"I am only saying what is believed to be true by Axphain, your highness. It is reported that he joined you in the mountains in June and since has held a position of trust in your army."
"Would you know Prince Frederic if you were to see him?" quietly asked Lorry.
"I have not seen him since he was a very small boy, and then but for a moment—on the day when he and his mother were driven through the streets on their way to exile."
"We have a new man in the Castle Guard and there is a mystery attached to him. Would you mind looking at him and telling us if he is what Frederic might be in his manhood?" Lorry put the question and everyone present drew a deep breath of interest.
Mizrox readily consented and Baldos, intercepted on his rounds, was led unsuspecting into an outer chamber. The duke, accompanied by Lorry and Baron Dangloss, entered the room. They were gone from the assemblage but a few minutes, returning with smiles of uncertainty on their faces.
"It is impossible, your highness, for me to say whether or not it is Frederic," said the duke frankly. "He is what I imagine the pretender might be at his age, but it would be sheer folly for me to speculate. I do not know the man."
Beverly squeezed the Countess Dagmar's arm convulsively.
"Hurrah!" she whispered, in great relief. Dagmar looked at her in astonishment. She could not fathom the whimsical American.
"They have been keeping an incessant watch over the home of Frederic's cousin. He is to marry her when the time is propitious," volunteered the young duke. "She is the most beautiful girl in Axphain, and the family is one of the wealthiest. Her parents bitterly oppose the match. They were to have been secretly married some months ago, and there is a rumor to the effect that they did succeed in evading the vigilance of her people."
"You mean that they may be married?" asked Yetive, casting a quick glance at Beverly.