-'.rW

 
 BY ROBERT W. CHAMBERS. 
 
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 II. A King and a Few Dukes. A Romance. 
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 Hi. The Maker of Moons. 
 
 Large 12, gilt top 
 
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 keen sense of humor." N. Y. Press. 
 
 G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS. 
 27 WEST 230 STREET, NEW YORK.
 
 A KING AND A FEW DUKES 
 
 A ROMANCE 
 
 BY 
 
 ROBERT W. CHAMBERS 
 
 Author of " The King in Yellow," " The Red Republic," 
 " The Maker of Moons," etc., etc. 
 
 G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
 
 NEW YORK LONDON 
 
 27 WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET 24 BEDFORD STREET, STRAND 
 
 Ube fuitcfeerbocher tre08 
 
 1897
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1896 
 
 BY 
 G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
 
 Entered at Stationers' Hall, London 
 
 Ube l?nfclierbocfcer press, Hew ttocbellc, -ft.
 
 TO 
 
 GEORGE GOODRIDGE WALKER 
 
 Old friend, I dream again ; the skies are blue, 
 The sounds of rippling rivers fill my ears, 
 And borne upon the current of past years 
 My thoughts are drifting back again to you. 
 
 Again I lie beside the woodland stream 
 Where golden grasses glisten splashed with spray, 
 Where willows whiten in the breath of May, 
 Where alder grey and slender birches gleam. 
 
 I watch the crystal current flow and flow, 
 Now silver, brimming in a placid pool, 
 Now lost in hidden hazel thickets cool, 
 Now on the sedges' edges lapping low. 
 
 The painted trout come sailing, sailing by, 
 Stemming the idle current of my dream, 
 And sunbeams steal between green leaves and gleam 
 On pebbled shallows, mirrors of the sky. 
 
 So dream with me, old friend, beside the fire, 
 Here where our shadows tremble on the wall, 
 Where ashes rustle as the embers fall ; 
 And peace shall fall on us and end desire. 
 
 R. W. C. 
 
 NEW YORK, March, 1896. 
 
 2061715
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER. PAGE. 
 
 I. THE FUGITIVES . . i 
 II. AN ALARMING PROSPECT . . 14 
 III. A VOICE IN THE FOREST . . 35 
 IV. THE DUCHESS TAKES A DRIVE . 48 
 V. IN THE ROSE GARDEN . . .61 
 VI. A COUNCIL OF WAR ... 89 
 VII. TEN MINUTES' GRACE . . . TOO 
 VIII. THE TOILET OF MOPS . . .118 
 IX. THE SLUMBER OF THE DUCHESS . 137 
 X. THE WAY OF A MAID . . . 152 
 XI. WHAT THE NIGHT WINDS WHIS 
 PERED 159 
 
 XII. " SALUTE TO THE KING " . .191 
 
 XIII. PRISONER 209 
 
 XIV. THE HAND AND THE LETTER . 225 
 
 XV. THE BATTLE OF DRAGOVITZA . 251 
 
 XVI. AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY . . 265 
 
 XVII. THE BLACK FORTRESS . . . 283 
 
 XVIII. WITCH SYLVIA . . . .308 
 
 XIX. THE DUCHESS OR THE DEVIL . .317 
 
 XX. A HEADLONG FLIGHT . . .332 
 
 XXI. THE WITCHERY OF SYLVIA . . 349 
 
 Envoi MOSTLY CONCERNING BEARS . 3158
 
 " Are you going for a soldier, with your curly yellow hair, 
 And the scarlet coat, instead of the smock you used to wear? 
 Are you going to drive the foe, as you used to drive the 
 plough ? 
 
 Are you going for a soldier now ? " 
 
 " I am going for a soldier, and my tunic is of red, 
 
 And I 'm tired of woman's chatter, and I '11 hear the drum 
 
 instead ; 
 
 I '11 break the fighting line, as you broke your plighted vow, 
 For I 'm going for a soldier now." 
 
 " For a soldier, for a soldier, are you sure that you will go, 
 To hear the drums a-beating, and to hear the bugles blow ? 
 I '11 make you sweeter music, for I '11 swear another vow : 
 Are you going for a soldier now ? " 
 
 " I am going for a soldier, if you 'd twenty vows to make ; 
 You must get another sweetheart, with another heart to break, 
 For I 'm sick of lies and women and the harrow and the 
 plough, 
 
 And I 'm going for a soldier now."
 
 A KING AND A FEW DUKES 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE FUGITIVES. 
 
 QCARCELY had I settled myself 
 \^_J comfortably, scarcely had I had a 
 chance to find out what was really in 
 the district, when they came trooping in, 
 tattered, tarnished, grotesque as theat 
 rical supernumeraries, and all atrociously 
 thirsty. 
 
 I was sitting on the veranda, cleaning 
 my gun when the weary wanderers en 
 tered the valley by the Taxil high-road. 
 I knew who they were at once, I had 
 been warned that they would in all prob 
 ability pass my way, and I was prepared 
 to receive them and make the best of it. 
 I say that I was not entirely taken unpre-
 
 2 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 pared but I had not had the faintest idea 
 that they intended to linger longer than 
 over night. If I had imagined that the 
 King, but I fear that I am going too 
 fast. Let me explain a little. 
 
 I was sitting, as I say, on my veranda, 
 cleaning the locks of my gun with a fist 
 full of oily rags. The morning sun blazed 
 in the heavens, sending splendid red lan 
 ces of light straight through mountain 
 notch over acres of dew-splashed bracken 
 and glistening meadows. 
 
 A dainty spring shower had just passed 
 across the valley, vanishing against the 
 northern Caspian peaks in a double rain 
 bow and a light peal of thunder; and I, 
 anxious to be about my business, looked 
 up into the sky for signs of fairer weather. 
 
 The signs were favorable. The pon 
 derous masses of the Caspian Mountains 
 that surrounded the valley on every side 
 were smoking with the rising mists ; trees, 
 bracken, pastureland, were ablaze with 
 gemmed dew-drops, and the filmy clouds 
 in the zenith melted into the azure as I 
 looked.
 
 The Fugitives. 3 
 
 "Good!" I thought complacently, and 
 was on the point of resuming my oily task 
 when something caught my eye some 
 thing on the white high-road that winds 
 through the Caspian Mountain notch 
 where it enters the valley. It was a black 
 spot seemingly surmounted by a blind 
 ing point of light, and it moved slowly 
 along the high-road in the direction of the 
 Tiflix Valley. I had a premonition of 
 what it was, but to make sure I laid down 
 my gun, went into my bed-room, washed 
 my hands, took the marine glass from my 
 dresser, and walked out to the porch again. 
 
 Yes, I was right. There they were, 
 three of them, shuffling along the white 
 highway, and a more despondent band I 
 had never seen. 
 
 "They're going across to Austria," 
 thought I to myself, " they won't bother 
 me much I fancy." 
 
 I lowered the glass. They were dis 
 tinctly visible now to the naked eye, three 
 dots on the white ribbon winding up 
 among the rocks into the gorge below the 
 Osman Peak.
 
 4 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 The point of light, sparkling and flash 
 ing above them, could be but one thing, 
 the Griffin-crested silver-gilt helmet of 
 the Boznovian Life Guards. 
 
 After a moment's thought I went into 
 the house and called Obadiah. 
 
 He came from the garden, wiping his 
 hands on his apron, and took off his red 
 skull cap as I motioned him to enter. 
 
 "'Diah," said I, " they 're coming this 
 time for certain. There seems to be only 
 three of them ; I had expected at least a 
 dozen including servants. I suppose that 
 they left Belgarde rather er hurriedly." 
 
 Obadiah grinned and rubbed his kinky 
 head. 
 
 "You black rascal!" said I, "you've 
 been eating more of those strawberries ! " 
 
 " Foh Gawd ! Mars Steen, ain't nebber 
 tetched no behs 
 
 " Then see that you don't. Can you 
 get up a decent dinner for four ? What 
 is there ? " 
 
 " Sho, Mars Steen ; dah ain't nuffin ex 
 tra sumptshus to offah de gemmens, sah, 
 but I 'se hyah Mars Steen, I 'se hyah
 
 The Fugitives. 5 
 
 " And good for nothing except to cook 
 like a Cordon Bleu and loaf the rest of the 
 day," I interrupted. " See that the guests' 
 rooms are aired and do your best with the 
 dinner and if I find that you have been 
 
 sampling any more of those seed ber- 
 
 i " 
 ries ! 
 
 " Nebber tetched nuffin," said Obadiah. 
 
 I went out onto the porch again, dis 
 charging my mind of any worry concern 
 ing dinner, and sat down on the steps to 
 await the wanderers. 
 
 I had not long to wait. Into the valley 
 and down the road they trooped, bedrag 
 gled, dusty, thirsty. 
 
 The King came first, sweating under 
 his heavy silver helmet, and the two Dukes 
 followed him carrying the common lug 
 gage. The King approached the porch 
 where I was sitting and hailed me in the 
 Boznovian language. I answered civilly 
 in French. 
 
 " C'est bien ! " said the King, entering 
 the garden in that easy unconventional 
 walk of his, " hey ! is this an inn, my 
 good man ? "
 
 6 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 " By necessity, your Majesty," I re 
 plied, controlling my impatience with an 
 effort. I saw that the King had been 
 drinjdng. 
 
 "Then get me something to eat and 
 drink, ouf ! " 
 
 He took one of the large wooden chairs 
 on the porch and the Duke of Taxil took 
 another at a nod from the King. The 
 Duke of Babu was wandering around the 
 garden, picking strawberries and devour 
 ing them with every symptom of pleasure, 
 and I ventured to remonstrate. 
 
 " I am sorry," I said, " those berries 
 are for seed ; there are others in the large 
 garden if you care for them." 
 
 The Duke of Babu stared at me with 
 his large round eyes and offered no com 
 ment, but presently he left the strawberry 
 beds and roamed curiously around the 
 pheasantry where an old cock silver phea 
 sant jabbed at his eyes and then went 
 into a delirium of temper behind the wire 
 sides of his pen. 
 
 In a few moments Obadiah appeared 
 ducking and scraping, bearing a tray on
 
 The Fugitives. 7 
 
 which were several crusted bottles of 
 Burgundy and some glasses. 
 
 When the King saw Obadiah he laughed 
 outright and spoke to him in the Boznovian 
 tongue. 
 
 "He only understands English, he's 
 an American darkey," I explained. 
 
 " Ask him if he '11 take service with me," 
 said the King, checking his mirth. 
 
 " Obadiah," said I in English, " King 
 Theobald of Boznovia wishes to know 
 whether you will take service with him. 
 And," I added pleasantly, always speak 
 ing in English, " if you do I '11 break 
 every bone in your worthless hide." 
 
 " That settles it ! " cried the King in 
 perfectly good English, laughing immod 
 erately," you are a Yankee, mine host, and 
 I '11 bet ten thousand marks on it, hey 
 I '11 bet 'em with you ! " turning to the 
 Duke of Babu who only gaped in reply. 
 
 " I am sorry I regret that your Ma 
 jesty " I began. 
 
 " Nonsense ! " said the King, unclasping 
 the chin-guard of his helmet and taking 
 it off, "he 's your servant and that 's your
 
 8 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 own affair. This wine is pretty good, 
 where are you going to put us, landlord ?" 
 
 " I am not a landlord," I said quietly. 
 
 " Have it your own way," said the King ; 
 then draining his glass, " how did you 
 know that I am the Kin^ of Boznovia?" 
 
 o 
 
 " Ex-King," observed the Duke of 
 Taxil sulkily. 
 
 " Your Majesty," I said, " the Servian 
 police notified me that you would prob 
 ably pass this way into Austria." 
 
 " Oh they did, did they," said the King, 
 swallowing another goblet of Burgundy, 
 " well they were in a position to prophecy." 
 
 " Could you hear the cannon down 
 here?" asked the Duke of Taxil. He 
 seemed to be bitterly ashamed of his com 
 panions. 
 
 " Yes," I replied pleasantly ; " and some 
 Servian troops, infantry and mountain 
 artillery, passed through here on their way 
 to the front. I supposed the firing was 
 from the battle of the Genghis Pass." 
 
 "It was," said the King, "that's ex 
 actly what you heard, the battle of 
 Genghis Pass where the Servians played
 
 The Fugitives. 9 
 
 the mischief generally with me and my 
 army, and this is the result." 
 
 " His own people rose against him," 
 said the Duke of Babu solemnly. 
 
 " They had enough of you and Taxil 
 
 'too," said the King, "otherwise you'd 
 
 never have followed your King into exile." 
 
 "The Servians," I ventured, "greatly 
 outnumbered the Boznovians at Genghis 
 Pass I understand " 
 
 " No, both forces were equal in every 
 respect except celerity ; we were quicker 
 in running ; and we ran ' sneered the 
 Duke of Taxil. 
 
 " Who cares," said the King, " my 
 good brother of Austria will be obliged 
 to support us. I 'm glad enough to get 
 out of Boznovia yes, even thrown out 
 as I was shoved across the frontier 
 without servants or baggage or horses or 
 fit company or anything but curses 
 
 " Fit company," remonstrated the Duke 
 of Babu. 
 
 "Oh it's good enough for me, it's 
 the company I kept in Belgarde. I don't 
 wonder that the people revolted after the
 
 io A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 Genghis Pass fiasco, and I 'm glad they 
 put that Russian puppet from Marmora 
 in my place. Russia has got what she 
 wants now and who cares? So has 
 Witch Sylvia." 
 
 " Perhaps," I observed after a while, 
 "when Austria gets Salonica, you will be 
 given a throne." I wished he 'd let the 
 wine alone. 
 
 " I don't want it," said the King, raising 
 another goblet of Burgundy to his flushed 
 puffy face : " I 'm tired of being shoved 
 and pushed and cuffed and duped by 
 every one of the Powers in turn. I 'm 
 not subtile, I have n't an Eastern mind 
 that can expand on lies. Open another 
 bottle, landlord." 
 
 " Russian intrigue is the worst," sighed 
 the Duke of Babu ; " Witch Sylvia is a 
 devil." 
 
 "Yes," muttered the Duke of Taxil, 
 "you think you understand and you 
 don't ; you think you see a way to build 
 a railroad and you don't. Deceptio visus 
 de die in diem." 
 
 "I wish," muttered the King, "you'd
 
 The Fugitives. 1 1 
 
 get over your habit of translating into 
 Latin." 
 
 Taxil moodily pulled a strand of gold 
 tinsel from his tarnished epaulettes. 
 
 "The question is," said the King in a 
 thick voice, reaching for more Burgundy,- 
 " the question is, where are you going to 
 put us, landlord ? " He ended in a hic 
 cough. 
 
 "Your Majesty," I said, "I object to 
 being called landlord. My name is Stephen 
 Steen of New York City, gentleman of 
 leisure and now here in the Caspian 
 Mountains for my own pleasure. I have 
 rented this valley and parts of the adjacent 
 mountains from the Servian Government 
 as a shooting preserve and trout hatch 
 ery. But before the government con 
 sented to allow me to experiment with 
 my trout and my pheasants, they stipu 
 lated that I should keep my house open 
 as an inn, because it is the only decent 
 house within twenty miles. Therefore, 
 your Majesty, I am ready to carry out 
 my bargain with the Servian Government 
 and entertain you, but I refuse to re-
 
 12 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 ceive any compensation, for I choose to 
 regard all travellers as my invited guests." 
 
 " Thash all ri'," hiccoughed his Royal 
 Highness, spilling part of a goblet of 
 Burgundy over his uniform in an effort 
 to gulp it down in one swallow, " thash 
 all ri' my Yankee frien', we hie ! we 
 accepsh we have n't got any money any 
 way ! " and he burst into a maudlin laugh. 
 
 The Duke of Taxil looked at me, morti 
 fied and furious. 
 
 The Duke of Babu, who had been 
 earnestly applying himself to the cognac 
 which Obadiah had brought at his request, 
 tried to appear shocked, failed, swallowed 
 some cognac and peacefully went to sleep 
 in his chair. 
 
 "Will you assist his Majesty?" I 
 asked the Duke of Taxil, attempting to 
 repress my disgust. 
 
 " No he won't," said the King, rising 
 and wagging his head scornfully. 
 
 " Give his Majesty your arm," I said 
 again to Taxil. 
 
 " Virtuti non armis fido, I trust to 
 virtue, not to arms," said the King, and
 
 The Fugitives. 13 
 
 waddled off to bed, ushered by the grin 
 ning, ducking Obadiah. 
 
 I stood up impatiently and turned to 
 the others. 
 
 " Where do I sleep, Mr. Steen ? " asked 
 the Duke of Taxil angrily. 
 
 I instructed him. 
 
 " Come on," he called, roughly arous 
 ing the inebriated Duke of Babu, " I 'm 
 too tired and you are too drunk to wait 
 for luncheon. It's time this debauch 
 was ended ! " 
 
 And so their Graces of Taxil and Babu 
 retired to slumber. I preceded them to 
 their rooms and Obadiah pulled off their 
 spurred boots. 
 
 The King was already snoring. I heard 
 him.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 AN ALARMING PROSPECT. 
 
 THIS," said I to myself, "will not 
 last longer than twenty-four 
 hours." Whereupon I thanked Provi 
 dence and walked slowly down the stone 
 stairs and out into the pheasantry. 
 
 I had been, so far, more than successful 
 with the pheasants, for, whether, it was 
 due to the climate. or to my care, the fact 
 remained that I had not lost a single 
 young bird from the pip. Of course there 
 had been a few accidents and mysterious 
 turning up of little toes, but most of these 
 cases could be easily accounted for after 
 a closer investigation. 
 
 The birds that had done particularly 
 
 well were the North American ruffed 
 
 grouse, the pinnated grouse, the Am- 
 
 herst pheasant, and the silver pheasant. 
 
 14
 
 An Alarming Prospect. 15 
 
 I obtained a magnificent hybrid of the 
 silver pheasant and the prairie hen, and 
 now I was about to turn a hundred of 
 these beauties into the coverts that 
 stretched from the vineyards to the upper 
 maize fields. All the birds had wintered 
 well, nests were abundant and easily lo 
 cated, and the birds took to the maize 
 and little white wine-grapes as though 
 they had been reared on nothing else. 
 Besides the country was a perfect natural 
 preserve ; the long valley, traversed by 
 woods and second growth thickets, was 
 dotted all over with rolling maize fields 
 and vineyards, and it was beautifully shel 
 tered by that southern spur of the great 
 Carpathian range, the Caspian Mountains. 
 As far as the trout went, it was easy work, 
 for the Tschiska, a rapid mountain river, 
 was already teeming with German trout 
 and grayling, and it was a labor of love 
 to build fish-ways above the upper cas 
 cades, which opened to trout and grayling 
 four miles of unapproachable water that 
 had, in all probability, never before been 
 stirred by a fishes fins. There were a few
 
 1 6 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 otters along the stream but I contented 
 myself with shooting the only two females 
 I saw and letting the dog-otters alone. 
 I hated to shoot any of them but, as I 
 had no otter-hounds nor any desire for 
 that kind of alleged sport, I was obliged to 
 protect my fish. There were also a few 
 herons in the vicinity, but I let them alone, 
 for I believed that there were enough 
 trout in the Tschiska for all of us, now 
 that some of the little lady-otters had been 
 sent to regions where they may hunt and 
 breed for ever and ever in peace. 
 
 The valley belonged to the Servian 
 Government. I had a six years lease and 
 an option, at the end of that period, of 
 buying the valley outright. This would 
 also include the slopes of all the moun 
 tains facing and surrounding the valley. 
 
 The price was not excessive, for the 
 mountains were the stamping grounds for 
 reh-bock and red-deer, and, to my in 
 finite delight, I had seen more than a 
 dozen chamois on the Osman Peak and 
 the three adjacent spurs. 
 
 I had, in fact, already decided to buy
 
 An Alarming Prospect. 1 7 
 
 the land and make the Tiflix Valley my 
 home for the remainder of my life. Of 
 course it would be an isolated existence, 
 but what was the world to me ? All the 
 joy and warmth and sunshine, had gone 
 out of it, for me, three years before, and 
 for two years I had wandered over a noisy 
 world, seeking some refuge from what ? 
 a shadow, a shade that pursued me, 
 that dogged my lightest footstep ; an 
 echo that never ceased, sounding faintly 
 in my ears as I passed through city street, 
 or woodland path, through wilderness and 
 desert, over oceans, across continents, 
 until I came to the Tiflix Valley, and I 
 thought, perhaps, that here that echo 
 might die out of my ears, that the 
 shadow might flee away. And I bought 
 the little stone house and I wrote over 
 the door : 
 
 " Till the day breaks and the shadows flee away." 
 
 Had the shadow fled ? As I stood in 
 the fragrant garden I looked on the turf. 
 And I saw the shadow. Had the echo 
 died away ? Even as I stood I bent my
 
 1 8 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 head to listen, and I heard it, no fainter, 
 no clearer than ever, but always there. 
 It was the echo of a name ; for I had 
 loved a woman and she had lied to me. 
 
 The vicious old silver pheasant who 
 lived all by himself in magnificent seclu 
 sion and undying hope that he might one 
 day peck my eyes out, now began to bow 
 and bob and strut and scratch gravel, 
 which were always the preliminaries to 
 his working himself into a passion. Then 
 he began that harsh short screaming, end 
 ing in a series of metallic clucks which 
 sounded like two stones knocked to 
 gether. " You old devil ! " I thought, 
 " now you '11 begin to hiss. Of course 
 Obadiah must be somewhere in sight." 
 Surely enough the wicked old bird 
 scratched more gravel, pirouetted once or 
 twice and hissed venomously. I turned 
 and looked about me. Seated at an open 
 window, palm-leaf fan in hand, lolled 
 Obadiah. It was the window belonging 
 to the room where King Theobald of 
 Boznovia lay asleep. Obadiah was softly 
 talking to himself. He neither saw me
 
 An Alarming Prospect. 19 
 
 nor heeded the rage of the pheasant, and 
 I crept up to the house wall under the 
 window and listened. 
 
 "Gwuff'm hyah, fly !" muttered Oba- 
 diah, waving his fan, " doan, yo' persoom 
 to obnoxiate de sof snuffles of de high 'n' 
 mighty, doan' you do it ! Gwuff'm 
 hyah, 'skeeter ! 'Diah 's gwine swat yo' ef 
 yo' doan' git. De high 'n' mighty King ob 
 de ebber-lastin' gole an' diamon' palace 
 am a sleepin' an' a slumberin' an' a snuf- 
 flin' like he gwine bus', bang ! he head 
 off!" The pheasant across the garden 
 was fairly squealing with rage. Obadiah 
 heeded him not. 
 
 " Ole 'Diah gwine run away wif de 
 high 'n' mighty King he ! he ! ole 'Diah 
 he gwine git ! " 
 
 I reached up and grasped Obadiah by 
 the back of the neck. 
 
 " And no more stolen strawberries, 
 eh, 'Diah ? Come out of that you shift 
 less roustabout or 
 
 " Foh Gawd ! Mars' Steen, did n't say 
 nuff'n leg go mah wool ! 
 
 " Come out of that ! " I said firmly
 
 20 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 and I lifted the treacherous darkey clean 
 out of the window, and down among the 
 poppies at my feet where he rolled his 
 eyes appealingly, opened his mouth once 
 or twice and collapsed. 
 
 " Now," said I, " if I catch you trying 
 to sneak off after the King of Boznovia 
 when he goes away to-morrow, it will be 
 the worse for you ! What do you mean 
 by attempting to leave me in the lurch in 
 such a place as this ? Answer ! You 
 good for nothing ungrateful glutton, 
 who is to cook for me if you go ! Do 
 you think I 'm going to put up with a 
 Servian or a Roumanian, or a Bulgarian, 
 or a Turcoman ? Are your wages not 
 doubled and paid a year in advance ? 
 Get a move on you, quick." 
 
 Obadiah was stricken with contrition 
 and in palliation of his contemplated flight 
 he pleaded that he was dazzled by the 
 nearness of so much royalty, and that he 
 had been seduced by the careless offer of 
 the King. The words "gole an' jools 
 an' precious stones," "sumptohus high'n' 
 mighty," and " miss'ble sinner," were so
 
 An Alarming Prospect. 21 
 
 much mixed and mumbled that I cut short 
 his apology, accepted it, and bade him 
 go about his business which was to finish 
 weeding the lily bed. 
 
 "Some day," said I, "a wandering 
 Kurd or Cossack will catch you and stick 
 knives all over you if you run away from 
 me." 
 
 Obadiah's eyes rolled but he said noth 
 ing. 
 
 " And," I continued, moving away, " if 
 the Kurds don't catch you one of those 
 big Carpathian bears will and he '11 pull 
 all the kinks out of your wool and shell 
 your body out of your skin as a man shells 
 a pea-nut." 
 
 This affected Obadiah so profoundly 
 that I was obliged to assure him that 
 there was no immediate danger of bears ; 
 but it was half an hour before Obadiah 
 resumed his normal smile, which measured 
 six inches across. 
 
 I walked through the garden, now all 
 abloom with great spicy Turkish roses, 
 crossed the high-road, and threw myself 
 down on the grass.
 
 22 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 For a while I lay there idly, touching 
 the grass with indolent caress, moving my 
 fingers among the pebbles and tiny clods 
 of moist earth. Then sitting upright I 
 patted the solid sod as a potter pats his 
 clay, thinking ; " If I had made it all, how 
 different I might have made it !" And I 
 stooped swiftly to the earth and inhaled 
 the incense from the grass and the soil, 
 and dug little holes with my fingers, 
 watching the movements of the ants and 
 the minute field insects, with curious eyes. 
 The grass brushed my chin ; the little 
 creatures of the field hurried hither and 
 thither, startled, perhaps by the great 
 eyes fixed on them from above, yet each 
 busily working out its fate, each follow 
 ing its appointed destiny. 
 
 " It is all good," said I, thinking of the 
 greater eyes that watched me as I was 
 watching ; " it is all good ; it is good to 
 live and be alive and lie on the bosom of 
 the world." I tapped upon the earth with 
 my finger tips. 
 
 " Underneath lies the balm," I said ; 
 " I press upon it with my breast and it
 
 An Alarming Prospect. 23 
 
 shall heal this heart of mine even as God 
 heals my soul." 
 
 I lay heavily, my head between my flat 
 tened hands, my mouth against the earth. 
 For there is a mystery in the fragrant 
 aromatic crust of the globe that is only 
 solved when the soft flesh of human lips 
 press it, whispering their secrets. 
 
 After a time I lifted my face, looking 
 long and thoughtfully across the tops of 
 the meadow-weeds to the solid mountains, 
 towering pinnacle on pinnacle into the 
 blue. Then brushing the sweet earth 
 from lip and chin I sat up in the sun 
 shine. 
 
 "Who could die," thought I, "with a 
 broken heart, when the earth and the 
 scented grass are here to heal ? " 
 
 An eagle was hanging high in the 
 zenith, moving imperceptibly southward 
 in a straight line. A gnat floating above 
 my nose looked larger. 
 
 " It depends," said I to myself, " on the 
 point of view. There is much to live 
 for ; " and I lighted a cigarette and 
 jumped up.
 
 24 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 The Duke of Taxil was staring at me 
 from the porch. 
 
 "Good afternoon," said I, "did you 
 sleep well ? " 
 
 " I Ve been ringing and ringing," said 
 the Duke, "because I want a siphon of 
 seltzer." He placed his hand upon the 
 back of his head as he spoke. 
 
 His Grace of Taxil was feeling the 
 Burgundy. 
 
 I went across the road, through the 
 garden, and called Obadiah. 
 
 " Get the club-soda and the cognac," 
 I said ; and, turning to the Duke ; " the 
 sun is very powerful to-day ; it seems to 
 me, if I may venture to suggest, that 
 the bear-skin dragoon's busby you wear 
 is a little heavy for the season." 
 
 " It's the head-gear of my regiment," 
 he answered sulkily. 
 
 When the brandy and soda was brought 
 he swallowed it in silence, raising his eyes 
 piously and placing one hand upon his 
 bosom as the glass was slowly inverted. 
 
 "Urn! A h!" said his Grace of Taxil, 
 " I fancy I did it justice ; fiat Justitia,
 
 An Alarming Prospect. 25 
 
 ruat ccelum you know, I '11 have an 
 other." 
 
 " Est modus in rebus," said I, " one will 
 cure your headache, two will double it." 
 
 " You are right my friend ; I did n't 
 know you spoke Latin." 
 
 " I don't," said I, " I know enough to 
 say that, but that 's nothing, and you know, 
 ex nihilo nihil fit. Is his Majesty still 
 asleep ? " 
 
 After a moment the Duke of Taxil 
 wiped his beard with his handkerchief and 
 muttered something about " a fool of a 
 King." 
 
 " It has been a great honor to meet 
 you all," I replied, for I saw that he felt 
 the disgrace keenly. 
 
 "You probably never would have met 
 us had we not sunk to this," said the Duke, 
 with that innate tact peculiar alike to 
 Boznovian and British noblemen. 
 
 "True," said I cheerfully, "until I 
 came here I never heard of Boznovia." 
 
 The Duke of course took this as a con 
 fession of culpable ignorance. 
 
 " Education in the United States is not
 
 26 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 compulsory I believe," he said, pouring 
 out another brandy and soda and blinking 
 his puffy eyes. " It's different with us." 
 
 " Rem acu tetigisti," I replied smiling, 
 " it 's different with you." 
 
 " Now what the devil does that mean ? " 
 said the Duke. 
 
 "Oh it's Latin," said I, "a mere mat 
 ter of education you know." 
 
 At this juncture the King arrived, heavy 
 eyed, rumpled and shockingly thirsty. I 
 ordered more brandy and soda. 
 
 " I '11 go no further to-night," growled 
 the King, eyeing his Grace of Taxil malev 
 olently. He was still drunk, but, under 
 his mask of ostentatious inebriation, I 
 fancied I could detect a deeper current 
 of bitterness and humiliation. 
 
 " I trust I shall have the honor of your 
 Majesty's company to night," I said. 
 
 " Oh you will," sneered the Duke, " and 
 you '11 probably have it for the rest of the 
 week." 
 
 "Why not?" demanded the King; 
 " I 'm tired and this is a good inn, good 
 enough for a drunken outcast, eh, Taxil ? "
 
 An Alarming Prospect. 27 
 
 " But," I began 
 
 " I say it's a good inn," repeated the 
 King ; " I 'm not particularly anxious to 
 see the Emperor of Austria. He '11 prob 
 ably be disagreeable, won't he, Taxil ? " 
 
 " You expect to stay a week ? " I asked 
 desperately. 
 
 " Probably," said the King, "unless you 
 turn me away." 
 
 " Perhaps a month," suggested the Duke 
 maliciously. 
 
 " Or two," added the King. 
 
 "This," said I, "is not an inn " 
 
 " It 's good enough for me," said the 
 King, sniffing the odour from the kitchen 
 where Obadiah was broiling trout. 
 
 " For me, too," said Taxil, " and if it 's 
 good enough for us it 's good enough for 
 Babu." 
 
 " How do you suppose that I am going 
 to provide three or four meals a day for 
 five people ? " I demanded. 
 
 " Oh," said the King vaguely, " Babu 
 does n't eat much ; he 's in his cups most 
 of the time. That leaves meals for only 
 four."
 
 28 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 "And your negro, he need n't eat 
 much ; that makes meals for only three," 
 said Taxil with a bitter smile. 
 
 " Do you eat a great deal ? " suggested 
 the King looking at me. 
 
 " I eat what I need," I replied, intensely 
 annoyed. 
 
 " Well, well," said the King, " don't put 
 yourself out for us ; if you tell me where 
 the cellar is, Babu will bring us what wine 
 we need." He laughed weakly but I saw 
 his hand tremble. 
 
 "I don't see," I said, "how your Ma 
 jesty can be comfortable in my house 
 without proper clothing and toilet neces- 
 'saries. You can't go about the country 
 with a heavy silver helmet on your head ; 
 his Grace of Taxil can't be comfortable 
 in that fur busby and gold-slashed uni 
 form, his Grace of Babu will be wretched 
 if he goes around wearing his admiral's 
 uniform and cocked hat 
 
 "It's not an admiral's uniform," said 
 the King, " it 's a vice-admiral's uniform." 
 
 " I beg your pardon," said I. The 
 Boznovian navy consisted of one despatch
 
 An Alarming Prospect. 29 
 
 boat on an inland body of water with no 
 outlet to the ocean. I did not see the 
 necessity for such accuracy. " I beg your 
 pardon," I repeated, " I only intended to 
 demonstrate that your Majesty would be 
 more comfortable in Austria." 
 
 " Oh we have some baggage with us," 
 replied the King, carelessly ; " Babu and 
 Taxil brought toilet articles and that sort 
 of thing. Can you lend me a shooting 
 cap ? " 
 
 " I also should be glad of a hat," ob 
 served Taxil. 
 
 " Your King will be served first," said 
 his Majesty, with a drunken laugh, and 
 reached for my shooting cap which was 
 lying on the chair beside me. I declined 
 the offer of his helmet and paced the 
 piazza moodily until Babu came out car 
 rying half a dozen of my hats, a straw 
 relic of London, a wide-awake from Sofia, 
 a crush hat from Paris, and several shoot 
 ing and fishing caps, one or two bristling 
 with trout-flies. Taxil appropriated a 
 straw hat at once, while Babu crammed 
 the wide-awake over his ears and gaped
 
 30 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 at the King. It was all like some hideous 
 opera bouffe. 
 
 " Help yourselves, gentlemen," said I, 
 contemptuously. 
 
 The King noted my tone. 
 
 "That is true," he said, "we have n't 
 left you anything except shooting caps, 
 but I '11 send you a dozen from Vienna, 
 if I don't die of alcoholism before I get 
 there." 
 
 At that instant Obadiah announced din 
 ner and we all trooped in, the King first, 
 Babu and Taxil following and squabbling 
 about something or other, and I bring 
 ing up the rear. 
 
 They cleaned that table to the last 
 crumb ! Each demanded a whole bottle 
 of claret for himself, I was wasting no 
 more Burgundy, and they smoked my 
 cigars and they guzzled my cognac and 
 Scotch whiskey until I thought that if 
 this was to be repeated every day, my 
 ruin was merely a matter of time. 
 
 The King was in good spirits, but he 
 was fearfully intoxicated. He rallied Taxil 
 on the disgraceful flight of the cavalry and
 
 An Alarming Prospect. 31 
 
 taunted Babu with the unheroic conduct 
 of the sailors at the Genghis Pass. Taxil 
 replied hotly, but Babu, already stupefied 
 with wine, regarded the King with an 
 apathetic stare. 
 
 The King brushed the crumbs and wine 
 splotches from the front of his uniform 
 where rows of little orders and medals 
 tinkled with every movement. He offered 
 to decorate me with the order of the Blue 
 Griffin, " for," said he, " no cook in 
 Belgarde ever prepared such trout or such 
 sauce." 
 
 I declined, observing that I was not a 
 culinary expert and had no ambition to 
 receive the Cordon Bleu. 
 
 " Not Cordon Bleu, Blue Griffin," ex 
 plained his Majesty ; "don't you want it, 
 landlord ? " 
 
 " I have requested your Majesty not to 
 call me landlord," I said shortly ; " give 
 the Blue Griffin to Obadiah if you wish 
 to decorate a cook." 
 
 So the King gravely unfastened the 
 jewelled order, beckoned to Obadiah, and 
 placed it in his shaking hand. This com-
 
 32 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 pletely destroyed the tottering equilibrium 
 of the darkey's mind. He imagined him 
 self something or other by the Grace of 
 God and he walked with a sort of prance 
 as though he were leading armies and all 
 the bands were playing " Hail Obadiah ! " 
 That night too, he looted the hot-house 
 melon vines, and I took it out of his hide 
 next morning, which reality brought him 
 back to earth. 
 
 " I don't object to you wearing the 
 Blue Griffin," I said, " but you are to 
 understand that it 's a cook's decoration 
 and carries neither patent of nobility nor 
 any special dispensation to rifle my melon 
 vines. I think you comprehend this now, 
 do you not ? " 
 
 Obadiah caressed the seat of his trousers. 
 
 " Go," said I, " and see that the ' sumpt- 
 shus King ' is not nosing about for the 
 cellar keys. If I miss a single bottle that 
 has not been sent for by me, I '11 hold you 
 responsible. Go ! ' ' 
 
 Obadiah left hurriedly, rolling his eyes. 
 
 I had set that day aside for a few hours' 
 trout fishing along the upper reaches of
 
 An Alarming Prospect. 33 
 
 the Tschiska. I also intended to build a 
 little on one of the sheltering break 
 waters which I was constructing to secure 
 calm water and gravel for spawning beds. 
 So I had my luncheon with me, a pint of 
 Rhenish and a bit of cold fowl, and I also 
 took a light brush fowling-piece, for foxes 
 had been worrying the birds lately, and I 
 had no mercy on them. 
 
 As I passed the porch the King an 
 swered my greeting very civilly and asked 
 where I was going. I told him. He must 
 have gotten the impression that I was 
 going trout fishing solely in order to sup 
 ply him and Taxil and Babu with their 
 favorite delicacy, for he suggested a net 
 as a valuable instrument for securing a 
 mass of food with the minimum of toil. 
 I explained. Then he wanted to go fish 
 ing himself and pointed at the rods lying 
 in a corner of the porch, but I dis 
 couraged his project as best I could, for I 
 had no intention of turning the monarch 
 loose on my carefully cherished preserves. 
 
 Taxil, who sat under the fig trees, 
 whispering to Babu, looked up and inti-
 
 34 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 mated that it might be agreeable to shoot 
 a few pheasants for a change. 
 
 " Of course," said I scornfully, " you 
 know the season is close and the hens 
 have chickens ? " 
 
 " What of it," said Taxil, "game out of 
 season goes well." 
 
 I scowled. These pheasants had cost 
 me on an average, five pounds apiece so 
 far and the experiment was only beginning. 
 So I scowled at Taxil and walked to the 
 edge of the lawn. 
 
 " It is impossible," I said without cere 
 mony ; " luncheon, tea, and dinner will be 
 ready when you order them. My ser 
 vant is under your Majesty's orders;" and 
 I walked away toward the forest. 
 
 Before I reached the rocky path that 
 leads across to the swift flowing Tschiska, 
 I could hear, far behind, the King, bawl 
 ing for Obadiah and brandy. I was not 
 nervous ; I had left a certain amount of 
 liquor in the butler's pantry, but the cel 
 lar keys were in my own pocket. 
 
 " Let him bawl," said I to myself.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A VOICE IN THE FOREST. 
 
 I WALKED on through the noble fir 
 forest, puffing my pipe and looking 
 out for any stray grouse or pheasant, 
 for I loved to watch my birds as a shep 
 herd watches his flock. The pheasants 
 rarely came into the fir woods; the grouse 
 did sometimes come but seldom stayed. 
 There was one game bird, however, that 
 seemed to fancy the firs, and of this bird 
 I saw a fair number as I strolled along, 
 smoking my pipe and sniffing the balsam 
 saturated air. It was one of my experi 
 ments, this game bird, a cross between 
 the prairie chicken and the domestic 
 Guinea fowl. And it proved a wonder 
 ful success, lying close to a dog, flushing 
 in perfect form, wintering well, and feed 
 ing on berries and maize until almost too 
 
 35
 
 36 A King and a Few Dukes 
 
 plump to fly. It had none of the mad 
 dening tricks of the Guinea fowl either, 
 so I was more than satisfied, as I watched 
 these heavy, strong winged birds, whirr 
 up from the thickets and go spinning 
 down the dim wooded forest aisles. 
 
 And as I walked I thought of the King 
 as I had left him, heavy jawed, leaden 
 eyed, bawling for brandy. I knew his 
 history, most people know it I dare say. 
 Suddenly hustled from his little independ 
 ent Duchy of Taximbourg by Austria and 
 Germany, he had been thrust, despite the 
 menacing growl of Russia, upon the va 
 cant throne of Boznovia. Theobald of 
 Taximbourg came from a sodden unin 
 telligent line of Princes noted chiefly for 
 their intemperance and poverty. 
 
 From the crusading junketings of the 
 early Theobalds, his ancestors had been 
 noted for the freedom with which they 
 supplied themselves with heirs, and the 
 bar-sinistre played the important part in 
 their quarterings, to the physical and 
 mental detriment of the Taximbourgs. 
 It told too in their professional pastimes,
 
 A Voice in the Forest. 37 
 
 for all of the Taximbourgs were better 
 blacksmiths, clock-menders, gardeners, and 
 carpenters, than they were Princes. 
 
 The present King, it was rumored, 
 was the offspring of a Taximbourg and a 
 complacent circus-rider. There may have 
 been no truth in it, for the King cut a 
 sorry figure on horseback and bon chien 
 chasse de race. 
 
 He made a bad mess of it on the Boz- 
 novian throne, although his aunt de facto, 
 the Dowager Duchess von Schwiggle, 
 worked like a Trojan, stormed like a 
 griffin, and, as some ill natured people 
 added, swore like a pirate to keep him 
 there. But what can an old lady, al 
 though she be a Dowager, a Duchess, and 
 a von Schwiggle, do against the insidious 
 machinations of that vast hell of intrigue 
 called Russia ? First of all came the 
 Russo-Afghan trouble, which at one mo 
 ment brought England and Russia face 
 to face. British lion and Russian bear 
 leered at each other and snarled for a 
 week, but the time had not yet come, and 
 the death clinch was postponed. But in
 
 38 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 that brief week, King Theobald of Bozno- 
 via gave himself away by entertaining the 
 British Minister at an extraordinary ban 
 quet, and Russia never forgot it. Then 
 came the Servian-Bulgarian war, and King 
 Theobald, instead of minding his business, 
 interfered and brought all the Balkan 
 states about his ears, buzzing like infuri 
 ated wasps. Servia never forgot that 
 either, so when the time came, and Russia 
 gave the signal, Servia fell upon Boznovia 
 and played the mischief with King Theo 
 bald. The campaign had been ludicrously 
 brief a few weeks' skirmishing and the 
 fiasco at the Genghis Pass had aided the 
 Russian secret agents in Belgarde, and 
 when King Theobald rushed madly from 
 the Genghis Pass to his capital of Bel- 
 garde, he found a frenzied populace en 
 thusiastically waiting to run him out of 
 town and across the frontier. And while 
 they were about it they evidently decided 
 to make a clean sweep, for they hustled 
 the corrupt Duke of Taxil and his bibu 
 lous Grace of Babu over the frontier to 
 keep the King company, and advised them
 
 A Voice in the Forest. . 39 
 
 for their skin's sake, to point their 
 noses toward Austria and follow them 
 diligently. 
 
 The Austrian Emperor was furious, 
 partly because his protege had been 
 mauled, partly because he knew that now 
 he should have to support him. He ut 
 tered terrible threats and ostentatiously 
 mobilized two army corps. But he got 
 small encouragement from the Triple Alli 
 ance, for Italy openly jeered him and the 
 German Emperor was too busy compos 
 ing an opera, to bother about Boznovia. 
 
 That settled King Theobald, and, after 
 a half hearted attempt to drag Bulgaria 
 to his rescue, he gave it up, gathered up 
 his bundles, and started for the Austrian 
 frontier. 
 
 Poor fellow ! The Servian police had 
 warned me that he might pass my way, 
 but I never expected to see him so utterly 
 destitute and without servants or baggage. 
 "Those Balkan people can be as savage 
 as any Turk when they make up their 
 minds," I thought, remembering Major 
 Panitza and Stambouloff.
 
 40 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 And as I walked, my gun swinging 
 lightly from my shoulders, my gaiters 
 scraping the ivy crowned thickets, shower 
 ing my shoes with fragrant dew, I felt a 
 tenderness, a deep pity for these outcasts 
 who had taken possession of my house, 
 and I determined to let them enjoy them 
 selves as they pleased. 
 
 " What 's a trout or two ?" I argued ; 
 " the King may take my rod if he likes ; 
 I '11 tell him so. But I draw the line on 
 netting trout, and on slaughtering breed 
 ing pheasants. I '11 just give him a chance 
 at the Guinea grouse if that will amuse 
 him. Yes, and I '11 let him shoot red- 
 deer and chamois if he cares to, and he 
 may have a try at a Carpathian bear too." 
 
 So I walked on, pitying the lot of the 
 tramp King, deciding to give their Graces 
 of Babu and Taxil my cellar keys and let 
 them drink themselves to death if they 
 pleased. And all the while I kept my 
 eyes open for the Guinea grouse, and my 
 ears open for the quhit ! quhit ! quhit!-t-t! 
 whir-r ! of the rising game. 
 
 The fir woods had given place to more
 
 A Voice in the Forest. 4 1 
 
 open groves of walnut, chestnut, and lin 
 den ; the ivy grew thicker among the 
 roots and underbrush, and broad patches 
 of sunny ferns and brake clustered along 
 the path now cut by a mountain torrent, 
 now by a carrefour, deserted and partly 
 overgrown. 
 
 On the soft loam along the spring brooks' 
 bank I saw the tiny heart-shaped print of 
 the red-deer and the broader impression 
 of the stag. A wild-boar too had been 
 that way, a sow, I took it, followed close 
 by her little fierce long bristled piggies. 
 Once, passing a salt lick, I saw the human 
 like mark of a bear's foot, and, a little 
 further on, a dozen perfect imprints where 
 a wild-cat had marched around in a bit of 
 swampy ground and had sharpened his 
 nails on a young tchozza tree. 
 
 " A tom-cat," I mused, " preparing a 
 serenade for Mrs. Pussie to-night. They '11 
 probably dine on one of my grouse." 
 
