ulliwuddle, under pretext of paying
my Eleanor a compliment, has provided an entertainment--a musical and
athletic entertainment--for another woman!"

The Count sprang to his feet.

"Impossible!" he cried.

"It is true!"

"Name her!"

"She answers, sir, to the plebeian cognomen of Gallosh."

"A nobody!" sneered Ri.

"In trade!" added his father scornfully.

Had the occasion been more propitious, the Count could scarcely have
refrained from commenting upon this remarkably republican criticism;
but, as it was, he deemed it more advisable to hunt with the hounds.

"That canaille!" he shouted. "Ha, ha! Lord Tulliwuddle would never so
far demean himself!"

"I have it from old Gallosh himself," declared Mr. Maddison.

"And that girl Gallosh told Eleanor the same," added Ri.

"Pooh!" cried the Count. "A mere invention."

"You are certain, sir, that Lord Tulliwuddle gave them no grounds
whatever for supposing such a thing?"

"I pledge my reputation as Count of the Austrian Empire, that if
my friend be indeed a Tulliwuddle he is faithful to your charming
daughter!"

Father and son looked at him shrewdly.

"Being a Tulliwuddle, or any other sort of pampered aristocrat, doesn't
altogether guarantee faithfulness," observed the Silver King.

"If he has deceived you, he shall answer to ME!" declared the Count.
"And between ourselves, as nature's gentleman to nature's gentleman, you
may assure Miss Maddison that there is not the remotest likelihood of
this scheming Miss Gallosh ever becoming my friend's bride!"

The two Dariuses were sensibly affected by this assurance.

"As nature's gentleman to nature's gentleman!" repeated the elder with
unction, wringing his hand.

His son displayed an equal enthusiasm, and the Count departed with an
enhanced reputation and the lingering fragrance of a cocktail upon his
tongue.

"Now I think we are in comparatively smooth water," he said to himself
as he whizzed back to the castle.

At the door he was received by the butler.

"Mr. Gallosh is waiting for you in the library, my lord," said he,
adding confidentially (since the Count had endeared himself to all),
"He's terrible impatient for to see your lordship."

CHAPTER XXVI

Evidently Mr. Gallosh, while waiting for the Count's return, had so
worked up his wrath that it was ready to explode on a hair-trigger
touch; and, as evidently, his guest's extreme urbanity made it
exceedingly difficult to carry out his th