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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 welcome to what he had got. Now, as a matter of fact, it was quite likely that the Dalbergs of Dornlitz had totally forgotten the Dalbergs of America.
He shot a quick glance at me. "We don't regard you as a stranger, my dear cousin," he protested. "I believe you," said I. "Judged by the way His Majesty and the Princess, and you have treated me, the heir of Hugo might never have lived beyond the Kingdom." This brought another look. "The Dalbergs don't do things by halves," he answered. "So I have noticed, cousin.
Formerly, in the glorious old times of the German empire, it had been the German emperor who, at the commencement of the sessions of the Diet, had always asked in a loud voice, "Is there no Dalberg?" And at his question, the Dalbergs had come forward and placed themselves around the emperor's throne, always ready to undertake great things and to carry out bold adventures.
"Purely by his favor even luck hadn't a finger in it." "But discretion had," she remarked. "He would not dare kill you." Lotzen shook his head. "You don't seem to know this husband of yours. A Dalberg will dare anything." "Some Dalbergs," she scoffed. The Duke flushed. "I'm doing badly you think me a coward," he said.
Yet, having that fixed and settled, there is another matter touching which Dehra and I have a vast curiosity: What says the great, brass-bound Laws of the Dalbergs? Has the Order of Succession been changed? Will I supplant Lotzen as the Heir Presumptive? Nor does even the Princess venture to inquire. Perchance, he is reserving it for a surprise at the Dinner, to-night.
"While with us it needs only gentle blood, you mean?" said Frederick, good naturedly. "Well, we shall not argue over the matter; and, particularly, since the Dalbergs have no fault to find with their representative among the American Nobility; it's rather he who is ashamed of his Valerian relatives." "I am quite satisfied with the two I've met," I protested.
"With considerable surprise, I fancy; particularly if he meet you in that uniform in a dimly-lighted corridor of the palace, at night." "Have the Dalbergs no ghost such as is appurtenant to all well-regulated royal families?" "Alas! We have not; but you could give us a fine one." "Well, I won't," I said.
But for it, I would not be here though, neither would Madame Spencer," I added inadvertently. The King stared at me. "You don't think she knows the Decree," he exclaimed. "I think she never heard of the Laws of the Dalbergs," I answered. "I mean that it was my being here that brought her." Again the King smiled.
He knew his family records well. "Then, you are the heir of Hugo," he said instantly. "And you come in good time, cousin; there have been few enough Dalbergs in Valeria this generation." "Your cousin will appreciate your welcome," said the King, before I could make reply. Then he raised his glass. "I give you: The New Archduke," he said.
I had come to Valeria as a Major in the American Army. I sought no favors from the Dalbergs here. From which it would seem that a bit of Hugo's stubborn independence had come down to me. As for Courtney, the shrug of his shoulders was very eloquent of what he thought of such independence.
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