“So he is really a Scotchman?”

“That’s what I tell him when he annoys me, as I am by way of being a Scotchman myself.  Ah, the waltz is ended.  Will you excuse me a moment while I fetch his Highness?”

Dorothy inclined her head, and Katherine fairly beamed permission.

“Oh, Dorothy,” she exclaimed, when the Lieutenant was out of hearing, “think of it!  A real prince, and my ambition has never risen higher than a paltry count, or some plebeian of that sort.  He’s mine, Dorothy; I found him first.”

“I thought you had appropriated the Lieutenant?”

“What are lieutenants to me?  The proud daughter of a captain (retired) cannot stoop to a mere lieutenant.”

“You wouldn’t have to stoop far, Kate, with so tall a man as Mr. Drummond.”

“You are beginning to take notice, aren’t you, Dot?  But I bestow the Lieutenant freely upon you, because I’m going to dance with the Prince, even if I have to ask him myself.

  She’ll toddle away, as all aver,
  With the Lord High Executioner.

Ah, here they come.  Isn’t he perfectly splendid?  Look at his beard!  Just the color of a brand-new twenty-dollar gold piece.  See that broad ribbon diagonally across him.  I wonder what it means.  And gaze at those scintillating orders on his breast.  Good gracious me, isn’t he splendid?”

“Yes, for a blacksmith.  I wonder if he beat those stars out on his anvil.  He isn’t nearly so tall as Lieutenant Drummond.”

“Dorothy, I’ll not allow you to disparage my Prince.  How can you be so disagreeable?  I thought from the very first that the Lieutenant was too tall.  If the Prince expects me to call him ‘your Highness,’ he’ll be disappointed.”

“You are quite right, Kate.  The term would suit the Lieutenant better.”

“Dorothy, I believe you’re jealous.”

“Oh, no, I’m not,” said Dorothy, shaking her head and laughing, and then “Hush!” she added, as Katherine was about to speak again.

The next moment the young men stood before them, and, introductions being soberly performed, the Prince lost no time in begging Katherine to favor him with a dance, to which request the young woman was graciously pleased to accede, without, however, exhibiting too much haste about her acceptance, and so they walked off together.

CHAPTER IV

 “At last alone”

“Some one has taken the camp stool,” said Lieutenant Drummond.  “May I sit here?” and the young woman was good enough to give the desired permission.

When he had seated himself he glanced around, then impulsively held out his hand.

“Miss Amhurst,” he said, “how are you?”

“Very well, thank you,” replied the girl with a smile, and after half a moment’s hesitation she placed her hand in his.

“Of course you dance, Miss Amhurst?”