 When at last I came to the Tschiska 
 River, I unstrapped my gun, flung my 
 creel and rod on the moss, and sat down 
 to wipe the perspiration from neck and
 
 4 2 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 chin. Then I bathed head and face and 
 wrists in the sweet icy stream, drinking 
 long deep draughts, spirting the water 
 from my mouth like a triton at play, bur 
 rowing luxuriously into the silvery bottom 
 sands with both hands, until the little 
 trout fry along the bank scuttled far and 
 near in dire dismay. 
 
 A Russian sable peered cunningly at 
 me from a cleft in the rocks, wrinkled its 
 nose, sniffed, and withdrew hurriedly. A 
 great white alpine butterfly with brick red 
 spots on its wings, fluttered about me fear 
 lessly, finally alighting on one of my wet 
 shoes. I watched it uncoil its proboscis 
 and begin a capricious luncheon from the 
 moisture glistening on my gaiters. The 
 wood-flies and saw-flies filled the dim 
 woods with their buzzing ; jewelled spiders 
 wove in the sun, watching for gnats, or 
 scuttled in and out among the galleries 
 of their gossamer labyrinths. Somewhere 
 near by, a thrifty wood-mouse was busy 
 among the beetles in a rotten log, and, 
 high above the pines on the cliffs, I heard 
 the squealing of young kestrels.
 
 A Voice in the Forest. 43 
 
 " The world," said I to myself, " is 
 very beautiful and kind," and I bit a 
 piece from the wing of a tender fowl, 
 washing it down with a swallow of Rhe 
 nish. I ate leisurely, often pausing to 
 watch the bullet-like flight of some big 
 stag-beetle, or the felonious efforts of the 
 small field mouse to abstract my bread 
 from the paper parcel near me. Bottle 
 in one hand, bread in the other, I listened 
 to the melody of bird music and the 
 music of the brook bubbling over pebbly 
 pools, and I smelled the fresh smell of 
 earth and leaf and water, until my heart 
 was full of tenderness for everything. So 
 I gave the mouse the rest of my bread. 
 
 A few rods below me, jutting straight 
 out into the stream, was a small break 
 water that I had begun. It was designed 
 to secure a still deep backwater, gradually 
 shallowing toward the foot of the pool, 
 where the trout could spawn in peace 
 among the gravel and pebbles of the 
 bottom. 
 
 When I had eaten my luncheon I washed 
 my face and hands and went down to the
 
 44 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 half finished dam. Under the bank I 
 found my cement and trowel, and very 
 quickly I mixed some water-proof cement, 
 picked out a dozen stones of the proper 
 shape and size, and began to work, whis 
 tling softly. 
 
 The little fishes swam up to the rock 
 where I stood, goggling their big round 
 eyes, opening and shutting their mouths 
 as if in amazement. 
 
 " Public improvements," said I, glan 
 cing at them ; " it 's all for your benefit 
 my friends." 
 
 A grayling, its splendid dorsal fin cut 
 ting the water, its iridescent sides a-glitter, 
 sailed solemnly past, turned at a sound 
 from me, and disappeared like a streak of 
 pearl-colored flame. 
 
 " Bonne chance ! " I laughed, " you will 
 weigh two pounds by August ! " 
 
 A school of tiny trout had already con 
 gregated in the quiet pool below the 
 break-water, and there they lay in ranks, 
 motionless save for an almost impercept 
 ible swelling and relaxing of the spotted 
 gills.
 
 A Voice in the Forest. 45 
 
 " They '11 grow," thought I, " so here's 
 health to them ! " and I scooped up a cup 
 ful of water from the pool and drank it ; 
 whereat the little trout turned tail and fled. 
 
 I used up what cement I had prepared ; 
 the break-water had grown a little higher 
 and longer ; so I tucked my tools away 
 in their hiding place beneath the bank, 
 rinsed my hands, and went back to get 
 my rod for a cast or two in the larger 
 pools above. 
 
 These pools were a quarter of a mile 
 up stream. There was a disused wood- 
 road, which ran along the opposite bank 
 of the Tschiska, connecting ten miles 
 through the forest with the Taxil high 
 road ; so I picked up my rod and landing 
 net, slung my light fowling-piece over my 
 shoulder, and, crossing the Tschiska on 
 the rocks, struck into the wood-road, 
 whistling merrily. 
 
 " What a fool I should have been," 
 thought I, "to have gone into the army 
 and lived the dog's life of a gentleman 
 ranker, just because the most beautiful 
 woman on earth broke my heart."
 
 46 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 Overhead a big raven croaked approval. 
 I looked up, and, as I looked, another 
 raven winged its way across my path, and 
 then another and yet more, "all croaking 
 approval," I thought to myself, watching 
 the last one flapping by. 
 
 Six ravens ! And the old rhyme rang 
 in my ears : 
 
 " One is a warning, 
 
 Two are mirth, 
 Three in the morning 
 
 Bring Death to Earth. 
 Four ravens flying 
 
 Announce a birth ; 
 Ravens five bring sorrow anew, 
 
 Six black ravens, a bride for you." 
 
 "A bride !" I laughed grimly, "where 
 is she, O raven prophets ? " And I looked 
 around with an ugly sneer. 
 
 Hark ! From somewhere in the forest 
 came a sound, distant, vague, now clearer, 
 now indistinct. And now again it came, 
 faint but unmistakable, a human voice, a 
 dull halloo, quavering, dying away in the 
 wilderness. At the sound of that far cry 
 my heart stood still, then beat furiously, 
 leaping up and setting all my pulses
 
 A Voice in the Forest. 47 
 
 bounding ; for, in my breast the echo of 
 a voice, long silent, had responded in 
 spite of me. And I looked at my feet 
 and I saw the shadow of the past floating 
 upon the ground. 
 
 " Because," said I furiously, "some lost 
 fool is calling for help in the woods, I 
 forsooth must hear in that voice the tones 
 of her voice! Is this to go on ? Am I 
 always going to gape and shake when a 
 strange voice is raised in the world ? 
 Why in God's name can't I learn to 
 forget!" 
 
 And I sullenly unslung my gun and 
 fired both barrels.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE DUCHESS TAKES A DRIVE. 
 
 ^CARCELY had the crashing echoes 
 k_/ of my shots died out among the 
 trees when an answering hail came back, 
 the heavy hail of a man's voice, and I 
 flung my gun across my shoulder and 
 hastened forward along the wood-road. 
 
 As I pressed on, the hails became more 
 frequent and intelligible, the voice of a 
 man bellowing in the language I most 
 detest, German ; and I answered cheer- 
 ingly as I passed lightly through the 
 forest. 
 
 "Idiot," I thought to myself, "as far 
 as I can make out he 's in the wood-road 
 itself. Why does n't he come to meet 
 me ? " Then, as I rounded a curve of the 
 road, I caught a glimpse of a horse's head, 
 and, in a moment more I came in sight of 
 a strange group. 
 
 4 8
 
 The Duchess Takes a Drive. 49 
 
 A big closed carnage, old fashioned 
 and shabby, stood wedged among the 
 trees of a wind-fall. On the ground, in 
 front of the horses' heads, sat a red faced 
 old gentleman, flourishing and vainly at 
 tempting to fire a horse-pistol. He was 
 also bellowing at the top of his lungs. 
 When he saw me he stopped bellowing, 
 cast his pistol angrily into the road, and 
 began to talk German very fast. 
 
 "Stop!" said I pleasantly but firmly; 
 " I speak English and French and some 
 Italian." 
 
 At the sound of my voice another man 
 thrust his head from the curtained carriage 
 window and ejaculated ; " Herr Je ! " 
 
 "You are mistaken," said I, settling 
 my cap and wiping my forehead, " my 
 name is Steen. If you can talk English 
 talk it." Then, looking more narrowly at 
 the head thrust from the carriage window, 
 I saw that it was not a man's head after 
 all, but the forbidding countenance of a 
 woman a regular grenadier of a woman. 
 I removed my cap in some confusion and 
 murmured, " Pardon madame."
 
 50 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 The fat red-faced old gentleman who 
 had been eyeing me in amazement now 
 waddled up and placed his mouth close 
 to my ear. 
 
 " That," said he, " is the Dowager 
 Duchess von Schwiggle ! " 
 
 " I thought," said I, whispering in my 
 turn close to his ear, " that it was a trooper 
 of the body guard. Will you assure 
 Madame the Duchess of my devotion and 
 beg her to dispose of my services ? " 
 
 We had been talking in French. If I 
 spoke it as badly as he did, purgatory 
 should be my portion. 
 
 " General !" cried the Dowager Duch 
 ess. 
 
 The fat man waddled hurriedly to the 
 carriage window. After a few moments 
 whispered consultation, during which both 
 the Duchess and the General cast stealthy 
 glances at me, the General again came 
 over to where I stood. 
 
 " I am General Bombwitz, Chief of 
 Staff of the Boznovian army," he said, 
 puffing his mottled cheeks into demi- 
 balloons. " Come with me, you are to
 
 The Duchess Takes a Drive. 51 
 
 be honored by a presentation to the 
 Duchess." 
 
 "This," said I, "is too much honor, 
 it is indeed ! " 
 
 " Compose yourself," said the General. 
 
 " I am no coward," said I, "sound the 
 charge ! " 
 
 " Young sir," said the Duchess, speak 
 ing in French that echoed through my 
 head like the roar of a drill-sergeant, " on 
 you we count to extricate us from this 
 forest." 
 
 "Ah," I murmured, "you are lost then, 
 Madame la Duchesse ? " 
 
 " Lost ! " repeated the Duchess in that 
 remarkable booming voice, " Herr Je !" 
 
 "It was the Servian's fault," said Gen 
 eral Bombwitz gloomily ; " he told us to 
 take this wood-road." 
 
 " Where is the Servian ?" snapped the 
 Duchess. 
 
 " Fled," replied General Bombwitz ; 
 "he ran away when he saw that you were 
 annoyed." 
 
 " And he knew his business," thought 
 I, adding aloud ; " doubtless Madame the
 
 52 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 Duchess was on her way to Belgarde. The 
 Taxil high-road will take one to 
 
 " I was not on my way to Belgarde," 
 said the Duchess, darting a suspicious 
 glance at me. Then, without asking par 
 don, she and Bombwitz began another 
 whispered conference which lasted long 
 enough to weary me, so I sat down on a 
 log and examined my gun. 
 
 Presently the Duchess called to me and 
 I rose and walked up to the carriage 
 window. Then I noticed for the first 
 time that there were two other women in 
 the carriage, but before I could see them 
 distinctly in the half light of the drawn 
 shades, the Duchess spoke again, demand 
 ing my name. 
 
 "Stephen Steen," I answered pleasantly. 
 
 There was a movement in the carriage, 
 a dog yelped as though suddenly hus 
 tled, and the Duchess frowned and cast a 
 terrible glance over her shoulder. 
 
 "Who stepped on Mops?" she hissed. 
 
 Silence. 
 
 Then she turned to me again. " What 
 sort of a name is that ? " she asked. 
 
 " Which, Mops ?"
 
 The Duchess Takes a Drive. 53 
 
 " Certainly not ! " said the Duchess furi 
 ously, " your own !" 
 
 " Madame," said I, " it is an honorable 
 name." 
 
 " You keep an inn, do you not," de 
 manded the Duchess. 
 
 " My home," said I, "but I doubt that 
 my present guests are in a position to 
 make my fortune as an inn-keeper." 
 
 " Who are your present guests," asked 
 Bombwitz with a cautious nod to the 
 Duchess. 
 
 " Oh a King and a few Dukes," I re 
 plied carelessly. 
 
 There was an interval of strained 
 silence. I thought I heard a sound from 
 the interior of the carriage, a quickly 
 suppressed snicker ; I may have been 
 mistaken. 
 
 The Duchess and the General were be 
 ginning the series of preliminary nods and 
 coughs which threatened another whis 
 pered consultation, but I stopped it short. 
 
 "What is the use of all that?" I said 
 to General Bombwitz. " If the Dowager 
 Duchess von Schwiggle is on her way to 
 see her nephew, the King of Boznovia, I
 
 54 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 can direct her in a moment. I 'm no spy 
 nor do I care tuppence about any of the 
 Balkan squabbles, but I would like to go 
 trout-fishing if you have nothing to ask 
 of me. If you have, ask it." 
 
 I was not mistaken, I did hear a 
 snicker this time, but the Duchess sup 
 pressed whatever sound it was, and Gen 
 eral Bombwitz puffed and hemmed and 
 walked around in little circles like a 
 pigeon. 
 
 " Inn-keeper," began the Duchess. 
 
 " Madame," I interrupted, " my name 
 is Steen, and I am no more of an inn 
 keeper than General Bombwitz here. If 
 you wish to see his Majesty you are very 
 welcome to stay at my shooting box ! " 
 
 "He's an American," murmured the 
 General to the Duchess, " he 's probably 
 mad, as they all are." 
 
 " I 'm not afraid of a mad inn-keeper," 
 said the Duchess with that evil sneer pe 
 culiar to some Germans, and she turned 
 insolently to me again. 
 
 " Which is the best road to your inn," 
 she demanded.
 
 The Duchess Takes a Drive. 55 
 
 "Madame," said I with my most care 
 ful bow, "all roads lead to Rome, but 
 there is only one that leads to my home, 
 the road of common courtesy. Permit 
 me to set you upon that road " ; and be 
 fore either Bombwitz or the Duchess 
 knew what I was about, I took the horses' 
 heads, backed the carriage, lead it through 
 the trees and around the windfall, into the 
 wood-road again. 
 
 "Jump in," said I to the General who 
 came puffing and floundering through the 
 brush after me, " it is not far but the 
 road is hard on little fat legs ; " and I 
 gently propelled him into the carriage in 
 spite of himself. I took the horses' heads 
 again, settled my gun on my shoulders, 
 and started on. Behind me I could hear 
 an excited discussion carried on in whis 
 pers, broken now and then by a smoth 
 ered laugh or a shriek from the trodden 
 lap dog. Then the Duchess' head was 
 thrust again from the window. 
 
 I looked back, smiling affably into her 
 stony perplexed face. 
 
 " It is a great honor, Madame," said I,
 
 56 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 "to be able to render the wohl-geboren 
 Duchess von Schwiggle this little unim 
 portant service. 'We of the new world 
 esteem it a privilege to learn from the 
 old world those little courtesies and atten 
 tions of which we know so little. Ah ! la 
 delicatesse ! il fau't la chercher en Alle- 
 magne, Madame la Duchesse." 
 
 The face of the Duchess was a perfect 
 blank. Once or twice she opened her 
 thin lips as though to speak, but nothing 
 came of it, and her heavy countenance re 
 lapsed into its normal granite immobility. 
 
 When we came to the ford at the cross 
 ing, I waded into the Tschiska, encourag 
 ing the horses and letting them drink, a 
 thing that the Germans behind had prob 
 ably never troubled themselves about 
 during the entire journey. Poor brutes, 
 they plunged their soft dusty noses into 
 the stream and sucked and gurgled and 
 drew deep draughts of the sweet water 
 into their parched throats. I started to 
 wash their heads and chests a little and 
 the Duchess' head emerged from the car 
 riage again.
 
 The Duchess Takes a Drive. 57 
 
 "What is the delay ?" she asked. 
 
 " Ordinary humanity," I replied shortly. 
 
 " We are pressed," said the Duchess, 
 tightening her thin lips. 
 
 I went on bathing the horses. 
 
 When I was ready I led the horses 
 safely across the Tschiska, up the bank 
 and into the wood-road again. Then I 
 sprang into the driver's seat, gathered up 
 the reins, and we trotted away at a livelier 
 pace, the road permitting it on this side 
 of the Tschiska. 
 
 Several times the Duchess and the 
 General opened opposite windows and 
 bawled at me, but I paid no more atten 
 tion to them and drove as I pleased, letting 
 the horses take it easy when they chose. 
 
 At last we turned into the Taxil high 
 road about two miles above my home 
 and the horses moved along at a good 
 pace, for it was all down hill and the road 
 was a military road. As we came in sight 
 of the white stone house and the gardens 
 all blooming with great Turkish roses, 
 acacias, fig-trees, and flowering almonds, 
 I felt something of that delightful sensa-
 
 58 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 tion of home-coming which all exiles yearn 
 for. 
 
 Yes indeed, I had decided that this 
 white house, tucked away in the Caspian 
 range, should be my home ; and my days 
 of wandering were to be over at last. 
 North, south, east, west, the ponderous 
 Caspian mountains towered, blue with 
 the afternoon haze upon their flanks, and 
 I heard the west wind soughing through 
 the firs and the whistle of martins in the 
 sky. The white dust rose along the 
 flashing wheels, the jingle of bit and chain 
 sounded pleasantly in the summer air, and 
 I bent from my seat, calling the horses 
 pet names and talking the talk that good 
 horses love to hear ; for I was happy for 
 the first time in years, and the voice in 
 my ears and the shadow at my feet had 
 vanished. 
 
 So we sped up to the cool white house 
 where the lindens drooped and the silver- 
 pheasant was calling ; and I read above 
 my door the words I had written there a 
 year before : " Till the day breaks and 
 the shadows flee away."
 
 The Duchess Takes a Drive. 59 
 
 "Had they fled?" I asked my heart, 
 as I drew rein and the Duchess and the 
 General tumbled out. And my joyous 
 heart beat : " They have fled away." 
 
 " Come," said the Duchess grimly, peer 
 ing into the carriage. 
 
 A maid in a cap alighted, bearing the 
 wretched lap-dog, Mops, and then and 
 then ! 
 
 A great dizziness seized me ; I felt as 
 though the whole world had slipped from 
 under me, for there, there, descending 
 from the carriage, smiling, dainty, self 
 possessed, was the woman I had loved, 
 Marjory Grey ! 
 
 I heard my own voice saying, " Madge, 
 Madge ! " but I did not know I spoke 
 aloud. 
 
 She turned deliberately and looked 
 me straight in the face. " Thank you 
 Mr. Steen for your very great kindness," 
 she said with a daring smile, and in a 
 moment had slipped away to join the 
 Duchess who was making much of the 
 King on the porch. 
 
 His Majesty had appeared, hearing the
 
 60 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 sound of wheels, but he was not exactly 
 dressed for a reception. The Duke of 
 Taxil had been shaving him he was un 
 able to do it for himself and now he 
 stood there in his shirt sleeves, half 
 lathered, stanching a razor-cut with one 
 hand and waving a towel with the other, 
 while the Duchess encircled him in her 
 vigorous arms and embraced him enthusi 
 astically on his shaven cheek. 
 
 His Grace of Taxil, a mug of lather in 
 one hand, was hob-nobbing with General 
 Bombwitz while the Duke of Babu, stupe 
 fied with liquor, gaped at everybody, 
 including Mops and the maid. 
 
 Marjory Grey looked about her, but 
 said nothing. 
 
 I was past all speech.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 IN THE ROSE GARDEN. 
 
 THE sun had not yet pushed its crim 
 son disk above the grey flanks of 
 the Osman Peak, but I was already 
 out, clothed from head to foot in a warm 
 soft leather shooting suit ; for the sum 
 mer mornings in the Caspians are chilly, 
 and the great dewdrops on leaf and blos 
 som tremble and splash like pools of 
 quicksilver. 
 
 Pushing through the garden where the 
 scented roses slapped my face, soaking 
 cap and coat, I turned by the pheasantry, 
 not heeding the insults of the old silver 
 pheasant, and came to the abode of Oba- 
 diah. He was already up, grumbling arid 
 shuffling about, and I rapped on the win 
 dow to summon him. 
 
 "'Diah," said I when he appeared, 
 "what meat have we in the ice-house? 
 
 61
 
 62 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 There must be the better part of the last 
 stag and enough mutton from Tiflix to 
 last until Constantine comes." 
 
 "Yessah," said Obadiah slowly, "an' 
 bofe de red-bucks" he meant reh-bock, 
 " an' de shammy am a hangin' an' a 
 frizzin' on de ice." 
 
 " Good ; what winter vegetables have 
 you?" 
 
 " 'Taters, sah, squash an' turnips an' 
 sass in de garding, sah." 
 
 "Well," said I, "you must attend to 
 all that. I '11 see to the horses ; those 
 Germans would never bother their heads. 
 Come, hurry, you can pin on your Blue 
 Griffin decoration after dinner. Remem 
 ber we have seven guests now, not count 
 ing me. And er 'Diah, you can take 
 er rspecial pains with Miss Grey's 
 dinner." 
 
 "Yessah." 
 
 " And you need n't attempt to do the 
 rooms, the Duchess' maid will attend to 
 Miss Grey as well as to the Duchess, and 
 the King will have to do his own chamber 
 work."
 
 In the Rose Garden. 63 
 
 " Yessah, an de docks sah ? " 
 
 " The Dukes can go to the devil ! " I 
 muttered ; " has Georgiades driven up 
 with the milk this morning? Oh he has, 
 eh ! And did you tell him to bring it for 
 eight to-morrow ? Good, you do know 
 something, 'Diah, don't you ?" 
 
 " Yessah," said Obadiah, casting a sly 
 glance at my face. 
 
 " Then prove it," I said cheerily, and 
 walked through the garden to the house 
 again. 
 
 When I reached the porch I sank into 
 a chair leaning my head on my hands. I 
 was deadly tired, but my fatigue came not 
 only from having tossed through a sleep 
 less night but also from another reason, 
 despair. 
 
 The amazing apparition of Marjory 
 Grey in the Tiflix Valley, here at my 
 very door, had utterly crushed me. All 
 the evening I moved about like a man in 
 a trance, hearing my own voice as I gave 
 orders or answered questions, presiding 
 at table, attending to the wants of the 
 hungry Boznovian* nobility through the
 
 64 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 medium of Obadiah, but neither in voice 
 nor action, nor gesture recognizing my 
 self, so shocked and dazed was I. 
 
 And at last they had all gone to bed, 
 the Duchess and Marjory Grey attended 
 by the maid, the King to his chamber 
 where he presently fell asleep and snored 
 so heavily that the Duke of Taxil rapped 
 furiously on the floor with the pommel of 
 his sabre and I heard him protesting at 
 intervals through the long night. 
 
 I did not sleep ; I lay tossing among 
 the crumpled sheets, and my face was now 
 hot now cold as the blood surged or 
 ebbed with my thoughts. For I was be 
 ginning to realize what had happened, I 
 was beginning to understand what it 
 meant to me. 
 
 That Marjory Grey should be in com 
 pany with the Dowager Duchess von 
 Schwiggle did not astonish me when I 
 reasoned it out, although the last that I 
 had seen or heard of Marjory was in Bar 
 Harbor, Maine. 
 
 Marjory's father, a brilliant officer and 
 a widower, had taken service with the
 
 In the Rose Garden. 65 
 
 Khedive of Egypt, in company with half 
 a dozen other clever American officers 
 who saw a chance for legitimate advance 
 ment in their profession. It was perhaps 
 due to Admiral Hobart Pasha's influence 
 with the Khedive that his younger friend 
 Colonel Grey became Grey Pasha of the 
 Egyptian Staff and finally Military At 
 tache of the Egyptian Embassy to Berlin. 
 It was in the Prussian capitol that Grey 
 Pasha saw and loved and eloped with 
 Hilda von Raupenhelm. 
 
 The small earthquake that shook Ger 
 many when the news spread, threatened 
 to bring on international complications, 
 until the Dowager Duchess von Schwig- 
 gle, fascinated by the audacity of Grey 
 Pasha, declared that she would leave the 
 couple all her money and her clumsy 
 schloss at Lauterschnapps unless they 
 were forgiven and received. This tickled 
 Bismark who patched up a peace ; and 
 Grey Pasha took his pretty wife back to 
 Cairo and cabled his daughter to leave 
 her convent school in Montreal and come 
 to Cairo.
 
 66 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 I remember very well the day I told 
 Madge I loved her. It was during Christ 
 mas week. She was spending it as usual 
 with her aunt in New York, and I, as 
 usual, was at the house every day and all 
 day and as late in the evening as I dared. 
 
 She had been very sweet to me, in fact 
 she had consented to write to her father 
 about me in May when she was to leave 
 the convent forever. I hardly know now 
 what it was that came between us, a 
 shadow that at first I refused to recognize. 
 But the shadow crept in ; I became anx 
 ious, then wretched, and finally, when 
 she came again at Easter, I spoke. 
 
 At first she only laughed at me, but 
 after a while I saw that her impatience 
 and even displeasure were no longer mis 
 erable fancies of mine and I began to 
 believe that she not only never had loved 
 but that she was incapable of loving. I 
 was mistaken. I learned my mistake 
 when young Hamilton of the artillery 
 spent his month's leave at Bar Harbor 
 that summer. 
 
 I suppose I acted like a fool, most
 
 In the Rose Garden. 67 
 
 men do when their hearts break. Madge 
 and I were walking along the shore ; she 
 had just received the cable, and her aunt 
 was going to Cairo with her. She was 
 full of the excitement of going ; it was 
 perhaps a bad time to reproach her. 
 That evening was her last at Bar Harbor 
 and I asked her to save it for me. She 
 told me that she had promised Hamilton. 
 In the ten minutes that followed I God 
 knows how ! stamped out the last smould 
 ering spark of tenderness that might have 
 been left between us. That was the end. 
 A moment later Hamilton and her aunt 
 came and led her away. She went with 
 out one word or glance. 
 
 In the months that followed I heard of 
 her occasionally, now in London, pre 
 sented at court, now in Berlin, chaperoned 
 by the old dragon von Schwiggle, now in 
 Cairo for the winter. 
 
 Rumor had her engaged to marry the 
 young Earl of Drumgilt, the Baron von 
 Allerdings, the brilliant Comte de 1'Oise ; 
 and after a while, when young Hamilton 
 resigned and followed her to Cairo, the
 
 68 A King and a Few Dukes, 
 
 papers said it was a settled affair and 
 printed columns of spread-eagle bunkum 
 and twisted the lion's tail until I could 
 bear no more and I wandered away to find 
 some place where newspapers and rumors 
 were unknown. 
 
 It was two years before I believed that 
 I had found that place, here in the Cas 
 pian mountains. And when at last I 
 was sure that I had found it I wrote 
 above my door : " Till the day breaks 
 and the shadows flee away " ; and sat 
 down to battle with my misery. 
 
 A year had passed and yesterday I told 
 myself that I had forgotten ; yesterday 
 I was happy for the first time in all those 
 years, but to-day ! At the thought I sat 
 up and stared at the fiery edge of the sun, 
 now peering above the mountains beyond 
 the Notch. 
 
 Overhead the sky was drenched with 
 crimson ; the dappled clouds absorbed the 
 splendid dye and clustered along the vast 
 vault of heaven like drops of blood. 
 Flecks and shreds of fire streamed from 
 horizon to horizon ; the mountain tops
 
 In the Rose Garden. 69 
 
 burned with a deeper hue. As yet the 
 chilly pastures, dim in the shadows of the 
 mountain wall, sparkled grey and pale 
 under their lifting sheets of fog, but, as 
 I looked with sick eyes on the fair fresh 
 world, the meadow mist drifted away in 
 tattered ribbons, the gemmed grass glim 
 mered, sparkled, then flashed out a million 
 rainbow rays, and the little meadow pool 
 rippled, tinted with amethyst and pearl. 
 
 Everywhere birds were singing, from 
 pasture and vineyard, from maize-field and 
 forest, thrushes, linnets, finches, hedge- 
 sparrows, twittering swallows, sky-larks, 
 caroling among the clouds. From the 
 orchard came the scream of a rosy-breasted 
 jay and the husky note of a magpie ; in 
 the woods a cuckoo called and called until 
 the whole forest was full of echoes and 
 the valley rang with the fluty notes. 
 
 A drowsy bee stumbled from its bed 
 in the heart of a rose and clung buzzing 
 to the edge of a leaf, drying its dewy wings. 
 A great moth crept into a spot of sun 
 shine and sat, its brilliant wings a-quiver. 
 
 In the house a door opened and shut ;
 
 70 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 I heard steps on the stairs, a shuffle across 
 the lower floor, then suddenly a startling 
 crash as though a hundred tin pans had 
 been kicked across the hallway. 
 
 I sprang to my feet and looked into 
 the house. It was the King. 
 
 " My confounded helmet," he said pee 
 vishly, "fell off; I was coming down for 
 a drink, the bell wire is broken in my 
 room." 
 
 He stood in the hall, enveloped in an 
 ermine edged robe, a sputtering candle 
 in one hand, a beer-mug in the other. 
 His big silver helmet lay on the tiles 
 near the door. I suppose he had put 
 it on for warmth. 
 
 " The beer is in the butler's pantry is n't 
 it?" he said sleepily. 
 
 " I '11 get it," said I ; "be careful ! your 
 dressing gown is all spotted with candle 
 wax ! " 
 
 " Dressing gown ! " yawned the King, 
 " it 's my coronation robe ; I have n't a 
 dressing gown to my back. I Ve got 
 another head and an up-to-date taste in 
 my mouth."
 
 In the Rose Garden. 7 1 
 
 I said ; " Do you want some seltzer ? " 
 
 " No ! no ! A litre of Munich beer is 
 what I need. I 'm sorry to trouble you ; 
 I could n't sleep, Taxil snores so 
 
 He gaped, coughed, picked up his hel 
 met and sat down on the stairs. 
 
 " I 'm sorry to trouble you," he re 
 peated ; " if you like I '11 get it myself. 
 I 'd better begin to learn to do a few 
 things for myself I suppose. I may have 
 to stay with you indefinitely." 
 
 " I beg your pardon ? " I faltered. 
 
 " I 'm sorry for you Mr. Steen but do 
 you know what my aunt the Duchess has 
 come to tell me? Why just this: my 
 good brother of Austria can't receive me 
 because Russia insists that I go to Eng 
 land and says there '11 be war if I don't. 
 Now I 'm damned if I go to England, so 
 there you are. Please do get me my beer." 
 
 I drew the homeless King into the 
 dining-room where there was a fire and 
 called to Obadiah to bring a litre of beer. 
 
 " Now," said I firmly, "let us discuss 
 this thing. Do you mean to say Russia 
 insists upon your leaving Europe ?"
 
 72 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 ''Yes she does," said the King. 
 
 " Can't you go to Taximbourg ? " 
 
 " No, Russia won't let me." 
 
 " What about France then ? " 
 
 " What Russia says, goes in France, 
 my friend. It 's no use, I have gone over 
 all the map of Europe and the complica 
 tions that would ensue are enough to 
 make my hair come out. I 'd go to 
 America if I did n't hate the ocean so. 
 Ah, here's the beer!" 
 
 He dipped his mottled nose into the 
 mug and slowly drained the quart meas 
 ure to the last drop. 
 
 " Another," he said, blinking at Oba- 
 biah, " and then I '11 go back to bed." 
 
 "Your Majesty," said I, "it will be 
 difficult forme to keep you here if Russia 
 objects. If the Russian spies don't know 
 you are here, the Servian Government 
 will inform them and you will be obliged 
 to leave sooner or later anyway." 
 
 " Then what am I to do?" asked the 
 poor King. 
 
 I was touched. There really seemed 
 to be no spot in the world for him.
 
 In the Rose Garden. 73 
 
 " I don't know," I said. " Believe me 
 I am very willing to try to keep you here, 
 but you could not live in comfort in such 
 a place. I should think you 'd rather go 
 to England " 
 
 "Have you ever been in England?" 
 asked the King. 
 
 " I ? Oh, yes" 
 
 " Then why do you suggest it ? " 
 
 " Why ? " I repeated, smiling. 
 
 " It 's gloomy ! " said the King sulkily. 
 " I 'd prefer the Fortress of Peter and 
 Paul ! No, I '11 be hanged if I leave the 
 Balkans. I don't want to be King any 
 more ; my tastes are simple as the devil. 
 Plain clothes, plain food, plenty of Bur 
 gundy and Munich beer, and a sunny 
 corner to doze in, that 's all I want on 
 earth. It is n't much, is it ? " 
 
 " No," said I, " it is n't much." 
 
 " My confounded aunt the Duchess 
 von Schwiggle, put me up to all this regal 
 fol-de-rol. I Ve no stomach for a king 
 dom and less stomach for fighting to keep 
 it. My stomach and digestion are not 
 good anyway. Well, prosit ! " drinking
 
 74 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 deeply " I don't find I can hold any 
 more liquid with a crown on my head 
 than with a straw hat. The Duchess can 
 say what she pleases. I 'm going to live 
 incognito and that settles it. Thank you 
 for your trouble, Mr. Steen, I 'm going 
 to bed and I don't want to be called 
 for breakfast." 
 
 I watched his Majesty shuffle away and 
 mount the stairs, gathering his gold bro 
 caded coronation robe around his bare 
 legs, but I felt more like weeping than 
 like laughing. 
 
 By this time the sun's rays had chased 
 the misty chill from the air ; the big sil 
 ver pheasant was screaming in the garden 
 and the bantam rooster answered him 
 from the stable. 
 
 Lina, the blue-eyed maid of the Duchess 
 von Schwiggle, peeped over the banisters 
 and presently tripped down to carry up 
 coffee for two. Obadiah took some choc 
 olate and toast to General Bombwitz, but 
 when he knocked on the Duke of Taxil's 
 door he was anathematized. Babu, on 
 the other hand, was too drunk to reply,
 
 In the Rose Garden. 75 
 
 so I bade Obadiah let their Graces alone 
 and attend to the kitchen. 
 
 "The maid will help you," said I; 
 " these people must know that one servant 
 can't do everything. Don't take any 
 orders from the Duchess, do you hear ? 
 I am able to direct this outfit." 
 
 " Yessah ; de Duchess doan' bodder 
 'Diah 'n' 'Diah ain' gwine bodder de 
 Duchess." 
 
 " All the same if she makes any sugges 
 tions about reh-braten, you need n't despise 
 them," I said, picking up my shooting cap 
 and opening the door. 
 
 " Doan' 'spise nuffin, sah," sniffed Oba 
 diah ; " h 'it am de po' an' sinful dat 'spise." 
 
 " True," said I, lingering ; " you can 
 take special pains about Miss Grey's din 
 ner. Miss Grey is very fond of straw 
 berries. I have a suspicion that there are 
 more ripe ones under the leaves in the 
 new bed." 
 
 "Whaffoh you 'spicion dat, Mars 
 Steen?" enquired Obadiah. 
 
 " Because," said I, "you always leave 
 the new bed when you see me. We
 
 76 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 will have no more of that sort of thing 
 now." 
 
 " Yessah," said Obadiah cheerfully ; 
 and I went out, closing the front door 
 behind me. 
 
 As I walked toward the stable the tur 
 keys craned their necks, uttering liquid 
 gobbles, the hens followed, clustering and 
 crowding about my feet, and stray long- 
 shanked pullets rushed headlong from dis 
 tant corners to join the whole clucking 
 feathered mass. Several old hens hur 
 ried up, conducting their downy peeping 
 broods, the ducks waddled from the 
 meadow pools, the geese arrived, necks 
 stretched, fat white bodies rolling in uni 
 son. 
 
 I stirred the feed in the porcelain plat 
 ters, mixing in the corn and mottled 
 beans, and set it down close to my feet. 
 It is very pleasant to feel the eager press 
 of warm feathered creatures about your 
 legs. Close contact with helpless living 
 things makes a man a bit more consid 
 erate I imagine. 
 
 At length the horses were fed, the
 
 In the Rose Garden. 77 
 
 bantam rooster had achieved the last of 
 a series of victories over all comers, and 
 the water-fowl were solemnly pursuing 
 their pigeon-toed course toward the 
 meadow pool again. One or two reluc 
 tant hens still lingered, pensively picking 
 at the polished platters, the downy chick 
 ens hovering near, plaintively peeping. 
 
 I stepped into the gun room and looked 
 at the glittering row of fowling-pieces, 
 rifles, and rods, hesitating, touching first 
 one rod, then another. 
 
 " No, I '11 not fish," I thought, " I '11 just 
 stroll a bit and see what the birds are 
 about;" and I lighted my pipe, dug my 
 hands into my shooting-coat pockets, and 
 sauntered toward the road. 
 
 As I turned past the porch the door 
 opened and Marjory Grey stepped out. 
 She did not see me at first ; she was snif 
 fing the rose-scented air, nose tilted, eyes 
 fixed on the mountain tops. 
 
 My heart was beating fast but I strolled 
 into view and said pleasantly ; " Good 
 morning Madge ; I hope you slept well." 
 
 She started when she heard my voice ;
 
 78 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 it was a bit sudden I know, after all 
 those long years. 
 
 I viewed with equanimity the swift 
 color in her face ; I was quietly pleased 
 that I had taken her unawares and that 
 she had betrayed it. 
 
 However she answered immediately, 
 without the slightest trace of embarrass 
 ment ; " Good morning Sten," her old 
 name for me, " and, thank you, I slept 
 beautifully." 
 
 " And the Duchess?" I enquired, per 
 fectly at ease, outwardly, I mean. 
 
 " The Duchess has gone to sleep again ; 
 she was very much fatigued. May I 
 come down into your delightful rose 
 garden ? " 
 
 "Come," I replied pleasantly, "will 
 you wear a belt-knot of Turkish roses, 
 Madge?" 
 
 " But, oh thank you, but you must 
 pick them ; see, here is a beauty, and this, 
 and these two half blown buds oh 
 dear ! it is too difficult to choose : choose 
 for me, Sten." 
 
 It might have been a week instead of
 
 In the Rose Garden. 79 
 
 three years ago since we had last met. 
 We walked along, side by side, I cutting 
 the stems of the dew-soaked buds with my 
 sheath-knife, she examining the garden, 
 stables, house, and pheasantry with curious 
 wide eyes. 
 
 " Is your father well, and your charm 
 ing step-mother of whom I have heard so 
 much ?" I asked. 
 
 " Papa and Mamma are very well ; they 
 are spending a few weeks on the Bospho- 
 rus. Papa often asks about you 
 
 She stopped rather suddenly. 
 
 " Well ? " I enquired. 
 
 " I have not been able to tell him very 
 much," she resumed placidly, " but now I 
 shall have lots to tell. Are you well ? " 
 she added. 
 
 " I ? Oh yes. And you, Madge ? but 
 your face answers my question " 
 
 " Does it ? I am three years older." 
 
 "Three years ?" I asked hypocritically, 
 " not three, Madge " 
 
 " Why yes," she insisted turning toward 
 me, " have you really forgotten that 
 
 "What?"
 
 8o A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 " Nothing, if you have forgotten." 
 
 " Please don't think I have forgotten 
 anything," I exclaimed earnestly ; " the 
 long vacations when you wore your hair 
 in two braids, the long absences when 
 you went to the convent, and later too, 
 when you left the convent, I remember 
 our boy-and-girl love affairs, ah Madge, 
 we were very serious then 
 
 " Really," she said, surprised, " do you 
 call those boy-and-girl love affairs ! " 
 
 " Don't you ?" I asked, mastering my 
 voice with an effort. 
 
 " I ? I was seventeen and you were 
 twenty ! Why if I had imagined that you 
 took it so lightly 
 
 " Not lightly, Madge," I said, " I was 
 
 quite upset when you gave me my conge, 
 
 I was miserable for nearly a week ! " 
 
 " A week ! " She looked at me half 
 angrily, half curiously. 
 
 " Oh more than that," I said, " it must 
 have been more, for I remember now that 
 I lost the July trout fishing because I be 
 lieved that my life had been blighted. 
 Poor Hamilton, how I hated him for a
 
 In the Rose Garden. 81 
 
 month or so." I was smiling at her now 
 but the smile on her lips was not as 
 genuine as it might have been. And I 
 lost nothing, the flutter of an eyelid, the 
 beat of the pulse in her soft throat, now 
 whitening, now faintly deepening in color 
 as her wonder changed to impatience. 
 
 " You were right too," I continued gaily ; 
 "suppose that I had not come to see, 
 as you did, that we never really loved ? 
 Suppose I had never gotten over it, that 
 I had borne the wretchedness and hopeless 
 misery always, always with me, night and 
 day, sleeping, waking ? I tell you, Madge, 
 it was a fortunate thing that I found out 
 that I also had never really loved ! Would 
 you like to see my pheasants ?" 
 
 " Pheasants ? " she repeated, standing 
 still in the path, "oh yes, if you wish." 
 
 The old silver pheasant was in a tan 
 trum as usual, and promptly flew at my 
 eyes as soon as I touched his wire barriers. 
 
 " A perfect old scold ! " I laughed ; " I 
 only keep him as a warning to myself. 
 Is n't he a beauty, Madge ? " 
 
 " Yes."
 
 82 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 " There are some golden pheasants in 
 that further enclosure, there ! you can 
 see one of them now. They are not 
 hardy enough to turn out, but I am very 
 much interested in cross breeding 
 
 " You seem to find everything interest 
 ing," she interrupted with a peculiar smile. 
 "I, on the contrary, find most things very 
 uninteresting." 
 
 " I beg your pardon, Madge," I laughed ; 
 " I might have known you would n't care 
 for this sort of thing 
 
 "Tell me about yourself," she said, 
 slowly moving on. 
 
 " About myself ? Why there 's nothing 
 much to tell. I am very contented and 
 happy, I have n't a care in the world or a 
 wish ungratified. I fish and shoot and 
 build dams and breed pheasants." 
 
 "Oh!" 
 
 " Besides, I have my fruit ; there are 
 strawberries here, you were fond of 
 strawberries, Madge, were you not ? or 
 was it " 
 
 " Who ? " she said impatiently ; " of 
 course I was fond of strawberries. I wish,
 
 In the Rose Garden. 83 
 
 Sten, that you would arrange the reminis 
 cences of your salad days more methodi 
 cally." 
 
 " I beg your pardon, Madge, " 
 
 " You need n't, and you are not at all 
 flattering." She looked at me again, curi 
 ously. "You have changed very much," 
 she said. 
 
 We had strolled back to the house as 
 we spoke and now I halted as though to 
 take my leave. 
 
 "You will find everything that I have 
 to offer at your disposal, except ser 
 vants," I said. " I am sorry but perhaps 
 you can manage with Obadiah and the 
 pretty maid, what is her name?" 
 
 " Lina," said Madge shortly. 
 
 " The house is yours," I continued 
 smiling, " I shall not trouble you much 
 for I am out poking about the woods 
 most of the day 
 
 " Sten," she said, " have you no curiosity 
 to know how I happened to come here?" 
 
 " Why yes," I replied, " you must tell 
 me all about it some day 
 
 " I shall not tell you at all ! "
 
 84 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 " Please do, Madge," I laughed. 
 
 " I shall not," she retorted, half smil 
 ing, half angry, "you evidently don't 
 care tuppence to know and you are not a 
 bit cordial." 
 
 " Listen," I said seriously, " I do mean 
 to be cordial ; you know I am glad to see 
 you once more " 
 
 " Once more ! Sten, you are absolutely 
 so self-satisfied " 
 
 " No, only self-sufficient " 
 
 " It 's the same thing ! " 
 
 " Pardon me, Madge, the first is imbe 
 cility, the last is merely sanity." 
 
 She sat down on the edge of the piazza. 
 and pulled at the leaves on the rose bushes. 
 
 " I don't know you, I feel that some 
 how you are very different," she said ; " I 
 am conscious that you are utterly changed 
 in every way ; are you ? " 
 
 "How?" I wondered that I could so 
 control my voice. 
 
 " How ? Oh, how do I know ? You 
 were always very impulsive and warm 
 hearted, and oh I don't know. Your 
 face has changed too "
 
 In the Rose Garden. 85 
 
 " Well, yes," I laughed ; " I am thinner 
 and more bronzed, and these lines show a 
 little more deeply, I suppose." 
 
 "What did they come from?" she 
 asked, looking straight at me. 
 
 "Age," I said gaily. 
 
 " No suffering?" 
 
 " Not very much. I of course loved a 
 woman as is the fate of all men. She was 
 not very enthusiastic over me and of course 
 it hurt for a while. I doubt that it deep 
 ened these lines very much." 
 
 " She did not love you ? " 
 
 I shook my head, smiling. 
 
 " Was she young ? " 
 
 " Rather young." 
 
 " Pretty ? " 
 
 " Oh yes." 
 
 "Good?" 
 
 " Very ; much too good for me, Madge ; 
 you have cut your finger on the rose 
 thorns " 
 
 " I know, was she young I mean 
 pretty no, I mean was she oh Sten, 
 tell me about her ! " 
 
 I laughed outright. " There is noth-
 
 86 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 ing to relate. I was fascinated of course, 
 
 I might as ^ell tell you that I really 
 
 did love her, the first woman that I had 
 
 ever loved, and the last. That is all." 
 
 " Oh," said Madge, " it is fortunate for 
 me that we found we did not 
 
 " Love ? Oh that, of course, was salad 
 love" 
 
 She colored furiously and stood up. 
 
 "It was very real to me," she said 
 haughtily ; " I am amazed 
 
 " Madge," I interrupted, " please don't 
 think that I hold that valueless. No in 
 deed, it enabled me to distinguish be 
 tween love and friendship between 
 infatuation and love. You taught me 
 to think, when I only believed you were 
 cruel and selfish 
 
 " Did you believe that ?" 
 
 " Yes. When you went away with 
 Hamilton I could have killed myself. I 
 often wondered why you were so merci 
 less that night." 
 
 " I have often wondered too," she said. 
 
 " But you told me you loved Hamil 
 ton."
 
 In the Rose Garden. 87 
 
 " Did I ? I don't know why I said so." 
 
 " Did n't you love Hamilton ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Who then pardon me, Madge, I " 
 
 " I don't mind your asking ; I loved 
 nobody then. I did care more for you 
 than anybody else." 
 
 " It 's very sweet of you to say so," I 
 said laughing. 
 
 " It is true. But you are right, Sten, I 
 loved nobody ; I was inexperienced, too 
 young, too excited over the prospect of 
 going abroad, to love. A young convent 
 girl is the most emotionless thing in the 
 world in some ways." 
 
