eral
inquiries, ending by inviting the colonel to sup with him at the hotel.
Pendleton hesitated. "At any other time, Mr. Hathaway, I should have
insisted upon you, as the stranger, supping with me; but since the
absence of--of--the rest of my party--I have given up my suite of rooms
at the Bad Hof, and have taken smaller lodgings for myself and the boy
at the Schwartze Adler. Miss Woods and Miss Arguello have accepted an
invitation to spend a few days at the villa of the Baron and Baroness
von Schilprecht--an hour or two from here." He lingered over the title
with an odd mingling of impressiveness and inquiry, and glanced at
Paul. But Hathaway exhibiting neither emotion nor surprise at the
mention of Yerba's name or the title of her host, he continued, "Miss
Arguello, I suppose you know, is immensely admired: she has been, sir,
the acknowledged belle of Strudle Bad."

"I can readily believe it," said Paul, simply.

"And has taken the position--the position, sir, to which she is
entitled."

Without appearing to notice the slight challenge in Pendleton's tone,
Paul returned, "I am glad to hear it. The more particularly as, I
believe, the Germans are great sticklers for position and pedigree."

"You are right, sir--quite right: they are," said the colonel,
proudly--"although"--with a certain premeditated deliberation--"I have
been credibly informed that the King can, in certain cases, if he
chooses, supply--yes, sir--SUPPLY a favored person with ancestors--yes,
sir, with ANCESTORS!"

Paul cast a quick glance at his companion.

"Yes, sir--that is, we will say, in the case of a lady of inferior
rank--or even birth, the King of these parts can, on her marriage with
a nobleman--blank it all!--ennoble her father and mother, and their
fathers and mothers, though they've been dead, or as good as dead, for
years."

"I am afraid that's a slight exaggeration of the rare custom of
granting 'noble lands,' or estates that carry hereditary titles with
them," said Paul, more emphatically, perhaps, than the occasion
demanded.

"Fact, sir--George there knows it all," said Pendleton. "He gets it
from the other servants. I don't speak the language, sir, but HE does.
Picked it up in a year."

"I must compliment him on his fluency, certainly," said Paul, looking
at George.

The old servant smiled, and not without a certain condescension. "Yes,
sah; I don' say to a scholar like yo'self, sah, dat I'se got de
grandmatical p