"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.