"
"I do not say that he does know, Miss Calhoun, but it is not beyond
reason that he may be the go-between, the means of transferring
information from the main traitor to the messengers who await outside
our walls."
"Oh, I don't believe it!" cried Beverly hotly.
"I wonder if these things would have happened if Baldos had never come
to Edelweiss?" mused the princess. As though by common impulse, both of
the Graustark women placed their arms about Beverly.
"It's because we have so much at stake, Beverly, dear," whispered
Dagmar. "Forgive me if I have hurt you."
Of course, Beverly sobbed a little in the effort to convince them that
she did not care whom they accused, if he proved to be the right man in
the end. They left her alone on the balcony. For an hour after midnight
she sat there and dreamed. Everyone was ready to turn against
Baldos. Even she had been harsh toward him, for had she not seen him
relegated to the most obnoxious of duties after promising him a far
different life? And now what was he thinking of her? His descent from
favor had followed upon the disclosures which made plain to each the
identity of the other. No doubt he was attributing his degradation, in a
sense, to the fact that she no longer relished his services, having seen
a romantic little ideal shattered by his firm assertions. Of course, she
knew that General Marlanx was alone instrumental in assigning him to the
unpleasant duty he now observed, but how was Baldos to know that she was
not the real power behind the Iron Count?
A light drizzle began to fall, cold and disagreeable.
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