ran around this body of water, and it
+wasn't long ere the officers began to pass comments on the riding of
+"that wild American."  As I detest what is known as park-riding, you
+may very well believe that I circled the lake at a clip which must have
+opened the eyes of the easy-going officers.  I grew quite chummy with a
+few of them; and I may speak of occasions when I did not step off the
+sidewalk as they came along.  A man does more toward gaining the
+affection of foreigners by giving a good dinner now and then than by
+international law.  I gained considerable fame by my little dinners at
+Mueller's Rathskeller, under the Continental Hotel.
+
+Six months passed, during which I rode, read, drove and dined, the
+actual labors of the consulate being cared for by a German clerk who
+knew more about the business than I did.
+
+By this you will observe that diplomacy has degenerated into the gentle
+art of exciting jaded palates and of scribbling one's name across
+passports; I know of no better definition.  I forget what the largess
+of my office was.
+
+Presently there were terrible doings.  The old reigning grand duke
+desired peace of mind; and moving determinedly toward this end, he
+declared in public that his niece, the young and tender Princess
+Hildegarde, should wed the Prince of Doppelkinn, whose vineyards gave
+him a fine income.  This was finality; the avuncular guardian had
+waited long enough for his wilful ward to make up her mind as to the
+selection of a suitable husband; now _he_ determined to take a hand in
+the matter.  And you shall see how well he managed it.
+
+It is scarcely necessary for me to state that her Highness had her own
+ideas of what a husband should be like, gathered, no doubt, from
+execrable translations from "Ouida" and the gentle Miss Braddon.  A
+girl of twenty usually has a formidable regard for romance, and the
+princess was fully up to the manner of her kind.  If she could not
+marry romantically, she refused to marry at all.
+
+I can readily appreciate her uncle's perturbation.  I do not know how
+many princelings she thrust into utter darkness.  She would _never_
+marry a man who wore glasses; this one was too tall, that one too
+short; and when one happened along who was without visible earmarks or
+signs of being shop-worn her refusal was based upon just--"Because!"--a
+weapon as invincible as the fabled spear of Parsifal.  She had spurned
+the addresses of Prince Mischler, laughed at those of the Count of
+------ - ------ (the short dash indicates the presence of a hyphen) and
+General Muerrisch, of the emperor's body-guard, who was, I'm sure, good
+enough--in his own opinion--for any woman.  Every train brought to the
+capital some suitor with a consonated, hyphenated name and a pedigree
+as long as a bore's idea of a funny story.  But the princess did not
+care for pedigrees that were squint-eyed or bow-legged.  One and all of
+them she cast aside as unworthy her consideration.  Then, like the
+ancient worm, the duke turned.  She should marry Doppelkinn, who,
+having no wife to do the honors in his castle, was wholly agreeable.
+
+The Prince of Doppelkinn reigned over the neighboring principality.  If
+you stood in the middle of it and were a baseball player, you could
+throw a stone across the frontier in any direction.  But the vineyards
+were among the finest in Europe.  The prince was a widower, and among
+his own people was affectionately styled "_der Rotnaesig_," which, I
+believe, designates an illuminated proboscis.  When he wasn't fishing
+for rainbow trout he was sleeping in his cellars.  He was often missing
+at the monthly reviews, but nobody ever worried; they knew where to
+find him.  And besides, he might just as well sleep in his cellars as
+in his carriage, for he never rode a horse if he could get out of doing
+so.  He was really good-natured and easy-going, so long as no one
+crossed him severely; and you could tell him a joke once and depend
+upon his understanding it immediately, which is more than I can say for
+the duke.
+
+Years and years ago the prince had had a son; but at the tender age of
+three the boy had run away from the castle confines, and no one ever
+heard of him again.  The enemies of the prince whispered among
+themselves that the boy had run away to escape compulsory military
+service, but the boy's age precluded this accusation.  The prince
+advertised, after the fashion of those times, sent out detectives and
+notified his various brothers; but his trouble went for nothing.  Not
+the slightest trace of the boy could be found.  So he was mourned for a
+season, regretted and then forgotten; the prince adopted the
+grape-arbor.
+
+I saw the prince once.  I do not blame the Princess Hildegarde for her
+rebellion.  The prince was not only old; he was fat and ugly, with
+little, elephant-like eyes that were always vein-shot, restless and
+full of mischief.  He might have made a good father, but I have nothing
+to prove this.  Those bottles of sparkling Moselle which he failed to
+dispose of to the American trade he gave to his brother in Barscheit or
+drank himself.  He was sixty-eight years old.
+
+A nephew, three times removed, was waiting for the day when he should
+wabble around in the prince's shoes.  He was a lieutenant in the duke's
+body-guard, a quick-tempered, heady chap.  Well, he never wabbled
+around in his uncle's shoes, for he never got the chance.
+
+I hadn't been in Barscheit a week before I heard a great deal about the
+princess.  She was a famous horsewoman.  This made me extremely anxious
+to meet her.  Yet for nearly six months I never even got so much as a
+glimpse of her.  Half of the six months she was traveling through
+Austria, and the other half she kept out of my way,--not intentionally;
+she knew nothing of my existence; simply, fate moved us about blindly.
+At court, she was invariably indisposed, and at the first court ball
+she retired before I arrived.  I got up at all times, galloped over all
+roads, but never did I see her.  She rode alone, too, part of the time.
+
+The one picture of her which I was lucky enough to see had been taken
+when she was six, and meant nothing to me in the way of identification.
+For all I knew I might have passed her on the road.  She became to me
+the Princess in the Invisible Cloak, passing me often and doubtless
+deriding my efforts to discern her.  My curiosity became alarming.  I
+couldn't sleep for the thought of her.  Finally we met, but the meeting
+was a great surprise to us both.  This meeting happened during the
+great hubbub of which I have just written; and at the same time I met
+another who had great weight in my future affairs.
+
+The princess and I became rather well acquainted.  I was not a
+gentleman, according to her code, but, in the historic words of the
+drug clerk, I was something just as good.  She honored me with a frank,
+disinterested friendship, which still exists.  I have yet among my
+fading souvenirs of diplomatic service half a dozen notes commanding me
+to get up at dawn and ride around the lake, something like sixteen
+miles.  She was almost as reckless a rider as myself.  She was truly a
+famous rider, and a woman who sits well on a horse can never be aught
+but graceful.  She was, in fact, youthful and charming, with the most
+magnificent black eyes I ever beheld in a Teutonic head; witty,
+besides, and a songstress of no ordinary talent.  If I had been in love
+with her--which I solemnly vow I was not!--I should have called her
+beautiful and exhausted my store of complimentary adjectives.
+
+The basic cause of all this turmoil, about which I am to spin my
+narrative, lay in her education.  I hold that a German princess should
+never be educated save as a German.  By this I mean to convey that her
+education should not go beyond German literature, German history,
+German veneration of laws, German manners and German passivity and
+docility.  The Princess Hildegarde had been educated in England and
+France, which simplifies everything, or, I should say, to be exact,
+complicates everything.
+
+She possessed a healthy contempt for that what-d'-ye-call-it that
+hedges in a king.  Having mingled with English-speaking people, she
+returned to her native land, her brain filled with the importance of
+feminine liberty of thought and action.  Hence, she became the bramble
+that prodded the grand duke whichever way he turned.  His days were
+filled with horrors, his nights with mares which did not have
+box-stalls in his stables.
+
+Never could he anticipate her in anything.  On that day he placed
+guards around the palace she wrote verses or read modern fiction; the
+moment he relaxed his vigilance she was away on some heart-rending
+escapade.  Didn't she scandalize the nobility by dressing up as a
+hussar and riding her famous black Mecklenburg cross-country?  Hadn't
+she flirted outrageously with the French attache and deliberately
+turned her back on the Russian minister, at the very moment, too, when
+negotiations were going on between Russia and Barscheit relative to a
+small piece of land in the Balkans?  And, most terrible of all to
+relate, hadn't she ridden a shining bicycle up the Koenigsstrasse, in
+broad daylight, and in bifurcated skirts, besides?  I shall never
+forget the indignation of the press at the time of this last escapade,
+the stroke of apoplexy which threatened the duke, and the room with the
+barred window which the princess occupied one whole week.
+
+They burned the offensive bicycle in the courtyard of the palace,
+ceremoniously, too, and the princess had witnessed this solemn _auto da
+fe_ from her barred window.  It is no strain upon the imagination to
+conjure up the picture of her fine rage, her threatening hands, her
+compressed lips, her tearless, flashing eyes, as she saw her beautiful
+new wheel writhe and twist on the blazing fagots.  But what the deuce
+was a poor duke to do with a niece like this?
+
+For a time I feared that the United States and the Grand Duchy of
+Barscheit would sever diplomatic relations.  The bicycle was,
+unfortunately, of American make, and the manufacturers wrote to me
+personally that they considered themselves grossly insulted over the
+action of the duke.  Diplomatic notes were exchanged, and I finally
+prevailed upon the duke to state that he held the wheel harmless and
+that his anger had been directed solely against his niece.  This letter
+was duly forwarded to the manufacturers, who, after the manner of their
+kind, carefully altered the phrasing and used it in their magazine
+advertisements.  They were so far appeased that they offered me my
+selection from the private stock.  Happily the duke never read anything
+but the _Fliegende Blaetter_ and _Jugend_, and thus war was averted.
+
+Later an automobile agent visited the town--at the secret bidding of
+her Highness--but he was so unceremoniously hustled over the frontier
+that his teeth must have rattled like a dancer's castanets.  It was a
+great country for expeditiousness, as you will find, if you do me the
+honor to follow me to the end.
+
+So the grand duke swore that his niece should wed Doppelkinn, and the
+princess vowed that she would not.  The man who had charge of my horses
+said that one of the palace maids had recounted to him a dialogue which
+had taken place between the duke and his niece.  As I was anxious to be
+off on the road I was compelled to listen to his gossip.
+
+THE GRAND DUKE--In two months' time you shall wed the Prince of
+Doppelkinn.
+
+THE PRINCESS--What! that old red-nose?  Never!  I shall marry only
+where I love.
+
+THE GRAND DUKE--Only where you love!  (_Sneers_.)  One would think, to
+hear you talk, that you were capable of loving something.
+
+THE PRINCESS--You have yet to learn.  I warn you not to force me.  I
+promise to do something scandalous.  I will marry one of the people--a
+man.
+
+THE GRAND DUKE--Bah!  (_Swears softly on his way down to the stables_.)
+
+But the princess had in her mind a plan which, had it gone through
+safely, would have added many grey hairs to the duke's scanty
+collection.  It was a mighty ingenious plan, too, for a woman to figure
+out.
+
+In his attitude toward the girl the duke stood alone.  Behind his back
+his ministers wore out their shoes in waiting on the caprices of the
+girl, while the grand duchess, half-blind and half-deaf, openly
+worshiped her wilful but wholly adorable niece, and abetted her in all
+her escapades.  So far as the populace was concerned, she was the
+daughter of the favorite son, dead these eighteen years, and that was
+enough for them.  Whatever she did was right and proper.  But the
+hard-headed duke had the power to say what should be what, and he
+willed it that the Princess Hildegarde should marry his old comrade in
+arms, the Prince of Doppelkinn.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+As I have already remarked, I used frequently to take long rides into
+the country, and sometimes I did not return till the following day.  My
+clerk was always on duty, and the work never appeared to make him
+round-shouldered.
+
+I had ridden horses for years, and to throw a leg over a good mount was
+to me one of the greatest pleasures in the world.  I delighted in
+stopping at the old feudal inns, of studying the stolid German peasant,
+of drinking from steins uncracked these hundred years, of inspecting
+ancient armor and gathering trifling romances attached thereto.  And
+often I have had the courage to stop at some quaint, crumbling
+_Schloss_ or castle and ask for a night's lodging for myself and horse.
+Seldom, if ever, did I meet with a refusal.
+
+I possessed the whimsical habit of picking out strange roads and riding
+on till night swooped down from the snow-capped mountains.  I had a bit
+of poetry in my system that had never been completely worked out, and I
+was always imagining that at the very next _Schloss_ or inn I was to
+hit upon some delectable adventure.  I was only twenty-eight, and
+inordinately fond of my Dumas.
+
+I rode in grey whipcord breeches, tan boots, a blue serge coat, white
+stock, and never a hat or cap till the snow blew.  I used to laugh when
+the peasants asked leave to lend me a cap or to run back and find the
+one I had presumably lost.
+
+One night the delectable adventure for which I was always seeking came
+my way, and I was wholly unprepared for it.
+
+I had taken the south highway: that which seeks the valley beyond the
+lake.  The moon-film lay mistily upon everything: on the far-off lake,
+on the great upheavals of stone and glacier above me, on the long white
+road that stretched out before me, ribbon-wise.  High up the snow on
+the mountains resembled huge opals set in amethyst.  I was easily
+twenty-five miles from the city; that is to say, I had been in the
+saddle some six hours.  Nobody but a king's messenger will ride a horse
+more than five miles an hour.  I cast about for a place to spend the
+night.  There was no tavern in sight, and the hovels I had passed
+during the last hour offered no shelter for my horse.  Suddenly, around
+a bend in the road, I saw the haven I was seeking.  It was a rambling,
+tottering old castle, standing in the center of a cluster of firs; and
+the tiles of the roofs and the ivy of the towers were shining silver
+with the heavy fall of dew.
+
+Lady Chloe sniffed her kind, whinnied, and broke into a trot.  She knew
+sooner than I that there was life beyond the turn.  We rode up to the
+gate, and I dismounted and stretched myself.  I tried the gate.  The
+lock hung loose, like a paralytic hand.  Evidently those inside had
+nothing to fear from those outside.  I grasped an iron bar and pushed
+in the gate, Chloe following knowingly at my heels.  I could feel the
+crumbling rust on my gloves.  Chloe whinnied again, and there came an
+answering whinny from somewhere in the rear of the castle.  Somebody
+must be inside, I reasoned.
+
+There were lights in the left wing, but this part of the castle was
+surrounded by an empty moat, damp and weedy.  This was not to be
+entered save by a ladder.  There was a great central door, however,
+which had a modern appearance.  The approach was a broad graveled walk.
+I tied Lady Chloe to a tree, knotted the bridle-reins above her neck to
+prevent her from putting her restless feet into them, and proceeded
+toward the door.
+
+Of all the nights this was the one on which my usually lively
+imagination reposed.  I was hungry and tired, and I dare say my little
+mare was.  I wasn't looking for an adventure; I didn't want any
+adventure; I wanted nothing in the world but a meal and a bed.  But for
+the chill of the night air--the breath of the mountain is cold at
+night--I should have been perfectly willing to sleep in the open.  Down
+drawbridge, up portcullis!
+
+I boldly climbed the steps and groped around for the knocker.  It was
+broken and useless, like the lock on the gate.  And never a bell could
+I find.  I swore softly and became impatient.  People in Barscheit did
+not usually live in this slovenly fashion.  What sort of place was this?
+
+Suddenly I grew erect, every fiber in my body tense and expectant.
+
+A voice, lifted in song!  A great penetrating yet silkily mellow voice;
+a soprano; heavenly, not to say ghostly, coming as it did from the
+heart of this gloomy ruin of stone and iron.  The jewel song from
+_Faust_, too!  How the voice rose, fell, soared again with intoxicating
+waves of sound!  What permeating sweetness!  I stood there, a solitary
+listener, as far as I knew, bewildered, my heart beating hard and fast.
+I forgot my hunger.
+
+Had I stumbled upon one of my dreams at last?  Had Romance suddenly
+relented, as a coquette sometimes relents?  For a space I knew not what
+to do.  Then, with a shrug--I have never been accused of lacking
+courage--I tried once more, by the aid of a match, to locate a bell.
+There was absolutely nothing; and the beating of my riding-crop on the
+panels of that huge door would have been as noisy as a feather.  I
+grasped the knob and turned it impatiently.  Behold! the door opened
+without sound, and I stepped into the hallway, which was velvet black.
+
+The wonderful voice went on.  I paused, with hands outstretched.
+Supposing I bumped into something!  I took a step forward, another and
+another; I swung my crop in a half-circle; all was vacancy, I took
+another step, this time in the direction of the voice--and started back
+with a smothered curse.  Bang-ang!  I had run into a suit of old armor,
+the shield of which had clattered to the stone floor.  As I have
+observed, I am not a coward, but I had all I could do to keep my
+legs--which were stirrup-weary, anyhow--from knocking under me!
+
+Silence!
+
+The song died.  All over that great rambling structure not even the
+reassuring chirp of a cricket!  I stood perfectly still.  What the
+deuce should I do?  Turn back?  As I formed this question in my mind a
+draft of wind slammed the door shut.  I was in for it, sure enough; I
+was positive that I could never find that door again.  There was
+nothing to do but wait, and wait with straining ears.  Here were
+mysterious inhabitants.--they might be revolutionists, conspirators,
+counterfeiters.
+
+Heaven knows how long I waited.
+
+Soon I heard a laugh, light, infectious, fearless!  Then I heard a
+voice, soft and pleading.
+
+"Don't go; in mercy's name, don't go, Gretchen!  You may be killed!"
+
+English!  I had actually heard a voice speak my native tongue.
+
+"Nonsense, Betty!  I am not afraid of any ghost that ever walked, rode
+or floated."
+
+"Ghost?  It may be a burglar!"
+
+"Or Steinbock!  We shall find nothing."
+
+Indeed!
+
+"Nothing but a rat, bungling about in the armor."  The laughter came
+again.  "You are not _afraid_, Betty?"
+
+"Only cautious.  But how can you laugh?  A rat?" cried a voice rather
+anxiously.  "Why, they are as big as dogs!"
+
+"But arrant cowards."
+
+So! one of these voices spoke English as its birthright; the other
+spoke with an accent, that is to say, by adoption.  Into what had I
+fallen?  Whither had my hunger brought me?  I was soon to learn.
+
+There came a faint thread of light on one side of the hall, such as may
+be likened to that which filters under a door-sill.  Presently this was
+followed by the sound of jangling brass rings.  A heavy velvet
+portiere--which I, being in darkness, had not discovered--slipped back.
+My glance, rather blinded, was first directed toward the flame of the
+candle.  Then I lowered it--and surrendered for ever and for ever!
+
+I beheld two faces in profile, as it were, one side in darkness, the
+other tinted and glowing like ancient ivory.  I honestly confess to you
+that in all my wanderings--and they have been frequent and many--I
+never saw such an enchanting picture or two more exquisite faces.  One
+peered forth with hesitant bravery; the other--she who held the
+candle--with cold, tranquil inquiry.
+
+All my fears, such as they were, left me instantly.  Besides, I was not
+without a certain amount of gallantry and humor.  I stepped squarely
+into the light and bowed.
+
+"Ladies, I am indeed not a ghost, but I promise you that I shall be if
+I am not offered something to eat at once!"
+
+Tableau!
+
+"What are you doing here?" asked she with the candle, her midnight eyes
+drawing down her brows into a frown of displeasure.
+
+I bowed.  "To begin with, I find a gate unlocked, and being curious, I
+open it; then I find a door unlatched, and I enter.  Under these
+unusual circumstances I am forced to ask the same question of you: what
+are you doing here in this ruined castle?  If it isn't ruined, it is
+deserted, which amounts to the same thing."  This _was_ impertinent,
+especially on the part of a self-invited guest.
+
+"That is my affair, sir.  I have a right here, now and at all times."
+Her voice was cold and authoritative.  "There is an inn six miles
+farther down the road; this is a private residence.  Certainly you can
+not remain here over night."
+
+"Six miles?" I echoed dismally.  "Madam, if I have seemed impertinent,
+pardon me.  I have been in the saddle six hours.  I have ridden nearly
+thirty miles since noon.  I am dead with fatigue.  At least give me
+time to rest a bit before taking up the way again, I admit that the
+manner of my entrance was informal; but how was I to know?  There was
+not even a knocker on the door by which to make known my presence to
+you."  The truth is, I did not want to go at once.  No one likes to
+stumble into an adventure--enchanting as this promised to be--and
+immediately pop out of it.  An idea came to me, serviceable rather than
+brilliant.  "I am an American.  My German is poor.  I speak no French.
+I have lost my way, it would seem; I am hungry and tired.  To ride six
+miles farther now is a physical impossibility; and I am very fond of my
+horse."
+
+"He says he is hungry, Gretchen," said the English girl, dropping
+easily into the French language as a vehicle of speech.  (I was a
+wretch, I know, but I simply could not help telling that lie; I didn't
+want to go; and they _might_ be conspirators.)  "Besides," went on the
+girl, "he looks like a gentleman."
+
+"We can not always tell a gentleman in the candle-light," replied
+Gretchen, eying me critically and shrewdly and suspiciously.
+
+As for me, I gazed from one to the ether, inquiringly, after the manner
+of one who hears a tongue not understandable.
+
+"He's rather nice," was the English girl's comment; "and his eyes
+strike me as being too steady to be dishonest."
+
+I had the decency to burn in the ears.  I had taken the step, so now I
+could not draw back.  I sincerely hoped that they would not exchange
+any embarrassing confidences.  When alone women converse upon many
+peculiar topics; and conversing in a tongue which they supposed to be
+unknown to me, these two were virtually alone.
+
+"But, my dear child," the other returned argumentatively, "we can not
+offer hospitality to a strange man this night of all nights.  Think of
+what is to be accomplished."
