"They must have been misinformed as to your route--or else your Russian
escort decided to take you through by the lower and more hazardous way.
It was our luck that you came by the wrong road. Otherwise we should not
have met each other--and the lion," he said, smiling reflectively.
"Where is Labbot?" asked she, intent upon the one subject uppermost in
her mind.
"In the mountains many leagues north of this pass. Had you taken that
route instead of this, you would by this time have left Labbot for the
town of Erros, a half-day's journey from Ganlook. Instead of vagabonds,
your escort would have been made up of loyal soldiers, well-fed,
well-clad, and well satisfied with themselves, at least."
"But no braver, no truer than my soldiers of fortune," she said
earnestly. "By the way, are you informed as to the state of affairs in
Dawsbergen?"
"Scarcely as well as your highness must be," he replied.
"The young prince--what's his name?" she paused, looking to him for the
name.
"Dantan?"
"Yes, that's it. What has become of him? I am terribly interested in
him."
"He is a fugitive, they say."
"They haven't captured him, then? Good! I am so glad."
Baldos exhibited little or no interest in the fresh topic.
"It is strange you should have forgotten his name," he said wearily.
"Oh, I do so many ridiculous things!" complained Beverly, remembering
who she was supposed to be. "I have never seen him, you know," she
added.
"It is not strange, your highness. He was educated in England and had
seen but little of his own country when he was called to the throne two
years ago. You remember, of course, that his mother was an
Englishwoman--Lady Ida Falconer."
"I--I think I have heard some of his history--a very little, to be
sure," she explained lamely.
"Prince Gabriel, his half brother, is the son of Prince Louis the Third
by his first wife, who was a Polish countess. After her death, when
Gabriel was two years old, the prince married Lady Ida. Dantan is their
son. He has a sister--Candace, who is but nineteen years of age."
"I am ashamed to confess that you know so much more about my neighbors
than I," she said.
"I lived in Dawsbergen for a little while, and was ever interested in
the doings of royalty. That is a poor man's privilege, you know."
"Prince Gabriel must be a terrible man," cried Beverly, her heart
swelling with tender thoughts of the exiled Dantan and his little
sister.
"You have cause to know," said he shortly, and she was perplexed until
she recalled the stories of Gabriel's misdemeanors at the court of
Edelweiss.
"Is Prince Dantan as handsome as they say he is?" she asked.
"It is entirely a matter of opinion," he replied. "I, for one, do not
consider him at all prepossessing."