“Oh, I hope not!” cried Mrs. Davis. “That would be too terrible!”
“If any one was injured,” said the king with a smile, “it was undoubtedly some one else, in which case he would be detained only until he had satisfied the police. But I do not think we shall wait any longer. Baron, will you summon the Princess Anna?”
The baron disappeared and presently returned with a tall young lady on his arm. She was perhaps twenty-five, very dark, with a perceptible moustache, and very thin.
“This is my youngest daughter, Anna,” said the king, “named, as all my daughters were, for one of the great saints of my country.”
The Princess Anna bowed to the guests without taking her hand from the baron’s arm. She, at least, seemed to have no reason to ingratiate herself with the rich Americans!
The king nodded, and the doors at the end of the room swung back, disclosing the gleaming table beyond.
“May I have the honour, madame?” and he offered his arm to Mrs. Davis.
Selden permitted young Davis to take the countess, and followed with the sister.
“Were you really in earnest a moment ago?” she inquired in a low voice.
“In earnest?”