And then--there was a crunch on the gravel behind us. The Princess and
I turned in dismay. We had forgotten all about the anonymous note.
Two officers were approaching us, and rapidly. The elder of the two
came straight to me. I knew him to be as inexorable as his former
master, the victor of Sedan. The Princess looked on mechanically.
"Come," said the Count, in broken English; "I believe your carriage is
at the gate."
I glanced at the Princess. She might have been of stone, for all the
life she exhibited.
"Come; the comedy is a poor one," said the Count.
I followed him out of the garden. My indifference to personal safety
was due to a numbness which had taken hold of me.
"Get in," he said, when we reached the carriage. I did so, and he got
in after me. The driver appeared confused. It was not his fare,
according to the agreement. "To the city," he was briefly told. "Your
hotel?" turning to me. I named it. "Do you understand German?"
"But indifferently," I answered listlessly.
"It appears that you understand neither the language nor the people.
Who are you?"
"That is my concern," I retorted. I was coming about, and not
unnaturally became vicious.
"It concerns me also," was the gruff reply.
"Have your own way about it."
"How came you by that medal?" pointing to my breast.
"Honestly," said I.
"Honestly or dishonestly, it is all the same." He made a move to detach
it, and I caught his hand.
"Please don't do that. I am extremely irritable; and I might throw you
out of the window. I can get back to my hotel without guidance."
"I am going to see you to your lodgings," asserted the Count, rubbing
his wrist, for I had put some power into my grasp.
"Still, I might take it into my head to throw you out."
"You'd better not try."
"Are you afraid?"
"Yes. There would be a scandal. Not that I would care about the death
of a miserable adventurer, but it might possibly reflect upon the
virtue of her Highness the Princess Hildegarde."
"What do you want?" I growled.
"I want to see if your passports are proper so that you will have no
difficulty in passing over the frontier."
"Perhaps it would be just as well to wake the American Minister?" I
suggested.