“That sounds well—­and may mean well; but, it’s short of the mark,” said she.  “I am determined not to remain in this town another day.  You must get me away before to-morrow night.”

“Impossible!” Lotzen exclaimed.  “You know not what you ask.”

She looked at him coldly.

“Very good, Your Highness,” she said.  “I have given you your chance.  I have played fair with you.  Now, we are quits.”

“And you don’t want my aid?” he asked.

“Not unless it’s given before noon to-morrow.”

He raised his hands.

“There are only two people in the world who could get you out of Dornlitz by noon to-morrow—­the King and the Governor.”

“Exactly,” said she.  “And, to one of them, I shall go in the morning.”

“Better try Frederick,” Lotzen laughed.  “He has a weak side for a pretty woman.”

(I did not look at the King—­but I heard him sniff angrily.)

“No—­I shall try the Governor,” she returned.  “He told me, one day, in his office, that, when I acknowledged that I was not his wife and that the marriage certificate was false, I would be permitted to leave the Kingdom.”  She paused, a moment.  “Does Your Highness wish me to go to the Governor?”

I thought the Duke would weaken—­but, as usual, I got a surprise.

“My dear girl,” said he, “I shall be heartbroken if you leave Valeria—­but, if that is all you need to do to be free to go—­and you are not, in fact, Armand Dalberg’s wife—­then I am surprised that you have not done it long ago.”

She smiled, rather sadly.

“Yes, I fancy you are.  I’m rather surprised myself.  It would sound queer, to some people in America, but I have actually tried, for once in my life, to keep faith to the end.  But it is as I always thought—­not worth the while.  I’ll know better again.”

Then, she got up and, going behind her chair, leaned over the back.

“Does Your Highness realize what my going to the Governor means to you?” she asked.

“I don’t seem to be able to follow your argument,” he said; “and I’m a poor guesser of riddles.”

“It means that I shall have to tell the whole ugly story of how I chanced to come to Dornlitz to pose as the wife of the Grand Duke Armand.”

He took a fresh cigarette and carefully lit it.  “But, my dear girl,” he said, “I don’t see how that would affect me?”

She laughed.

“Still the premier artiste!  Well, play it out.  If you want to hear what you already know it’s no trouble to tell you.  Shall I begin at the very beginning?”

“By all means!” said he.  “Maybe, then, I can catch the point.”