“You did it beautifully,” she whispered to Baldos, and he was considerably puzzled by the ardor of her praise. “Where are we going now?” she asked.
“Into the city, your highness,” he answered. It was beginning to dawn upon him that she was amazingly ignorant and inconsequential for one who enjoyed the right to command these common soldiers. Her old trepidation returned with this brief answer. Something told her that he was beginning to mistrust her at last. After all, it meant everything to him and so little to her.
When the coach halted before the city gates she was in a dire state of unhappiness. In the darkness she could feel the reproachful eyes of old Aunt Fanny searching for her abandoned conscience.
“Ask if Baron Dangloss is in Ganlook, and, if he is, command them to take me to him immediately,” she whispered to Baldos, a sudden inspiration seizing her. She would lay the whole matter before the great chief of police, and trust to fortune. Her hand fell impulsively upon his and, to her amazement, it was as cold as ice. “What is the matter?” she cried in alarm.
“You trusted me in the wilds, your highness,” he said tensely; “I am trusting you now.” Before she could reply the officer in charge of the Ganlook gates appeared at the coach window. There were lights on all sides. Her heart sank like lead. It would be a miracle if she passed the gates unrecognized.
“I must see Baron Dangloss at once,” she cried in English, utterly disdaining her instructions to Baldos.
“The baron is engaged at present and can see no one,” responded the good-looking young officer in broken English.
“Where is he?” she demanded nervously.
“He is at the home of Colonel Goaz, the commandant. What is your business with him?”
“It is with him and not with you, sir,” she said, imperious once more. “Conduct me to him immediately.”
“You cannot enter the gates unless you—”
“Insolence!” exclaimed Baldos. “Is this the way, sir, in which you address the princess? Make way for her.”
“The princess!” gasped the officer. Then a peculiar smile overspread his face. He had served three years in the Castle Guard at Edelweiss! There was a long pause fraught with disaster for Beverly. “Yes, perhaps it is just as well that we conduct her to Baron Dangloss,” he said at last. The deep meaning in his voice appealed only to the unhappy girl. “There shall be no further delay, your highness!” he added mockingly. A moment later the gates swung open and they passed through. Beverly alone knew that they were going to Baron Dangloss under heavy guard, virtually as prisoners. The man knew her to be an impostor and was doing only his duty.
There were smiles of derision on the faces of the soldiers when Beverly swept proudly between the files and up the steps leading to the commandant’s door, but there were no audible remarks. Baldos followed, walking painfully but defiantly, and Aunt Fanny came last with the handbag. The guards grinned broadly as the corpulent negress waddled up the steps. The young officer and two men entered the door with the wayfarers, who were ordered to halt in the hallway.
“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.”
CHAPTER IX
THE REDOUBTABLE DANGLOSS
Beverly’s eyes showed her astonishment. Baron Dangloss courteously placed a chair for her and asked her to be seated.
“We were expecting you, Miss Calhoun,” he explained. “Her royal highness left St. Petersburg but a few hours after your departure, having unfortunately missed you.”
“You don’t mean to say that the princess tried to find me in St. Petersburg?” cried Beverly, in wonder and delight.
“That was one of the purposes of her visit,” said he brusquely.
“Oh, how jolly!” cried she, her gray eyes sparkling. The grim old captain was startled for the smallest fraction of a minute, but at once fell to admiring the fresh, eager face of the visitor.
“The public at large is under the impression that she visited the Czar on matters of importance,” he said, with a condescending smile.
“And it really was of no importance at all, that’s what you mean?” she smiled back securely.
“Your message informing her highness of your presence in St. Petersburg had no sooner arrived than she set forth to meet you in that city, much against the advice of her counsellors. I will admit that she had other business there but it could have waited. You see, Miss Calhoun, it was a great risk at this particular time. Misfortune means disaster now. But Providence was her friend. She arrived safely in Ganlook not an hour since.”
“Really? Oh, Baron Dangloss, where is she?” excitedly cried the American girl.
“For the night she is stopping with the Countess Rallowitz. A force of men, but not those whom you met at the gates, has just been dispatched at her command to search for you in the lower pass. You took the most dangerous road, Miss Calhoun, and I am amazed that you came through in safety.”
“The Russians chose the lower pass, I know not why. Of course, I was quite ignorant. However, we met neither brigands nor soldiers, Axphain or Graustark. I encountered nothing more alarming than a mountain lion. And that, Baron Dangloss, recalls me to the sense of a duty I have been neglecting. A poor wanderer in the hills defended me against the beast and was badly wounded. He must be taken to a hospital at once, sir, where he may have the proper care.”