 What I wanted to ask was ; "Where 
 is Hamilton?" What I did ask was; 
 " Do you keep up your singing ? " 
 
 "Singing?" she repeated, "oh yes, I 
 sing. Do you remember how you always 
 asked for that aria from ' Carmen ' ? " 
 
 "Yes," I answered, giving the impres 
 sion that I had really forgotten. It hurt 
 me more than it did her. 
 
 "Tell me," I blurted out at last, unable 
 to keep up the bitter game, "tell me
 
 88 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 about all those rumors. Are you going 
 to marry Drumgilt or the Count d'Oise 
 or anybody ? " 
 
 She gave me one quick glance, then 
 something came into her face that I recog 
 nized, something that I had seen before, 
 long ago in those years when she knew 
 that I loved her. 
 
 " Fool ! " I thought, " idiot that I am ! 
 She knows it now ! " And I turned on 
 her in desperation saying something stu 
 pid to give her the idea that I was indif 
 ferent and heart-whole, that I was far 
 beyond her power for working me weal 
 or woe. It was too late, I saw it in her 
 eyes, in the droop of her red lips, I saw it 
 in the poise of her slender figure ; and I 
 knew that she knew. 
 
 " I am going," said I, rising, " to look 
 after my young pheasants. I don't sup 
 pose you would care to come ; the Duch 
 ess, you know, being alone ' 
 
 " I understand," she said sweetly, " I 
 will go to the Duchess."
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A COUNCIL OF WAR. 
 
 I RETURNED at noon after a sulky 
 tour through the coverts, furious to 
 think how I had played into Madge's 
 hands, mortified that she should have 
 read me so easily. 
 
 " I '11 show her that she 's mistaken," I 
 muttered, " only let me have a chance ! " 
 
 There was nobody in sight about the 
 house except Lina, the blue-eyed maid, 
 and Mops, the over-fed lap-dog. The one 
 was escorting the other. 
 
 " Lina," said I, " where is her Grace 
 the Duchess ? " 
 
 Lina dropped me a pretty curtsey. 
 
 " Excelenz," she replied, " her Grace 
 the Dowager Duchess von Schwiggle and 
 the high-born Mees Grey are attending 
 a council of war which was called by the
 
 90 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 illustrious General Bombwitz on behalf 
 of his Majesty the King." 
 
 " Oh," said I, " and the Dukes ? " 
 
 " Their Graces of Taxil and Babu are 
 also present," said Lina. At this juncture 
 Mops took offence at my hob-nailed shoot 
 ing-boots and approached them, growling. 
 
 " Doubtless a German dog," I said. 
 
 "Yes sir." 
 
 Mops drew in his breath, gurgling dis 
 approbation. 
 
 " Does he bite, Lina," I asked. 
 
 " Oh I hope not sir ! " she said 
 timidly ; " come here Mops ! " 
 
 The wretched poodle suddenly snarled 
 and snapped at my legs. Lina uttered a 
 soft shriek. 
 
 " Perhaps," said I, " you had better pull 
 him away, Lina see ! he has hold of my 
 leather gaiters. If I should touch him it 
 might be that I should yield to an inclin 
 ation and send the Duchess into crepe. 
 Does black become the Duchess, Lina?" 
 
 By this time Lina had removed and 
 slapped the venomous Mops. 
 
 " Excelenz will pardon the annoyance,"
 
 A Council of War. 91 
 
 she stammered, " Mops shall be whipped 
 by me " 
 
 "No, no," I said, "the dog did no 
 harm, he only chewed off a button." 
 
 " If permitted I will willingly sew it on 
 for his Excellence 
 
 " Thank you, Lina, with pleasure. By 
 the way, call me Mr. Steen, if you can 
 say it you know 
 
 " Meester Stin," said Lina shyly. She 
 was as dainty a little creature as was ever 
 turned out of a Dresden china shop. 
 
 " Thank you," said I, noticing how 
 prettily her hands were fashioned. She 
 was just now fingering her lace edged 
 apron. 
 
 " Do you think," said I, looking care 
 fully around the rose garden, " do you 
 think, Lina, that there is any unpardonable 
 sin in a kiss?" 
 
 " They say so," said Lina, examining 
 her pointed shoes. 
 
 " And do you believe it ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Then," said I determinedly, " it is 
 time that somebody exposed such an ab-
 
 92 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 
 
 surd doctrine." And I kissed her in the 
 interest of civilization. Having done this 
 conscientiously, I did it again in the inter 
 est of common sense. Mops growled. 
 Lina looked at Mops. 
 
 " Now," sajd I, " we have performed a 
 duty that we had no right to shrink from. 
 Lina, I am going to the Council of 
 War." 
 
 " They are in the dining-room, Mr. 
 Steen," said Lina, looking at me side 
 ways ! 
 
 " Ha ! " said I to myself, fiercely, " that 
 shows how little I am to be swayed by 
 any influence of Madge Grey. She has 
 played her last game of battle-dore with 
 my heart ! " And I entered the house 
 and knocked at the dining-room door. 
 The Duke of Taxil opened it. 
 
 On seeing me the Dowager Duchess 
 von Schwiggle frowned and whispered to 
 the King, but that monarch shrugged his 
 shoulders impatiently and called out to 
 me to enter. 
 
 " You are welcome, my friend ! " he 
 cried heartily, "come in and instil a little
 
 A Council of War. 93 
 
 common sense into this company. No 
 body knows anything except Miss Grey 
 
 " Theobald ! " exclaimed the Duchess, 
 horrified. 
 
 " It 's true ; don't tell me ! I know 
 what I 'm saying. Come, Mr. Steen, we 
 want your advice." 
 
 "I am very willing," said I, quietly 
 seating myself beside Madge. 
 
 " The case is just this," began the 
 King ; " you see that Russia don't in 
 terrupt me, Bombwitz ! I was saying 
 that Russia is determined to pack me off 
 to England and I won't go and there you 
 are ! " 
 
 ''Why," said I, "should Russia wish to 
 exile you ? " 
 
 " Because I know too much about some 
 things. I could set all the Balkans in a 
 blaze if I chose to take the trouble 
 
 " You should choose ! " boomed the 
 voice of the Dowager Duchess. 
 
 " Now, now !" said the King, "my good 
 aunt, you can't get me to go into anymore 
 filibustering expeditions, for I won't go 
 and that settles it. I 'm not ambitious,
 
 94 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 I 'm no King by inclination, I 'd rather 
 be a decent clock-maker than a fool King. 
 I won't be a King ! " 
 
 "You must!" boomed the Duchess, 
 her face hard as granite. Taxil seconded 
 her, Babu yawned, and General Bombwitz 
 puffed out his cheeks, assuring everybody 
 that his brains and his sword were at the 
 King's service. Madge Grey looked at me. 
 
 " Do you want to be King again ?" I 
 asked. 
 
 " No !" shouted the King angrily. 
 
 "Yes! Yes!" cried Taxil and the 
 Duchess. 
 
 "If you want to be King," I said, "it 
 would be easy for you to enlist the King 
 of Caucasia and you 'd have the whole 
 Caucasian nation to back you. All you 've 
 got to do is to promise them free entry 
 into the Balkan Sea for their commerce 
 and their navy of two torpedo boats." 
 
 The Duchess stared at me, open 
 mouthed ; General Bombwitz was speech 
 less, and the Duke of Taxil sank help 
 lessly into his big arm-chair. 
 
 " It seems to me," said Madge Grey,
 
 A Council of War. 95 
 
 her eyes sparkling, " that Mr. Steen has 
 thought of the one thing that might re 
 store his Majesty his throne." 
 
 " It is strange," said the Duchess, 
 " that it took an American to think of 
 this." 
 
 " It is strange," said Madge solemnly. 
 
 " But it 's colossal ! splendid ! glorious ! 
 prachtvol ! wunder-schon ! " exclaimed 
 Bombwitz. 
 
 " In another moment I should have 
 probably thought of it myself," observed 
 Taxil. 
 
 " I also," added Babu in a thick voice. 
 
 "Don't you see," I explained, "once 
 you enter Boznovia at the head of the 
 Caucasian army, Servia will back down, 
 and Russia's policy is always passive when 
 it concerns the Balkan states. She may 
 not recognize you as King, but she won't 
 dethrone you by force, at least not out 
 wardly, for if she does, Austria, Bulgaria, 
 Roumania, Caucasia, and Boznovia will 
 ally themselves with England " 
 
 " Confound it all ! " cried the unhappy 
 King, " I don't care a copper pfenning
 
 96 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 what they do ! I won't be a King ! I 
 won't I won't ! I" 
 
 "You shall !" boomed the Duchess. 
 
 "You must ! " echoed Taxil and Bomb- 
 witz. Babu was asleep. Madge Grey 
 looked at me. 
 
 " Don't you understand ! " wailed the 
 King, "suppose we all did get back into 
 Boznovia ; how are we to stay there ? 
 Who 's got the brains to keep us there ? 
 We can't always have Mr. Steen to ex 
 plain the difference between chalk and 
 cheese to our addled brains ! " 
 
 "Why not?" said Madge Grey, "you 
 could make him Prime Minister." A spot 
 of scarlet was burning on each cheek. 
 Her eyes were very bright. 
 
 At this astounding proposal the Duch 
 ess started and glared at us. Bombwitz 
 blew out his cheeks until they seemed on 
 the point of exploding, and Taxil laughed 
 sneeringly. 
 
 "By Heaven! I'll do it!" said the 
 King ; " I tell you I '11 do it if you force 
 me to this business. I warn you all, 
 yes, you too, my excellent aunt, as surely
 
 A Council of War. 97 
 
 as I decorate him now for his common 
 sense, here he suddenly turned and 
 threw over my head the chain of the first 
 class order of Saint Theobald, " I will 
 raise him to the highest place in the 
 kingdom ! " 
 
 Then the King stood up and turned 
 sharply to Taxil. 
 
 " It is through such finance jugglers as 
 you," he said haughtily, " and such imbe 
 cile peers as his Grace of Babu, that I 
 goaded the people to revolt. Who was 
 it counselled me to invite the British Am 
 bassador to the Palace when Russia was 
 sniffing at the gates of India ? You ! 
 Who was it that urged me to interfere 
 when Bulgaria was thrashing Servia ? 
 You, and you too, General Bombwitz. 
 And neither of you thought of anything 
 except reward and plunder ; you, Taxil, 
 expected to feather your nest, and you, 
 Bombwitz, intended to appropriate a field 
 marshall's baton and perquisites. If I 
 were a King at heart instead of a good 
 natured, slow country gentleman, I should 
 have sent you both to the Black Fortress
 
 98 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 and I should have had his imbecile Grace 
 of Babu made cellar steward in the Pal 
 ace. As for you, my good aunt," con 
 tinued the King, and now as he spoke 
 he really began to look like a King, "as 
 for you, I should have courteously con 
 ducted you to your schloss of Lauter- 
 schnapps and bade you stay there in 
 God's name and keeping." 
 
 For a full minute there was absolute 
 silence. 
 
 Then the King said ; " I am a quiet 
 simple man, not gifted with much good 
 sense and slow to think, lax and overfond 
 of comfort and peace, and I say to you 
 that it is wrong to urge such a man on to 
 war, to urge such a man to crown him 
 self again. I am not a bad man, but I 
 am worse than a bad King, I am a stupid 
 one." 
 
 He turned to me. 
 
 " Mr. Steen, is it not the truth ?" 
 
 "Yes, your Majesty," I answered. 
 
 He held out his hand with a gesture so 
 helpless, so utterly sad, that I bent low 
 and took it humbly. Then straightening
 
 A Council of War. 99 
 
 up I said ; " if you want my services they 
 are yours, in field or in council, whenever 
 and wherever you wish. It would be bet 
 ter for you and for Boznovia if you never 
 went back, but, if I were you ' here I 
 struck the table with my clenched fist 
 " I would never rest until I returned and 
 showed the Boznovian people, for my own 
 pride's sake, that when I chose I could be 
 a King for any country to honor ! " 
 
 "Bravo!" cried Madge Grey, and 
 clapped her little white hands. 
 
 " Am I to go ?" said the King turning 
 almost fiercely on the Duchess. 
 
 She nodded, a little dazed. 
 
 " Then Heaven have mercy on you, 
 Taxil, on you, Bombwitz, and on that use 
 less hulk, Babu ; for I will reign like a 
 King and a just King, and I will show no 
 mercy to thieves or cowards or imbeciles ! 
 I will go ! Madame, my good aunt, per 
 mit me to conduct you ; Mr. Steen, I 
 claim your aid. Stand by me now for, as 
 I live, I will show you what a King can 
 be!"
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 TEN MINUTES GRACE. 
 
 IT was two o'clock in the afternoon. 
 His Grace of Babu was sleeping a 
 vinous sleep under the linden in the pas 
 ture opposite the house. Taxil sat on 
 the edge of the duck-pond, gloomily fish 
 ing for dace with a rod that he had un 
 earthed in the stables. When a fish bit 
 he jerked it bodily out of the water onto 
 the grass and fell upon it. This at last 
 awoke the inebriate unter den Linden, 
 and he watched the bouncing flapping 
 fish with every symptom of terror until, 
 satisfied that they were fish and not multi 
 colored snakes, he turned over and pre 
 pared to doze again. 
 
 The King had decided to call another 
 council of war and the Duchess suggested 
 that we all walk through the woods to
 
 Ten Minutes Grace. 101 
 
 some pleasant nook near the Tschiska, 
 suitable alike for weighty consultation 
 and for Mops to take a bath. 
 
 So at two o'clock when the shadows on 
 the mountains were beginning to lengthen 
 toward the east and all the fields were vi 
 brating with rhythmical crickets' rune, we 
 started ; Madge Grey, the Duchess, the 
 King, Bombwitz, Lina, Mops, and myself. 
 
 As we passed the duck-pond, I hailed 
 Taxil and Babu, and they reluctantly 
 obeyed, plodding sullenly across the pas 
 ture. The strident rattle of grass-hop 
 pers and the tic ! tic ! tic ! of the locusts 
 among the maize stalks seemed to inten 
 sify the heat of a nearly vertical sun. 
 
 A fine dusty powder greyed the fern- 
 leaves that bordered the road ; the field 
 flowers drooped a little, waiting for the 
 evening dew. Brilliant active tiger-bee 
 tles ran hither and thither across the 
 baked soil, or rose on burnished wings and 
 sailed away down the road ahead of us, 
 only to fly up again as we overtook them. 
 
 The Duchess walked ahead majesti 
 cally, followed by Lina and Mops. The
 
 102 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 King came next, rambling along in his 
 easy, unconventional way, talking with 
 Madge Grey. Since this morning's out 
 burst there certainly had come something 
 into the King's carriage that gave him 
 an air of being somebody. Perhaps it 
 would be going too far to call it dignity 
 or even authority. Still, whatever it 
 was, it was noticeable, nay, unmistakable. 
 Bombwitz and Taxil felt it, I could see 
 that, and the sodden Duke of Babu rec 
 ognized it. Madge perceived it, I know, 
 for I caught her eye once or twice. 
 Whether the Duchess or Mops were 
 aware of it I could not determine. 
 
 The Duke of Taxil, still lugging his 
 rod and string of dace, exhaled an irri 
 tating aroma, and the Duchess told him 
 so without hesitation. So he laid his fish 
 down in the grass to pick up on his re 
 turn, but Mops waddled toward them, 
 sniffed them, and began to roll on them 
 uttering amused yelps. 
 
 " That may be fun for the dog, but it 
 won't improve their flavor !" cried Taxil 
 angrily.
 
 Ten Minutes Grace. 103 
 
 " Dace are not good to eat at this sea 
 son of the year," I said. 
 
 " I eat what I choose," said Taxil 
 sulkily. 
 
 "Hello," I thought, "Taxil is begin 
 ning to be jealous of me." 
 
 We now turned away from the high 
 road and entered the woods by a foot 
 path, thick with dead leaves, crossed by 
 slender budding vines, and doubly cris- 
 crossed with shining strands of spider's 
 gossamer. The Duchess broke a dozen 
 spider's webs with her granitic face and 
 then ordered Babu to go ahead and per 
 form that duty for her. Babu went : it 
 was all the same to him what he hit with 
 his nose, for the only sensation left in his 
 alcoholic skin was the sensation of inebri 
 ation. 
 
 Mops waddled along like a true Ger 
 man, noticing nothing that other dogs 
 would have noticed, passing all sorts of 
 holes and logs and thickets and interest 
 ing smells without turning his stupid head. 
 I hate such a dog. Men who are not 
 manly, women who are not womanly, dogs
 
 104 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 who are not doggy, inspire me with re 
 sentment. 
 
 " He is like all those globe-trotting 
 Germans who never look at anything but 
 are simply bitten with a mania to swarm 
 over countries and walk as far as possi 
 ble," I thought to myself. I looked at 
 Bombwitz. There was an uncanny facial 
 resemblance between him and Mops. 
 
 " General Bombwitz," I whispered, " has 
 our friend ever been a parent ?" 
 
 " Herr Je ! " gasped Bombwitz, " her 
 Grace is unmarried ! " 
 
 "Her Grace!" said I, "why I was 
 speaking of Mops." 
 
 Bombwitz puffed out his cheeks, coughed 
 twice, and waddled on. 
 
 I laughed a little and joined Madge 
 Grey. 
 
 "Madge," said I, "let us stop saying 
 what we don't mean and meaning what 
 we don't say. Shall we, for a change ? " 
 
 " Hush," she said, " the Duchess will 
 hear you. What do you mean ?" 
 
 " What I say this time. May I walk 
 with you a little ? Shall we drop behind, 
 so the Duchess won't hear?"
 
 Ten Minutes Grace. 105 
 
 She stood aside with a charming ges 
 ture, bidding Taxil and Babu to pass 
 ahead. Then, as they lumbered by, she 
 fell into the path again and I stepped up 
 beside her. 
 
 " Of course you know," said I without 
 any preliminary wa'rning, " that I still 
 love you." 
 
 " Sten ! " she exclaimed. 
 
 " I thought we were going to be truth 
 ful for ten minutes," I said. 
 
 She was silent. 
 
 " After the ten minutes are over," I 
 continued, "we will fib away as merrily as 
 ever ; it would be too stupid otherwise 
 
 " Flippancy does not become you," she 
 said with heightened color. 
 
 " I 'in sorry. I feel flippant when I 
 watch the insincerity of my friends." 
 
 " Do you mean me ? " she asked slowly. 
 
 " No, Madge. You are not insincere." 
 
 " A la bonheur alors ! " she laughed. 
 Her laughter had a nervous ring that re 
 stored all my coolness and confidence. 
 
 " Our ten minutes are flying," I said ; 
 "it would be criminal to waste another 
 second. Do you love me Madge ? "
 
 io6 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 "No!" she cried, scarlet and aston 
 ished. 
 
 A whole minute went by before I spoke 
 again. Anyway I did not care for the 
 remaining nine minutes, now. 
 
 "Well," said I making an effort to 
 smile, " you knew that I loved you this 
 morning, there in the rose garden. I 
 had imagined that I could conceal it but 
 of course I was a self-confident idiot. 
 You knew I loved you then, did you 
 not ? " 
 
 "No." 
 
 " Madge ! The ten minutes are not 
 over yet." 
 
 She was silent. I drew out my watch. 
 
 " Did you know it then ?" 
 
 She turned her face away from me. 
 
 " Tell me," I urged, "these ten minutes 
 will never come again, and we have all 
 our lives to fib in. Will you tell me ? " 
 
 "Yes, I did !" she said suddenly. 
 
 "You knew that I loved you still?" 
 
 "Yes. What time is it?" 
 
 "We have four minutes left, but there 
 is nothing more to say. I am going to
 
 Ten Minutes Grace. 107 
 
 deliberately stamp out my love for you, 
 Madge, and it won't trouble either of us 
 again. I began it this afternoon and," I 
 went on pleasantly, " I will continue in 
 the same lines. Don't be impatient, 
 you will make your lip bleed in another 
 moment ; I have only two more minutes 
 to speak the truth in. I came here be 
 cause I found the world intolerable after 
 you had gone. The day you came I be 
 lieved myself cured. Now I know I am 
 a very sick man. But I will be cured for 
 both our sakes, Madge ; I '11 go back to 
 the world and stir it up a bit. I '11 
 
 " What time is it ?" she asked faintly. 
 
 " I have fifty seconds. That gives me 
 just time to say that I love you. Three 
 words, and you don't know what they 
 mean. I love you. And in ten seconds 
 more I shall never say it again. In five 
 seconds more I will begin to cure myself." 
 
 "What time is it," said Marjory. 
 
 " The last second has just ticked." 
 
 " Sten," she said quietly, "you might 
 have offered me a minute or two out of 
 those ten, but they are gone forever."
 
 io8 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 I looked at her in consternation. 
 
 "Too late," she said, " it's fibs now for 
 the rest of our lives." 
 
 " Tell me one then ! " I cried. 
 
 " I hate you," she* laughed, and slipped 
 away to join the Duchess. 
 
 " Is this game of battle-dore going on ? " 
 I thought angrily. " No ! I '11 stand no 
 more torment ; I '11 trample out the last 
 trace of tenderness in one way or another ! 
 I '11 go to Caucasia and make plots and 
 Kings ! I '11 kiss a pretty mouth too 
 when I see it ! " 
 
 Mops had lingered behind and Lina ran 
 back to fetch him. 
 
 " Here he is," said I ; " Lina, are you 
 still superstitious about kissing ? " 
 
 She said she was. The others were not 
 in sight. 
 
 About half-past four that afternoon I 
 strolled into the sunny grove on the bor 
 ders of the Tschiska. The Duchess was 
 seated upon a bank of moss, watching 
 Lina, who had arrived, carrying Mops, a 
 few minutes before I came. 
 
 Lina was now bathing Mops ; her
 
 Ten Minutes Grace. 109 
 
 sleeves were rolled up showing a pair of 
 perfect white arms, her hair blew across 
 her soft cheeks upon which two spots of 
 carmine deepened and paled. 
 
 " There is some mistake here," thought 
 I, looking from Lina to the Duchess and 
 from the Duchess to Lina ; " there is 
 some awful mistake, that 's certain. The 
 Duchess should be washing the dog." 
 
 Now it was patent to anybody that 
 Lina's small golden head was especially 
 designed for a coronet, but what the head 
 of the Dowager Duchess had been de 
 signed at all for, her Maker only knew. 
 But the marvel of all lay in Lina's aristo 
 cratically perfect hands and feet. 
 
 I looked from the fat ankles of the 
 Dowager Duchess von Schwiggle to the 
 perfectly turned ankles of Lina. 
 
 " This," thought I, " is too serious for 
 jok-ing ; fun is fun and von is von but I '11 
 eat Taxil's dace if Lina does n't deserve 
 a zti in front of whatever comes after 
 ' Lina.' ' And I joined her Grace under 
 the beech tree. 
 
 The King who had been earnestly con-
 
 no A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 versing with Taxil beside the water's edge, 
 now came up the bank and called us all 
 around him. And when we were seated 
 at a sign from him, he turned to the Duch 
 ess with something of nobility in his 
 gesture. 
 
 "My aunt," he said unaffectedly, "for 
 the last time I will ask you not to force 
 me to my throne again. I am not fit ; I 
 know neither how to choose my ministers 
 nor how to rob the people through them. 
 The first I cannot learn, the last I refuse 
 to learn. Now, my aunt, am I fit for a 
 King either way ? " 
 
 " Yes," said the Duchess ; " I will ad 
 vise you." 
 
 "You have already attempted it," re 
 plied the King without bitterness. 
 
 " I was not in Belgarde. I will go," 
 boomed the Duchess. 
 
 The King turned instinctively to ma 
 
 " Will you be there ? " he asked. 
 
 The gentle supplication in his eyes won 
 me completely. 
 
 " I will," I answered firmly. 
 
 " As what ? " demanded the Duchess, 
 with an ominous ring in her deep voice.
 
 Ten Minutes Grace. in 
 
 " As whatever I choose," said the King 
 haughtily. 
 
 " Give me a regiment," I cried, " I ask 
 for no pay ; give me a regiment, your 
 Majesty ! ," 
 
 Madge Grey leaned over to me, drop 
 ping her voice : " You never commanded 
 soldiers ! " she said ; " I do not wish you 
 to." 
 
 " ' I 'm going for a soldier now,' " I whis 
 pered laughing ; " I 'm going to stir up 
 the world a bit. It owes me a little 
 pleasure." 
 
 The King was looking at me all the 
 time. I raised my head and smiled at 
 him. 
 
 " I am not a military man," I said, " but 
 with your Majesty's permission I '11 try 
 my hand at it. There will be fighting on 
 the frontier before we enter. Let me re 
 cruit a regiment after rny own fashion. 
 I '11 go bail your Majesty will hear from 
 us." 
 
 " Do you want nothing in return ? " 
 asked the King incredulously. 
 
 " Nothing except exemption from any 
 superior's orders."
 
 ii2 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 General Bombwitz blew out his cheeks 
 furiously and coughed three times. 
 
 " But," said the King, " I want you 
 near me, near to my person." 
 
 " That 's just it," I replied calmly, " I 
 propose to make my regiment your Body 
 guard, and to answer for your life and suc 
 cessful entry into Belgarde, with my own 
 life and the lives of every trooper in my 
 command." 
 
 The King's broad freckled face flushed. 
 
 " Life-guards do no fighting," he said. 
 
 ''This Life-guard will lead in every 
 fight ! Your Majesty, hear me ! that is 
 the only way a Monarch should re-enter 
 his own, with .bared sword ! " 
 
 "You are right !" said the King, but 
 in my other hand I shall bear free pardon 
 for all." 
 
 " What ! " cried the Duchess. 
 
 " For all ! " repeated the King. " Mr. 
 Steen, I accept your services." 
 
 "May I choose my officers?" I asked. 
 
 "Choose at will." 
 
 " Then I take his Grace of Taxil and 
 his Grace of Babu," I said very loudly ;
 
 Ten Minutes Grace. 113 
 
 "and I urgently solicit the aid and advice 
 of General Bombwitz ! " 
 
 A stupor seemed to seize the three men 
 tioned gentlemen, but the King sprang to 
 his feet and cried; "Obey!" And the 
 three rose and came toward me, mechan 
 ically bringing their heels together and 
 halting at attention. 
 
 "Gentlemen," I said, " his Majesty is 
 going back to Belgarde or you and I 
 won't linger very long in this pleasant 
 world. I am going to recruit a regiment 
 and you and I and that regiment are go 
 ing to gallop behind his Majesty into Bel- 
 garde before the snow flies. Do your 
 duty and you will be in at the death ; 
 shirk it and death will be into you. That 
 is all." 
 
 Then I turned to the King and said ; 
 " Permit me, your Majesty, to suggest 
 that you send General Bombwitz at once 
 to the King of Caucasia." 
 
 " I will," said the King. 
 
 Bombwitz reddened with pleasure. 
 
 " He shall be off to-night," I said. 
 " The two horses are good, I will give
 
 ii4 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 him my milkman, Georgiades, as guide 
 and escort." 
 
 "But," said the King," "suppose that 
 in the meantime the Russian spies come 
 into the valley ? " 
 
 " Listen," I said, " I will see Constan- 
 tine, my butcher. He lives in a little 
 house on the Taxil high-road, just above 
 the notch. If any stranger should pass 
 through the notch he shall either come 
 and warn us, or, if he has no time for that, 
 he shall set a signal, a red rag tied to a 
 tree on the mountain side where anybody 
 from the house can see it." 
 
 The King nodded and gave his hand 
 to aid the Duchess who wanted to rise. 
 
 " One thing more," I said ; " tell Gen 
 eral Bombwitz to ask the King of Cau 
 casia to send you ^10,000 in gold. This 
 Body-guard is going to be paid." 
 
 " You are learning military science very 
 fast," said the King smiling ; " it shall be 
 done." 
 
 One by one we filed out of the grove 
 and took the narrow path again. Lina's 
 dainty figure was far in advance. She
 
 Ten Minutes Grace. 115 
 
 was obliged to bear Mops and the grunts 
 of the Duchess. I looked after her wist 
 fully. 
 
 "Are you coming," said a low voice at 
 my elbow. 
 
 "Yes," I said, "shall I lead, Madge?" 
 
 " No ; walk beside me. Why do you 
 take this foolish risk ? " 
 
 "What risk?" 
 
 "A soldier's?" 
 
 " Nonsense," I laughed 
 
 " I '11 break the fighting line, as you broke your plighted vow, 
 For I "m going for a soldier now ! " 
 
 " Suppose suppose I made another 
 
 ?H 
 
 But I swore under my breath that I had 
 had enough of hell for this life and I did 
 not reply. 
 
 "Sten," she said, "are you going?" 
 
 " Yes," I replied pleasantly. 
 
 Then we spoke of other things ; how 
 she, visiting the castle of Lauterschnapps 
 on the Duchess' invitation, came to go 
 first to the Austrian capital and then to 
 the Tiflix Valley.
 
 1 1 6 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 "It was very simple," she said ; " my 
 hostess the Duchess was obliged to go and 
 I saw that it would be interesting, so I 
 begged her to take me. When the Em 
 peror of Austria was compelled to decline 
 to receive the King, the Duchess set out 
 to find him and warn him. In Sofia we 
 learned he was on his way and we headed 
 him off; that's all." 
 
 " When are you going back with the 
 Duchess?" I enquired. 
 
 " Are you so anxious to see the last of 
 me ? " she asked abruptly. 
 
 " No. But you can't stay here and be 
 mixed up in these plots and intrigues. If 
 they catch us, you know, we will all follow 
 Panitza and Stambouloff. Then what 
 will you do?" 
 
 "I can take care of myself," she said, 
 tossing her head. 
 
 By this time we had reached the high 
 road again. 
 
 " Sten," she said after a long silence, 
 " don't do this thing." 
 
 "What thing?" 
 
 " Turn soldier."
 
 Ten Minutes Grace. 117 
 
 I looked at her narrowly. " Would 
 you have me back out ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " But that is dishonorable. I am com-- 
 mitted." 
 
 " Oh ! " said she bitterly, " what fools 
 men are ! " 
 
 " God begins us so," said I, " and wo 
 man finishes the work." 
 
 After a moment Madge said ; " Yes 
 but God made women also. It is not our 
 fault." 
 
 So we two fools walked on along the 
 dusty highway, comforting ourselves with 
 the wisdom of our own folly.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE TOILET OF MOPS. 
 
 r I ^HE next day I sent Taxil to Paris. 
 JL He bore a note from me to my 
 old friend Clisson, ex-captain in the 
 5oth Chasseurs d'Afrique. This was the 
 note : 
 
 " MON BEAU-SABREUR : 
 
 " You are always grumbling because there is noth 
 ing going on. Now your chance has come. King 
 Theobald of Boznovia wants six hundred young 
 men who have cut their teeth and who know how to 
 cleave other people's. If you want a commission to 
 lead any such young men, it 's ready for you. The 
 lighter their touch on hilt and trigger, the sooner 
 they '11 touch their pensions. Their pensions and 
 perquisites await them in Belgarde, but they must 
 fetch them out on the points of their sabres. 
 
 If, by accident, six hundred such young men 
 
 should meet in Bazoum, which city, you are aware, 
 
 is the capital of Caucasia, it is dollars to doughnuts 
 
 and francs to fromage that they would find six hun- 
 
 118
 
 The Toilet of Mops. 119 
 
 dred horses awaiting them, six hundred scarlet 
 tunics, and six hundred sabres. Draw on me at 
 sight for what you need. Drexel is my banker. 
 In three weeks, then, in Bazoum. 
 
 " STEPHEN STEEN." 
 
 P.S. Is a field marshall's uniform becoming to 
 you ? " 
 
 I walked with Taxil as far as the notch 
 in the mountains. Here Constantine, my 
 butcher, was ready with an ein-spanner to 
 drive him to the Ezrox Station on the 
 Carpathian and Asiatic Railway. 
 
 " Good-bye," said I, pressing his hand, 
 " you have plenty of money and plenty 
 of time. I expect you to succeed." 
 
 Then I turned to the driver, my 
 butcher : " Constantine, when you return 
 from the station donT; forget about your 
 red signal rag if anybody enters the 
 notch." 
 
 Constantine grinned and nodded. 
 
 Taxil drew me aside. 
 
 " You promise me a railroad from the 
 Taxil Mines to Belgarde if I succeed?" 
 
 " Yes the King has promised." 
 
 " But you ? " 
 
 " The King has promised," I repeated.
 
 120 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 Then I laid my hand lightly on his 
 sleeve, he wore an old coat of mine and 
 looked like a well to do vine-grower. 
 
 " I forgot to tell you what I promise if 
 you don't succeed," said I smiling. 
 
 "What?" 
 
 I pointed to a stone wall. " File of 
 men and thirty seconds' grace." 
 
 We looked steadily into each other's 
 eyes. I was satisfied. A moment later 
 he went whirling away in the ein-spanner 
 toward the Ezrox Station. 
 
 I walked thoughtfully back to the val 
 ley, switching the long grass with my 
 mountain staff. Once or twice I thought 
 of an illustration I had seen in Harper s 
 Weekly, Major Panitza shot to death in 
 front of a dead wall. 
 
 When I reached the house the sky-larks 
 were trilling and warbling in the sky, the 
 thrushes sang in the thickets, the bull 
 finches whistled from the cherry trees. 
 Gusts and dashes of music came from 
 vineyards and maize fields, from garden, 
 hedge, and pasture, until the whole blue 
 atmosphere seemed saturated with song.
 
 The Toilet of Mops. 121 
 
 " There will be louder music soon," I 
 thought, and I remembered bitterly how 
 the dull boom of the cannon from the 
 Genghis Pass had silenced every feathered 
 chorister in the Tiflix Valley. 
 
 I found the King in his bed-room writ 
 ing proclamations and manifestos. I aided 
 him for an hour, he was a slow penman 
 and a slower author, and after a while 
 he left it all to me and returned to the 
 study of the map of Boznovia which I had 
 found for him in my library. 
 
 Babu was in his room, -- locked in 
 and involuntarily undergoing a primitive 
 Keeley cure on constantly reduced and 
 diluted doses of cognac. The native Ser 
 vian remedy, the powdered Ispha nut, 
 he had refused to take at first, but, as the 
 days passed and the rations of cognac 
 grew smaller and weaker, he swallowed it 
 in desperation, and recovered his appetite 
 which the use of the nut invariably excites. 
 So began the cure of his Grace of Babu. 
 
 The week wore away uneventfully It 
 was too early yet to hear from General 
 Bombwitz or from Taxil. Every morn-
 
 122 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 ing I fixed my marine glasses on the 
 notch, but no red signal rag fluttered 
 from the designated tree top and I knew 
 that so far we were safe. It had been 
 agreed that the twenty-four hours should 
 be cut into six watches, the Duchess, 
 Madge Grey, Lina, Obadiah, the King, 
 and myself, to take turns examining the 
 notch with the field glasses. Babu, of 
 course was exempt ; he was too earnestly 
 occupied in getting cured to be trusted yet. 
 
 Constantine stretched a silk cord across 
 the pass every night. One end of the 
 cord connected with a bell just above his 
 head. Occasionally a passing deer or 
 chamois would ring him up and he would 
 bound out of bed to investigate, ready, at 
 sight of a human figure, to light and hoist 
 his little red lamp on the pine tree above 
 the notch. Once a great Carpathian bear 
 snapped the cord and Constantine, rush 
 ing out, found the bear awaiting him in 
 pleased surprise. It was a narrow escape 
 and well worth the fifty marks that I gave 
 him for his devotion. 
 
 Madge and I seldom saw each other
 
 The Toilet of Mops. 123 
 
 alone. She passed most of her time with 
 the Duchess in their rooms. The King 
 worked steadily at his maps and mani 
 festos, and also on a list of proposed re 
 forms for Boznovia, every one of which 
 he discussed with me. Those that I 
 recommended he retained, those that the 
 Duchess approved he usually struck out. 
 
 I myself was studying German, French, 
 English, and American cavalry tactics. 
 The result was first chaos, then amended 
 and revised tactics of my own. What 
 knowledge I possessed of a military na 
 ture had been acquired while I was a 
 trooper in the New York Dragoons, a 
 volunteer battalion that was noted for 
 its proficiency at banquets and cotillons. 
 It's not such bad training either, for, 
 although a little knowledge is dangerous, 
 a great deal of knowledge sometimes pre 
 vents people from daring to do anything. 
 
 So I studied Upton, Esterhazy, Sheri 
 dan, and de Gallifet, until I didn't know 
 the difference between horse-marines and 
 horse-chestnuts ; and I gave it up. 
 
 " This regiment of mine," said I to my-
 
 124 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 self, " shall be run by Steen's tactics, 
 unadopted, unauthorized, and uncopy- 
 righted. I '11 give the horses condensed 
 fodder and cealine ; I '11 give the men 
 pemmican and Bull's concentrated beef 
 pellets, and I '11 gallop them at anything 
 that blocks the way to Belgarde. If the 
 King of Caucasia does n't like it he can 
 keep his opinion to himself ; but I '11 bet 
 that my troopers ride into Belgarde as 
 soon as his." 
 
 One sunny afternoon toward the end 
 of the week I left the King and his mani 
 festos, and went down-stairs to the porch. 
 It was Obadiah's watch. I saw him un 
 der the orchard trees, a battered brass 
 telescope across his knees, staring toward 
 the notch as though hypnotized. 
 
 " You 'd better close your mouth, 
 'Diah," I suggested, " you know some 
 birds are nesting yet." 
 
 The cavern closed with a dazzling dis 
 play of ivory. 
 
 " Whose watch is it next ? " I asked. 
 
 " H'it am de Duchess watch, Mars' 
 Steen," said Obadiah.
 
 The Toilet of Mops. 125 
 
 I looked at my time-piece. 
 
 " Go and notify her now. Has Miss 
 Grey passed this way ? " 
 
 " Yessah." 
 
 "Up the road?" 
 
 "Yessah." 
 
 I turned and looked up the white high 
 way. Far away near the hill-top, a figure 
 was silhouetted against the blue. 
 
 "Go and find her Grace," I said, and 
 started up the road to overtake Madge 
 Grey. 
 
 " She 's going to make the tour by the 
 Tschiska," I thought ; " I '11 surprise her 
 in the woods by the mile post. Hello ! 
 She 's taken that cursed lap-dog with 
 her." 
 
 As I spoke the distant figure turned 
 sharply into the woods just where the 
 little forest path leaves the high-road by 
 the mile post. I walked on at a good 
 swinging pace, puffing my cigarette and 
 glancing right and left across the clover- 
 scented pastures where clouds of white 
 butterflies drifted and eddied with every 
 wandering breeze.
 
 i26 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 
 
 The bitter memory of what I had suf 
 fered from Marjory Grey's caprice had 
 given place to a serene, almost contented 
 acceptance of the situation. A week ago 
 she knew that I loved her, and I, know 
 ing that she knew it, had asked her if she 
 loved me. Her answer gave me a mo 
 ment's agony, an hour's anger, and that 
 ended it. 
 
 When her coquetry led her to allow 
 me another ray of hope, I knew too much 
 to be dazzled. And now I had come to 
 accept it as it was ; I had tried to stamp 
 out the last ember of love for her, and I 
 told myself that I had succeeded. Angry 
 pride and the philosopher's stone are 
 said to be great transmuters. 
 
 When I came to the mile post I called 
 aloud, and my voice echoed far in the for 
 est, fainter, fainter, until the dry chatter 
 of a magpie drowned the last lingering 
 note. 
 
 " Now she '11 wait for me," I thought, 
 and I entered the leafy path. 
 
 There were several reasons, I told my 
 self, why I wished to join Madge Grey
 
 The Toilet of Mops. 127 
 
 on her afternoon walk ; one was because 
 I preferred any good company to my 
 own ; another, because the forest was not 
 perfectly safe. Bears occasionally came 
 into the valley from their dens on the Os- 
 man Peak, and a she-bear with cubs was 
 downright dangerous. The small wild 
 cats never bothered people, although 
 again, a female with kittens had once 
 come at me sideways, spitting like mad, 
 back arched, and tail swollen half as large 
 as her body. These I considered very 
 good reasons for joining Madge Grey. 
 To tell the truth, there was also a third 
 reason : I was not unwilling that Mar 
 jory should see how completely cured I 
 was. 
 
 So I strode on contentedly through 
 the trees, smelling the sweet wild wood 
 perfumes, stooping at times to pluck a 
 long stemmed orchid to add to the wood 
 land bouquet for Madge's belt. 
 
 Once a thought came into my head 
 that bothered me. It was this : Why, if 
 I was cured of my love for Marjory Grey, 
 should I quit my pheasants and trout and
 
 128 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 rose-bowered house, to risk life, limb, and 
 fortune for a dull-witted Boznovian ? Sup 
 pose it were possible to back out without 
 dishonor ; would I be satisfied now to 
 live the rest of my life in the Tiflix Val 
 ley ? At the very thought of it a horror 
 seized me. No, it was impossible now. 
 Whatever it had been that stirred my 
 sluggish blood, whether it was the com 
 ing of Madge, or the glimpse of the world 
 I had quitted, whether it was the thirst 
 for action or merely the curiosity to see 
 how the King would bear himself, I did 
 not know. One thing was certain ; the 
 valley was too small for me now. Physi 
 cal and mental activity I craved ; and I 
 stood a fair chance of being satisfied. 
 
 Thinking these thoughts I hastened on, 
 adding now and then to my bouquet of 
 white and orange orchids ; and at last I 
 caught the flutter of a gown ahead of me 
 and I saw a figure moving slowly through 
 the covert. 
 
 Suddenly Mops barked : the figure 
 turned. It was not Marjory Grey. 
 
 I stood a moment silent, awkwardly
 
 The Toilet of Mops. 129 
 
 holding my bouquet of orchids. Then I 
 said : 
 
 " Lina, where is Miss Grey ? " 
 
 " Miss Grey is ill with a headache, Mr. 
 Steen." 
 
 " In the house ?" 
 
 " Yes sir." 
 
 " It 's that idiot Obadiah," I said smil 
 ing, "he mistook you for Miss Grey." 
 
 Lina looked at Mops. 
 
 "Lina," said I, "would Mops object if 
 I walked a little way with you ? " 
 
 " I don't know sir." 
 
 " Would you object?" 
 
 " Oh no sir, if you wish to." 
 
 I walked up to her and slipped the 
 orchids into her belt. She said nothing. 
 Mops growled. 
 
 " Shall we walk ? " said I. 
 
 And we moved on. 
 
 She had taken off her hat and the sun 
 light filtering through the leafy roof above, 
 burnished her small golden head. She 
 held the hat between the thumb and fore 
 finger of her left hand and swung it 
 gently as she walked. A thrush peered
 
 i3 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 at her from a Tucha-bush and sang three 
 sweet notes ; a cock-pheasant drummed 
 the long roll in honor of her, loveliness. 
 
 " Lina," said I, " this forest is very 
 beautiful. It lacked a dryad before you 
 came." 
 
 When I said this I was quite certain 
 that Lina had never heard of dryads. 
 
 " Thank you," she said demurely, " I 
 have often longed to live in a tree." 
 
 So she did know about dryads. I dimly 
 wondered if it were possible that Lina was 
 making fun of me. 
 
 " Would you rather I compared you to 
 a water nymph ? " I asked. 
 
 "It might be more suitable. I am go 
 ing to wash Mops in the Tschiska." 
 
 I noticed that she had dropped the 
 'sir,' in speaking to me. 
 
 " Hm ! I may be able to assist you," I 
 said. "I observed last week that you 
 leaned dangerously far over the pool. 
 My arms are always at your disposal, 
 what are you singing, Lina?" 
 
 " I sing of arms and the man," she re 
 plied.
 
 The Toilet of Mops. 13 i 
 
 The silence lasted a minute. 
 
 "You are fond of Virgil?" I enquired 
 coldly. 
 
 " In the original, Mr. Steen." 
 
 This was both astonishing and irritat 
 ing. I knew that it was time to assert 
 myself so I took her hand in mine, very 
 gently, and slipped one arm around her 
 waist. She said nothing. After a mo 
 ment, I kissed her. 
 
 " Do you mind ? " I asked. 
 
 "It is your duty to combat supersti 
 tion," she said gravely. 
 
 " Then," said I enthusiastically, " I will 
 begin again ! " 
 
 " But I am already converted " 
 
 "No, no!" I cried, horrified, "some 
 doubts must still linger 
 
 " None." 
 
 "Not one?" 
 
 " Well perhaps one little one " 
 
 Thus we passed through the forest, 
 fighting our doubts and superstitions. 
 
 When we came to the Tschiska we sat 
 down on the sunny bank, and she took 
 Mops in her lap to remove his hideous
 
 132 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 pink ribbons. He knew what that meant, 
 and moaned. 
 
 "Yes," said I, appreciating his misery, 
 " the water is cold ! You may well moan 
 and shiver, you nasty German lap-dog ! " 
 
 " Poor Mops," remarked Lina. 
 
 " Poor Mops," I repeated hypocritically. 
 
 " You need n't say that," said Lina, 
 " you know you hate him." 
 
 She carried him, struggling and yelping 
 to the pool and rolled him in. The miser 
 able cur immediately swam out again. 
 
 " Let me fix him," I suggested. 
 
 " You won't hurt him ? " 
 
 " I never hurt animals, even perverted 
 lap-dogs," said I, and I tossed Mops into 
 the centre of the pool. 
 
 The dog swam at once, not back to the 
 shore but out to a warm flat rock that 
 lay half submerged in the middle of the 
 Tschiska. 
 
 " Now," said Lina desperately, " he 
 won't come back till we get up to go 
 home." 
 
 It was true. Threats, entreaties, se 
 ductive whistling, had no effect. Mops
 
 The Toilet of Mops. 133 
 
 sat on the warm rock and licked his drip 
 ping flanks, casting evil oblique glances at 
 me. 
 
 " I am sorry," said I, possessing myself 
 of one of Lina's small soft hands. 
 
