VII
The Grand Duke Gives Battle
ERICA went to her wing of The Castle and sat by a window, trying to plan the next move. But her brain was so hot and her thoughts so rambling that she could devise nothing. She rang for her maid. An old woman appeared. “I rang for Ernestine,” said Erica.
“Yes, Your Serene Highness. Ernestine has been taken suddenly ill and sent me in her place. I’m Greta.”
Something in the old woman’s face and manner roused an uneasiness in her. She went to the outer door of her apartment. A stupid-looking soldier was on guard there, marching stiffly to and fro.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded.
“I’m on guard,” he answered, in a mountain dialect of German which she could hardly understand.
She started down the corridor.