"Baldos a mere pretender," cried Beverly in real distress. "Never!"
"At any rate, he is not what he pretends to be," said the baron, with a wise smile.
"Then, you think he may be Prince Frederic?" asked Lorry, deeply interested.
"I am inclined to think so, although another complication has arisen. May it please your highness, I am in an amazingly tangled state of mind," admitted the baron, passing his hand over his brow.
"Do you mean that another mysterious prince has come to life?" asked Yetive, her eyes sparkling with interest in the revelations.
"Early this morning a despatch came to me from the Grand Duke Michael of Rapp-Thorberg, a duchy in western Europe, informing me that the duke's eldest son had fled from home and is known to have come to the far east, possibly to Graustark."
"Great Scott!" exclaimed Anguish. "It never rains but it hails, so here's hail to the princes three."
"We are the Mecca for runaway royalty, it seems," said Count Halfont.
"Go on with the story, Baron Dangloss," cried the princess. "It is like a book."
"A description of the young man accompanies the offer of a large reward for information that may lead to his return home for reconciliation. And—" here the baron paused dramatically.