+
+(So something was to be accomplished?  I was right, then, in deceiving
+them.  To accomplish something on a night like this, far from
+habitation, had all the air of a conspiracy.)
+
+"Feed him and his horse, and I'll undertake to get rid of him before
+that detestable Steinbock comes.  Besides, he might prove a valuable
+witness in drawing up the papers."
+
+(Papers?)
+
+"I never thought of that.  It will not do to trust Steinbock wholly."
+Gretchen turned her searching eyes once more upon me.  I confess that I
+had some difficulty in steadying my own.  There are some persons to
+whom one can not lie successfully; one of them stood before me.  But I
+rather fancy I passed through the ordeal with at least half a victory.
+"Will you go your way after an hour's rest?" she asked, speaking in the
+familiar tongue.
+
+"I promise."  It was easy to make this promise.  I wasn't a diplomat
+for nothing.  I knew how to hang on, to dodge under, to go about.
+
+"Follow me," Gretchen commanded briefly.
+
+(Who was she?  What was going on?)
+
+We passed through the gloomy salon.  A damp, musty odor struck my sense
+of smell.  I was positive that the castle was uninhabited, save for
+this night.  Three candles burned on the mantel, giving to the gloom a
+mysterious, palpitating effect.  The room beyond was the dining-room,
+richly paneled in wine-colored mahogany.  This was better; it was
+cheerful.  A log crackled in the fireplace.  There were plenty of
+candles.  There was a piano, too.  This belonged to the castle; a heavy
+tarpaulin covering lay heaped at one side.  There was a mahogany
+sideboard that would have sent a collector of antiques into raptures,
+and a table upon which lay the remains of a fine supper.  My mouth
+watered.  I counted over the good things: roast pheasant, pink ham, a
+sea-food salad, asparagus, white bread and unsalted butter, an
+alcohol-burner over which hung a tea-pot, and besides all this there
+was a pint of La Rose which was but half-emptied.  Have you ever been
+in the saddle half a day?  If you have, you will readily appreciate the
+appetite that was warring with my curiosity.
+
+"Eat," bade she who was called Gretchen, shortly.
+
+"And my horse?"
+
+"Where is it?"
+
+"Tied to a tree by the gate."
+
+She struck a Chinese gong.  From the kitchen appeared an elderly
+servitor who looked to me more fitted to handle a saber than a
+carving-knife; at least, the scar on his cheek impressed me with this
+idea.  (I found out later that he was an old soldier, who lived alone
+in the castle as caretaker.)
+
+"Take this gentleman's horse to the stables and feed him," said
+Gretchen.  "You will find the animal by the gate."
+
+With a questioning glance at me the old fellow bowed and made off.
+
+I sat down, and the two women brought the various plates and placed
+them within reach.  Their beautiful hands flashed before my eyes and
+now and then a sleeve brushed my shoulder.
+
+"Thank you," I murmured.  "I will eat first, and then make my
+apologies."
+
+This remark caught the fancy of Gretchen.  She laughed.  It was the
+same laughter I had heard while standing in the great hall.
+
+"Will you drink tea, or would you prefer to finish this Bordeaux?" she
+asked pleasantly.
+
+"The wine, if you please; otherwise the effect of the meal and the long
+hours in the wind will produce sleepiness.  And it would be frightfully
+discourteous on my part to fall asleep in my chair.  I am very hard to
+awake."
+
+The English girl poured out the wine and passed the goblet to me.  I
+touched my lips to the glass, and bent my head politely.  Then I
+resolutely proceeded to attack the pheasant and ham.  I must prove to
+these women that at least I was honest in regard to my hunger.  I
+succeeded in causing a formidable portion of the food to disappear.
+
+And then I noticed that neither of the young women seated herself while
+I ate.  I understood.  There was no hostility in this action; nothing
+but formality.  They declined to sit in the presence of an unwelcome
+stranger, thus denying his equality from a social point of view.  I
+readily accepted this decision on their part.  They didn't know who I
+was.  They stood together by the fireplace and carried on a
+conversation in low tones.
+
+How shall I describe them?  The elder of the two, the one who seemed to
+possess all the authority, could not have been more than twenty.  Her
+figure was rather matured, yet it was delicate.  Her hair was tawny,
+her skin olive in shade and richly tinted at the cheek-bones.  Her
+eyes, half framed by thick, black-arching brows, reminded me of
+woodland pools in the dusk of evening,--depths unknown, cool,
+refreshing in repose.  The chin was resolute, the mouth was large but
+shapely and brilliant, the nose possessed the delicate nostrils
+characteristic of all sensitive beings--that is to say, thoroughbreds;
+altogether a confusing, bewildering beauty.  At one moment I believed
+her to be Latin, at the next I was positive that she was Teutonic.  I
+could not discover a single weak point, unless impulsiveness shall be
+called weakness; this sign of impulsiveness was visible in the lips.
+
+The other--well, I couldn't help it.  It was _Kismet_, fate, the turn
+in the road, what you will.  I fell heels over head in love with her at
+once.  She was charming, exquisite, one of those delicate creatures who
+always appear in enchantments; a Bouguereau child grown into womanhood,
+made to fit the protecting frame of a man's arms.  Love steals into the
+heart when we least expect him; and before we are aware, the sly little
+god has unpacked his trunk and taken possession!
+
+Eyes she had as blue as the Aegean Sea on windy days, blue as the
+cloud-winnowed sky of a winter's twilight, blue as sapphires--Irish
+eyes!  Her hair was as dark and silken as a plume from the wings of
+night.  (Did I not say that I had some poetry in my system?)  The shape
+of her mouth--Never mind; I can recall only the mad desire to kiss it.
+A graceful figure, a proud head, a slender hand, a foot so small that I
+wondered if it really poised, balanced or supported her young body.
+Tender she must be, and loving, enclitical rather than erect like her
+authoritative companion.  She was adorable.
+
+All this inventory of feminine charms was taken by furtive glances,
+sometimes caught--or were they taking an inventory of myself?
+Presently my appetite became singularly submissive.  Hunger often is
+satisfied by the feeding of the eyes.  I dropped my napkin on the table
+and pushed back my chair.  My hostesses ceased conversing.
+
+"Ladies," said I courteously, "I offer you my sincere apologies for
+this innocent intrusion."  I looked at my watch.  "I believe that you
+gave me an hour's respite.  So, then, I have thirty minutes to my
+account."
+
+The women gazed at each other.  One laughed, and the other smiled; it
+was the English girl who laughed this time.  I liked the sound of it
+better than any I had yet heard.
+
+(Pardon another parenthesis.  I hope you haven't begun to think that
+_I_ am the hero of this comedy.  Let it be furthest from your thoughts.
+I am only a passive bystander.)
+
+"I sincerely trust that your hunger is appeased," said the one who had
+smiled.
+
+"It is, thank you."  I absently fumbled in my coat pockets, then
+guiltily dropped my hands.  What a terrible thing habit is!
+
+"You may smoke," said the Bouguereau child who was grown into
+womanhood.  Wasn't that fine of her?  And wasn't it rather observant,
+too?  I learned later that she had a brother who was fond of tobacco.
+To her eyes my movement was a familiar one.
+
+"With your kind permission," said I gratefully.  I hadn't had a smoke
+in four hours.
+
+I owned a single good cigar, the last of my importation.  I lighted it
+and blew forth a snowy billow of heavenly aroma.  I know something
+about human nature, even the feminine side of it.  A presentable young
+man with a roll of aromatic tobacco seldom falls to win the confidence
+of those about him.  With that cloud of smoke the raw edge of formality
+smoothed down.
+
+"Had you any particular destination?" asked Gretchen.
+
+"None at all.  The road took my fancy, and I simply followed it."
+
+"Ah! that is one of the pleasures of riding--to go wherever the
+inclination bids.  I ride."
+
+We were getting on famously.
+
+"Do you take long journeys?" I inquired.
+
+"Often.  It is the most exhilarating of sports," said the Enchantment.
+"The scenery changes; there are so many things that charm and engage
+your interest: the mountains, the waterways, the old ruins.  Have you
+ever whistled to the horses afield and watched them come galloping down
+to the wall?  It is fine.  In England--"  But her mouth closed
+suddenly.  She was talking to a stranger.
+
+I love enthusiasm in a woman.  It colors her cheeks and makes her eyes
+sparkle, I grew a bit bolder.
+
+"I heard a wonderful voice as I approached the castle," said I.
+
+Gretchen shrugged.
+
+"I haven't heard its equal outside Berlin or Paris," I went on.
+
+"Paris?" said Gretchen, laying a neat little trap for me into which my
+conceit was soon to tumble me.  "Paris is a marvelous city."
+
+"There is no city to equal it.  Inasmuch as we three shall never meet
+again, will you not do me the honor to repeat that jewel song from
+_Faust_?"  My audacity did not impress her in the least.
+
+"You can scarcely expect me to give a supper to a stranger and then
+sing for him, besides," said Gretchen, a chill again stealing into her
+tones.  "These Americans!" she observed to her companion in French.
+
+I laid aside my cigar, approached the piano, and sat down.  I struck a
+few chords and found the instrument to be in remarkably good order.  I
+played a Chopin _Polonaise_, I tinkled Grieg's _Papillon_, then I
+ceased.
+
+"That is to pay for my supper," I explained.
+
+Next I played _Le Courier_, and when I had finished that I turned
+again, rising.
+
+"That is to pay for my horse's supper," I said.
+
+Gretchen's good humor returned.
+
+"Whoever you are, sir," her tone no longer repellent, "you are amusing.
+Pray, tell us whom we have the honor to entertain?"
+
+"I haven't the vaguest idea who my hostess is,"--evasively.
+
+"It is quite out of the question.  You are the intruder."
+
+"Call me Mr. Intruder, then," said I.
+
+It was, you will agree, a novel adventure.  I was beginning to enjoy it
+hugely.
+
+"Who do you suppose this fellow is?" Gretchen asked.
+
+"He says he is an American, and I believe he is.  What Americans are in
+Barscheit?"
+
+"I know of none at all.  What shall we do to get rid of him?"
+
+All this was carried on with unstudied rudeness.  They were women of
+high and noble quality; and as I was an interloper, I could take no
+exception to a conversation in a language I had stated I did not
+understand.  If they were rude, I had acted in a manner unbecoming a
+gentleman.  Still, I was somewhat on the defensive.  I took out my
+watch.  My hour was up.
+
+"I regret that I must be off," I said ruefully.  "It is much pleasanter
+here than on the road."
+
+"I can not ask you to remain here.  You will find the inn a very
+comfortable place for the night," was Gretchen's suggestion.
+
+"Before I go, may I ask in what manner I might serve as a witness?"
+Ere the words had fully crossed my lips I recognized that my smartness
+had caused me to commit an unpardonable blunder for a man who wished to
+show up well in an adventure of this sort.  (But fate had a hand in it,
+as presently you shall see.)
+
+Gretchen laughed, but the sound was harsh and metallic.  She turned to
+her companion, who was staring at me with startled eyes.
+
+"What did I tell you?  You can not tell a gentleman in the
+candle-light."  To me she said:
+
+"I thought as much.  You have heard _Faust_ in Paris, but you know
+nothing of the French language.  You claimed to be a gentleman, yet you
+have permitted us to converse in French."
+
+"Was it polite of you to use it?" I asked.  "All this," with a wave of
+the hand, "appears mysterious.  This is not a residence one would
+expect to find inhabited--and by two charming women!"  I bowed.  "Your
+presence here is even less satisfactorily explained than mine.  If I
+denied the knowledge of French it was because I wasn't sure of my
+surroundings.  It was done in self-defense rather than in the desire to
+play a trick.  And in this language you speak of witnesses, of papers,
+of the coming of a man you do not trust.  It looks very much like a
+conspiracy."  I gathered up my gloves and riding-crop.  I believed that
+I had extricated myself rather well.
+
+"This is my castle," said Gretchen, gently shaking off the warning hand
+of her companion.  "If I desire to occupy it for a night, who shall
+gainsay me?  If I leave the latches down, that is due to the fact that
+I have no one to fear.  Now, sir, you have eaten the bread of my table,
+and I demand to know who you are.  If you do not tell me at once, I
+shall be forced to confine you here till I am ready to leave."
+
+"Confine me!"--nonplussed.  This was more than I had reckoned on.
+
+"Yes."  She reached out to strike the gong.  (I can not be blamed for
+surrendering so tamely.  I didn't know that the old servitor was the
+only man around.)
+
+"I am the American consul at Barscheit."
+
+The two women drew together instinctively, as if one desired to protect
+the other from some unknown calamity.  What the deuce was it all about?
+All at once Gretchen thrust aside her friend and approached.  The table
+was between us, and she rested her hands upon it.  Our glances met and
+clashed.
+
+"Did the duke send you here?" she demanded repellently.
+
+"The duke?"  I was getting deeper than ever.  "The duke?"
+
+"Yes.  I am the Princess Hildegarde."
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+The Princess Hildegarde of Barscheit!  My gloves and riding-crop
+slipped from my nerveless fingers to the floor.  A numbing, wilting
+sensation wrinkled my spine.  The Princess Hildegarde of Barscheit!
+She stood opposite me, the woman--ought I not to say girl?--for whom I
+had been seeking, after a fashion, all these months!  The beautiful
+madcap who took the duchy by the ears, every now and then, and tweaked
+them!  The princess herself, here in this lonely old castle into which
+I had so carelessly stumbled!  Romance, enchantment!  Oddly enough, the
+picture of her riding a bicycle flashed through my brain, and this was
+followed by another, equally engaging, of the hussar who rode
+cross-country, to the horror of the conservative element at court.
+
+"The Princess Hildegarde!" I murmured stupidly.
+
+"Yes.  I have asked you a question, sir.  Or shall I put the question
+in French?"--ironically.  "Was it the duke who sent you here?"
+
+There was a look in her superb eyes which told me that it would have
+been to her infinite pleasure to run a sword through my black and
+villainous heart.  Presently I recovered.  With forced calm I stooped
+and collected my gloves and crop.
+
+"Your Highness, what the deuce has the duke to do with my affairs, or I
+with his?  As an American, you would scarcely expect me to meddle with
+your private affairs.  You are the last person in the world I thought
+to meet this night.  I represent the United States in this country, and
+though I am inordinately young, I have acquired the habit of attending
+to my own affairs."
+
+From the angry face in front of me I turned to the dismayed face
+beyond.  There must have been a question in my glance.  The young woman
+drew herself up proudly.
+
+"I am the Honorable Betty Moore."
+
+(The princess' schoolmate in England!)
+
+Her Highness stood biting the knuckle of a forefinger, undecided as to
+what path of action to enter, to reach a satisfactory end.  My very
+rudeness convinced her more than anything else that I spoke the truth.
+
+"How, then, did you select this particular road?"--still entertaining
+some doubt.
+
+"It is a highway, free to all.  But I have already explained that," I
+answered quietly.  I moved deliberately toward the door, but with a
+cat-like movement she sprang in front of me.  "Well, your Highness?"
+
+"Wait!" she commanded, extending an authoritative arm (lovely too!).
+"Since you are here, and since you know who I am, you must remain."
+
+"Must?" I repeated, taken aback.
+
+"Must!  My presence here ought not to be known to any one.  When you
+witness that which shall take place here to-night, you will
+understand."  Her tone lost its evenness; it trembled and became a bit
+wild.
+
+"In what manner may I be of service to your Highness?" I asked
+pleasantly, laying aside my gloves and crop again.  "I can easily give
+you my word of honor as a gentleman not to report your presence here;
+but if I am forced to remain, I certainly demand--"
+
+"Desire," she corrected, the old fire in her eyes.
+
+"Thank you.  I desire, then, to know the full reason; for I can not be
+a party to anything which may reflect upon the consulate.  For myself,
+I do not care."  What hare-brained escapade was now in the air?
+
+The princess walked over to the mantel and rested her arms upon it,
+staring wide-eyed into the fire.  Several minutes passed.  I waited
+patiently; but, to tell the truth, I was on fire with curiosity.  At
+length my patience was rewarded.
+
+"You have heard that I am to marry the Prince of Doppelkinn?" she began.
+
+I nodded.
+
+"Doubtless you have also heard of my determination not to marry him?"
+she went on.
+
+Again I nodded.
+
+"Well, I am not going to marry him."
+
+I was seized with the desire to laugh, but dared not.  What had all
+this to do with my detention in the castle?
+
+"Betty," said the princess, turning imploringly to her companion (what
+a change!), "_you_ tell him."
+
+"I?"  The Honorable Betty drew back.
+
+(Had they kidnapped old Doppelkinn? I wondered.)
+
+"I can not tell him," cried her Highness miserably, "I simply can not.
+You must do it, Betty.  It is now absolutely necessary that he should
+know everything; it is absolutely vital that he be present.  Perhaps
+Heaven has sent him.  Do you understand?  Now, tell him!"
+
+And, wonders to behold! she who but a few minutes gone had been a
+princess in everything, cold, seeing, tranquil, she fled from the room.
+(Decidedly this was growing interesting.  What had they done?)  Thus,
+the Honorable Betty Moore and his Excellency, the American consul at
+Barscheit, were left staring into each other's eyes fully a minute.
+
+"You will, of course, pledge me your word of honor?"  She who had
+recently been timid now became cool and even-pulsed.
+
+"If in pledging it I am asked to do nothing to discredit my office.  I
+am not an independent individual,"--smiling to put her more at ease.
+(I haven't the least doubt that I would have committed any sort of
+folly had she required it of me.)
+
+"You have my word, sir, that you will be asked to do nothing
+dishonorable.  On the other hand, you will confer a great favor upon
+her Highness, who is in deep trouble and is seeking a way to escape it."
+
+"Command me," said I promptly.
+
+"Her Highness is being forced into marriage with a man who is old
+enough to be her grandfather.  She holds him in horror, and will go to
+any length to make this marriage an impossibility.  For my part, I have
+tried to convince her of the futility of resisting her royal uncle's
+will."  (Sensible little Britisher!)  "What she is about to do will be
+known only to four persons, one of whom is a downright rascal."
+
+"A rascal?" slipped my lips, half-unconsciously.  "I trust that I
+haven't given you that impression," I added eagerly.  (A rascal?  The
+plot was thickening to formidable opaqueness.)
+
+"No, no!" she cried hastily, with a flash of summer on her lips.  (What
+is more charming than an English woman with a clear sense of the
+humorous?)  "You haven't given me that impression at all."
+
+"Thank you."  My vanity expanded under the genial warmth of this
+knowledge.  It was quite possible that she looked upon me favorably.
+
+"To proceed.  There is to be a kind of mock marriage here to-night, and
+you are to witness it."  She watched me sharply.
+
+I frowned.
+
+"Patience!  Not literally a mock marriage, but the filling out of a
+bogus certificate."
+
+"I do not understand at all."
+
+"You have heard of Hermann Steinbock, a cashiered officer?"
+
+"Yes.  I understand that he is the rascal to whom you refer."
+
+"Well, this certificate is to be filled out completely.  To outwit the
+duke, her Highness commits--"
+
+"A forgery."
+
+"It is a terrible thing to do, but she has gone too far to withdraw
+now.  She is to become the wife of Hermann Steinbock.  She wishes to
+show the certificate to the duke."
+
+"But the banns have not been made public."
+
+"That does not matter."
+
+"But why detain me?"  I was growing restless.  It was all folly, and no
+good would come of it.
+
+"It is necessary that a gentleman should be present.  The caretaker is
+not a gentleman.  I have said that Steinbock is a rascal.  As I review
+the events, I begin to look upon your arrival as timely.  Steinbock is
+not a reliable quantity."
+
+"I begin to perceive."
+
+"He is to receive one thousand crowns for his part in the ceremony;
+then he is to leave the country."
+
+"But the priest's signature, the notary's seal, the iron-clad
+formalities which attend all these things!" I stammered.
+
+"You will recollect that her Highness is a princess of the blood.
+Seldom is she refused anything in Barscheit."  She went to a small
+secretary and produced a certificate, duly sealed and signed.  There
+lacked nothing but Steinbock's name.
+
+"But the rascal will boast about it!  He may blackmail all of you.  He
+may convince the public that he has really married her Highness."
+
+"I thank not.  We have not moved in this blindly.  Steinbock we know to
+have forged the name of the minister of finance.  We hold this sword
+above his head.  And if he should speak or boast of it, your word would
+hold greater weight than his.  Do you understand now?"
+
+"Yes, I understand.  But I believe that I am genuinely sorry to have
+blundered into this castle to-night."
+
+"Oh, if you lack courage!"--carelessly.
+
+I laughed.  "I am not afraid of twenty Steinbocks."
+
+Her laughter echoed mine.  "Come, Mr.--by the way, I believe I do not
+know your name."
+
+"Warrington--Arthur Warrington."
+
+"That is a very good English name, and a gentleman possessing it will
+never leave two women in a predicament like this.  You will understand
+that we dare not trust any one at court.  Relative to her Highness, the
+duke succeeds in bribing all."
+
+"But a rascal like Steinbock!"
+
+"I know,"--a bit wearily.
+
+"It is pardonable to say that I believe her Highness has been very
+foolish."
+
+The girl made a gesture which conceded this fact.  "It is too late to
+retreat, as I have told you.  Steinbock is already on the way.  We must
+trust him.  But you?"
+
+"After all, what does a consulate amount to?"
+
+This seemed to be answer enough.  She extended her hand in a royal
+fashion.  I took it in one of mine, bent and kissed it respectfully.
