, standing off and surveying her, "you look less
like a baby."

She did, indeed? It took Hedwig quite five minutes to wash the rouge off
her face, and there was, one might as well confess, a moment when a part
of the crown jewels of the kingdom lay in a corner of the room, whence a
trembling maid salvaged them, and examined them for damage.

The Princess Hedwig appeared that evening without rouge, and was the
only woman in the room thus unadorned. Also she wore her coming-out
string of modest pearls and a slightly defiant, somewhat frightened,
expression.

The dinner was endless, which was necessary, since nothing was to follow
but conversation. There could, under the circumstances, be no dancing.
And the talk at the table, through course after course, was somewhat
hectic, even under the constraining presence of King Karl. There
were two reasons for this: Karl's presence and his purpose--as yet
unannounced, but surmised, and even known--and the situation in the
city.

That was bad. The papers had been ordered to make no mention of the
occurrence of the afternoon, but it was well known. There were many at
the table who felt the whole attempt foolhardy, the setting of a match
to inflammable material. There were others who resented Karl's presence
in Livonia, and all that it implied. And perhaps there were, too, among
the guests, one or more who had but recently sat in less august and more
awful company.

Beneath all the brilliance and chatter, the sparkle and gayety, there
was, then, uneasiness, wretchedness, and even treachery. And outside the
Palace, held back by the guards, there still stood a part of the sullen
crowd which had watched the arrival of the carriages and automobiles,
had craned forward to catch a glimpse of uniform or brilliantly shrouded
figure entering the Palace, and muttered as it looked.

Dinner was over at last. The party moved back to the salon, a vast and
empty place, hung with tapestries and gayly lighted. Here the semblance
of gayety persisted, and Karl, affability itself, spoke a few words to
each of the guests. Then it was over. The guests left, the members of
the Council, each with a wife on his arm, frowsy, overdressed women most
of them. The Council was chosen for ability and not for birth. At last
only the suite remained, and constraint vanished.

The family withdrew shortly after--to a small salon off the large one.
And there, at last, Karl cornered Hedwig and demanded speech.