"Yes. She's the Princess von Hertzwohl!"
The officer's face had become a study. He was impressed more deeply than ever.
"Er—shall I open it, sir?" he hesitated.
Ruxton nodded.
"You may as well."
The man tore it open and glanced at the contents. A flush spread over his already florid cheeks.
"It's yours, sir," he said. Then he added in a low tone: "I'm—I'm sorry, sir."
For answer he suddenly felt a forceful clutch on his arm.
"The Princess has been kidnapped," cried Ruxton, in a voice deep with passionate intensity. "Do you understand? She was waiting at her house there for that message. Nothing but force would have caused her to leave it until she received that message."
Ruxton's extreme dejection on his return to town was changed abruptly into even greater alarm.