+Apparently she had expected the old-fashioned handshake familiar to our
+common race, for I observed that she started as my lips came into
+contact with the back of her hand.  As for me, when my lips touched the
+satin flesh I knew that it was all over.
+
+"Your Highness!" she called.
+
+The princess returned.  She looked at me with a mixture of fierceness
+and defiance, humility and supplication.  I had always supposed her to
+be a sort of hobbledehoy; instead, she was one of those rare creatures
+who possess all the varying moods of the sex.  I could readily imagine
+all the young fellows falling violently in love with her; all the young
+fellows save one.  I glanced furtively at the Honorable Betty.
+
+"He knows all?" asked her Highness, her chin tilted aggressively.
+
+"Everything."
+
+"What must you think of me?"  There was that in her Highness' tone
+which dared me to express any opinion that was not totally
+complimentary.
+
+"I am not sufficiently well-born to pass an opinion upon your Highness'
+actions," I replied, with excusable irony.
+
+"Excellent!" she exclaimed.  "I have grown weary of sycophants.  You
+are not afraid of me at all."
+
+"Not in the slightest degree," I declared.
+
+"You will not regret what you are about to do.  I can make it very
+pleasant for you in Barscheit--or very unpleasant."  But this
+threatening supplement was made harmless by the accompanying smile.
+
+"May I offer the advice of rather a worldly man?"
+
+"Well?"
+
+"When Steinbock comes bid him go about his business."
+
+The Honorable Betty nodded approvingly, but her Highness shrugged.
+
+"Since you are decided,"--and I bowed.  "Now, what time does this
+fellow put in his appearance?"
+
+Her Highness beamed upon the Honorable Betty.  "I like the way he says
+'this fellow'; it reassures me.  He is due at nine o'clock; that is to
+say, in half an hour.  I will give you these directions.  I do not wish
+Steinbock to know of your presence here.  You will hide in the salon,
+close to the portieres, within call.  Moreover, I shall have to impose
+upon you the disagreeable duty of playing the listener.  Let nothing
+escape your ear or your eye.  I am not certain of this fellow
+Steinbock, though I hold a sword above his head."
+
+"But where are your men?" I asked.
+
+She smiled.  "There is no one here but Leopold."
+
+"Your Highness to meet Steinbock alone?"
+
+"I have no fear of him; he knows who I am."
+
+"Everything shall be done as you wish."  I secretly hoped I might have
+the opportunity to punch Steinbock's head.
+
+"Thank you."  The transition of her moods always left me in wonder.
+"Play something; it is impossible to talk."  She perched herself on the
+broad arm of the Honorable Betty's chair, and her arm rested lightly
+but affectionately on her shoulder.
+
+It was something for a man to gain the confidence, in so short a time,
+of two such women.  I felt as brave as Bavard.  So I sat down before
+the piano and played.  My two accomplishments are horseback riding and
+music, and I candidly tell you that I am as reckless at one as at the
+other.  I had a good memory.  I played something from Chaminade, as her
+fancies are always airy and agreeable and unmelancholy.  I was
+attacking _The Flatterer_ when her Highness touched my arm.
+
+"Hark!"
+
+We all listened intently.  The sound of beating hoofs came distinctly.
+A single horseman was galloping along the highway toward the castle.
+The sound grew nearer and nearer; presently it ceased.  I rose quietly.
+
+"It is time I hid myself, for doubtless this rider is the man."
+
+The princess paled for a moment, while her companion nervously plucked
+at the edges of her handkerchief.
+
+"Go," said the former; "and be watchful."
+
+I then took up my position behind the portieres.  Truly I had stumbled
+into an adventure; but how to stumble out again?  If the duke got wind
+of it, it would mean my recall, and I was of a mind, just then, that I
+was going to be particularly fond of Barscheit.
+
+All was silent.  A door closed, and then came the tread of feet.  I
+peered through the portieres shortly to see the entrance of two men,
+one of whom was the old caretaker.  His companion was a dark, handsome
+fellow, of Hungarian gipsy type.  There was a devil-may-care air about
+him that fitted him well.  It was Steinbock.  He was dressed with
+scrupulous care, in spite of the fact that he wore riding clothes.  It
+is possible that he recognized the importance of the event.  One did
+not write one's name under a princess' signature every day, even in
+mockery.  There was a half-smile on his face that I did not like.
+
+"Your Highness sees that I am prompt,"--uncovering.
+
+"It is well.  Let us proceed at once to conclude the matter in hand,"
+she said.
+
+"Wholly at your service!"
+
+(Hang the fellow's impudence!  How dared he use that jovial tone?)
+
+I heard the crackle of parchment.  The certificate was being unfolded.
+(It occurred to me that while she was about it the princess might just
+as well have forged the rascal's name and wholly dispensed with his
+services.  The whole affair struck me as being ineffective; nothing
+would come of it.  If she tried to make the duke believe that she had
+married Steinbock, her uncle would probe the matter to the bottom, and
+in the end cover her with ridicule.  But you can not tell a young woman
+anything, when she is a princess and in the habit of having her own
+way.  It is remarkable how stupid clever women can be at times.  The
+Honorable Betty understood, but her Highness would not be convinced.
+Thus she suffered this needless affront.  Pardon this parenthesis, but
+when one talks from behind a curtain the parenthesis is the only
+available thing.)  There was silence.  I saw Steinbock poise the pen,
+then scribble on the parchment.  It was done.  I stirred restlessly.
+
+"There!" cried Steinbock.  His voice did not lack a certain triumph.
+"And now for the duplicate!"
+
+Her Highness stuffed the document into the bosom of her dress.  "There
+will be no duplicate."  The frigidity of her tones would have congealed
+the blood of an ordinary rascal.  But Steinbock was not ordinary.
+
+"But suppose the duke comes to me for verification?" he reasoned.
+
+"You will be on the other side of the frontier.  Here are your thousand
+crowns."
+
+The barb of her contempt penetrated even his thick epidermis.  His
+smile hardened.
+
+"I was once a gentleman; I did not always accept money for aiding in
+shady transactions."
+
+"Neither your sentiments nor your opinions are required.  Now, observe
+me carefully," continued her Highness.  "I shall give you twenty-four
+hours to cross the frontier in any direction you choose.  If after that
+time you are found in Barscheit, I promise to hand you over to the
+police."
+
+"It has been a great day," said the rascal, with a laugh.  "A thousand
+crowns!"
+
+I separated the portieres an inch.  He stood at the side of the piano,
+upon which he leaned an elbow.  He was certainly handsome, much sought
+after by women of a low class.  The princess stood at Steinbock's left
+and the Honorable Betty at his right, erect, their faces expressing
+nothing, so forced was the repose.
+
+"I never expected so great an honor.  To wed a princess, when that
+princess is your Highness!  Faith, it is fine!"
+
+"You may go at once," interrupted her Highness, her voice rising a key.
+"Remember, you have only twenty-four hours between you and prison.  You
+waste valuable time."
+
+"What! you wish to be rid of me so soon?  Why, this is the bridal
+night.  One does not part with one's wife at this rate."
+
+Leopold, the caretaker, made a warning gesture.
+
+"Come, Leopold, I must have my jest," laughed Steinbock.
+
+"Within certain bounds," returned the old man phlegmatically.  "It is
+high time you were off.  You are foolhardy to match your chances with
+justice.  Prison stares you in the face."
+
+"Bah!  Do you believe it?"
+
+"It is a positive fact," added the princess.
+
+"But to leave like this has the pang of death!" Steinbock remonstrated,
+"What! shall I be off without having even kissed the bride?"
+
+"The bargain is concluded on all sides; you have your thousand crowns."
+
+"But not love's tribute.  I must have that.  It is worth a thousand
+crowns.  Besides," with a perceptible change in his manner, "shall I
+forget the contempt with which you have always looked upon me, even in
+the old days that were fair and prosperous?  Scarcely!  Opportunity is
+a thing that can not be permitted to pass thus lightly."  Then I
+observed his nose wrinkle; he was sniffing.  "Tobacco!  I did not know
+that you smoked, Leopold."
+
+"Begone!" cried the old fellow, his hands opening and shutting.
+
+"Presently!"  With a laugh he sprang toward her Highness, but Leopold
+was too quick for him.
+
+There was a short struggle, and I saw the valiant old man reel, fall
+and strike his head on the stone of the hearth.  He lay perfectly
+motionless.  So unexpected was this scene to my eyes that for a time I
+was without any particular sense of movement.  I stood like stone.
+With an evil laugh Steinbock sprang toward her Highness again.  Quick
+as light she snatched up my crop, which lay on the table, and struck
+the rascal full across the eyes, again and again and again, following
+him as he stepped backward.  Her defense was magnificent.  But, as fate
+determined to have it, Steinbock finally succeeded in wresting the
+stick from her grasp.  He was wild with pain and chagrin.  It was then
+I awoke to the fact that I was needed.
+
+I rushed out, hot with anger.  I caught Steinbock by the collar just in
+time to prevent his lips from touching her cheek.  I flung him to the
+floor, and knelt upon his chest.  I am ashamed to confess it, but I
+recollect slapping the fellow's face as he struggled under me.
+
+"You scoundrel!" I cried, breathing hard.
+
+"Kill him!" whispered her Highness.  She was furious; the blood of her
+marauding ancestors swept over her cheeks, and if ever I saw murder in
+a woman's eyes it was at that moment.
+
+"Hush, Hildegarde, hush!"  The English girl caught the princess in her
+arms and drew her back.  "Don't let me hear you talk like that.  It is
+all over."
+
+"Get up," I said to Steinbock, as I set him free.
+
+He crawled to his feet.  He was very much disordered, and there were
+livid welts on his face.  He shook himself, eying me evilly.  There was
+murder in his eyes, too.
+
+"Empty your pockets of those thousand crowns!"--peremptorily.
+
+"I was certain that I smelled tobacco," he sneered.  "It would seem
+that there are other bridegrooms than myself."
+
+"Those crowns, or I'll break every bone in your body!"  I balled my
+fists.  Nothing would have pleased me better at that moment than to
+pummel the life out of him.
+
+Slowly he drew out the purse.  It was one of those limp silk affairs so
+much affected by our ancestors.  He balanced it on his hand.  Its ends
+bulged with gold and bank-notes.  Before I was aware of his intention,
+he swung one end of it in so deft a manner that it struck me squarely
+between the eyes.  With a crash of glass he disappeared through the
+window.  The blow dazed me only for a moment, and I was hot to be on
+his tracks.  The Honorable Betty stopped me.
+
+"He may shoot you!" she cried.  "Don't go!"
+
+Although half through the window, I crawled back, brushing my sleeves.
+Something warm trickled down my nose.
+
+"You have been cut!" exclaimed her Highness.
+
+"It is nothing.  I beg of you to let me follow.  It will be all over
+with that fellow at large."
+
+"Not at all."  Her Highness' eyes sparkled wickedly.  "He will make for
+the nearest frontier.  He knows now that I shall not hesitate a moment
+to put his affairs in the hands of the police."
+
+"He will boast of what he has done."
+
+"Not till he has spent those thousand crowns."  She crossed the room
+and knelt at the side of Leopold, dashing some water into his face.
+Presently he opened his eyes.  "He is only stunned.  Poor Leopold!"
+
+I helped the old man to his feet, and he rubbed the back of his head
+grimly.  He drew a revolver from his pocket.
+
+"I had forgotten all about it," he said contritely.  "Shall I follow
+him, your Highness?"
+
+"Let him go.  It doesn't matter now.  Betty, you were right, as you
+always are.  I have played the part of a silly fool.  I _would_ have my
+own way in the matter.  Well, I have this worthless paper.  At least I
+can frighten the duke, and that is something."
+
+"Oh, my dear, if only you would have listened to my advice!" the other
+girl said.  There was deep discouragement in her tones.  "I warned you
+so often that it would come to this end."
+
+"Let us drop the matter entirely," said her Highness.
+
+I gazed admiringly at her--to see her sink suddenly into a chair and
+weep abandonedly!  Leopold eyed her mournfully, while the English girl
+rushed to her side and flung her arms around her soothingly.
+
+"I am very unhappy," said the princess, lifting her head and shaking
+the tears from her eyes.  "I am harassed on all sides; I am not allowed
+any will of my own.  I wish I were a peasant!--Thank you, thank you!
+But for you that wretch would have kissed me."  She held out her hand
+to me, and I bent to one knee as I kissed it.  She was worthy to be the
+wife of the finest fellow in all the world.  I was very sorry for her,
+and thought many uncomplimentary things of the duke.
+
+"I shall not ask you to forget my weakness," she said.
+
+"It is already forgotten, your Highness."
+
+
+Under such circumstances I met the Princess Hildegarde of Barscheit;
+and I never betrayed her confidence until this writing, when I have her
+express permission.
+
+Of Hermann Steinbock I never saw anything more.  Thus the only villain
+passes from the scene.  As I have repeatedly remarked, doubtless to
+your weariness, this is not my story at all; but in parenthesis I may
+add that between the Honorable Betty Moore and myself there sprang up a
+friendship which later ripened into something infinitely stronger.
+
+This, then, was the state of affairs when, one month later, Max
+Scharfenstein poked his handsome blond head over the frontier of
+Barscheit; cue (as the dramatist would say), enter hero.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+He came straight to the consulate, and I was so glad to see him that I
+sat him down in front of the sideboard and left orders that I was at
+home to no one.  We had been class-mates and room-mates at college, and
+two better friends never lived.  We spent the whole night in recounting
+the good old days, sighed a little over the departed ones, and praised
+or criticized the living.  Hadn't they been times, though?  The nights
+we had stolen up to Philadelphia to see the shows, the great
+Thanksgiving games in New York, the commencements, and all that!
+
+Max had come out of the far West.  He was a foundling who had been
+adopted by a wealthy German ranchman named Scharfenstein, which name
+Max assumed as his own, it being as good as any.  Nobody knew anything
+about Max's antecedents, but he was so big and handsome and jolly that
+no one cared a hang.  For all that he did not know his parentage, he
+was a gentleman, something that has to be bred in the bone.  Once or
+twice I remember seeing him angry; in anger he was arrogant, deadly,
+but calm.  He was a god in track-linen, for he was what few big men
+are, quick and agile.  The big fellow who is cat-like in his movements
+is the most formidable of athletes.  One thing that invariably amused
+me was his inordinate love of uniforms.  He would always stop when he
+saw a soldier or the picture of one, and his love of arms was little
+short of a mania.  He was an expert fencer and a dead shot besides.
+(Pardon the parenthesis, but I feel it my duty to warn you that nobody
+fights a duel in this little history, and nobody gets killed.)
+
+On leaving college he went in for medicine, and his appearance in the
+capital city of Barscheit was due obviously to the great medical
+college, famous the world over for its nerve specialists.  This was
+Max's first adventure in the land of gutturals.  I explained to him,
+and partly unraveled, the tangle of laws; as to the language, he spoke
+that, not like a native, but as one.
+
+Max was very fond of the society of women, and at college we used to
+twit him about it, for he was always eager to meet a new face, trusting
+that the new one might be the ideal for which he was searching.
+
+"Well, you old Dutchman," said I, "have you ever found that ideal woman
+of yours?"
+
+"Bah!"--lighting a pipe.  "She will never be found.  A horse and a
+trusty dog for me; those two you may eventually grow to understand.  Of
+course I don't say, if the woman came along--the right one--I mightn't
+go under, I'm philosopher enough to admit that possibility.  I want her
+tall, hair like corn-silk, eyes like the cornflower, of brilliant
+intellect, reserved, and dignified, and patient.  I want a woman, not
+humorous, but who understands humor, and I have never heard of one.
+So, you see, it's all smoke; and I never talk woman these times unless
+I'm smoking,"--with a gesture which explained that he had given up the
+idea altogether.  "A doctor sees so much of women that he finally sees
+nothing of woman."
+
+"Oh, if you resort to epigrams, I can see that it's all over."
+
+"All over.  I'm so used to being alone that I shouldn't know what to do
+with a wife."  He puffed seriously.
+
+Ah! the futility of our desires, of our castles, of our dreams!  The
+complacency with which we jog along in what we deem to be our own
+particular groove!  I recall a girl friend of my youth who was going to
+be a celibate, a great reformer, and toward that end was studying for
+the pulpit.  She is now the mother of several children, the most
+peaceful and unorative woman I know.  You see, humanity goes whirring
+over various side-tracks, thinking them to be the main line, till fate
+puts its peculiar but happy hand to the switch.  Scharfenstein had been
+plugging away over rusty rails and grass-grown ties--till he came to
+Barscheit.
+
+"Hope is the wings of the heart," said I, when I thought the pause had
+grown long enough.  "You still hope?"
+
+"In a way.  If I recollect, you had an affair once,"--shrewdly.
+
+I smoked on.  I wasn't quite ready to speak.
+
+"You were always on the hunt for ideals, too, as I remember; hope
+you'll find her."
+
+"Max, my boy, I am solemnly convinced that I have."
+
+"Good Lord, you don't mean to tell me that you are _hooked_?" he cried.
+
+"I see no reason why you should use that particular tone," I answered
+stiffly.
+
+"Oh, come now; tell me all about it.  Who is she, and when's the
+wedding?"
+
+"I don't know when the wedding's going to be, but I'm mighty sure that
+I have met the one girl.  Max, there never was a girl like her.  Witty
+she is, and wise; as beautiful as a summer's dawn; merry and brave;
+rides, drives, plays the 'cello, dances like a moon-shadow; and all
+that,"--with a wave of the hand.
+
+"You've got it bad.  Remember how you used to write poetry at college?
+Who is she, if I may ask?"
+
+"The Honorable Betty Moore, at present the guest of her Highness, the
+Princess Hildegarde,"--with pardonable pride.
+
+Max whistled.  "You're a lucky beggar.  One by one we turn traitor to
+our native land.  A Britisher!  I never should have believed it of you,
+of the man whose class declamation was on the fiery subject of
+patriotism.  But is it all on one side?"
+
+"I don't know, Max; sometimes I think so, and then I don't."
+
+"How long have you known her?"
+
+"Little more than a month."
+
+"A month?  Everything moves swiftly these days, except European railway
+cars."
+
+"There's a romance, Max, but another besides her is concerned, and I
+can not tell you.  Some day, when everything quiets down, I'll get you
+into a corner with a bottle, and you will find it worth while."
+
+"The bottle?"
+
+"Both."
+
+"From rumors I've heard, this princess is a great one for larks; rides
+bicycles and automobiles, and generally raises the deuce.  What sort is
+she?"
+
+"If you are going to remain in Barscheit, my boy, take a friendly
+warning.  Do not make any foolish attempt to see her.  She is more
+fascinating than a roulette table."
+
+This was a sly dig.  Max smiled.  A recent letter from him had told of
+an encounter with the goddess of Monte Carlo.  Fortune had been all
+things but favorable.
+
+"I'm not afraid of your princess; besides, I came here to study."
+
+"And study hard, my boy, study hard.  Her Highness is not the only
+pretty woman in Barscheit.  There's a raft of them."
+
+"I'll paddle close to the shore," with a smile.
+
+"By the way, I'll wake you up Thursday."
+
+"How?"--lazily.
+
+"A bout at Mueller's Rathskeller.  Half a dozen American lads, one of
+whom is called home.  Just fixed up his passports for him.  You'll be
+as welcome as the flowers in the spring.  Some of the lads will be in
+your classes."
+
+"Put me down.  It will be like old times.  I went to the reunion last
+June.  Everything was in its place but you.  Hang it, why can't time
+always go on as it did then?"
+
+"Time, unlike our watches, never has to go to the jeweler's for
+repairs," said I owlishly.
+
+Max leaned over, took my bull-terrier by the neck and deposited him on
+his lap.
+
+"Good pup, Artie--if he's anything like his master.  Three years, my
+boy, since I saw you.  And here you are, doing nothing and lallygagging
+at court with the nobility.  I wish I had had an uncle who was a
+senator.  'Pull' is everything these days."
+
+"You Dutchman, I won this place on my own merit,"--indignantly.
+
+"Forget it!"--grinning.
+
+"You are impertinent."
+
+"But truthful, always."
+
+And then we smoked a while in silence.  The silent friend is the best
+of the lot.  He knows that he hasn't got to talk unless he wants to,
+and likewise that it is during these lapses of speech that the vine of
+friendship grows and tightens about the heart.  When you sit beside a
+man and feel that you need not labor to entertain him it's a good sign
+that you thoroughly understand each other.  I was first to speak.
+
+"I don't understand why you should go in for medicine so thoroughly.
+It can't be money, for heaven knows your father left you a yearly
+income which alone would be a fortune to me."
+
+"Chivalry shivers these days; the chill of money is on everything.  A
+man must do something--a man who is neither a sloth nor a fool.  A man
+must have something to put his whole heart into; and I despise money as
+money.  I give away the bulk of my income."
+
+"Marry, and then you will not have to," I said flippantly.
+
+"You're a sad dog.  Do you know, I've been thinking about epigrams."
+
+"No!"
+
+"Yes.  I find that an epigram is produced by the same cause that
+produces the pearl in the oyster."
+
+"That is to say, a healthy mentality never superinduces an epigram?
+Fudge!" said I, yanking the pup from his lap on to mine.  "According to
+your diagnosis, your own mind is diseased."
+
+"Have I cracked an epigram?"--with pained surprise.
+
+"Well, you nearly bent one," I compromised.  Then we both laughed, and
+the pup started up and licked my face before I could prevent him.
