ancs t'e tay? Oh, yess, monsieur; only a Prince can
afford eet now."

"Well, you will prepare it at once--"

"Ah, monsieur himself will take eet! T'at iss just! I shall pe too
happy--"

"No, no; you've just said that only a Prince can afford it and it's my
business to produce him! Let's see--it's nearly nine--well, at ten
o'clock, there will arrive in a special train--"

Monsieur Pelletan had turned pale.

"Een a special train?" he faltered. "What! Some one else?"

"Yes--at ten o'clock--"

"Who iss eet will arrive, monsieur?" questioned Pelletan faintly.

"His Highness, Prince Frederick of Markeld, ambassador from the court of
Schloshold-Markheim," answered Rushford, dwelling upon every word. "We
will give him apartment B."

CHAPTER IV

An Adventure and a Rescue

It was not until Rushford opened his paper an hour later that he fully
understood the remarkable situation of which the Grand Hotel Royal had,
by the merest chance, become the centre.

"It is extremely unfortunate [said
the _Times_] that Lord Vernon should
have been taken ill at just this time,
when the question of the succession of
Schloshold-Markheim is hanging in the
balance. Lord Vernon is the only man
in the cabinet capable of dealing with
the situation, which is as delicate as can
be imagined. On the one side are arrayed
the sympathies of our reigning
house and perhaps even our own
honour; on the other, the plainly expressed
desires of the German Emperor.

"The late Prince Christian left no direct
heirs, so that, in any event, the succession
must be through a collateral
branch. The claims of the rivals, Prince
George, of Schloshold, and Prince
Ferdinand, of Markheim, are therefore
evenly balanced. On one side of the
scale, however, the German Emperor
has thrown the weight of his influence.
On the other side is the moral influence
of practically all the rest of Europe, but
this will scarcely be of any value to
Prince Ferdinand unless he can enlist
the active support of Great Britain,
which, it may be, Lord Vernon, though
reluctant to withhold, will find impossible
to give. It is not to be denied that,
from a disinterested view-point, Prince
Ferdinand seems by far the more worthy
of the two claimants.

"Lord Vernon is suffering with a
very severe attack of influenza, which
has been developing for some days, and
which has, at last, become so ser