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"From rumors I've heard, this princess is a great one for larks; rides bicycles and automobiles, and generally raises the deuce. What sort is she?" "If you are going to remain in Barscheit, my boy, take a friendly warning. Do not make any foolish attempt to see her. She is more fascinating than a roulette table." This was a sly dig. Max smiled.
"Excellent!" she exclaimed. "I have grown weary of sycophants. You are not afraid of me at all." "Not in the slightest degree," I declared. "You will not regret what you are about to do. I can make it very pleasant for you in Barscheit or very unpleasant." But this threatening supplement was made harmless by the accompanying smile. "May I offer the advice of rather a worldly man?" "Well?"
"I was once a gentleman; I did not always accept money for aiding in shady transactions." "Neither your sentiments nor your opinions are required. Now, observe me carefully," continued her Highness. "I shall give you twenty-four hours to cross the frontier in any direction you choose. If after that time you are found in Barscheit, I promise to hand you over to the police."
"I am the Princess Hildegarde of Barscheit, and your entering this carriage has proved the greatest possible misfortune to you." He stared helplessly And everything had been going along so nicely the dinner he had planned in Dresden, and all that! "And they believe," the girl went on, "that I have eloped with you to avoid marrying the prince." She turned to the officer in the doorway.
But Heaven aid you if you attempted to do this not being an officer! In Barscheit there were also many unwritten laws, and you were obliged to observe these with all the fidelity and attention that you gave to the enameled signs. Only the military had the right to request the orchestra to repeat a piece of music.
A nephew, three times removed, was waiting for the day when he should wabble around in the prince's shoes. He was a lieutenant in the duke's body-guard, a quick-tempered, heady chap. Well, he never wabbled around in his uncle's shoes, for he never got the chance. I hadn't been in Barscheit a week before I heard a great deal about the princess. She was a famous horsewoman.
In America it is different; if you see anything you want, take it. Presently one of the officers I knew none of them save by sight rose and approached. He touched the flag insolently and inquired what right it had in a public restaurant in Barscheit. Ordinarily his question would not have been put without some justification. But he knew very well who I was and what my rights were in this instance.
To take a chair from a table, as he had done, was a gross insult; to receive a slap in the face and not to resent it, was another insult; to tear up an opponent's visiting-card, still another; to take out a revolver in Barscheit, unless you were an officer or had a permit, was worse than an insult; it was a crime, punishable by long imprisonment.
Bauer will tell it to every one in Barscheit that you overpay for things, and from now on you will have to figure living on a basis of crowns." It is worth any price to hear a pretty woman laugh. What a fine beginning for a day! "May misfortune be kind enough to bring you this way again, Herr!" Bauer cried joyfully, not to say ambiguously.
To use a familiar Yankee expression, Barscheit had a finger in every pie. Whenever there was a political broth making, whether in Italy, Germany or Austria, Barscheit would snatch up a ladle and start in. She took care of her own affairs so easily that she had plenty of time to concern herself with the affairs of her neighbors.
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