"Bauer, your grandfather was a robber," the girl laughed. "Take heed
that you do not follow in his footsteps."
"I am a poor man, your--mm---Fräulein," he stammered.
"Here's a crown," said Max, tossing a coin which was neatly caught by
the grimy hand of the smith.
"Are you very rich?" asked the girl curiously.
"Why?" counter-questioned Max.
"Oh, I am curious to know. Bauer will tell it to every one in
Barscheit that you overpay for things, and from now on you will have to
figure living on a basis of crowns."
It is worth any price to hear a pretty woman laugh. What a fine
beginning for a day!
"May misfortune be kind enough to bring you this way again, Herr!"
Bauer cried joyfully, not to say ambiguously.
"Listen to that!" laughed the girl, her eyes shining like the water in
the sun. "But he means only to thank your generosity. Now,"--with a
severe frown,--"how much do I owe you? Take care; I've only a few
pieces of silver in my purse."
"Why, Fräulein, you owe me nothing; I am even in debt to you for this
very crown." Which proved that Bauer had had his lesson in
courtier-ship.
The assistant soon brought forth the girl's restive filly. Max sprang
to her aid. How light her foot was in his palm! (She could easily
have mounted alone, such was her skill; but there's the woman of it.)
"I am going toward the Pass," she said, reading the half-veiled appeal
in his blue eyes.
"Which way is that?" he asked, swinging into his own saddle.
"That way," nodding toward the south. After all, there could be no
harm; in two or three hours their paths would separate for ever.
"Why,"--delightedly,--"I am going that way myself."
Old Bauer watched them till they disappeared around a turn in the road.
He returned to his forge, shaking his head as if confronted by a
problem too abstruse even for his German mind.
"Well, he's an American, so I will not waste any pity on him. The pity
is that she must wed old Red-nose."
It would have been if she had!
So the Princess and Prince Charming rode into the country, and they
talked about a thousand and one things. Had she ever been to France?
Yes. To England? She had received part of her education there. Did
she know the Princess Hildegarde? Slightly. What was she like? She
was a madcap, irresponsible, but very much abused. Did she know Mr.
Warrington, the American consul? She had seen him on his morning
rides. Wasn't it a fine world? It was, indeed.