ecause I'd a sort of idea that Captain von
Moll called you Fritz last night."

"Very likely, sir. I didn't notice. It struck me, sir--I don't know
whether you noticed it--that the German gentleman wasn't quite himself
after dinner. He might have called me Fritz, mistaking me for some one
else. I understand, sir, that Fritz is a common name in Germany."

"Very likely," said Gorman.

Smith left the room. In ten minutes he was back again.

"Luncheon is served, sir. In the small verandah at the south end of
the palace. Shall I show you the way?"

He guided Gorman to the small verandah, a pleasant, shady place,
opening off the room in which they had dined the night before.

"Is the Queen coming?" asked Gorman.

"I've sent a maid to inform her Majesty the luncheon is served, sir."

Smith stood ready for his duties at the end of the table. Gorman
noticed that three places had been laid.

"Mr. Donovan coming?" he asked.

"No, sir. Mr. Donovan scarcely feels well enough. I'm expecting Mr.
Phillips, sir. He's with her Majesty."

"Ah," said Gorman. "They may be late."

They were late. A quarter of an hour late. Gorman guessed the reason
at once. No formal announcement was made, but he felt certain that in
the course of the morning they had arrived at a satisfactory
understanding and were engaged to be married. Gorman felt satisfied
that the Emperor's plan for the Queen's future was not quite hopeless.

Luncheon was a difficult meal for him. He did his best to keep up a
conversation, but neither the Queen nor Phillips seemed capable of
understanding what he said. If they answered him at all they said
things which were totally irrelevant. For the most part they did not
answer. They gazed at each other a good deal and Gorman detected
Phillips trying to hold the Queen's hand under the table. Philips
dropped his fork three times. The Queen looked very pretty, much
prettier than she had the night before when she was angry with von
Moll.

Gorman, in spite of his cynicism, is a kind-hearted man. It gave him a
great deal of pleasure to see a girl and a boy in a condition of
almost delirious happiness. But he felt that they ought not to be
entirely selfish. They intended, apparently, to go off after luncheon,
to a distant part of the island, accompanied by Kalliope, whom they
could not well shake off. Gorman did not want to be left alone all the
afternoon.

"What about going to that cave?" he said. "I'd rather like to fin