Just then Stovik caught him by the arm. "Look, Major," he cried, indicating a vivacious Austrienne at no great distance from where they stood, "isn't that a dainty morsel?" Carter turned to see that the woman was freely indulging in an ocular conversation with His Majesty.
"Monsieur," Carter commenced in dignified remonstrance, only to be cut short by a peevish King.
"See here, Carter, official business does not begin until we reach Schallberg. I'll practically be a prisoner for life if all goes well. I am not going to give up without just one more fling at the pomps and vanities of this wicked world."
To emphasize his assertion, he smiled gaily at the pretty woman, whose lips parted in audacious invitation.
"But the Duchess," Carter persisted, frowning.
"That's just it," Stovik replied unblushingly. "I am not accustomed to such women as Her Grace. When near her I have to keep a tight rein on my tongue for fear of being guilty of a faux pas. A pinch of a round cheek, a warm kiss given and returned, an arm about a lithe waist, is what I like. Her Grace is an iceberg."
Carter flushed angrily at the comparison. He restrained with some difficulty the stinging words of rebuke which sprang to his lips in Trusia's defense.
"Oh, I know what you would say," continued the royal scamp. "I admit her patriotism, sacrifices, devotion, and all that sort of thing. Frankly, though, we are too dissimilar ever to get along together. The differences are temperamental. Environment and education have made an insuperable barrier to our mutual happiness."
A hope he could not restrain lighted Carter's face at these careless words. "Do you mean," he inquired gravely, simulating a solemnity he felt but little, "do you mean that you will not marry Her Grace of Schallberg?"
The King, coming close, looked searchingly into Carter's eyes and laughed in faint raillery; he partially understood. His reply was evasive. "It is not every one," he said, "who can gain a throne by marrying a pretty girl." Shrugging his shoulders, he abruptly left his companions and approached the woman, with whom he did not seem to have any difficulty in establishing a cordial relation.