ure. Indeed, Hugo remembered it so well that he
made it a sort of preface in the Journal which he began some months
thereafter, and kept most carefully to the very last day of his life.
The Journal says he made no answer to his father save a low bow.

Two days later, as plain Hugo Dalberg, he departed for America. For
some time he was a volunteer Aide to General Washington. Later,
Congress commissioned him colonel of a regiment of horse; and, as such,
he served to the close of the war. When the Continental Army was
disbanded, he purchased a place upon the eastern shore of Maryland;
and, marrying into one of the aristocratic families of the
neighborhood, settled down to the life of a simple country gentleman.

He never went back to the land of his birth, nor, indeed, even to
Europe. And this, though, one day, there came to his mansion on the
Chesapeake the Valerian Minister to America and, with many bows and
genuflections, presented a letter from his brother Frederick,
announcing the death of their royal father and his own accession, and
offering to restore to Hugo his rank and estates if he would return to
court.

And this letter, like his sword, his Order of the Cincinnati, his
commissions and the miniature, has been the heritage of the eldest son.
In his soldier days his nearest comrade had been Armand, Marquis de la
Rouerie, and for him his first-born was christened; and hence my own
queer name--for an American: Armand Dalberg.

There was one of the traditions of our House that had been scrupulously
honored: there was always a Dalberg on the rolls of the Army; though
not always was it the head of the family, as in my case. For the rest,
we buried our royal descent. And though it was, naturally, well known
to my great-grandsire's friends and neighbors, yet, in the succeeding
generations, it has been forgotten and never had I heard it referred to
by a stranger.

Therefore, I was surprised and a trifle annoyed at Courtney's
discovery. Of course, it was possible that he had been attracted only
by my physical resemblance to the Third Henry and was not aware of the
relationship; but this was absurdly unlikely, Courtney was not one to
stop at half a truth and Dalberg was no common name. Doubtless the
picture had first put him on the track and after that the rest was
easy. What he did not know, however, but had been manoeuvring to
discover, was how far I was known at the Court of Valeria. Well, he
was welcom