+
+"Did I ever show you this?"--taking out a locket which was attached to
+one end of his watch-chain.  He passed the trinket to me.
+
+"What is it?" I asked, turning it over and over.
+
+"It's the one slender link that connects me with my babyhood.  It wag
+around my neck when Scharfenstein picked me up.  Open it and look at
+the face inside."
+
+I did so.  A woman's face peered up at me.  It might have been
+beautiful but for the troubled eyes and the drooping lips.  It was
+German in type, evidently of high breeding, possessing the subtle lines
+which distinguish the face of the noble from the peasant's.  From the
+woman's face I glanced at Max's.  The eyes were something alike.
+
+"Who do you think it is?" I asked, when I had studied the face
+sufficiently to satisfy my curiosity.
+
+"I've a sneaking idea that it may be my mother.  Scharfenstein found me
+toddling about in a railroad station, and that locket was the only
+thing about me that might be used in the matter of identification.  You
+will observe that there is no lettering, not even the jeweler's usual
+carat-mark to qualify the gold.  I recall nothing; life with me dates
+only from the wide plains and grazing cattle.  I was born either in
+Germany or Austria.  That's all I know.  And to tell you the honest
+truth, boy, it's the reason I've placed my woman-ideal so high.  So
+long as I place her over my head I'm not foolish enough to weaken into
+thinking I can have her.  What woman wants a man without a name?"
+
+"You poor old Dutchman, you!  You can buy a genealogy with your income.
+And a woman nowadays marries the man, the man.  It's only horses, dogs
+and cattle that we buy for their pedigrees.  Come; you ought to have a
+strawberry mark on your arm," I suggested lightly; for there were times
+when Max brooded over the mystery which enveloped his birth.
+
+In reply he rolled up his sleeve and bared a mighty arm.  Where the
+vaccination scar usually is I saw a red patch, like a burn.  I leaned
+over and examined it.  It was a four-pointed scar, with a perfect
+circle around it.  Somehow, it seemed to me that this was not the first
+time I had seen this peculiar mark.  I did not recollect ever seeing it
+on Max's arm.  Where had I seen it, then?
+
+"It looks like a burn," I ventured to suggest.
+
+"It is.  I wish I knew what it signifies.  Scharfenstein said that it
+was positively fresh when he found me.  He said I cried a good deal and
+kept telling him that I was Max.  Maybe I'm an anarchist and don't know
+it,"--with half a smile.
+
+"It's a curious scar.  Hang me, but I've seen the device somewhere
+before!"
+
+"You have?"--eagerly.  "Where, where?"
+
+"I don't know; possibly I saw it on your arm in the old days."
+
+He sank back in his chair.  Silence, during which the smoke thickened
+and the pup whined softly in his sleep.  Out upon the night the
+cathedral bell boomed the third hour of morning.
+
+"If you don't mind, Artie," said Max, yawning, "I'll turn in.  I've
+been traveling for the past fortnight."
+
+"Take a ride on Dandy in the morning.  He'll hold your weight nicely.
+I can't go with you, as I've a lame ankle."
+
+"I'll be in the saddle at dawn.  All I need is a couple of hours
+between sheets."
+
+As I prodded my pillow into a comfortable wad under my cheek I wondered
+where I had seen that particular brand.  It was a brand.  I knew that I
+had seen it somewhere, but my memory danced away when I endeavored to
+halter it.  Soon I fell asleep, dreaming of somebody who wasn't Max
+Scharfenstein, by a long shot.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+That same evening the grand duke's valet knocked on the door leading
+into the princess' apartments, and when the door opened he gravely
+announced that his serene Highness desired to speak to the Princess
+Hildegarde.  It was a command.  For some reason, known best to herself,
+the princess chose to obey it.
+
+"Say that I shall be there presently," she said, dismissing the valet.
+
+As she entered her uncle's study--so called because of its dust-laden
+bookshelves, though the duke sometimes disturbed their contents to
+steady the leg of an unbalanced chair or table--he laid down his pipe
+and dismissed his small company of card-players.
+
+"I did not expect to see you so soon," he began.  "A woman's curiosity
+sometimes has its value.  It takes little to arouse it, but a great
+deal to allay it."
+
+"You have not summoned me to make smart speeches, simply because I have
+been educated up to them?"--truculently.
+
+"No.  I have not summoned you to talk smart, a word much in evidence in
+Barscheit since your return from England.  For once I am going to use a
+woman's prerogative.  I have changed my mind."
+
+The Princess Hildegarde trembled with delight.  She could put but one
+meaning to his words.
+
+"The marriage will not take place next month."
+
+"Uncle!"--rapturously.
+
+"Wait a moment,"--grimly.  "It shall take place next week."
+
+"I warn you not to force me to the altar," cried the girl, trembling
+this time with a cold fury.
+
+"My child, you are too young in spirit and too old in mind to be
+allowed a gateless pasture.  In harness you will do very well."  He
+took up his pipe and primed it.  It _was_ rather embarrassing to look
+the girl in the eye.  "You shall wed Doppelkinn next week."
+
+"You will find it rather embarrassing to drag me to the altar,"--evenly.
+
+"You will not," he replied, "create a scandal of such magnitude.  You
+are untamable, but you are proud."
+
+The girl remained silent.  In her heart she knew that he had spoken
+truly.  She could never make a scene in the cathedral.  But she was
+determined never to enter it.  She wondered if she should produce the
+bogus certificate.  She decided to wait and see if there were no other
+loophole of escape.  Old _Rotnaesig_?  Not if she died!
+
+When these two talked without apparent heat it was with unalterable
+fixedness of purpose.  They were of a common race.  The duke was
+determined that she should wed Doppelkinn; she was equally determined
+that she should not.  The gentleman with the algebraic bump may figure
+this out to suit himself.
+
+"Have you no pity?"
+
+"My reason overshadows it.  You do not suppose that I take any especial
+pleasure in forcing you?  But you leave me no other method."
+
+"I am a young girl, and he is an old man."
+
+"That is immaterial.  Besides, the fact has gone abroad.  It is now
+irrevocable."
+
+"I promise to go out and ask the first man I see to marry me!" she
+declared.
+
+"Pray Heaven, it may be Doppelkinn!" said the duke drolly.
+
+"Oh, do not doubt that I have the courage and the recklessness.  I
+would not care if he were young, but the prince is old enough to be my
+father."
+
+"You are not obliged to call him husband."  The duke possessed a
+sparkle to-night which was unusual in him.  Perhaps he had won some of
+the state moneys which he had paid out to his ministers' that day.
+"Let us not waste any time," he added.
+
+"I shall not waste any,"--ominously.
+
+"Order your gown from Vienna, or Paris, or from wherever you will.
+Don't haggle over the price; let it be a good one; I'm willing to go
+deep for it."
+
+"You loved my aunt once,"--a broken note in her voice.
+
+"I love her still,"--not unkindly; "but I must have peace in the house.
+Observe what you have so far accomplished in the matter of creating
+turmoil."  The duke took up a paper.
+
+"My sins?"--contemptuously.
+
+"Let us call them your transgressions.  Listen.  You have ridden a
+horse as a man rides it; you have ridden bicycles in public streets;
+you have stolen away to a masked ball; you ran away from school in
+Paris and visited Heaven knows whom; you have bribed sentries to let
+you in when you were out late; you have thrust aside the laws as if
+they meant nothing; you have trifled with the state papers and caused
+the body politic to break up a meeting as a consequence of the
+laughter."
+
+The girl, as she recollected this day to which he referred, laughed
+long and joyously.  He waited patiently till she had done, and I am not
+sure that his mouth did not twist under his beard.  "Foreign education
+is the cause of all this," he said finally.  "Those cursed French and
+English schools have ruined you.  And I was fool enough to send you to
+them.  This is the end."
+
+"Or the beginning,"--rebelliously.
+
+"Doppelkinn is mild and kind."
+
+"Mild and kind!  One would think that you were marrying me to a horse!
+Well, I shall not enter the cathedral."
+
+"How will you avoid it?"--calmly.
+
+"I shall find a way; wait and see."  She was determined.
+
+"I shall wait."  Then, with a sudden softening, for he loved the girl
+after his fashion: "I am growing old, my child.  If I should die, what
+would become of you?  I have no son; your Uncle Franz, who is but a
+year or two younger than I am, would reign, and he would not tolerate
+your madcap ways.  You must marry at once.  I love you in spite of your
+wilfulness.  But you have shown yourself incapable of loving.
+Doppelkinn is wealthy.  You shall marry him."
+
+"I will run away, uncle,"--decidedly.
+
+"I have notified the frontiers,"--tranquilly.  "From now on you will be
+watched.  It is the inevitable, my child, and even I have to bow to
+that."
+
+She touched the paper in her bosom, but paused.
+
+"Moreover, I have decided," went on the duke, "to send the Honorable
+Betty Moore back to England."
+
+"Betty?"
+
+"Yes.  She is a charming young person, but she is altogether too
+sympathetic.  She abets you in all you do.  Her English independence
+does not conform with my ideas.  After the wedding I shall notify her
+father."
+
+"Everything, everything!  My friends, my liberty, the right God gives
+to every woman--to love whom she will!  And you, my uncle, rob me of
+these things!  What if I should tell you that marriage with me is now
+impossible?"--her lips growing thin.
+
+"I should not be very much surprised."
+
+"Please look at this, then, and you will understand why I can not marry
+Doppelkinn."  She thrust the bogus certificate into his hands.
+
+The duke read it carefully, not a muscle in his face disturbed.
+Finally he looked up with a terrifying smile.
+
+"Poor, foolish child!  What a terrible thing this might have turned out
+to be!"
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Mean?  Do you suppose anything like this could take place without my
+hearing of it?  And such a dishonest unscrupulous rascal!  Some day I
+shall thank the American consul personally for his part in the affair.
+I was waiting to see when you would produce this.  You virtually placed
+your honor and reputation, which I know to be above reproach, into the
+keeping of a man who would sell his soul for a thousand crowns."
+
+The girl felt her knees give way, and she sat down.  Tears slowly
+welled up in her eyes and overflowed, blurring everything.
+
+The duke got up and went over to his desk, rummaging among the papers.
+He returned to the girl with a letter.
+
+"Read that, and learn the treachery of the man you trusted."
+
+The letter was written by Steinbock.  In it he disclosed all.  It was a
+venomous, inciting letter.  The girl crushed it in her hand.
+
+"Is he dead?" she asked, all the bitterness in her heart surging to her
+lips.
+
+"To Barscheit,"--briefly.  "Now, what shall I do with this?"--tapping
+the bogus certificate.
+
+"Give it to me," said the girl wearily.  She ripped it into halves,
+into quarters, into infinitesimal squares, and tossed them into the
+waste-basket.  "I am the unhappiest girl in the world."
+
+"I am sorry," replied the grand duke.  "It isn't as if I had forced
+Doppelkinn on you without first letting you have your choice.  You have
+rejected the princes of a dozen wealthy countries.  We are not as the
+common people; we can not marry where we will.  I shall announce that
+the marriage will take place next week."
+
+"Do not send my friend away," she pleaded, apparently tamed.
+
+"I will promise to give the matter thought.  Good night."
+
+She turned away without a word and left him.  When he roared at her she
+knew by experience that he was harmless; but this quiet determination
+meant the exclusion of any further argument.  There was no escape
+unless she ran away.  She wept on her pillow that night, not so much at
+the thought of wedding Doppelkinn as at the fact that Prince Charming
+had evidently missed the last train and was never coming to wake her
+up, or, if he did come, it would be when it was too late.  How many
+times had she conjured him up, as she rode in the fresh fairness of the
+mornings!  How manly he was and how his voice thrilled her!  Her horse
+was suddenly to run away, he was to rescue her, and then demand her
+hand in marriage as a fitting reward.  Sometimes he had black hair and
+eyes, but more often he was big and tall, with yellow hair and the
+bluest eyes in all the world.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+The princess rose at dawn the following day.  She routed out Hans, the
+head groom, and told him to saddle Artemis, the slim-limbed, seal-brown
+filly which an English nobleman had given to her.  Ten minutes later
+she was in the saddle, and the heaviness on her heart seemed to rise
+and vanish like the opal mists on the bosom of the motionless lake.  A
+pale star blinked at her, and the day, flushed like the cheek of a
+waking infant, began drowsily to creep over the rolling mountains.
+
+How silent all the city was!  Only here and there above the chimneys
+rose a languid film of smoke.  The gates of the park shut behind her
+with a clang, and so for a time she was alone and free.  She touched
+Artemis with a spur, and the filly broke into a canter toward the lake
+road.  The girl's nostrils dilated.  Every flower, the thousand
+resinous saps of the forest, the earth itself, yielded up a cool sweet
+perfume that was to the mind what a glass of wine is to the blood,
+exhilaration.
+
+Mottled with pink, and gray, and blue, and gold, the ever-changing hues
+of the morning, the surface of the lake was as smooth as her mirror
+and, like it, always reflecting beauty.  Fish leaped forth and fell
+with a sounding splash, and the circles would widen and gradually
+vanish.  A blackbird dipped among the silent rushes; a young fox barked
+importantly; a hawk flashed by.  The mists swam hither and thither
+mysteriously, growing thinner and fainter as the gold of day grew
+brighter and clearer.  Suddenly--in the words of the old
+tent-maker--the false morning died, and it was day.
+
+I'm afraid that somewhere among the princess' ancestors there was a
+troubadour; for she was something of a poet.  Indeed, I have already
+remarked that she wrote verses.  The atmospheric change of the morning
+turned her mind into sentimental channels.  How she envied the peasant
+woman, who might come and go at will, sleep in the open or in the hut,
+loving or hating with perfect freedom!  Ah, Prince Charming, Prince
+Charming! where were you?  Why did you loiter?  Perhaps for her there
+was no Prince Charming.  It might be so.  She sighed.
+
+She would never marry Doppelkinn--never.  That horrible Steinbock!  She
+was glad, glad that she had struck him, again and again, across his
+lying eyes and evil mouth.  She had believed that she knew the world;
+it was all yet a mystery; the older she grew the less she understood.
+Wasn't anybody good?  Was everybody to be distrusted?  Which way should
+she turn now?  The world was beautiful enough; it was the people in it.
+Poor Betty!  She had her troubles, too; but somehow she refused to
+confide them.  She acted very much as if she were in love.
+
+She gazed at the hawk enviously.  How proud and free he was, so high up
+there, circling and circling.  Even the fox was freer than she; the
+forests were his, and he might go whither he listed.  And the fish that
+leaped in frolic from the water, and the blackbird in the rushes!  She
+could not understand.
+
+She would never marry Doppelkinn--never.
+
+But how should she escape--how?  On Wednesday night she would be given
+her quarterly allowance of a thousand crowns, and on Thursday she must
+act. . . .  Yes, yes, that was it!  How simple!  She would slip over
+into Doppelkinn, where they never would think to search for her.  She
+knew a place in which to hide.  From Doppelkinn she would go straight
+to Dresden and seek the protection of her old governess, who would hide
+her till the duke came to his senses.  If only she had an independent
+fortune, how she would snap her fingers at them all!
+
+She was distracted by the sound of jangling steel.  Artemis had cast a
+shoe.  How annoying!  It would take ten minutes to reach old Bauer's
+smithy, and ten minutes more to put on a shoe.  She brought the filly
+down to a walk.
+
+What was the use of being a princess if one was not allowed to act in a
+royal fashion?  It wasn't so terrible to wear men's clothes, and,
+besides, they were very comfortable for riding a horse; and as for
+riding a bicycle in the public streets, hadn't that ugly Italian
+duchess ridden through the streets of Rome, and in knickerbockers, too?
+Nobody seemed to mind it there.  But in Barscheit it had been little
+short of a crime.  She recalled the flaming fagots and the red-hot wire
+of her unfortunate wheel.  A smile rippled over her face, but it passed
+quickly.  There was nothing left to smile over.  They were going to
+force her to marry a tomb, a man in whom love and courage and joy were
+as dead things.  Woe to Doppelkinn, though--woe to him!  She would lead
+him a dance, wild and terrible.
+
+If only she were Betty, free to do what she pleased, to go and come at
+will!  She wasn't born to be a princess; she wasn't commonplace enough;
+she enjoyed life too well.  Ah, if only she might live and act like
+those English cousins of hers with whom she went to school!  _They_
+could ride man-fashion, hunt man-fashion, shoot, play cards and bet at
+the races man-fashion, and nobody threatened them with Doppelkinns.
+They might dance, too, till the sun came into the windows and the rouge
+on their faces cracked.  But _she_!  (I use the italics to illustrate
+the decided nods of her pretty head.)  Why, every sweet had to be
+stolen!
+
+She would never marry Doppelkinn--never.  She would never watch his old
+nose grow purple at the table.  She would run away.  And since Prince
+Charming was nowhere to be seen, it were better to die an old maid.
+
+Presently the smithy came into view, emerging from a cluster of
+poplars.  She rode up to the doors, dismounted and entered.  Old Bauer
+himself was at the bellows, and the weird blue light hissing up from
+the blown coals discovered another customer.  She turned and met his
+frank glance of admiration.  (If she hadn't turned!  If his admiration
+hadn't been entirely frank!)  Instantly she sent Bauer a warning glance
+which that old worthy seemed immediately to understand.  The stranger
+was tall, well-made, handsome, with yellow hair, and eyes as blue as
+the sky is when the west wind blows.
+
+He raised his cap, and the heart of the girl fluttered.  Wherever had
+this seemly fellow come from?
+
+"Good morning," said the stranger courteously.  "I see that you have
+had the same misfortune as myself."
+
+"You have lost a shoe?  Rather annoying, when one doesn't want a single
+break in the going."  She uttered the words carelessly, as if she
+wasn't at all interested.
+
+The stranger stuffed his cap into a pocket.  She was glad that she had
+chosen the new saddle.  The crest and coat of arms had not yet been
+burned upon the leather nor engraved upon the silver ornaments, and
+there was no blanket under the English saddle.  There might be an
+adventure; one could not always tell.  She must hide her identity.  If
+the stranger knew that she belonged to the House of Barscheit, possibly
+he would be frightened and take to his heels.
+
+But the Princess Hildegarde did not know that this stranger never took
+to his heels; he wasn't that kind.  Princess or peasant, it would have
+been all the same to him.  Only his tone might have lost half a key.
+
+Bauer called to his assistant, and the girl stepped out into the road.
+The stranger followed, as she knew he would.  It will be seen that she
+knew something of men, if only that they possess curiosity.
+
+"What a beautiful place this is!" the stranger ventured, waving his
+hand toward the still lake and the silent, misty mountains.
+
+"There is no place quite like it," she admitted.  "You are a stranger
+in Barscheit?"--politely.  He was young and certainly the best-looking
+man she had seen in a month of moons.  If Doppelkinn, now, were only
+more after this pattern!
+
+"Yes, this is my first trip to Barscheit."  He had a very engaging
+smile.
+
+"You are from Vienna?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Ah, from Berlin.  I was not quite sure of the accent."
+
+"I am a German-American,"--frankly.  "I have always spoken the language
+as if it were my own, which doubtless it is."
+
+"America!" she cried, her interest genuinely aroused.  "That is the
+country where every one does just as he pleases."
+
+"Sometimes."  (What beautiful teeth she had, white as skimmed milk!)
+
+"They are free?"
+
+"Nearly always."
+
+"They tell me that women there are all queens."
+
+"We are there, or here, always your humble servants."
+
+He was evidently a gentleman; there was something in his bow that was
+courtly.  "And do the women attend the theaters alone at night?"
+
+"If they desire to."
+
+"Tell me, does the daughter of the president have just as much liberty
+as her subjects?"
+
+"Even more.  Only, there are no subjects in America."
+
+"No subjects?  What do they call them, then?"
+
+"Voters."
+
+"And do the women vote?"
+
+"Only at the women's clubs."
+
+She did not quite get this; not that it was too subtle, rather that it
+was not within her comprehension.
+
+"It is a big country?"
+
+"Ever so big."
+
+"Do you like it?"
+
+"I love every inch of it.  I have even fought for it."
+
+"In the Spanish War?"--visibly excited.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Were you a major or a colonel?"
+
+"Neither; only a private."
+
+"I thought every soldier there was either a colonel or a major."
+
+He looked at her sharply, but her eye was roving.  He became
+suspicious.  She might be simple, and then again she mightn't.  She was
+worth studying, anyhow.
+
+"I was a cavalryman, with nothing to do but obey orders and, when
+ordered, fight.  I am visiting the American consul here; he was a
+school-mate of mine."
+
+"Ah!  I thought I recognized the horse."
+
+"You know him?"--quickly.
+
+"Oh,"--casually,--"every one hereabouts has seen the consul on his
+morning rides.  He rides like a centaur, they say; but I have never
+seen a centaur."
+
+The stranger laughed.  She was charming.
+
+"He ought to ride well; I taught him."  But the gay smile which
+followed this statement robbed it of its air of conceit.  "You see, I
+have ridden part of my life on the great plains of the West, and have
+mounted everything from a wild Indian pony to an English thoroughbred.
+My name is Max Scharfenstein, and I am here as a medical student,
+though in my own country I have the right to hang out a physician's
+shingle."
+
+She drew aimless figures in the dust with her riding-crop.  There was
+no sense in her giving any name.  Probably they would never meet again.
+And yet--
+
+"I am Hildegarde von--von Heideloff," giving her mother's name.  He was
+too nice to frighten away.
