"Will your Highness explain this extraordinary intrusion?" she

demanded. "You have literally forced your way into my room while I am

dressing. It is utterly outside my understanding."

"I am old enough to be your father."

"That is the weakest excuse you could give me. At your age one's blood

ought to be cooled to a certain discretion. My father, if he had had

anything important to say, would have remained on the other side of the

door. I am not deaf. Your explanation is in order."

The duke had never been talked to so plainly in all his life. For a

while he was without voice, but had plenty of color. "It is easily

explained," he finally bawled out to her. "Her Highness has eloped!"

The girl stared at him with wide eyes. "Eloped?" she breathed faintly.

"Yes, eloped."

Betty wondered if she heard aright, or if the duke were out of his

mind; and then she recollected her conversation with the princess. Her

mouth opened as if to speak, but instead she closed her lips tightly.

That wilful girl; whatever would become of her!

"Give this letter to your mistress," said the duke to the maid. "I

will station myself in the window while she reads it."

He strode over to the window and drew the curtains about him. Below,

the night crowds were wandering about the streets; the band was playing

in the Volksgarten; carriages were rolling to and from the opera; the

fountain in the center of the square sparkled merrily in the glare of

the arc lights. But the duke saw none of these things. Rather he saw

the telegraphic despatches flying to the four ends of the globe,

telling the peoples that he, the Grand Duke of Barscheit, had been

outwitted by a girl; that the Princess Hildegarde had eloped with a man

who was not the chosen one. In other words, he saw himself laughed at

from one end of the continent to the other. (There is something very

funny in domestic troubles when they occur in another man's family!)

No, the duke saw not the beauty of the night; instead of stars he saw

asterisks, that abominable astronomy of the lampoonists. He had never

doubted the girl's courage; but to elope! . . . And _who_ the devil

had eloped with her? He knew the girl's natural pride; whoever the

fellow might be, he could be no less than a gentleman. But who, who?

"Your Highness?" called a quiet (I might say deceptive) voice.

The duke came forth.

"Your Highness will do me the honor to make out my passports to-night.

I desire to leave the palace immediately. The affront you have put

upon me, even under the circumstances, is wholly unpardonable. You

imply that I have had something to do with her Highness' act. You will

excuse me to her serene Highness, whom I love and respect. My dignity

demands that I leave at once."




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