 As we sat there, silent, listening to the 
 ripple of the Tschiska among its pebbles, 
 it came into my mind that the world was 
 no whited sepulchre after all. I looked 
 side-ways at Lina. How quiet she was, 
 sweet and pale as a forest blossom. I re 
 membered the Duchess von Schwiggle 
 with her granitic face and her thick ankles. 
 
 " Von Schwiggle?" I thought to my 
 self contemptuously; ''her name should 
 be Bauer and she should sell slabs of carp 
 flesh in the Au on Fridays." 
 
 Lina raised her eyes to mine. 
 
 "What is your other name?" I asked 
 gently. 
 
 " My other name, Mr. Steen ?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " I don't know that I shall tell you." 
 
 " Never mind," said I, " I know what 
 it ought to be." 
 
 "What? Mr. Steen."
 
 i34 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 " Oh von or zu something or other " 
 
 " But dear me ! I am not a German." 
 
 "Not German!" I cried delighted, 
 " there ! I knew you could n't be ! " 
 
 " But my name is Lina." 
 
 " That 's true," 
 
 " Suppose I should tell you it is n't 
 Lina ? " 
 
 "Tell me then." 
 
 " But it is Lina." 
 
 " Oh." 
 
 " Not my first name." 
 
 "You have three names ?" 
 
 " I have six. I Ve a mind to tell you 
 some of them, 
 
 " Don't tease, Lina." 
 
 " Very well, my name is Dorothy 
 
 "Dorothea?" 
 
 " No, that 's German ; Dorothy Eileen 
 Marguerite Inez " 
 
 " You 're teasing again !" 
 
 " No, really, all those are my names." 
 
 " Then you are French. Yet you don't 
 speak French exactly as French people 
 do " 
 
 " Don't I," she laughed, clapping her 
 small hands delighted.
 
 The Toilet of Mops. 135 
 
 "Oh tell me, Lina ! " 
 
 " My last name?" 
 
 " Yes, please ! " 
 
 " No," she said decidedly, " I will not 
 tell you." 
 
 "It would be easy for me to ask the 
 Duchess," I said laughing. 
 
 " The Duchess ! Oh, she '11 tell you 
 that my name is Lina Cherbuez." 
 
 "And it isn't?" 
 
 "No, it isn't." 
 
 " When did you enter the Duchess' 
 service ? " 
 
 " The day she left schloss Lauter- 
 schnapps." I was disappointed and she 
 saw it. 
 
 " Listen," she said, " I went to her 
 Grace well recommended and she took 
 me because her own travelling companion 
 was ill. I am not an ordinary maid, Mr. 
 Steen." 
 
 " I know you 're a sweet little maid, 
 
 " I speak six languages," she said. 
 
 " Do you play?" 
 
 " Harp, lute, violin, and piano," 
 
 I looked down at her lovely aristocratic 
 fingers.
 
 i3 6 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 " I was not mistaken," said I ; " I might 
 have known it also from your voice and 
 language." 
 
 "What?" 
 
 " That you are well-born." 
 
 " I am not," she said slowly. 
 
 "Then who in Heaven's name is?" I 
 cried. 
 
 "Her Grace the Dowager Duchess von 
 Schwiggle," said Lina, and solemnly 
 tossed a pebble into the water at our feet. 
 Even the ripples laughed. 
 
 " Mr. Steen," she said as we rose to go ; 
 " I would rather you did not mention the 
 list of my names and accomplishments to 
 anybody until I give you permission." 
 
 Of course I promised, wondering a 
 little. 
 
 " Come," she said, shyly holding out 
 one hand. 
 
 We had gone perhaps a quarter of a 
 mile when Mops appeared behind us. 
 
 " I knew he 'd come," said Lina gaily. 
 
 " Who would n't ?" I muttered. 
 
 The human heart is fearfully and won 
 derfully made ; so is the skeleton of the 
 domestic mule.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE SLUMBER OF THE DUCHESS. 
 
 WHEN we came in sight of the 
 house I could see nobody but 
 the Duchess. She was lying in a steamer 
 chair under the trees, the brass telescope 
 in her lap, her geological face turned tow 
 ard the notch. 
 
 " Her Grace keeps good watch," said I ; 
 "do you suppose she'll raise Cain be 
 cause you and I return together ? " 
 
 " I don't know," said Lina ; " I believe 
 her Grace is asleep." 
 
 " Asleep ! " I cried anxiously. We stood 
 still, staring at the Duchess. I stepped 
 forward, lifted the telescope from her 
 Grace's lap, and levelled it at the notch. 
 
 The red rag was fluttering from the 
 signal tree ! 
 
 " Are you ill ? " asked Lina, " you have 
 turned quite white." I handed her the 
 137
 
 i3 8 A King and a Few Duke. 
 
 glass and laid my hand on the Duchess' 
 arm. 
 
 " Come," I said coldly, as she sat up 
 gaping and blinking ; " the signal flag is 
 flying and who knows how long it 's been 
 there ? Somebody is in the valley, how 
 near nobody can tell. You have betrayed 
 your trust, Madame ; it 's a bad beginning 
 for an arch-conspirator." 
 
 " Herr Je ! " gasped her Grace. 
 
 " Precisely," I replied, " he has us in his 
 keeping. Go to the King, Madame, and 
 bundle him out of sight. And keep your 
 self and Babu out of sight, go quickly, 
 Madame, or by Heaven I '11 drop the 
 whole affair ! " 
 
 Lina assisted the dazed Duchess 
 through the garden and into the house. 
 I walked back to the porch, called Oba- 
 diah, gave him all necessary instructions, 
 and sat down with my eyes fixed on the 
 turn of the road. 
 
 I had not been there five minutes, when, 
 without the least warning, two figures ap 
 peared, noiselessly speeding toward me, 
 mounted on bicycles. Before I could rise
 
 The Slumber of the Duchess. 139 
 
 they were at the gate, dismounted, and 
 walking lightly up the path. 
 
 I returned their careful salute, and bade 
 them enter. There was no mistaking 
 their faces ; they were Russians. 
 
 " Excelenz," said the taller man, who 
 wore a rough English cycling suit, " I am 
 looking for my master, the Duke of Taxil. 
 Has he passed this way ? " 
 
 " A gentleman who called himself the 
 Duke of Taxil passed through here," I 
 replied. 
 
 " Alone ? " 
 
 " No," there were two others with him. 
 They stopped at my house for a while." 
 
 " Were they hungry ? " 
 
 " Hungry and thirsty," I said laughing. 
 " And if that is your condition also, pray 
 come in." 
 
 " Thank you," said the taller man, 
 speaking the beautiful English that many 
 Russians master so easily, " we are rather 
 pressed for time. May I ask which way 
 the Duke of Taxil and his party went?" 
 
 " The Duke of Taxil passed through 
 the notch at daybreak this morning."
 
 140 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 The men exchanged glances. I could 
 see that they were puzzled. 
 
 "Are you sure of this?" asked the 
 taller man. 
 
 " Why yes. I saw him go." 
 
 "I only ask," continued the man, "be 
 cause it was expected that he would go 
 the other way toward Austria. Thank 
 you, Excelenz, no, we cannot stop, we 
 are much indebted to you." 
 
 " Now," thought I, " everything is easy. 
 Let them chase Taxil to the notch. They 
 never can guess that the old vine-grower 
 who took the Carpathian and Asiatic Ex 
 press is the Duke of Taxil. Besides they 
 take it for granted that the King and 
 Babu are with him. All is well," I thought 
 gleefully, watching them where they stood 
 preparing to mount their wheels. And 
 all would have been well had not Lina 
 suddenly appeared at the door. I heard 
 her footstep behind me and turned, horri 
 fied. She looked at me, saw my frown, 
 and at the same moment her eyes fell on 
 the two cyclists. It took me only a second 
 to make up my mind.
 
 The Slumber of the Duchess. 141 
 
 " Of course, my dear," I said, rising and 
 taking Lina's hand affectionately, " I will 
 ask them to wait long enough to drink a 
 stirrup cup." And I walked out to the 
 gate smiling. 
 
 "My wife," said I, "thinks that I show 
 small hospitality and begs you will wait 
 until she can send you a stirrup cup to 
 speed you on your journey." 
 
 The two cyclists bowed. I could detect 
 nothing in their faces which might not 
 have been natural under the circumstances. 
 At a signal from me, Obadiah brought 
 out a bottle of Burgundy and three glasses. 
 We all turned and bowed gravely to Lina, 
 who replied with a quiet inclination of her 
 pretty head ; then we touched glasses and 
 solemnly emptied them. 
 
 A moment later the cyclists were wheel 
 ing away full speed toward the notch and 
 I walked back to the porch, biting my 
 moustache. 
 
 " By jingo ! " I said, " that was a close 
 call, Lina. Whatever in the world brought 
 you down. Suppose they had known I 
 was n't married ? "
 
 H 2 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 "It was an accident," she said, "will 
 Mr. Steen permit me to felicitate him on 
 his perfect sang froid ? " 
 
 In her eyes and voice there was the 
 faintest tinge of irony, and I resented it. 
 
 "It was the best I could think of," I 
 said sulkily ; " luck was with me I admit. 
 Why did you come down ? " 
 
 " I heard no sound and how was I to 
 know they had come ? Mops is in the 
 garden and I thought I ought to dry him. 
 The Duchess would be inconsolable if 
 Mops caught cold 
 
 " Mops ! Mops ! " I stammered furi 
 ously, "between Mops and her Grace 
 we '11 all be ruined ! " Lina turned away 
 and I walked angrily across the garden to 
 the orchard. 
 
 " I gave Lina credit for more sense 
 than she has," I muttered, throwing my 
 self into the steamer chair and fixing the 
 marine-glasses on the signal tree. Ten 
 minutes later I lowered the glasses with 
 a long drawn sigh. 
 
 The signal flag was gone. 
 
 That evening at dinner we discussed
 
 The Slumber of the Duchess. 143 
 
 it very seriously. The Duchess, over 
 whelmed with rage and mortification, 
 made no sound except when she sucked 
 her soup from the spoon. Madge Grey, 
 the King, and I agreed that the men were 
 spies and Russians. The King had 
 peeped at them through the curtains and 
 he insisted that they were Russians from 
 the Caucasus. 
 
 "I know the breed," he said, "you 
 can't mistake those eyes and cheek bones. 
 Well, I 'm glad it 's all right but it was a 
 narrow margin for some of us." 
 
 I looked at Lina. She stood at the 
 Duchess' elbow, demure, pensive as a tired 
 kitten. 
 
 "Where the devil," thought I, "did she 
 get her beautiful hands ?" 
 
 Dinner over, the Duchess, Madge, and 
 Lina, withdrew to their rooms ; the King 
 retired to smoke his faience pipe and com 
 pose " An Appeal to the Powers " ; and 
 Babu and I wandered aimlessly from the 
 deserted drawing-room to the smoking- 
 room, then through the dim library and 
 the gun-room, out onto the porch.
 
 H4 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 " I trust your Grace is improving," said 
 I, "the Ispha nut is an astonishing- 
 remedy." 
 
 " Yes," said the Duke with a grimace, 
 " it is more astonishing than the disease." 
 
 "But," I insisted, "you are better; 
 anybody can see that. You have an ap 
 petite that is simply royal." 
 
 " That 's just it," muttered Babu, " it 's 
 too much for a Duke. You are diluting 
 my cognac with water " 
 
 " Of course : to-morrow I 'm going to 
 dilute your water with cognac. It 's the 
 only way : I '11 have no drunkards in my 
 regiment and I have you slated for Cap 
 tain." 
 
 " That 's all very well," said his Grace 
 sulkily, " but I 'm a naval officer, or rather 
 I was, and I don't care for cavalry service." 
 
 I thought of the single gun-boat of the 
 Boznovian navy and looked at the Ad 
 miral. 
 
 " Do you miss the sea ? " I asked gently. 
 
 " Well no," replied the Duke, " I was 
 always on shore duty because my flag 
 ship ran on a sand bar and the King let it
 
 The Slumber of the Duchess. 145 
 
 stay there." Then he leaned close to me 
 and whispered confidentially ; " The truth 
 is the Boznovian navy was a farce." 
 
 " No ! " I exclaimed. 
 
 " It was," he insisted, wagging his head 
 and shutting his great round eyes. 
 
 After a moment he drew out a bon-bon- 
 niere, swallowed a morsel of Ispha nut 
 with every symptom of displeasure, and 
 said good-night. I looked after him, 
 nodding to myself contentedly, then I 
 lighted my cigarette and sank into a big 
 cane arm-chair in a corner of the porch. 
 
 The long summer day was nearly ended. 
 Pale streaks of light still lingered in the 
 west, fading slowly from faintest rose to 
 pallid yellow. High in the evening air 
 swallows still twittered and house-martins 
 wheeled and squealed, soaring in circles 
 above weather-vane and chimney-pot. 
 From the lower branches of the apple- 
 trees came the plaintive peep of roosting 
 chickens and the querulous notes of sleepy 
 turkeys ; and I heard the drowsy quack 
 ing of ducks and the murmur of geese 
 among the sedges of the meadow mere. 
 
 1 i
 
 146 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 A star broke out in the darkening zenith, 
 then another and another, and still others, 
 and now they were everywhere, glimmer 
 ing, sparkling, clustering from horizon to 
 horizon. Had the night fallen so swiftly ? 
 I looked around. The great hawk-moths 
 were hovering among the lilies, now only 
 pale patches in the garden's dusk. Far 
 in the forest an owl hooted twice. Mist 
 shrouded the pond. It was night. 
 
 And with the night came Madge Grey, 
 softly stepping among the roses, pushing 
 aside the perfumed branches that hung 
 heavily across the path. She did not see 
 me at first, it was the glow of my cigar 
 ette tip in the dusk that warned her. 
 
 I found a big chair for her, and when 
 she was comfortable, I resumed my seat 
 in the corner. For a long time we sat 
 there in silence ; I let my cigarette go out 
 and dropped the end on the lawn. 
 
 She spoke first, saying something 
 about home, I believe. I heard her, but 
 I scarcely comprehended what she said. 
 I was thinking, marvelling that the sound 
 of her voice no longer set my heart beat-
 
 The Slumber of the Duchess. 147 
 
 ing, no longer sent that long thrill to 
 the tips of my limbs. Did I love her 
 yet ? Upon my soul I could not have 
 answered that question. 
 
 Presently I heard myself asking : " Are 
 you sometimes a little homesick, Madge ? " 
 
 " Yes, sometimes." 
 
 -Now?" 
 
 " Yes. Perhaps it is the perfume of 
 the lilies 
 
 "When is the Duchess going?" 
 
 " As soon as the Duke of Taxil returns 
 with the horses." 
 
 " Ah ! " I exclaimed, " true she can't 
 go without the horses. I am hoping that 
 Taxil may return to-morrow." 
 
 "So soon?" 
 
 " It's nearly a week," 
 
 "It has passed swiftly for me," she said 
 simply. 
 
 I was on my guard at once. That low 
 voice would never play the devil with me 
 again ! 
 
 " Then the Duchess, I suppose, will 
 take you back to schloss Lauterschnapps 
 with her ? " I asked pleasantly.
 
 148 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 " Oh yes, I suppose so. I dread it, 
 Sten." 
 
 "Why? Is n't the schloss cheerful? 
 Tell me a little about this stony faced 
 Dowager and her stony ribbed castle." 
 
 "If you like; it's not gay, you may 
 light a cigarette if you wish, Sten ; no, it 
 is not very gay, the castle of Lauter- 
 schnapps. I went there because you know 
 the Duchess is very fond of Mamma. She 
 stood up for her when Papa ran away with 
 her. Imagine, Sten, how it must feel to 
 have a mother only a year or two older 
 than yourself, and oh so beautiful ! They 
 say that Mamma is one of the most beau 
 tiful women who ever came to Berlin, 
 and by far the loveliest that ever entered 
 castle Lauterschnapps, except the Prin 
 cess Sylvia 
 
 "Who?" 
 
 " The Princess Sylvia, you know, 
 the one they call ' Witch Sylvia.'" 
 
 " But I don't know," I insisted ; "is she 
 a German Princess ? " 
 
 "Why no. I mean the Princess Sylvia 
 of Marmora. Her brother was put on
 
 The Slumber of the Duchess. 149 
 
 the Boznovian throne, a few days ago, by 
 the Czar. You must have heard of him ? " 
 
 " I believe I have," said I, smiling ; 
 "is n't she the one who scandalizes all 
 Europe by doing what she pleases ?" 
 
 "Of course. And when she was younger 
 she was a great favorite with the Duchess 
 von Schwiggle, but it has been four years 
 since the Duchess has seen her. Do 
 you know what Witch Sylvia did ? She 
 appeared one morning at a schloss boar- 
 meet, dressed like a page of the sixteenth 
 century ! Imagine the horror of the 
 Duchess. She has never set eyes on the 
 Princess Sylvia since." 
 
 " I should like to have seen it all the 
 same," said I. 
 
 " Oh, they say she was simply exquisite, 
 with her blue eyes and silky dark curls, 
 and her hose and doublet and hawks- 
 feather. Really I don't see so very much 
 harm in that, do you ? " 
 
 " I ? Not at all." 
 
 " Neither do I. But I am afraid that, 
 since then, her escapades have not been 
 exactly proper. She went for a whole
 
 150 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 week to the Carpathian army manoeuvres 
 dressed like a Moldovian Hussar, and 
 nobody found it out until the Moldovian 
 attache complained. They say when Bis 
 marck heard of it he laughed more than 
 he had since England was chased out of 
 the Transvaal." 
 
 " But," said I, " what did her brother 
 do?" 
 
 " Her brother ? He 's afraid of her." 
 
 " He must make a fine King for Boz- 
 novia," I observed. 
 
 " No worse than Theobald of Taxim- 
 bourg," said Madge, dropping her voice. 
 " It is simply a crazy scheme to try to force 
 him back on the Boznovian people." 
 
 " It will be easy," said I, " if this Prince 
 of Marmora is the sort of man who is 
 afraid of his sister." 
 
 " True," she said, " but if his sister, the 
 Princess Sylvia, undertakes to repel your 
 invasion, I would n't give three bronze 
 pfennings for the chances of Theobald of 
 
 r o 
 
 Boznovia." 
 
 " We will see," said I, somewhat net 
 tled.
 
 The Slumber of the Duchess. 151 
 
 " Ah, that is just what I am afraid of. 
 Don't don't go on this expedition. 
 You know what the end will be if you. 
 fail" 
 
 I thought again of the picture in Har 
 per s Weekly. 
 
 " Listen, Sten, give it up and dissuade 
 the King. You are no soldier, you were 
 not bred to it " 
 
 " I was in the New York Dragoons 
 
 " But you don't understand you don't 
 know what these European armies are." 
 
 " Yes I do." 
 
 " And you don't realize what this Witch 
 Sylvia is capable of " 
 
 " Was she trained for a soldier ? I 
 think that I may venture to match my 
 wits against hers, Madge." 
 
 " But Witch Sylvia is consulted even 
 by the Chief of the general staff." 
 
 " Bother Witch Sylvia ! " I muttered.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE WAY OF A MAID. 
 
 THE next day passed without any 
 news from Caucasia. I was grow 
 ing restless. Hour after hour I started 
 up, imagining that I heard the sound 
 of hoofs on the high-way, but when I 
 hurried to the porch there was nothing 
 moving on the white road, stretching to 
 the hill on the northern horizon. Babu, 
 greatly depressed by a heroic dose of Is- 
 pha nut, mooned about the garden, smok 
 ing strong cigars until I wished he would 
 go away. The Duchess had a headache 
 and Madge Grey was watching the notch. 
 The King still labored over his " Appeal 
 to the Powers " ; I could hear him breath 
 ing hard behind his closed door. The 
 scratching of his pen irritated me. 
 
 About one o'clock his Grace of Babu 
 152
 
 The Way of a Maid. 153 
 
 went fishing in the Tschiska. I was glad 
 to get rid of his depressed countenance 
 and I cheerfully lent him a good rod and 
 directed him to the best water. Obadiah 
 went with him as instructor and gilly, 
 promising to return in time to get dinner. 
 
 When they had gone I began to wan 
 der about the house, probably wearing a 
 more dismal face than poor Babu's, and 
 at last I went into the kitchen to see how 
 Obadiah had left affairs. The first thing 
 I noticed was Mops, sniffing at a plate of 
 preserves on the table. The next thing I 
 saw was Lina, writing in a little book. 
 
 She did not hear me, I wore noiseless 
 espadrilles, and I came close to her and 
 touched her lightly. 
 
 She turned like a flash. 
 
 " Why, Lina ! " I laughed, " I did n't 
 mean to startle you so. Forgive me, 
 really I had no idea of frightening you." 
 
 As I spoke the color slowly returned to 
 her face and she smiled also. 
 
 " It was very indelicate of you," she 
 said ; " I might have been writing a love 
 letter." 

 
 154 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 " But you were not." 
 
 " No, only a receipt for kilash. Are 
 you fond of kilash ? " 
 
 " Rather. I don't think much of Ser 
 vian dishes." 
 
 " Then I must make you some of my 
 kilash. Oh* you will like it. Don't you 
 think you had better release my hand ? " 
 
 " It is a beautiful hand ! " I said. My 
 own earnestness amazed me. 
 
 " It is pretty for a maid." 
 
 " For an Empress," I added gravely. 
 
 " And my figure ? " she asked with a 
 daring smile. 
 
 "It is marvellous," I said truthfully ; 
 "your head is perfect too, your ears, your 
 delicious nose, your mouth, your eyes, 
 your 
 
 " Dear me ! You approve then ? " 
 
 " I ? Why Lina you are the most ex 
 quisite creature I have ever seen ! " 
 
 I doubt if Lina was more astonished 
 than I was at this outburst. It was the 
 truth and it had suddenly flashed upon me 
 that she was the rarest thing on earth, a 
 perfectly beautiful woman. Still I was
 
 The Way of a Maid. 155 
 
 scarcely prepared to tell her so. It said 
 itself involuntarily, my lips were but 
 mechanical agents, my tongue wagged 
 of its own accord. 
 
 " Mr. Steen," she said at last, " do you 
 think that is the way to speak to a lady's 
 maid ? " 
 
 " It is the truth," I muttered. 
 
 " But a gentleman, a well-born man 
 cannot think seriously of a a ' 
 
 "What? A lady's maid ?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " That," said I sincerely, " would have 
 no weight with me, if I loved." 
 
 " A servant ? You ? " 
 
 "If you were that servant, and I loved 
 you," I repeated. 
 
 " But you don't, you can't 
 
 " I don't know whether I do or not," I 
 said frankly. " When I was not serious I 
 thought lightly of kissing you, but now, 
 upon my soul I am thinking it is more 
 serious than charging a battery." 
 
 " And you dare not, again ? 
 
 " Kiss you ? " 
 
 " Yes."
 
 i5 6 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 There was a reckless light in her blue 
 eyes, a dash of carmine on either cheek. 
 
 " I dare," I said. 
 
 "Against my will?" 
 
 Before she knew what I was about I 
 had kissed her once, full on the lips. It 
 was the first time I had kissed her lips. 
 
 The color flamed in her cheeks ; I was 
 not very calm myself. Unconsciously we 
 stepped back and looked at each other. 
 
 " Was it against your will ? " I asked. 
 My breath came rather fast and I at 
 tempted to smile easily. 
 
 "You did not ask me," she said slowly. 
 
 Then a strange terrible light flashed in 
 her eyes, and in a second she had struck 
 me. Dazed, doubting my senses, I 
 stepped back, raising my hand to my 
 stinging cheek. 
 
 I don't know how long we stood there, 
 staring into each other's eyes, but after 
 awhile I saw her eyes begin to dim a little, 
 then droop to the floor. 
 
 " Pardon," she whispered. 
 
 I looked at her curiously. " I am the 
 one to ask pardon," I said; "I have my 
 deserts."
 
 The Way of a Maid. 157 
 
 She leaned back, resting her hand on 
 the table. 
 
 " Any man," said I coldly, " who lays 
 himself open to a rebuke from an an 
 
 " Inferior !" she faltered. 
 
 " Gets his just dues," I ended. 
 
 A bright tear-drop fell from between 
 her fingers. Her head sank lower. 
 
 " And," said I, " any man who is ashamed 
 to do what I do," here I took her right 
 hand gently, " and who would not ask 
 pardon, as I do " here I bent on one knee, 
 " and any man who would not dare to 
 say, I love you as I now say it, is no 
 man, be he king or peasant ! I love you, 
 Lina. Will you marry me ? " 
 
 Her left hand fell from her wet eyes. 
 
 " Yes," she said in a low earnest voice, 
 " I will marry you if I ever marry, for 
 I love you." 
 
 She came up to me and deliberately 
 kissed me. 
 
 " Our last, until we marry," she said ; 
 " you will respect my wish. I must go to 
 the Duchess ; are my eyes red ? There, 
 yes but only my hand. I will be in 
 the lower garden to-night after the Duch-
 
 158 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 ess retires. I wish to see you, I love 
 you, do you understand ? Ah do you 
 know what love is to me to me ?" 
 
 I trembled as I looked into her glorious 
 eyes. Her parted lips burned crimson. 
 
 " No," she said, shaking her head, " no 
 you don't know yet what love is to me. 
 You will know some day. Take my hand. 
 Do you feel how the palm burns ? " 
 
 She withdrew her hand and slipped 
 by me like a shadow, and was gone. I 
 turned uncertainly toward the door. As 
 I passed, Mops growled. My cheek was 
 still tingling from the blow, my heart was 
 on fire. Love is strange. I know of but 
 one definition for Love and that is, Love. 
 Some call it insanity. The synonym is 
 inadequate.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 WHAT THE NIGHT WINDS WHISPERED. 
 
 WHEN Lina left me to find the 
 Duchess, she left a very much 
 bewildered young man. To marshal! my 
 disordered thoughts and inspect them as 
 a drill-sergeant inspects his awkward 
 squad, was my intention. I tried hard ; 
 it was useless. 
 
 Now whenever I am troubled and per 
 plexed I go fishing. It is the best way 
 to bring disorderly thoughts under disci 
 pline. So I picked up a rod and fly-book, 
 slung a gun over my shoulder in case a 
 thieving fox should court destruction, and 
 walked out into the garden. 
 
 It was Madge's watch and I glanced 
 up at her window to see if she was on 
 duty. The end of the battered brass 
 telescope projected a few inches beyond 
 the sill.
 
 160 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 " Are you there, Madge ?" I called. 
 
 "Yes." She leaned from the window 
 and looked down at me. " Everything 
 is quiet in the notch," she said, " are you 
 going to fish the Tschiska ?" 
 
 "Yes, I '11 be back soon. It's time for 
 the King's watch. Will you notify him ? " 
 
 She nodded brightly and I lifted my cap 
 and turned away into the high-road. 
 
 " I no longer love Madge Grey," said I 
 to myself; "that is certain, for I am not 
 ashamed of what I 've done. Madge is a 
 sweet lovely girl, I do like her im 
 mensely, I almost love her 
 
 Here I lighted a match on the sole of 
 my shoe and applied it to my pipe. 
 
 " I am cured " puff ! puff ! " or I don't 
 know what a " puff " a cure is. I can't 
 help it if she resents it ; she did " puff ! 
 " did it herself. A fellow's love can't 
 flourish on snubs." 
 
 Thus I walked on, avoiding the really 
 vital question, my sudden passion for 
 Lina, and my impetuous, almost involun 
 tary declaration. I say I avoided it, and 
 I did until I entered the forest by the mile
 
 What the Winds Whispered. 161 
 
 post ; but here, in this sweet scented path 
 where yesterday I had walked with Lina 
 and O delicious memory ! I had kissed 
 her, here the issue was not to be avoided. 
 I faced it squarely and at the first retro 
 spective glance, I saw that I was fully 
 committed, that I was compelled by 
 every law of honour to stick by my words 
 of this afternoon. At the thought that I 
 was irrevocably bound to make good my 
 protestations, a delightful exhilaration 
 took possession of me. 
 
 " She is the loveliest in all the world ! " 
 1 cried aloud again and again. The grey 
 rocks echoed my words, " in all the world 
 all the world ! the world ! " and the 
 dim forest trees murmured assent. 
 
 A great happiness, not turbulent, not 
 linked with restlessness or trepidation, 
 stole over me, a happiness, peaceful, sat 
 isfying, serene. 
 
 " Then this is love," I thought. " It 's 
 not like the other." 
 
 White orchids with orange crowns 
 nodded to me from the undergrowth 
 as I passed. I remembered the bou-
 
 1 62 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 quet I had slipped into her belt, the 
 same bouquet that I had expected to 
 offer to Marjory Grey. It troubled me 
 little as to what Marjory would say when 
 the time came to tell her. What the 
 Duchess or the rest of the world might 
 think I did n't even trouble myself to 
 consider. 
 
 " If Marjory cares for my friendship she 
 must accept Lina without reserve," I 
 thought. " If she will not, I shall lose 
 a friend and regret it, but I 'd lose my 
 trust in Heaven before I 'd budge from 
 the woman I love ! " 
 
 I was near the Tschiska now ; I heard 
 the ripple and rush of water above the 
 sighing forest leaves. In a dozen strides 
 I came in sight of the river bank and at the 
 same moment I stopped short in my tracks. 
 
 A great Carpathian bear was seated on 
 its haunches in the middle of the path. 
 
 The brute had not heard me, for I still 
 wore the soft espadrilles. I cautiously 
 stepped back, unslung my fowling-piece, 
 and sniffed for the wind. The wind was 
 right blowing from the bear to me.
 
 What the Winds Whispered. 163 
 
 " Confound the bear !" said I to myself, 
 fingering my light fowling-piece ruefully, 
 " it would be sheer madness to fire this 
 pop-gun at a brute like that ! " 
 
 The breeze being south the bear had 
 not winded me. If it was only a he-bear 
 I should n't have cared, for the brute 
 would have made off at the first sniff of 
 tainted air. Was this a "he-bear ? I was 
 about to take the chances and shout, 
 first selecting a friendly tree of the proper 
 shape in case of an emergency, I say 
 that I was on the point of shouting, when, 
 from the river bank ahead, came the sound 
 of a human voice, a muffled yell, despair 
 ing, terrified, sad past all belief. I knew 
 that voice. It was the voice of Obadiah. 
 
 Again the wail was repeated, and an 
 other voice, unmistakably belonging to 
 his Grace of Babu, answered. The bear 
 raised its head. Then it flashed upon me 
 what the true state of the case was. Very 
 gently I parted the branches, holding my 
 breath, and looked out. I was right ; the 
 bear was a she-bear, for there, rolling 
 about on the moss below the river bank,
 
 164 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 were two cubs ; and above, directly in 
 line with the old bear's nose, perched high 
 among the limbs of a great spruce tree, 
 squatted his Grace of Babu. 
 
 I could not see Obadiah at first, but 
 after a while I espied him in the branches 
 of an oak ; and as I caught sight of him 
 he wailed again, dismally. 
 
 "G'wuffm hyah!" urged Obadiah, 
 rolling his eyes at the bear ; " ef Mars' 
 Steen come hyah he cotch yo' sho' an' he 
 bus' yo' cubs in de haid ! " 
 
 Babu said nothing but he looked exceed 
 ingly unhappy. 
 
 " Mine yo' own business," urged Oba 
 diah, scowling at the bear ; " mine yo' 
 own business an' g'wuf'f'm hyah. Ef yo' 
 doan' git, 'Diah gwine hoodoo yo' cubs wif 
 de rabbit-foot ! Yas, ole 'Diah he gwine 
 work de rabbit-foot, " here Obadiah pre 
 tended to feel in his pocket for the alleged 
 witch-charm. 
 
 " If you don't keep quiet," said Babu 
 sulkily, " the bear won't go, will he ?" 
 
 " Yessah ! " said Obadiah. He did n't 
 understand Babu who spoke only French
 
 What the Winds Whispered. 165 
 
 and German beside his native tongue. 
 " Yessah/' said Obadiah, " I 'se gwine work 
 de rabbit-foot sho' ef dat ole idgit doan' 
 mosey. I 'se gwine spile her cubs, I 'se 
 gwine 
 
 "Imbecile!" muttered Babu, "keep 
 quiet, can't you ! " 
 
 " Yessah," replied Obadiah cheerfully. 
 " Das what I 'se gwine do, sah. Dat ole 
 she-bear fink 'Diah aint got no rabbit- 
 foot" 
 
 The bear rose and shambled to the 
 foot of Obadiah's tree. Babu looked on 
 with interest. Slowly the shaggy mus 
 tard coloured brute stood up, pushed her 
 muzzle along the tree trunk, sniffed and 
 wrinkled her nose, and then to my horror, 
 deliberately began to ascend the tree. 
 Obadiah fled howling to the top-most 
 branches. 
 
 There was only one thing to do ; the 
 bear was already in the second crotch and 
 was mounting swiftly. In an instant I 
 had slung my gun across my back, leaped 
 out, jumped down the river bank, and 
 seized one of the small cubs in my arms.
 
 1 66 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 Then I shouted with all my lungs. Slowly 
 the bear turned, saw me, saw the cub 
 wriggling and clawing in my arms. She 
 gave a roar which was half growl, half 
 shrill snuffle, and came tumbling down 
 the tree, making the twigs and bark fly. 
 I flung the cub into the river ; it fell with 
 a mighty splash and began sprawling and 
 thrashing toward the bank. Then I mo 
 tioned Babu and Obadiah to get ready to 
 run as soon as the bear started after me, 
 and I waded into the Tschiska and floun 
 dered across. 
 
 As I gained the opposite bank I heard 
 the bear plunge into the pool ; but whether 
 she stopped to rescue her cub or whether 
 she started on after me, I never knew, for 
 I ran up the wood-road and took the first 
 sentier to windward, and in a quarter of 
 an hour I emerged, panting, dishevelled 
 and soaked with perspiration, upon the 
 high-road. Almost at the same instant, 
 Obadiah, livid with terror, burst out of 
 the wood a little farther down, followed 
 closely by the Duke of Babu. His Grace 
 was in a state of collapse when I arrived,
 
 What the Winds Whispered. 167 
 
 and I advised him to lie down a bit in the 
 grass. 
 
 " As for you, you leather headed jack 
 ass," I said to Obadiah, "it's a wonder 
 you were not eaten by the she-bear for 
 yelling like an Indian and telling a lot of 
 lies about your rabbit's-foot. The chil 
 dren in the Bible were swallowed and 
 digested for less." 
 
 " Mars' Steen," gasped Obadiah, " you 
 fink dat ole she-bear knowed dat I di 'n 
 hab no rabbit-foot?" 
 
 " Of course," said I severely, " and I 
 tell you the bad little boys who cried 'go 
 up bald head!' were innocent alongside 
 of a bad darkey who tells lies and steals 
 strawberries and melons." 
 
 This impressed Obadiah so profoundly 
 that I was obliged to cheer him up a 
 little. He tearfully acknowledged his 
 sins, blubbered, moaned, but finally at 
 my command went to a little rivulet which 
 trickled down the rocks beside the road, 
 and brought my pocket-cup full of water 
 for the Duke of Babu. 
 
 When his Grace had sufficiently re-
 
 1 68 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 vived to start toward home, I began to 
 question him about the bear. What he 
 told me startled me more than the bear 
 had. It seemed that while he and Oba- 
 diah were fishing in the Tschiska, they 
 heard a call for help. Hurrying in the 
 direction of the sound they had come 
 upon very much the sort of scene that 
 I witnessed, the bear sitting under a 
 tree, and a man clinging to the branches 
 above. As soon as the man saw them he 
 cried out to them in Russian, and at the 
 same time the bear winded them and 
 started in their direction. They had 
 time to get to the Tschiska but not to 
 cross it. Obadiah unhesitatingly swarmed 
 up a tree and Babu followed his example, 
 just too late for the bear to nip his 
 heels. 
 
 " What became of this this Russian ? " 
 I asked, as the Duke of Babu finished and 
 wiped his face. 
 
 " I suppose he ran," replied his Grace. 
 
 " Do you understand Russian ?" I per 
 sisted. 
 
 " Only a few words. The man cried ;
 
 What the Winds Whispered. 169 
 
 ' Help ! in the name of the Holy Vir 
 gin !' I understood that." 
 
 " Don't you know which way he went ?" 
 
 "No," said Babu indignantly, "I 
 did n't watt to ask him. This is a de 
 lightful country to fish in, but I think I 
 can manage to live without any Tiflix 
 valley fish after this. I lost the rod, the 
 creel, my pipe, and all my Ispha nut." 
 
 " I '11 get you all the Ispha nut you 
 want," said I, "but this Russian bothers 
 me more than I can tell you. He could n't 
 have come through the notch for there 
 was no signal and Constantine is trust 
 worthy. If he didn't come that way he 
 must have come from Caucasia ; and now 
 I am wondering what the devil a Russian 
 spy was doing in Caucasia. If Russia 
 finds out that we are mobilizing in Ba- 
 zoum, the game is up." 
 
 " Perhaps he '11 be eaten by bears," sug 
 gested Babu hopefully. 
 
 " We '11 all be swallowed by a bigger 
 bear than that," said I, "if Russia trees 
 us in the Triflix valley. What is that 
 you hold in your hand?"
 
 i7 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 " Something I picked up in the path 
 before that cursed bear treed me. Do 
 you know what it is ?" 
 
 " Why yes," said I, " it belongs to Lina, 
 to the Duchess' maid. It is that little 
 gold Sainte-Catharine that she wears 
 pinned at her throat." 
 
 " Oh," said Babu, " I found it on the 
 other side of the Tschiska ; I didn't know 
 that the maid had been there." 
 
 " The other side ! " I asked astonished. 
 
 " Yes. I thought the Russian might 
 have dropped it. They are common pins." 
 
 " Perhaps he did then," I said. " It 
 looks to me like that pin that Lina 
 wears." 
 
 " Ask her," suggested Babu. 
 
 We were in sight of the house now. 
 
 "Give me the pin," said I, "and I will 
 return it to her if it is hers." The Duke 
 handed me the pin in silence. In a mo 
 ment more we were passing through the 
 garden to the porch where the King sat, 
 his eye glued to the end of the telescope. 
 
 " I wish," said the King, " that you 
 would look over my ' Appeal to the
 
 What the Winds Whispered. 171 
 
 Powers.' There is something wrong 
 about it and I can't just determine what. 
 Ought I to say anything about Corea?" 
 
 " No indeed ! " I said with emphasis, 
 " let Corea alone. What has Boznovia 
 to do with the Chinese Question ? Steer 
 clear of Turkey and China, your Majesty, 
 and avoid any mention of India, Egypt, 
 Hawaii, Samoa, and Cuba. It is the 
 Duchess' watch I believe. Shall I notify 
 her Grace ? " 
 
 " I will tell her," replied the King, low 
 ering the telescope and handing it to 
 Babu. " Come and see what I have 
 written, Mr. Steen." 
 
 All that afternoon I worked on the 
 ' Appeal to the Powers ' while the King 
 slept on the bed beside me. At times I 
 would rise to see whether the Duchess 
 was again slumbering at her post. There 
 she sat in the garden below, waving a 
 palm-leaf fan to keep the gnats away, 
 raising the telescope occasionally with the 
 automatic regularity of a mechanical doll. 
 
 The long day was coming to an end 
 before I shoved the papers and ink bottle
 
 i; 2 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 away from me and rubbed my tired eyes. 
 A moment later Obadiah announced din 
 ner and I awoke the King and went out 
 into the garden to relieve the Duchess. 
 
 " If your Grace will kindly send Oba 
 diah to me with a bottle of Rhenish and 
 a sandwich I will watch while the rest 
 dine," I said. 
 
 The Duchess fanned herself and exam 
 ined me with hard eyes. 
 
 " Our vigilence must be redoubled, 
 Madame," said I; "there is a strange 
 man in the Tiflix valley. Heaven knows 
 where he came from, unless from Ba- 
 zoum ! and I wish to know whether he 
 leaves the notch to-night, or whether we 
 must stay indoors all day to-morrow. His 
 Grace of Babu will tell the company at 
 dinner what we have seen to-day." 
 
 The Duchess was silent, but her eyes 
 were fixed on the lapel of my jacket where I 
 had pinned the little gold Sainte-Catharine. 
 
 "This is part of the story," said I, 
 touching it with one finger. 
 
 "Where did you get it?" asked the 
 Duchess in her deep, ominous voice.
 
 What the Winds Whispered. 1 73 
 
 I told her. 
 
 " Do you recognize it ? " I asked. 
 
 Yes," snapped the Duchess. 
 
 " Then it is your maid's," I said, un 
 fastening it and handing it to her. 
 
 " It is not my maid's," replied the 
 Duchess. There was a note of some 
 thing that resembled alarm in her voice. 
 
 " If you know this jewelled pin," said I, 
 " will you not tell me where you have 
 seen it ? I think anybody will recognize 
 the necessity of clearing up this affair." 
 
 The Duchess took the pin from my 
 out-stretched hand and examined it earn 
 estly. There was no mistake ; her Grace 
 was certainly more or less affected. 
 
 " This pin," said the Duchess, at length, 
 "is hollow, and it contains a lock of hair 
 from the head of Sainte-Catharine of 
 Russia." 
 
 I looked at her in amazement. 
 
 " I ought to know," she said angrily, 
 " I had the pin made for a minx who 
 pretended to be a respectable member of 
 society. I gave it to her. I have never 
 seen her since."
 
 174 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 " Witch Sylvia ! " I cried excitedly, and 
 sprang from my chair. The Duchess 
 also rose, her stern face working convul 
 sively. 
 
 " How dare you name her in my pres 
 ence ! " she demanded ; " how dare you ! " 
 
 "Madame!" I said, "this is no 'time 
 for petty jealousy or private enmity. If 
 Witch Sylvia has passed through this 
 valley its for one reason, to find out what 
 the King is doing. And if she has been 
 here, dare-devil that they say she is, it 
 may be possible, it was from Caucasia, 
 from Bazoum that she came ! " 
 
 " It is impossible ! " stammered the 
 Duchess, " she can't have so far forgot 
 ten herself as to come spying here like 
 a common soldier ! " 
 
 " Then where did that pin come 
 from ? " I asked sternly. " Remember 
 what Witch Sylvia did at the Carpathian 
 manoeuvres ! If she 's capable of putting 
 on a hussar's trousers once, she '11 wear 
 trousers again when she chooses. And 
 Madame, I solemnly believe that if the 
 Princess Sylvia should take it into her
 
 What the Winds Whispered. 1 75 
 
 head to come into Tiflix valley, she 
 would do it ! " 
 
 The Duchess seemed dazed. She 
 handed me the pin, shuddering as though 
 the mere contact affected her. 
 
 " Look again, Madame, do you posi 
 tively recognize this pin ? " 
 
 " Look yourself," cried the Duchess 
 furiously, and stalked into the house, 
 trembling with rage and fear. 
 
 "The old griffin ! " I muttered, turning 
 the pin over and over in my hand, " ha ! 
 by jingo ! she 's right, for here 's the in 
 scription ; ' To Sylvia, from her affection 
 ate Hedwig von Schwiggle ! ' ' 
 
 " Affectionate ! " I sneered, " that 
 lump of stony malevolence? How the 
 mischief did the pin come here in the 
 forest ? The Princess Sylvia could n't 
 have been here, that 's all nonsense. 
 Ten to one she lost it and somebody 
 found it, possibly the latest owner, the 
 Russian who was treed by the she-bear." 
 
 Night came as I sat uneasily ponder 
 ing. I had changed the telescope for my 
 marine glass which could also be made
 
 176 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 into a field glass or a night binocular by 
 the mere turning of the rubber button. 
 Two red lanterns would be the signal if 
 
 O 
 
 the strange man attempted to leave the 
 valley by the notch ; one, if any new 
 comer entered. 
 
 I was beginning to feel hungry and I 
 cast impatient glances toward the dining- 
 room. It would not have surprised me 
 if the Duchess had forgotten or deliber 
 ately neglected to send me my Rhenish 
 and sandwich. One by one, through the 
 lighted windows, I saw the company rise 
 and leave the table ; the King first, deep 
 in conversation with Babu, the Duchess 
 soon afterward, leaning on Madge Grey's 
 arm. Then I saw Lina, giving some di 
 rections to Obadiah, who presently dis 
 appeared, carrying a pile of plates. 
 
 I waited in silence, expecting to see him 
 come out with my dinner. At last, dis 
 gusted and hungry, I was on the point of 
 calling out to him, when the door opened 
 and Lina appeared bringing a covered 
 tray. 
 
 " I have kept you waiting," she said in
 
 What the Winds Whispered. 177 
 
 a low mocking voice, " but I told you that 
 I should make you some kilash from my 
 own receipt and I thought that I might 
 not have another chance very soon. 
 Are you angry, and hungry ? " 
 
 " Hungry," I said, dropping my voice, 
 " but only to see you again. Have they 
 gone ? Can you stay ? " 
 
 " The Duchess is furious about some 
 thing or other. She has retired to her 
 room with Miss Grey. She insists upon 
 leaving the valley to-morrow, horses or no 
 horses." 
 
 "She may insist," said I, "as much as 
 she pleases, but of course she can't do it. 
 The Ezrox station is twenty miles beyond 
 the notch. Ah Lina, we shall not be 
 parted just yet, you and I 
 
 A step on the porch interrupted me. 
 
 " Mr. Steen," said the King, " my aunt 
 the Duchess insists upon leaving to-mor 
 row. Will it not be dangerous for her 
 to travel publicly before we are ready to 
 join the Caucasian army in Bazoum ? " 
 
 " Certainly your Majesty," I said. 
 