+
+The hesitance over the "von" did not strike his usually keen ear.  He
+was too intent on noting the variant expressions on her exquisite face.
+It was a pity she was dark.  What a figure, and how proudly the head
+rested upon the slender but firm white throat!  After all, black eyes,
+such as these were, might easily rival any blue eyes he had ever seen.
+(Which goes to prove that a man's ideals are not built as solidly as
+might be.)
+
+"It is rather unusual," he said, "to see a woman ride so early; but you
+have the right idea.  Everything begins to wake, life, the air, the
+day.  There is something in the dew of the morning that is a better
+tonic than any doctor can brew."
+
+"Take care!  If you have no confidence in your wares, you must not
+expect your patients to have."
+
+"Oh, I am a doctor of philosophy, also."
+
+"That is to say," she observed, "if you lose your patients, you will
+accept their loss without a murmur?  Very good.  May I ask what you
+have come so far to study?"
+
+"Nerves."
+
+"Is it possible!"--with a smile as fleet as the wind.
+
+He laughed.  This was almost like an American girl.  How easy it was to
+talk to her!  He tried again to catch her eye, but failed.  Then both
+looked out over the lake, mutually consenting that a pause should
+ensue.  He did not mind the dark hair at all.
+
+"Do you speak English?" she asked abruptly in that tongue, with a full
+glance to note the effect.
+
+"English is spoken to some extent in the United States," he answered
+gravely.  He did not evince the least surprise at her fluency.
+
+"Do you write to the humorous papers in your country?"
+
+"Only to subscribe for them," said he.
+
+And again they laughed; which was a very good sign that things were
+going forward tolerably well.
+
+And then the miserable fellow of a smith had to come out and announce
+that the stranger's horse was ready.
+
+"I'll warrant the shoe," said Bauer.
+
+"You haven't lost any time," said Max, his regret evident to every one.
+
+The girl smiled approvingly.  She loved humor in a man, and this one
+with the yellow hair and blue eyes seemed to possess a fund of the dry
+sort.  All this was very wrong, she knew, but she wasn't going to be
+the princess this morning; she was going to cast off the shell of
+artificiality, of etiquette.
+
+"How much will this shoe cost me?" Max asked.
+
+"Half a crown," said Bauer, with a sly glance at the girl to see how
+she would accept so exorbitant a sum.  The princess frowned.  "But
+sometimes," added Bauer hurriedly, "I do it for nothing."
+
+"Bauer, your grandfather was a robber," the girl laughed.  "Take heed
+that you do not follow in his footsteps."
+
+"I am a poor man, your--mm---Fraeulein," he stammered.
+
+"Here's a crown," said Max, tossing a coin which was neatly caught by
+the grimy hand of the smith.
+
+"Are you very rich?" asked the girl curiously.
+
+"Why?" counter-questioned Max.
+
+"Oh, I am curious to know.  Bauer will tell it to every one in
+Barscheit that you overpay for things, and from now on you will have to
+figure living on a basis of crowns."
+
+It is worth any price to hear a pretty woman laugh.  What a fine
+beginning for a day!
+
+"May misfortune be kind enough to bring you this way again, Herr!"
+Bauer cried joyfully, not to say ambiguously.
+
+"Listen to that!" laughed the girl, her eyes shining like the water in
+the sun.  "But he means only to thank your generosity.  Now,"--with a
+severe frown,--"how much do I owe you?  Take care; I've only a few
+pieces of silver in my purse."
+
+"Why, Fraeulein, you owe me nothing; I am even in debt to you for this
+very crown."  Which proved that Bauer had had his lesson in
+courtier-ship.
+
+The assistant soon brought forth the girl's restive filly.  Max sprang
+to her aid.  How light her foot was in his palm!  (She could easily
+have mounted alone, such was her skill; but there's the woman of it.)
+
+"I am going toward the Pass," she said, reading the half-veiled appeal
+in his blue eyes.
+
+"Which way is that?" he asked, swinging into his own saddle.
+
+"That way," nodding toward the south.  After all, there could be no
+harm; in two or three hours their paths would separate for ever.
+
+"Why,"--delightedly,--"I am going that way myself."
+
+Old Bauer watched them till they disappeared around a turn in the road.
+He returned to his forge, shaking his head as if confronted by a
+problem too abstruse even for his German mind.
+
+"Well, he's an American, so I will not waste any pity on him.  The pity
+is that she must wed old Red-nose."
+
+It would have been if she had!
+
+So the Princess and Prince Charming rode into the country, and they
+talked about a thousand and one things.  Had she ever been to France?
+Yes.  To England?  She had received part of her education there.  Did
+she know the Princess Hildegarde?  Slightly.  What was she like?  She
+was a madcap, irresponsible, but very much abused.  Did she know Mr.
+Warrington, the American consul?  She had seen him on his morning
+rides.  Wasn't it a fine world?  It was, indeed.
+
+Once they stopped at a farm.  The girl refused to dismount, bidding Max
+go in and ask for a drink of milk.  Max obeyed with alacrity, returning
+with two foaming goblets of warm milk.
+
+From time to time the princess stifled the "small voice."  It was
+wrong, and yet it wasn't.  What worried her was the thought that Betty
+might take it into her head to follow, and then everything would be
+spoiled.  Every now and then she turned her head and sighed
+contentedly; the road to rearward was always clear.
+
+"Follow me!" she cried suddenly, even daringly.
+
+A stone wall, three feet high, ran along at their right.  The
+foreground was hard and firm.  Pressing the reins on the filly's
+withers, she made straight for the wall, cleared it, and drew up on the
+other side.  Now, Max hadn't the least idea that the horse under him
+was a hunter, so I might very well say that he took his life in his
+hands as he followed her.  But Dandy knew his business.  He took the
+wall without effort.  A warm glow went over Max when he found that he
+hadn't broken his neck.  Together they galloped down the field and came
+back for the return jump.  This, too, was made easily.  Max's
+admiration knew no bounds.  It was a dangerous pastime in more ways
+than one.
+
+At eight o'clock they turned toward home, talking about another
+thousand and one things.
+
+"It has been a delightful ride," suggested Max, with an eye to the
+future.
+
+"I take this road nearly every morning," said she, looking out upon the
+water, which was ruffling itself and quarreling along the sandy shores.
+
+Max said nothing, but he at once made up his mind that he would take
+the same road, provided he could in any reasonable manner get rid of me.
+
+
+"Did you enjoy the ride?" asked the Honorable Betty, as her Highness
+came in to breakfast.  There were no formalities in the princess'
+apartments.
+
+"Beautifully!"  Her Highness guiltily wondered if there was any logical
+way to keep Betty in the house for the next few mornings.  She sat down
+and sipped her tea.  "The duke talked to me last night.  Steinbock
+played double."
+
+"What!"
+
+"Yes.  He sold us to the duke, who patiently waited for me to speak.
+Betty, I am a fool.  But I shall never marry Doppelkinn.  That is
+settled."
+
+"I suppose he will be inviting me to return to England," said Betty
+shrewdly.
+
+"Not for the present."
+
+"And I have just grown to love the place,"--pathetically.  "Mr.
+Warrington has asked me to ride with him afternoons.  His ankle
+prevents him from taking the long morning jaunts.  If it will not
+interfere with your plans, dear--"
+
+"Accept, by all means," interrupted her Highness.  "He is a capital
+horseman."  She smiled mysteriously.  Happily her companion was
+absorbed in thought and did not see this smile.
+
+
+Max came in at quarter of ten, went to tub, and came down in time for
+the eggs.
+
+"Have a good ride?" I asked.
+
+"Bully!  Beautiful country!"  He was enthusiastic.
+
+"How these healthy animals eat!" I thought as I observed him
+occasionally.
+
+"Wish I could go with you," I said, but half-heartedly.
+
+"I'll get the lay of the land quick enough," he replied.
+
+The rascal!  Not a word about the girl that morning, or the next, or
+until Thursday morning.  If only I had known!  But Fate knows her
+business better than I do, and she was handling the affair.  But long
+rides of a morning with a pretty girl are not safe for any bachelor.
+
+Thursday morning he came in late.  He dropped something on the table.
+On inspection I found it to be a woman's handkerchief purse.
+
+"Where the deuce did you get that?" I asked, mighty curious.
+
+"By George!  but I've been enjoying the most enchanting adventure; such
+as you read out of a book.  I'm inclined to believe that I shall enjoy
+my studies in old Barscheit."
+
+"But where did you get this?"  If there was a girl around, I wanted to
+know all about it.
+
+"She dropped it."
+
+"_She_ dropped it!" I repeated.  "What she?  Why, you old tow-head,
+have you been flirting at this hour of the morning?"
+
+"Handsome as a picture!"
+
+"Ha! the ideal at last,"--ironically.  "Blonde, of course."
+
+"Dark as a Spaniard, and rides like Diana."  His enthusiasm was not to
+be lightly passed over.
+
+"Never heard of Diana riding," said I; "always saw her pictured as
+going afoot."
+
+"Don't be an ass!  You know very well what I mean."
+
+"I've no argument to offer, nor any picture to prove my case.  You've
+had an adventure; give it up, every bit of it."
+
+"One of the finest horsewomen I ever saw.  Took a wall three feet high
+the other morning, just to see if I dared follow.  Lucky Dandy is a
+hunter, or I'd have broken my neck."
+
+"Very interesting."  Then of a sudden a thought flashed through my head
+and out again.  "Anybody with her?"
+
+"Only myself these three mornings."
+
+"H'm!  Did you get as far as names?"
+
+"Yes; I told her mine.  Who is Hildegarde von Heideloff?"
+
+"Heideloff?"  I was puzzled.  My suspicions evaporated.  "I can't say
+that I know any one by that name.  Sure it was Heideloff?"
+
+"Do you mean to tell me," with blank astonishment, "that there is a
+petticoat on horseback in this duchy that you do not know?"
+
+"I don't know any woman by the name of Hildegarde von Heideloff; on my
+word of honor, Max, I don't."
+
+"Old Bauer, the blacksmith, knew her."
+
+Bauer?  All my suspicions returned.  "Describe the girl to me."
+
+"Handsome figure, masses of black hair, great black eyes that are full
+of good fun, a delicate nose, and I might add, a very kissable mouth."
+
+"What! have you kissed her?" I exclaimed.
+
+"No, no!  Only, I'd like to."
+
+"H'm!  You've made quite a study.  She must be visiting some one
+near-by.  There is an old castle three miles west of the smithy.  Did
+she speak English?"
+
+"Yes,"--excitedly.
+
+"That accounts for it.  An old English nobleman lives over there during
+the summer months, and it is not improbable that she is one of his
+guests."  In my heart I knew that her Highness was up to some of her
+tricks again, but there was no need of her shattering good old Max's
+heart.  Yet I felt bound to say: "Why not look into the purse?  There
+might be something there to prove her identity."
+
+"Look into her purse?"--horrified.  "You wouldn't have me peeping into
+a woman's purse, would you?  Suppose there should be a box of rouge?
+Her cheeks were red."
+
+"Quite likely."
+
+"Or a powder-puff."
+
+"Even more likely."
+
+"Or--"
+
+"Go on."
+
+"Or a love letter."
+
+"I have my doubts," said I.
+
+"Well, if you do not know who she is, I'll find out,"--undismayed.
+
+Doubtless he would; he was a persistent old beggar, was Max.
+
+"Do not let it get serious, my boy," I warned.  "You could not marry
+any one in this country."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Have you been regularly baptized?  Was your father?  Was your
+grandfather?  Unless you can answer these simplest of questions and
+prove them, you could not get a license; and no priest or preacher
+would dare marry you without a license."
+
+"Hang you, who's talking about getting married?  All I want to know is,
+who is Hildegarde von Heideloff, and how am I to return her purse?  I
+shall ask the blacksmith."
+
+"Do so,"--taking up my egg-spoon.
+
+Max slipped the purse into his breast-pocket and sat down.
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+"The one fault I have to find with European life is the poor quality of
+tobacco used."
+
+It was eight o'clock, Thursday night, the night of the dinner at
+Mueller's.  I was dressing when Max entered, with a miserable cheroot
+between his teeth.
+
+"They say," he went on, "that in Russia they drink the finest tea in
+the world, simply because it is brought overland and not by sea.
+Unfortunately, tobacco--we Americans recognize no leaf as tobacco
+unless it comes from Cuba--has to cross the sea, and is, in some
+unaccountable manner, weakened in the transit.  There are worse cigars
+in Germany than in France, and I wouldn't have believed it possible, if
+I had not gone to the trouble of proving it.  Fine country!  For a week
+I've been trying to smoke the German quality of the weed, as a
+preventive, but I see I must give it up on account of my throat.  My
+boy, I have news for you,"--tossing the cheroot into the grate.
+
+"Fire away," said I, struggling with a collar.
+
+"I have a box of Havanas over at the custom house that I forgot to bail
+out."
+
+"No!" said I joyfully.  A Havana, and one of Scharfenstein's!
+
+"I've an idea that they would go well with the dinner.  So, if you
+don't mind, I'll trot over and get 'em."
+
+"Be sure and get around to Mueller, at half-past eight, then," said I.
+
+"I'll be there."  He knew where to find the place.
+
+Mueller's Rathskeller was the rendezvous of students, officers and all
+those persons of quality who liked music with their meat.  The place
+was low-ceilinged, but roomy, and the ventilation was excellent,
+considering.  The smoke never got so thick that one couldn't see the
+way to the door when the students started in to "clean up the place,"
+to use the happy idiom of mine own country.  There were marble tables
+and floors and arches and light, cane-bottomed chairs from Kohn's.  It
+was at once Bohemian and cosmopolitan, and, once inside, it was easy to
+imagine oneself in Vienna.  A Hungarian orchestra occupied an inclosed
+platform, and every night the wail of the violin and the pom-pom of the
+wool-tipped hammers on the Hungarian "piano" might be heard.
+
+It was essentially a man's place of entertainment; few women ever had
+the courage or the inclination to enter.  In America it would have been
+the fashion; but in the capital of Barscheit the women ate in the
+restaurant above, which was attached to the hotel, and depended upon
+the Volksgarten band for their evening's diversion.
+
+You had to order your table hours ahead--that is, if you were a
+civilian.  If you were lucky enough to be an officer, you were
+privileged to take any vacant chair you saw.  But Heaven aid you if you
+attempted to do this not being an officer!  In Barscheit there were
+also many unwritten laws, and you were obliged to observe these with
+all the fidelity and attention that you gave to the enameled signs.
+Only the military had the right to request the orchestra to repeat a
+piece of music.  Sometimes the lieutenants, seized with that gay humor
+known only to cubs, would force the orchestra in Mueller's to play the
+Hungarian war-song till the ears cried out in pain.  This was always
+the case when any Austrians happened to be present.  But ordinarily the
+crowds were good-natured, boisterous, but orderly.
+
+It was here, then, that I had arranged to give my little dinner.  The
+orchestra had agreed--for a liberal tip--to play _The Star-Spangled
+Banner_, and there was a case of Doppelkinn's sparkling Moselle.  I may
+as well state right here that we neither heard our national anthem nor
+drank the vintage.  You will soon learn why.  I can laugh now, I can
+treat the whole affair with becoming levity, but at the time I gained
+several extra grey hairs.
+
+If the princess hadn't turned around, and if Max hadn't wanted that box
+of Havanas!
+
+When I arrived at Mueller's I found my boys in a merry mood.  They were
+singing softly from _Robin Hood_ with fine college harmony, and as I
+entered they swarmed about me like so many young dogs.  Truth to tell,
+none of them was under twenty, and two or three were older than myself.
+But to them I represented official protection for whatever they might
+do.  I assumed all the dignity I dared.  I had kept Scharfenstein's
+name back as a surprise.
+
+Ellis--for whom I had the passports--immediately struck me as being so
+nearly like Max that they might easily have been brothers.  Ellis was
+slighter; that was all the difference.  I gave him his papers and
+examined his tickets.  All was well; barring accidents, he would be in
+Dresden the next day.
+
+"You go through Doppelkinn, then?" said I.
+
+"Yes.  I have friends in Dresden whom I wish to see before going home."
+
+"Well, good luck to you!"
+
+Then I announced that Max Scharfenstein, an old college comrade, would
+join us presently.  This was greeted with hurrahs.  At that time there
+wasn't an American student who did not recollect Max's great run from
+the ten-yard line.  (But where the deuce _was_ Max?)  I took a little
+flag from my pocket and stuck it into the vase of poppies, and the boys
+clapped their hands.  You never realize how beautiful your flag is till
+you see it in a foreign land.  I apologized for Max's absence,
+explaining the cause, and ordered dinner to be served.  We hadn't much
+time, as Ellis's train departed at ten.  It was now a quarter to nine.
+
+We had come to the relishes when a party of four officers took the
+table nearest us.  They hung up their sabers on the wall-pegs, and sat
+down, ordering a bottle of light wine.  Usually there were five chairs
+to the table, but even if only two were being used no one had the right
+to withdraw one of the vacant chairs without the most elaborate
+apologies.  This is the law of courtesy in Barscheit.  In America it is
+different; if you see anything you want, take it.
+
+Presently one of the officers--I knew none of them save by sight--rose
+and approached.  He touched the flag insolently and inquired what right
+it had in a public restaurant in Barscheit.  Ordinarily his question
+would not have been put without some justification.  But he knew very
+well who I was and what my rights were in this instance.
+
+"Herr Lieutenant," said I coldly, though my cheeks were warm enough, "I
+represent that flag in this country, and I am accredited with certain
+privileges, as doubtless you are aware.  You will do me the courtesy of
+returning to your own table."  I bowed.
+
+He glared at me for a brief period, then turned on his heel.  This was
+the first act in the play.  At the fellow's table sat Lieutenant von
+Stoerer, Doppelkinn's nephew and heir-presumptive.  He was, to speak
+plainly, a rake, a spendthrift and wholly untrustworthy.  He was not
+ill-looking, however.
+
+My spirits floated between anger and the fear that the officers might
+ruin the dinner--which they eventually did.
+
+Things went on smoothly for a time.  The orchestra was pom-pomming the
+popular airs from _Faust_.  (Where the deuce was that tow-headed
+Dutchman?)  Laughter rose and fell; the clinkle of glass was heard;
+voices called.  And then Max came in, looking as cool as you please,
+though I could read by his heaving chest that he had been sprinting up
+back streets.  The boys crowded around him, and there was much ado over
+the laggard.
+
+Unfortunately the waiter had forgotten to bring a chair for his plate.
+With a genial smile on his face, Max innocently stepped over to the
+officers' table and plucked forth the vacant chair.  For a wonder the
+officers appeared to give this action no heed, and I was secretly
+gratified.  It was something to be a consul, after all.  But I counted
+my chickens too early.
+
+"Where are the cigars?" I asked as Max sat down complacently.
+
+"Cigars?"--blankly.  "Hang me, I've clean forgotten them!"  And then,
+oblivious of the probable storm that was at that moment gathering for a
+downpour over his luckless head, he told us the reason of his delay.
+
+"There was a crowd around the palace," he began.  "It seems that the
+Princess Hildegarde has run away, and they believe that she has ridden
+toward the Pass in a closed carriage.  The police are at this very
+moment scouring the country in that direction.  She has eloped."
+
+"Eloped?" we all cried, being more or less familiar with the state of
+affairs at the palace.
+
+"Good-by to Doppelkinn's _Frau_!"
+
+"Good girl!"
+
+"She has been missing since seven o'clock, when she drove away on the
+pretense of visiting her father's old steward, who is ill," went on
+Max, feeling the importance of his news.  "They traced her there.  From
+the steward's the carriage was driven south, and that's the last seen
+of her.  There won't be any wedding at the cathedral next
+Tuesday,"--laughing.
+
+Queries and answers were going crisscross over the table, when I
+observed with dread that Lieutenant von Stoerer had risen and was coming
+our way.  He stopped at Max's side.  Max looked up to receive Von
+Stoerer's glove full on the cheek.  It was no gentle stroke.  Von Stoerer
+at once returned to his table and sat down.
+
+For a moment we were all absolutely without power of motion or of
+speech, Max's face grew as white as the table-cloth, and the print of
+the glove glowed red against the white.  I was horrified, for I knew
+his tremendous strength.  If he showed fight, Von Stoerer would calmly
+saber him.  It was the custom.  But Max surprised me.  He was the
+coolest among us, but of that quality of coolness which did not
+reassure me.  He took up his story where he had left off and finished
+it.  For his remarkable control I could have taken him in my arms and
+hugged him.
+
+The officers scowled, while Von Stoerer bit his mustache nervously.  The
+American had ignored his insult.  Presently he rose again and
+approached.  He thrust a card under Max's nose.
+
+"Can you understand that?" he asked contemptuously.
+
+Max took the card, ripped it into quarters and dropped these to the
+floor.  Then, to my terror and the terror of those with me, he
+tranquilly pulled out a murderous-looking Colt and laid it beside his
+plate.  He went on talking, but none of us heard a word he said.  We
+were fearfully waiting to see him kill some one or be killed.
+
+No one was killed.  The officers hurriedly took down their sabers and
+made a bee-line for the door of which I have spoken.
+
+Max returned the revolver to his hip-pocket and gave vent to an Homeric
+laugh.
+
+"You tow-headed Dutchman!" I cried, when I found voice for my words,
+"what have you done?"
+
+"Done?  Why, it looks as if we had all the downs this half," he replied
+smartly.  "Oh, the gun isn't loaded,"--confidentially.
