"Oh, I love your soldiers," cried Beverly warmly.

"Poor fellows, who knows how soon they may be called upon to face death

in the Dawsbergen hills?" said Yetive, a shadow crossing her face.

Dangloss was to remain in Ganlook for several days, on guard against

manifestations by the Axphainians. A corps of spies and scouts was

working with him, and couriers were ready to ride at a moment's notice

to the castle in Edelweiss. Before they parted, Beverly extracted a

renewal of his promise to take good care of Baldos. She sent a message

to the injured man, deploring the fact that she was compelled to leave

Ganlook without seeing him as she had promised. It was her intention to

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have him come to Edelweiss as soon as he was in a condition to be

removed. Captain Dangloss smiled mysteriously, but he had no comment to

make. He had received his orders and was obeying them to the letter.

"I wonder if Grenfall has heard of my harum-scarum trip to

St. Petersburg," reflected Yetive, making herself comfortable in the

coach after the gates and the multitudes were far behind.

"I'll go you a box of chocolate creams that we meet him before we get to

Edelweiss," ventured Beverly.

"Agreed," said the princess.

"Don't say 'agreed,' dear. 'Done' is the word," corrected the American

girl airily.

Beverly won. Grenfall Lorry and a small company of horsemen rode up in

furious haste long before the sun was in mid-sky. An attempt to depict

the scene between him and his venturesome wife would be a hopeless

task. The way in which his face cleared itself of distress and worry was

a joy in itself. To use his own words, he breathed freely for the first

time in hours. "The American" took the place of the officer who rode

beside the coach, and the trio kept up an eager, interesting

conversation during the next two hours.

It was a warm, sleepy day, but all signs of drowsiness disappeared with

the advent of Lorry. He had reached Edelweiss late the night before,

after a three days' ride from the conference with Dawsbergen. At first

he encountered trouble in trying to discover what had become of the

princess. Those at the castle were aware of the fact that she had

reached Ganlook safely and sought to put him off with subterfuges. He

stormed to such a degree, however, that their object failed. The result

was that he was off for Ganlook with the earliest light of day.

Regarding the conference with Prince Gabriel's representatives, he had

but little to say. The escaped murderer naturally refused to surrender

and was to all appearances quite firmly established in power once

more. Lorry's only hope was that the reversal of feeling in Dawsbergen

might work ruin for the prince. He was carrying affairs with a high

hand, dealing vengeful blows to the friends of his half-brother and

encouraging a lawlessness that sooner or later must prove his

undoing. His representatives at the conference were an arrogant,

law-defying set of men who laughed scornfully at every proposal made by

the Graustarkians.




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