olya, who lives in the Hotel Ritz."

"In Paris?"

"Yes. She advised me to shun him as I would the plague."

"Did she give any reason?"

"It may sound strange, but I really believe she wants him to marry her
daughter."

"Ah, that is interesting. Pray go on."

"I never understood the thing rightly, but I heard once, through a
servant, that Count Vassilan was expected to wed Elizabetta
Zapolya--the succession to the Hungarian monarchy, if ever it were
revived, was involved--but Count Vassilan spurned the lady. The
Countess is furious because her daughter was slighted, yet wishes to
compel him to fulfill his obligations."

"In that event, she would be anxious to see you safely married to some
other person?"

"Oh, she was. She visited me, several times, and advised me not to
risk a life-long unhappiness by becoming mixed up in the maze of
Mid-Europe politics. And--there is something else. Poor Elizabetta
Zapolya, who is somewhat older than me, is in love with an attache at
the Austro-Hungarian Embassy in Paris."

"Have you his name?"

"Yes. Captain Eugene de Karely."

"How does he stand with regard to Count Vassilan?"

"I am told that he has challenged him repeatedly to a duel, but Count
Vassilan cannot meet him because they are not equals in the grades of
Hungarian aristocracy. I am glad that Mr. Curtis did not wait to
consult the Almanach de Gotha when _he_ encountered the wretch. Has he
told you that he hit him?"

"I have seen the Count," said Steingall.

"Where?"

The detective was not deaf to the note of alarm in her voice, but the
matter must be broached some time, and why not now?

"At the Central Hotel, about an hour ago," he said.

"Was my father with him?"

"Yes. The Earl has also had the pleasure of a few minutes' talk with
Mr. Curtis."

Hermione was open-eyed with surprise.

"Mr. Curtis has not said a word of this to me," she cried, and her
louder tone traveled across the room.

"Said a word about what?" inquired Curtis, being not unwilling to break
in on the conversation, which he thought had lasted quite long enough.

"That my father and Count Vassilan had met you at your hotel."

"No, not Count Vassilan," explained the detective. "He had gone before
Mr. Curtis came, but Lord Valletort returned."

"Did he ask you where I was?" demanded the girl breathlessly,
addressing Curtis.

"No. He tried to have me arrested, and failed. I think he looked on
me as an unlikely s