"Yes."
"Do you intend to stay interested?"
"Yes."
"I was mistaken. You don't know, and I guess it's my duty to tell you the truth. This girl is a runaway."
"What?" Mark was rising.
Saunders put out his hand. "Easy now, Griffin, easy now. Just wait. I am going to tell you something. I see that you really know nothing, and it's up to me to enlighten you. As I said, Ruth Atheson is not Ruth Atheson. She's the daughter of a grand duke. I can't tell you the name of the Grand Duchy, but I'll say this: it isn't very far from a certain Big Kingdom we hear a great deal about now—in fact the Duchy is a dependency of the Big Kingdom—more than that, the so-called Ruth Atheson is heiress presumptive to the throne. She'll some day be the Grand Duchess."
Mark sat stunned. It was with difficulty that he could speak. He saw a tragedy that Saunders could not see. Then he broke out:
"But you? How do you know?"
"It's my business to know—the business you don't like. I was instructed to watch her. She got out of Europe before certain people could reach her—"
"But," objected Mark, "how do I know you are telling the truth?"