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Like the sigh in his own soul, sweet and low, the music died out. The figure was finished. Pleading fatigue, Carter sought the quarters assigned him in the castle. His senses were awhirl, his spirits high in the chimera that Trusia cared for him. Had he been compelled to remain in attendance he felt certain that he would have bruited his glad tidings abroad.
Having fulfilled the demands of Court etiquette in yielding first place to her sovereign, Trusia was now free to indulge any other preference for partners for the ensuing figures. The American glanced covetously toward the place where Sobieska and Zulka stood, expectantly awaiting her invitation.
It meant that he was being led to the woman that he, Sobieska, loved with fervor equal to Carter's. Why should he hasten the minute that would place her in the American's arms? Ah, well, Trusia loved him. That must suffice. They entered a cab which had drawn up in answer to Carter's hail.
He stood erect, proudly lifting his hat to the full height of his arm in dignified response. There came a mightier cheer. "Long live Stovik Fourth!" "God save the King of Krovitch!" "A Lion for the Bear!" Filled with the moment's majesty, Stovik stepped down to greet his officers. Next came Trusia. The crowd caught sight of her happy, inspired face.
The arteries of the listeners throbbed a response to its inspiration. Trusia, her eyes gleaming like twin stars, laid her hand softly on the royal arm. "Oh, sire," she cried, "it is our nation's battle song." Carter sighed. He saw that her loyalty would hold her to an alliance against her heart.
"If it meets with Your Majesty's approval, we will start to-morrow for Vienna," Trusia said. "There we will await Colonel Sutphen's summons from your capital, Schallberg. Major Carter, Josef, myself and the Countess Muhlen-Sarkey will accompany Your Majesty. The other gentlemen will attend the Colonel. They precede us to ascertain if all is in readiness." "Will the gentlemen travel in uniform?"
When dinner was spread, Trusia seemed pale and depressed as though the anticipated meeting with her unknown fiancé was not fraught with joy. Rallying herself, however, she was soon as much a centre of attraction as a sparkling fountain in a park is to feathered citizens on a sultry summer day. The wine of Krovitch, unfamiliar to Carter, was quite heady.
Tears came and saved her reason, for under the heavy strain her senses reeled. Then both together they searched for the ferry; but doubtless miles away from the end of the tiny path, it was a hopeless task to search further. As despondently they gave up the quest, Carter turned a grove-covered bend in the river. "Look, Trusia," he called back to her; "a yacht an American yacht!
I was rebuffed at both your house and club. A sensitive man might well read your acquiescence in such treatment. Will you accept my apology? Here we are," he added, as the cab drew up to the curb. "Don't apologize," said Carter, shaking him by the hand, while his eyes hungrily devoured the front of the tenement with avidity that sought for some sign of Trusia. "Is this the place?"
There followed a delightful hesitancy, which sent a thrill through the invisible auditor, while in a tone intended to be judicious, Trusia completed her reply: "Yes, I think you would call him handsome. Anyway, he's a gentleman. Any person could see that." "But what has become of him?" inquired her companion. "I have asked my father, and Tru, what sort of reply do you think he made? Mean thing."
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