observed, "but if I am right
in taking you for the Prince, I was given to understand that you would
be prepared to meet me."

"Herr Gordon, I believe?" said Otto.

"Herr Oberst Gordon," replied that officer. "This is rather a ticklish
business for a man to be embarked in; and to find that all is to go
pleasantly is a great relief to me. The carriage is at hand; shall I
have the honour of following your Highness?"

"Colonel," said the Prince, "I have now come to that happy moment of my
life when I have orders to receive but none to give."

"A most philosophical remark," returned the Colonel. "Begad, a very
pertinent remark! it might be Plutarch. I am not a drop's blood to your
Highness, or indeed to anyone in this principality; or else I should
dislike my orders. But as it is, and since there is nothing unnatural or
unbecoming on my side, and your Highness takes it in good part, I begin
to believe we may have a capital time together, sir--a capital time. For
a gaoler is only a fellow-captive."

"May I inquire, Herr Gordon," asked Otto, "what led you to accept this
dangerous and I would fain hope thankless office?"

"Very natural, I am sure," replied the officer of fortune. "My pay is,
in the meanwhile, doubled."

"Well, sir, I will not presume to criticise," returned the Prince. "And
I perceive the carriage."

Sure enough, at the intersection of two alleys of the park, a coach and
four, conspicuous by its lanterns, stood in waiting. And a little way
off about a score of lancers were drawn up under the shadow of the
trees.

CHAPTER XIII

PROVIDENCE VON ROSEN: ACT THE THIRD SHE ENLIGHTENS SERAPHINA

When Madame von Rosen left the Prince, she hurried straight to Colonel
Gordon; and not content with directing the arrangements, she had herself
accompanied the soldier of fortune to the Flying Mercury. The Colonel
gave her his arm, and the talk between this pair of conspirators ran
high and lively. The Countess, indeed, was in a whirl of pleasure and
excitement; her tongue stumbled upon laughter, her eyes shone, the
colour that was usually wanting now perfected her face. It would have
taken little more to bring Gordon to her feet--or so, at least, she
believed, disdaining the idea.

Hidden among some lilac bushes, she enjoyed the great decorum of the
arrest, and heard the dialogue of the two men die away along the path.
Soon after, the rolling of a carriage and the beat of hoofs arose in the
still air o