, and
stared absently into space. How long he stood that way he did not
recollect, but he was finally aroused by the sound of slamming doors
and new voices. He returned to his chair and waited for the
denouement, which the marrow in his bones told him was about to
approach.

It seemed incredible that he, of all persons, should be plucked out of
the practical ways of men and thrust into the unreal fantasies of
romance. A hubbub in a restaurant, a headlong dash into a carriage
compartment, a long ride with a princess, and all within three short
hours! It was like some weird dream. And how the deuce would it end?

He gazed at the toys again.

And then the door opened and he was told to come out. The grand duke
had arrived.

"This will be the final round-up," he laughed quietly, his thought
whimsically traveling back to the great plains and the long rides under
the starry night.

XI

The Grand Duke of Barscheit was tall and angular and weather-beaten,
and the whites of his eyes bespoke a constitution as sound and hard as
his common sense. As Max entered he was standing at the side of
Doppelkinn.

"There he is!" shouted the prince. "Do you know who he is?"

The duke took a rapid inventory. "Never set eyes upon him before."
The duke then addressed her Highness. "Hildegarde, who is this fellow?
No evasions; I want the truth. I have, in the main, found you
truthful."

"I know nothing of him at all," said the princess curtly.

Max wondered where the chill in the room came from.

"He says that his name is Scharfenstein," continued the princess, "and
he has proved himself to be a courteous gentleman."

Max found that the room wasn't so chill as it might have been.

"Yet you eloped with him, and were on the way to Dresden," suggested
the duke pointedly.

The princess faced them all proudly. "I eloped with no man. That was
simply a little prevarication to worry you, my uncle, after the manner
in which you have worried me. I was on my way to Dresden, it is true,
but only to hide with my old governess. This gentleman jumped into my
compartment as the train drew out of the station."

"But you _knew_ him!" bawled the prince, waving his arms.

"Do you know him?" asked the duke coldly.

"I met him out riding. He addressed me, and I replied out of common
politeness,"--with a sidelong glance at Max, who stood with folded
arms, watching her gravely.

The duke threw his hands above his head as if