“I knew it would come that way.”

“Also wants you to come.”

“Sha’n’t I be in the way?”

“Not at all, my boy.  I’ll accept for you.  After this fellow goes, I’ll let you read the note.  Wait until I write an answer.”

Motioning for the man to remain, he hastened to his room, pulled out some stationery, and feverishly wrote: 

“My Dear Miss Guggenslocker: 

“I shall be delighted to accompany your messenger to-morrow, and my friend, Mr, Harry Anguish, will be with me.  I have come half way across the continent to see you, and I shall be repaid if I am with you but for a moment.  You will pardon me if I say that your name has caused me despair.  No one seems to have heard it here, and I was beginning to lose hope.  You may expect me at three, and I thank you for the pleasure you bestow.

“Yours sincerely,
“Grenfall lorry.”

This note, part of which had been written with misgiving, he gave to the messenger, who rode away quickly.

“She didn’t wait long to write to you, I notice.  Is it possible she is suffering from the effects of those three days on the other side of the Atlantic?  Come to think of it, she blushed when she saw you this morning,” said Anguish.  Lorry handed him her note, which he read and then solemnly shook hands with its recipient.  “Congratulations.  I am a very farsighted young man, having lived in Paris.”

VIII

THE ABDUCTION OF A PRINCESS

That afternoon they went to the palace grounds and inquired for the chief steward.  After a few moments they were shown to his office in a small dwelling house just inside the gates.  The steward was a red-faced little man, pleasant and accommodating.  He could speak German—­in fact, he was a German by birth—­and they had no difficulty in presenting their request.  Mr. Fraasch—­Jacob Fraasch—­was at first dubious, but their frank, eager faces soon gained for them his consent to see that part of the great park open to the public.  Beyond certain lines they were not to trespass.  Anguish asked how they could be expected to distinguish these lines, being unacquainted, and the steward grimly informed them that the members of the royal guard would establish the lines so plainly that it would be quite clear.

He then wrote for them a pass to the grounds of the royal palace of Graustark, affixing his seal.  In giving this last to them he found occasion to say that the princess had instructed him to extend every courtesy possible to an American citizen.  It was then that Anguish asked if he might be permitted to use his camera.  There was an instant and emphatic refusal, and they were told that the pass would be rescinded if they did not leave the camera outside the gates.  Reluctantly Anguish deposited his luckless box in the steward’s office, and they passed into the broad avenue which led towards the palace.