 " It makes me very nervous," sighed
 
 178 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 the King, " I wish to Heaven that my 
 aunt would mind her own business ! " 
 
 " Be comforted," said I, " her Grace 
 cannot leave the valley until the horses 
 return. Has your Majesty decided on 
 any course of action in regard to the man 
 in the forest ? " 
 
 " I," said the King ; " no, I 'm worn 
 out with trouble and worry. I can't see 
 that the Duke of Babu has any more 
 brains when he 's sober than when he 's 
 not. He has gone to bed now ; he says 
 the Ispha nut makes him so hungry that 
 if he did n't sleep he 'd be eating every 
 half hour. The Duchess won't speak to 
 me ; she 's locked her door. Miss Grey 
 is with her. I think I had better retire 
 too. Have you had your dinner?" 
 
 I pointed to the tray which Lina had 
 set on a table beside me. 
 
 " Kilash ?" said his Majesty sniffing the 
 air. " I love kilash, but I suppose I '11 
 be living on beef pellets before long. 
 Good night Mr. Steen, send the maid 
 up when you are ready." 
 
 " Good night your Majesty," I said.
 
 What the Winds Whispered. 1 79 
 
 The King turned and, acknowledging 
 Lina's profound curtsey, passed into the 
 house. He wore the saddest face I have 
 ever seen. 
 
 " Poor tired unhappy little bourgeois," 
 I thought, " God send you a sunny win 
 dow seat, and all the kilash you can eat." 
 
 Then I turned to Lina and would have 
 taken her in my arms but she slipped 
 back with a pretty gesture and touched 
 one finger to the covered tray. 
 
 " Your kilash is waiting, Monsieur," 
 she said, " is my labor in vain ? See, I 
 burnt the tip of my finger making for you 
 your kilash. No- no you must not ! 
 hush ! they may hear you." 
 
 " Then come out under the trees," I 
 said, lifting the tray and stepping into 
 the garden. 
 
 " For two minutes then only two 
 minutes," she whispered. 
 
 I set the tray down on the soft turf 
 under the trees in the pasture. 
 
 "Will you sit beside me?" I asked. 
 " Here is my jacket, you will not feel 
 the dew." She settled herself daintily
 
 i8o A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 on the grass and looked demurely at the 
 tips of her shoes. 
 
 "Are you not going to begin?" she 
 asked. "Really if I had imagined that 
 you cared so little for my kilash 
 
 " Nonsense ! " I said, whisking off the 
 cover and picking up a fork, "by jove ! 
 it is delicious ! I '11 take back whatever I 
 have said about Servian dishes. This is 
 ambrosia ! Does the burnt finger hurt, 
 Lina ! You little angel, if you knew 
 how I loved you " 
 
 " Of course," she said calmly, "a man's 
 heart resides in his stomach." 
 
 I looked at her half angry, half laugh 
 ing. 
 
 " It does," she repeated ; " all men are 
 the same, all men seek only the grati 
 fication of their own pleasure, be that 
 pleasure power, or money or knowledge 
 or appetite Ah ! wait until I have 
 finished, you silly man, I was going to 
 say, " all men are alike except you ! 
 Now are you contented ? " 
 
 She suddenly leaned forward on the 
 grass and looked into my face. Through
 
 What the Winds Whispered. 181 
 
 the luminous starlight her eyes glittered 
 almost fiercely. 
 
 " Are you contented ! " she said again ; 
 " I love you I love you. Don't you 
 know it ? Can you not see it in every 
 movement, every breath that I draw ? 
 Ah men ! men ! how I have hated them 
 and despised them ! " she murmured 
 through her little white teeth ; " how well 
 I have read them and understood them ! " 
 Then with another swift change : " Read 
 me, read me if you can, O man whom I 
 love ! You cannot, see ! you cannot. 
 You are perplexed, you don't know what 
 to make of me. But I know you. Are 
 you contented ? " 
 
 She sat up, breathless, smiling again. 
 As for me, she had carried me away with 
 her. My ears were echoing with the 
 fierce passion in her voice ; I was com 
 pletely dazed. 
 
 " You did n't know what a little cyclone 
 you started when you you kissed me 
 that first day in the garden," she said. 
 " Suppose I should tell you that I, a poor 
 serving-maid, had never before been
 
 1 82 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 kissed. Would you believe me ? hush ! 
 I know you do. It is true. Never 
 before has a man presumed, dared to 
 to touch me with the end of his little 
 finger. I would have suffered no man, 
 king or prince, to have done what 
 what you did so easily 
 
 Suddenly she buried her face in both 
 hands. I thought she was laughing at 
 first. 
 
 "Don't touch me!" she sobbed, ah! 
 why don't I hate you ! why don't I 
 but I can't, I love you so much so 
 much ! " 
 
 She would not suffer me to approach, 
 much less to caress her. She sat there 
 in the star-light, touching her eyes with 
 her handkerchief and looking at the 
 ground, until it was more than I could 
 endure. 
 
 " I don't understand you, Lina," I said, 
 "but I understand that when you are 
 unhappy it breaks my heart. I will not 
 say that I would die for you, anybody, 
 I fancy, would do that, but I will say 
 that if I live to come out of the Bozno-
 
 What the Winds Whispered. 183 
 
 vian scrape, no woman in the world will 
 have a husband who would live for her 
 as I will live for you. It is easy to die 
 for a woman you love ; it is easier to die 
 for a woman who does not love in return ; 
 but, if it were your pleasure, I would live 
 forever in hell's torment to give you one 
 moment's happiness." 
 
 When I delivered myself of this speech 
 it did not seem silly or exaggerated. One 
 can never tell what the most prosaic 
 young man will say at times. 
 
 The effect however on Lina was curious. 
 She sat up among the flowers, her slender 
 body held very straight, her hands resting 
 tightly against her breast. Something in 
 her attitude made me think of arms and 
 armour, I don't know why, but I do 
 know that she looked like a little princess 
 receiving the homage due her, and I was 
 proud and glad for her sake. 
 
 After a minute or two a change came 
 over her ; she smiled and touched the lace 
 on her apron. 
 
 " Your devotion is worthy of a maiden 
 more nobly born," she said, with that al-
 
 1 84 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 most indefinable tinge of irony in her 
 voice. " I doubt if a serving-maid has 
 ever before received such a splendid devo 
 tion as yours." 
 
 " I don't care what you are," I said. 
 " If you are not noble, then it 's the loss 
 of the nobility. It's all nonsense to tell 
 me that you have always been a lady's 
 maid. I am not the sort of man that is 
 attracted by inferiors." 
 
 " Shall I tell you who I am ? " she asked 
 suddenly. 
 
 " Is it not time ? " I replied. 
 
 "Yes no yes y-es. I am the 
 orphan of well educated parents. I was 
 well educated myself, well enough, any 
 way to be chosen as companion to the 
 Princess Sylvia of Marmora 
 
 " Witch Sylvia ! " I exclaimed astound 
 ed. 
 
 " Yes. I read her books, I taught her 
 to draw and paint, I tried to aid her to 
 study. We tired of each other, she grew 
 weary of me, and I, at times, almost hated 
 her. She was boisterous and feather 
 brained, she was shockingly unconven-
 
 What the Winds Whispered. 185 
 
 tional. She did silly daring things that 
 brought her into contempt and ridicule. 
 I sometimes pitied her, she had no 
 parents, but I grew to loathe the very 
 sight of her face. I fear her too, even 
 now." 
 
 "You? Why, Lina. You are with the 
 Duchess, and the Duchess will be safe in 
 schloss Lauterschnapps very soon." 
 
 " That would not keep Witch Sylvia 
 from troubling me. She used to torment 
 me, she bored me sometimes, and some 
 times made me furious. The mere sight 
 of her disgusted me ah, you don't 
 
 know what I Ve suffered from that wo- 
 
 i " 
 man ! 
 
 " You never will again if I come out 
 of this all right," I said impetuously. " I 
 know what it must have been for a high- 
 minded, sensitive woman like you to have 
 been at the beck and call of an insolent, 
 shallow, capricious, vixen like Witch Syl 
 via. Don't cry Lina why ! hello ! what 's 
 the matter ? " 
 
 She had sprung to her feet and stood 
 silent, rigid, staring at me. I also rose
 
 i86 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 hastily and went toward her. As I ap 
 proached she stepped back, then chang 
 ing again swiftly she began to laugh, 
 pressing one slender hand to her bosom. 
 
 " Do you know what you say?" she 
 said, dropping again on the grass. " Do 
 you not know that nothing on earth could 
 protect me from Witch Sylvia insolent, 
 shallow, capricious, as you say she is, if 
 she chose to do me injury ? " 
 
 " We '11 see ! " I said, tightening my 
 lips ; " this is the second time that I have 
 heard how very terrible this Princess 
 could be. I believe her own brother is 
 afraid of her. I fancy however that when 
 we enter Belgarde, the Princess Sylvia 
 will not be visible. I wish, Lina, you 
 would n't laugh and cry and do such abrupt 
 things. I never can tell whether you are 
 laughing or angry or what the mischief is 
 the matter. If you are afraid of Witch 
 Sylvia you need not be. Are you ? " 
 
 "As I believe in the Sainted Virgin," 
 said Lina slowly and earnestly, " I am 
 afraid of this woman ! And I know that 
 you I know that nobody in the whole
 
 What the Winds Whispered. 187 
 
 world can keep her from harming me if 
 she wills to do it." 
 
 " Then let her beware ! " said I pas 
 sionately, " for I swear that if she does 
 you injury she shall answer for it before 
 all Europe." 
 
 " She shall answer for it to me," said 
 Lina in a strange voice, " for now you 
 have taught me not to fear her. I have 
 loved her, I have hated her, but I never 
 shall fear her again. I said you were not 
 to kiss me until we were married. I am 
 mistress of myself and I choose to change 
 my mind ; kiss me and help me ! " 
 
 In that swift caress I lost what senses 
 I possessed. I held her in my arms, 
 she was so helpless and winning, so de 
 pendent, so child-like and then, changing 
 in a flash, she was a woman, passionate, 
 proud of her love and her passion which 
 seemed so new to her. Charming in her 
 timidity, adorable in her innocent courage, 
 human all through, she enchanted me, 
 thrilled me, until the great wonder of it 
 all overwhelmed me, and I trembled, faint 
 with happiness too keen to bear.
 
 1 88 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 At last she released my arm about her, 
 and slipping her hand into mine, whis 
 pered that she must go. 
 
 " So soon ? " I faltered. 
 
 " Yes. Listen, I came here to beg you 
 not to go with the King to conquer Boz- 
 novia. I have listened to all you have 
 said, I have listened to the King and to 
 the rest. Believe me it cannot be done. 
 Do you think that the spies have been 
 idle? Do you imagine that all is not 
 already known in Belgarde and in St. 
 Petersburgh ? What chance has a stupid 
 King like this one against Witch Sylvia 
 who is determined that her brother shall 
 keep his throne? Believe me, she has 
 not been idle. You may fill the pass 
 with men and cannon instead of with 
 silken cords, and that would not keep her 
 spies away. I know this woman ; you do 
 not. I know that you will fail and yet 
 and yet I do not now ask you to turn back." 
 
 " I could not," I said gravely. 
 
 " That is why I do not ask it. You 
 could not turn back honourably. But there 
 is one thing I beg you to do. When the
 
 What the Winds Whispered. 189 
 
 time comes and you march to Belgarde, 
 I shall be working to help you, to save 
 you. I can do more than you think I 
 can. And this is what I ask ; believe in 
 me in my love for you. No matter 
 what you hear, no matter what you see, 
 believe that I shall be secretly working 
 for you. I shall leave the service of the 
 Duchess the moment we arrive at the 
 castle and I will help you, don't laugh, 
 my darling I mean what I say." 
 
 " But how can you, Lina ?" 
 
 " First by telling you to use your night- 
 glass at once," she said gravely. 
 
 " My my night-glass ! " I stammered. 
 I had completely forgotten the notch. 
 
 I raised the glasses nervously and then 
 stood rigid. 
 
 A red star hung just above the scarred 
 flank of the Osman Peak, twinkling, glim 
 mering like a lamp ! star ? 
 
 " It 's the lantern," I whispered. 
 
 " Look,"said the girl " how many ?" 
 
 " One one no ! there comes another ! 
 There are two ! Lina, the strange man 
 has gone out of the Tiflix valley ! "
 
 190 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 She came close to me and looked up 
 into my startled eyes. 
 
 " You were never made for intrigue and 
 violence," she said gently ; " you are not 
 even a good soldier. Sentinels keep 
 watch, my darling, and of all places in 
 the world the Balkans need watching. 
 Listen again. I shall help you, for you 
 need it. I shall enter Belgarde, I shall 
 enter the service of Witch Sylvia again. 
 She would willingly take me back, al 
 though she will certainly misuse me if I 
 allow it. But what do I care. I will keep 
 you informed every day,-^-every hour if 
 necessary. I will send you news by spies 
 and messengers ; I will warn you what 
 roads to take and what to avoid. It is 
 for your sake I do this. What do I care 
 for this stupid King? It is only for you 
 my darling only for your safety. For 
 on your safety depends my happiness, 
 nay, my very life. Good night."
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 " SALUTE TO THE KING." 
 
 TWO weeks had passed but no sign or 
 message came from either the Duke 
 of Taxil in Paris or from General Bomb- 
 witz in Bazoum. 
 
 The Duchess endured her captivity sul 
 lenly ; the King, worn with anxiety and 
 the composition of proclamations, still 
 bore up cheerfully. Every day the Duch 
 ess and Madge Grey walked in the woods 
 with Mops ; his Grace of Babu, now re 
 conciled to temperance and the Ispha nut, 
 usually accompanied them. Whether the 
 shock of his conversion had affected his 
 scanty intelligence or whether the Ispha 
 nut was responsible, I do not know, but 
 his Grace of Babu suddenly developed a 
 mania for writing verses. These verses 
 he read aloud to us at breakfast. It was 
 very depressing.
 
 192 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 Obadiah also appeared to be unhappy. 
 I sometimes imagined that the story of the 
 Scripture bears bothered him for he left the 
 strawberry vines untouched and never went 
 out alone after dusk. It was just as well. 
 
 Lina, bless her little heart ! was the 
 only one of us all who remained cheerful. 
 
 I often managed to see her alone. In 
 this the Duchess unwittingly aided me ; 
 for she had conceived an aversion to 
 Lina, Heaven alone knows why ! and 
 she never took her on her woodland 
 prowls. She took Mops however for 
 which I trust I was sufficiently grateful. I 
 had given the little pin, the gold Sainte- 
 Catharine, to Lina, who promptly identi 
 fied it as a gift to herself from the Prin 
 cess Sylvia of Marmora. She showed me 
 the holy relic which it contained, the lock 
 of hair from the head of Sainte-Catharine 
 of Russia. I asked her if she was not 
 sceptical, considering the fact that the 
 holy Sainte-Catharine had reddish gold 
 hair and this lock of hair was black. She 
 said it made no difference in the value of 
 the relic to her. I quoted the case of the
 
 " Salute to the King.'* 193 
 
 leopard and his spots, but she replied that 
 hair and leopard spots could be changed 
 when necessary. I respect a faith like 
 that. 
 
 In our stolen interviews she told me a 
 great deal about her past life ; how it 
 was she came to depend upon herself for 
 her amusements, how she had patiently 
 attempted to teach and amuse the Princess 
 Sylvia, how they quarrelled with each other 
 and then repented, only to quarrel again 
 and again repent. 
 
 I learned a great deal about the blue- 
 eyed, black-haired madcap, known all 
 over Europe as Witch Sylvia. Lina told 
 me everything she knew and that was 
 enough to give me an unpleasant idea of 
 this selfish, capricious, beautiful dare 
 devil. 
 
 "If you see her you will surely fall in 
 love with her, and then what shall I do ? " 
 said Lina one still evening while I kept 
 my watch in the meadow. 
 
 " Do you think," said I scornfully, 
 " that such a woman could interest me ?" 
 
 "She is very charming," sighed Lina,
 
 194 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 " she has wonderful soft silky black hair 
 and" 
 
 " I prefer golden hair," said I, glancing 
 at her own. 
 
 " But black hair and blue eyes are a 
 very beautiful combination ; don't you 
 think so ? " 
 
 "No I don't/' I replied, "especially 
 when in conjunction with an empty selfish 
 head." 
 
 "Ah," said Lina sadly; "I have seen 
 Witch Sylvia ; have you ? I have known 
 her ; have you ? No man who ever saw 
 her came away heart-whole and fancy-free. 
 You cannot understand because you think 
 that I, with my blond hair "and blue eyes, 
 am beautiful " 
 
 " Think ! Anybody that denies that 
 you are the most beautiful woman in the 
 world is either wicked or crazy ! " 
 
 She laughed, and blushed a little too. 
 
 " I shall never be sure that I have you 
 until you have seen Witch Sylvia, until 
 you have been tried and proven," she said. 
 
 " I trust that I shall see her," I replied 
 grimly.
 
 " Salute to the King." 195 
 
 "You will if you go to Belgarde." 
 
 " If I go ? I will go ! " I said care 
 lessly. My carelessness did not deceive 
 Lina. 
 
 " You are worried," she said, touching 
 my hand caressingly. " Oh, I do wish 
 that your messenger would come. This 
 strain is telling on me too," she added 
 with a little sigh that went to my heart. 
 
 " They will come," I said trying to 
 speak bravely, " who knows but to-night, 
 to-morrow, next day at latest, we shall 
 hear good news ? " 
 
 " Who knows ? " she repeated. 
 
 And so the evening wore away until 
 Lina crept into the house to sleep a little, 
 and I was left alone in the dusky meadow 
 with the stars overhead and the million 
 voices of the crickets ringing in my ears. 
 
 Along the edge of the dim glassy 
 meadow-pond, the water-fowl were sitting 
 huddled in rows, or standing motionless, 
 head buried, one foot lost in the down 
 of the breast. Myriads of daisies, pale, 
 snow flecks in the star-light, swayed with 
 every sudden zephyr. Faint spicy odors
 
 196 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 came to me across the meadow from my 
 garden, where roses and lilies nestled be 
 neath their cloud of incense, where lilacs 
 dripped with scented dew, and every lit 
 tle blossom poured out perfume to the 
 high clustered stars. 
 
 And as I sat there, silent, wistful, 
 dreaming such dreams as lovers know, 
 far on the rim of the horizon a pale light 
 flashed and the sudden night winds bore 
 to me a sound, a murmur, indistinct, un 
 certain, vague as the whisper of the wind 
 itself. 
 
 Motionless, breathless, I sat, my night- 
 glass levelled on the horizon. Again 
 from the darkness a pale flare lighted the 
 clouds. I sprang to my feet, pausing a 
 moment to listen ; and again came the 
 distant rumor, swelling as the zephyrs 
 freshened, dying as they died. 
 
 In an instant I had crossed the road 
 and entered the house. I sped through 
 the dark hall-ways, rapping sharply at 
 each door as I passed until I came to the 
 King's chamber. 
 
 Here I knocked and entered without
 
 ''Salute to the King.'' 197 
 
 ceremony, for the upper balcony lay under 
 his window. 
 
 " Rise, your Majesty," I whispered, 
 " there is something coming from the 
 south, wait, you can see the light in 
 the sky from the window ! " 
 
 The King, only half awake, stumbled 
 into his clothes and followed me out onto 
 the balcony ; and at the same moment, 
 the Duchess appeared at the lower end 
 of the balcony, swathed in a hideous tea- 
 gown, a bed-quilt about her shoulders, a 
 night-bonnet tied under her triple chin. 
 One by one the others crept out, silent, 
 shivering ; Madge Grey, pale and quiet, 
 Babu, round-eyed, stupid, munching an 
 Ispha nut, Obadiah, Mops, and then, at 
 last, came Lina, and her beautiful eyes met 
 mine in the star-light and I saw her smile. 
 
 " What can it be ! " said the King again 
 and again, " I cannot understand those 
 flashes of light. Can you, Mr. Steen ? " 
 
 I shook my head nervously. 
 
 " Pardon, if Majesty permits, I think 
 I know," said Lina, and came forward, 
 smiling and timid.
 
 i9 8 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 " What do you know ? " boomed the 
 Duchess contemptuously. 
 
 " Speak," said the King with an angry 
 gesture toward the Duchess. 
 
 "It means, this white light on the hori 
 zon, that there is an army encamped there 
 and that it is signalling to another army." 
 
 " Search lights ! " exclaimed the King. 
 " It must be that. I have never noticed 
 them ; I don't think my army had any 
 
 "Your army!" sneered the Duchess; 
 but she was very pale and her false teeth 
 rattled in spite of her. 
 
 " My army was not supplied with any 
 thing modern, and the fault was mine," 
 said the King mildly. " Lina, my child, 
 your name is Lina ? yes ? can you tell 
 us anything more about these flashes ? " 
 
 "They are Morse signals," said Lina 
 demurely ; " I studied telegraphy from 
 necessity," she added with a smile. 
 
 " Can you read them then ? " I asked 
 in some excitement. 
 
 " I will try if Majesty permits ' 
 
 " Read read, my child ! " exclaimed 
 the King " look ! don't lose anything."
 
 " Salute to the King." 199 
 
 We stood breathless around her as she 
 took my night-glasses and raised them. 
 After a while she began to speak : 
 
 " Here is the first message at his Ma 
 jesty's service ; ' Push forward cavalry 
 column to Ezrox Station. Seize railroad 
 and material. Cut all wires toward Bel- 
 garde and the East.' Wait ! now they 
 are repeating the message ; now it has 
 been understood, and they resume re 
 sume ah : ' Throw First and Second 
 Divisions of Tenth Corps into the Caspian 
 Pass. Hold the Tiflix valley notch with 
 Clisson's Hussar Guards '- 
 
 " Clisson ! Hurrah ! " I shouted, " it 's 
 my regiment and the Caucasian army is 
 here ! " 
 
 How we cheered and shook hands, 
 and wept a little too, for, until now, we 
 had scarcely realized the strain we had 
 been under. Even Babu's face lighted 
 up with something akin to intelligence, 
 and he munched joyously on his Ispha 
 nut, while the poor King, weak with 
 emotion, pressed my hand again and 
 again and leaned upon the balcony railing,
 
 200 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 tears of relief streaming down his worn 
 face. Madge Grey and Lina, arm in arm, 
 for Madge seemed to forget the differ 
 ence for a moment, bent over the King 
 saying gentle, timid things to cheer him 
 up. Obadiah seized Mops and dandled 
 him and tossed him in an ecstasy of loyal 
 fervor, neither heeding the snaps and 
 shrieks of the cur nor the anathemas of 
 the Duchess, until the one bit him and 
 the other whacked him. Then he fled to 
 the kitchen, from whence his mellow voice 
 rose in songs of praise. The Duchess 
 alone of all the company remained stolid 
 and insensible, her stony face turned 
 toward the King. But all the same I 
 could see that it was only her fat-headed 
 brutish malevolence, that prevented her 
 from expressing the relief and satisfaction 
 that she felt. 
 
 At an order from me, Obadiah reap 
 peared with refreshments and we all nib 
 bled on lettuce sandwiches and cold 
 chicken, while I kept the glasses levelled 
 on the flashes, and Lina, standing close 
 to my shoulder, read them for us all.
 
 " Salute to the King." 201 
 
 Somewhere behind the Caspian range, 
 a great army was moving in two divisions, 
 and it was moving northward toward Bel- 
 garde. Some of the messages we under 
 stood, some we did not, for the King 
 was woefully deficient in military knowl 
 edge, and, as for me, I began to realize 
 my appalling ignorance now that the hour 
 had struck. 
 
 After a while the Duchess retired, 
 sullenly demanding Lina's aid, for she 
 announced, that, as the army had come, 
 she could secure horses to get back to 
 castle Lauterschnapps. So Lina went 
 away to pack the shapeless wardrobe of 
 her Grace, and Babu fell asleep with his 
 mouth open, and Madge, the King, and 
 I were left to watch the stars flicker out 
 in the heavens, and the mist and smoke 
 that hung over the invisible army grow 
 greyer and pinker as the east flushed with 
 the coming dawn. 
 
 It was about three o'clock in the morn 
 ing, I believe, when Madge touched my 
 arm and pointed to a dark spot on the 
 hill where the high-road disappears against
 
 202 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 the sky. Nearer and nearer it came, and 
 now we could see that it was a body of 
 horsemen, galloping swiftly, hundreds 
 of them, a full regiment of cavalry. 
 The white dust hung above them, behind 
 them, and drifted away along either flank, 
 as they galloped nearer and ever nearer. 
 Now we could see their horses' heads 
 tossing and jerking, now we could see the 
 scarlet jackets of the riders, flashes of bit 
 and spur and scabbard, while - the dull 
 shock of iron-shod hoofs grew, increasing 
 like advancing surf, until the road below 
 us shook with the coming host and the 
 hills rang back the clash of steel. Right 
 past the house they thundered, shrouded 
 in clouds of dust ; then the shrill trumpet 
 notes pierced the air, the long column 
 wheeled, wavered, backed, and halted, 
 facing the house. A heavy voice broke 
 into the sudden calm ; other voices echoed 
 the command from end to end of the 
 restless line. Swish ! swish ! swis sh ! 
 A thousand sabres swept from their scab 
 bards of steel, a thousand red sleeves shot 
 into the air, a thousand voices crashed out :
 
 "Salute to the King." 203 
 
 "Health to the King!" 
 
 The pale colour in the King's face deep 
 ened. He took one unsteady step for 
 ward. 
 
 "Go down," I whispered. 
 
 Stumbling, uncertain, his Majesty de 
 scended the outer steps, and I saw his 
 hands trembling along the balustrade. 
 
 Two officers hurried forward saluting. 
 One was the Duke of Taxil, the other 
 was Clisson. The King held out his 
 hand, then both arms. Taxil flopped into 
 them. 
 
 When Clisson caught sight of me he 
 pulled his grey moustache and winked. 
 I went down to him and fell upon his 
 neck. This manoeuvre gave me an op 
 portunity to whisper : 
 
 " Clisson for Heaven's sake run this 
 regiment for me until I can learn how to 
 handle it. You are lieutenant-colonel 
 from this moment. Conceal the igno 
 rance of your colonel from the men and 
 I '11 make you anything you wish when we 
 get to Belgarde." 
 
 They had brought me my colonel's uni-
 
 204 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 form and equipment and I sent a trooper 
 with it to my room. 
 
 " There is no time to waste I know," 
 said I, shaking hands with Taxil and 
 Bombwitz, "we read your signals last 
 night and we know you are bound for the 
 Tiflix notch and the station at Ezrox." 
 
 Clisson stared at this display of mili 
 tary acumen. It pleased me. 
 
 I called Obadiah, gave him some whis 
 pered orders, and hastened to my room. 
 Here I put on the scarlet astrakan edged 
 dolman, the black, scarlet-striped riding 
 breeches, the spurred boots, and the hus 
 sars busby. In a few moments my sabre 
 was snapped to the clasp, my revolver 
 and binocular slung from shoulder to hip, 
 and my steel chin-chain tightened. 
 
 The Duchess sneered a little as I went 
 to her to make my adieus, but Madge 
 Grey gave me both her hands and said 
 some very sweet things. 
 
 " We leave under escort in half an 
 hour. We have decided to go by way of 
 Bazoum," she said. " Shall we meet in 
 Belgarde ?"
 
 "Salute to the King." 205 
 
 "Yes," I said. 
 
 Then we bade each other farewell, very 
 quietly and simply. 
 
 In the library I found Lina alone. She 
 was a trifle pale when I took her into my 
 arms. 
 
 " Remember," she said, " I will help 
 you and save you. Heed every messen 
 ger, every message I send you." 
 
 " I will," I said passionately. 
 
 " Then Heaven keep you," she said 
 firmly ; " I cannot live if you are killed." 
 
 " I won't be killed," I muttered. 
 
 " You shall not be," she cried. 
 
 " In Belgarde, then," I groaned, crush 
 ing her to me. 
 
 "In Belgarde," she repeated. 
 
 She pinned the gold Sainte-Catharine 
 to my dolman. A tear fell from her 
 lashes onto my hand. 
 
 " Beware Witch Sylvia," she murmured, 
 trying to smile. 
 
 I touched her hand with my lips, and 
 at the same moment the Duchess waddled 
 into the room. 
 
 For a moment we looked at her amazed
 
 206 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 face, then I bent again and kissed Lina's 
 beautiful fingers. 
 
 " You will leave my service as soon 
 as we reach schloss Lauterschnapps ! " 
 shouted the Duchess. " Do you under 
 stand ! " 
 
 I kissed Lina again, on the lips. 
 
 " My darling," I said, " I have ordered 
 an ein-spanner and an escort. Obadiah 
 shall accompany you and Constantine 
 shall drive you to Zitlis. There you are 
 to take Obadiah and the train and go to 
 Belgarde by way of Bazoum. Your little 
 valise is already in the ein-spanner. Con 
 stantine gives you his daughter as maid " 
 
 " That 's my maid ! " cried the Duchess 
 furiously. " How dare you ! I drew 
 Lina's arm through mine. 
 
 " Come," I said, "this old lady is losing 
 her temper." And I led her out through 
 the garden to the barn where Obadiah 
 and Constantine stood, holding the horse. 
 Zilka, Constantine's red cheeked daughter 
 sat on the trunk behind. 
 
 "Constantine," said I, "I have already 
 told you that I am entrusting my fiancee
 
 " Salute to the King." 207 
 
 to your care. Obadiah, every kink on 
 your head will answer for this lady's 
 safety. Zilka, my child, be faithful." Then 
 I aided Lina to mount the vehicle. 
 
 " Keep Obadiah," said I, " until I come 
 to claim you in Belgarde. Here is what 
 you will need for your journey. It is in 
 gold." She looked at the money in a 
 startled way. Tears filled her eyes and 
 she leaned out and flung both arms 
 around my neck. 
 
 In another moment I had motioned to 
 Constantine, the vehicle whirled away, and 
 five troopers from the stables mounted and 
 clattered after it. 
 
 After a while I turned from the distant 
 dust cloud and went through the garden 
 to the pheasantry. Here Georgiades 
 joined me and I gave him the keys of the 
 house and stables. 
 
 " Keep the place in order ; feed the 
 creatures and use the garden as your own. 
 If the Servian Government confiscates 
 the place as it will if it learns that I am 
 mixed up in this affair, here is money 
 enough to repay you. If the Servian
 
 2o8 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 Government does not seize it, I will re 
 turn unless I am shot. Good-bye." 
 
 As I finished I saw General Bombwitz 
 and the King come into the garden and 
 beckon to me. I went to them and told 
 them that I was ready. The King wore 
 his uniform, silver helmet and all. 
 
 They brought our horses and we 
 mounted and cantered out to the road 
 and along the long lines of cheering 
 troopers. I looked appealingly at Clisson 
 and raised my gloved hand. He saluted 
 gravely, swung his horse and bellowed an 
 order that set the trumpets clanging a 
 frenzied summons. 
 
 " Forward ! Trot ! Gallop ! " he bawled, 
 and the Hussars of the Guard thundered 
 on toward the Tiflix notch.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 PRISONER ! 
 
 IT was five o'clock in the morning when 
 we galloped into the notch and drew 
 bridle. So hot had been our pace that I 
 had scarcely time for a breathless word or 
 two with Clisson. Now at a signal from 
 me, the trumpets rang " dismount," and a 
 thousand saddles were emptied as though 
 by magic. 
 
 Clisson detailed one troop armed with 
 carbine and lance, to hold the narrow pass. 
 I thought to myself that half a troop 
 would be sufficient to keep ten thousand 
 in check in the Tiflix notch, but I looked 
 wise and said nothing. The King, fol 
 lowed by Bombwitz and Taxil, rode up, 
 urging the immediate direction of a moun 
 tain battery to the further end of the pass. 
 Clisson replied that machine guns and in- 
 209
 
 210 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 .fantry were on the way and pointed to 
 my house in the valley below where al 
 ready a battalion of cyclist infantry was 
 mounting. 
 
 " The guns are coming as quickly as the 
 mules can trot," he added ; "we have the 
 pass now anyway and we must push on to 
 Ezrox and secure the railway. If your 
 Majesty will step to the point of rock 
 above, I can explain." As he spoke he 
 drew a bundle of maps from the breast 
 of his dolman, selected one, unfolded it 
 and led the way to the flat table-rock 
 which dominated the pass. 
 
 With a stem of wild-oats, he began 
 tracing routes and rivers and railroads on 
 his map, spread flat on the rock, four 
 stones on each corner to keep it from 
 being blown away by the wind. And all 
 the time he was rattling on, gesticulating, 
 now and then referring to his Major, a 
 keen eyed, sun-scorched Frenchman who 
 nodded and chewed a straw. 
 
 Taxil and Babu, brilliant in their crim 
 son dolmans and glittering spurs, paid the 
 greatest attention to Clisson's harangue.
 
 Prisoner! 211 
 
 So did the King, leaning heavily on Gen 
 eral Bombwitz' arm. As for me I fol 
 lowed him easily, partly because I had 
 already studied the region near Ezrox, 
 partly, perhaps, because I understood 
 Parisian French better than the others 
 did. 
 
 When Clisson finished he looked at me 
 interrogatively. 
 
 " How much rest do the horses need ? " 
 I asked. 
 
 " An hour," he said, " we galloped hard 
 through the star-light this morning. We 
 have time to picket them." 
 
 " See here old fellow," I said, drawing 
 him aside, " do what you think best. 
 What the devil do I know about cavalry 
 or anything else ! " Clisson's left eyelid 
 fluttered gently, but he saluted me and 
 tramped away, followed by a dismounted 
 trumpeter. 
 
 The King, leaning on the arm of Gen 
 eral Bombwitz, had stepped into the open 
 door of Constantine's hut, a low, white 
 plaster building, half sheltered by the 
 cliff. His Grace of Babu followed them
 
 212 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 but Taxil strolled up to me, twisting his 
 waxed moustache and lifting his sabre 
 over the stony road. 
 
 " Have I done well ? " he asked. 
 
 " Indeed you have ! " I exclaimed 
 warmly. 
 
 " And when we get back to Belgarde 
 am I to have the railroad from my 
 mines ?" 
 
 "Certainly. There is one thing how 
 ever that I do not understand and that is, 
 why you neither wrote me from Bazoum 
 nor sent me any messengers. I thought 
 you understood what I told you." 
 
 " Messengers ! " said Taxil, astonished, 
 " why I sent you three ! " 
 
 " They never arrived," I replied, much 
 troubled ; " ten to one they were in the 
 pay of Russia." 
 
 " Or Witch Sylvia," he added nervously. 
 " I tried my best, I employed men picked 
 from the best. You can never be certain 
 of any man in the Balkans. The last 
 messenger I sent you was escorted to the 
 south end of the Tiflix valley by my cav 
 alry patrol to make certain. He entered
 
 Prisoner! 213 
 
 the valley, and I don't see how he could 
 have gotten out without your knowledge." 
 
 I thought of the mysterious Russian 
 who had left the valley at night but said 
 nothing to Taxil about it. 
 
 " Well," said I, " you may imagine how 
 nervous his Majesty was. As for me, I 
 tell you I was more than unhappy. But 
 it 's all right now ; we have the pass and 
 we '11 hold the railroad before noon. Did 
 you have any difficulty in finding Clisson ? 
 What did the King of Caucasia say and 
 where is his army and tell me something 
 about the state of affairs ! I have n't an 
 idea about anything." 
 
 " The King of Caucasia is in the field 
 with a hundred thousand men. His right 
 wing lay on the Zitlis hills last night, his 
 left wing, to the cavalry division of which 
 your regiment is attached, is swinging 
 along a line, twenty miles front, gradually 
 concentrating by columns at Ezrox. I 
 know very little about the movement of 
 the centre. I believe the King of Cau 
 casia expects to seize all the Caspian 
 passes, force the passage of the Ulma at
 
 214 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 Kerestan, turn Dragovitza by a flank 
 movement, and over-run Biznitz. That 
 of course would mean the capitulation of 
 Belgarde." 
 
 "Oh yes," I assented, trying to under 
 stand. It appeared that even the venal 
 and incapable Duke of Taxil knew some 
 things that I did n't. I was slowly com 
 ing to the conclusion that my proper place 
 was in some awkward squad or possibly 
 in a minor cadet school. 
 
 " I 'm no soldier, that 's apparent," 
 thought I to myself, and looked gloomily 
 at Taxil. 
 
 "The King of Caucasia sent money by 
 messengers to our own King," said the 
 Duke. " Did he not receive anything ?" 
 
 "Not a pfenning!" I replied, turning 
 to look at the King who was now emerg 
 ing from the house, followed by General 
 Bombwitz and the Duke of Babu. 
 
 At the same moment Clisson ran up 
 saying, " Hasten, gentlemen, mount ! " and 
 the bugles in the pass rang " boots-and- 
 saddles." 
 
 Far down the pass I could see the head
 
 Prisoner ! 215 
 
 of a column moving up behind our dis 
 mounted troopers. It was composed of 
 cyclist infantry, dismounted, escorting a 
 mule-battery. 
 
 Ten minutes later Clisson and I were 
 riding side by side, and behind us crowded 
 the long winding column of the Hussar 
 Guard, King and standards in the centre, 
 surrounded by a picked squadron com 
 manded by Bombwitz, Taxil, and his Grace 
 of Babu. 
 
 " Ha ! " chuckled Clisson, twisting his 
 gray moustache, " I think we need not be 
 ashamed of our red riders, eh ! Steen ?" 
 
 Then, at my request he told me how 
 he had worked to drum up all his old 
 comrades of the Chasseurs d'Afrique ; how 
 ninety nine per cent jumped at the chance ; 
 how he had also secured enough relics 
 from the Foreign Legion to make an even 
 thousand ; Italians, Russians, Americans, 
 English, even Turks and needy gentlemen 
 representing almost every country of Eur 
 ope. " It 's a devil of a regiment," he 
 grinned. "We rendezvoused in Bazoum, 
 and when I had them uniformed and
 
 216 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 mounted, the King of Caucasia swore the 
 whole regiment into his service with the 
 pledge that, on the surrender of Belgarde 
 and the restoration of King Theobald, 
 the regiment should return to Bazoum as 
 a corps d'elite of the Horse-Guards. You 
 need n't worry about our pay either ; we 're 
 already paid in advance for the few days 
 this campaign will last, and we have a big 
 bounty awaiting us in Bazoum." 
 
 As we rode on, side by side, I asked 
 him to describe this King of Caucasia, 
 and he did, as only a Frenchman can do 
 such things, in four words ; " Fat, freckled, 
 practical, prosaic." 
 
 " I knew that he 'd help our King on 
 promise of a free port of entry for his 
 commerce and his two torpedo boats. 
 He '11 build more boats now ; he '11 unload 
 all his productions on Austria and Ger 
 many and make a pretty penny. I sup 
 pose he has lead mines ? " 
 
 " Lots," laughed Clisson, patting his 
 horse's neck with his gloved hand. 
 
 " Pleasant prospect for Boznovia," I 
 said, and turned in my saddle to look at
 
 Prisoner ! 217 
 
 the column, I could not see his Majesty's 
 face or figure but the tall silver helmet, 
 with its gold winged griffin, towered 
 among the busbys of the troopers, flash 
 ing and scintillating in the morning sun 
 light. 
 
 " I should think, Clisson," said I, " that 
 his Majesty's helmet was as good as a 
 heliograph to warn an enemy of our pres 
 ence." 
 
 "Of course it's all fol-de-rol ! " mut 
 tered Clisson, "but what can you expect 
 in Boznovia ? " 
 
 We rode for awhile in silence, listening 
 to the rhythmic trample of the horses be 
 hind us, the clatter of lance and carbine, 
 and the jingling of chain, bit, and spur. 
 
 I wondered a little that we had passed 
 no Servian gendarmes, or frontier guards. 
 Even at the Tiflix notch where the three 
 kingdoms come to a triangular centre, 
 I had seen no Servians. As for the 
 other countries, this frontier of Boznovia 
 and Caucasia is too savage and wild to 
 need watching, for even the smugglers 
 shun it, the Tiflix valley being the only
 
 218 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 possible approach to Ezrox. The valley 
 was considered a neutral highway by the 
 Treaty of Vienna in 1874, although Ser- 
 via claimed it as part of her territory, 
 agreeing only to its use as a neutral high 
 way on this condition. 
 
 When we left the pass we entered Boz- 
 novia, using the neutral highway between 
 Caucasia and the Boznovian frontier. 
 Servia might have objected had she had 
 time to seize the pass. 
 
 I told Clisson this and he wondered 
 why they had not done so. 
 
 " We should have lost a week ; I 'm 
 glad they did n't," I said. 
 
 " Servia is acting queerly it seems to 
 me," observed Clisson ; " they must know 
 what is going on, they must have known 
 it long ago. Russia also has made no 
 movement, and it seems strange, does n't 
 it?" 
 
 " You expected a battle here at the 
 pass ? " I asked curiously. 
 
 " Why of course. The King of Cau 
 casia never expected to get through the 
 Caspians without a tussle with Servia."
 
 Prisoner! 219 
 
 " What ! " I exclaimed, " you expected 
 to fight Servia, also ? " 
 
 " Why, " said Clisson, coolly, " did n't 
 you?" 
 
 " No, I never thought of that," I 
 replied. 
 
 " Did n't the King, either?" demanded 
 Clisson in amazement. 
 
 " I suppose not," I answered sulkily. 
 
 Then Clisson began to chuckle and 
 banter me and torment me until I retorted 
 indignantly : 
 
 " How the devil can you expect a sim 
 ple civilian to think of all these complica 
 tions ? . I certainly forgot to take Servia 
 into consideration but I could n't think 
 of everything, could I ? " 
 
 " But," laughed Clisson," the Servians 
 have just walloped the Boznovians to 
 please Russia. Is n't it reasonable to ex 
 pect that they would also attempt to 
 wallop the Caucasians if Russia gave 
 them the wink ? And we are going to 
 reinstate the very King that Russian in 
 trigue chased out of Belgarde ! And we 
 are going to chase the Marmora Prince,
 
 220 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 whom Russia placed there, back to his 
 penny principality again ! My ! how di 
 plomatic you are ! " 
 
 " Nonsense," said I, half laughing, half 
 angry : "if Servia moves, Bulgaria is with 
 us. If Russia moves, England, Austria, 
 and Italy are with us. If France lifts a 
 finger, Germany, Roumania, and all Asia 
 are behind us." 
 
 " Don't you believe it," said Clisson ; 
 but I saw that he had been joking me, 
 and that he himself believed it. 
 
 " The simple fact is this," I observed ; 
 " we have struck a spark that may set the 
 world ablaze. If one country, no matter 
 how small, takes sides with either con 
 testant in this coming duel, it means a 
 universal war that will necessitate a 
 change in public school geographies." 
 
 And so we rode on through the flower 
 ing plain, speculating, insisting, disputing 
 until our advanced guard came galloping 
 back in a shower of dust and pebbles to 
 report that the Ezrox station was in sight. 
 
 " I 'm going out with the advance," I 
 cried eagerly, "do you mind, Clisson?"
 
 Prisoner! 221 
 
 " It 's damned unmilitary," he mut 
 tered, " to see a Colonel go scuttling 
 out with the vedettes." Then, catching 
 the fun of the thing, he laughed and beck 
 oned to a dozen troopers. 
 
 "We '11 carry it by assault," he chuc 
 kled to me, " come on ! " and we struck 
 spurs to our horses and flew out along the 
 road at full speed. 
 
 Almost immediately we sighted the 
 white stone station lying silent and de 
 serted in the bright June sunshine. 
 
 On we raced, bending low in our sad 
 dles, sabres clanking, revolvers poised, 
 the lance-pennants of our escort flapping 
 and snapping in the wind. 
 
 "Empty!" cried Clisson, pulling up 
 sharply at the edge of the platform where 
 the long lines of glistening rails swept in 
 a splendid curve around the base of the 
 hill. 
 
 I dismounted, and the escort tumbled 
 out of their saddles, carbines unslung. 
 
 I shoved my revolver back into the 
 holster, walked to the closed door, and 
 rapped.
 
 222 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 " It 's deserted, is n't it ? " called Clis- 
 son. 
 
 " Hark ! " cried a trumpeter, leaping 
 back, " there is something inside that 
 house!" and he sounded the "alert" 
 with all the strength of his lungs. 
 
 " Look out ! " shouted Clisson, draw 
 ing his sabre, " I saw something pass that 
 second window ! " 
 
 " Then in with the door !" I cried, and 
 flung myself full weight against it. It 
 gave way easily and I sprang in and lev 
 elled my revolver at a dark figure in a 
 corner behind a table. 
 
 " Prisoner ! " shouted the troopers, 
 crowding into the dim room. 
 
 A yell of laughter burst from Clisson 
 who had followed, and at the same mo 
 ment a great mustard-coloured bear reared 
 up from behind the table, and made toward 
 us waving his paws. 
 
 " Don't fire ! " gasped Clisson weak 
 with laughter, " he 's got a collar on and 
 a ring in his nose ! " 
 
 The troopers drew back in confusion ; 
 the bear looked appealingly at Clisson.
 
 Prisoner ! 223 
 
 "This is terrible," I said, scarlet with 
 mortification, for I heard the rest of the 
 regiment galloping up outside. But Clis- 
 son, tears of mirth streaming down his 
 bronzed cheeks, seized a lance from a 
 trooper and thrust it into the bear's paws. 
 " Dance ! " he cried, and the bear pricked 
 up his ears and waltzed gravely toward 
 us. 
 
 " Come on ! " commanded Clisson, 
 " allons ! en avant ! " and the bear waltzed 
 out of the house and over the platform in 
 full view of the entire regiment. 
 
 "Prisoner!" shouted the men, and a 
 roar of laughter rose from the ranks while 
 the horses snorted and reared and the 
 lances rattled in the stirrups. 
 
 Then the King galloped out and faced 
 the regiment. 
 
 " Soldiers ! " he cried in a mighty 
 voice, " the Russian bear shall dance to 
 the same tune ! " 
 
 Then the troopers swung their sabres 
 and cheered and the trumpets played the 
 Boznovian " Salute to the King," while 
 the bear, a trifle astonished, leaned on
 
 224 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 his lance shaft and gazed admiringly at 
 the King. As for me I was profoundly 
 mortified. 
 
