She closed her eyes; truly, this was her day!
“Let us go to Dornlitz this very night,” she said.
He shook his head. “We must wait a day, little one; until our friends across the valley have assured themselves that I am here. But to-morrow night we will steal away to the Capital, and get the Book; and then, if necessary, we will come back, and send our dear cousin to the devil where he belongs.”
XX
THE PRINCESS TURNS STRATEGIST
The Archduke put up his field glasses and, turning to the Princess, waved his hand toward the open country, and around to the Castle behind them.
“So, dear,” he said, “this is home—the Dalberg aerie and its feeding grounds. I like them well. And particularly do I like the way the nest itself has been kept up to the time in comforts and appointments.”
“Do be serious, Armand,” she protested; “haven’t you any sentiment! Look at the wonderful blue of the Voragian mountains; and the shifting shadows on the foot-hills; and this spur, and Lotzen’s yonder, trailing out from them like tendrils of a vine; and the emerald valley, streaked through the center by the sparkling Dreer; and the fair lands to the south, as far as eye can carry, and yet farther, league upon league to the sea—yours, my lord, all yours—the heritage of your House—the Kingdom of your Fathers.”
“You have forgot the loveliest thing in all the landscape,” said he, “the one thing that makes the rest worth while.”
She sprang from him. “No, sir, not here on the wall in view of the bailey and every window; confine your sentiment at present to the inanimate portion of the landscape.”
He went over and leaned on the parapet beside her.