“Old—red—peeg.”
Miss Lambart started in her chair; the baroness uttered a gasping grunt; she blinked; she could not believe her ears.
“But whad—but whad—” she said faintly.
“Old—red—peeg,” said the princess, somewhat pleased with the effect of the words, and desirous of deepening it.
“Bud whad ees eed zat ’appen?” muttered the bewildered baroness.
“If you do not find me children quickly, I shall write to my father that you do not as the English doctor bids; and you were ordered to do everything what the English doctor bids,” said the princess in a sinister tone. “Then you will go back to Cassel-Nassau and the Baroness Hochfelden will be my gouvernante.”
The baroness ground her teeth, but she trembled; it might easily happen, if the letter of the princess found the grand duke of Cassel-Nassau in the wrong mood, that she would lose this comfortable well-paid post, and the hated Baroness Hochfelden take it.
“Bud zere are no ’igh an’ well-born children, your Royal Highness,” she said in a far gentler, apologetic voice.
The princess frowned at her and said: “Mees Lambart will find them. Is it not, Mees Lambart?”
“I shall be charmed to try, Highness,” said Miss Lambart readily.