+
+Ellis fumbled in his pockets and produced his passports and tickets.
+These he shoved over to Max.
+
+"What's this for?" Max asked curiously.
+
+"Ellis," said I, "it is very good of you.  Max, take those.  Mr. Ellis
+wishes to save your hide.  Take them and get to the station as quickly
+as you can.  And for the love of mercy, do not turn around till you're
+over in Doppelkinn's vineyards."
+
+"Well, I'm hanged if I understand!" he cried.  "I'm a peaceful man.  A
+beggar walks up to me and slaps me in the face for nothing at all, and
+now I must hike, eh?  What the devil have I done now?"
+
+Then, as briefly as I could, I explained the enormity of his offenses.
+To take a chair from a table, as he had done, was a gross insult; to
+receive a slap in the face and not to resent it, was another insult; to
+tear up an opponent's visiting-card, still another; to take out a
+revolver in Barscheit, unless you were an officer or had a permit, was
+worse than an insult; it was a crime, punishable by long imprisonment.
+They could accuse him of being either an anarchist or a socialist-red,
+coming to Barscheit with the intent to kill the grand duke.  The fact
+that he was ignorant of the laws, or that he, was an alien, would remit
+not one particle of his punishment and fine; and weeks would pass ere
+the matter could be arranged between the United States and Barscheit.
+
+"Good Lord!" he gasped; "why didn't you tell me?"
+
+"Why didn't you tell me that you carried a cannon in your pocket?  Take
+Ellis' papers, otherwise you stand pat for a heap of trouble, and I
+can't help you.  Go straight to Dresden, telegraph me, and I'll forward
+your luggage."
+
+"But I came here to study!" Max argued.
+
+"It will be geology in the form of prison walls," said Ellis quietly.
+"Don't be foolish, Mr. Scharfenstein; it is not a matter of a man's
+courage, but of his common sense.  Take the tickets and light out.  I
+have lived here for three years, and have seen men killed outright for
+less than you have done."
+
+"But you don't expect me to leave this place without punching that
+beggar's head?"--indignantly.  "What do you think I'm made of?"
+
+"You'll never get the chance to punch his head," said I.  "We are
+wasting valuable time.  Those officers have gone for the police.  You
+have about twenty minutes to make the train.  Come, for heaven's sake,
+come!"
+
+He finally got it into his head that we knew what we were talking
+about.  How we got him to the station I do not remember, but somehow we
+got him there.  He sputtered and fumed and swore, as all brave men will
+who feel that they are running away in a cowardly fashion.  He wasn't
+convinced, but he thanked Ellis for his kindness and hoped that he
+wouldn't get into trouble on his (Max's) account.
+
+"Go straight to Dresden; say you've been studying medicine in Barscheit
+for three years; refer to me by telegraph if there is any question as
+to your new identity," said I.  "You're the only man in the world, Max,
+that I'd lie for."
+
+He stumbled through the gates, and we saw him open the door of a
+carriage just as the train began to pull out.  A guard tried to stop
+him, but he was not quite quick enough.  We watched the train till it
+melted away into the blackness beyond the terminus covering; then we, I
+and my fellow diners, went soberly into the street.   Here was a
+howdy-do!  Suddenly Ellis let out a sounding laugh, and, scarcely
+knowing why, we joined him.  It was funny, very funny, for every one
+but poor old Max!  The American spirit is based on the sense of humor,
+and even in tragic moments is irrepressible.
+
+We did not return to Mueller's; each of us stole quietly home to await
+the advent of the police, for they would rout out every American in
+town in their search for the man with the gun.  They would first visit
+the consulate and ascertain what I knew of the affair; when they got
+through with the rest of the boys Max would be in Doppelkinn.  The
+police were going to be very busy that night: a princess on one hand
+and an anarchist on the other.
+
+There were terrible times, too, in the palace.  Long before we watched
+Max's train and the vanishing green and red lights at the end of it the
+grand duke was having troubles of his own.  He was pacing wildly up and
+down in his dressing-room.  Clutched in his fist was a crumpled sheet
+of paper.  From time to time he smoothed it out and re-read the
+contents.  Each time he swore like the celebrated man in Flanders.
+
+
+_You forced me and I warned you that I would do something desperate.
+Do not send for me, for you will never find me till you come to your
+senses.  I have eloped._
+
+_Hildegarde._
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+Shortly before six o'clock--dinner in the palace was rarely served
+until half-after eight--the Honorable Betty sat down to her
+writing-desk in her boudoir, which opened directly into that belonging
+to the princess, to write a few letters home.  A dinner was to be given
+to the state officials that night, and she knew from experience that
+after that solemn event was concluded it would be too late for the
+departing mails.  She seemed to have no difficulty in composing her
+thoughts and transferring them to paper.  There were times when she
+would lean back, nibble the end of her pen and smile in a dreamy,
+retrospective fashion.  No doubt her thoughts were pleasant and
+agreeable.
+
+She had completed addressing three envelopes, when she heard the door
+leading into the princess' boudoir open and close.  She turned to
+behold the princess herself.
+
+"Why, Gretchen, where are you going?"--noting the grey walking-dress,
+the grey hat, the sensible square-toed shoes.
+
+"I am going to visit a sick nurse," replied her Highness, avoiding the
+other's eye.
+
+"But shall you have time to dress for dinner?"
+
+"That depends.  Besides, the official dinners are a great bore."  Her
+Highness came forward, caught the dark head of the English girl between
+her gloved hands, pressed it against her heart, bent and kissed it.
+"What a lovely girl you are, Betty! always unruffled, always
+even-tempered.  You will grow old very gracefully."
+
+"I hope so; but I do not want to grow old at all.  Can't I go with
+you?"--eagerly.
+
+"Impossible; etiquette demands your presence here to-night.  If I am
+late my rank and my errand will be my excuse.  What jolly times we used
+to have in that quaint old boarding-school in St. John's Wood!  Do you
+remember how we went to your noble father's country place one
+Christmas?  I went _incognita_.  There was a children's party, and two
+boys had a fisticuff over you.  Nobody noticed me those days.  I was
+happy then."  The princess frowned.  It might have been the sign of
+repression of tears.  Betty, with her head against the other's bosom,
+could not see.  "I shall be lonely without you; for you can not stay on
+here for ever.  If you could, it would be different.  I shall miss you.
+Somehow you possess the faculty of calming me.  I am so easily stirred
+into a passion; my temper is so surface-wise.  Some day, however, I
+shall come to England and spend a whole month with you.  Will not that
+be fine?"
+
+"How melancholy your voice is!" cried Betty, trying without avail to
+remove her Highness' hands.
+
+"No, no; I want to hold you just so.  Perhaps I am sentimental
+to-night.  I have all the moods, agreeable and disagreeable. . . .  Do
+you love anybody?"
+
+"Love anybody?  What do you mean?"--rising in spite of the protesting
+hands.  "Do I look as if I were in love with anybody?"
+
+They searched each other's eyes.
+
+"Oh, you islanders!  Nobody can fathom what is going on in your hearts.
+You never make any mistakes; you always seem to know which paths to
+pursue; you are always right, always, always.  I'd like to see you
+commit a folly, Betty; it's a wicked wish, I know, but I honestly wish
+it.  There is certainly more Spanish blood in my veins than German.  I
+am always making mistakes; I never know which path is the right one; I
+am always wrong.  Do you believe it possible for a woman of birth and
+breeding to fall in love with a man whom she has known only three days?"
+
+"Three days!  Are you crazy, Hildegarde?"
+
+"Call me Gretchen!"--imperiously.
+
+"Gretchen, what has come over you?"
+
+"I asked you a question."
+
+"Well,"---a bit of color stealing into her cheeks,--"it is possible,
+but very foolish.  One ought to know something of a man's character,"
+went on Betty, "before permitting sentiment to enter into one's
+thoughts."
+
+"That is my own opinion, wise little white owl."  Her Highness took her
+friend in her arms and kissed her, held her at arm's length, drew her
+to her heart and again kissed her.  It was like a farewell.  Then she
+let her go.  "If there is anything you need, make yourself at home with
+my cases."  And her Highness was gone.
+
+Betty gazed at the door through which dear Gretchen had passed, gazed
+thoughtfully and anxiously.
+
+"How oddly she acted!  I wonder--"  She made as though to run to the
+door, but stopped, as if ashamed of the doubt which flashed into her
+mind and out again.
+
+The little clock on the mantel chimed forth the seventh hour, and she
+rang for her maid.  It was time that she began dressing.
+
+(Thus, for the present, I shall leave her.  There are several reasons
+why my imagination should take this step; for, what should I know of a
+woman's toilet, save in the general mysterious results?  However, I
+feel at liberty to steal into the duke's dressing-room.  Here, while I
+am not positive what happened, at least I can easily bring my
+imagination to bear upon the picture.)
+
+The duke was rather pleased with himself.  He liked to put on his state
+uniform, with its blue-grey frock, the white doeskin trousers which
+strapped under the patent-leather boots, the gold braid, the silver
+saber and the little rope of medals strung across his full, broad
+breast.  It was thus he created awe; it was thus he became truly the
+sovereign, urbane and majestic.
+
+His valet was buckling on the saber belt, when there came a respectful
+tap on the door.
+
+"Enter," said the duke, frowning.  One can not assert any particular
+degree of dignity with a valet at one's side.
+
+But it was only a corridor attendant who entered.  He approached the
+duke's valet and presented a letter.
+
+"For his serene Highness."  He bowed and backed out, closing the door
+gently.
+
+At once the valet bowed also and extended the letter to his master.
+Formality is a fine thing in a palace.
+
+"Ah, a letter," mused the duke, profoundly innocent of the viper which
+was about to sting him.  "My glasses, Gustav; my eye-glasses!"
+
+The valet hurried to the dresser and returned with the duke's state
+eye-glasses.  These the duke perched deliberately upon the end of his
+noble nose.  He opened the letter and read its contents.  The valet,
+watching him slyly, saw him grow pale, then red, and finally
+purple,--wrath has its rainbow.  His hands shook, the glasses slipped
+from his palpitating nose.  And I grieve to relate that his serene
+Highness swore something marvelous to hear.
+
+"Damnation!" he said, or some such word.  "The little fool!"  Then,
+suddenly remembering his dignity and the phrase that no man is a hero
+to his valet, he pointed to his glasses, at the same time returning the
+letter to its envelope, this letter which had caused this momentary
+perturbation.  "Call the minister of police.  You will find him in the
+smoking-room off the conservatory.  Make all haste!"
+
+The valet flew out of the door, while the duke began pacing up and down
+the room, muttering and growling, and balling his fists, and jingling
+his shining medals.  He kicked over an inoffensive hassock and his
+favorite hound, and I don't know how many long-winded German oaths he
+let go.  (It's a mighty hard language to swear in, especially when a
+man's under high pressure.)
+
+"The silly little fool!  And on a night like this!  Curse it!  This is
+what comes of mixing Spanish blood with German, of letting her aunt's
+wishes overrule mine in the matter of education.  But she shall be
+brought back, even if I have to ask the assistance of every sovereign
+in Europe.  This is the end.  And I had planned such a pleasant evening
+at cards!"  The duke was not wholly unselfish.
+
+In less than ten minutes' time the valet returned with the minister of
+police.  The duke immediately dismissed the valet.
+
+"Your serene Highness sent for me?" asked the minister, shaking in his
+boots.  There had been four ministers of police in three years.
+
+"Yes.  Read this."
+
+The minister took the letter.  He read it with bulging eyes.  "Good
+heavens, it must be one of her Highness' jokes!"
+
+"It will be a sorry joke for you if she crosses any of the frontiers."
+
+"But--"
+
+"But!" roared the duke.  "Don't you dare bring up that word scandal!
+Seek her.  Turn everybody out,--the army, the police, everybody.  When
+you locate her, telegraph, and have a special engine awaiting me at the
+station.  And if you play a poor game of cards to-night I'll take away
+your portfolio.  Remember, if she passes the frontier, off goes your
+official head!"
+
+"And the fellow, who is he?"
+
+"The good Lord only knows!  That girl! . . .  Witness these grey hairs.
+Put the rascal in irons; I'll attend to his case when I arrive. . . .
+Where is Steinbock?"
+
+"He was arrested this morning in Berlin; I have already applied for his
+extradition."
+
+"Good!  Now, be off with you!  Leave no stone unturned.  The expense is
+nothing; I will gladly pay it out of my private purse."
+
+"I'll find her," said the minister grimly.  His portfolio hung in the
+balance.
+
+All at once the duke struck his hands together jubilantly.
+
+"What is it?" asked the minister.  "A clue?"
+
+"Nothing, nothing!  Be gone; you are wasting time."
+
+The minister of police dashed out of the room as if pursued by a
+thousand devils.  He knew the duke's mood; it was not one to cross or
+irritate.  No sooner was he gone than the duke left his apartments and
+sought those of his niece.  It might be a joke; it would do no harm to
+find out positively.  But the beautiful suite was empty; even her
+Highness' maid was gone.  He then knocked on the door which led into
+Betty's boudoir, not very gently either.
+
+"Open!" he bellowed.
+
+"Who is it?" demanded a maid's frightened voice.
+
+"The duke!  Open instantly!"
+
+"It is quite impossible," said another voice from within.  It was calm
+and firm.  "I am dressing."
+
+"I must see you this instant.  Open or I shall force the door!"
+
+"Is your serene Highness mad?"
+
+"Will you open this door?"
+
+"You command it?"
+
+"A hundred times, yes!"
+
+"Since you command it."  The voice was no longer calm; it was sharp and
+angry.
+
+The wait seemed an hour to his serene Highness, serene no longer.  At
+length the bolt slipped, and the irate duke shouldered his way in.  The
+tableau which met his gaze embarrassed him for a space.  He was even
+ashamed.  The Honorable Betty stood behind a tall-backed chair, an
+opera cloak thrown hastily over her bare shoulders.  Her hair was
+partly down.  A beautiful woman in a rage is a fascinating sight.  The
+duke stared at her irresolutely.
+
+"Will your Highness explain this extraordinary intrusion?" she
+demanded.  "You have literally forced your way into my room while I am
+dressing.  It is utterly outside my understanding."
+
+"I am old enough to be your father."
+
+"That is the weakest excuse you could give me.  At your age one's blood
+ought to be cooled to a certain discretion.  My father, if he had had
+anything important to say, would have remained on the other side of the
+door.  I am not deaf.  Your explanation is in order."
+
+The duke had never been talked to so plainly in all his life.  For a
+while he was without voice, but had plenty of color.  "It is easily
+explained," he finally bawled out to her.  "Her Highness has eloped!"
+
+The girl stared at him with wide eyes.  "Eloped?" she breathed faintly.
+
+"Yes, eloped."
+
+Betty wondered if she heard aright, or if the duke were out of his
+mind; and then she recollected her conversation with the princess.  Her
+mouth opened as if to speak, but instead she closed her lips tightly.
+That wilful girl; whatever would become of her!
+
+"Give this letter to your mistress," said the duke to the maid.  "I
+will station myself in the window while she reads it."
+
+He strode over to the window and drew the curtains about him.  Below,
+the night crowds were wandering about the streets; the band was playing
+in the Volksgarten; carriages were rolling to and from the opera; the
+fountain in the center of the square sparkled merrily in the glare of
+the arc lights.  But the duke saw none of these things.  Rather he saw
+the telegraphic despatches flying to the four ends of the globe,
+telling the peoples that he, the Grand Duke of Barscheit, had been
+outwitted by a girl; that the Princess Hildegarde had eloped with a man
+who was not the chosen one.  In other words, he saw himself laughed at
+from one end of the continent to the other.  (There is something very
+funny in domestic troubles when they occur in another man's family!)
+No, the duke saw not the beauty of the night; instead of stars he saw
+asterisks, that abominable astronomy of the lampoonists.   He had never
+doubted the girl's courage; but to elope! . . .  And _who_ the devil
+had eloped with her?  He knew the girl's natural pride; whoever the
+fellow might be, he could be no less than a gentleman.  But who, who?
+
+"Your Highness?" called a quiet (I might say deceptive) voice.
+
+The duke came forth.
+
+"Your Highness will do me the honor to make out my passports to-night.
+I desire to leave the palace immediately.  The affront you have put
+upon me, even under the circumstances, is wholly unpardonable.  You
+imply that I have had something to do with her Highness' act.  You will
+excuse me to her serene Highness, whom I love and respect.  My dignity
+demands that I leave at once."
+
+A flicker--but only a flicker--of admiration lighted the duke's eyes.
+It was a plucky little baggage.
+
+"I will issue your passports upon one condition," he said.
+
+"And that condition?"--proudly.
+
+"Tell me everything: Where has she gone, and with whom?"
+
+"I know absolutely nothing."
+
+Silence.  The duke gnawed his mustache, while his eyes strove in vain
+to beat down hers.
+
+"Thank you, I believe you."  Then, giving way to his wrath: "You
+English people, you are all the same!  You never understand.  I have
+brought up this girl and surrounded her with every luxury; against my
+will and reason I have let her become educated in foreign lands; I have
+given her the utmost freedom; this is how I am repaid."
+
+"You forgot one important thing, your Highness."
+
+"What?"--haughtily.
+
+"Affection.  You have never gives her that."
+
+The duke felt himself beaten into silence, and this did not add to his
+amiability.
+
+"Your passports shall be made out immediately; but I beg of you to
+reconsider your determination, and to remain here as long as you
+please.  For the sake of appearances, I desire your presence at the
+dinner-table."
+
+"I shall leave as soon as the dinner is over."  This girl's mind seemed
+immovable.
+
+The duke shrugged.  There was no use in beating against this wall.  "I
+wish you knew whither she has gone."
+
+"Frankly, if I knew I should not tell your Highness.  My father taught
+me never to betray a confidence."
+
+"As you will.  I beg your pardon for the abruptness of my entrance," he
+said, choking down his wrath.  He could not allow himself to be
+out-done in the matter of coolness by this chit of an English girl.
+
+"I grant it you."
+
+The duke then retired, or, I should say, retreated.  He wandered
+aimlessly about the palace, waiting for news and making wretched all
+those with whom he came in contact.  The duchess was not feeling well;
+a wrangle with her was out of the question; besides, he would make
+himself hoarse.  So he waited and waited, and re-read the princess'
+letter.  At dinner he ate nothing; his replies were curt and surly.
+The Honorable Betty also ate nothing.  She sat, wondering if her maid
+could pack five trunks in two hours.
+
+
+I had quite a time of it myself that night.  As I predicted, I received
+a visit from the police in regard to Mr. Scharfenstein.  I explained
+the matter the best I knew how, and confessed that he had hurriedly
+left the city for parts unknown.  I did not consider it absolutely
+essential that I should declare that I had seen him enter a railway
+carriage for Dresden.  Besides this, I had to stand sponsor for the
+other boys and explain at length that they were in no wise concerned
+with Mr. Scharfenstein's great offense.  The police were courteous and
+deferential, admitting that Max was the culprit.  He had drawn a
+revolver in a public restaurant; he had broken a grave law.  The
+inspector wrote a dozen telegrams and despatched them from the
+consulate.  I had, at his request, offered him the blanks.
+
+At eleven I received a telephone call from the Continental Hotel.  It
+was a woman's voice, and my heart beat violently as I recognized it.  I
+was requested to come at once to the hotel.  I should find her in the
+ladies' salon.  I walked the distance in ten minutes.  She told me all
+that had happened.
+
+"By this time it is all over the city.  But it is all nonsense about
+her Highness' eloping with any one.  She is too nobly born to commit
+such a folly.  She has simply run away; and I very much fear that she
+will be caught.  The duke is in a terrible temper.  I could not remain
+in the palace, for the duke suspects that I know where she has gone.  I
+have my passports.  The British consul is away hunting.  You were the
+only English-speaking person to whom I could come for aid."
+
+"I am very glad."
+
+"Will it be asking too much of you to aid me in leaving Barscheit
+to-night?  There is a train at one o'clock for Dresden."
+
+"Leave Barscheit?"  My heart sank dismally.
+
+"Oh,"--with a smile,--"the world is small and England is even smaller."
+
+"I shall have to give up the consulate,"--gravely.
+
+She laughed.  "I shall be in England for something more than a year.
+Truthfully, I hunger for mine own people.  You know what that hunger
+is."
+
+"Yes.  I shall go home as often as possible now.  I always stop a few
+days in London."
+
+"Then I shall expect to see you; perhaps during the holidays.  I am
+determined to leave Barscheit before the duke changes his mind.
+Heavens, he may put me in prison!"
+
+"I doubt that."
+
+I saw to it that she secured a sleeping-compartment all to herself,
+took charge of her luggage and carefully examined her papers.  Then we
+had a small supper.  I wanted to ask a thousand questions, but my
+courage lacked the proper key.
+
+"May I have the pleasure of writing to you occasionally?" I finally
+ventured.  "I am sure that you would like a bit of Barscheit gossip
+from time to time."
+
+"Write to me, by all means.  I shall await these letters with great
+pleasure."
+
+"And answer them?"--growing bolder.
+
+"It is easily seen that you are a diplomat.  Yes, I shall answer them.
+Heigh-ho!  I shall miss my rides."  What a brave little woman she was!
+
+Finally we started for the station, and I saw her to the gates.  We
+shook hands, and I was sure I felt a very friendly pressure; and then
+she disappeared.  There was altogether a different feeling in my heart
+as I watched _her_ train draw out.  Eh, well, the world is small and
+England is smaller, even as she had said.  It's a mighty fine world,
+when you get the proper angle of vision.