 "If you ever tell !" I muttered as 
 Clisson passed me. 
 
 He was too much exhausted with 
 laughter to reply.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE HAND AND THE LETTER. 
 
 THAT night his Majesty slept on a 
 wooden bench in the Ezrox rail 
 road station and the troopers slept under 
 the stars. 
 
 About ten o'clock I went out with 
 Clisson to make the rounds. We passed 
 along the lines of picketed horses, crossed 
 the railroad tracks, and walked slowly 
 from post to post, while from every side 
 came the sharp challenges and the rattle 
 of carbines, or the stamp and snort of 
 horses. Far down the tracks, along the 
 glimmering lines of rails, the vedettes 
 stood against the sky, carbines poised, 
 motionless save when the horses tossed 
 their heads or a star-beam struck some 
 breeze lifted pennon or sparkling lance- 
 tip. 
 
 225
 
 226 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 A new moon, slim and keen as a sabre 
 blade, flashed among the stars ; and over 
 all the still fragrant night spread a vast 
 veil, mysterious, filmy, vague as the veil 
 of I sis. Behind us the massed foliage 
 of a forest rose, while on either side 
 meshed branches and slim trees bordered 
 the sky with lace-work. All around the 
 pastures lay embroidered with dim sweet 
 blossoms, pale blots in the gloom, and 
 from hollow and hill-side, from meadow 
 and sward, the song of the crickets 
 swelled unceasing. 
 
 " Fichtre ! " said Clisson, prosaic and 
 practical to the last, "there's fodder 
 enough for the whole cavalry division 
 in that pasture, yes, and for the train- 
 des-equipages too. What a pity we 
 human creatures are unable to appreci 
 ate a good grass supper ! " 
 
 " Bother take you Clisson," said I, 
 " can't you enjoy the night without count 
 ing horses' noses?" I had been dream 
 ing of Lina. 
 
 "Zut !" said the hussar, " I 've other 
 things to occupy me ; so have you, mon
 
 The Hand and the Letter. 227 
 
 ami, sacre nom d'un nom ! what 's 
 that ! " 
 
 "What? Oh that's the bear. He'll 
 scare the vedettes and get a hide full of 
 lead in a moment." 
 
 " Confound the brute," said Clisson, " a 
 shot might turn the whole camp upside 
 down ! I wish you 'd be more careful in 
 your selection when you make any more 
 of the enemy prisoners." 
 
 " Don't try to be funny," said I, " I '11 
 get the bear back myself ; " and I ran 
 down the path and seized the great crea 
 ture by the collar. 
 
 "Come," said I angrily, " you've made 
 me ridiculous enough for one day," and I 
 dragged on the collar with all my strength. 
 The bear was very docile, even deprecat- 
 ingly servile. He trundled along beside 
 me anxiously, and acknowledged Clisson's 
 presence by sitting up and waving his 
 paws. 
 
 " I don't believe there's a growl left in 
 him," said Clisson. " We can't keep him 
 with our cavalry you know ; we must 
 attach him to headquarters."
 
 228 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 "Officially!" 
 
 " Yes, ' said Clisson with a grave ges 
 ture, " he is the private property of King 
 Theobald of Boznovia." 
 
 " What shall we name him ? " I asked. 
 
 " I don't know, he looks a little like 
 the Metropolitan Aloysius of Belgarde 
 
 " He looks more like Babu," I sug 
 gested. 
 
 " So he does !" assented Clisson, "but 
 that won't do my son. We could call 
 him Daniel, Daniel, in the bear's den, 
 don't you know." 
 
 " Lion's den," I observed. 
 
 "It's all the same. Daniel, sit up! 
 See, he minds very well. We really 
 should name him Daniel. Shall we ? " 
 Before I could reply, a vedette's quick 
 challenge rang from the extreme out 
 posts. 
 
 "Hark!" said Clisson, "do you hear 
 that ! " 
 
 A dull sound came to our ears, the 
 rythmic movement of marching men, 
 and, as we listened, the distant tramp 
 ling cadence grew and grew until I saw,
 
 The Hand and the Letter. 229 
 
 through the darkness, a long misty 
 column looming up across the meadows 
 with the shimmer of bayonets above. 
 
 On they came, the star-light vibrating 
 on the tossing bayonets, tramp, tramp, 
 tramp, across the railroad and down 
 along the meadow to the little river 
 behind the willows. 
 
 " It 's Vladina's division," said Clisson, 
 " see the double white cross on their caps ! " 
 
 " Count Vladina of Bazoum ? " 
 
 "Yes. It's his Foot-Guards that are 
 passing. Well, the army is coming, you 
 see, and I suppose we must be up and off 
 before daylight." He yawned unaffectedly 
 and looked at me. 
 
 " Come on to bed then," I said, and we 
 turned away toward the Ezrox station. 
 
 " The King of Caucasia is with the 
 centre, or was last night. He may be 
 here by morning," said Clisson, " hold 
 on, keep that bear from walking on my 
 boots!" 
 
 " Daniel ! " I cried sternly, " walk on 
 your own toes." 
 
 As we rounded the railway curve below
 
 230 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 the hill, another column wheeled into view, 
 more infantry, while from the high-road 
 came the creaking of baggage wagons 
 and the tinkle-clink-clank of moving artil 
 lery. The whole plain was in motion 
 now. In they crept, long dim columns, 
 now indistinct, now visible when a turn of 
 the flank set the star-light dancing across 
 the broad billows of bayonets. 
 
 At last we came to the railroad station 
 and entered, the challenge of the vedette 
 ringing in our ears. The King was awake 
 and demanded to know whether the King 
 of Caucasia had arrived. We told him 
 all we knew and passed on to the outer 
 office, the bear following. Clisson threw 
 himself on a pile of over-coats, inviting- 
 me to share the couch, but I sat down in 
 a chair by the empty fire-place and in two 
 minutes was asleep. 
 
 I awoke at intervals through the night, 
 listening to the movement and the mighty 
 murmur of the passing host, hour after 
 hour, but I always fell asleep again, to 
 dream fitfully. Strange faces haunted my 
 dreams, sometimes the face of Lina, some-
 
 The Hand and the Letter. 231 
 
 times the face of a fiend peering at me 
 from a veil of black hair, until I cried out 
 and stumbled to my feet, my ears singing 
 with the reveille from the silver throated 
 trumpets. Clisson also rose yawning and 
 stretching, his sabre clashing with every 
 movement ; and the bear trudged around 
 the room sniffing at the cracks under the 
 doors where the fresh sweet country breeze 
 entered. We let him out, and Clisson 
 called to Farron, the battalion Adjutant 
 to see that Daniel was fed. 
 
 Dawn was already coming up behind 
 the Caspian mountains ; the air smelled 
 fresh and aromatic, and the grass before 
 our door hung low, drenched with dew. I 
 went to the door and looked out. What 
 a change had come during the night ! 
 Everywhere, as far as the eye could reach, 
 dark masses of troops were in motion, 
 cavalry, infantry, endless jumbles of bag 
 gage and provision wagons ; and every 
 where bugles were summoning the drowsy, 
 echoing cheerily over the meadows, while 
 on the edge of the woods the cavalry 
 trumpets chorussed a mellow symphony,
 
 232 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 and the deep drums rolled from the valley 
 below. 
 
 I heard Clisson's brisk voice, now ex 
 plaining some detail to the King, now re 
 ceiving the Veterinary-Surgeon's report, 
 now chatting with the Major and the 
 Quartermaster-Sergeant, or sharply rebuk 
 ing a wrangling battalion farrier and a 
 quarrelsome stable Sergeant. There had 
 been no casualties during the night except 
 that an artificer had got drunk and punched 
 a wagoner in the nose. 
 
 The trumpeters were playing the salute 
 to the colours before I finished a hasty toilet 
 in the corner sink, and joined the mess in 
 the large waiting office. The King ap 
 peared to be in better spirits now. He 
 laughed at the antics of Daniel who had 
 smelled out the sugar and was pawing the 
 air in mute supplication. 
 
 Taxil and Babu came in, hungry and 
 full of accounts concerning the corps that 
 had been arriving during the night and 
 was still passing. 
 
 " The Duke of Etropolis is in com 
 mand," said Taxil, swallowing a bowl of
 
 The Hand and the Letter. 233 
 
 tea, " but I can't find either him or Count 
 Vladina." 
 
 " The guards did n't halt," observed 
 Clisson ; " we shall pass them on our way 
 to Ravno. What cavalry is that over by 
 the woods ? " 
 
 " Prince Saranitza's dragoons," replied 
 Taxil ; " they are to wait there for Gen 
 eral Brimborio's division of infantry. What 
 is our first halting place, Colonel Clisson ? " 
 
 " Ravno, a village on the Demsa ; our 
 next is Vistmark on the same stream and 
 then we arrive at Tchatal-Dagh." 
 
 " From Tchatal-Dagh we can see Bel- 
 garde," I added. 
 
 A pale flush touched the King's face. 
 He pushed back his chair and rose, as 
 sisted by Taxil and Clisson. I heard the 
 trumpets playing the " Salute to the 
 King " as they went out into the meadow 
 and presently I followed them, leading 
 Daniel by the collar. There was a colour- 
 sergeant passing, and I gave Daniel into 
 his hands with strict orders to make him 
 comfortable in the ambulance. 
 
 Ten minutes later the Hussar Guards,
 
 234 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 trumpets sounding, standards and guidons 
 fluttering, trotted out of the meadow by 
 the Ezrox station and wheeled into the 
 Ravno high-way. The King, as before, 
 rode in the centre with Taxil, Babu, and 
 General Bombwitz, surrounded by the 
 standard bearers and the picked guards. 
 Clisson and I and the chief-trumpeter 
 rode on well ahead. 
 
 We passed several battalions of Vladina's 
 infantry by the river bank in the valley 
 but we saw nothing of the Count himself. 
 Farther along we came upon an artillery 
 train in motion, and beyond that an in 
 terminable line of baggage wagons escorted 
 by Bazoum lancers and cyclist infantry. 
 
 Across the railroad another train was 
 moving, also escorted by cavalry, and 
 from every hill, flag signals were being 
 exchanged, heliographs flashed in the first 
 sunbeams, and long lines of field-telephone 
 wire were being hung, stretching from 
 tree to tree away back to the Ezrox station 
 which I now concluded was to become an 
 important base of supply. 
 
 The railroad tracks were heavily pa-
 
 The Hand and the Letter. 235 
 
 trolled by lancers and by chasseurs a cheval 
 of the Curtina regiment, gay troopers in 
 orange and light blue. 
 
 Our own red riders attracted universal 
 attention, part of which was certainly due 
 to the towering griffin-crowned silver 
 helmet of the King. The Caucasian 
 troops evidently recognized him for, 
 whenever we passed a regiment, the 
 drums gave the nine ruffles, the bugles 
 pealed the " Salute to the King," and the 
 standards swept the ground. These march 
 ing salutes were very pleasant to the King, 
 poor monarch ! he had been drummed 
 out of Boznovia to a very different tune. 
 Taxil also seemed pleased. Babu's round 
 face was expressionless and emotionless 
 except when he gravely chewed on his 
 eternal Ispha nuts. 
 
 Clisson, bubbling over with satisfaction 
 and good spirits, eulogized his regiment 
 and gave me the personal history of so 
 many of his old comrades that I became 
 completely muddled and begged him to 
 stop. At ten o'clock we walked our 
 horses into the hamlet of Ravno, where
 
 236 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 we watered them and made inquiries, sur 
 rounded by stupid staring Boznovian peas 
 ants. Then we took up our line of march 
 again. At noon we passed through Vist- 
 mark, crossing the river by the ancient 
 stone bridge, but seeing no signs of op 
 position or of sullen unwillingness among 
 the village people. Nobody, however, 
 cheered for the King which fact I remarked 
 to Clisson. 
 
 When we moved out of Vistmark, our 
 advanced guard was cautioned, for we 
 were approaching Tchatal-Dagh. 
 
 It was one o'clock precisely when the 
 bang ! bang ! of cavalry carbines touched 
 up the regiment like an electric shock. 
 In a few minutes our advanced guard 
 came pelting back, reporting heavy masses 
 of infantry on the hills in front. 
 
 Clisson and I spurred forward until we 
 came to a hill, crowned by the hamlet of 
 Dragovitza. We could see a few of the 
 enemy's cavalry, moving about the hill 
 top, silhouetted against the sky, but at 
 first we discovered no infantry. Clisson 
 found them before I did.
 
 The Hand and the Letter. 237 
 
 " Good Lord ! " he exclaimed, " will 
 you look at that plateau, Steen ! " 
 
 I turned my glasses on the table-land 
 indicated. 1 1 was black with heavy masses 
 of infantry and artillery. Beyond, the 
 spires and minarettes of Tchatal-Dagh 
 glistened in the sun like icicles, and all 
 around them the heavy pine forests lay, 
 stretching away to the wall of the Black 
 Fortress of Tchenekoi, the gate of Bel- 
 garde. 
 
 " There is an army there," said Clisson, 
 " and probably most of it is lying under 
 cover of the pine woods. Surely they 
 don't mean to offer us battle here ; that 
 would be too absurd when they could 
 have the support of the Black Fortress if 
 they wanted it." 
 
 The enemy's cavalry pickets, numbering 
 possibly fifty, were galloping toward us 
 by this time, so we wheeled and trotted 
 back to our main body. 
 
 Clisson dispatched messengers and aids 
 to find Count Vladina and the Duke of 
 Etropolis. He also sent messengers to 
 General Brimborio and to the colonel of
 
 238 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 the last artillery regiment that we had 
 passed. Cyclist infantry had begun to 
 arrive at the front and we utilized these 
 swift messengers also, and to such good 
 purpose that in half an hour Vladina's 
 van-guard came into sight, followed by 
 the Bazoum lancers, six mounted batteries 
 of artillery, and Prince Saranitza's dra 
 goons. Orders also came, from the Duke 
 of Etropolis, to retire and take up our 
 position on a hill which rose behind us, 
 commanding the entire valley and table 
 land beyond Dragovitza. 
 
 At a sign from Clisson the trumpets 
 sounded and we wheeled our horses' into 
 the fields to the right, cutting a broad 
 swathe through the sun-dried grass and 
 daisies. A mounted battery, a few yards 
 away, kept abreast of us, the limbers and 
 bronze field-pieces plunging through the 
 meadow grass up to the wheel-hubs, the 
 horses straining under the polished creak 
 ing harness. Beneath our horses feet the 
 springy sod shook as we cantered across 
 the grass, leaving long trails of crushed 
 poppies, red as blood. In a few minutes
 
 The Hand and the Letter. 239 
 
 we were crashing through a young maize 
 field, over crackling stalks and innocent 
 blue corn-flowers, putting to flight flock 
 after flock of wrens and hedge-birds. 
 
 Up the slope we toiled, the loose earth 
 and pebbles falling as our horses' steel- 
 shod hoofs broke into the soft soil ; and 
 at length we rode over the last incline 
 and galloped out across a stony plateau, 
 all covered with tufts of yellow broom 
 and Russian thistles. 
 
 Already a field-battery had unlimbered 
 on the edge of the hill ; the horses were 
 being lead away to the hollow below, and 
 the covers of the ammunition chests were 
 flying open, click ! click ! while a Major 
 of artillery followed by a bugler, walked 
 up and down bellowing orders and rat 
 tling his sabre hilt fiercely. 
 
 Other batteries were arriving as we 
 wheeled again and trotted into a little 
 hollow to the right, sheltered by a thicket 
 of poplar trees. 
 
 Here our troopers dismounted, flinging 
 themselves on the ground beside a clear 
 cold brook that flowed swiftly through
 
 240 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 copse, but Clisson and I followed the 
 King up the slope again toward a group 
 of officers who had just galloped up to the 
 batteries and were examining the valley 
 below. 
 
 "Zut!" said Clisson, "there are the 
 Count Vladina and the Duke of Etropo- 
 lis ! " 
 
 "Yes," said the King quietly, "and I 
 think I see the King of Caucasia also." 
 
 At that moment one of the officers 
 caught sight of us and, hastily dismount 
 ing came toward the King, both hands 
 outstretched. 
 
 It was King Casimir of Caucasia. 
 
 " See 'em embrace ! " sneered Clisson 
 aside to me, as the two monarchs fell into 
 each other's arms, " every hug that old 
 Casimir gives means, ' I 've got you now 
 and you 've got to let my ships into the 
 Balkan Sea ' ; and every squeeze that our 
 King gives in return means, ' only get me 
 into Belgarde and you can do what you 
 d n please ! ' ' 
 
 " You 're a cynical Frenchman," said I, 
 " it *s a very affecting sight, hello ! here
 
 The Hand and the Letter. 241 
 
 comes the staff to be presented ; buck up 
 and look interested if you can ' Before 
 I could finish we were in the centre of a 
 throng of brilliantly uniformed officers 
 bowing and saluting and returning com 
 pliments and pledges until Taxil, Babu, 
 and Bombwitz came up and created a di 
 version of interest from ourselves. Prince 
 Saranitza, gorgeous in his dragoon's uni 
 form, slipped his arm through mine and 
 dragged me away to inspect the plateau 
 beyond ; and the others followed the two 
 sovereigns toward a marquee which was 
 pitched behind the hillside on the banks 
 of the clear meadow brook. 
 
 " There must be thirty or forty thou 
 sand infantry in those woods over there," 
 said Prince Saranitza, levelling his field- 
 glasses. "I suppose they expect us to 
 attack and I hope we will, don't you ? " 
 
 " I don't know anything about it," I 
 replied frankly, also bringing my glasses 
 to bear on the plateau. 
 
 "We none of us do except the King 
 and the Duke of Etropolis," observed 
 the Prince, " by the way, you Ve got a 
 
 16
 
 242 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 fine cavalry brigade ; I saw them in Ba- 
 zoum and also this morning before you 
 started. With my dragoons and a regi 
 ment or two from Plotz's division, we 
 ought to have a jolly good charge, now 
 don't you think so ? " 
 
 " Oh yes," said I, "of course I want to 
 try something of that sort when the time 
 comes. What do you suppose the King 
 of Caucasia will do ? " 
 
 " It looks as if he was massing the ar 
 tillery to shell them out of the woods and 
 then charge them with Vladina's infantry. 
 We will probably be sent after them when 
 they run." 
 
 "//"they run," said I. 
 
 " Exactly," laughed the Prince, " and 
 of course they will, you know. Won't it 
 be fun to go clattering along on their 
 heels right up to the gates of Belgarde." 
 
 " Indeed it will be," said I, "but what 
 about the Black Fortress of Tchene- 
 koi?" 
 
 " Storm it," said Saranitza cheerfully, 
 "hello, here comes Clisson." 
 
 " The King of Caucasiagives us permis-
 
 The Hand and the Letter. 243 
 
 sion to take a few men and ride to Dra- 
 govitza for information," said Clisson, 
 saluting. 
 
 " Come on then," cried the Prince, mo 
 tioning to a trooper who was holding his 
 horse ; and in a moment Clisson, the 
 Prince, and I, followed by an escort of 
 our red riders, were galloping along the 
 rear of the batteries, exchanging salutes 
 and merry badinage with passing artillery 
 officers. In a minute or two we arrived 
 again at the slope. Through the tram 
 pled cracking maize stalks and out into 
 the meadow we galloped until we came 
 to the Ravno highway, where the en 
 gineers were fortifying the stone bridge 
 that spans the meadow stream. 
 
 "Be cautious," said Clisson; "we 
 found the enemy's cavalry roaming about 
 that hilltop when we came in- sight of 
 Dragovitza before." 
 
 " We could drive them out with our 
 peloton," suggested the Prince. 
 
 "Certainly," replied Clisson sarcas 
 tically, " but that 's exactly what we 
 did n't come for."
 
 244 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 The Prince laughed and spurred for 
 ward with a careless gesture to me, and 
 we all followed at a hand-gallop. I 
 thought I heard Clisson mutter " idiot," 
 but I was not sure. 
 
 In a dozen rods we suddenly came in 
 sight of the hamlet of Dragovitza, and 
 Clisson drew bridle and called sharply to 
 the Prince. 
 
 " Slowly, slowly now ; we don't want 
 to ride down a regiment by mistake ; it 
 might stampede them, you know." 
 
 "There isn't a horseman in sight," 
 said I, " perhaps the road is clear 
 
 " And perhaps it isn't," said Clis 
 son, peering through his field-glasses ; 
 "come on anyway, and remember we are 
 not looking for a belly-full of bullets just 
 yet." 
 
 I turned to the troopers of the peloton 
 and ordered them to sheath sabres and 
 unsling their carbines. Clisson drew his 
 revolver and examined the cylinder care 
 fully, but Prince Saranitza bared his dra 
 goon's sabre with a laugh. 
 
 " Arme-blanche for me," he said, " I
 
 The Hand and the Letter. 245 
 
 prefer it " ; and we gathered our bridles 
 and trotted up the hill in open order. 
 
 " Look out ! " sang out Clisson, " there 's 
 something moving behind that cow-shed 
 to the left ! " Without a word the Prince 
 put his horse to the road-side ditch and 
 made straight for the shed. 
 
 " Come back ! " shouted Clisson, and 
 then, cursing, jumped his horse over the 
 same ditch and followed the feather 
 brained dragoon. At the same moment 
 the rattle of carbines broke out from the 
 village and the bullets came zip ! ztzing ! 
 z zt ! around our ears. 
 
 A light veil of smoke hung across the 
 single village street, and through it I 
 caught a glimpse of mounted forms, scur 
 rying away toward the highway beyond. 
 
 " There are only a dozen of them ! " I 
 cried, and galloped into the village, fol 
 lowed by my peloton of hussars. It was 
 deserted except for a frightened chicken 
 that rushed headlong into a weed patch, 
 squawking. Saranitza and Clisson came 
 up at the same moment. I sent my men 
 through every hut, every barn-yard, to
 
 246 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 find a native, but all the huts were empty, 
 and we pushed on, carbines and revolvers 
 poised. 
 
 When we came to the end of the vil 
 lage, we could plainly see, far down the 
 white highway, the cloud of dust kicked 
 up by the enemy's flying vedettes. 
 
 " They are making tracks for the pla 
 teau and the woods," said the Prince ; 
 " shall we give them a race ? " 
 
 Clisson disdained to answer him, but, 
 dismounting, sat down on a rock and 
 raised his field-glasses. We followed his 
 example. 
 
 Far on the edge of the plain the towers 
 and minarettes of Tchatal-Dagh glistened 
 in the sun-light ; to the east the dense 
 pine forests of Boznovia swept in a semi 
 circle about the plateau ; to the west the 
 Caspian Mountains shimmered blue and 
 ponderous, and below us lay the valley of 
 the Demsa, green and fresh under a cloud 
 less sky. We could discover no troops 
 in the valley, but the dark masses of in 
 fantry still lay along the edge of the forest 
 on the plateau.
 
 The Hand and the Letter. 247 
 
 It was noon, and Clisson produced a 
 bottle of red wine and some Servian 
 cheese, the odor of which sent Saranitza 
 and myself to windward. We advised 
 Clisson to fill a few bombs with it, pre 
 dicting panic to any army so bombarded, 
 but Clisson munched away very coolly, 
 and I retired, motioning my troopers to 
 dismount and eat. 
 
 When I was out of the cheese-tainted 
 atmosphere, and out of sight too for that 
 matter, I produced my flask and dried 
 meat and fell to with an appetite. 
 
 I sat quite still, the cool hill-winds 
 blowing in my face, musing, eating, drink 
 ing, by turns, my hussar's busby and sabre 
 on a rock beside me. In the grass the 
 little ants were already busy with the 
 dropped crumbs ; crickets scrambled 
 about, running boldly over my spurred 
 boots, and metallic winged gorse-butter- 
 flies flitted and fluttered across my face. 
 
 "In the midst of life we are in death," 
 I repeated aloud, watching the ants ; 
 a careless movement of my boot heel 
 might have crushed out a dozen lives. I
 
 248 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 caught a cricket with a quick movement 
 and held it gently between my fingers. 
 
 " Poor devil," I said, "what if I should 
 close my hand ? " 
 
 Then I let it go uninjured, wondering 
 whether God would spare me in battle ; 
 and I bit a piece from my sandwich and 
 gazed at my spurs. 
 
 I was about to rise, after having taken 
 a last swallow from my flask, and I had 
 already picked up my busby and sabre, 
 when, without the least warning, the 
 bushes beside me parted and a human 
 hand was thrust out. Before I could re 
 cover from the shock and seize my re 
 volver, the hand opened, a letter dropped 
 on the grass, and the hand disappeared. 
 In an instant I had leaped into the thicket, 
 crashing and clambering about among the 
 stumps and tangled undergrowth, but, al 
 though I could distinctly hear somebody 
 moving farther and farther away, I neither 
 knew in which direction the sound came 
 from nor could I catch a glimpse of a liv 
 ing thing. 
 
 At last the sound died away and I lis-
 
 The Hand and the Letter. 249 
 
 tened for a moment and then floundered 
 out of the undergrowth to the open 
 meadow where the letter lay. Slowly I 
 stooped and picked it up, turning the 
 written side over. The letter was ad 
 dressed to me ! 
 
 I sat down on the grass, casting a nerv 
 ous glance at the thicket, and tore the 
 letter from its cover. A sheet of paper, 
 faintly perfumed and covered with long 
 fine writing fluttered out. This was what 
 I read : 
 
 " BELGARDE, 
 
 Thursday Evening. 
 MY DARLING : 
 
 This is my first warning. The Boznovian army 
 is encamped on the plateau beyond Dragovitza. 
 Push on after them without delay ; they will not 
 stand but will fall back on the Black Fortress of 
 Tchenekoi. Take the Ravno high-road and halt 
 at Tchatal-Dagh until you hear again from me. I 
 am with Witch Sylvia and watch her every move 
 ment. I love you ; you must not die. 
 
 LIN A." 
 
 I read the letter three times ; then I 
 stood up, opened my dolman, thrust the 
 letter into my bosom in the general direc-
 
 250 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 tion of my heart, and walked lightly across 
 the field to where my comrades were 
 lounging. 
 
 " Well," said Clisson, " I Ve finished 
 my cheese. Your face is scratched ; have 
 you been finding some Boznovian peasant 
 girl and have you been conducting your 
 self with more enthusiasm than discre 
 tion?" 
 
 "Ah h! 1'amour! 1'amour ! " sighed 
 the Prince, emptying his bottle of Bur 
 gundy and clicking his white teeth to 
 gether. 
 
 " Come along," said I, " I have news 
 for King Casimir." And I gave the signal 
 to mount.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF DRAGOVITZA. 
 
 BEFORE we were fairly in our sad 
 dles, the deep crash of a cannon 
 sounded among the trees and rocks, echo 
 ing far out across the valley, and I saw a 
 pillar of white smoke drifting from the 
 hill-top where our batteries lay. Again 
 the solemn note of the cannon sounded, 
 and again and yet again, while the hill 
 top swam in a vast eddy of white clouds 
 through which pale tongues of flame leaped 
 out into the sunshine. 
 
 The troop-horses pricked up their soft 
 ears and switched their tails. Far across 
 the valley on the forest-fringed plateau, 
 the shells were falling and exploding in 
 little puffs of smoke, but the masses of 
 infantry had disappeared, probably into 
 the forest, and, through my field-glasses, 
 251
 
 252 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 I could see the shells drop among the 
 thistles and herbage, bursting in a shower 
 of dirt and shattered shrubs before the 
 intrenchments. 
 
 And now the roll of the cannonade 
 increased, roaring, swelling, resounding 
 among the rocks, until it became one deep 
 prolonged peal, and the hill was hidden 
 in billowy clouds. 
 
 "Mount!" I cried, "March! Trot! 
 Gallop ! " and away we clattered in a 
 swirl of dust and leaves. 
 
 All the way to headquarters, Clisson 
 and Prince Saranitza and I discussed the 
 meaning of the sudden artillery outburst, 
 and I was wondering how soon we might 
 be expected to move out in force, when a 
 messenger from the King of Caucasia 
 dashed up, ordering Clisson to his regi 
 ment, Saranitza to his, and me to report 
 at headquarters. 
 
 Half way up the slope we separated, 
 the Prince cantering gaily away to his 
 dragoons, Clisson and my red riders plun 
 ging through the maize field toward the 
 hollow, and I, spurring straight up the
 
 The Battle of Dragovitza. 253 
 
 smoking hill toward the headquarters of 
 King Casimir of Caucasia. 
 
 As I guided my horse through the dense 
 cannon mist drifting in from the batteries, 
 the ear-splitting crash of the guns made 
 me dizzy and the sulphurous fog, thicken 
 ing at every deafening blast, filled my 
 throat and eyes until I could scarcely see 
 or breathe. Half stifled, blinded, and 
 stunned, I finally stumbled up against a 
 vedette and dismounted before the mar 
 quee. In a scarcely audible voice I asked 
 for the King of Caucasia, giving my name 
 to the orderly, and at once I was ushered 
 into the tent where a dozen officers were 
 sitting closely huddled around a small 
 deal table. 
 
 " Ha ! " said the King of Caucasia when 
 he saw me ; and all the officers turned 
 and regarded me with half-suppressed 
 grins. 
 
 "What is this I hear about a bear?" 
 asked King Casimir angrily. 
 
 " Bear ? your Majesty," I replied, be 
 wildered. 
 
 " Yes, a bear," snapped King Casimir,
 
 254 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 " it is reported that you found one in the 
 Ezrox station." 
 
 " I did," I replied, flushing with annoy 
 ance. 
 
 " A tame one ? " 
 
 "Yes your Majesty." 
 
 "Where is it?" 
 
 " In the cavalry ambulance, sire." 
 
 " Then read that," said the King, hand 
 ing me a letter across the table. 
 
 " I am to read it ? " 
 
 " Yes, I don't care who reads it, but 
 I '11 be revenged for this insult ! " fumed 
 the King. 
 
 I read the letter in growing astonish 
 ment : 
 
 " The Princess Sylvia of Marmora begs to inform 
 King Casimir of Caucasia that she lost her pet bear 
 somewhere on the Ravno highway between the 
 Tiflix notch and Tchatal-Dagh. In case King 
 Casimir should find the bear, will he be kind 
 enough to bring it with him to Belgarde, as the 
 Princess Sylvia would rather have two bears than 
 none at all. 
 
 (Signed) "SYLVIA OF MARMORA." 
 
 " There 's a post-script on the other
 
 The Battle of Dragovitza. 255 
 
 side," cried the King passionately, and 
 banged his fist on the table. 
 
 I turned the sheet of paper and read : 
 
 " The bear is called Casimir, but there need be 
 no confusion, for the Princess Sylvia expects to 
 change either the bear's name or the most Christian 
 name of King Casimir when the menagerie arrives." 
 
 " Witch Sylvia ! " I said, not knowing 
 what else to say. 
 
 "The 'menagerie,'" said the King in 
 an awful voice, " means me and the bear. 
 Very good, very, ve-ry good ! She wants 
 her bear, this Witch Sylvia ; she shall 
 have her bear. Colonel Steen, you have 
 orders to immediately attach that bear to 
 the personnel of my headquarters, and I 
 will stake my crown that the Princess 
 Sylvia of Marmora receives her property 
 from my own hand." 
 
 I saluted, stifling a violent inclination 
 to laugh, and walked out through the 
 smoke again toward the batteries. 
 
 The din of the cannon made my ears 
 ache ; I felt the earth tremble beneath 
 me at every explosion. Bugles were
 
 256 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 sounding too from the masses of crouch 
 ing infantry, but the shock and pealing 
 crashes from the batteries almost drowned 
 their clangor. As for the drums, not a 
 tap could be heard although the troops 
 seemed to read the signal from the vibrat 
 ing drum-sticks ; for now long lines of 
 infantry rose up from thicket and mead 
 ow-grass, and started off down the hill 
 side in open order. For a while I could 
 see their flags moving, well ahead of the 
 line of battle, and farther on, the skir 
 mish lines, hurrying out through the veil 
 of smoke, while above their heads red jets 
 of flame leaped and played and lashed 
 out through the cannon gloom, licking 
 the edges of the sulphurous cloud with a 
 hundred dazzling tongues. 
 
 Taxil and Babu passed and I called to 
 them, but they could not hear me of 
 course, and I followed them and laid my 
 hand on Taxil's arm. 
 
 " What the devil are they doing any 
 way ? " I shouted close to his ear. 
 
 " You need n't howl that way," said 
 the Duke much amused, " you need only
 
 The Battle of Dragovitza. 257 
 
 lower your voice to be understood. Vla- 
 dina's division is moving on the plateau 
 under cover of the cannonade," he added. 
 
 I thought of my letter and Lina's ad 
 vice and decided, as the troops were doing 
 what Lina had said they should do, that 
 there was no immediate need of making 
 King Casimir my confidant. 
 
 " The cannonade will slacken in a few 
 minutes," observed Babu, rolling a bit of 
 Ispha nut under his tongue, " as soon as 
 Vladina's troops get to the foot of the 
 plateau." 
 
 " Where 's that bear ? " I asked abruptly. 
 
 "In the ambulance," replied Taxil. 
 
 " Send the brute to King Casimir at 
 once then," I said, and left them, return 
 ing their astonished salutes impatiently. 
 
 " Sure as guns," said I to myself, "the 
 cavalry will be needed as soon as Vladi 
 na's infantry get onto the plateau " ; and 
 I walked up to my horse, mounted, and 
 picked my way through a mass of artillery 
 and baggage trains to the hollow below 
 the hill where my own regiment lay. 
 
 The troopers were still lolling about on 
 17
 
 258 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 the ground beside the stream and the 
 horses cropped the grass or tore strips of 
 tender bark and clusters of leaves from 
 the bushes ; but I saw that Clisson and 
 Bombwitz were mounted and were atten 
 tively examining the valley through their 
 binoculars. 
 
 The cannonade had already begun to 
 slacken as I rode up to them ; and I was 
 able to make myself heard without dan 
 ger of throat rupture. 
 
 " Aha ! " cried Clisson briskly, " if I 
 am not mistaken, Count Vladina is mov 
 ing on the plateau." 
 
 " You 're right," said I, " and I suppose 
 we will be wanted presently. I see that 
 Prince Saranitza's dragoons are already in 
 position. What a hasty young man he is ! " 
 
 " The cannon have ceased," observed 
 Bombwitz, " and here comes an aid-de 
 camp with orders." 
 
 " Where 's my trumpeter ? " I cried ; 
 "here! sound boots-and-saddles ! Clis 
 son, does his Majesty go with us ? Yes ? 
 Good then ; General Bombwitz, pray 
 find the King, for these orders admit of
 
 The Battle of Dragovitza. 259 
 
 no delay. Sound the ' Salute to the King ! ' 
 Ah, here comes his Majesty with Taxil 
 and Babu. Clisson, I lead, remember, 
 your horse's nose is not to pass my hol 
 ster unless I 'm hit. Sound and mount ! 
 March ! Trot ! " 
 
 The grassy meadow shook as we moved 
 out of the hollow and down the slope into 
 the plain. Out of the corner of my eye 
 I saw Saranitza's dragoons trotting abreast 
 of us and beyond them other lines of cav 
 alry, all moving at a trot over the vast 
 plain toward the plateau at the end of the 
 valley. 
 
 "The Duke of Etropolis commands in 
 person," said Clisson at my elbow ; " he 
 is over there with the Curtina division 
 and the Bazoum lancers." 
 
 " He does n't command this regiment," 
 I said flippantly ; " we will beat him up 
 the hill ! " 
 
 " Go easy, all the same," said Clisson 
 laughing and bringing his horse a pace 
 closer. 
 
 " Stop that, Clisson," I said ; " I am 
 leading this charge." Then I bared my
 
 260 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 sabre and raised it in the sunlight, half 
 turning in my saddle. 
 
 "Draw sabres! Gallop!" I shouted, 
 and the trumpets pealed a stirring re 
 sponse. 
 
 " You 'd better let me give the orders," 
 suggested Clisson, coming closer again. 
 
 " There 's only one more to give," said I, 
 " and I '11 give it when the time comes." 
 
 Nearer and nearer we drew to the foot 
 of the grey plateau where already Vladi- 
 na's endless columns were hurrying up 
 the slope, flags tossing, bayonets flashing 
 in the sun. 
 
 " They '11 get there first ! ".I panted to 
 Clisson. 
 
 " Of course," he said, " that 's what was 
 planned ! " 
 
 " I don't care a damn what was 
 planned ! " I cried, for I was feverishly 
 excited with the clash of arms and the 
 splendid sweeping gallop, " I 'm going 
 to get there first ! " 
 
 " Wait ! " urged Clisson, but my answer 
 was to rise in my stirrups and swing my 
 sabre.
 
 The Battle of Dragovitza. 261 
 
 " Charge ! " I shouted, and the trum 
 pets answered swiftly, and the Hussars of 
 the Body-Guard plunged forward cheer 
 ing, breasting the slope like a tempest 
 crested wave, dashing up, onto, and over 
 the shell-torn summit, and on across the 
 plateau. 
 
 Right in front of us lay a low line of 
 breastworks from the embrasures and 
 angles of which protruded cannon. 
 
 "It's too late to halt!" gasped Clis- 
 son ; " charge the batteries, in God's 
 name ! " 
 
 " Charge ! " I shouted, and " Charge ! " 
 burst from the silvery bugles, and away 
 we dashed, sabres swinging in the sun 
 shine. 
 
 My eyes were fixed on the black muz 
 zles of the cannon, and I vaguely won 
 dered when the storm would burst upon 
 us, but I was not nervous for I felt the 
 grand stride of my horse and the intoxi 
 cation of my first charge, and my ears 
 were filled with the clamor of a thousand 
 voices, thrilling me like the roaring of a 
 mighty wind :
 
 262 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 " For the King ! Charge ! For the 
 King!" 
 
 " Now ! " bellowed Clisson, " over the 
 earth-works ! In we go ! " and the horses 
 hurled themselves furiously upon the in-- 
 trenchments, and lo ! we were inside. 
 
 At first, in the confusion and shouting 
 and neighing of horses, I could not com 
 prehend exactly why we were not en 
 gaged in a terrible hand to hand struggle, 
 but gradually, as I mastered my horse and 
 turned my blood-shot eyes, I saw no signs 
 of any enemy, only the plunging, pran 
 cing, vociferous squadrons of my own regi 
 ment ; and now also, the first columns of 
 Vladina's infantry appearing over the hill- 
 crest, and Prince Saranitza's dragoons 
 sweeping in from the other side. 
 
 " What does it all mean ? " I stammered, 
 looking helplessly at Clisson who sat on 
 his dripping horse, smiling grimly. 
 
 "Oh nothing," he said, "nothing, 
 nothing except that we charged empty in- 
 trenchments and dummy cannon, which," 
 he added with a roar of laughter, "our artil 
 lery has been shelling for three hours !"
 
 The Battle of Dragovitza. 263 
 
 " Dummy cannon ! " I repeated in 
 credulous and angry. 
 
 " Look for yourself," said Clisson. 
 
 It was too true. Painted logs lay in 
 the emplacements, some not even mounted 
 on wheels. The flag, flying from the 
 breastworks was merely a peasant wo 
 man's red and white apron, and a hundred 
 or two battered old helmets, stuck upon 
 sticks completed the miserable farce. 
 
 " Good heavens ! " I muttered, " this is 
 terrible, Clisson ! " 
 
 " Oh, not so bad," he said, choking with 
 laughter, "you know we took a prisoner 
 yesterday " 
 
 I wheeled my horse abruptly and rode 
 out of ear-shot ; and the things I said 
 must have turned the angels pale. 
 
 A trooper trotted up to me grinning 
 and saluting. He held the captured flag, 
 the peasant woman's apron, in his hand. 
 
 " Throw that rag away ! " I said sulkily. 
 
 " There is something written on it, mon 
 Colonel," said the trooper doubtfully, and 
 held the apron spread toward me. On it 
 was painted in black letters :
 
 264 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 " Compliments of the Princess Sylvia 
 of Marmora." 
 
 My teeth chattered with rage and I felt 
 my face grow hot and cold alternately. 
 At last I controlled myself and found my 
 voice. 
 
 " Take the captured standard to King 
 Casimir of Caucasia," I said, and went 
 away to hide my mortification and nurse 
 my wrath against this devil in woman's 
 shape who had twice made me ridiculous 
 before my regiment.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY. 
 
 THE army camped that night on the 
 plateau. Vladina's division of in 
 fantry occupied the intrenchments, the 
 artillery was parked in the rear, and the 
 cavalry, except the Bazoum lancers, held 
 the plateau, from the earthworks to the 
 forest, the vedettes of their advanced posts 
 patrolling the Ravno high-road to within 
 hailing distance of the walls of Tchatal- 
 Dagh. The Bazoum lancers guarded the 
 train-des-equ ipages, and incidentally, the 
 telephone wires to the Ezrox Station. 
 
 On receipt of the captured apron with 
 the insulting inscription, the King of Cau 
 casia had sent for me. I found him in a 
 towering rage, but I was in no mood to 
 be trifled with and I gave him to under 
 stand so at once. It relieved him some- 
 265
 
 266 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 what to see that I was fully as angry as he 
 was, for he imagined, I fancy, that the 
 whole army was laughing at him. As 
 I, rightly or wrongly, imagined the same 
 thing concerning myself, we soon came 
 to an understanding that boded ill for this 
 low-comedy Princess. In a paroxysm of 
 confidence I told the King about my 
 means of communication through Lina, 
 and showed him all that was necessary of 
 her letter. It seemed to impress him 
 considerably, for in spite of his outburst, 
 I noticed that the mention of Witch 
 Sylvia was received with something that 
 bordered on uneasiness. 
 
 " She 's a devil, that 's what she is," 
 said the King, " and it won't do to ignore 
 her in this campaign. If it were only her 
 brother whom we had to deal with I 'd 
 march on Belgarde to-night." 
 
 " We will be in Tchatal-Dagh by sun 
 rise anyway," I observed. 
 
 The King turned and looked at Daniel, 
 the bear, who lay quietly sleeping under a 
 shelter tent at the door of the marquee. 
 I saw the King's face grow red again as
 
 An Unexpected Journey. 267 
 
 he remembered the insult to his Christian 
 name. 
 
 " Pray forget it, your Majesty," I said, 
 "we will pack this Marmora figurante 
 back to her own country before the end 
 of the week." 
 
 The King nodded and buried his nose 
 in his hands. He did look like the bear, 
 a little. 
 
 The Duke of Etropolis followed by 
 Saranitza, Vladina, and General Brim- 
 borio came in and the King told them 
 about my secret communication with the 
 palace at Belgarde. 
 
 " Probably I shall receive another note 
 after we enter Tchatal-Dagh," said I, 
 " and in that case I will bring it at once 
 to your Majesty." 
 
 " I hope it may give us some idea of the 
 Black Fortress," observed Vladina, " I 
 don't like the looks of it particularly." 
 
 " We must storm it," said Prince Sara 
 nitza with a careless smile at me. 
 
 " What we need will be siege guns, and 
 we '11 have to sit down before Belgarde 
 and wait for them as the Germans had to
 
 268 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 wait before the walls of Paris," muttered 
 the Duke of Etropolis. 
 
 " But we can't wait," said the King, 
 " we Ve got to get into Belgarde before 
 Russia begins to move." 
 
 " Pooh ? " said Prince Saranitza, " Rus 
 sia ! " And he snapped his fingers. 
 
 " We 'd be in a beautiful predicament 
 if you had your way," said Count Vladina 
 laughing and patting Saranitza on the arm. 
 
 " Perhaps," said the King, looking at 
 me, " you will have something to tell us 
 by morning." 
 
 " I trust so," I replied fervently. " My 
 regiment is restless and anxious to come 
 to close quarters, but what can we do if 
 the Boznovians play circus tricks on us 
 and run ? " 
 
 " It is most mortifying to me," said 
 the Duke of Etropolis ; " here we have 
 marched for miles through an admittedly 
 hostile country, we have driven in the 
 enemy's out-posts, we have occupied vil 
 lages, we have bombarded a fortified 
 plateau for hours, and finally, we have 
 hurled our whole army against it. The
 
 An Unexpected Journey. 269 
 
 result is that not one drop of blood has 
 been spilled, not one prisoner taken." 
 
 " Pardon," said Saranitza, " the bear 
 
 I rose, deeply offended, and begged the 
 King's permission to withdraw. 
 
 " It was an ill-timed pleasantry, Prince 
 Saranitza," said the King ; and the Prince 
 jumped up and came frankly to me to 
 ask my pardon. I granted it heartily, for 
 I was becoming very fond of the hare 
 brained dragoon, and I pressed his prof 
 fered hand warmly, ignoring the twinkle 
 in his eyes. 
 
 At the same moment King Theobold 
 of Boznovia entered the tent, followed by 
 their Graces of Taxil and Babu. 
 
 " The cavalry have scoured the forest 
 for miles," said King Theobald, returning 
 the greetings of the company ; " Colonel 
 Clisson says that he '11 stake his head that 
 there is not a Boznovian soldier in this 
 section of the country." 
 
 " Then where the mischief did the 
 troops go the infantry that occupied the 
 plateau before we opened on them ? " de 
 manded the Duke of Etropolis.
 
 270 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 " Our advanced posts report that a 
 heavy column of the enemy passed 
 through Tchatal-Dagh, retreating toward 
 Belgarde," said Taxil, who had just been 
 visiting the pickets and whose uniform 
 was yellow with dust. 
 
 " Well," said Saranitza resignedly, " if 
 this is the sort of thing they are going to 
 keep up, I don't see much fun ahead 
 unless we take the Black Fortress by as 
 sault" 
 
 " Be quiet," said King Casimir, " you 
 don't know what you 're saying. For 
 tresses of the first class are not knocked 
 over like card houses." 
 
