"You must remember," Beverly said in reply to one of Ravone's sallies,
"that Americans are not in the least awed by Europe's greatness. It has
come to the pass when we call Europe our playground. We now go to Europe
as we go to the circus or the county fair at home. It isn't much more
trouble, you know, and we must see the sights."
"Alas, poor Europe!" he laughed. As he strolled about with her and
Candace he pointed out certain men to her, asking her to tax her memory
in the effort to recall their faces if not their apparel. She readily
recognized in the lean, tired faces the men she had met first at the Inn
of the Hawk and Raven.
"They were vagabonds then, Miss Calhoun. Now they are noblemen. Does the
transition startle you?"
"Isn't Baldos among them?" she asked, voicing the query that had been
uppermost in her mind since the moment when she looked down from the
galleries and failed to see him. She was wondering how he would appear
in court costume.
"You forget that Baldos is only a guard," he said kindly.
"He is a courtier, nevertheless," she retorted.
She was vaguely disappointed because he was missing from the scene of
splendor. It proved to her that caste overcame all else In the
rock-ribbed east. The common man, no matter how valiant, had no place in
such affairs as these. Her pride was suffering. She was as a queen among
the noblest of the realm.
Pages:
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348