mpered
Princess of Burgundy, whose estates you came to woo, I should still
despise adulation. Bah! I hate it all," she continued, stamping her
foot. "I hate princes and princesses, and do not understand how they can
endure to have men kneel and grovel before them. This fine Princess of
Burgundy, I am told, looks--" She paused and then went on: "I sometimes
hate her most of all. I am a burgher girl, I tell you, and I am proud of
it. I warn you not to make me other."

"Your warning, my lady, is--"

"Fraeulein!" interrupted Yolanda, angrily stamping her foot, "or
Yolanda--call me either. If I give you the privilege, you should value
it sufficiently to use it."

"Yolanda, I will sin no more," I responded. Her face broke into a smile,
and she took my arm, laughing contentedly.

I walked out to the garden--Yolanda danced out--and we sat with the
others under the shade of the arbor vines. Castleman and Max drank
sparingly of wine and honey, while I sipped orange water with Yolanda,
Twonette, and Frau Kate.

"What do you think of Burgundy, Sir Max?" asked the burgher.

"I like Grote's inn well," answered Max. "I like the castle dungeon ill.
I have seen little else of Burgundy save in our journey down the Somme.
Then I saw nothing but the road on the opposite bank. Had I tried to see
the country I should have failed; the dust-cloud we carried with us was
impenetrable." He turned to Yolanda, "That was a hard journey for you,
Fraeulein."

"No, no," she cried, "it was glorious. The excitement was worth a
lifetime of monotony; it was delightful. I could feel my heart beat all
the time, and no woman is sure she lives until she feels the beating of
her heart."

I suspected a double meaning in her words, but no trace of
self-consciousness was visible in her face.

"I have often wondered, Fraeulein, if the papers reached the castle
before the duke arrived?" asked Max.

"What papers?" queried Yolanda.

"Why, the papers we made the mad race to deliver," answered Max.

"Oh, y-e-s," responded the girl, "they arrived just in time."

"And were delivered at the gate?" I suggested.

A quick, angry glance of surprise shot from Yolanda's eyes, and rising
from her chair she entered the house. Twonette followed her, and the two
did not return for an hour. I was accumulating evidence on the subject
of my puzzling riddle, but I feared my last batch might prove expensive.
I saw the mistake my tongue had led me into. Many a man has wr