Arms and the Woman

"MY DEAR SON," it ran, "there is another rumpus. The Princess

disappeared on the 20th of last month. They are hunting high and low

for her, and incidentally for me. Why me, is more than I can

understand. But I received a letter from Rockwell of the American

Legation warning me that if I remained in Austria I should be

apprehended, put in jail, hanged and quartered for no other reason on

earth than that they suspect me having something to do with her

disappearance. Due, I suppose, to that other miserable affair. Though

I have hunted all over the Continent, I have never seen the Princess

Hildegarde since that night at B----. Where shall I find her? I

haven't the least idea. But as a last throw, I am going to the

principality of Hohenphalia, where she was born and over which she

rules with infinite wisdom. The King is determined that she shall wed

Prince Ernst. He would take away her principality but for the fact

that there would be a wholesale disturbance to follow any such act. If

I ever meet that watch dog of hers, the Count von Walden, the duffer

who gave me my conge, there will be trouble. The world isn't large

enough for two such men as we are. By the way, I played roulette at

the Casino last night and won 3,000 francs. Well, au revoir or adieu

as the case may be. They sell the worst whiskey here you ever heard

of. It's terrible to have an educated palate.

"HILLARS."

So he was still desiring for something he could never have! I got out

of patience with the fellow. Even if she loved him, what chance had he

against the legions of the King? Hillars was a wild-headed fellow,

and, if at liberty, was not incapable of creating a disturbance. It

might land him in jail, or on the gallows. The phlegmatic German is

not particular whom he hangs. In that wide domain there is always some

petty revolution going on. In each of those petty kingdoms, or

principalities, or duchies, there are miniature Rousseaus and Voltaires

who shout liberty and equality in beer halls and rouse the otherwise

peaceful citizens to warfare; short, it is true, but none the less

warfare. Military despotism is the tocsin. When the King presses an

unwilling subject into the army, upon his discharge the unwilling

subject, usually a peasant, becomes a socialist. These Rousseaus and

Voltaires have a certain amount of education, but they lack daring. If

a man like Hillars, who had not only brains but daring, should get

mixed up in one of these embroglios, some blood would be spilled before

the trouble became adjusted. Still, Hillars, with all his love of

adventure, was not ordinarily reckless. Yet, if he met the Princess,

she would find a willing tool in him for her slightest caprice.

Whatever happened the brunt would fall upon him. My opinion, formed

from various stories I had heard of the Princess, was not very

flattering to her. The letter and its possibilities disturbed me.