"Will your highness come with me?" said the officer, returning to the
hall after a short absence. There was unmistakable derision in his voice
and palpable insolence in his manner. Beverly flushed angrily. "Baron
Dangloss is very curious to see you," he added, with a
smile. Nevertheless, he shrank a bit beneath the cold gleam in the eyes
of the impostor.
"You will remain here," she said, turning to Baldos and the
negress. "And you will have nothing whatever to say to this very
important young man." The "important young man" actually chuckled.
"Follow me, your most royal highness," he said, preceding her through
the door that opened into the office of the commandant. Baldos glared
after them in angry amazement.
"Young man, some day and soon you will be a much wiser soldier
and, in the ranks," said Beverly hotly. The smile instantly receded from
the insolent fellow's face, for there was a world of prophecy in the way
she said it. Somehow, he was in a much more respectful humor when he
returned to the hall and stood in the presence of the tall, flushed
stranger with the ragged uniform.
A short, fierce little man in the picturesque uniform of a Graustark
officer arose as Beverly entered the office. His short beard bristled as
though it were concealing a smile, but his manner was polite, even
deferential. She advanced fearlessly toward him, a wayward smile
struggling into her face.
"I daresay you know I am not the princess," she said composedly. Every
vestige of fear was gone now that she had reached the line of
battle. The doughty baron looked somewhat surprised at this frank way of
opening the interview.
"I am quite well aware of it," he said politely.
"They say you know everyone, Baron Dangloss," she boldly said. "Pray,
who am I?"
The powerful official looked at the smiling face for a moment, his bushy
eyebrows contracting ever so slightly. There was a shameless streak of
dust across her cheek, but there was also a dimple there that appealed
to the grim old man. His eyes twinkled as he replied, with fine
obsequiousness: "You are Miss Beverly Calhoun, of Washington."