against
him, as he spoke, dashed, first a girl and then a boy who had darted
from somewhere into the council-chamber. Too absorbed in their own
concerns to notice who, if any one, was in the room, they had run
against and very nearly upset the astonished bearer of dispatches.
Still more astonished was he, when the girl, using his body as a barrier
against her pursuer, danced and dodged around him to avoid being caught
by her pursuer--a fine-looking young lad of about her own age--Karl
Gustav, her cousin. The scandalized bearer of dispatches to the Swedish
Council of Regents shook himself free from the girl's strong grasp and
seizing her by the shoulder, demanded, sternly:

"How now, young mistress! Is this seemly conduct toward a stranger and
an imperial courier?"

The girl now for the first time noticed the presence of a stranger. Too
excited in her mad dash into the room to distinguish him from one of
the palace servants, she only learned the truth by the courier's harsh
words. A sudden change came over her. She drew herself up haughtily and
said to the attendant:

"And who is this officious stranger, Klas?"

The tone and manner of the question again surprised the courier, and he
looked at the speaker, amazed. What he saw was an attractive young girl
of thirteen, short of stature, with bright hazel eyes, a vivacious face,
now almost stern in its expression of pride and haughtiness. A man's
fur cap rested upon the mass of tangled light-brown hair which, tied
imperfectly with a simple knot of ribbon, fell down upon her neck. Her
short dress of plain gray stuff hung loosely about a rather trim figure;
and a black scarf, carelessly tied, encircled her neck. In short, he
saw a rather pretty, carelessly dressed, healthy, and just now very
haughty-looking young girl, who seemed more like a boy in speech and
manners,--and one who needed to be disciplined and curbed.

Again the question came: "Who is this man, and what seeks he here, Klas?
I ask."

"'T is a courier with dispatches for the council, Madam," replied the
man.

"Give me the dispatches," said the girl; "I will attend to them."

"You, indeed!" The courier laughed grimly. "The dispatches from the
Emperor of Germany are for no hairbrained maid to handle. These are to
be delivered to the Council of Regents alone."

"I will have naught of councils or regents, Sir Courier, save when it
pleases me," said the girl, tapping the floor with an angry foot. "Give
me