"There aren't any on the shoes I wore yesterday!"
A rumour somewhat near the truth had swept through the hotel, for wherever we appeared we found ourselves the object of the deepest attention, not only by the slavish minions of the hotel from the proprietor down, but from the other guests.
It was so pronounced that my feeble spirit quaked, so to borrow some of my sister's soul-sustaining joy, I went into her room and said:
"Bee, what does all this mean, anyhow? Where will it land us?"
Bee's eyes gleamed.
"If you aren't actually blind to opportunity," she said, slowly, "you certainly are hopelessly near-sighted. Don't you understand how nobody can do anything or be anybody without royal approval? Haven't you seen enough here to-day, to say nothing of the attentions we had from women in Ischl, to know what all this counts for?"
"Yes, I know," I hastened to say. "But what of these men? You know what they will think; they are Austrians, Russians, and Hungarians, remember, not Americans!"
Bee laughed.
"A man is a man," she said, sententiously. "Don't worry for fear the poor dears' hearts will be broken. Now I'll tell you something. Mrs. Jimmie's sincere indifference and my silent eye-homage have stirred these blasé officers out of their usual calm. There you have the whole thing. Von Engel thinks Mrs. Jimmie's indifference is assumed, and both Von Engel and Von Furzmann are determined that my silence shall voice itself. I have no doubt that they would like to have me write it, so that they could boast of it afterward to their fellow officers. Now, as Jimmie would say in his frightful slang, 'I'm going to give them a run for their money.' Von Engel will probably beseech you to arrange to keep Jimmie at your side, so that he can have a few words with Mrs. Jimmie. Von Furzmann will plead with you to permit him a word with me. I need hardly tell you that your role to-night is to make yourself as disagreeable as possible to both of them by keeping the conversation general, and by cutting in at any attempt at a tête-à-tête."
I felt limp and weak. "And all this display, this dinner, this added expense?"