the shaving-water would have performed that
feat.

Whereupon, inclining his ear, he heard hasty footsteps crossing the
floor, and, suspecting that if he stood on any sort of ceremony he might
find the door bolted and barred in his face, Rollo turned the handle and
quietly intruded a good half of a bountifully designed military
riding-boot within the apartment of the Duke.

So correctly had he judged the occupant's intentions that an iron bolt
was actually pushed before Don Fernando discovered that his door would
not close, owing to an unwonted obstruction.

"Your Excellency," cried Rollo, in a stern voice, "we desire to speak
with you on a question which concerns the lives of all within this
castle. Being unable to obtain an interview with her Majesty the
Queen-Regent, we make bold to request you to convey our wishes and--our
intentions to her!"

"I am dressing--I cannot see you, not at present!" cried a voice from
within.

"But, Senor, see you we must and shall," said Rollo, firmly; "in half a
minute we shall enter your apartment, so that you have due notice of our
intention."

For this Rollo of ours had an etiquette of his own applicable even to
circumstances so unique as obtained at the Castle of La Granja--which,
had the occurrences we describe not been the severest history, might
justly have been called the chiefest of all "Chateaux en Espagne."

Watch in hand Rollo stood, absorbed in the passage of the thirty seconds
of which he had given notice, and had not the Sergeant suddenly dashed
the chamber door open, the young Scot's foot would certainly have been
crushed to a jelly. For by this act the excellent Duke of Rianzares was
disclosed in the very act of dropping a ponderous marble bust of his
wife's grandfather upon the young man's toes.

After that, of course, there was no more ceremony with Senor Munoz. He
was immediately relieved of his weapons, ordered to the farther side of
the room away from all possible avenues of escape, and further guarded
by the Sergeant, who bent upon him a stern and threatening brow.

Then Rollo began to develop his intentions in a loud clear voice. For
if, as he suspected, Maria Cristina chanced to be within earshot, it
might save an explanation in duplicate if she should hear at first hand
what he was now about to communicate to her consort.

On either side of the young man were his two aides, the Sergeant and
Ramon Garcia, the first gaunt, tough, and athletic, of any a