242
XX Forging the Chain 253
XXI The Service of a Friend 270
XXII Her Best Beloved 282
XXIII A Loving Quest 297
XXIV Confident To-morrows 307
XXV A Discomfited Bishop 319
XXVI Come and Rejoice 335
XXVII A Royal Recompense 350
XXVIII A Campaign of Pleasure 368
XXIX As Having No Past 383
XXX The Boar Hunt 395
XXXI The Bitterness of Doubt 410
XXXII In Snuff-Colored Clothes 423
XXXIII A Devil's Imp 433
XXXIV A Garret in Prague 448
XXXV Would You Leave Me Now 458

CHAPTER I

IN THE HEART OF PARIS

I maintain that my master, Maurice, Count of Saxe, Marshal-general of
France, Duke of Courland and Semigallia, Knight of the Most Noble
Order of Merit, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the White Eagle,
Knight of St. Louis, Knight of St. Stanislaus, and of many other noble
Orders--I maintain him, I say, to be the greatest man, the bravest
man, the finest man, the handsomest man, the man most dreaded by his
foes, the most loved by his friends, the most incomparable with the
ladies, the first soldier of all time--in short, the most superb, the
most terrible and the most admirable man who ever lived--and I can
prove it.

There are fractious men everywhere who dispute the plainest facts.
With these unfortunates I am willing to argue for a time, but if they
grow impudent about Alexander the Great, or Julius Caesar, or any of
those men who have made a noise in the world, I bring against them one
invincible argument--my sword. I am no great lover of the pistol. My
sword is enough, and it never misses fire. I am the most peaceable
creature alive, and never but twice did I lose my temper over the
matter of Count Saxe's greatness. Once was when a bragging rascal of a
pseudo-nobleman from the marches of Brandenburg dared to call this
greatness i