"Didn't I, yet--your highness?"
"Alas, yes!" said the princess, with a pathetic little smile of
resignation, but with loyalty in the clasp of her hand.
CHAPTER XIV
A VISIT AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
That same afternoon Baldos, blissfully ignorant of the stir he had
created in certain circles, rode out for the first time as a member of
the Castle Guard. He and Haddan were detailed by Colonel Quinnox to act
as private escort to Miss Calhoun until otherwise ordered. If Haddan
thought himself wiser than Baldos in knowing that their charge was not
the princess, he was very much mistaken; if he enjoyed the trick that
was being played on his fellow guardsman, his enjoyment was as nothing
as compared to the pleasure Baldos was deriving from the situation. The
royal victoria was driven to the fortress, conveying the supposed
princess and the Countess Dagmar to the home of Count Marlanx. The two
guards rode bravely behind the equipage, resplendent in brilliant new
uniforms. Baldos was mildly surprised and puzzled by the homage paid the
young American girl. It struck him as preposterous that the entire
population of Edelweiss could be in the game to deceive him.
"Who is the princess's companion?" he inquired of Haddan, as they left
the castle grounds.
"The Countess Dagmar, cousin to her highness. She is the wife of
Mr. Anguish.
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