 Saranitza bowed good humoredly and 
 looked askance at the bear. 
 
 Babu chewed an Ispha nut and stared 
 at the company with his great round eyes. 
 
 " Well gentlemen," began King Casi 
 mir, rising, when a sudden commotion at 
 the door of the tent arrested his atten 
 tion. An officer and two troopers ap 
 peared, leading a man dressed in the 
 costume of a Boznovian peasant. The
 
 An Unexpected Journey. 271 
 
 troopers were hussars, the officer was 
 Clisson. 
 
 " At last," said Saranitza, "we Ve taken 
 a prisoner I do believe ! " 
 
 I had to laugh, but the King of Cau 
 casia stepped forward frowning and mo 
 tioning Clisson to bring the fellow in. 
 
 " We caught him, your Majesty, in the 
 woods, trying to steal past our vedettes," 
 said Clisson. 
 
 " I am no spy," said the man coolly, 
 "and I can prove it." 
 
 " Prove it," said the King. 
 
 " I will, if any gentleman will conduct 
 me to Colonel Steen of the Hussar- 
 Guard." 
 
 " Oho ! " said the King of Caucasia, 
 " perhaps you bring Colonel Steen certain 
 information." 
 
 The man, a bearded young peasant, 
 shut his lips tightly and looked at the 
 King. 
 
 " Speak," cried King Casimir. 
 
 " Then bring me to Colonel Steen," 
 replied the peasant doggedly. The King
 
 272 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 nodded to me and I stepped forward con 
 fronting the fellow. 
 
 He surveyed me from head to foot 
 without speaking. 
 
 44 Well," said I, "I am Colonel Steen 
 of the Hussar-Guard." 
 
 " How am I to know," he asked. 
 
 "On the word of a King," said King 
 Theobald of Boznovia haughtily. 
 
 The man glanced at the King and then 
 at me. 
 
 " Come," said I, " have you a message 
 for me ? " 
 
 Then he came close to me and whis 
 pered in my ear ; " from whom do you 
 expect a message ? " 
 
 " From my promised wife," I said sim 
 ply. 
 
 " Her name?" 
 
 " I do not know it ; I call her Lina." 
 
 "Good," said the man smiling, and 
 dropping his mask of caution, " now listen 
 and then tell these very noble officers 
 whether or not I am a spy. Your prom 
 ised wife who is a domestic in the service 
 of the Princess Sylvia of Marmora bids
 
 An Unexpected Journey. 273 
 
 you know that my message is genuine 
 because of the token she gave to you in 
 the Tiflix valley," and he pointed to the 
 golden image of Sainte-Catharine glisten 
 ing on my tunic. 
 
 I turned to the company and said aloud : 
 " This man is no spy ; listen to what he 
 has to say." Then I told him to speak 
 up before all the people present ; and he 
 did so. 
 
 " I am sent here," he said, "to tell you 
 that the Boznovian forces are in full re 
 treat and have this night re-entered Bel- 
 garde. The Black Fortress of Tchenekoi 
 is not heavily garrisoned, but there are 
 mines and torpedoes and the heaviest guns 
 north of Italy, all of which will cause you 
 months of delay unless you can avoid them. 
 As the Black Fortress of Tchenekoi is 
 the key to Belgarde, it is necessary to find 
 some one who understands how to unlock 
 the door. This can be done. The per 
 son who sends me here and who is known 
 to Colonel Steen, offers to show you her 
 self how it is possible to safely enter the 
 Black Fortress."
 
 274 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 The King of Caucasia nodded approval 
 and motioned the messenger to proceed. 
 
 " Your Majesty," he said, " this secret 
 was not entrusted to me. It is only from 
 this person's lips that you may be in 
 formed. Therefore she who sends me 
 wishes to meet you to-night at eleven. 
 Tchatal-Dagh is not occupied at present 
 by the Boznovian army, and the rendez 
 vous designated is the Lion fountain in 
 the public square. I will be there to 
 recognize you and guide you. You must 
 come secretly and without heavy escort, 
 otherwise the alarm would spread, the 
 Boznovian army might envelope the town, 
 and the last chance to learn the way safely 
 into the Black Fortress would be lost." 
 
 The King looked at the fellow suspi 
 ciously for a moment ; then, turning to 
 me ; " Do you vouch for this man ? " 
 
 " I do," I said. 
 
 " And I also," said King Theobald, " if 
 Colonel Steen does." 
 
 I thanked King Theobald and turned 
 to the messenger again. 
 
 "Am I to go?" I asked.
 
 An Unexpected Journey. 275 
 
 " The secret of the Black Fortress will 
 not be disclosed except to the King of 
 Caucasia and to yourself, and to those 
 whom you select to accompany you," said 
 the man. 
 
 " Then I select you," said King Casimir 
 looking at the King of Boznovia. 
 
 The implied distrust sent a faint color 
 into King Theobald's cheeks, but he drew 
 himself up and thanked the King of Cau 
 casia for his courtesy. There was much 
 of nobility in his carriage and face and I 
 think it shamed King Casimir for he 
 hastily designated Prince Saranitza and 
 their Graces of Taxil and Babu as his 
 escort, and then withdrew to consult the 
 Duke of Etropolis. 
 
 "At eleven," I said to the messenger, 
 giving him all the money I had about me ; 
 and I dismissed him, telling Clisson to 
 escort him as far as the walls of Tchatal- 
 Dagh. 
 
 Generals Bombwitz and Brimborio, and 
 Count Vladina joined with the Duke of 
 Etropolis in trying to dissuade us from 
 going, but, when I told them enough of
 
 276 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 the case to make them easier, they agreed 
 that it was a rare opportunity and was in 
 fact a miracle of good fortune. So we 
 sat chatting and discussing the campaign 
 and the chances of being in Belgarde by 
 dinner time to-morrow : and we were all 
 very merry over our mess, drinking to 
 each other and to the two kingdoms ; 
 and also we drank confusion to the Rus 
 sian puppet, who, with his sister, Witch 
 Sylvia, "tyrannized" over the Boznovian 
 people. 
 
 One by one the regimental officers rose 
 and left ; the two puffy Generals and the 
 keen-eyed Duke of Etropolis being the 
 last to retire, and, about half past ten 
 o'clock, the two Monarchs, Taxil, Babu, 
 Saranitza, and I, called for our horses. 
 
 It was a clear star-lit evening when we 
 left the intrenchments, escorted by a pelo- 
 ton of lancers, and trotted away down the 
 Ravno road toward Tchatal-Dagh ; but, 
 before we had passed our extreme out 
 posts, the sky suddenly became covered 
 with spotted fleecy clouds, stretching in 
 layers and strata from horizon to horizon.
 
 An Unexpected Journey. 277 
 
 As we entered the causeway that leads 
 through the dismantled crumbling walls 
 of Tchatal-Dagh, the stars had all disap 
 peared and the darkness around us was 
 only lighted by a few wretched lanterns 
 swinging from the straggling houses along 
 the street. 
 
 Our lancers, who had galloped on ahead, 
 now returned to say that the town was 
 deserted, save by a cowering peasant or 
 two ; so we rode on, I leading, until we 
 came to a long dark alley through which 
 we could see a lantern burning above the 
 Lion fountain in the square. One or 
 two terrified towns-people came to their 
 doors at the sound of the horses' hoofs, 
 but, at such doors, we stationed a lancer, 
 with orders to prevent egress until we 
 returned. The two Kings rode together, 
 then followed their Graces of Taxil and 
 Babu, and after "them, much against his 
 will, trotted Prince Saranitza. I led the 
 cavalcade, and posted the last lancer of 
 the escort, just as we came in sight of the 
 Lion fountain. 
 
 "There is somebody waiting there
 
 278 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 under that lantern," said King Casimir, 
 "do you see ?" 
 
 "I see," I answered, "it is our guide;" 
 and I rode up to him and hailed him in a 
 low voice. 
 
 Without a word he turned and walked 
 swiftly across the square toward a house 
 that stood alone in a garden, a little back 
 from the street. We followed, and at a 
 motion from our guide, we dismounted at 
 the gate and entered the garden single 
 file, leading our horses around to the rear 
 of the house. Here I saw that the house 
 faced also on another street, completely 
 cut off from the square except by the 
 footpath through the garden. 
 
 " Leave your horses with me," said the 
 peasant ; " go straight to the door and 
 open it, Colonel Steen." 
 
 I felt my way carefully through the 
 shrubbery and up the path to the door. 
 The door opened before I could touch it 
 and a lighted lantern swung in my face. 
 
 Dazzled for an instant, I recoiled, but 
 a voice that I knew called to me to enter, 
 and I sprang in and bent my lips to the
 
 An Unexpected Journey. 279 
 
 most beautiful hand in the world. Then 
 I gazed earnestly, rapturously, at the 
 hooded face before me, repeating, " Lina, 
 Lina," while the two Kings and the others 
 entered without ceremony and stood 
 watching me. 
 
 " Come," said Lina taking my hand in 
 hers, and we stepped into a square room 
 to the left, where some candles were burn 
 ing brightly on a table. 
 
 For a moment, as the others brushed 
 past us into the room, we stood close 
 together, hand in hand. With a sudden 
 movement of tenderness she bent and 
 touched the gold Sainte-Catharine on my 
 breast, then, gently disengaging her hand, 
 she drew me back into the shadow of the 
 hall-way, put both arms about my neck, 
 and raised her face to mine. 
 
 Then a terrible thing occurred. Out 
 of the shadowy corners on every side 
 sprang scores of soldiers ; there came a 
 startled cry, a crash, a brief struggle from 
 the room where the Kings had entered ; 
 I heard Saranitza shout and I heard his 
 cry of defiance smothered as by a hand
 
 280 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 over his mouth. And all the time I was 
 twisting and turning and struggling to 
 free my body from the close embrace of 
 the girl I loved, but her young limbs 
 wound about mine like steel encased in 
 velvet, and in another instant a man seized 
 me from behind, binding ankles and elbows 
 with incredible swiftness. 
 
 And, as the light of the lantern fell 
 squarely on his face, I saw it was my 
 peasant messenger, bereft of beard and 
 moustache, and a sudden recollection 
 blazed up within me ; ah ! I knew him 
 now, that black-eyed Russian who had 
 dismounted at my door in the Tiflix val 
 ley, and who accepted a glass of wine 
 from me before he and his comrade rode 
 away on their bicycles ! And Lina ! 
 There she stood, looking straight into 
 my face from beneath the shadow of her 
 hood ; and I opened my mouth and cursed 
 her treachery which had cost me more than 
 my life, more than my love, my honour. 
 
 One by one the Boznovian soldiers led 
 
 their prisoners from the room beyond, 
 
 the King of Caucasia,* the King of
 
 An Unexpected Journey. 281 
 
 Boznovia, and the two Dukes. Saranitza 
 had been knocked senseless in the strug 
 gle, and they carried him out between 
 four soldiers. 
 
 I heard Lina ask where the droschskys 
 were, and at the same moment the sound 
 of wheels from the back street came dis 
 tinctly to my ears. Two soldiers picked me 
 up from the floor and carried me, strapped 
 like a pappoose, down through the garden 
 to the street. A droschsky was waiting ; 
 Lina sprang in, I was placed beside her, 
 and, at a signal from the Russian, the 
 vehicle started away at a furious pace. 
 
 "Lina," said I at last, "you are a spy 
 and you have done your duty by your 
 Princess and your country. I do not 
 speak of what my love has been for you, 
 more than life itself to me, but now, 
 that you have done your duty and I have 
 lost my honour, I beg you to let me die 
 before the rifles of ten Boznovian sol 
 diers ; for never again can I look the 
 King, or any man in the face." 
 
 " The Princess will decide," she said in 
 a strained voice.
 
 282 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 "That devil, Witch Sylvia!" I cried 
 fiercely. 
 
 " The Princess Sylvia of Marmora ! " 
 said Lina with cold deliberation. 
 
 Then I answered very humbly, " God 
 keep my soul from meeting yours for all 
 time to come." And, as we sped on 
 through the night, I closed my eyes and 
 prayed that my life might be taken quickly, 
 for my torture was more than I could bear.
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE BLACK FORTRESS. 
 
 THE cold white morning light fell in 
 a pallid bar across my bed as I sat 
 up, bewildered, rubbing my hot eyes. 
 Then, as I looked from the iron-grilled 
 windows to the stone floor, I understood, 
 and I dropped back upon the bed. One 
 by one the events of the night came back 
 to me, the touch of those soft hands, the 
 kiss, then the foul treachery, the clang 
 of arms and the struggle, ah ! now I re 
 membered the swift journey, the lurching 
 of the droschsky and the galloping horses ; 
 I remembered the sudden trample of an 
 unseen escort, the crack of the long lashed 
 whip as we clattered into a stony street 
 and whirled on and on, the shrill chal 
 lenges of sentinels ringing in my ears. 
 Could I doubt where they were taking 
 283
 
 284 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 me ? " Pass ! " cried a Boznovian sentry, 
 and " Pass ! " echoed the guards from ram 
 part and bastion, and we dashed on 
 through the night while the sombre walls 
 seemed to fly past, and tower and battle 
 ment swam in a grey haze against the pal 
 ing sky. Silent, motionless, Lina crouched 
 beside me, never by word or gesture be 
 traying consciousness of my presence 
 until the first lantern swung from the forti 
 fications and the last Boznovian soldier 
 greeted us with a deep hail. Then she 
 suddenly sat up and I heard her thank 
 God, and every word cut me like a knife- 
 thrust. Again, after we had passed through 
 a long stony court, faced by dim walls, 
 she stooped and flung her mantle across 
 me to shield me from the damp. But I 
 thrust it fiercely aside with my bound 
 wrists. For a moment she looked at me, 
 seeming to hesitate, then she whipped out 
 a slender blade, swiftly severed the rope 
 that held my wrists and ankles, and slowly 
 returned the jewelled-hilted knife to her 
 girdle. 
 
 " Give me the knife," I said at last,
 
 The Black Fortress. 285 
 
 " I shall never again ask anything from 
 you." 
 
 " Hush," she said in that strange voice 
 that I had never before heard. 
 
 I listened to the gallop of the escort ; 
 the vehicle lurched and shook. I leaned 
 over and peered into the twilight of the 
 morning. On every side pressed the Boz- 
 novian cavalry, grey with dust, sabres 
 shining in the pallor of the coming dawn. 
 
 " Give me the knife," I repeated, " it is 
 as honourable a death as to die like Ma 
 jor Panitza. Give me the knife, or I will 
 throw myself under the hoofs of the 
 escort ! " 
 
 " Hush, you don't know what you say," 
 she said again, and at the same moment 
 a heavy voice cried " Halt ! " and the 
 droschsky drew up before a massive wall 
 barred with iron. 
 
 One by one the other vehicles drove 
 by and I saw my comrades dismount and 
 pass before me, heavily guarded. Last 
 of all- came Prince Saranitza, borne by 
 four soldiers, but whether he was stunned 
 or whether he was dead I did not know.
 
 286 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 Then a cavalryman touched me on the 
 arm and bade me follow him. Lina had 
 disappeared. 
 
 And now I was lying here on my iron 
 bed, the white dawn creeping in through 
 the barred slit in the wall, my heart numb 
 with the agony of grief and shame. 
 
 Across the room-^it was too vast to 
 call it a cell lay Prince Saranitza on his 
 bed of iron, sleeping peacefully. Ah ! 
 but when he should awake what words 
 would he have for me what words would 
 he find to express his horror and scorn 
 of what he must believe to be my treach 
 ery ? I raised my head and looked at 
 him with feverish eyes, holding my 
 breath, for I dreaded the awakening. 
 He lay there quite peacefully, his blond 
 clipped curls on his arm, one hand half 
 opened on his breast. He was so young, 
 so boyish I could not believe that his 
 fate was to die before a firing platoon 
 with twelve bullets in his breast. Then 
 I remembered that picture I had seen in 
 Harper s Weekly, the death of Panitza. 
 
 And so, after all, I also was going to
 
 The Black Fortress. 287 
 
 die with my back to a stone wall. My 
 breath came faster and a sickly chill ran 
 through me. And yet, if death might 
 only come before Saranitza awoke to 
 turn his scornful eyes on me and call me 
 traitor, if they would shoot me quickly 
 so that at last it would be over and I 
 should have some rest from the shame 
 and the gnawing misery in my breast, 
 then, ah then, I would have welcomed it, 
 and I believe that I could have faced the 
 rifles with a lighter heart than I had ever 
 faced the woman I loved. 
 
 In those miserable moments as I lay 
 there, watching Saranitza's placid breath 
 ing, I thought too of Marjory Grey, and 
 I realized then that I no longer loved her, 
 for, if I had, I should have known it in 
 that moment. 
 
 I was, as yet, not able to understand 
 that I had lost Lina forever, that the 
 woman I had loved had proved to be the 
 lowest of human creatures. I only knew 
 that there was a great sorrow bowing me 
 to the ground with its weight, that all 
 that made life worth living was gone, and
 
 288 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 that I longed for the rest that only death 
 could bring. 
 
 Suddenly Prince Saranitza moved in 
 his slumber, opened his eyes, and hastily 
 sat up, throwing the covers from his 
 body. 
 
 " Hello ! " he cried, catching sight of 
 me, " what the deuce is all this, Steen ? " 
 
 "Don't you remember?" I stam 
 mered. 
 
 "Remember? Ah um yes, let me 
 see oh ! " 
 
 I saw that he recollected the sudden 
 surprise in the house in Tchatal-Dagh. 
 
 " We were ambushed and captured," I 
 said. 
 
 He nodded, rubbing his head with his 
 hand. Then looking at me he said : 
 "There was treachery, was there not?" 
 
 " There was," I replied, " the woman 
 who sent me the message was a spy in 
 the Boznovian service, and the man who 
 brought it and met us at the Lion foun 
 tain in Tchatal-Dagh was a Russian 
 secret agent." 
 
 " Oh," said the Prince rather blankly,
 
 The Black Fortress. 289 
 
 " I believe I was knocked on the head, 
 was I not ? " 
 
 "Yes," I said. 
 
 There was a break in my voice the 
 strain was severe, and the Prince no 
 ticed it. He looked at me curiously, 
 then a change came over his face, and he 
 sprang up and walked straight up to me. 
 
 " See here, old fellow," he said, laying 
 his arm lightly on my shoulder, " don't 
 think for one instant that I suspect you. 
 Heaven knows your face tells your story 
 plainly enough for all the world to read." 
 
 It was so sudden, so unexpected, that 
 it completely upset me. I dropped my 
 face in my hands and the tears dripped 
 through my fingers to the floor. 
 
 " Damn it all !" said the Frince, quite 
 as much upset as I was, "you did n't 
 think that we would imagine anything to 
 your discredit, did you ? Come, buck up, 
 old fellow ! Why, I 'd trust you with the 
 woman I love, as far as your honour is con 
 cerned, but," he added, trying to laugh, 
 " not as far as your military knowledge 
 is concerned." 
 
 '9
 
 290 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 I raised my head and looked at him, 
 smiling, and brushing" my eyes on my 
 sleeve. 
 
 "You're no diplomat," he said, " now 
 are you ? " 
 
 " I 'm nothing of any consequence," I 
 replied, " I 'm no soldier, I 'in simply an 
 every-day fool." 
 
 " Nonsense," said Saranitza, pulling on 
 his spurred boots and walking over to 
 the iron wash-basin ; " you did your best, 
 as we all did. We were simply outwitted 
 and here we are. I suppose the two 
 Kings and the Dukes were taken ?" 
 
 "Yes," I said sadly, "what can they be 
 thinking of me?" 
 
 "They'll think as I do or I'll know 
 the reason why," blurted out the Prince. 
 
 " I 'm afraid we none of us will have 
 very long to think on this earth," I said 
 sadly. 
 
 The Prince looked around at me, the 
 water streaming from hair and face. 
 
 "You think they will shoot us?" he 
 asked. 
 
 " I suppose there is little doubt of
 
 The Black Fortress. 291 
 
 King Theobald's fate and the fate re 
 served for Taxil and Babu and myself," 
 I answered. " I don't see, however, why 
 they should not treat you and King Casi- 
 mir in a civilized manner. You are not 
 Boznovians who have risen in revolt." 
 
 " I 'm not a Caucasian either," said 
 Prince Saranitza, " I 'm an Austrian and 
 stand the same chance that you, who are 
 an American, do." 
 
 " But," I said curiously, " I thought 
 you were a Caucasian Prince, you hold 
 a commission in the Caucasian army." 
 
 "Just for fun, that's all. I lived in 
 Vienna but I resigned a lieutenancy in 
 the Guards to accept a colonelcy in the 
 Caucasian army. As soon as I was made 
 general, and the King promised me my 
 epaulettes for next New Year's, I was 
 going back to Austria to marry on a 
 decent salary." 
 
 I looked at the young fellow in deep pity. 
 
 "Yes, that's why I left Vienna. I 
 wanted to be able to support a wife as 
 you Americans look at it. I could have 
 married last year had I chosen to stand
 
 292 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 in the position of a poor Prince marry 
 ing a rich American girl." 
 
 "An American !" I cried. 
 
 " Yes," he said laughing, " and perhaps 
 that's the reason I have taken so to you." 
 
 He came toward me, rubbing his head 
 with the coarse prison towel. 
 
 " I wonder whether you know her," he 
 said ; " I met her at a ball given in Paris 
 last winter. It was simply to see her to 
 yield to the enchantment of her beauty. 
 I hardly dared ask to be presented ; I 
 can scarcely realize yet that she has 
 promised to wait for me." 
 
 "You will see her again," I said in a 
 low voice; "a regular officer, Austrian 
 or Caucasian, will certainly be treated as 
 a prisoner of war and not as a revolu 
 tionist." 
 
 " Qui sait ? " said the Prince soberly. 
 
 We found soap and towels enough to 
 satisfy anybody and an abundance of 
 cold water in the iron sink. The Prince 
 had a pocket comb and we succeeded in 
 arranging each other's hair, for there was 
 no mirror in the room.
 
 The Black Fortress. 293 
 
 It was eight o'clock in the morning by 
 my watch when a soldier appeared and 
 told us to follow him. We passed out 
 of the massive door-way and entered a 
 long dimly lighted passage. At the end 
 of this passage we found a room, com 
 fortably upholstered, in the middle of 
 which stood a breakfast table with seats 
 arranged for six people. Military ser 
 vants stood silently behind each chair, 
 and, as we entered, from an opposite 
 door emerged the King of Caucasia, and 
 the Ex-King of Boznovia, followed by 
 their anxious Graces of Taxil and Babu. 
 
 When the King of Caucasia saw me 
 he frowned and whispered something to 
 King Theobald, but the latter smiled and 
 shook his head, greeting me at the same 
 time very cordially. 
 
 When the two Monarchs were seated, 
 we took our places as designated by the 
 King of Caucasia. 
 
 The breakfast was well cooked and well 
 served, but I could not eat and did not 
 even pretend to try until Saranitza urged 
 me. Both King Theobald and Prince
 
 294 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 Saranitza were very kind, saying every 
 thing possible to put me at my ease, and 
 at last I could see that even the King of 
 Caucasia no longer believed me guilty of 
 the horrible treachery that had made us 
 all prisoners of the new Boznovian King 
 and his crafty sister, the Princess Sylvia. 
 
 As for Taxil and Babu, they were very 
 mournful, for they suspected what their 
 fate was to be ; still they managed to eat 
 a fair breakfast, especially Babu, whose 
 inordinate use of the Ispha nut gave him 
 an appetite that not even the fear of ap 
 proaching dissolution could dull or dis 
 courage. Taxil also bore up more bravely 
 than I might have suspected, and I do 
 believe that grief for his exploded railroad 
 scheme had as much to do with his un- 
 happiness as did the suspicion of impend 
 ing execution. 
 
 King Theobald bore himself like a true 
 King, cheerfully and gallantly. He 
 thanked us all for having aided him and 
 said that he alone was responsible for the 
 revolution. He neither blamed me for 
 having counselled him badly nor did he
 
 The Black Fortress. 295 
 
 even refer to his miserable aunt, the Dowa 
 ger Duchess von Schwiggle who, after all, 
 was the root of the whole evil. 
 
 This comforted me greatly for it seemed 
 easier to die for a gallant monarch than 
 to be shot to death on account of a royal 
 buffoon. 
 
 King Casimir said little, and what he 
 did say was not in the choicest of lan 
 guage, for he could not forget that he had 
 been outwitted by a woman, and he took 
 it hard. 
 
 " I should think," observed Saranitza, 
 " that your Majesty would consider it an 
 honour to be conquered by so beautiful a 
 princess as the Princess Sylvia of Marmora 
 is said to be." 
 
 " The devil fly away with the Princess 
 Sylvia of Marmora," cried King Casimir. 
 
 At a sign from King Theobald the mili 
 tary servants withdrew, leaving us alone 
 in the great comfortable room. 
 
 " I suppose we are in that cursed Black 
 Fortress," observed King Casimir grimly. 
 
 "I suppose so, the Black Fortress of 
 Tchenekoi," replied Prince Saranitza with
 
 296 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 a careless glance around the room, " I 
 wonder what our army will do ? " 
 
 We all sat silently staring at the table. 
 
 " It will take them some time to get 
 siege guns in position," ventured Taxil. 
 
 " Time enough for these Boznovians to 
 play the mischief with us," said King 
 Casimir. " The game 's up, that 's certain, 
 for Russia won't stand this row, no, not 
 another week." 
 
 "It's been a very bloodless war," ob 
 served Saranitza ; " I 'm not aware of any 
 damage done except a crack I got on the 
 head last night." 
 
 " The whole thing is ridiculous ! " fumed 
 King Casimir, "we shall be the laugh 
 ing stock of Europe for this campaign ! 
 And all on account of Witch Sylvia ! 
 Oh, it makes me hot and cold when I 
 think of it " 
 
 A door was suddenly flung open and a 
 tall wiry young man in the uniform of the 
 Boznovian Life-Guards appeared. For a 
 second he paused on the threshold, then 
 walked swiftly toward the table and sat 
 down, facing us. The door at the end of
 
 The Black Fortress. 297 
 
 the room swung to with a crash and the 
 echoes struck sharply in the silent room. 
 
 " I am the King of Boznovia," he said 
 abruptly, "and I have come here in behalf 
 of my sister, the Princess Sylvia of Mar 
 mora, to announce to you the judgment 
 passed last night." 
 
 He stood up, looked at King Theobald, 
 took a dozen nervous strides up and down 
 the room, and came back. 
 
 " The judgment pronounced by the 
 court-martial is death ! " he said ; "and I, 
 Rupert of Boznovia, approve ! " 
 
 King Theobald passed his hand over 
 his forehead slowly. 
 
 " We are to be executed ? " he asked 
 gravely. 
 
 " I did not say so," said Rupert of 
 Boznovia casting a keen glance at me ; 
 " I said that the court-martial has pro 
 nounced the death sentence." 
 
 Then he sat down again, his silver 
 cuirass ringing, his sabre clashing softly 
 on the eastern rugs that covered the stone 
 floor. 
 
 A minute of perfect silence ensued. 

 
 298 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 Taxil drank a glass of water mechanically 
 and Saranitza twisted his blond moustache. 
 " Listen ! " said Rupert of Boznovia, 
 fixing- his grey eyes on King Theobald, 
 " the court has condemned you to be shot 
 to-morrow at sunrise in the presence of 
 the garrison of this fortress and of the 
 city of Belgarde. It is a just verdict ! I 
 say it is a just verdict ! " he repeated with 
 a passionate gesture. " Is his Grace of 
 Taxil better than Major Panitza who was 
 shot for less ? Is his Grace of Babu less 
 culpable ? And you, Theobald of Taxim- 
 bourg, driven from this capital of Bel- 
 garde by your own people, are you, who 
 return at the head of a Caucasian army to 
 ravage with fire and sword, are you less 
 guilty than was StamboulofT ? What 
 treason is this that I, Rupert of Boznovia 
 and Marmora, should endure it ? Am I 
 to submit to invasion and insult ? My 
 trust is held by grace of God and the Czar ; 
 and the Boznovian people have put their 
 trust in me!" He sprang from his chair 
 again and paced the room restlessly. I saw 
 the King's mouth tighten under his beard
 
 The Black Fortress. 299 
 
 and I saw Prince Saranitza, cool and un 
 ruffled, twisting his blond moustache. 
 
 King Rupert of Boznovia was still 
 pacing the room, his white-gloved hands 
 clasped behind him, his silver sabre bang 
 ing at every stride. Presently he turned 
 sharply in his tracks and made a menacing 
 gesture toward us. 
 
 "You who come to drive me out," he 
 cried, "you who come with hired armies, 
 troops to whom you promise the sack 
 ing of my city of Belgarde - 
 
 " Pardon," said King Theobald quietly, 
 "you have been misinformed." 
 
 " Did you not promise it ! " cried Ru 
 pert angrily. 
 
 " No," said King Theobald. 
 
 There was something in his tone that 
 comforted us all I think, us who were 
 about to die for his cause. 
 
 King Rupert came nearer. 
 
 "What was the price then?" he de 
 manded harshly. 
 
 King Theobald turned to the King of 
 Caucasia. 
 
 "Am I at liberty to satisfy this young
 
 300 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 man ?" he asked coolly. King Casimir 
 nodded. There was an evil gleam in his 
 eyes. Then Theobald of Taximbourg 
 stood up and faced the young King of 
 Boznovia. 
 
 " I will answer your question," he said 
 pleasantly, " I promised that Caucasia 
 should have free passage for her ships 
 into the Balkan Sea. And now I wish 
 to say a little more. I alone am to blame, 
 I alone am guilty and worthy of the 
 penalty that your honourable court has 
 fixed upon. It was I who stirred up the 
 revolt, it was I who persuaded the Duke 
 of Taxil and the Duke of Babu to join 
 me. I alone sought out his Majesty King 
 Casimir and I persuaded him and his offi 
 cers. That I have been a bad King, and 
 an incompetent one, that I have cared 
 nothing for power, or for the country of 
 Boznovia, that I have been weak and in 
 capable, is not for me to confess to you 
 but to God before I die. Your honour 
 able court-martial has decided and I doubt 
 not that the people of Boznovia will up 
 hold you and applaud the sentence. Then
 
 The Black Fortress. 301 
 
 let it be carried out, but on me alone, 
 for these gentlemen who so gallantly cast 
 their fortunes with me do not deserve 
 death, and you will find, Rupert of Mar- 
 ,mora, that they will serve Boznovia, 
 under you as faithfully as they would 
 have served her under me. I ask that 
 the sentence of the court be carried out 
 on me at once." 
 
 In an instant we were all on our feet, 
 crying out, gesticulating, crowding before 
 King Theobald. 
 
 " Listen, King Rupert," I shouted in 
 the babel of voices, " I was chief con 
 spirator, I drove his Majesty to this war, 
 I alone am to blame." 
 
 "Who are you ?" said Rupert haugh 
 tily, " an American ?" 
 
 "I am that American who set a hun 
 dred thousand men marching on your city 
 of Belgarde ! " I cried, meeting his glance 
 with a glance as steady and proud. 
 
 "Silence!" cried Saranitza, "if his 
 Majesty, King Theobald is to die, we who 
 fought for him demand a place by his 
 side!"
 
 302 A King" and a Few Dukes. 
 
 " The King is not to die ! " I said 
 loudly, " I am the root of this conspiracy 
 and when the root is killed what need to 
 fear ? If Russia will allow King Theo 
 bald to live in peace in his own country, 
 of Taximbourg, he will never think of 
 Boznovia again." 
 
 As we stood, pressing before Rupert of 
 Boznovia, the light from the barred win 
 dows streaming over our faces and bril 
 liant uniforms, somewhere far on the 
 bastions a great gun crashed and the 
 deep echoes reverberated through the 
 prison. 
 
 " Do you hear ? " cried Rupert furi 
 ously," " that cannon-shot means that 
 your army is before Belgarde ! Shame 
 on you, Theobald of Taximbourg ! arid 
 shame on you, Casimir of Caucasia ! 
 you who bring death and destruction to a 
 peaceful nation ! I tell you that your 
 sentence is just and I, Rupert of Bosno- 
 via, approve." 
 
 He drew himself up, very pale. I saw 
 my own face, distorted, reflected in his 
 polished cuirass. Then his voice changed :
 
 The Black Fortress. 303 
 
 he touched the hilt of his sabre in a hesi 
 tating manner looking from one to the 
 other of us. 
 
 " The sentence of the court-martial will 
 not stand," he said at last, " because of 
 my sister's wish. Her Royal Highness, 
 the Princess Sylvia of Marmora, has de 
 cided that your fate shall lie with your 
 selves. I do not seek for vengeance : ven 
 geance is beneath me. As for justice 
 God alone may deal it out I dare not 
 attempt it. What I have a right to de 
 mand is the safety of my people and the 
 safety of my family and myself. And to 
 that end, I, deferring to the wish of my 
 sister the Princess Sylvia, do hereby offer 
 to you your freedom on these conditions." 
 
 He paused, looking from one to the 
 other, fingering his twisted sabre hilt. 
 Then he went on : 
 
 " Casimir of Caucasia, go to your 
 troops and lead them back to Bazoum. 
 And that you may not stand ashamed in 
 the face of all Christendom I will concede 
 to you the free passage into the Balkan 
 Sea. If you have any officer here at-
 
 304 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 tached to your person or your army, take 
 him with you, go, and let us live in 
 peace." 
 
 He turned to King Theobald : 
 "Give me your word as a man that 
 never again will you by force seek to re- 
 enter Bosnovia, then go in peace to your 
 own country of Taximbourg where neither 
 Czar nor King shall ever trouble you. 
 My sister, the Princess Sylvia, will pledge 
 her word for yours ; and the Czar listens 
 when she speaks. Take with you the 
 Duke of Taxil and the Duke of Babu. I 
 freely grant the Duke of Taxil his railway 
 from his mines to my capital of Belgarde. 
 It will be good for all concerned." 
 
 Then King Theobald stepped forward 
 and thanked King Rupert very simply, 
 and the King of Caucasia, pale with joy 
 at the thought that his two torpedo boats 
 might cruize about the Balkan Sea, stam 
 mered his thanks, and Taxil, overjoyed, 
 wept a little and swore that, mines or no 
 mines, he would never enter Boznovia 
 again but would cheerfully cultivate maize 
 and vineyards and domestic virtues in the
 
 The Black Fortress. 305 
 
 Duchy of Taxil for the rest of his life. 
 Babu said nothing but he looked very 
 grateful and chewed an Ispha nut. 
 
 " Hark ! " cried Rupert as another heavy 
 explosion shook the room and set the 
 glassware tinkling on the table, " that is 
 the second gun and your army has ad 
 vanced to the extreme limits of Tchatal- 
 Dagh. Go and withdraw your troops ; 
 let us live peacefully, King Casimir, and 
 remember that my ports and cities are 
 open to your trade. Theobald of Taxim- 
 bourg, I send you a suitable escort as I 
 do for King Casimir." 
 
 With a sudden gesture, not unfriendly, 
 and entirely courteous, Rupert of Bozno- 
 via turned and passed swiftly out by the 
 door through which he had entered. A 
 moment later an escort of Boznovian Life- 
 Guards tramped into the room and halted, 
 sabres at salute, helmets and cuirasses 
 glittering like mirrors. 
 
 One by one we passed out between the 
 motionless lines, touching our caps in 
 salute, and behind us I could hear the 
 rhythmic tread of the Guards, closing up
 
 306 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 in the rear. The others had already 
 passed the gateway below, and I also was 
 about to step into the court-yard when a 
 touch on my elbow detained me, and I 
 turned and saw a man standing at my 
 side. I recognized him instantly as the 
 Russian spy who had brought me the 
 false information from Lina, the same 
 man who had dismounted at my gate 
 from his bicycle. 
 
 " What do you wish ? " I asked, coldly. 
 
 " Pardon, Excelenz, but you are not 
 liberated with the others." 
 
 "I am held as a prisoner?" I asked, 
 quietly. 
 
 " Yes, for the present. Do not be 
 alarmed, Excelenz ; doubtless freedom 
 will come in time." 
 
 " Very well ! " said I, for I was so mis 
 erable that I really did not care what be 
 came of me. 
 
 I followed the fellow back along the 
 passage, musing bitterly on my ruined 
 hopes, too wretched and heart-sick to 
 even notice where I was going. After a 
 while I found myself in a little court, sur-
 
 The Black Fortress. 307 
 
 rounded on all sides by the massive black 
 walls of the fortress. 
 
 " Here is where prisoners are shot, Ex- 
 celenz," observed the man. 
 
 I looked at the blank wall indifferently, 
 and we passed on to a gateway which was 
 guarded by a sentinel. Emerging from 
 this, I found myself outside the exterior 
 ramparts of the huge fortress, standing in 
 a quiet shady lane, in which a droschsky 
 was waiting. 
 
 " Enter, Excelenz ! " murmured the 
 man. 
 
 I stepped in without hesitation ; but, 
 before the fellow could signal the driver 
 to move, I stretched out my hand, and 
 pointed at him, trembling. 
 
 " Tell your fellow spy that she was not 
 merciful when she withheld the knife ! " I 
 cried, and sank back in the cushions, 
 shaking from head to foot.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 WITCH SYLVIA. 
 
 WHETHER the drive was long or 
 short I did not know, but when 
 at last the droschsky stopped, and a step 
 sounded on the gravel beside the wheels, 
 I unclosed my eyes and raised my head. 
 A liveried servant stood bowing and fawn 
 ing by the carriage step, evidently waiting 
 for me to descend. I did so listlessly, and 
 looked around. Before me lay a garden, 
 bright with flowers and sun-warmed turf, 
 high walled with fragrant hedges. Among 
 the blossoming trees and shrubs I could 
 see the grey stone fagade of a house, set 
 back on the smoothly shaven lawn. 
 
 "Am I to go in ?" I asked. 
 
 The servant bowed again, and asked 
 leave to precede me. I followed, glanc 
 ing right and left, my sabre, which had 
 308
 
 Witch Sylvia. 309 
 
 been restored to me, trailing on the gravel 
 walk, my sabre-tache swinging with every 
 step. The flunky held the gate open, 
 and I entered and followed him across 
 the inner garden to the broad stone steps 
 of the house. 
 
 Before I entered I looked with sudden 
 suspicion at the servant, and asked him 
 why I had been sent there. He replied 
 very humbly that he did n't know, but 
 that the house was ready for me, and he 
 would pilot me to my own room. 
 
 " Do you know my name ? " I asked. 
 
 He said that he did if I wished him to 
 know it. His obsequiousness disgusted 
 me, but, on second thoughts, I was not 
 alarmed, because, I reflected, that if the 
 Boznovian government wished to get rid 
 of me it had had plenty of opportunity 
 when I was in the Black Fortress. Still 
 I had heard of traps, and assassinations 
 are not uncommon in the Balkan States. 
 
 The room he led me to was a cheerful, 
 sunny chamber on the ground floor, look 
 ing out upon the garden. Across the 
 hallway I could see a dining-room with
 
 310 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 table set for two, and I asked him whether 
 there was anybody else in the house. 
 He replied that there was nobody there 
 except myself and one servant. 
 
 "You are the servant ?" I asked. 
 
 "Yes Excelenz." 
 
 " You are ordered to do my bidding ? " 
 
 "If Excelenz permits." 
 
 "Then I bid you tell me where I am." 
 
 The servant was silent. 
 
 " Never mind then," I said, " but I 
 should like to know why the table is pre 
 pared for two." 
 
 "Excelenz expects a guest ?" asked the 
 servant respectfully. 
 
 "Confound it, that 's what I want to 
 know," I said. 
 
 " If Excelenz permits," said this most 
 extraordinary servant, " I will prepare the 
 bath." 
 
 I was very glad of that and I told him 
 to do so at once. In a few minutes he 
 returned, and showed me through my bed 
 room into a spacious bath-room where 
 a marble basin, sunk into the tiled 
 floor, lay full of deliciously tepid water.
 
 Witch Sylvia. 311 
 
 Everything was there in place soap, 
 towels, bath-robe, and, to my surprise, 
 fresh underwear and linen. He took my 
 uniform and boots away, shutting the 
 door softly behind, and, without more 
 ado, I stripped and plunged in. It was 
 delicious after the hot, dusty days passed 
 on the march. I splashed about, wonder 
 ing whether I was to be assassinated like 
 Marat in his bath, and not caring much 
 anyway, provided my Charlotte Corday 
 did her work well. For I was very miser 
 able and tired of life, and when I drew on 
 my bath-robe and the servant came to 
 shave me, I felt that I had no right to 
 enjoy the cool lather and grateful razor. 
 
 At last I was dressed again, my boots 
 spotless, my uniform brushed and pressed. 
 
 "What are you going to do now?" I 
 said, eyeing the servant. 
 
 " If Excelenz permits I will retire to 
 prepare dinner. Luncheon is served in 
 the garden." 
 
 " I want no luncheon," I replied, and 
 walked out into the garden. 
 
 Everywhere the roses were in full bloom
 
 3 12 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 and their scent troubled me, for I remem 
 bered my own rose garden in the Tiflix 
 valley where I had first seen Lina. At 
 the thought my face hardened and I flung 
 myself into a rustic bench, clenching my 
 hands. Faugh ! A maid, a servant 
 with a servant's code of honour. What 
 else could a man expect ? Of course I 
 had lowered myself and had been bar 
 tered, sold, duped, and tricked ! Was 
 it for pay, for the recompense that a 
 hired spy receives ? Was it for love of 
 country, a real patriotism ? It might 
 have been the latter, I trusted for my 
 own pride's sake that it was. Oh, she 
 had worked it cleverly, taking service 
 with the Dowager Duchess von Schwig- 
 gle, duping and flouting the Duchess and 
 her schemes under her Grace's own Teu 
 tonic nose. Then also when the bicyclists 
 came, she had appeared, pretending that 
 she had not known anybody was there. 
 What signals had she exchanged with 
 them while I, innocent as a lamb, im 
 agined I was craftier than Machiaveli 
 when I introduced her as my wife. Now
 
 Witch Sylvia. 
 
 I caught the full significance of her sar 
 castic compliment to me on my cleverness. 
 And the Russian who had been treed by 
 the bear ; he doubtless was in constant 
 communication with her. I ground my 
 teeth as I thought of the whole miserable 
 business of that blow in the face that 
 she had given me and my swift infatuation 
 and declaration. 
 
 And as I lay there musing, I remem 
 bered the walk in the woods and the 
 bouquet of orange and white orchids that 
 I had slipped into her belt. And I re 
 membered her arms about my neck and 
 her lips' swift touch on mine ; and I felt 
 the breath of the star-lit evening when we 
 sat together in the meadow watching for 
 signals, while the crickets sang and the 
 scented breezes stirred the grasses. 
 
 " Excelenz, pardon." 
 
 I started up, brushing the sudden mist 
 from my eyes. 
 
 " What is it," I asked sharply. 
 
 " Pardon, it is already five o'clock." 
 
 " Impossible ! " I said, " I have n't 
 been asleep."
 
 3 14 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 I looked at my watch. It was exactly 
 five. I had been brooding there in the 
 sunshine for four whole hours. 
 
 "Well," said I, "what of it ? I shall 
 not dine until six." 
 
 " Pardon, Excelenz, I am permitted to 
 announce that her Royal Highness the 
 Princess Sylvia of Marmora will honour 
 Excelenz with her presence at dinner, at 
 half past six." 
 
 I was too astonished to answer, and 
 waiting a moment, the servant bowed him- 
 
 o 
 
 self away. 
 
 " The devil ! " thought I to myself, 
 '-am I to dine with Witch Sylvia? Lord 
 defend us, what mischief is coming now ? " 
 
 More agitated than I imagined I could 
 have been by any announcement, I walked 
 nervously up and down the gravel path, 
 brushing the roses with my sleeves as I 
 passed, chewing a leaf stem and pondering. 
 What could Witch Sylvia want of me ? 
 Was this another of her madcap adven 
 tures ? Probably she was coming to 
 pump me about the Duchess or possibly 
 to satisfy a curiosity concerning the per-
 
 Witch Sylvia. 315 
 
 sonal appearance of a man who had stir 
 red two Kings and a few Dukes to war. 
 What was she like ? People said that she 
 was very beautiful. I remembered that 
 when Lina described her to me and spoke 
 of her blue eyes and black hair, I had said 
 that I preferred Lina's golden hair and 
 violet eyes. Ah ! that was ended forever, 
 ended in shame and disgrace. 
 
 A sound of hoofs from the road startled 
 me and I turned towards the hedge. A 
 single rider was advancing at a gallop 
 along the highway, a woman mounted 
 upon a strong black horse. I saw the 
 lithe figure outlined against the sky, I saw 
 the horse gallop up to the gate and stop, 
 and then I saw the servant hurry out, 
 bowing and writhing with obsequiousness 
 as the rider sprang lightly to the ground. 
 
 Was this the princess, unattended by 
 even a groom ? I could not doubt it, for 
 the servant was uttering exclamations of 
 "Highness" and "Princess," and there 
 was that in the bearing and carriage of 
 the small patrician head that corroborated 
 him.
 
 316 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 I let my hand fall to the hilt of my 
 sabre, took off my hussar's busby, and 
 walked straight down the path to meet 
 the Princess, the dreaded, feared, admired 
 Witch Sylvia. 
 
 Then I bowed low and stepped for 
 ward, raising my eyes, determined to bear 
 myself easily and coolly, but what I said 
 was " God have mercy ! " and I turned 
 faint and trembled, for I was looking into 
 the eyes of Lina.
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE DUCHESS OR THE DEVIL. 
 
 THE strangest moments of my life 
 were passing as I stood there' in the 
 garden path, rigid, speechless, clasping 
 my busby with one hand, clutching my 
 sabre hilt in the other. My senses rocked 
 and reeled, my eyes blurred under her 
 gaze ; I no longer felt or heard, I only 
 saw those clear eyes looking into mine. 
 
