f his soul? What is the _au fait_ procedure in this
case? You know I am only an ignorant pig of an American!"

She hesitated, embarrassed, and then answered: "Highness--is correct!"

"Highness! I had imagined so--incidentally we were introduced by Fate
on the eleventh floor, as I recollect. Tell me, Highness: a vassal
doesn't amount to much, does he? I always considered him a piker!"

She was mystified. These phrases had not been in the curriculum of the
exclusively proper English boarding-school.

"A piker--a soldier who carries a pike?"

"No, just a pawn in this human game of chess--along with the queens,
and kings, and castles--and knights!... But I have known of a pawn
saving a game, in the hands of an expert. By the way, and apropos of
nothing-whatever-at-all, could a good, hard-working, reliable, moral,
union-labeled vassal work his way up to a good job--such as a Duke or a
Lord, or something like that?"

She caught the drift of his quizzical humor, and retorted in kind.

"You're an ambitious vassal. Such men have occasionally lost their
heads--literally speaking. I'm afraid you wouldn't be content with
anything less than a kingship."

The Kentuckian spoke with meaning behind his jest.

"A king--a prince--or a bandit!"

"A bandit--why a bandit? That is essentially Spanish!"

Jarvis lit another cigarette.

"A king could command--a prince might request--a bandit generally
seizes!"

"What?" and the woman emerged from the hauteur of the royal
personality.

"That which a vassal can only admire!"

VIII

THE NEW PROFESSION

A knock on the door brought them both back to--the deck of the
_Mauretania_, with terra firma not so far distant below!

"There he is now," she whispered nervously. "Who shall I say you are?
And what?"

"Oh, any old thing--Warren, Mr. Warren. Leave the classification to me.
Self-identification is an American trait!"

She crossed the cabin, and after a timid pause opened the door.

"Come in," she murmured.

"Ah, I'm intruding," exclaimed Carlos, Duke of Alva, with an intonation
which expressed an invitation for Warren Jarvis to make a graceful
exit.

"Not at all," blankly observed Jarvis. "I've just been discussing my
professional task at the castle; as a member of the family you can give
me some good working material."

"I don't understand," spluttered Carlos, taken aback.

"Pardon me, cousin. This is Mr. Warren, of America, who has consented
to help me. My co