ned."

"Alec has left Delgratz--he and his mother--Oh, Felix! if he really sent
this telegram, why did he not explain things?"

"The explanation would be rather ticklish, when you come to think of
it," said Felix dryly. "The Austrian Government might take too keen an
interest in it. Don't you understand, girl? He has wrung the truth from
some one. He is no longer a King, but a very devoted lover. Come, we can
pass the day pleasantly in Budapest. There is nothing else to be done.
No sense in running away merely for the fun of the thing. If Alec is not
a King, there is no immediate probability of your becoming a Queen. You
will be plain Mrs. Somebody or other. Now I wonder what in the world his
new name is. The son of an American father would hardly be called
Alexis. Horrible thought! You may have to learn to love him all over
again as Chauncey, or Hiram, or Phineas. Tell me, mignonne, could you
take him back to your heart as Phineas?"

Joan rose and stepped out on the platform. Poluski's chaffing outburst
failed in its intent, though, to his great relief, she did not break
down as he feared. "Perhaps he will not want me now, Felix," she said,
and her eyes were shining.

"Oh, fiddlesticks!" cried the hunchback. "Why did he telegraph from the
first wayside station after leaving Semlin? Alec not want you! At this
moment he is more proud that he is a free born American than if a
miracle almost beyond the powers of Heaven had made him a Delgrado."

Felix, cynic that he was, was secretly delighted when Joan discovered
after breakfast that a blouse which caught her eye in one of the
Budapest shops was much more suitable for traveling than that which she
happened to be wearing. It was also significant that the dust which had
gathered in her hair during the long journey from Delgratz required a
visit to a coiffeur. These straws showed how the wind blew, he fancied.

And it was good to see the way Joan's face kindled when Alec clasped her
in his arms. They said little then. The why and the wherefore of events
they left to another hour; but when Joan extricated herself from her
lover's embrace she turned to Princess Delgrado. The two women exchanged
an affectionate kiss; each looked at the other through a mist of tears.
Words were not needed. They understood, and that sufficed.

In a calmer moment Alec told Joan what had happened. He laid special
stress on the fact that his mother was quite determined to renounce her
title a