CHAPTER IV


AN ADVENTURE WITH ROYALTY

Maurice Carewe, attached to the American legation in Vienna,
leaned against the stone parapet which separated the terraced
promenade of the Continental Hotel from the Werter See, and
wondered what had induced him to come to Bleiberg.

He had left behind him the glory of September in Vienna, a city
second only to Paris in fashion and gaiety; Vienna, with its
inimitable bands, its incomparable gardens, its military
maneuvers, its salons, its charming women; and all for a fool's
errand. His Excellency was to blame. He had casually dropped the
remark that the duchy's minister, Baron von Rumpf, had been
given his passports as a persona non grata by the chancellor of
the kingdom, and that a declaration of war was likely to follow.
Maurice's dormant love of journalistic inquiry had become
aroused, and he had asked permission to investigate the affair,
a favor readily granted to him.

But here he was, on the scene, and nobody knew anything, and
nobody could tell anything. The duchess had remained silent. Not
unnaturally he wished himself back in Vienna. There were no
court fetes in the city of Bleiberg. The king's condition was
too grave to permit them. And, besides, there had been no real
court in Bleiberg for the space of ten years, so he was told.
Those solemn affairs of the archbishop's, given once the week
for the benefit of the corps diplomatique, were dull and