"But I don't speak your language well," he protested.
"You speak it beautifully," she said. Baldos leaned forward painfully
and spoke to the officer in the Graustark tongue.
"Don't you know your princess?" he demanded, a trifle harshly. The man's
eyes flew wide open in an instant and his jaw dropped.
"Th--the princess?" he gasped.
"Don't stare like that, sir. Direct us to the main gate at once, or you
will have cause to regret your slowness."
"But the princess was--is coming by the northern pass," mumbled the
man. "The guard has gone out to meet her and--" Baldos cut him off
shortly with the information that the princess, as he could see, had
come by the lower pass and that she was eager to reach a resting-place
at once. The convincing tone of the speaker and the regal indifference
of the lady had full effect upon the officer, who had never seen her
highness. He fell back with a deep obeisance, and gave a few bewildered
commands to his men. The coach moved off, attended by a party of
foot-soldiers, and Beverly breathed her first sigh of relief.
"You did it beautifully," she whispered to Baldos, and he was
considerably puzzled by the ardor of her praise." Where are we going
now? "she asked.
"Into the city, your highness," he answered. It was beginning to dawn
upon him that she was amazingly ignorant and inconsequential for one who
enjoyed the right to command these common soldiers.
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