"We've done pretty good work these two days," went on the German;
but as the other appeared not to have heard he fell to the rear
again, a sardonic smile flitting over his oily face.

When Maurice reached the hotel cafe he left an order for a
cognac to be sent to his room, whither he repaired at once. As
he got into dry clothes he mused.

"I wonder what sort of a man that crown prince is? Now, if I
were he, an army could not keep me away from Bleiberg. Either he
is no judge of beauty, or the peasant girls hereabout are
something extraordinary. Pshaw! a man always makes an ass of
himself on his wedding eve; the crown prince is simply starting
in early. I believe I'll hang on here till the wedding day; a
royal marriage is one of those things which I have yet to see. I
have a fortnight or more to knock around in. I should like to
know what the duchess will eventually do."

He sipped the last drop of the cognac and went down the stairs.




CHAPTER V


BEHIND THE PUPPET BOOTH

While the absent-minded hunter strode down toward the lower town,