Franz was in the
castle grounds last Thursday."
"Good heavens! You don't mean it!"
"Yes, your highness. He carried a message to me from Ravone. That is why
Ravone and the others waited for me in the hills."
"You amaze me!"
"I have seen Franz often," he confessed easily. "He is an excellent
messenger."
"So it would seem. We must keep a lookout for him. He is the go-between
for you all, I see."
"Did you learn to say 'you all' in America?" he asked. Her heart gave a
great leap. There was something so subtle in the query that she was
vastly relieved.
"Never mind about that, sir. You won't tell me what you said in your
note to Ravone."
"I cannot."
"Well, he gave you one in return. If you are perfectly sincere, Baldos,
you will hand that note over to me. It shall go no farther, I swear to
you, if, as you vow, it does not jeopardize Graustark. Now, sir, prove
your loyalty and your honesty."
He hesitated for a long time. Then from an inner pocket he drew forth a
bit of paper.
"I don't see why it has not been destroyed," he said regretfully. "What
a neglectful fool I have been!"
"You might have said it had been destroyed," she said, happy because he
had not said it.
"But that would have been a lie. Read it, your highness, and return it
to me. It must be destroyed."
"It is too dark to read it here." Without a word he handed the paper to
her and called the chair bearers, to whom he gave instructions that
brought her speedily beneath one of the park lamps.
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