Lorry and others went to greet the
emaciated visitor in rags and tags. Colonel Quinnox and Baron Dangloss
looked at one another in doubt and uncertainty. What were they to do
with Baldos, the prisoner?
"You are asking yourself what is to be done with me," said Baldos
easily. "The order is for my arrest. Only the princess can annul it. She
has retired on a mission of love and tenderness. I would not have her
disturbed. There is nothing left for you to do but to place me in a
cell. I am quite ready, Colonel Quinnox. You will be wise to put me in a
place where I cannot hoodwink you further. You do not bear me a grudge?"
He laughed so buoyantly, so fearlessly that Quinnox forgave him
everything. Dangloss chuckled, an unheard-of condescension on his
part. "We shall meet again, Count Marlanx. You were not far wrong in
your accusations against me, but you have much to account for in another
direction."
"This is all a clever trick," cried the Iron Count. "But you shall find
me ready to accommodate you when the time comes."
At this juncture Lorry and Count Halfont came up with Ravone. Baldos
would have knelt before his ruler had not the worn, sickly young man
restrained him.
"Your hand, Captain Baldos," he said. "Most loyal of friends. You have
won far more than the honor and love I can bestow upon you. They tell me
you are a prisoner, a suspected traitor.
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