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Updated: June 26, 2025
"But now she hates me," said Nikky's heart, and dropped about the distance of three buttons. "She hates me. I saw it in her eyes this morning. God!" "We might as well play ball now." Prince Ferdinand William Otto turned away from the parapet with a sigh. This strange quiet that filled the Palace seemed to have attacked Nikky too. Otto hated quiet.
Let them once alight, let him but start his car down the road again, and all the devils of the night might follow. He feared nothing. But here again Nikky planned too fast. The servant who came out to open the doors of the motor had brought a message. "His Majesty desires that the messenger come in," was the bomb-shell which exploded in Nikky's ears. Nikky hesitated.
It is always hard to remove a coat from a man whose arms are tied, and trousers are even more difficult. To remove trousers from a refractory prisoner offers problems. They must be dragged off, and a good thrust from a heavy boot, or two boots, has been known to change the fate of nations. However, Nikky's luck stood.
So Hedwig prayed for many things: for the softening of hard hearts; for Nikky's love; and, perhaps a trifle tardily, for the welfare and recovery of her grandfather, the King. But mostly she prayed for happiness, for a bit of light and warmth in her gray days to be allowed to live and love. Things were going very wrong for Nikky Larisch.
Now commenced a curious scene, curious because one of the actors was Karl of Karnia himself. He seemed curiously loath to bring in assistance, did Karl. Or perhaps the novelty of the affair appealed to him. And Nikky's resistance to search, with that revolver so close, was short-lived. Even while he was struggling, Nikky was thinking. Let them get the letter, if they must.
Then Nikky backed to the door, getting all tangled up in his sword, bowed again and retired. When he reentered, the boy's face was glowing. "Gee!" he said, remembering this favorite word of the American boy's. "It's splendid to have you back again, Nikky. You're going to stay now, aren't you?" "I am." Nikky's voice was fervent. "Where did you go when you went away?"
A great meerschaum pipe, a stag's head with branching antlers and colored dark with years of use, lay on his tray; and on his knee, but no longer distinguishable in the dusk, lay an old daguerreotype of Maria Menrad. When he heard Nikky's quick step as he came along the tiled passage, he slipped the case into the pocket of his shabby house-coat, and picked up the pipe.
The Crown Prince received that day, with the cigarette as an excuse, a considerable amount of Nikky's general unhappiness and rage at the world. "Well," said Prince Ferdinand William Otto, when it was over, "I have to do something, don't I?"
"I think you are a very good doctor," he said, smiling, and went out to Miss Braithwaite's sitting room. It was then that Olga Loschek played the last card, and won. She moved quickly to Nikky's side. "I have a message for you," she said. A light leaped into Nikky's eyes. "For me?" "Do you know where my boudoir is?" "I yes, Countess."
Nikky's heart hammered as he left the car hammered with nervousness, not terror. But he went boldly to the door, and knocked. So far all was well. There were footsteps within, and a man stepped out into the darkness, closing the door behind him. Nikky, who had come so far to see this very agent, and to take back a description of him, felt thwarted.
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