"My dear Marie," he lisped, "it is like heaven to have you back with us
again. We have felt your absence every hour. Pray be seated, and
pardon my robe. I saw you through the blinds and could not wait. Tell
us the glorious news. The Baron's good words I have already overheard;
I listened to them with great entertainment while I was dressing. I
hoped he would say something discourteous or foolish, but he was quite
discreet until he told Erhaupt that he had kept back none of the money.
Then I lost interest. Fiction is never so entertaining to me as the
truth and real people. But tell us now of your mission and of all you
did; and whether successful or not, be assured you are most welcome."

The Countess Zara smiled at him doubtfully and crossed her hands in her
lap, glancing anxiously over her shoulder.

"I must be very brief, for Kalonay and Father Paul are close behind
me," she said. "They only stopped for a moment at the custom-house.
Keep watch, Baron, and tell me when you see them coming."

Barrat moved his chair so that it faced the garden-path, the King
crossed his legs comfortably and wrapped his padded dressing-robe
closer around his slight figure, and Erhaupt stood leaning on the back
of his chair with his eyes fixed on the fine insolent beauty of the
woman before them.

She nodded her head toward the soldiers who sat at the entrance to the
terrace, as silent and immovable as blind beggars before a mosque. "Do
they understand?" she asked.

"No," the King assured her. "They understand nothing, but that they
are to keep people away from me--and they do it very well. I wish I
could import them to Paris to help Niccolas fight off creditors.
Continue, we are most impatient."

"We left here last Sunday night, as you know," she said. "We passed
Algiers the next morning and arrived off the island at mid-day,
anchoring outside in the harbor. We flew the Royal Yacht Squadron's
pennant, and an owner's private signal that we invented on the way
down. They sent me ashore in a boat, and Kalonay and Father Paul
continued on along the southern shore, where they have been making
speeches in all the coast-towns and exciting the people in favor of the
revolution. I heard of them often while I was at the capital, but not
from them. The President sent a company of carbineers to arrest them
the very night they returned and smuggled me on board the yacht again.
We put off as soon as I came over the side and s