"A most ingenious scheme."
Von Hügelweiler banged his fist on the table.
"That is one piece of news!" he cried irritably. "It does not seem to move you very deeply; perhaps my second item will affect you more. The Queen has just gone through the ceremony of marriage with Trafford the American!"
Again Bernhardt raised his glass.
"I drink to the happy pair," he said blandly.
Hügelweiler almost screamed with vexation.
"It is scandalous!" he protested, almost with tears in his eyes. "The thing must be annulled. The Queen of Grimland must not wed a commoner, a foreign adventurer, a man who at a crisis turns traitor and saves the dethroned King's life."
A spark of interest glinted into the ex-priest's eye.
"By the way," he asked, "how did you find all this out?"
The question let loose a fresh flood of indignation from the Captain. In tones of choking wrath he told how he had been forbidden the royal presence, and how Trafford had been accorded instant admission.