more? Gretchen,
you love me!"

"No, no! it cannot be!" she sobbed, pushing me back. "I am the most
wretched woman in the world! Do not follow me, Herr; leave me, I beg
you to leave me. I have need of the little strength left. Leave me,
leave me!"

And she passed through the doorway into the darkness beyond. I did not
move from where I stood. I grew afraid that it was a dream, and that
if I moved it would vanish. I could yet feel her lithe, warm body
palpitating in my arms; my lips still tingled and burned with the flame
of hers. An exultant wave swept over me; she loved me! She had not
told me so, but I knew. She had put her heart before mine; my life was
dearer to her than her own. I could have laughed for joy. She loved
me! My love overwhelmed my shame, engulfed it. Then--

"I know you," said a harsh voice at my elbow. It startled me, and I
wheeled swiftly. It was the lieutenant's brother officer. "I thought
from what I heard of you that you were a man worth trouble and caution.
Ach! you, the man we have scoured the country for? I should not have
believed it. To let a woman fight for him! And she--she is more than
a woman--she is a goddess!" with enthusiasm. "If I was betrothed to
her I'd find her if I had to hunt in heaven and hell for her. And what
does she see in you?" He snapped his fingers derisively. "I warn you
that your race is run. You cannot leave a railway station within the
radius of a hundred miles. The best thing you can do is to swim the
river and stop in the middle. The Prince is at the village, and he
shall know. Woe to you, you meddler!"

"Young man," said a voice from over my shoulder, from the doorway, "you
should by right address those impertinent remarks to me. I am Hillars,
the man you seek."

And I had forgotten his very existence! What did he know? What had he
seen?

"You may inform Count von Walden," continued Dan, "that I shall await
his advent with the greatest of impatience. Now let me add that you
are treating this gentleman with much injustice. I'll stake my life on
his courage. The Princess Hildegarde is alone responsible for what has
just happened."

"The Princess Hildegarde!" I cried.

Hillars went on: "Why she did this is none of your business or mine.
Why she substituted herself concerns her and this gentleman only. Now
go, and be hanged to you and your Prince and your Count, and your whole
stupid country. Come, Jack."

The fellow l