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+There was very little light in the compartment into which Max had so
+successfully dived.  Some one had turned down the wicks of the oil
+lamps which hung suspended between the luggage-racks above, and the
+gloom was notable rather than subdued.  So far as he was concerned he
+was perfectly contented; his security was all the greater.  He pressed
+his face against the window and peered out.  The lights of the city
+flashed by, and finally grew few and far between, and then came the
+blackness of the country.  It would take an hour and a half to cross
+the frontier, and there would be no stop this side, for which he was
+grateful.  He swore, mumbling.  To have come all this way to study, and
+then to leg it in this ignominious fashion!  It was downright
+scandalous!  Whoever heard of such laws?  Of course he had been rather
+silly in pulling his gun, for even in the United States--where he
+devoutly wished himself at that moment--it was a misdemeanor to carry
+concealed weapons.  He felt of his cheek.  He would return some day,
+and if it was the last thing he ever did, he would slash that
+lieutenant's cheeks.  The insolent beggar!  To be struck and not to
+strike back!  He choked.
+
+Gradually his eyes became accustomed to the dim light, and he cast
+about.
+
+"The deuce!" he muttered.
+
+He was not alone.  Huddled in the far corner was a woman heavily
+veiled.  Young or old, he could not tell.  She sat motionless, and
+appeared to be looking out of the opposite window.  Well, so long as
+she did not bother him he would not bother her.  But he would much
+rather have been alone.
+
+He took out his passport and tried to read it.  It was impossible.  So
+he rose, steadied himself, and turned up the wick of one of the lamps.
+
+He did not hear the muffled exclamation which came from the other end.
+
+He dropped back upon the cushion and began to read.  So he was George
+Ellis, an American student in good standing; he was aged twenty-nine,
+had blue eyes, light hair, was six feet tall, and weighed one hundred
+and fifty-four pounds.  Ha! he had, then, lost thirty pounds in as many
+minutes?  At this rate he wouldn't cast a shadow when he struck
+Dresden.  He had studied three years at the college; but what the deuce
+had he studied?  If they were only asleep at the frontier!  He returned
+the document to his pocket, and as he did so his fingers came into
+contact with the purse he had picked up in the road that
+morning--Hildegarde von Heideloff.  What meant Fate in crossing _her_
+path with his?  He had been perfectly contented in mind and heart
+before that first morning ride; and here he was, sighing like a
+furnace.  She had been merely pretty on Monday, on Tuesday she had been
+handsome, on Wednesday she had been adorable; now she was the most
+beautiful woman that ever lived.  (Ah, the progressive adjective, that
+litany of love!)  Alas! it was quite evident that she had passed out of
+his life as suddenly and mysteriously as she had entered it.  He would
+keep the purse as a souvenir, and some day, when he was an old man, he
+would open it.
+
+There is something compelling in the human eye, a magnetism upon which
+Science has yet to put her cold and unromantic finger.  Have you never
+experienced the sensation that some [Transcriber's note: someone?] was
+looking at you?  Doubtless you have.  Well, Max presently turned his
+glance toward his silent fellow traveler.  She had lifted her veil and
+was staring at him with wondering, fearing eyes.  These eyes were
+somewhat red, as if the little bees of grief had stung them.
+
+"You!" he cried, the blood thumping into his throat.  He tossed his hat
+to the floor and started for her end of the compartment.
+
+She held up a hand as if to ward off his approach.  "I can hear
+perfectly," she said; "it is not needful that you should come any
+nearer."
+
+He sat down confused.  He could not remember when his heart had beaten
+so irregularly.
+
+"May I ask how you came to enter this compartment?" she asked coldly.
+
+"I jumped in,"--simply.  What was to account for this strange attitude?
+
+"So I observe.  What I meant was, by what right?"
+
+"It happened to be the only door at hand, and I was in a great hurry."
+Where was his usual collectedness of thought?  He was embarrassed and
+angry at the knowledge.
+
+"Did you follow me?"  Her nostrils were palpitating and the corners of
+her mouth were drawn aggressively.
+
+"Follow you?" amazed that such an idea should enter into her head.
+"Why, you are the last person I ever expected to see again.  Indeed,
+you are only a fairy-story; there is, I find, no such person as
+Hildegarde von Heideloff."  Clearly he was recovering.
+
+"I know it,"--candidly.  "It was my mother's name, and I saw fit to use
+it."  She really hoped he _hadn't_ followed her.
+
+"You had no need to use it, or any name, for that matter.  When I gave
+you my name it was given in good faith.  The act did not imply that I
+desired to know yours."
+
+"But you did!"--imperiously.
+
+"Yes.  Curiosity is the brain of our mental anatomy."  When Max began
+to utter tall phrases it was a sign of even-balanced mentality.
+
+"And if I hadn't told you my name, you would have asked for it."
+
+"Not the first day."
+
+"Well, you would have on Tuesday."
+
+"Not a bit of a doubt."  He certainly wouldn't show her how much he
+cared.  (What was she doing in this carriage?  She had said nothing
+that morning about traveling.)
+
+"Well, you will admit that under the circumstances I had the right to
+give any name it pleased me to give."
+
+He came over to her end and sat down.  Her protests (half-hearted) he
+ignored.
+
+"I can not see very well from over there," he explained.
+
+"It is not necessary that you should see; you can hear what I have to
+say."
+
+"Very well; I'll go back."  And he did.  He made a fine pretense of
+looking out of the window.  Why should this girl cross his path at this
+unhappy moment?
+
+There was a pause.
+
+"You are not near so nice as you were this morning," she said presently.
+
+"I can't be nice and sit away over here."
+
+"What made you jump into this compartment, of all others?"
+
+"I wasn't particular what compartment I got into so long as I got into
+one.  As I said, I was in a hurry."
+
+"You said nothing this morning about going away from Barscheit."
+
+"Neither did you."
+
+Another pause.  (I take it, from the character of this dialogue, that
+their morning rides must have been rather interesting.)
+
+"You told me that you were in Barscheit to study nerves,"--wickedly.
+
+"So thought I, up to half-past nine to-night; but it appears that I am
+not,"--gloomily.
+
+"You are running away, too?"--with suppressed eagerness.
+
+"Running away, too!" he repeated.  "Are _you_ running away?"
+
+"As fast as ever the train can carry me.  I am on the way to Dresden."
+
+"Dresden?  It seems that Fate is determined that we shall travel
+together this day.  Dresden is my destination also."
+
+"Let me see your passports,"--extending a firm white hand.
+
+He obeyed docilely, as docilely as though he were married.  She gave
+the paper one angry glance and tossed it back.
+
+"George Ellis; so that is your name?"--scornfully.  "You told me that
+it was Scharfenstein.  I did not ask you to tell me your name; you took
+that service upon yourself."  She recalled the duke's declaration that
+he should have her every movement watched.  If this American was
+watching her, the duke was vastly more astute than she had given him
+the credit for being.  "Are you in the pay of the duke?  Come, confess
+that you have followed me, that you have been watching me for these
+four days."  How bitter the cup of romance tasted to her now!  She had
+been deceived.  "Well, you shall never take me from this train save by
+force.  I _will_ not go back!"
+
+"I haven't the slightest idea of what you are talking about," he said,
+mightily discouraged.  "I never saw this country till Monday, and never
+want to see it again."
+
+"From what are you running away then?"--skeptically.
+
+"I am running away from a man who slapped me in the face,"--bitterly;
+and all his wrongs returned to him.
+
+"Indeed!"--derisively.
+
+"Yes, I!"  He thrust out both his great arms miserably.  "I'm a
+healthy-looking individual, am I not, to be running away from anything?"
+
+"Especially after having been a soldier in the Spanish War.  Why did
+you tell me that your name was Scharfenstein?"
+
+"Heaven on earth, it _is_ Scharfenstein!  I'm simply taking my chance
+on another man's passports."
+
+"I am unconvinced,"--ungraciously.  She was, however, inordinately
+happy; at the sight of the picture of woe on his face all her trust in
+him returned.  She believed every word he said, but she wanted to know
+everything.
+
+"Very well; I see that I must tell you everything to get back into your
+good graces--Fraeulein von Heideloff."
+
+"If you _ever_ were in my good graces!"
+
+Graphically he recounted the adventure at Mueller's.  He was a capital
+story-teller, and he made a very good impression.
+
+"If it hadn't been for the princess' eloping I should not have been
+here," he concluded, "for my friend would have had a waiter bring me
+that chair."
+
+"The princess' eloping!"--aghast.
+
+"Why, yes.  It seems that she eloped to-night; so the report came from
+the palace."
+
+The girl sat tight, as they say; then suddenly she burst into
+uncontrollable laughter.  It was the drollest thing she had ever heard.
+She saw the duke tearing around the palace, ordering the police hither
+and thither, sending telegrams, waking his advisers and dragging them
+from their beds.  My! what a hubbub!  Suddenly she grew serious.
+
+"Have you the revolver still?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Toss it out of the window; quick!"
+
+"But--"
+
+"Do as I say.  They will naturally search you at the frontier."
+
+He took out the revolver and gazed regretfully at it, while the girl
+could not repress a shudder.
+
+"What a horrible-looking thing!"
+
+"I carried it all through the war."
+
+"Throw it away and buy a new one."
+
+"But the associations!"
+
+"They will lock you up as a dangerous person."  She let down the window
+and the cold night air rushed in.  "Give it to me."  He did so.  She
+flung it far into the night.  "There, that is better.  Some day you
+will understand."
+
+"I shall never understand anything in this country--What are _you_
+running away from?"
+
+"A man with a red nose."
+
+"A red nose?  Are they so frightful here as all that?"
+
+"This one is.  He wants--to marry me."
+
+"Marry you!"
+
+"Yes; rather remarkable that any man should desire me as a wife, isn't
+it?"
+
+He saw that she was ironical.  Having nothing to say, he said nothing,
+but looked longingly at the vacant space beside her.
+
+She rested her chin upon the sill of the window and gazed at the stars.
+A wild rush of the wind beat upon her face, bringing a thousand vague
+heavy perfumes and a pleasant numbing.  How cleverly she had eluded the
+duke's police!  What a brilliant idea it had been to use her private
+carriage key to steal into the carriage compartment long before the
+train was made up!  It had been some trouble to light the lamps, but in
+doing so she had avoided the possible dutiful guard.  He _had_ peered
+in, but, seeing that the lamps were lighted, concluded that one of his
+fellows had been the rounds.
+
+The police would watch all those who entered or left the station, but
+never would they think to search a carriage into which no one had been
+seen to enter.  But oh, what a frightful predicament she was in!  All
+she possessed in the world was a half-crown, scarce enough for her
+breakfast.  And if she did not find her governess at once she would be
+lost utterly, and in Dresden!  She choked back the sob.  Why couldn't
+they let her be?  She didn't want to marry any one--that is, just yet.
+She didn't want her wings clipped, before she had learned what a fine
+thing it was to fly.  She was young.
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"What is it?" she said, turning.
+
+"I have something of yours," answered Max, fumbling in his pocket,
+grateful for some excuse to break the silence.  "You dropped your purse
+this morning.  Permit me to return it to you.  I hadn't the remotest
+idea how I was going to return it.  In truth, I had just made up my
+mind to keep it as a souvenir."
+
+She literally snatched it from his extended hand.
+
+"My purse!  My purse!  And I thought it was gone for ever!" hugging it
+hysterically to her heart.  She feverishly tried to unlatch the clasps.
+
+"You need not open it," he said quietly, even proudly, "I had not
+thought of looking into it, even to prove your identity."
+
+"Pardon!  I did not think.  I was so crazy to see it again."  She laid
+the purse beside her.  "You see," with an hysterical catch in her
+voice, "all the money I had in the world was in that purse, and I was
+running away without any money, and only Heaven knows what misfortunes
+were about to befall me.  There were, and are, a thousand crowns in the
+purse."
+
+"A thousand crowns?"
+
+"In bank-notes.  Thank you, thank you!  I am so happy!"--clasping her
+hands.  Then, with a smile as warm as the summer's sun, she added: "You
+may--come and sit close beside me.  You may even smoke."
+
+Max grew light-headed.  This was as near Heaven as he ever expected to
+get.
+
+"Open your purse and look into it," he said.  "I'm a brute; you are
+dying to do so."
+
+"May I?"--shyly.
+
+Then it came into Max's mind, with all the brilliancy of a dynamo
+spark, that this was the one girl in all the world, the ideal he had
+been searching for; and he wanted to fall at her feet and tell her so.
+
+"Look!" she cried gleefully, holding up the packet of bank-notes.
+
+"I wish," he said boyishly, "that you didn't have any money at all, so
+I could help you and feel that you depended upon me."
+
+She smiled.  How a woman loves this simple kind of flattery!  It tells
+her better what she may wish to know than a thousand hymns sung in
+praise of her beauty.
+
+But even as he spoke a chill of horror went over Max.  He put his hand
+hurriedly into his vest-pocket.  Fool!  Ass!  How like a man!  In
+changing his clothes at the consulate he had left his money, and all he
+had with him was some pocket change.
+
+The girl saw his action and read the sequence in the look of dismay
+which spread over his face.
+
+"You have no money either?" she cried.  She separated the packet of
+notes into two equal parts.  "Here!"
+
+He smiled weakly.
+
+"Take them!"
+
+"No, a thousand times, no!  I have a watch, and there's always a
+pawnbroker handy, even in Europe."
+
+"You offered to help me," she insisted.
+
+"It is not quite the same."
+
+"Take quarter of it."
+
+"No.  Don't you understand?  I really couldn't."
+
+"One, just one, then!" she pleaded.
+
+An idea came to him.  "Very well; I will take one."  And when she gave
+it to him he folded it reverently and put it away.
+
+"I understand!" she cried.  "You are just going to keep it; you don't
+intend to spend it at all.  Don't be foolish!"
+
+"I shall notify my friend, when we reach Doppelkinn, that I am without
+funds, and he will telegraph to Dresden."
+
+"Your friends were very wise in sending you away as they did.  Aren't
+you always getting into trouble?"
+
+"Yes.  But I doubt the wisdom of my friends in sending me away as they
+did,"--with a frank glance into her eyes.  How beautiful they were, now
+that the sparkle of mischief had left them!
+
+She looked away.  If only Doppelkinn were young like this!  She sighed.
+
+"Can they force one to marry in this country?" he asked abruptly.
+
+"When one is in my circumstances."
+
+He wanted to ask what those circumstances were, but what he said was:
+"Is there anything I can do to help you?"
+
+"You are even more helpless than I am,"--softly.  "If you are caught
+you will be imprisoned.  I shall only suffer a temporary loss of
+liberty; my room will be my dungeon-keep."  How big and handsome and
+strong he looked!  What a terrible thing it was to be born in purple!
+"Tell me about yourself."
+
+His hand strayed absently toward his upper vest-pocket, and then fell
+to his side.  He licked his lips.
+
+"Smoke!" she commanded intuitively.  "I said that you might."
+
+"I can talk better when I smoke," he advanced rather lamely.  "May I,
+then?"--gratefully.
+
+"I command it!"
+
+Wasn't it fine to be ordered about in this fashion?  If only the train
+might go on and on and on, thousands of miles!  He applied a match to
+the end of his cigar and leaned back against the cushion.
+
+"Where shall I begin?"
+
+"At the beginning.  I'm not one of those novel readers who open a book
+at random.  I do not appreciate effects till I have found out the
+causes.  I want to know everything about you, for you interest me."
+
+He began.  He told her that he was a German by birth and blood.  He had
+been born either in Germany or in Austria, he did not know which.  He
+had been found in Tyrol, in a railway station.  A guard had first
+picked him up, then a kind-hearted man named Scharfenstein had taken
+him in charge, advertised for his parents and, hearing nothing, had
+taken him to America with him.
+
+"If they catch you," she interrupted, "do not under any consideration
+let them know that you were not born in the United States.  Your friend
+the American consul could do nothing for you then."
+
+"Trust me to keep silent, then."  He continued: "I have lived a part of
+my life on the great plains; have ridden horses for days and days at a
+time.  As a deputy sheriff I have arrested desperadoes, have shot and
+been shot at.  Then I went East and entered a great college; went in
+for athletics, and wore my first dress-suit.  Then my foster-parent
+died, leaving me his fortune.  And as I am frugal, possibly because of
+my German origin, I have more money than I know what to do with."  He
+ceased.
+
+"Go on," she urged.
+
+"When the Spanish War broke out I entered a cavalry regiment as a
+trooper.  I won rank, but surrendered it after the battle of Santiago.
+And now there are but two things in the world I desire to complete my
+happiness.  I want to know who I am."
+
+"And the other thing?"
+
+"The other thing?  I can't tell _you_ that!"--hurriedly.
+
+"Ah, I believe I know.  You have left some sweetheart back in America."
+All her interest In his narrative took a strange and unaccountable
+slump.
+
+"No; I have often admired women, but I have left no sweetheart back in
+America.  If I had I should now feel very uncomfortable."
+
+Somehow she couldn't meet his eyes.  She recognized, with vague anger,
+that she was glad that he had no sweetheart.  Ah, well, nobody could
+rob her of her right to dream, and this was a very pleasant dream.
+
+"The train is slowing down," he said suddenly.
+
+"We are approaching the frontier."  She shaded her eyes and searched
+the speeding blackness outside.
+
+"How far is it to the capital?" he asked.
+
+"It lies two miles beyond the frontier."
+
+Silence fell upon them, and at length the train stopped with a jerk.
+In what seemed to them an incredibly short time a guard unlocked the
+door.
+
+He peered in.
+
+"Here they are, sure enough, your Excellency!" addressing some one in
+the dark beyond.
+
+An officer from the military household of the Prince of Doppelkinn was
+instantly framed in the doorway.  The girl tried to lower her veil; too
+late.
+
+"I am sorry to annoy your Highness," he began, "but the grand duke's
+orders are that you shall follow me to the castle.  Lieutenant, bring
+two men to tie this fellow's hands,"--nodding toward Scharfenstein.
+
+Max stared dumbly at the girl.  All the world seemed to have slipped
+from under his feet.
+
+"Forgive me!" she said, low but impulsively.
+
+"What does it mean?"  His heart was very heavy.
+
+"I am the Princess Hildegarde of Barscheit, and your entering this
+carriage has proved the greatest possible misfortune to you."
+
+He stared helplessly--And everything had been going along so
+nicely--the dinner he had planned in Dresden, and all that!
+
+"And they believe," the girl went on, "that I have eloped with you to
+avoid marrying the prince."  She turned to the officer in the doorway.
+"Colonel, on the word of a princess, this gentleman is in no wise
+concerned.  I ran away alone."
+
+Max breathed easier.
+
+"I should be most happy to believe your Highness, but you will honor my
+strict observance of orders."  He passed a telegram to her.
+
+
+_Search train for Doppelkinn.  Princess has eloped.  Arrest and hold
+pair till I arrive on special engine._
+
+_Barscheit._
+
+
+The telegraph is the true arm of the police.  The princess sighed
+pathetically.  It was all over.
+
+"Your passports," said the colonel to Max.
+
+Max surrendered his papers.  "You need not tie my hands," he said
+calmly.  "I will come peaceably."
+
+The colonel looked inquiringly at the princess.
+
+"He will do as he says."
+
+"Very good.  I should regret to shoot him upon so short an
+acquaintance."  The colonel beckoned for them to step forth.
+"Everything is prepared.  There is a carriage for the convenience of
+your Highness; Herr Ellis shall ride horseback with the troop."
+
+Max often wondered why he did not make a dash for it, or a running
+fight.  What he had gone through that night was worth a good fight.
+
+"Good-by," said the princess, holding out her hand.
+
+Scharfenstein gravely bent his head and kissed it.
+
+"Good-by, Prince Charming!" she whispered, so softly that Max scarcely
+heard her.
+
+Then she entered the closed carriage and was driven up the dark,
+tree-enshrouded road that led to the Castle of Doppelkinn.
+
+"What are you going to do with me?" Max asked, as he gathered up the
+reins of his mount.
+
+"That we shall discuss later.  Like as not something very unpleasant.
+For one thing you are passing under a forged passport.  You are _not_
+an American, no matter how well you may speak that language.  You are a
+German."
+
+"There are Germans in the United States, born and bred there, who speak
+German tolerably well," replied Max easily.  He was wondering if it
+would not be a good scheme to tell a straightforward story and ask to
+be returned to Barscheit.  But that would probably appeal to the
+officer that he was a coward and was trying to lay the blame on the
+princess.
+
+"I do not say that I can prove it," went on the colonel; "I simply
+affirm that you are a German, even to the marrow."
+
+"You have the advantage of the discussion."  No; he would confess
+nothing.  If he did he might never see the princess again. . . .  The
+princess!  As far away as yonder stars!  It was truly a very
+disappointing world to live in.
+
+"Now, then, forward!" cried the colonel to his men, and they set off at
+a sharp trot.
+
+From time to time, as a sudden twist in the road broke the straight
+line, Max could see the careening lights of the princess' carriage.  A
+princess!  And he was a man without a country or a name!
