Count Marlanx welcomed his visitors with a graciousness that awoke

wonder in the minds of his staff. His marked preference for the American

girl did not escape attention. Some of the bolder young officers

indulged in surreptitious grimaces, and all looked with more or less

compassion upon the happy-faced beauty from over the sea. Marlanx

surveyed Baldos steadily and coldly, deep disapproval in his sinister

eyes. He had not forgotten the encounter of the day before.

"I see the favorite is on guard," he said blandly. "Has he told you of

the lesson in manners he enjoyed last night?" He was leading his guests

toward the quarters, Baldos and Haddan following. The new guard could

not help hearing the sarcastic remark.

"You didn't have him beaten?" cried Beverly, stopping short.

"No, but I imagine it would have been preferable. I talked with

him for half an hour," said the general, laughing significantly.

When the party stopped at the drinking-fountain in the center of the

fort, Baldos halted near by. His face was as impassive as marble, his

eyes set straight before him, his figure erect and soldierly. An

occasional sarcastic remark by the Iron Count, meant for his ears, made

no impression upon the deadly composure of the new guard who had had his

lesson. Miss Calhoun was conscious of a vague feeling that she

had served Baldos an ill-turn when she put him into this position.

The count provided a light luncheon in his quarters after the ladies had

gone over the fortress. Beverly Calhoun, with all of a woman's

indifference to things material, could not but see how poorly equipped

the fort was as compared to the ones she had seen in the United

States. She and the countess visited the armory, the arsenal, and the

repair shops before luncheon, reserving the pleasures of the clubhouse,

the officers' quarters, and the parade-ground until afterwards. Count

Marlanx's home was in the southeast corner of the enclosure, near the

gates. Several of the officers lunched with him and the young

ladies. Marlanx was assiduous in his attention to Beverly Calhoun--so

much so, in fact, that the countess teased her afterwards about her

conquest of the old and well-worn heart. Beverly thought him extremely

silly and sentimental, much preferring him in the character of the

harsh, implacable martinet.

At regular intervals she saw the straight, martial form of Baldos pass

the window near which she sat. He was patrolling the narrow piazza which

fronted the house. Toward the close of the rather trying luncheon she

was almost unable to control the impulse to rush out and compel him to

relax that imposing, machine-like stride. She hungered for a few minutes

of the old-time freedom with him.




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