 At last, with a gesture of command, she 
 stepped into the path to the right, and I 
 followed. Twice, as we moved along in 
 silence, I saw her strike a rosebud from 
 its stalk with her riding-crop, and, scarce- 
 knowing what I did, I, following, stooped 
 and lifted the crushed blossoms from the 
 ground. 
 
 There was an ivy-grown group of tre,es, 
 encircling a fountain behind the house : 
 317
 
 318 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 and here she paused and tossed her riding 
 crop and gauntlets onto the turf, 
 
 My eyes met hers for an instant, then 
 sought the ground where her whip and 
 gloves were lying. And upon the back 
 of one small gauntlet I saw, emblazoned 
 in, scarlet and gold, the tiny royal crest of 
 Boznovia. 
 
 She seated herself upon a marble bench, 
 touchfng the skirts of her habit indiffer 
 ently. Under the hem of her habit glit 
 tered a single golden spur. 
 
 " What have you to say ? " she said, 
 without looking up. 
 
 " Nothing," I replied. I wondered that 
 I found my voice at all. A swift change 
 passed across her face ; there came a flash 
 of menace into her eyes and they deep 
 ened and darkled like the soft colours that 
 slumber in the depths of cloucls before a 
 storm. 
 
 " I am the Princess Sylvia of Marmora 
 and sister to the King," she said, " and 
 I am not accustomed to justify myself 
 to ^anybody. Yet now it is my pleas 
 ure to justify myself to you, to you
 
 The Duchess or the Devil. 319 
 
 a foreigner, who bring to my country 
 the curse of the sword ; who ride into 
 my land at the head of a fierce mer 
 cenary army to force upon my people 
 what my people have repudiated by force. 
 What is it to you that cottages are 
 burned and wretched peasants lose their 
 all ? What is it to you that a peaceful 
 people are harried like starving wolves ? 
 Do you know what war is ? Do you 
 care ? Do you think it is all helmets and 
 horses and gorgeous trappings ? Have 
 you ever seen a cannon wheel crush the 
 breast of a dying man ? Have you ever 
 seen your black shells rip a woman into 
 shreds of quivering flesh ? You who eat 
 and drink when you will, who have but to 
 speak, and satisfy your hunger, do you 
 know what starvation is ? Have you seen 
 a city full of tottering skeletons, scraping 
 the filth from gutter refuse to find a bone ? 
 That is war !" 
 
 She flung herself breathlessly upon the 
 marble seat. 
 
 " That is war ! " she repeated, closing 
 her white teeth ; " filth, 'disease, cold, star-
 
 320 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 vation, rags, all these are but words to 
 you, but these words are only a longer 
 way of saying 'war.' And you bring war 
 to me and to my people! Why? Have 
 you a wrong to redress? Have you a 
 principle to vindicate? Have you even a 
 private grievance that needs the blood of 
 the poor to heal ? Is this why you bring 
 this monstrous curse upon my country, 
 upon me and my people ? Ah no ! It is 
 because you have been refused by a 
 woman and you merely wish to divert 
 your mind. It is excitement you are 
 looking for, and you decide you will 
 find it in war." 
 
 Motionless, speechless, I stood before 
 her. My hand grew numb ; I no longer 
 felt the sabre hilt under my straining 
 fingers. 
 
 " This, then, is my justification," she 
 said, bitterly, " and I would do what I 
 have done again and again, all that I 
 have done, yes, if it tore my heart from 
 my breast ! What I have suffered I 
 pass over. It was my privilege to endure 
 what I have endured and God was merci-
 
 The Duchess or the Devil. 321 
 
 ful beyond all understanding, for He 
 threw you into my path, and I used you 
 to His eternal glory and praise. Through 
 you, in spite of you, not one drop of 
 blood has been shed, not one mother's 
 heart broken, not one wife widowed. To 
 day your armed hordes are tramping back 
 unscathed, with clean hands and hearts ; 
 to-day your allied Kings and nobles are 
 spurring homeward, contented each with 
 his little profit. Can I ask more ? " 
 
 " No," I answered at last, and turned 
 away with bent head. And, as I turned 
 to go my way, a touch fell upon my arm 
 and I raised my head. 
 
 She stood there, pale, tearful, both 
 arms outstretched, barring my path ; then 
 with a great sob she caught my hands in 
 hers, drawing my arms around her, close, 
 closer, until her wet cheeks were hidden 
 on my breast. Thus did the Princess 
 Sylvia of Marmora choose to justify her 
 self in the eyes of the man she loved. 
 
 It was early evening and the sun still 
 gilded the tree trunks and tinged the
 
 322 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 placid pool of the fountain as we passed 
 too and fro among the thickets of the 
 little grove. We stepped slowly and 
 gravely as befitted two young people who 
 are on the point of electrifying Europe. 
 My arm clasped her lithe body ; her 
 white hand lay over mine, holding it still 
 closer to her side. I had been telling her 
 exactly how I loved her, and, having 
 paused a moment to breathe, she told me, 
 very innocently, just how she loved me. 
 All the purity of her loyal heart, all the 
 deep passion, fierce and tender at the 
 same time, all these were mine, for me 
 alone. She spoke simply, with no thought 
 of shame or coquetry ; and she was so 
 sweet, so winsome, turning to me with 
 questions and asking for advice and aid, 
 she who had duped an army and two 
 Kings, - - she who had held by sheer 
 strength a furious struggling trapped man ! 
 Oh, I was very grave and serious when I 
 received her pretty " merci, mon cceur," 
 as though she had been in direst peril. It 
 is right after all. A man must needs per 
 suade himself that the woman he loves is
 
 The Duchess or the Devil. 323 
 
 a little helpless and a trifle dependent. 
 Otherwise he is troubled in his heart and 
 sooner or later the devil intervenes. 
 
 Now there was one question that I had 
 been aching to ask Lina, I mean the 
 Princess Sylvia, but I dared not, being- 
 uncertain as to her reception of an obser 
 vation which, after all, it was perhaps none 
 of my business to offer. 
 
 She solved the problem herself, later, 
 and this is how she did it. 
 
 "Do you like my hair?" said she, 
 touching a dark curl and daintily bringing 
 it under discipline. 
 
 That was just the trouble. The Lina 
 that I knew had golden hair. I had 
 sworn it was beautiful, more beautiful 
 than dark hair ; but now, alas ! Lina had 
 suddenly become transformed into a 
 lovely dark-haired Princess. 
 
 ". If it's enchantment I give it up," said 
 I dolefully. 
 
 She laughed, looking up into my face. 
 
 " The same eyes," I said, " but where 
 oh where, my Sylvia, is that twisted 
 mesh of sunlight that you called hair ? "
 
 324 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 "It was a wig, goose." 
 
 Then, finding I was on safe ground, I 
 swore by the nine gods that this dark 
 silky head was the only beautiful head in 
 the world, but she pretended to refuse all 
 comfort and she wept for her blond dis 
 guise. "I don't see why," said I, "you 
 ever wore it." 
 
 " The Duchess would have known me, 
 and might have done me an injury." 
 
 "The devil !" said I. 
 
 " No, the Duchess," said Sylvia, 
 gravely. 
 
 We strolled towards the house, I un 
 willingly withdrawing my arm, for Sylvia 
 said that Max the servant might be indis 
 creet enough to look out of the window. 
 
 Dinner was announced, as she com 
 manded, at once, and I had just time to 
 run to my room and return to meet her 
 and conduct her with most elaborate cere 
 mony to her place. 
 
 At the beginning of the dinner we drank 
 to each other in a light sunny-coloured 
 wine out of glasses as thin as soap-bub 
 bles. Sylvia ate three salted Ispha nuts
 
 The Duchess or the Devil. 325 
 
 and then we found a philopena, which dis 
 covery furnished us with most delightful 
 opportunities. 
 
 Once I remember how she held in her 
 delicate fingers a glass of the red wine of 
 Burgundy, and the candle-light shining 
 through, stained her white wrist crimson. 
 
 Now I do not suppose that many peo 
 ple would care to know just what we said 
 and did during that heavenly repast. If 
 they do, they should not be indulged. 
 
 We said a number of things and we 
 looked a great many more, and we did 
 not eat enough to keep a canary-bird in 
 robust health. I think Sylvia sipped part 
 of two small glasses of wine. I was less 
 abstemious, I took part of three. 
 
 She herself called for the silver lamp 
 and lighted a cigarette for me, then rose 
 and passed from the room, leaning lightly 
 on my arm. 
 
 A young moon was shining in the sky. 
 That it was there solely for our benefit 
 we never doubted. Probably most lovers 
 can imagine what we did. If they cannot 
 I decline to assist them.
 
 326 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 " Sylvia," I whispered, her face lay 
 against mine, " tell me about that 
 bear." 
 
 "Casimir?" 
 
 "No, the bear." 
 
 " That 's what I mean, my pet bear 
 Casimir." 
 
 " Oh," said I, feeling that she was 
 smiling, " so you really named him 
 Casimir ?" 
 
 " Yes, but it was silly because Casimir 
 is a lady-bear. Do you know what she 
 did ? Only think, she ran away and had 
 cubs all by herself." 
 
 A faint suspicion began to dawn in my 
 mind. 
 
 " She ran away into the Tiflix valley 
 from the Ezrox station, where they were 
 transporting her by rail to Belgarde. She 
 had been in the Zoo in Bazoum while the 
 Exposition lasted." 
 
 " Hm ! So she had cubs in the Tiflix 
 Valley?" 
 
 "Yes, and do you know she was so 
 glad to see any one that when one of my 
 spies stumbled across her she rushed for
 
 The Duchess or the Devil. 327 
 
 him and frightened him half to death. 
 He went up a tree." 
 
 "Did he?" I asked. 
 
 " Yes, and do you know that Obadiah 
 and the Duke of Babu who were out 
 fishing were also frightened and ran up 
 two more trees ? " 
 
 " I er I believe that Babu did men 
 tion it," I said carelessly. "And you say 
 the bear was er was not fierce ? " 
 
 "Casimir? Poor darling, she was de 
 lighted to see anybody." 
 
 " Not delighted at seeing a meal ?" 
 
 " Casimir ? She would n't bite a gnat ! " 
 
 I was silent for a while. Sylvia pressed 
 her fragrant cheek against her clasped 
 hands. 
 
 " Would n't bite eh ? " I asked again. 
 
 " No indeed." 
 
 " How did you know the bear treed 
 Babu and Obadiah ? " 
 
 " Why my spy told me." 
 
 " Did he tell you anything else ? " I 
 asked suspiciously. 
 
 Sylvia was laughing softly and I re 
 belled and turned her face to mine.
 
 328 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 " Stop it," I said, " how was I to know 
 that the brute was n't an ordinary she- 
 bear?" 
 
 " I am not laughing," she said, " you 
 were very brave and you did one of the 
 cleverest things I ever heard of. Don't 
 think I am trying to tease you ; I only 
 can't help remembering how mild and 
 meek poor Casimir is and " 
 
 " Oh Heavens ! " I muttered, " to think 
 that this tame bear should dog my foot 
 steps and make an idiot of me in two 
 countries." 
 
 It was Sylvia's turn to comfort me now 
 and she did so until I also had to laugh. 
 
 For a few minutes we paced up and 
 down the dusky garden paths under the 
 young moon, too happy to think of any 
 thing but the present. I had drawn her 
 arm through mine and I believe that we 
 were saying to each other some things 
 that would sound silly if repeated in cold 
 blood, when suddenly Sylvia stopped 
 short. 
 
 "What is it?" I asked, taking quick 
 alarm.
 
 The Duchess or the Devil. 329 
 
 " Hush," she whispered, " walk quietly 
 with me ; do not offer to touch me, see ! 
 see there! Ah! It is Prascoff! He 
 has gone ! " 
 
 "Where, who?" I stammered, staring 
 out into the night. But she only repeated, 
 " Oh, he has gone to the King ! What 
 shall I do ! Oh, you must take me away 
 with you ; take me now take me away I 
 for my own spy, Prascoff, the Russian, has 
 seen you kiss me, and it will go hard with 
 me and harder with you if my brother the 
 King confronts us." 
 
 The King ! In my great happiness I had 
 forgotten that I was in love with the sister 
 of a King. 
 
 " The King ! " I said, "your brother !" 
 
 " Are you afraid ?" she asked. 
 
 Then I laughed, and took her hand 
 lightly in my own. 
 
 " No," said I ; "is there a horse here 
 that I can ride ?" 
 
 "Yes; in the stable behind the trees 
 there are three. I have my own." 
 
 " Max ! " I shouted, and a prompt voice 
 came quavering : " Excelenz."
 
 33 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 " Saddle the best horse at once ! " I 
 cried, " and saddle the horse of her Royal 
 Highness." 
 
 Sylvia leaned heavily on my arm as I 
 led her to the hedge gate, where we were 
 to mount. In a few minutes the trample 
 of hoofs came to us from the stable yard, 
 and presently Max appeared, leading both 
 horses. Quick as a flash I lifted Sylvia 
 into her saddle, then sprang into my own. 
 
 "Max," I said, "we are going for a 
 gallop." 
 
 The man was mute. 
 
 " Max," said Sylvia, " are you faithful 
 to me?" 
 
 " Till death, my Princess," replied the 
 servant, simply. 
 
 " Whither do we ride ? " asked Sylvia, 
 turning to me. 
 
 " To the nearest city and priest," I 
 answered in a low voice. 
 
 " The nearest shelter, and priest, are 
 at schloss Lauterschnapps in Taxim- 
 bourg." 
 
 "The Duchess' castle !" 
 
 " Yes ; it is our only chance. The
 
 The Duchess or the Devil. 33 J 
 
 other way leads to Tchatal-Dagh and 
 Belgarde." 
 
 We were between the devil and the 
 deep-sea. I chose the devil. 
 
 " How far is Taximbourg ? " 
 
 " Forty miles." 
 
 " East ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Va pour la Duchess ! " I cried ; " Max, 
 we have ridden west, if anybody wishes 
 to know." 
 
 Max looked at Sylvia. 
 
 " We have ridden west," said Sylvia ; 
 and we wheeled our horses sharply to the 
 east and dashed out into the night.
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 A HEADLONG FLIGHT. 
 
 MY memories of that midnight ride 
 are vague, yet even now, as I 
 write, I can almost hear the night winds 
 rushing by, the creak and strain of saddle 
 and stirrup, the rhythm of hoofs in the 
 dark, galloping, galloping through wood 
 land and valley, now sharp on the ringing 
 rocks, now dulled in the dirt, and now 
 again echoing steadily over the highway, 
 while the misty roadside bushes bent and 
 bowed in the flurry of wind at our horses' 
 flanks. 
 
 It was nearly dawn when we drew 
 bridle before the line of square painted 
 posts emblazoned with the royal arms of 
 Boznovia on one side, and the arms of 
 Taximbourg on the other. The frontier 
 332
 
 A Headlong Flight. 333 
 
 at last ! Facing the highway stood a long 
 low stone house, from which now appeared 
 a sleepy soldier, trailing a rifle. He 
 yawned and coughed, and asked us if we 
 had anything to declare. We said that 
 we had nothing dutiable, and he let us go, 
 pocketing the gold piece I offered, and 
 saluting my uniform, ' apparently as an 
 afterthought. 
 
 " Is that a specimen of the Taxitnbourg 
 soldier?" I asked, guiding my horse close 
 to Sylvia's bridle-rein. 
 
 "Yes," she said, smiling, and settling 
 her hair with one gloved hand ; "do you 
 wonder that King Theobald was not able 
 to govern Boznovia when he proved in 
 capable of ruling his own country ? " 
 
 "Poor King," I murmured; "doubt 
 less he is much happier to-day in his own 
 home than he could ever have been in the 
 Belgarde Palace." 
 
 "I hope he is," said Sylvia seriously; 
 " I 'm sure that I am." We both laughed 
 at this, and I imagined that Sylvia saw 
 no trace of the anxiety that was in my 
 breast.
 
 334 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 "Shall we gallop?" she asked; "the 
 horses are not winded." 
 
 " Do you think we should gallop ? " I 
 replied. 
 
 "I think we had better," she said, lean 
 ing across her saddle ; " we have done 
 a very, very rash thing, my darling, and 
 to-morrow all Europe will be ringing 
 with it." 
 
 "Let it ring," said I stoutly; "and 
 perhaps, Sylvia, we had better gallop." 
 
 I thought to myself, "If it's going to 
 ring, I '11 give it sufficient to ring for." 
 
 Dawn was silvering the dew-tipped 
 tree-tops as we shook out our bridles, and 
 galloped on. The clean, fresh air grew 
 sweet with the fragrance of unclosing 
 
 o o 
 
 blossoms ; birds stirred in every hedge, 
 twittering sleepily ; a great sombre owl 
 sailed from a crooked branch overhead, 
 and floated away toward the darker forest 
 depths. Along the road little pools of 
 water grew pale and then pink as the east 
 brightened, and, in the hush of early 
 morning, a distant cock-crow came faintly 
 to our ears.
 
 A Headlong Flight. 335 
 
 Silently, close together, we flew along, 
 our horses striding easily, manes, fore 
 locks, and tails streaming straight out, 
 flanks rising and falling without distress. 
 And now, far ahead in the morning haze, 
 a sweet bell tolled, and I heard a dog 
 barking from the nearer hillside. 
 
 The solemn cattle stared at us as we 
 passed through a farm-yard, the turkeys 
 gobbled silly comments from their thistle 
 patch, and a very small puppy rushed out 
 at us, and chased us nearly a rod, bark 
 ing until I feared for his tender throat. 
 
 Houses crowded along the roadside 
 now, low grey cottages from the chimneys 
 of which lazily curled the morning smoke. 
 One or two heavy featured Taximbour- 
 geois, carrying primitive scythes and 
 wooden rakes, stepped aside to give us 
 way, bidding us an apathetic "good 
 morning !" 
 
 All at once a tower loomed up from the 
 haze across the meadows, a heavy, for 
 bidding tower, squatty and unlovely. 
 
 " Schloss Lauterschnapps ! " panted 
 Sylvia, " we are there ! "
 
 33 6 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 At the same moment, the sun leaped 
 from the forest, flooding the whole land 
 with glittering gilded streams of light, 
 and I saw, as by magic, a vast grey castle, 
 close at hand, surrounded by trees and 
 vineyards and red-roofed cottages, from 
 which the morning vapours steamed and 
 faded in the air. 
 
 By a common impulse we drew bridle, 
 the fortified causeway was close in front, 
 and we turned our heads and looked at 
 each other. 
 
 " Suppose she drives us out," said Sylvia 
 at last. 
 
 " She shall not ! " I replied, setting my 
 teeth ; but truth to tell I had little stomach 
 for the work that lay before me. 
 
 " She is a dragon," said Sylvia faintly. 
 
 " No more than I 'm a Saint-George," 
 said I. Until Sylvia reads this she will 
 never know how frightened I was. 
 
 " Don't anger her, will you, dearest ? " 
 said Sylvia desperately. 
 
 "Good saints !" thought I, "what is 
 this Duchess that even Witch Sylvia 
 should fear her ? " But I did not say
 
 A Headlong Flight. 337 
 
 this aloud ; I merely observed that my sex 
 protected me, and Sylvia joined in my 
 very uncertain laughter. 
 
 " Come," said I, " it 's the devil or the 
 Duchess." 
 
 " I'm a little afraid it 's both," said 
 Sylvia, but she gathered up her bridle and 
 trotted bravely across the dismantled for 
 tified bridge, through the broad way that 
 led to the watch-towers and lowered draw 
 bridge. 
 
 Straight up the stony street and under 
 the portcullis we rode, and then out again 
 into the castle court. Here, without wait 
 ing for my courage to ooze away, I sprang 
 to the ground, lifted Sylvia from her 
 saddle and, giving her my arm, walked 
 solemnly up to the high gate. There 
 was a bell rope hanging outside and I 
 supposed it was there to pull so I pulled 
 it. I regretted my haste a second later, 
 for a great iron bell began to clang and 
 bang, swinging and ringing aloft in some 
 steeple, filling the whole court with a most 
 hideously infernal clamor. 
 
 "I've done it now," said I ; " if they
 
 33 8 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 don't do something violent to us they de 
 serve a place among the cherubim." 
 
 " It was the wrong bell," said Sylvia, 
 holding tightly to my arm, "oh here 
 comes somebody, and he looks very 
 angry ! " 
 
 Somebody was coming, coming at the 
 top of his speed, saying rash unkind things 
 at the top of his voice. 
 
 " You 're the porter, I fancy," said I, 
 smiling; "you see we are strangers and 
 we pulled the wrong rope. We wish to 
 see her Grace the Dowager Duchess von 
 Schwiggle," I went on, ignoring his horri 
 fied protests and gestures, " and we wish to 
 see her at once. Oh, it is very important, 
 and I mean what I say, and you need n't 
 make those queer faces, and it is useless 
 to tell us that the whole castle is alarmed, 
 because we know it, and it 's just as well 
 that it is. Show us in, yes, all those 
 beautiful gold-pieces are for you, show 
 us in, you 'd better take them ! show us 
 in at once, if you please, and announce 
 that we bring tidings of the army. Oh, 
 you have tidings already ? And his
 
 A Headlong Flight. 339 
 
 Majesty King Theobald is here ? What ! 
 their Graces of Taxil and Babu also ? 
 Dear me, how delightful. Wake them 
 all up and tell them that the Princess 
 Sylvia of Marmora honours them with her 
 presence. You are losing time by gaping, 
 my friend, go quickly, and when you re 
 turn, see that the horses are well rubbed 
 and fed." 
 
 " Dear me," whispered Sylvia, " I never 
 knew you could talk like that ! " 
 
 " Pooh !" said I, " that is nothing ; wait 
 until the Duchess comes." 
 
 We were now ushered into a long, 
 gloomy room, heavy with indigestible 
 baroc architecture, and we sat down, 
 close together, upon a most uncomfort 
 able lounge ; and there we waited. 
 
 " Pooh ! " I repeated. " When the 
 Duchess comes I will astonish and de 
 light you, Sylvia." 
 
 " I hope you will delight the Duchess 
 too," said Sylvia, moving nearer. 
 
 " Only wait," said I. 
 
 Alas, we had not long to wait. Before 
 I could get my eyes accustomed to the
 
 34 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 gloom of the vast chamber, a hastily- 
 dressed flunky stalked into the room with 
 an ultimatum from the Duchess. Its pur 
 port was simply " go at once ! " but the 
 leaden-eyed flunky clothed it in milder 
 language. 
 
 "Go?" said I, "not at all. We pro 
 pose to wait here until we see her Grace. 
 Kindly announce to her our inflexible 
 purpose." 
 
 The flunky withdrew, agitated ; I saw 
 other servants in the great hall, whisper 
 ing in groups and stealing furtive peeps 
 at us. 
 
 " The whole castle is aroused," said I ; 
 "doubtless I pulled the alarm bell. It 
 sounded like a tocsin." 
 
 " I have been here very often," said 
 Sylvia, " but you know that was four years 
 ago, before the Duchess was shocked at 
 a little thing I did 
 
 " Hm ! I have heard about it, dearest." 
 
 Sylvia looked at me out of the corners 
 of her eyes. 
 
 " I regret it now," she said humbly. 
 
 " I don't," I said, " my wife can do no 
 wrong."
 
 A Headlong Flight. 341 
 
 Then we sat silent, hand in hand, our 
 eyes fixed on the outer hall. 
 
 " I was going to say," ventured Sylvia, 
 " that when I was here I never noticed 
 that bell-rope. It must be some recent 
 horrid freak of her Grace." 
 
 "Never mind," said I, "if they don't 
 conduct us to the Duchess I '11 ring it 
 again. I wonder whether Taxil is here. 
 If he Hello ! Who is this ! Why bless 
 me it 's Prince Saranitza ! " 
 
 I sprang up and took both his out 
 stretched hands in mine ; then, wondering, 
 delighted, I presented him to Sylvia, who 
 received him very sweetly because she saw 
 he was my friend. 
 
 " Now what the mischief," laughed 
 Saranitza, " do you mean by coming to 
 unprotected castles at break of day and 
 sounding the tocsin ? Why man, the 
 castle's gone mad. Babu rushed out on 
 the battlements crying, ' to arms ! to arms ! 
 The Russians are upon us ! ' and Taxil is 
 arming for the fray, and her Grace is 
 racing about with Mops at her heels say 
 ing very funny things in a voice like a six 
 gun battery."
 
 34 2 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 Sylvia was laughing in spite of my hor 
 rified face, and Prince Saranitza, looking 
 curiously from one to the other, twisted his 
 blond mustache and stood up very straight. 
 
 " See here," said I, "if the Duchess 
 won't receive us, can you not get a priest ? 
 On my honour, my dear fellow, two people 
 never stood in sorer need of the offices of 
 a holy man." 
 
 Saranitza was too well bred to show the 
 slightest astonishment, but I do not think 
 Sylvia would have blamed him if he had 
 tottered. 
 
 "Do you wish a priest at once?" he 
 asked soberly. 
 
 "Is such a marriage legal?" I asked 
 Sylvia in a low voice. 
 
 " I don't know," she said faintly. 
 
 " But tell me, what is the law of Bozno- 
 via?" I urged. 
 
 " In Marmora it needs parents' consent 
 and banns and civil and religious cere 
 mony," she murmured. " I am of age and I 
 have no parents living, but all the same the 
 banns must be published three successive 
 weeks in advance."
 
 A Headlong Flight. 343 
 
 " Well, then we '11 marry under the 
 Boznovianlaw," said I. " Shall I ask Prince 
 Saranitza ? " 
 
 " Yes," she said, her face all rosy. 
 
 Saranitza listened without apparent 
 emotion although what I told him must 
 have made his aristocratic senses tremble 
 in the balance. 
 
 "You know, of course, that an earth 
 quake in London would excite less amaze 
 ment than this," he said to me in a whisper. 
 
 -Yes," what of it?" 
 
 " Nothing, my dear fellow, God bless 
 you ! " and he clasped me warmly to his 
 breast. Then he laughed and begged 
 Sylvia's permission to retire, and in a few 
 moments he appeared with a kindly young 
 priest who looked as though he had hastily 
 donned his soutane and neglected to 
 shave. 
 
 " Marry us, my father, in the speediest 
 manner that is possible and consistent 
 with the laws of the Church," I said, " for 
 our case is desperate." 
 
 Sylvia stood up, pale and red by turns. 
 
 " If this is not legal in the eyes of the
 
 344 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 Boznovian and the Marmorian law, do 
 you care ? " I whispered. 
 
 " No, murmured Sylvia, " it is legal for 
 us ; what matters the rest ? " 
 
 And so, Prince Saranitza as witness, the 
 good priest made us man and wife. And 
 after he had gone away and Saranitza had 
 kissed Sylvia's little hand and had fol 
 lowed him, Sylvia went into a dim corner 
 of the room and knelt down to pray. 
 
 " Law or no law, neither King nor 
 Church shall part us now ! " I thought. 
 In America it was legal and once on board 
 an Atlantic liner, little I cared whether the 
 marriage was legal in Boznovia or in all 
 Europe for that matter. 
 
 Sylvia was still on her knees and I stood 
 silent by the great mirror, watching her 
 with fast beating heart, when a heavy step 
 fell upon the threshold and a heavier 
 voice boomed through the apartment 
 
 "Herrje!" 
 
 It was the Duchess. 
 
 " Blessed be His Name," I said devout 
 ly, and looked straight into the Duchess' 
 stony eyes. Sylvia had risen from her
 
 A Headlong Flight. 345 
 
 knees, pallid, but holding her head high. 
 The Duchess' eyes gleamed fury. 
 
 " Go ! " she cried, but I stopped her 
 with a gesture. 
 
 " Madame," said I, " we are going when 
 we are ready. We ran away to get mar 
 ried and we have been married and we 
 sought your schloss because we were in 
 peril of capture from the King of Boz- 
 novia, my wife's brother." 
 
 For a second the Duchess gaped, rigid 
 with astonishment ; then the poor old 
 Dowager utterly collapsed. She had hys 
 terics, an awful condition to witness in 
 such a woman, it was as though a grena 
 dier of the guard was throwing fits. 
 
 Sylvia and I did what we could for her ; 
 we placed her on the lounge where she 
 alternately sobbed and grinned and hugged 
 me and hugged Sylvia until my own senses 
 reeled a bit, and I began to wonder how 
 the affair would end. Poor old creature ! 
 Sylvia smoothed and arranged her curl 
 papers and tidied the red and green dress 
 ing gown, saying soft pretty things to her 
 and drying her faded eyes. Mops came
 
 34 6 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 wheezing in and growled at me, but I for 
 gave him and attempted to caress him, 
 and got bitten for my pains. 
 
 After a while the Duchess signified her 
 desire to go, and she went, leaning heavily 
 on Sylvia, who sent back to me a long, 
 loving glance as she passed out of the 
 door. 
 
 Saranitza, who was perfectly aware of 
 what had happened, strolled in and took 
 my arm, leading me to his own apartment. 
 
 " You see," he said, " the old lady is all 
 right now ; she kicks up an infernal fuss 
 and says nasty things but, I tell you, a 
 bold coup-d'etat wins her every time. 
 Why, man, she 'd defend this castle against 
 twenty Ruperts now ! And she '11 do more ; 
 she '11 see Bismarck. He 's in Taxim- 
 bourg this week to take the waters, and 
 if she asks him he will smooth things 
 over, and Europe wont say a blessed 
 word." 
 
 " Europe may not, but what about King 
 Rupert ? " I demanded. 
 
 " Rupert ? Pooh ! He knows well 
 enough that he only holds his throne
 
 A Headlong Flight. 347 
 
 down by the grace of God and Otto von 
 Bismarck." 
 
 I flung myself on a lounge, completely 
 exhausted, and looked wearily up at him. 
 
 " There is one thing, however, that I 
 wont forgive you for," said Saranitza 
 laughing down at me, " and that is that 
 your confounded tocsin most hideously 
 disturbed the slumbers of my fiancee." 
 
 " Is she here ? " I asked, incredulously. 
 
 " Here ? I should say so. I 've two 
 months' leave to marry in, and as soon as 
 her parents come from the Bosphorus we 
 are going to Vienna to be married." 
 
 " Bosphorus ! " I stammered. 
 
 " Yes, why you must have met her, I 
 declare I forgot that last night she said 
 she knew you " 
 
 " Marjory Grey ! " I cried, sitting straight 
 up, " oh I ani glad, I am delighted ! " and 
 I laughed and hugged him and wrung his 
 hand until he protested. 
 
 " Why I did n't know that you were so 
 well acquainted," he said mildly, "my 
 fiancee never told me about you till last 
 evening "
 
 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 "We were boy and girl together," I 
 said, radiant with happiness, "we were 
 two youngsters who had a very jolly time 
 as two youngsters can only in America. 
 Is Grey Pasha going to bring his lovely 
 wife to schloss Lauterschnapps? If he does, 
 the three most beautiful women in Europe 
 will be together under the same roof." 
 
 "And also the three happiest fellows 
 in all the world," he smiled. 
 
 " Yes," said I, seriously. 
 
 Mops, passing the door, growled at me. 
 
 " He 's a German dog," said Saranitza, 
 " his bite is worse than his growl. Let us 
 be thankful that her Grace is only a 
 Taximbourgeoise." 
 
 " I am," I said, earnestly. 
 
 Then a trumpet peal from the court 
 brought us both to our feet. 
 
 " Sainte Vierge ! " whispered Saranit 
 za, " it 's Rupert of Boznovia ! " 
 
 I stumbled to the window and looked 
 out. In the court-yard below a trumpeter 
 of the Boznovian cavalry sat on his sweat 
 ing horse, and beside him, grey with dust, 
 King Rupert towered in his saddle, brows 
 knitted, eyes fixed on the porter's gate.
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE WITCHERY OF SYLVIA. 
 
 IT took me but a moment to make up 
 my mind. I picked up my busby, 
 adjusted the golden-scaled strap firmly 
 beneath my chin, snapped belt and sabre 
 tache under my dolman, and, picking up 
 my sabre, hurried down the stairway and 
 out into the court-yard. 
 
 The King paled a little when he saw 
 me, and straightened up in his saddle, but 
 his eyes sparkled with fury, and his hand 
 flew to his sabre guard. 
 
 " That 's what I want ! " I said ; " if 
 you have any grievance against me, in 
 Heaven's name let us settle it now ! " 
 
 By all the laws of code and country the 
 King was held to be incompetent and 
 above the necessity of resenting personal 
 insult, yet I knew I had not misjudged 
 
 349
 
 35 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 the man, and it was the man, not the King 
 who replied haughtily, and sprang from 
 his saddle right at me, sabre glistening in 
 the sun. 
 
 Clash ! Crash ! rang our sabres in the 
 stony court, starting sharp echoes from 
 turret and archway ; and the startled 
 horses reared and snorted, neighing 
 shrilly as the trumpeter struggled and 
 backed, straining in his saddle. The 
 King pressed me so furiously that I gave 
 ground, moving diagonally across the 
 court. I saw the broad blade of his sabre 
 flashing and turning before my eyes, I 
 heard a shout, a warning cry, a trample 
 and snort, then something struck me and 
 I reeled and pitched forward, the sabre 
 falling from my nerveless hand. I must 
 have lain unconscious for a moment or 
 two, for, when I struggled to rise, my 
 head was gently pressed back into two 
 soft arms ! I looked up. Sylvia bent 
 above me, white and silent. And now I 
 also saw the King, motionless, sabre 
 lowered, standing in front of me, but he 
 was not looking at me. Beside him stood
 
 The Witchery of Sylvia. 351 
 
 an old man, dressed in ill-fitting snuff col 
 oured clothes, the sleeves of which were 
 too long and fell over his withered hands. 
 Under his slouch hat his prominent pale 
 eyes flickered ; the deep lines in his square 
 jaw stretched along his cheek ; his mouth 
 tightened under his white moustache. 
 
 It was Bismarck. 
 
 " What is done cannot be undone," he 
 said, looking at King Rupert. "If the 
 Princess Sylvia has chosen to place her 
 self outside the pale, the Princess Sylvia 
 must take the consequences. But I will 
 have no scandal ; do you understand, 
 King Rupert ? The Czar and I placed 
 you where you are for one purpose, peace. 
 I will not have the peace of Europe dis 
 turbed because of Boznovia. It is the 
 tinder-box that I most fear ; and when I 
 say that I fear it you will understand that 
 I am in earnest." 
 
 " The marriage is not legal," said King 
 Rupert hotly. 
 
 Bismarck smiled and bent his grim face 
 upon Sylvia, crouching beside me on the 
 pavement.
 
 35 2 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 " Do you hear what your brother says, 
 my child ? " he asked with a touch of 
 malice in his smile. 
 
 " This is my husband," said Sylvia, 
 holding my head to her breast. 
 
 Bismarck let his thin hand fall upon the 
 head of a great dog that had walked up 
 beside him. 
 
 " Well ? " he said, turning suddenly on 
 King Rupert. 
 
 " Sylvia," said the King, " are you mad ! 
 Will you put me to shame and scorn in 
 the face of all Europe ? " 
 
 "You are shaming yourself," she said. 
 " Go back to Belgarde and I will try to for 
 give you ; but if you lift a finger against 
 my husband it will bode ill for Boznovia !" 
 
 I struggled again to rise but she held 
 me back, calling on Prince Bismarck to 
 keep her brother away from me. 
 
 Then the Duchess got hold of King 
 Rupert and Bismarck walked on the other 
 side, the great dog stalking at his heels. 
 A thin stream of blood trickled into my 
 eyes and down along my chin and Sylvia 
 wiped it away, and held me closer.
 
 The Witchery of Sylvia. 353 
 
 I saw it was wisest to let things take 
 their course so I said nothing more, and 
 presently King Rupert and his diplomatic 
 mentors passed out of the court through 
 the castle gate. Confused and weak as I 
 was I pitied King Rupert with two such 
 grim masters at his elbows. 
 
 At last Sylvia bent over me again, touch 
 ing my forehead fearfully, and I smiled 
 and answered the question in her eyes : 
 " I am not hurt." Did your brother cut 
 me down ? " 
 
 " God forbid ! " sobbed Sylvia, " the 
 trumpeter's horse backed into you and 
 trampled you. Oh my darling, your head 
 is crushed and I am the most unhappy 
 girl on earth ! " 
 
 " Nonsense," said I, " it is merely a 
 scratch. Let me sit up, Sylvia. There, 
 see, I am all right ; hello ! here 's Sara- 
 nitza, and Marjory Grey ! 
 
 Marjory came up to me and frankly took 
 my hand in hers. 
 
 " You will need a half dozen stitches 
 in that noddle of yours," said Saranitza 
 cheerily, " come, lean on me, old fellow ;
 
 354 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 no bones broken ? Cristi ! you were rid 
 den down before I could make you under 
 stand. It 's all right ; King Rupert will 
 take Bismarck's view of the case and you 
 needn't worry." 
 
 Sylvia supported me on one side, 
 Saranitza and Marjory on the other, and 
 we moved slowly up the steps and into 
 the great dark chamber where the priest 
 had made Sylvia and me man and wife. 
 
 " It 's a sorry ending to my military 
 career," I said feebly ; " I understand now 
 that I was never intended to wear sabres 
 and spurs." 
 
 " Whatever you wear you honour ! " 
 said Sylvia gravely. 
 
 With her hand in mine, lying stretched 
 on the lounge, I underwent the surgeon's 
 examination and later a good deal of 
 washing and stitching and odor of sickly 
 smelling colodian. The surgeon was an 
 old man and not too gentle in his opera 
 tion but I said nothing and watched 
 Sylvia's tender eyes. 
 
 " Can he travel ? " asked Saranitza, 
 bending over me.
 
 The Witchery of Sylvia. 355 
 
 The surgeon said I could play leap-frog 
 if I desired to but if I was prudent I would 
 avoid such amusements. 
 
 " Old bear!" said Marjory, after the 
 surgeon had taken his leave ; " I wonder 
 if you could stand the journey to the Tif- 
 lix valley. Prince Bismarck says that the 
 sooner you two rash young people leave 
 Taximbourg the better it will be for all 
 concerned." 
 
 "Then," said I, " let us go in Heaven's 
 name, for this is not the sort of a honey 
 moon that I should have deliberately 
 selected ; should you, Sylvia?" 
 
 " No," said Sylvia blushing and smiling 
 through her tears. 
 
 " There is a britzska waiting when you 
 are ready," observed Saranitza ; " Bis 
 marck ordered it." 
 
 "Well," said I, "that seems to settle 
 it," and I stumbled to my feet. 
 
 Babu and Taxil came in and greeted 
 me warmly, promising to visit us at the 
 shooting-box in the Tiflix valley. Babu 
 spoke vaguely of bear hunting but I held 
 my peace, avoiding Sylvia's delighted eyes.
 
 35 6 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 Marjory Grey and Prince Saranitza were 
 very thoughtful and cordial. They made 
 us as comfortable as possible in the 
 britzska, wishing us all sorts of blessings 
 and happiness, and bidding us God-speed 
 in the name of the Dutchess who had 
 gone to Belgarde with the unwilling but 
 helpless King. 
 
 " Oh, never fear, she will visit you ! " 
 said King Theobald, coming in, clad in 
 a rough suit with a leather apron tied 
 around his waist. 
 
 " She will be welcome," said Sylvia 
 sweetly. 
 
 The ex-King wagged his head and 
 rubbed his blackened thumbs over his 
 apron. 
 
 " She does n't know everything," he 
 said ; " she does n't know that I am ten 
 million times happier here in Taximbourg 
 playing blacksmith at my new forge than 
 if I were yawning my life away in the 
 Belgarde Palace, tormented by idiotic 
 ministers." 
 
 " Ahem ! " coughed Taxil. 
 
 " He rides but ill the horse he shoes so
 
 The Witchery of Sylvia. 357 
 
 well," murmured Saranitza in my ear; 
 " bon chien chasse de race ? " 
 
 So at last we said good-bye, and the 
 driver cracked his long lashed whip, and 
 the britzka rolled away, followed by a 
 storm of rice from Marjory Grey's mis 
 chievous hand, and one of Babu's spurred 
 boots from the equally mischievous Sara 
 nitza. 
 
 I lay back in the britzka, weak, happy, 
 holding my wife's white hands against 
 my lips.
 
 ENVOI 
 
 MOSTLY CONCERNING BEARS. 
 
 SYLVIA and I sat on a rustic bench 
 in our rose garden, examining wed 
 ding presents and watching Obadiah and 
 Casimir the bear. 
 
 The presents were heaped up in Sylvia's 
 boudoir, nearly to the ceiling, and now 
 this new batch had been brought by Con- 
 stantine, and of course it was necessary 
 to examine them at once. There was a 
 golden tea-service from Marjory Grey, 
 and a Persian coffee set from Prince Sara- 
 nitza. The Duchess sent nearly a ton of 
 hideous bric-a-brac, also a wretched dog of 
 the breed of Mops. However, as long as 
 he only snapped at other people, Sylvia 
 and I decided to harbour him. King 
 Theobald sent us half a dozen golden 
 horse-shoes of his own forging, though 
 358
 
 Mostly Concerning Bears. 359 
 
 what he expected us to do with them I 
 was at a loss to understand, until Sylvia 
 tacked them over every door in the house. 
 Their Graces of Taxil and Babu united in 
 a gift of live-stock, nine drab-coloured cows 
 and a spotted pony. General Bombwitz 
 sent me a snuffbox of depressing design, 
 and to Sylvia he gave a fan, so awful that 
 I presented it to Constantine's daughter, 
 who wept with delight at my munificence. 
 The King of Caucasia, Count Vladina, 
 General Brimborio, all of the general 
 staff, and the Duke of Etropolis, united 
 in a gift of silver plate that made me 
 giddy to contemplate. Clisson sent Sylvia 
 some rare old Caucasian wine, and to me 
 he presented a sabre and a sarcastic note 
 ending : " you and Napoleon differ some 
 what as to tactics 
 mais n'importe ? voici le sabre 
 
 le sabre 
 le sabre ! " 
 
 Sylvia was indignant, but I laughed a 
 good deal secretly, for I appreciated the 
 Grand Duchess of Gerolstein. 
 
 And so we sat there, examining, plan-
 
 360 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 ning, glancing at the weird antics of 
 Obadiah and the bear, who were ap 
 parently conversing together upon the 
 lawn. 
 
 " I wonder what he 's teaching that 
 bear now ? " mused Sylvia, arranging a 
 stray curl thoughtfully. The bear's nose 
 was almost touching Obadiah's, and the 
 latter stood with, both hands upon Casi- 
 mir's shoulders. 
 
 " Doan git gay, Mars Bear," said Oba 
 diah, lifting a warning finger, "doan yo' 
 git so brash an' pestiferous, put in yo' 
 tongue ! Now, now we is gwine dance 
 de pea-vine ! Lef foot, right foot, lef foot, 
 right foot, shuffle ! hyah yo' ! stop dat 
 hoppin' ! Hist yo' feet up like ole 'Diah ! 
 Lef foot, right foot, lef foot, right foot, 
 mizzle to yo' pardner, hyah ! doan' yo' 
 hyah, ole 'Diah say ' mizzle ' ! " 
 
 " Is that English ? " asked Sylvia, laugh 
 ing. 
 
 "You know well enough it is n't," I 
 replied. I had learned, not without some 
 chagrin, that Sylvia spoke English as well 
 as I did.
 
 Mostly Concerning Bears. 3 61 
 
 " Obadiah is paying poor Casimir for 
 treeing him," I added, and I glanced 
 askance at Sylvia. 
 
 The mellow evening light tinged the 
 meadow pond where geese and ducks 
 steered to and fro, craning their necks 
 after the dancing gnats. Rose tinted 
 clouds piled high over the Osman Peak, 
 casting strange shadows across the notch 
 below the cragged heights. From the 
 garden came the metallic scream of the 
 old silver pheasant, the babble of turkeys 
 and the whinny of horses in the stable. 
 
 "Get me a rose," said Sylvia capri 
 ciously. 
 
 I brought her a great bunch of spicy 
 Turkish roses. She placed them in her 
 waist, humming a song as her white fingers 
 lingered among the blossoms. 
 
 " These buds are sweeter," said I, hold 
 ing out two dried rose-buds in my hand. 
 
 "Where do they come from?" asked 
 Sylvia, looking up at me. 
 
 " You struck them from the bush with 
 your riding-crop that afternoon, don't 
 you remember?"
 
 362 A King and a Few Dukes. 
 
 " Poor little buds," she said, bending 
 tenderly over them ; but it was my palm, 
 not the buds, that her lips brushed. 
 
 Then she sprang up and seized me 
 with both hands, pushing me before her 
 through the garden. 
 
 " Come and walk with Casimirand me," 
 she insisted ; "you do nothing but sit and 
 smoke and snap gun-locks all day and it is 
 not healthy ! Obadiah ! Go in and bring 
 your pruning shears. Look at that hedge. 
 Are you not mortified ? " 
 
 "Yessm," said Obadiah rolling his eyes. 
 
 " Dear me," sighed Sylvia, slipping her 
 arm through mine, " I really do not know 
 what would become of this valley if I were 
 not here. Casimir ! Follow close ! Closer ! 
 No, you must n't shove your old nose 
 in between my husband and me. I love 
 you very much but 
 
 " But what," said I. 
 
 " Never mind," said Sylvia, with a faint 
 smile. 
 
 So we walked away into the flowering 
 woodland, where the rushing Tchiska 
 made music for us and the orange and
 
 Mostly Concerning Bears. 363 
 
 white orchids spread a carpet for us, and 
 all the little birds chirped shrill evening 
 hymns in praise of the loveliest woman in 
 all the world, my wife, Witch Sylvia. 
 
 THE END.
 
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