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+The castle of the prince of Doppelkinn rested in the very heart of the
+celebrated vineyards.  Like all German castles I ever saw or heard of,
+it was a relic of the Middle Ages, with many a crumbling, useless tower
+and battlement.  It stood on the south side of a rugged hill which was
+gashed by a narrow but turbulent stream, in which lurked the rainbow
+trout that lured the lazy man from his labors afield.  (And who among
+us shall cast a stone at the lazy man?  Not I!)  If you are fortunate
+enough to run about Europe next year, as like as not you will be
+mailing home the "Doppelkinn" post-card.
+
+More than once I have wandered about the castle's interior, cavernous
+and musty, strolled through its galleries of ancient armor, searched
+its dungeon-keeps, or loitered to soliloquize in the gloomy judgment
+chamber.  How time wars upon custom!  In olden times they created pain;
+now they strive to subdue it.
+
+I might go into a detailed history of the Doppelkinns, only it would be
+absurd and unnecessary, since it would be inappreciable under the name
+of Doppelkinn, which happens to be, as doubtless you have already
+surmised, a name of mine own invention.  I could likewise tell you how
+the ancient dukes of Barscheit fought off the insidious flattery of
+Napoleon, only it is a far interest, and Barscheit is simply a
+characteristic, not a name.  Some day I may again seek a diplomatic
+mission, and what government would have for its representative a teller
+of tales out of school?
+
+It was, then, to continue the fortunes and misfortunes of Max
+Scharfenstein, close to midnight when the cavalcade crossed the old
+moat-bridge, which hadn't moved on its hinges within a hundred years.
+They were not entering by the formal way, which was a flower-bedded,
+terraced road.  It was the rear entrance.  The iron doors swung outward
+with a plaintive moaning, like that of a man roused out of his sleep,
+and Max found himself in an ancient guard-room, now used as a kind of
+secondary stable.  The men dismounted.
+
+"This way, Herr Ellis," said the colonel, with a mocking bow.  He
+pointed toward a broad stone staircase.
+
+"All I ask," said Max, "is a fair chance to explain my presence here."
+
+"All in due time.  Forward!  The prince is waiting, and his temper may
+not be as smooth as usual."
+
+With two troopers in front of him and two behind, Max climbed the steps
+readily enough.  They wouldn't dare kill him, whatever they did.  He
+tried to imagine himself the hero of some Scott or Dumas tale, with a
+grim cardinal somewhere above, and oubliettes and torture chambers
+besetting his path.  But the absurdity of his imagination, so
+thoroughly Americanized, evoked a ringing laughter.  The troopers eyed
+him curiously.  He might laugh later, but it was scarcely probable.  A
+tramp through a dark corridor and they came to the west wing of the
+castle.  It was here that the old prince lived, comfortably and
+luxuriously enough, you may take my word for it.
+
+A door opened, flooding the corridor with light.  Max felt himself
+gently pushed over the threshold.  He stood in the great living-room of
+the modern Doppelkinns.  The first person he saw was the princess.  She
+sat on an oriental divan.  Her hands were folded; she sat very erect;
+her chin was tilted ominously; there was so little expression on her
+pale face that she might have been an incomplete statue.  But Max was
+almost certain that there was just the faintest flicker of a smile in
+her eyes as she saw him enter.  Glorious eyes!  (It is a bad sign when
+a man begins to use the superlative adjectives!)
+
+The other occupant of the room was an old man, fat and bald, with a
+nose like a russet pear.  He was stalking--if it is possible for a
+short man to stalk--up and down the length of the room, and, judging
+from the sonorous, rumbling sound, was communing half-aloud.
+Betweenwhiles he was rubbing his tender nose, carefully and lovingly.
+When a man's nose resembles a russet pear it generally is tender.
+Whoever he was, Max saw that he was vastly agitated about something.
+
+This old gentleman was (or supposed he was) the last of his line, the
+Prince of Doppelkinn, famous for his wines and his love of them.  There
+was, so his subjects said, but one tender spot in the heart of this old
+man, and that was the memory of the wife of his youth.  (How the years,
+the good and bad, crowd behind us, pressing us on and on!) However,
+there was always surcease in the cellars--that is, the Doppelkinn
+cellars.
+
+"Ha!" he roared as he saw the blinking Max.  "So this is the fellow!"
+He made an eloquent gesture.  "Your Highness must be complimented upon
+your good taste.  The fellow isn't bad-looking."
+
+"When you listen to reason, Prince," replied the girl calmly, "you will
+apologize to the gentleman and give him his liberty."
+
+"Oh, he is a gentleman, is he?"
+
+"You might learn from him many of the common rules of
+courtesy,"--tranquilly.
+
+"Who the devil are you?" the prince demanded of Max.
+
+"I should be afraid to tell you.  I hold that I am Max Scharfenstein,
+but the colonel here declares that my name is Ellis.  Who are you?"
+Max wasn't the least bit frightened.  These were not feudal times.
+
+The prince stared at him.  The insolent puppy!
+
+"I am the prince."
+
+"Ah, your serene Highness,"--began Max, bowing.
+
+"I am not called 'serene'"--rudely.  "The grand duke is 'serene.'"
+
+"Permit me to doubt that," interposed the girl, smiling.
+
+Max laughed aloud, which didn't improve his difficulties any.
+
+"I have asked you who you are!" bawled the prince, his nose turning
+purple.
+
+"My name is Max Scharfenstein.  I am an American.  If you will wire the
+American consulate at Barscheit, you will learn that I have spoken the
+truth.  All this is a mistake.  The princess did not elope with me."
+
+"His papers give the name of Ellis," said the colonel, touching his cap.
+
+"Humph!  We'll soon find out who he is and what may be done with him.
+I'll wait for the duke.  Take him into the library and lock the door.
+It's a hundred feet out of the window, and if he wants to break his
+neck, he may do so.  It will save us so much trouble.  Take him away;
+take him away!" his rage boiling to the surface.
+
+The princess shrugged.
+
+"I can't talk to you either," said the prince, turning his glowering
+eyes upon the girl.  "I can't trust myself."
+
+"Oh, do not mind me.  I understand that your command of expletives is
+rather original.  Go on; it will be my only opportunity."  The princess
+rocked backward and forward on the divan.  Wasn't it funny!
+
+"Lord help me, and I was perfectly willing to marry this girl!"  The
+prince suddenly calmed down.  "What have I ever done to offend you?"
+
+"Nothing," she was forced to admit.
+
+"I was lonely.  I wanted youth about.  I wanted to hear laughter that
+came from the heart and not from the mind.  I do not see where I am to
+be blamed.  The duke suggested you to me; I believed you to be willing.
+Why did you not say to me that I was not agreeable?  It would have
+simplified everything."
+
+"I am sorry," she said contritely.  When he spoke like this he wasn't
+so unlovable.
+
+"People say," he went on, "that I spend most of my time in my
+wine-cellars.  Well,"--defiantly,--"what else is there for me to do?  I
+am alone."  Max came within his range of vision.  "Take him away, I
+tell you!"
+
+And the colonel hustled Max into the library.
+
+"Don't try the window," he warned, but with rather a pleasant smile.
+He was only two or three years older than Max.  "If you do, you'll
+break your neck."
+
+"I promise not to try," replied Max.  "My neck will serve me many years
+yet."
+
+"It will not if you have the habit of running away with persons above
+you in quality.  Actions like that are not permissible in Europe."  The
+colonel spoke rather grimly, for all his smile.
+
+The door slammed, there was a grinding of the key in the lock, and Max
+was alone.
+
+The library at Doppelkinn was all the name implied.  The cases were low
+and ran around the room, and were filled with romance, history,
+biography, and even poetry.  The great circular reading-table was
+littered with new books, periodicals and illustrated weeklies.  Once
+Doppelkinn had been threatened with a literary turn of mind, but a bad
+vintage coming along at the same time had effected a permanent cure.
+
+
+Max slid into a chair and took up a paper, turning the pages at
+random.--What was the matter with the room?  Certainly it was not
+close, nor damp, nor chill.  What was it?  He let the paper fall to the
+floor, and his eyes roved from one object to another.--Where had he
+seen that Chinese mask before, and that great silver-faced clock?
+Somehow, mysterious and strange as it seemed, all this was vaguely
+familiar to him.  Doubtless he had seen a picture of the room
+somewhere.  He rose and wandered about.
+
+In one corner of the bookshelves stood a pile of boy's books and some
+broken toys with the dust of ages upon them.  He picked up a row of
+painted soldiers, and balanced them thoughtfully on his hand.  Then he
+looked into one of the picture-books.  It was a Santa Claus story; some
+of the pictures were torn and some stuck together, a reminder of
+sticky, candied hands.  He gently replaced the book and the toys, and
+stared absently into space.  How long he stood that way he did not
+recollect, but he was finally aroused by the sound of slamming doors
+and new voices.  He returned to his chair and waited for the
+denouement, which the marrow in his bones told him was about to
+approach.
+
+It seemed incredible that he, of all persons, should be plucked out of
+the practical ways of men and thrust into the unreal fantasies of
+romance.  A hubbub in a restaurant, a headlong dash into a carriage
+compartment, a long ride with a princess, and all within three short
+hours!  It was like some weird dream.  And how the deuce would it end?
+
+He gazed at the toys again.
+
+And then the door opened and he was told to come out.  The grand duke
+had arrived.
+
+"This will be the final round-up," he laughed quietly, his thought
+whimsically traveling back to the great plains and the long rides under
+the starry night.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+The Grand Duke of Barscheit was tall and angular and weather-beaten,
+and the whites of his eyes bespoke a constitution as sound and hard as
+his common sense.  As Max entered he was standing at the side of
+Doppelkinn.
+
+"There he is!" shouted the prince.  "Do you know who he is?"
+
+The duke took a rapid inventory.  "Never set eyes upon him before."
+The duke then addressed her Highness.  "Hildegarde, who is this fellow?
+No evasions; I want the truth.  I have, in the main, found you
+truthful."
+
+"I know nothing of him at all," said the princess curtly.
+
+Max wondered where the chill in the room came from.
+
+"He says that his name is Scharfenstein," continued the princess, "and
+he has proved himself to be a courteous gentleman."
+
+Max found that the room wasn't so chill as it might have been.
+
+"Yet you eloped with him, and were on the way to Dresden," suggested
+the duke pointedly.
+
+The princess faced them all proudly.  "I eloped with no man.  That was
+simply a little prevarication to worry you, my uncle, after the manner
+in which you have worried me.  I was on my way to Dresden, it is true,
+but only to hide with my old governess.  This gentleman jumped into my
+compartment as the train drew out of the station."
+
+"But you _knew_ him!" bawled the prince, waving his arms.
+
+"Do you know him?" asked the duke coldly.
+
+"I met him out riding.  He addressed me, and I replied out of common
+politeness,"--with a sidelong glance at Max, who stood with folded
+arms, watching her gravely.
+
+The duke threw his hands above his head as if to call Heaven to witness
+that he was a very much wronged man.
+
+"Arnheim," he said to the young colonel, "go at once for a priest."
+
+"A priest!" echoed the prince.
+
+"Yes; the girl shall marry you to-night," declared his serene Highness.
+
+"Not if I live to be a thousand!"  Doppelkinn struck the table with his
+fist.
+
+The girl smiled at Max.
+
+"What?" cried the duke, all the coldness gone from his tones.  "You
+refuse?"  He was thunderstruck.
+
+"Refuse?  Of course I refuse!"  And the prince thumped the table again.
+"What do you think I am in my old age,--an ass?  If you have any
+fillies to break, use your own pastures.  I'm a vintner."  He banged
+the table yet again.  "Why, I wouldn't marry the Princess Hildegarde if
+she was the last woman on earth!"
+
+"Thank you!" said the princess sweetly.
+
+"You're welcome," said the prince.
+
+"Silence!" bellowed the duke.  "Doppelkinn, take care; this is an
+affront, not one to be lightly ignored.  It is international news that
+you are to wed my niece."
+
+"To-morrow it will be international news that I'm _not_!"  The emphasis
+this time threatened to crack the table-leaf.  "I'm not going to risk
+my liberty with a girl who has no more sense of dignity than she has."
+
+"It is very kind of you," murmured the princess.
+
+"She'd make a fine wife," went on the prince, ignoring the
+interruption.  "No, a thousand times no!  Take her away--life's too
+short; take her away!  Let her marry the fellow; he's young and may get
+over it."
+
+The duke was furious.  He looked around for something to strike, and
+nothing but the table being convenient, he smashed a leaf and sent a
+vase clattering to the floor.  He was stronger than the prince,
+otherwise there wouldn't have been a table to thwack.
+
+"That's right; go on!  Break all the furniture, if it will do you any
+good; but mark me, you'll foot the bill."  The prince began to dance
+around.  "I will not marry the girl.  That's as final as I can make it.
+The sooner you calm down the better."
+
+How the girl's eyes sparkled!  She was free.  The odious alliance would
+not take place.
+
+"Who is that?"
+
+Everybody turned and looked at Max.  His arm was leveled in the
+direction of a fine portrait in oil which hung suspended over the
+fireplace.  Max was very pale.
+
+"What's that to you?" snarled the prince.  He was what we Yankees call
+"hopping mad."  The vase was worth a hundred crowns, and he never could
+find a leaf to replace the one just broken.
+
+"I believe I have a right to know who that woman is up there."  Max
+spoke quietly.  As a matter of fact he was too weak to speak otherwise.
+
+"A right to know?  What do you mean?" demanded the prince fiercely.
+"It is my wife."
+
+With trembling fingers Max produced his locket.
+
+"Will you look at this?" he asked in a voice that was a bit shaky.
+
+The prince stepped forward and jerked the locket from Max's hand.  But
+the moment he saw the contents his jaw fell and he rocked on his heels
+unsteadily and staggered back toward the duke for support.
+
+"What's the matter, Prince?" asked the duke anxiously.  After all
+Doppelkinn was an old crony, and mayhap he had been harsh with him.
+
+"Where did you get that?" asked the prince hoarsely.
+
+"I have always worn it," answered Max.  "The chain that went with it
+originally will no longer fit my neck."
+
+"Arnheim! . . .  Duke! . . .  Come and look at this!"--feebly.
+
+"Good Heaven!" cried the duke.
+
+"It is the princess!" said Arnheim in awed tones.
+
+"Where did you get it?" demanded the prince again.
+
+"I was found with it around my neck."
+
+"Duke, what do you think?" asked the agitated prince.
+
+"What do I think?"
+
+"Yes.  This was around my son's neck the day he was lost.  If this
+should be! . . .  If it were possible!"
+
+"What?"  The duke looked from the prince to the man who had worn the
+locket.  Certainly there wasn't any sign of likeness.  But when he
+looked at the portrait on the wall and then at Max doubt grew in his
+eyes.  They were somewhat alike.  He plucked nervously at his beard.
+
+"Prince," said Max, "before Heaven I believe that I may be . . . your
+son!
+
+"My son!"
+
+By this time they were all tremendously excited and agitated and white;
+all save the princess, who was gazing at Max with sudden gladness in
+her eyes, while over her cheeks there stole the phantom of a rose.  If
+it were true!
+
+"Let me tell you my story," said Max.  (It is not necessary for me to
+repeat it.)
+
+The prince turned helplessly toward the duke, but the duke was equally
+dazed.
+
+"But we can't accept just a story as proof," the duke said.  "It isn't
+as if he were one of the people.  It wouldn't matter then.  But it's a
+future prince.  Let us go slow."
+
+"Yes, let us go slow," repeated the prince, brushing his damp forehead.
+
+"Wait a moment!" said Colonel Arnheim, stepping forward.  "Only one
+thing will prove his identity to me; not all the papers in the world
+can do it."
+
+"What do you know?" cried the prince, bewildered.
+
+"Something I have not dared tell till this moment,"--miserably.
+
+"Curse it, you are keeping us waiting!"  The duke kicked about the
+shattered bits of porcelain.
+
+"I used to play with the--the young prince," began Arnheim.  "Your
+Highness will recollect that I did."  Arnheim went over to Max.  "Take
+off your coat."  Max did so, wondering.  "Roll up your sleeve."  Again
+Max obeyed, and his wonder grew.  "See!" cried the colonel in a high,
+unnatural voice, due to his unusual excitement.  "Oh, there can be no
+doubt!  It is your son!"
+
+The duke and the prince bumped against each other in their mad rush to
+inspect Max's arm.  Arnheim's finger rested upon the peculiar scar I
+have mentioned.
+
+"Lord help us, it's your wine-case brand!" gasped the duke.
+
+"My wine case!"  The prince was almost on the verge of tears.
+
+The girl sat perfectly quiet.
+
+"Explain, explain!" said Max.
+
+"Yes, yes!  How did this come?--put there?" spluttered the prince.
+
+"Your Highness, we--your son--we were playing in the wine-cellars that
+day," stammered the unhappy Arnheim.  "I saw . . . the hot iron . . .
+I was a boy of no more than five . . .  I branded the prince on the
+arm.  He cried so that I was frightened and ran and hid.  When I went
+to look for him he was gone.  Oh, I know; it is your son."
+
+"I'll take your word for it, Colonel!" cried the prince.  "I said from
+the first that he wasn't bad-looking.  Didn't I, Princess?"  He then
+turned embarrassedly toward Max and timidly held out his hand.  That
+was as near sentiment as ever the father and the son came, but it was
+genuine.  "Ho, steward!  Hans, you rascal, where are you?"
+
+The steward presently entered, shading his eyes.
+
+"Your Highness called?"
+
+"That I did.  That's Max come home!"
+
+"Little Max?"
+
+"Little Max.  Now, candles, and march yourself to the packing-cellars.
+Off with you!"  The happy old man slapped the duke on the shoulder.
+"I've an idea, Josef."
+
+"What is it?" asked the duke, also very well pleased with events.
+
+"I'll tell you all about it when we get into the cellar."  But the nod
+toward the girl and the nod toward Max was a liberal education.
+
+"I am pardoned?" said Arnheim.
+
+"Pardoned?  My boy, if I had an army I would make you a general!"
+roared the prince.  "Come along, Josef.  And you, Arnheim!  You
+troopers, out of here, every one of you, and leave these two young
+persons alone!"
+
+And out of the various doors the little company departed, leaving the
+princess and Max alone.
+
+Ah, how everything was changed! thought Max, as he let down his sleeve
+and buttoned his cuff.  A prince!  He was a prince; he, Max
+Scharfenstein, cow-boy, quarter-back, trooper, doctor, was a prince!
+If it was a dream, he was going to box the ears of the bell-boy who
+woke him up.  But it wasn't a dream; he knew it wasn't.  The girl
+yonder didn't dissolve into mist and disappear; she was living, living.
+He had now the right to love any one he chose, and he did choose to
+love this beautiful girl, who, with lowered eyes, was nervously
+plucking the ends of the pillow tassel.  It was all changed for her,
+too.
+
+"Princess!" he said a bit brokenly.
+
+"I am called Gretchen by my friends,"--with a boldness that only
+half-disguised her real timidity.  What would he do, this big, handsome
+fellow, who had turned out to be a prince, fairy-tale wise?
+
+"Gretchen?  I like that better than Hildegarde; it is less formal.
+Well, then, Gretchen, I can't explain it, but this new order of things
+has given me a tremendous backbone."  He crossed the room to her side.
+"You will not wed my--my father?"
+
+"Never in all this world!"--slipping around the table, her eyes dim
+like the bloom on the grape.  She ought not to be afraid of him, but
+she was.
+
+"But I--"
+
+"You have known me only four days," she whispered faintly.  "You can
+not know your mind."
+
+"Oh, when one is a prince,"--laughing,--"it takes no time at all.  I
+love you.  I knew it was going to be when you looked around in old
+Bauer's smithy."
+
+"Did I look around?"--innocently.
+
+"You certainly did, for I looked around and saw you."
+
+They paused.  (There is no pastime quite like it.)
+
+"But they say that I am wild like a young horse."  (Love is always
+finding some argument which he wishes to have knocked under.)
+
+"Not to me,"--ardently.  "You may ride a bicycle every day, if you
+wish."
+
+"I'd rather have an automobile,"--drolly.
+
+"An airship, if money will buy it!"
+
+"They say--my uncle says--that I am not capable of loving anything."
+
+"What do I care what they say?  Will you be my wife?"
+
+"Give me a week to think it over."
+
+"No."
+
+(She liked that!)
+
+"A day, then?"
+
+"Not an hour!"
+
+(She liked this still better!)
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"Not half an hour!"
+
+"This is almost as bad as the duke; you are forcing me."
+
+"If you do not answer yes or no at once, I'll go back to Barscheit and
+trounce that fellow who struck me.  I can do it now."
+
+"Well--but only four days--"
+
+"Hours!  Think of riding together for ever!"--joyously taking a step
+nearer.
+
+"I dare not think of it.  It is all so like a dream. . . .  Oh!"
+bursting into tears (what unaccountable beings women are!)--"if you do
+not love me!"
+
+"Don't I, though!"
+
+Then he started around the table in pursuit of her, in all directions,
+while, after the manner of her kind, she balked him, rosily, star-eyed.
+They laughed; and when two young people laugh it is a sign that all
+goes well with the world.  He never would tell just how long it took
+him to catch her, nor would he tell me what he did when he caught her.
+Neither would I, had I been in his place!
+
+
+"Here's!" said the prince.
+
+"It's a great world," added the duke.
+
+"For surprises," supplemented the prince.  "Ho, Hans!  A fresh candle!"
+
+
+And the story goes that his serene Highness of Barscheit and his
+Highness of Doppelkinn were found peacefully asleep in the cellars,
+long after the sun had rolled over the blue Carpathians.
+
+
+
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