"I beg your pardon," he said, but perfectly free from embarrassment.

"I am very fond of music myself. Please play whenever the mood comes
to you. _The Marseillaise_--"

"Ah!" he interrupted, laughing. "There was a bit of traitor in my
fingers just then. But music should have no country; it should be
universal."

"Perhaps, generally speaking; but every land should have an anthem of
its own. The greatest composition of Beethoven or Wagner will never
touch the heart as the ripple of a battle song."

And when Fitzgerald joined them they were seriously discussing Wagner
and his ill-treatment in Munich, and of the mad king of Bavaria.

As she had planned, both men noticed the simplicity of her dress.

"It is because she doesn't care," thought Breitmann.

"It is because she knows we don't care," thought Fitzgerald. And he
was nearer the truth than Breitmann.

The dinner was pleasant, and there was much talk of travel. The
admiral had touched nearly every port, Fitzgerald had been round three
times, and Breitmann four. The girl experienced a sense of elation as
she listened. She knew most of her father's stories, but to-night he
drew upon a half-forgotten store. Without embellishment, as if they
were ordinary, every-day affairs, they exchanged tales of adventure in
strange island wildernesses; and there were lion hunts and man hunts